The Secret Sisterhood of Heartbreakers by Lynn Weingarten

When her boyfriend breaks up with her on the first day of sophomore year, Lucy has no idea how she’s going to make it through homeroom, let alone the rest of her life. Enter three stunning girls with a magical offer Lucy can’t refuse. All she has to do is get a guy to fall in love with her in the next seven days, and then…break his heart and collect one of his brokenhearted tears. As the girls teach Lucy how to hook a guy (with the help of a little magic), she quickly discovers how far she is willing to go—and who she is willing to cross—to get what she wants.

I loved the way this story started out. It's third person with a clear narrator, which I loved even though I’m not usually a fan of narrators. But this story handles it very well. I was invested in Lucy’s story from the first paragraph.

The book is kind of like a how-to guide for successful relationships. Care enough about yourself to give your partner reason to care about you too, don’t fawn or over-compliment because that gets old after a while, take up your own space (not everyone else’s, just yours) in the relationship, if you don’t respect yourself then your partner won’t respect you, etc. These messages were conveyed a little too clearly at times, but I was okay with it. I didn’t really believe that Olivia, Liza, or Gil knew so much about successful relationships, but was fine with them introducing the info.

The girls were okay. I thought Liza was a little over-the-top mean, and Gil was a little over-the-top nice. But I still liked them. I would have liked to see a whole lot more about what it’s like to be a Heartbreaker, and what would motivate Lucy to intentionally break a boy’s heart. How do they choose their boys? What else do they make with the tears? How many Heartbreakers are there? Some of these questions were introduced at the end, so I’m wondering if there will be another book after this one.

Overall, I found this to be an enjoyable read that teens of all ages will enjoy. It has good messages, good choices, and interesting consequences. Even though the end was resolved well enough to make this book a standalone, I kind of hope we get to see more of these characters in the future.