Pages from the Book of Broken Dreams

I want to be annoyed by it. There’s something about setting a book in a bookstore, or about a writer, that feels … lazy? A little cheap? Like, of course I like bookstores, I’m reading an actual book. Shooting water in the proverbial barrel, as it were.

As may be evident from the title Pages from the Book of Broken Dreams, we have both a bookstore and a writer featured prominently. Main character Emma is interested in neither of those things, a non-reader, non-coffee drinker who looks for work in a bookstore cafe. Our object of interest, Aubrey, however, ticks both of our boxes and we’re off to the (wind-assisted) races.

This is not an easy book. There’s no meet-cute where the two immediately fall in love, traumas and hardships aren’t resolved with a kiss and some heavy petting. The novel feels like it deals with real people with real issues, trying to figure things out.

Pages doesn’t take shortcuts. It’s actually much more reliant on 90s music for its references than literary (or popular canon) knowledge. It seems to take care to earn every new plot progression, every lingering glance, every stolen kiss. It’s so slow-burning it might as well be called incremental smoldering, but it works. The tension between Aubrey and Emma ratchets up slowly, but there’s enough chemistry and repartee to sustain through.

I know we’re supposed to suspend disbelief for fiction, but I do want to call out what I like to refer to as “fixing yourself on someone else’s dime.” Both of these ladies have issues that they should definitely be seeing counselors or therapists about. While I’m happy they got together and can support each other, it’s not healthy to rely on one other person for everything. (Incidentally, this note directly ties into Aubrey’s backstory, making it all the more perplexing.)

Also, I know this is a college town for a liberal arts school, but is literally everyone in town a lesbian?

(I just re-read that sentence, and I withdraw my objection. Mea culpa.)

Pages from the Book of Broken Dreams is a deeply felt journey through two women’s attempts to heal themselves and find strength in one another. For that, I’d say it’s worth cracking the spine.

This review is for an advanced reader copy of the book, provided by the publisher.