The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend

Sara fears that she has made a mistake.  A BIG mistake.  Everything was supposed to be straight forward.  She was supposed to fly into the United States, take a Greyhound to Hope, Iowa, and get picked up by Amy, her Iowan pen pal, for a two month reading and relaxing vacation.  Only Amy didn't show up.  Nobody showed up to pick her up.  Luckily for Amy, the townspeople of Hope are generous and offer her a ride to Broken Wheel (in spite of their own misgivings).  When she arrives, she learns that Amy is dead.  She is sad and resigned to heading back to Sweden, but the residents of Broken Wheel have another plan in mind.  

The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend is a fun, light read.  Katarina Bivald creates a realistic portrait of small town life with Broken Wheel, highlighting the odd residents, the town loyalty in the face of a slow demise, and the intensely gossipy nature of a small, relatively closed-off community.  Bivald does well developing her female characters - especially Sara and Caroline.  I felt like I got a good picture of Tom, but the rest of the men were lost in my mind, and I frequently found myself reading a name and having to pause and think, "John...which one is John again?"  The plot is quaint and reminiscent of The Storied Life of AJ Fikrey, as mentioned in the blurb.  I love the premise and Sara's journey.  I did have a few reservations about one of the subplots (I think you'll know which one I mean when you read it), not because of its content; I'm just not sure it adds to the plot in a real meaningful way.  I really would have liked to see more development of Sara and Tom's relationship rather than this.  I have already passed on my ARC to another librarian and will definitely be adding this to our collection.  I can think of a dozen ladies who would be delighted by it.

Much thanks to Sourcebooks for the ARC!