Protected by Claire Zorn: A Review

Protected by Claire Zorn

My Rating: 4 stars!

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Publish Date: October 1st

Received: Netgalley provided me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis:

I have three months left to call Katie my older sister. Then the gap will close and I will pass her. I will get older. But Katie will always be fifteen, eleven months and twenty-one days old. 

Hannah has survived high school by putting up walls. At first, they were meant to protect her from the relentless bullying that no one would defend her from, not even her popular older sister, Katie. Then Katie died, and, in a cruel twist of fate, Hannah’s daily torment abruptly stopped. Now the walls try to shut it all out—the grief, the loneliness, and the harsh truth that Katie’s death has somehow improved Hannah’s life.

Then something happens that Hannah couldn’t have predicted—friendship comes knocking in the form of new student Josh Chamberlain. Hannah has never been so desperate for connection. But if this isn’t for real, if it’s just another joke, Hannah’s not sure she can take it…

An inspiring and achingly honest story of a girl with the courage to endure, hope, and even heal in the face of unimaginable tragedy.

Musings:

This is story about acceptance. It is a story of growth and healing and finding out who you could truly be if you only let yourself. But most of all this is a story of a young girl named Hannah and her sister Katie and how their connection together defies Katie’s death even though they never had a good relationship in life and how Hannah must move on to become who she was meant to be.

My favorite parts of this novel were the flashbacks and the lists. Hannah makes a lot of lists, some of them a bit morbid others seemingly random and it was a part of her character that really added to the story overall. As for the flashbacks, they helped me to understand Hannah and Katie and how different they were and how being sisters always seemed to be tough for them. Katie was always everything Hannah was not, she knew how to act and how to attract attention and she knew how to be a part of the crowd. However, being there caused her to be miserable to her sister because Hannah was never the kind of girl who fit in at all.

That’s the other thing about this book though, Hannah and Katie were so much so their own characters that there was no way for them to stop from clashing. I think that’s what made this book so rich for me. Even with Katie gone in Hannah’s memory she was very much alive and somehow her sisters opinions still stood over her and it made it feel so real.

In the end you never know when the clock will stop for you or how that will affect those you love. But you also don’t know how loosing someone you love will effect you until it happens. I couldn’t imagine ever being in Hannah’s position. I couldn’t imagine that after being bullied for so many years the bullying just stops. I don’t ever want to know what it is like to loose my sister.

This book was thoughtful, hopeful, and beautifully written. Sometimes you just have to stop and listen and let go in order to finally spread your wings and fly.

Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think of Protected down in the comments!

-Till next time!