Book blurb from Harper Collins:
There is a book for everything...
Somewhere in the vast Library of the Universe, as Natalie thought of it, there was a book that embodied exactly the things she was worrying about.
In the wake of a shocking tragedy, Natalie Harper inherits her mother's charming but financially strapped bookshop in San Francisco. She also becomes caretaker for her ailing grandfather Andrew, her only living relative-not counting her scoundrel father.
But the gruff, deeply kind Andrew has begun displaying signs of decline. Natalie thinks it's best to move him to an assisted living facility to ensure the care he needs. To pay for it, she plans to close the bookstore and see the derelict but valuable building on historic Perdita Street, which is in need of constant fixing. There's only one problem-Grandpa Andrew owns the building and refuses to sell. Natalie adores her grandfather; she'll do whatever it takes to make his final years happy. Besides, she loves the store and its books provide welcome solace for her overwhelming grief.
After she moves into the small studio apartment above the shop, Natalie carries out her grandfather's request and hires contractor Peach Gallagher to do the necessary and ongoing repairs. His young daughter, Dorothy, also becomes a regular at the store, and she and Natalie begin reading together while Peach works.
To Natalie's surprise, her sorrow begins to dissipate as her life becomes an unexpected journey of new connections, discoveries and revelations, from unearthing artifacts hidden in the bookshop's walls, to discovering the truth about her family, her future and her own heart.
My Thoughts:
The book had elements I liked and other elements not so much. Of course I picked up a book that revolved around a bookstore. I'm pretty sure I would have DNF'd the book, but since I was listening to this in audiobook format I could be doing other things while listening. Unfortunately the main character Natalie annoyed me at times and that can make feeling invested in the story harder. Harder to care about the outcome of the story.
Natalie was dealing with a lot of grief, I won't go into so I don't spoil this, but we learn she is dealing with a lot emotionally that make the taking on the failing bookstore and her grandfather's poor health make things difficult for her to cope at times.
There's a romantic sub-plot that becomes a love triangle. A will they won't they and with who. It was ok and wasn't what turned me off the book. Natalie struggles with relationships believing her mother was never a good role model in that area and is on the fence over which guy she should choose.
There's a scene at the end, that I won't give away, but it was not something I expected from the character Natalie. It was so counter to her through the entire book that it made me wonder why the heck it was even added in the first place. It turned me off from reading any other of the author's books because it makes me wonder what the heck would happen in another novel that I'm not expecting. Honestly if I were to give another of her books a chance and this particular thing were to happen again I'd be so frustrated. To read an entire novel having an ideal of how a character would behave then have something happen that is so counter to their personality it is really off putting. Had the thing happened earlier in the novel and been a part of her personality I would have DNF'd the book. Felt cheated at the end. Hence why I've never picked up another book by the author.
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