New York Times and USA Today Bestseller! Katarina Bivald's The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend is a sweet, smart, and uplifting story about how books find us, change us, and connect us. Once you let a book into your life the most unexpected things can happen: Like the bestselling historical novel and Netflix film The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend is a heartwarming reminder of why we love books. Broken Wheel, Iowa, has never seen anyone like Sara: Sara traveled all the way from Sweden just to meet her book-loving pen pal Amy, but when she arrives she finds Amy's funeral guests just leaving. The residents of Broken Wheel are happy to look after their bewildered visitor—there's not much else to do in a dying small town that's almost beyond repair. You certainly wouldn't open a bookstore. And definitely not with Sara the tourist in charge. You'd need a vacant storefront (Main Street is full of them), books (Amy's house is full of them), and...customers. The bookstore might be a little quirky. Then again, so is Sara. But Broken Wheel's own story might be funnier, more eccentric and surprising than she thought. If you liked big-hearted books like The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry or Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, you will love The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend. Praise for The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend: "The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend is a warm and slyly funny look at small towns and romance..."—New York Journal of Books "A heartwarming tale about literature's power to transform."—People "What begins as an unlikely international friendship based on a mutual love of books becomes a sweet and soulful discovery of America. Quirky, unpredictable, funny, and fresh—a wonderful book."—Nickolas Butler, internationally bestselling author of Shotgun Lovesongs and Beneath the Bonfire International Bestseller Indie Regional Bestseller National Indie Bestseller #1 Indie Next Pick

In life, the choices we make determine our levels of success or regret. Ultra successful people (the superrich) rarely take a look back at the lessons of the past. ­That privilege is often reserved for the regretful, and whether we show it or not, many of us have our secret regrets. What if you realized that you were a regretful success? But that doesn’t make sense, does it? Who would regret their success? Who would want to struggle? What if those struggles were needed to help in revealing your character and what you thought of as weaknesses turned out to be your greatest strengths? How would you function knowing you had to struggle to get to where you wanted to go? Would you do it? Could you do it? ­ There are so many questions, and over time I’ve realized that asking questions will not only get you answers but will also lead to more questions. If you don’t know when to stop asking questions, then the answers cease to be of use, and when the answers aren’t useful, you stop asking questions and so on and so forth. But how can you fix a system if you’re not a part of it? According to developmental psychology, there are certain keystone events that should happen over the average lifetime. What happens when that order changes? Does that mean that the rules don’t apply? That doesn’t sound like a normal train of thought, does it? But what is normal anyway? I’ve never been normal or average. I’m a mystery, a conundrum, a 1,000-piece puzzle with a single piece missing. ­The missing piece used to change every day, but over time, it became clear that my missing piece was indeed a “missing peace” and that I would need the God’s help and plenty of heart to ‑ fight my way through numerous battles, facing more than my fair share of adversities. After God sat me down to talk over something, I told him, “­Thank you.” But then I also said, “­That’s f**ked up, God.”

A collection of poetry I wrote when I was in the midst of a severe depression, all the while continuing to raise my son and deal with various medical conditions. Although the poems are in no specific order, they document my journey from depression to finding the joy in life again.