The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend

Before I say anything else about this book, I just want to say I loved it! I picked it simply because I found the title appealing.  Also the book and I have a lot in common.Broken Wheel reads. I read. Peas in a pod. The irony is Broken Wheel and the inhabitants really are not big readers. More later.

The biggest surprise for me was the book turned out to be a love story.  Let me remind you that my quest for February is finding  good romance novels.  I wouldn't however, qualify this as a true romance novel which made it that much better. So it is and it isn't.

Hopefully I have whet your appetite a little and you will read the book.  It all starts when Sara from Sweden befriends Amy from Iowa. They have never actually met but start corresponding by letters about books they have read. I actually mean letters written on stationery.  No emails have ever passed between them.

They learn a lot about each other. Amy convinces Sara to visit her in the States.  As fate would have it, when Sara arrives it is the day of Amy's funeral.  Amy omitted the fact that she was ill but to be fair she didn't think her death was that imminent or at least that imminent.

Rather than take the next flight back to Sweden Sara decides to stay as planned.  This is a tremendous step for Sara who has worked in a small bookshop, lived alone and is basically a loner.  But there is something about  the town of Broken Wheel that makes her want to stay.  I should add at this point that Broken Wheel is a small town that is literally dying.

Amy left behind a collection of books which Sara wants to share with everyone so she opens a bookshop. Very few people in Broken Wheel actually read but she is the book whisperer and hands out books to the town folk.  Please keep in mind the time she has known these people are days and weeks rather than years. They actually read her suggestions.

This shy quiet young woman brings her love of reading and her warmth to the town and they in turn fall in love with her.  Along the way there are romances that start. Very interesting romances which turn into love.  It is Sara that is the catalyst for change in the town and in her own life.

I love when a book surprise me. The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend did just that.