Review: The Little Bookshop of Love Stories

Title:The Little Bookshop of Love Stories

Author: Jaimie Admans

Publisher: 8th May 2020 by HQ Digital

Pages: 384 pages

How I Read It: ARC book

Genre: contemporary women’s fiction, romance

My Rating: 4 cups

Synopsis:

Today is the Mondayest Monday ever. Hallie Winstone has been fired – and it wasn’t even her fault!

Having lost her job and humiliated herself in front of a whole restaurant full of diners, this is absolutely, one hundred percent, the worst day of her life.

That is until she receives an email announcing that she is the lucky winner of the Once Upon a Page Bookshop!

Owning a bookshop has always been Hallie’s dream, and when she starts to find secret love letters on the first pages of every book, she knows she's stumbled across something special.

Things get even better when she meets gorgeous, bookish Dimitri and between them, they post a few of the hidden messages online, reuniting people who thought they were lost forever.

But maybe it’s time for Hallie to find her own happy-ever-after, too?

My Thoughts

‘How amazing would it be to own a bookshop? To get to live and breathe books every day? To get paid for stroking books, arranging books, talking about books, recommending books, and thrusting books into the hands of unsuspecting strangers?’

This book was exactly the escapism I was looking for, having everything a booklover could ask for: the main lead being a bookworm who wins ownership of a bookshop in the Cotswolds - what’s not to love? This is a book all about ... well, books and how they capture and represent everything from our greatest loves to our greatest sorrows. Add in the sweetest romantic interest and this book is sure to transport you away from your self isolation. 

‘Books are magical in that they can transport you to another time and place, introduce you to people you come to know as friends, in both characters, authors, and now in real people who, at some point in their lives, have chosen each book as carefully selected gifts for someone they cared about.’

There are many things to entice the reader here. Hallie, who ‘wins’ the bookshop is an obvious introvert preferring the company of books. Being a booklover, is easy to relate to as reading guarantees pure escapism providing a place to lose yourself in. The bookshop itself would be a treasure trove to sort through inclusive of the small living flat above. The love interest, Dimitri, proves a friend as Hallie adjusts to her new life. Together they come up with some great ideas to entice customers in. Their relationship, predictable as ever, was a still worthy journey that I enjoyed going on with them. 

‘...he won’t judge me for being clumsy and awkward, and getting excited about stupid things that other people don’t care about, like book release dates, pre-orders popping onto my Kindle at midnight, notebooks that are too pretty to write in, and tote bags with handles long enough to slip over your shoulder and fit a decent amount of books in.’

The unique aspect in this tale was finding the inscriptions in second hand books and their efforts to unite and recreate the relationship that was responsible for the original purchase of the book. It just adds an extra layer and brings a touch of magic to this story. I also appreciated the references to many well loved book titles. There are an array of fun secondary characters and the compulsory lovers tiff, but this is everything I signed up for. 

‘Do you really come in here every day?’ ‘Depends. Will you think I live a sad and lonely existence if I say yes?’ Once again, it makes me smile. ‘No, I’d think you were a sensible and sane person who enjoys being surrounded by lovely books with characters who are much nicer than real people.’

At its heart ‘The Little Bookshop of Love Stories’ is about forging new paths, throwing off the shackles as you stay true to yourself and embrace who and what you love. It’s a great little story with sweet romance and loads and loads of books!

“I’ve always tried to play down how many books I have and how much time I spend reading and living vicariously through book characters’ lives instead of going out and actually living my own, but meeting you has . . . I don’t know, it’s like you’ve given me permission to be myself. You’ve shown me that there are people like me out there, people who will “get” me, and I’ve been looking in the wrong places and trying to be someone else until now.”

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.