Love’s Broken Road (Lincoln Love Stories #1)

CONTEMPORARY: Victoria Newel spent six years in an abusive marriage; her husband is now dead. To start over, she moves to Lincoln, Utah to teach math. It is difficult for her to trust men, after the way she and their son were abused by her husband. Drew Dalton is a widower and an English teacher at the high school where Victoria is employed. Drew has some good ideas for how to reach the students, and he shares them with Victoria when asked, as she is out of practice teaching, since her husband wouldn’t let her work. Within the story, Drew is sometimes unaware of Victoria, leaving her to fend for herself at a Labor Day picnic surrounded by strangers, while he visits with his former in-laws. She finally finds a way home with another man who is interested in her. Drew is portrayed as a guy who is wonderful; yet his forgetfulness about a woman he supposedly cares about is somewhat off-putting.

It’s heartbreaking to hear about Victoria’s former marriage and to see the toll that it takes on her when something triggers her fear response. And every time she and Drew begin to have a good conversation, they get interrupted. This is frustrating and disturbs the flow of the story somewhat. Nevertheless, this audiobook pulls the reader in from the first chapter. Victoria’s story is sad and disturbing at times, but then so is Drew’s backstory. The two of them do build on the initial few things that they find they have in common.

This story is professionally recorded without any unexpected sounds within the audiobook. One word is mispronounced within the telling, but everything else is as expected. The narrator is consistent with her character portrayals, and it is easy to differentiate between the voices.

Carey Sullivan