The Book of Broken Hearts
by Sarah Ockler
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Pages: 352
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Age Appropriate: Young Adult
When all signs point to heartbreak, can love still be a rule of the road? A poignant and romantic novel from the author ofBittersweet and Twenty Boy Summer.
Jude has learned a lot from her older sisters, but the most important thing is this: The Vargas brothers are notorious heartbreakers. She’s seen the tears and disasters that dating a Vargas boy can cause, and she swore an oath—with candles and a contract and everything—to never have anything to do with one.
Now Jude is the only sister still living at home, and she’s spending the summer helping her ailing father restore his vintage motorcycle—which means hiring a mechanic to help out. Is it Jude’s fault he happens to be cute? And surprisingly sweet? And a Vargas?
Jude tells herself it’s strictly bike business with Emilio. Her sisters will never find out, and Jude can spot those flirty little Vargas tricks a mile away—no way would she fall for them. But Jude’s defenses are crumbling, and if history is destined to repeat itself, she’s speeding toward some serious heartbreak…unless her sisters were wrong?
Jude may have taken an oath, but she’s beginning to think that when it comes to love, some promises might be worth breaking.
Jude has learned a lot from her older sisters, but the most important thing is this: The Vargas brothers are notorious heartbreakers. She’s seen the tears and disasters that dating a Vargas boy can cause, and she swore an oath—with candles and a contract and everything—to never have anything to do with one.
Now Jude is the only sister still living at home, and she’s spending the summer helping her ailing father restore his vintage motorcycle—which means hiring a mechanic to help out. Is it Jude’s fault he happens to be cute? And surprisingly sweet? And a Vargas?
Jude tells herself it’s strictly bike business with Emilio. Her sisters will never find out, and Jude can spot those flirty little Vargas tricks a mile away—no way would she fall for them. But Jude’s defenses are crumbling, and if history is destined to repeat itself, she’s speeding toward some serious heartbreak…unless her sisters were wrong?
Jude may have taken an oath, but she’s beginning to think that when it comes to love, some promises might be worth breaking.
My Thoughts.
This book is the very first Sarah Ockler book that I've ever read and I'm happy to say that it won't be the last, I'll definitely be hunting down her other books if they are anywhere near as good as this one.
I loved the romance in this book, the bad-boy Emilio and the good-girl Jude, you know the saying opposites attract and with the oath that she took with her three older sisters to never ever get involved with a Vargas boy in the back of her mind, she's hesitant but also eager to get to know Emilio while trying to keep it secret, worried about how upset her sisters will be when and if they ever find out that she's tried and failed to stay away from him, united together to help rebuild her Father's old motorbike, the only tie to the memories he remembers vividly, which he sadly seems to be losing daily with his fight with Alzheimer's.
After her Father has a couple of meltdowns around her friends they distance themselves from Jude embarassed by Jude's Father's declining mental health the only one that has stuck around is Emilio, but can Jude count on the fact that Emilio may be nothing at all like his older brothers, and that her older sisters need to trust her enough to understand that she can make her own opinion about the youngest Vargas boy.
But ultimately as much as this is a love story this is also about a family's loss, their beloved Father and Husband who is losing his fight with the debilitating and awful disease which will leave him ultimately not knowing whom anyone in his family is, lucid only every so often it's a gut-wrenching, heartbreaking disease which is brought to life in this novel, I lost count of the amount of times I shed a tear in this book, and the end well let's just say I needed a tissue.
I highly recommend this book, a Contemporary Romance with heart and a storyline that will leave you so appreciative of the family you have and that Alzheimer's hasn't affected anybody you know, because it's just devastating.
I give this 5/5.
As much as I am not a fan of the good girl/bad boy pairing (which I wasn't expecting in here), my love for Sarah Ockler triumphs. You should definitely read her other novels! Fixing Delilah is my favorite. Family conflict and tragedy is definitely a consistent theme in her novels but she always handles and writes them so well.
ReplyDeleteLovely review!