Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend ~ By Katerina Bivald – 5.0 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Americana, Books, Chick-lit, Homophobia, Humor, Racism, Relationships, Religious Beliefs

 I received this e-Arc from NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: January 1st, 2016

Synopsis: Once you let a book into your life, the most unexpected things can happen…

Broken Wheel Iowa, has never seen anyone like Sara, who has traveled all the way from Sweden just to meet her book-loving pen pal. When she arrives however, she finds Amy’s funeral guests just leaving. The residents of Broken Wheel are happy to look after their bewildered visitor–not much else to do in a small town that’s almost beyond repair. They just never imagined she’d start a bookstore. Or that books would bring them together–and change everything.

There’s a book for every person…and a person for every book.

Others might have found themselves stuck in a tired, old high school in Haninge, but had been a geisha in Japan, walked along China’s last empress through the claustrophobic, closed off rooms of the Forbidden City, grown up with Anne and the others in Green Gables, gone through her fair share of murder, and love and lost over and over again.

The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend is already an international bestseller and after reading this utterly charming book, I understand why.

First of all, let me warn you there’s a few elements in this book that may have you rolling your eyes, or asking “Seriously?!” But trust me. Put those feelings on the backburner, because the rest of the story with it’s captivating plot and quirky characters are worth it!

The first eye-rolling moment comes right at the beginning when Swedish bookworm Sara Lindquist who has played it safe her entire life, finds herself out of work after the small bookshop that she’s worked for many years, goes out of business. She shocks her family when she decides to travel to Broken Wheel Iowa to visit pen-pal and fellow Bibliophile Amy Harris. Once you get past that “She did what?” moment,  Sara and the inhabitants of this small dusty town–that has never really seen better days–will mesmerize you until the very last page. I have to admit that part of the attraction for me was that I completely identified with Sara. She’s quiet and unassuming, and people tend to overlook her. She literally lives through her books. Her only friend is Amy who she’s never met. She’s devastated when she embarks on her grand adventure, only to find once she’s arrived that her kindred spirit has passed away. But then something strange happens. The quirky folks of Broken Wheel sort of adopt her, even to the extent of not letting her pay for anything. Sara, in turn winds up adopting them as well and comes up with the idea of opening a small bookstore using her’s and Amy’s collections as stock. The only problem is that no one besides Sara understands the magical appeal of books, so she is forced to come up with some creative ploys to attract these reluctant readers into her store. This results in quite a few laugh-out-loud moments. There’s even a sweet little romance here as well which for a change isn’t filled with large amounts of drama and angst. 

You’ll also hear from Amy through her handwritten letters to Sara. It’s through this detailed correspondence that you realize Amy was the glue that held this fading community together. Once she’s gone they’re lost and bewildered. But then this stranger from halfway around the world with all her odd ideas enters the picture and the healing begins. 

Despite it’s overall lighthearted tone, the story does tackle a few weightier issues including: religion, racism, and homophobia. The author does this in a thoughtful manner, yet never lets them overtake her story. This is small town America with all it’s strengths and weaknesses.

By the end of the story, while Sara has made quite an impact on Broken Wheel, she finds herself transformed as well. For the first time she sees that there’s a whole world outside of the ones she’s lived in through her books. Going on this journey with her is pure, unadulterated joy.

If you love books about not only the love of books, but self discovery, recovery, and small town America, I urge you to read this. Particularly if you’re a fan of 84 Charing Cross Road,  by Helene Hanff, and The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Society, by Annie Barrows and Mary Ann Shaffer. The only disappointment you’ll feel is when the story is over. I guarantee you’ll be as reluctant to leave Sara and the small dusty town of Broken Wheel as I was.

 

After She’s Gone ~ By Lisa Jackson – 3.0 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Family Relationships, Hollywood, Mental Illness, Mystery, Serial Killers, Suspense

I received this e-Arc from NetGalley and Kensington in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: December 29th, 2015

Synopsis: Cassie Kramer and her younger sister Allie, learned the hazards of fame long ago. Together, they’d survived the horror of a crazed fan who nearly killed their mother, former Hollywood actress Jenna Hughes. Still, Cassie moved to L.A. urging Allie to follow. As a team, they’d take the town by storm. But Allie, finally free of small-town Oregon, and just that little bit more beautiful, also proved to be more talented–and driven. Where Cassie got bit parts, Allie rose to stardom. But now her body double has been shot on the set of her latest movie–And Allie is missing. 

Police discover that the last call to Allie’s phone came from Cassie, though she has no recollection of making it. Instead of looking like a concerned relative, Cassie is starting to look like a suspect–the jealous sister who finally grew sick of playing a supporting role. As the tabloids go into a frenzy, Cassie ends up on a Portland psych ward. Is she just imagining the sinister figure who comes to her bedside, whispering about Allie–a visitor of whom there is no record? Is someone trying to help–or drive her mad?

Convinced she is the only one who can find Allie, Cassie checks herself out of the hospital. But a sudden slew of macabre murders–each victim masked with a likeness of a member of Cassie’s family–makes Cassie fear for her safety and her sanity. The only way to end the nightmare is to find out what really happened to Allie. And with each new discovery, Cassie realizes that no one can be trusted to keep her safe–least of all herself.

The good news is that although After She’s Gone is a sequel of sorts to Lisa Jackson’s Deep Freeze (2005), this can easily be read on it’s own. The bad news is that while the mystery is interesting enough, the characters are one-dimensional, unlikable, and to be perfectly frank, completely unbelievable.

The heroine of the story is Cassie, and while at the beginning of the story I had a modicum of sympathy for her, it fast disappeared. She scurries from Oregon, to L.A. and back to Oregon in increasingly desperate attempts to find her sister Allie who by all accounts is a despicable person who hates Cassie and has done everything in her power to break up Cassie’s marriage to the dishy cowboy Trent. As past fights between the two sisters are revealed through Cassie’s memories, it becomes clear that no matter how much she dislikes Allie, she keeps going back for more abuse, yet she treats Trent, who has done nothing but love and support her, like dirt. While I understand the bond between the sisters, especially having survived such a horrible childhood trauma, this just strained credibility. Cassie does become more empowered in the latter half of the book, but by that time I just didn’t care.

The mystery surrounding the missing Allie, and an increasing body count made up of people associated with the sisters’ last film Dead Heat, will keep you guessing, although by the time I had reached the midway point I had guessed the why if not the who. While the main mystery is solved, there’s a little surprise at the end that leaves the possibility for a third book about the Kramer family.

I vascillated between giving this 2.5 – 3.0 stars, before finally settling on the higher rating.  While it’s received mixed reviews on Goodreads, there’s quite a few readers who enjoyed this. I think if you’re already a Lisa Jackson fan, you should try it. If you’re new, I recommend you go back and read some of her earlier books before tackling this one.