El Demonio stealing Papi’s memories,
Family duty stealing Jude’s theater dreams,
Memories stealing Emilio’s happiness.
Can thieves be banished by hard work  – and love?

Jude is sure that Papi’s memory bank will refill if he can just ride once more on the Harley that took him up the Argentine mountains  before he and Mama emigrated to the US…  so sure that she hires a mechanic to fix it, even though he’s a Vargas.

But is her sisters’ scrapbook of awful guys (mostly those heartbreaker Vargas boys) true for Emilio too? And why can’t she tell Mama about her plan for Papi to ride again?

You can find this 2014 paperback at your local library or favorite independent bookstore to see if Jude makes it through the summer with her heart intact.

**kmm

Book info: The Book of Broken Hearts / Sarah Ockler.  Simon Pulse, 2014.   [author site]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: Trying to help her father regain what Alzheimers is taking away, Jude asks Emilio to help them rebuild Papi’s classic motorcycle, even though she swore to her older sisters that she’d never let a Vargas boy close enough to break her heart.

The last Hernandez sister at home, Jude gives up her theater role to watch over Papi and the young mechanic rebuilding his ’61 Harley while Mama works to support them all. As they race to finish the job before ‘el demonio’ of early-onset Alzheimers steals Papi’s last chance to ride, Jude and Emilio can’t deny the attraction growing between them that Colorado summer.

In the battle between memories and the present, sometimes everyone wins, sometimes no one does. Each of her three sisters had her heart crushed by a Vargas boy – is Emilio any different?   (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)