The Book of Broken Hearts

by Sarah Ockler

[girlinthepages]

Well it looks like fourth time is the charm for me and Sarah Ockler, because I finally found a book by her that I truly adored. The Book of Broken Hearts took me back to the days of YA contemporary by the likes of Sarah Dessen and I got all of the same great vibes here- strong, developed family relationships, takes place over the summer, a forbidden romance...it's the perfect YA read for a teenager. I loved the dynamic of the Hernandez sisters and their "book of broken hearts" and associated pact, and how that is juxtaposed against the Vargas brothers (although I'm annoyed I didn't get to find out exactly what happened between Celi and Johnny!). I loved the family legacies and traditions that were passed down through the sisters (for better or for worse) and each sister's specific personality and role they played in the family. The romance was also pretty swoon-worthy and Emilio was the perfect mix of fun, funny, and just slightly infuriating.

Like any great YA contemporary, this book has an undercurrent of seriousness beneath the romance and family drama. Jude's father is sick with a rapidly deteriorating condition, and it's truly heartbreaking to see his condition worsen over the summer, and how rapidly the Hernandez's family dynamic changes. I think Ockler struck the right balance between levity and grief, light and darkness, in this story, and the theme of broken hearts spans across multiple meanings, from romantic heartbreaks to the heartbreak of losing the most formative male figure in your life- your father. Yet there were moments of true humor within the family that felt authentic and not forced and showed how much of an emotional roller coaster a terminal illness truly inflicts (like Jude's narration of her dog Pancake's thoughts. Truly and deeply hilarious).

I also loved this book because I didn't realize it was diverse, and I loved getting to see two different Latin cultures highlighted (Jude's family is from Argentina and Emilio's is from Puerto Rico). There were a lot of cool glimpses into Jude's father's life in Argentina when he was part of the Aranas Blancas, a biker group. If anything my one complaint about this book is that I wanted to learn MORE about the rich histories and cultures of these families, from why Jude's parents moved to America to why Emilio's dad had returned to Puerto Rico. I wanted more on both of these large families full of fleshed out characters!

Overall: One of my favorite diverse YA contemporaries to date and my FAVORITE Sarah Ockler book, The Book of Broken Hearts is a truly bittersweet tale that layers the complexity of family tragedy beneath a young adult story of coming of age and falling in love.This review was originally posted on Girl in the Pages