Admittedly, I couldn't help but compare this to 13 Little Blue Envelopes and unfortunately, even without the comparisons, Instructions for a Broken Heart isn't that good of a book, in terms of characterization and plot. 
 Three days before her drama club's trip to Italy, Jessa Gardner discovers her boyfriend in the costume barn with another girl. Jessa is left with a care package from her best friend titled "Top Twenty Reasons He's a Slimy Jerk Bastard," instructing her to do one un-Jessa-like thing each day of the trip. 
 It's a really plain and simple story of a girl trying to get over a guy. That's it. I tried to sympathize with Jessa and at turns, she makes it easy but at others, she acts without thinking at all, and she hurts the people around her. I understand she's been hurt and Sean didn't help at all by rubbing his new romance into Jessa's face, but she's in Italy! I can't believe she would waste an entire school trip, a trip that she herself said that she was very much looking forward to, pining over love. She could have used the opportunity to pull herself together but didn't. 
 Instructions for a Broken Heart is very focused on love. I didn't feel like I was taking a road trip at all, or that I was even in Italy, which is a pity. Even the romance felt contrived and moved too quickly for my liking. I did enjoy the teachers who came along on the school trip. They seem so nice and concerned over Jessa; it makes me wonder if teachers do care about their students to such an extent in real life. 
 Overall, it was a good enough read but not outstanding in any way. 2.5 stars but 3 for the nice cover that compelled me to buy the book in the first place.