Publisher: 18th January 2024 by HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter
Pages: 336 pages
Genre: contemporary, books about books, women’s fiction
My Rating: 4.5 cups
Synopsis:
I, Maggie Banks, solemnly swear to uphold the rules of Cobblestone Books.
If only, I, Maggie Banks, believed in following the rules.
When Maggie Banks arrives in Bell River to run her best friend's struggling bookstore, she expects to sell bestsellers to her small-town clientele. But running a bookstore in a town with a famously bookish history isn't easy. Bell River's literary society insists on keeping the bookstore stuck in the past, and Maggie is banned from selling anything written this century. So, when a series of mishaps suddenly tip the bookstore toward ruin, Maggie will have to get creative to keep the shop afloat.
And in Maggie's world, book rules are made to be broken.
To help save the store, Maggie starts an underground book club, running a series of events celebrating the books readers actually love. But keeping the club quiet, selling forbidden books, and dodging the literary society is nearly impossible. Especially when Maggie unearths a town secret that could upend everything.
Maggie will have to decide what's more important: the books that formed a small town's history, or the stories poised to change it all.
My Thoughts
“I want us to have open minds and come away feeling excited about books we might never have appreciated. How does that sound?”
There are some author books that catch you completely by surprise. The ones you were not expecting to love but upon completion come to realise just how refreshing it was. Shauna Robinson (take note of this author’s name - I think we will be hearing a lot more from her) is reportedly a young introverted woman with a charming writing style mostly concerned with … books! I read and loved her, Must Love Books (HERE) and eagerly anticipated her latest offering, The Secret Book Club. It was great! The more I read, the more I fell in love with it - especially the lead character, Maggie.
“I’m not a big people person, I guess you could say.” ... “Why?” “I prefer to be left to my own devices.” “You mean books?” “Books are my primary devices, yes.”
All up this is a quick and fun read. It was just delightful to watch Maggie turn into a reader and pursue what she felt deep down to be her calling in life. If you love small-town dynamics with quirky characters, laughter and a sweet romance then this is the book for you. I loved all the friendships that were formed in the book, especially Maggie's friendship with Vernon - their interactions brought a smile to my face. I loved Maggie and Malcolm’s relationship - a romance that did not dominate the story and the challenges they set each other were terrific. There is just loads more to love about this book - the discussions about the romance genre; culturally relevant and silenced voices in literature; the secret book club meetings and, not feeling bad about no set plan for life. You don’t have to have it all together from the start.
‘No wistful nostalgia for century-old books. No assumption that one type of book mattered more than another. Only excitement about new stories waiting to be discovered.’
There is just so much to love about The Secret Book Club! If you love books about books, small town dynamics, the plight of small town communities (I especially loved Maggie’s book events where famed authors presented a twist of a classic tale) and a cast of relatable and lovable characters (yes! That’s you Vernon!) then I recommend to all lovers of romantic comedy Shauna’s latest offering. Can’t wait to see what she comes up with next.
‘I’d just been supposed to work quietly at the bookstore for a few months, enjoy a reprieve from living with my parents, and use the time to figure out my next steps. Instead, I’d founded a secret community, incited a rebellion, and gotten people fired.’
This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.
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