#BookReview #LibraryReads #RomCom #TheLittleBookShopOfLoveStories #JaimieAdmans

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The Little Bookshop of Love Stories by Jaimie Admans

Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Genre/Age Romantic Comedy / 15+

Goodreads

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 page of every book, she knows she’s stumbled across something special.

But Hallie’s beloved bookshop is in financial trouble, and with sales dwindling, she can’t help but wonder if she is really cut out to run a business.

Things start to look up 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

Brief Summary
Jaimie Admans has a knack for creating loveable, down-to-earth characters who steal your heart in the most charming of ways. I was so busy focusing on the easy-to-spot plot twist that would cause friction between Hallie and Dimitri that I totally missed guessing the much more important plot twists that made this story so wonderful. This book made me feel and for that alone, I would give it 5 stars.

Themes and Trigger Warnings
Grief, loss due to cancer, loss due to an accident, dysfunctional families and infidelity are all touched on in the book. We also see a character letting go of things that weigh them down, and starting to heal because of it.

Star Rating
5-stars. Was it perfect? Probably not but the book is so quirky, endearing and wonderful that I couldn’t put it down.

The Characters
I loved, loved, LOVED that Dimitri was as accident-prone, goofy and odd-ball as Hallie. It was quite refreshing that the hero needed rescuing and encouragement as much as the heroine did. I also loved that this couple was not only perfect for one another but perfect because of one another. Hallie’s family were fantastic, it was so lovely how her sister came through for her when times got tough and her mum was just too funny for words. Drake was a little too much of a caricature for my tastes, but this is a feel-good rom-com so the churlish, humourless bad guy is a must somewhere in the plot.

The Plot
This has to have one of the best meet-cutes ever, and the fact that it was the MMC who was dorky and clumsy, yet pulled it off with aplomb, only made me love him, and this book, more. The messages in the books were such an interesting subplot and the idea of displaying them as leaves on a tree – well I really want to see that in real life somewhere!

The Writing & The World-Building
Both of these can only be described as amazing. I don’t have much ability to create a visual image but Ms Admans had me there, in that little Cotswold village, sitting on a dilapidated roof terrace, gazing up and down the high street, searching for the buried “treasure” of a six-year-old boy and watching Heathcliff (the goldfish) eye up passing poodles. This book drew me in from the very beginning and it took me on the most magical, enjoyable, love-filled journey that I could ever wish to make.

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