Instructions for a Broken Heart Paperback – May 1, 2011

An Open Letter To Instructions for a Broken Heart,You go book! You're pretty much one of the funniest and sweetest breakup books I've ever read. I think that the reason I liked you so much could be because of fairly current life events of my own? That's always a possibility, but that being said you had most of my favorite things in your pages. Legit girl/boy friendships that don't head into romantic territory, about 1,000 Broadway show references and Italy (aka foreign lands). You really out did yourself and I'm not sure why more people don't know about you. We've all been in your shoes, or one day we will be and I think you're pretty cool for being who you are.-The White UnicornI think what pulled me right into this story was the writing itself. Oh, and the previously mentioned Broadway musical references. You can't go wrong with those, you just can't. But anyway, Culbertson really knows how to describe what is happening around Jessa. Sure, her language heads toward the flowery side of things, but there is a lot of weight in all the pretty words and that doesn't happen all the time. There is a undefined, magical quality to what you read in these pages. It's guaranteed to get ugly, there are going to be tears shed, but it still seems almost like a real life fairytale.Imagine what it would be like to find your boyfriend cheating on you and then you have to go on a 10 day trip with the new happy couple... in Italy. That's what Jessa has to deal with. To top everything off, her best friend isn't on the trip with her, but not to worry, we get to know Carissa through the 20 envelopes that she sends off with Jessa. Jessa comes off as slightly whiny and lost, but you understand where she's at and you're wanting to give her high fives by the end of the book. This girl is hilarious and I like how she's not painted as a Saint, even though it's easy to side with her. She has a lot of growing up left to do and a large chunk of that ends up happening on the beautiful streets of various Italian cities.The setting is rich. You can feel Italy's heart in the story. It's almost it's own character. An entity that helps Jessa heal and keeps her and us as readers highly entertained as the novel progresses. You get to see a lot of Italy in just 10 days. I was impressed.So, because their school's acting program is fairly small, Jessa's school has to team up with another group of high school students. It was a clever plot point to have two separate schools on the same tour. It added lots of interesting characters and also gave us Dylan Thomas, who sounded pretty darn dreamy, if you're asking me. It was great to see Jessa form an instant friendship with him as well as seeing her interacting with her best male friend Tyler. I loved that Culbertson gave us such a genuine friendship between two teens like Jessa and Tyler. It would have been so easy for them to be romantic leads together, but they just worked as friends and it was awesome to see in YA. Of course that still leaves us with Dylan Thomas...Instructions for a Broken Heart will remind you of what it feels to have your heart ripped out and what it means to put it back together again. Sometimes the journey is messy, but in the end you'll end up being bigger and better than you were before. Jessa reminds us of that more than anything else.You can read this and many other reviews on my YA book blog <a href="http://thewhiteunicornfiction.blogspot.com/">The White Unicorn!</a>

Totally disappointing 'cotton candy'. Fast read to the end and that has a nice little twist. But getting there? A bit of an insult to YA intelligence in my book. Don't waste your money.

Culbertson's first novel,  Songs for a Teenage Nomad  was an impressive first novel with some very interesting echoes of Holden Caulfield, and she builds on that success with her second book. Her prose flows throughout the book, illuminating both the characters and the magnificent setting of Italy. Culbertson's characters feel like real teens, with real teen problems, but also real teen opportunities, and the novel captures both in an enchanting fashion worthy of the locale. An excellent read, and I'm eagerly awaiting what journey Culbertson will take us on next.

The narration is an odd choice considering your jumping into the relationships of people but the story is so blocked from the main character. The giant developments were so short it read awkwardly. Could have been so much better with a simple fixes.

How can you get over the fact that your boyfriend cheated on you while in a costume barn? I'm sure Jessa asled herself this many times before heading to the beautiful place known as Italy. Little did she know that her best friend, Clarissa, already figured that one out for her. The question is, can she step out of her comfort zone and follow the instructions so clearly written for her on each envelope? Can Jessa get over a broken heart while being trapped near her ex making out with another girl?"Instructions for a Broken Heart" has a lot of good things going for it. It's characters were alright. They didn't grow as much as most would hope for, but they are relatable. They each have a very distinguished personality & that's one of the best things! Although..I must admit, Jessa is not my favorite character. She is stuck in her own little world and fails to witness the world around her. It was one guy out of a trillion...you deserve so much better than a slime ball! Along with characters, Kim describes Italy wonderfully! It almost feels as if you are travelling alongside Jessa and her friends. This novel is made realistic. Something that I firmly believe the youth of today needs. I personally needed to read this & have several parts marked. This isn't a love story..It's a story of hope. Hope of moving on, hoping of things turning out better, hope for forgiveness, & hope for new love.Not everything was perfect though. It wasn't horrible, but I absolutely hated how it randomly skipped pieces. It felt like we missed certain parts of the story..like a movie that slips a scene! I also wasn't fond of the writing style so to say. At some points it seemed really sketchy, like it didn't flow well.All in all, I would recommend this to younger girls. As well as anyone who has gone through a bad breakup. It adds some comedy to the situation. There's no sex scenes or anything that can be considered a trigger so I don't see that it could be a problem for anyone to read. There is cuss words periodically though. I also might add that the cussing isn't a huge abundance. Just some to keep in mind. It was a really fast read & I can see myself possibly reading it again or gifting it to a friend.

I fell in love with Italy through the eyes of Kim Culbertson, through the eyes of Jessa.We meet Jessa at what has probably been the worst moment of her life thus far. She's walked inon her boyfriend in a very compromising position, with another girl. Natalie, otherwise knownas "the boob job". Very shortly after recieveing the shock of her life, Jessa and the rest of herschool drama group head off on a trip ti Italy, with a group from another school.Bring in Carissa, Jessa's best friend. And her 20 envelopes, each containing a reason why Sean(boob job snogging boyfriend) is not worth her time or tears. Along with an instruction. SomethingJessa has to do to fix her broken heart. Some of these are silly, some have real wight to themin helping Jessa to figure out how she feels. not just about Sean, but about her whole life andthe people in it.We meet Tyler, her other best friend, who is falling in love for the first time and angry that Jessais too wrapped p in her own drama to notice, but he still tries to help her find her way. Thereare others who really try to help her too, a teacher, other members of her group and the otherschool's group. It is obviois that a some point Jessa's journey will lead her to someone who is rightfor her, but we are mislead about who thisis and I won't give any spoilers.Ultimately this is not just a story about some girl who's boyfriend cheated, blah blah blah.It is a real journey of self discovery, of figuring out where we may have gone wrong, of how we haveconvinced ourselves that we are on the right path. Of how people can be bad, bad people can also begood, and the good ones can hurt us too. How it is possible to find forgiveness, that the forgivenesscan be the first step in fixing what is broken. I thouroughly enjoyed this. It did not change my life,but it did make me think about the things we deem important, and what people are capable of. Not justthose who do the bad things, but those who are wronged. Very beautifully written, but it wouldn't havebeen nearly as beautiful a story if it hadn't been set in Italy. I don't know if the author has ever beenthere, but it really came alive for me.