[Review] The Book of Broken Hearts - Sarah Ockler

Title of Book : The Book of Broken Hearts
Author : Sarah Ockler
Publisher : Simon Pulse

When all signs point to heartbreak, can love still be a rule of the road? A poignant and romantic novel from the author of Bittersweet 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. 

I read The Book of Broken Hearts for free at Pulseit.com

Jude is trying to help her father by hiring a mechanic to restore her father’s motorcycle. Apparently, the mechanic is one of those Vargas boys who have history of breaking The Hernandez girls’ hearts. Learning from her sister’s past, she tries so hard to not falling in love with Emilio Vargas the mechanic. But when you get to spend so much time together, even enough to learn about each other, how could you not falling for this Vargas?

After reading the blurb and the title, I thought that this book will only be about summer temptation and forbidden love. After I learn about Jude’s father struggles against Alzheimer, or what Jude likes to call as el demonio, I know that there will be so much more.

This book grows on me. I like Jude. It’s good to see how she chooses to spend summer helping her father instead of playing around with her friends. But she’s still a teenager after all. She has her ups and downs throughout the book. The age differences between her and her sisters sometimes make her feels that she’s an outsider. I think that’s why she really values the oath to never date a Vargas. The book of broken hearts has become a connection between her and her sisters.

I also like Emilio Vargas. How he seems like a bad boy but is actually sweet makes me like him even more. Sometimes he looks a bit mature than his age. He handles Jude’s father situation very well. But there’s a time when I think that his flirtations toward Jude are lame.

I recommend The Book of Broken Hearts for contemporary lovers. This book not only focuses on teenage love. In the end of this book, Jude finally learns that The Vargas Brothers are not the only one who could cause broken heart.