The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend Blog Tour

Description
The International Bestseller. 
Once you let a book into your life, the most unexpected things can happen...
Broken Wheel, Iowa, has never seen anyone like Sara, who travelled all the way from Sweden just to meet her pen pal, Amy. When she arrives, however, she finds that Amy's funeral has just ended. Luckily, the townspeople are happy to look after their bewildered tourist—even if they don't understand her peculiar need for books. Marooned in a farm town that's almost beyond repair, Sara starts a bookstore in honor of her friend's memory. All she wants is to share the books she loves with the citizens of Broken Wheel and to convince them that reading is one of the great joys of life. But she makes some unconventional choices that could force a lot of secrets into the open and change things for everyone in town. Reminiscent of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, this is a warm, witty book about friendship, stories, and love.

I'm so pleased to be part of the blog tour for this book. There is also a rafflecopter to win a copy of the book - just scroll down to find and enter.

First off I just want to say that this book is utterly enchanting - I just loved it. If you love books, I feel sure you will love this book. Being within its pages is a little like being in a library and meeting old friends. The author cites so many books that I had read, and also went on to have the same opinion of them. This really was just a bonus to the actual story that unfolds.

For me I also loved when Sara created the different bookshelves in the shop and the books she chose for them, then to spy what the visitors to the store looked at or bought.

There seems to me to be something about books translated from Swedish - the tone of the writing has a lilt all of its own and one I recognised from other books by Swedish authors. The writing is so gentle and soothing that it just carries you along.

When you read the synopsis you may feel it is strange that Sara is in essence adopted by the town of Broken Wheel, Iowa - but once you start reading you find Sara is just so endearing.

At times I saw similarities with the TV series Northern Exposure - we get to meet the different characters and find they may not be what they first seem. A little quirky but very addictive.

I'm giving this book 5 out of 5 stars for the shear originality of it. I am often in awe of how writers come up with a plot for a book. There are many book formulas to choose from and so of course some become a bit generic, but I promise you - you won't have read a book quite like this before.

I'm hoping there will be a sequel - there is so much more that can happen in Broken Wheel, Iowa.

My thanks go to Netgalley for allowing me a review e copy of this book.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Readers, recommend your Bookstore!

READERS, RECOMMEND YOUR BOOKSTORE!

Sourcebooks Launches Reader Voting Campaign to Grant Money to Community Bookstores

NAPERVILLE IL (January 5, 2016) — Independent publisher Sourcebooks announces the “Readers, Recommend Your Bookstore” campaign, which will give grant money to three nominated bookstores. The “Readers, Recommend Your Bookstore Campaign” is inspired by the phenomenal support booksellers have given The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald, which was selected as the #1 Indie Next Great Read for January 2016. 

Katarina Bivald’s international bestselling debut novel, The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend, is a charming, big-hearted story about the joy of books and the transformative power of community bookstores. 

“Bookstores are the heart and soul of their community and have enormous impact on readers’ lives,” said Dominique Raccah, founder and CEO of Sourcebooks. “The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend inspired us to create a campaign that will not only give back to a few deserving bookstores, but hopefully highlight all the many wonderful bookstores that service communities across the country.”

Anyone can nominate their favorite bookstore at http://books.sourcebooks.com/readers-recommend-your-bookstore-sweepstakes/. Sourcebooks will award the winning bookstore with a $3,000 prize; two additional bookstores will each receive a $637 prize (the population of Bivald’s fictional Broken Wheel, Iowa). In addition to bookstores receiving prizes, weekly giveaways for those who nominate will be held throughout the campaign. Voting began January 4, and runs until February 19, when the winning bookstores will be announced.

The Five Times I Met Myself - James L Rubart

What if you met your twenty-three year old self in a dream? What would you say?

Brock Matthews' once promising life is unraveling. His coffee company. His marriage.

So when he discovers his vivid dreams—where he encounters his younger self—might let him change his past mistakes, he jumps at the chance. The results are astonishing, but also disturbing.

Because getting what Brock wants most in the world will force him to give up the one thing he doesn't know how to let go of . . . and his greatest fear is it's already too late.

I love time travel books and although strictly this isn't one - that was why I was attracted to it, it's the thought that if you had the chance to go back and maybe change past mistakes, would you?

Brock uses something called "Lucid dreaming" to meet his younger self with amazing results. I loved all the 1980s references and how well the author captured what you might well say to someone who purported to be you from the future. 

The books draws it's own similarities with the Back to the Future films - but for me this was a lot like Ken Grimwood's Replay and the lucid dreaming, well I think that was done very well by the master Jack Finney in his Time and again books. 

I think the author handled the different timelines very well and the present day Brock's reaction to them. It was at times difficult to keep apace with the different changes and what had happened. But a little like Groundhog day, I got to expect the unexpected when Brock woke up each time. It also made me think that if he was going to be stuck in one of these new realities, how was he going to cope, when he knew so little about what had happened to him in the past.

I thought the ending was clever and not one I guessed hard to do as I think I maybe am too hard a critic having read so many time travel books. To give another comparison, the film It's a Wonderful Life was also going through my mind at this point. The one difference I think the author has is the links he makes to this being God's work. The religious side isn't too heavy, but steer clear if that really isn't your sort of thing.

I've drawn lots of comparisons in this review - for me that's not a bad thing, as all those books/films are ones I enjoy.

I'm giving this book 4 out of 5 stars and my thanks go to Netgalley for a free ecopy of the book to review.

The Girl with no Past - Kathryn Croft

Twenty years running from your past. Today it catches up.

A gripping psychological thriller for fans of Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train. 

Leah Mills lives a life of a fugitive – kept on the run by one terrible day from her past. It is a lonely life, without a social life or friends until – longing for a connection – she meets Julian. For the first time she dares to believe she can live a normal life. 

Then, on the twentieth anniversary of that day, she receives a card. Someone knows the truth about what happened. Someone who won’t stop until they’ve destroyed the life Leah has created. 

But is Leah all she seems? Or does she deserve everything she gets? 

Everyone has secrets. But some are deadly.

This book began well for me - I was intrigued about what it was that Leah had done, something that was so awful she had no life.

She begins to receive cards, emails, someone knows what she did. Still intriguing, still wondering what she'd done.

Then she begins to meet some new people, she won't let them in to her life, but one of them Julian she does let in, which began to feel very out of sorts from the character that had been painted.  The novel then became very dull and depressing. I began to wonder if this was all in Leah's mind and actually nothing bad had ever happened - was this another fight club?

Eventually the plot began to unravel and we find out what Leah did - only what did she actually do and how does that still have an effect on her life today? I must say that the author did paint a very realistic and dismal scene at this point, and it has stayed with me - an image I would rather forget. 

Another little twist to the tale and all becomes clear - at last. 

Finally there is some action - the gripping psychological byline comes into play. Again the author paints a vivid picture and I wished the rest of the book could have been more like this. 

I don't do spoilers so I've tried to give a flavour of the book without actually revealing what happens. A good read overall, I'm giving this book 4 out of 5 stars.

My thanks go to Netgalley for a free e copy of this book to review.

As Good as Dead - Elizabeth Evans

Endearingly flawed and battered-around-the-edges, Charlotte has managed to fashion herself a life that balances marriage and a writing career, but now Esmé, the charming friend Charlotte betrayed at university, stands at Charlotte’s door: Surprise!

Charlotte yearns to make amends, but she’s wary. Esmé makes no mention of Charlotte’s old betrayal and the two resume their friendship, but soon enough a request from Esmé will upend Charlotte’s careful world. 

Suspenseful, witty, with spot-on evocations of university life in the late 1980s, As Good as Dead performs an exquisite psychological high-wire act, exploring loves and friendships poisoned by secrets and fears.


I settled down with this book hoping for a really intriguing read. Unfortunately my intrigue waned when the book began to weave back and forth and bring in issues from the past. I read on hoping that these would be integral to the story - which they were, but it was so drawn out that when we came back to the future I thought I had missed something. I read on and no I hadn't missed anything, seems like the central character Charlotte just really likes stringing out a story.

What I did love were the insightful moments of the friendship between Esme and Charlotte. They were written so clearly that I could imagine being there witnessing their early friendship. However, I never really got the feeling that I knew either of these girls. The "betrayal" seemed to be so out of character and made me feel even more that I just didn't get this character. 

Ultimately the betrayal and the request from Esme were soon sorted in a few pages - leaving us with an ending that seemed very limp compared to the rest of the fast pace in the book.

I'm giving this book 3 out of 5 stars. Great writing, just not compelling or thrilling enough for me I'm sorry to say. 
My thanks go to Negalley for a free e copy of this book for review. 

Giveaway with On My Bookshelf blog

Something a little different from me today. I've linked up with On My Bookshelf and Suze Likes Loves Finds and Dreams for their Christmas countdown of giveaways. I'm featured on the blog today and my giveaway to those that enter on the site through the Rafflecopter widget is the notebook and a card handmade by me - as shown above.

So pop over and enter to win!