Actual Rating: 3.5 stars

I received an eARC of this book from the publishers via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of this review.

The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald is a rather bland story about a Swedish girl coming to a small American town and falling in love. To be honest I’m not sure how realistic this is, so I just kinda rolled with it. It is fiction after all BUT overall the story fell flat for me.

Sara is the main character, the girl who flies all the way from Sweden to meet her penpal Amy (more on that in a minute). Sara’s on the shy side, has zero self-confidence, and apparently made good money working as a clerk in a bookstore since she was able to take a TWO MONTH vacation to America. She’s a bibliophile which is her redeeming quality! She prefers books to people and isn’t afraid to tell others that. However her life is turned a topsy-turvy when she arrives in Broken Wheel.

The rest of the town is full of quirky characters that will inevitably remind you of someone you know. You have the busybody, the moral compass, the Sheriff, the quiet guy, and the token gay couple (has anyone else noticed that this seems to be a thing in books nowadays?) all in one small Iowa town. Each of the characters contribute to the story, but in all honesty the story could be told without them. They are THAT flat. There is no dimension to these characters, they are the stereotypical aspects that I’ve listed above and nothing else.

Tom is the exception but even then he’s not much of one. He’s the opinionated, leave me alone guy who winds up being the love interest. (I promise I’m not spoiling anything because this story is sadly predictable). I liked Tom. He’s the guy everyone relies on and he’s the one that pushes everyone to keep going. He’s like the town’s lifeline until Sara comes along.

The story revolves around Sara and her arrival in Broken Wheel. When she arrives, she’s planning on spending two months talking books with her penpal Amy, but on arriving she finds out that Amy’s died. She was sick for a long time, but didn’t tell Sara because she wanted her to come and meet the town and her friends. So her friends, honoring Amy’s wishes, do what they can for Sara and make her feel at home. With nothing to do with her time, Sara starts a book store using Amy’s books and her own and buying books with her own money to fill the shelves.

To be blunt, I didn’t believe this story was possible AT ALL! Sara worked at a bookstore as a clerk so unless she was an heiress to a giant fortune how in the world could she fly to America, spend 2 whole months there AND open a bookstore?! Not to mention this is illegal in the US. The saving grace of the story is that the quirky town grew on me and Sara’s love for books shines through in all her quotes and recommendations to the townspeople.

Overall this story is just okay. I was not thrilled with it and at times I was bored. And that comparison to The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is a flat out lie! I loved that book which means I had high hopes for this one that were crushed. If you enjoy contemporary romance, than you might enjoy this book. I didn’t, but you might.