Symptoms Of A Broken Heart by Cory Cramer
Paperback: 54 pages (I read the e-book version)
Publisher: Damnation Books, LLC (September 1, 2009)
ISBN-13: 978-1615720323

When Lisa and her sister Susan celebrate Susan's birthday by attending a Full Moon Party-a party thrown by a group of werewolf fanatics in a swamp near New Orleans--an unexpected tragedy occurs. Fearing repercussions, Lisa turns to black magic in order to cover up what happened. But keeping things under wraps isn't as easy as Lisa thinks. Little does she know, her inner demons-and desires-will be the biggest obstacles in keeping her sister's death a secret.

Susan and Lisa are sisters who are opposites.  Susan is the conservative good girl and Lisa is the older wild child.  They plan a trip to New Orleans together to celebrate Susan’s birthday and since Susan will soon be getting married, she also plans on spreading her wings experiencing the wild side just once before committing to her soon to be husband.  Lisa is a bit surprised but thinks she knows just the thing her sister needs to sow her wild oats. 

They attend a party for werewolf enthusiasts thinking they’ll find a young goth crowd to party with.  Instead they find an eclectic group of people partying the night way.  Susan begins to socialize while Lisa hooks up with a guy she met online who is coincidentally named Mutt.  Get it?  Mutt? 

After spending a wild night with Mutt in his van Lisa wakes in the morning to find her sister dead and panics.  She’s more concerned about being blamed for not looking out for Susan than she is about her being dead and she hatches a plan to cover her tracks with the help of a tattoo artist and some black magic.  Unfortunately, she may just be in too deep.

Don’t the let the title fool you. This is Dark Urban Fantasy and kissy romance is not the focus here folks. This is a story of a young woman who is self serving, jealous of her sister, resentful of her mother and always out for herself.  At one point in the story Lisa does cry and seek comfort from the tattoo artist who had just tattooed her after her sisters death, however, I had the sense she that cried more for herself and the mess she was in rather than for morning her dead sister.

Although the book is only 54 pages the author manages to firmly plant the reader in Lisa’s twisted thought processes with his outstanding descriptive writing style.  He does this so effectively that for a small period of time I actually found myself sympathizing with her and holding out hope that she might actually find happiness in her crazy messed up life. 

I thought Symptoms Of A Broken Heart was an entertaining read, with a clever twist at the end.  I think those that enjoy a story with dark edge to will certainly enjoy it.

Book was provided by the author for the purpose of review.