April is lonely. Since her office issued a permanent work from home mandate, she’s lost herself a little. So, in a bid to break out of the funk, she leaves an anonymous note inside a book for the hot guy at her neighbourhood bookstore.

Laura is a busy single mum. Thanks to the meddling hand of fate, she’s the one who finds April’s note, thinking it’s from the guy who served her at the bookstore. A little flirtation with an attractive man who loves books might be just what she needs.

Meanwhile Westley, handsome but not so perceptive, is too distracted by a movie filming at the shop to notice either woman’s furtive glances as they leave notes for each other amid the books in the stacks.

April and Laura’s continued anonymous correspondence will shake all three of these characters out of their mundane routines, sparking a glimmer of hope that they might just get what they want: a storybook ending of their own.

My Thoughts:

Three people, all with different lives but all intertwined within the walls of the bookstore. I love how different and unique this book was. The characters are relatable and I really enjoyed how warm the writing was. These three people all have different reasons to visit the bookstore and it was interesting to see how the book would play out. It was about friendship and romance all set in a bookshop. I found it cosy, comforting and a hopeful read that I did not want to put down. It was so good.

I received an ARC copy of this book for an honest review.

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Beth was seventeen when she first met Gabriel. Over that heady, intense summer, he made her think and feel and see differently. She thought it was the start of her great love story. When Gabriel left to become the person his mother expected him to be, she was broken.

It was Frank who picked up the pieces and together they built a home very different from the one she’d imagined with Gabriel. Watching her husband and son, she remembered feeling so sure that, after everything, this was the life she was supposed to be leading.

But when Gabriel comes back, all Beth’s certainty about who she is and what she wants crumbles. Even after ten years, their connection is instant. She knows it’s wrong and she knows people could get hurt. But how can she resist a second chance at first love?

My Thoughts:

Young love, romance, exploring feelings all wrapped up into a tale of two young lovers but nothing is good for long. Beth was head over heels in love with Gabriel when she was in her teenage years but then he upped and left suddenly, so Beth carried on her life and met her husband and had a child. Many years later after a chance encounter, Beth reunites with Gabriel once more but are they both having the same feelings they once had? Beth is married now and loves her husband so how is she going to feel now Gabriel is back in her life? it is a moving and compelling read which is thought provoking. It is one of those reads where you will never read anything like it ever again. Wow it blew me away. This as a drama on the TV would be epic.

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Yorkshire, 1979

Maggie Thatcher is prime minister, drainpipe jeans are in, and Miv is convinced that her dad wants to move their family Down South.

Because of the murders.

Leaving Yorkshire and her best friend Sharon simply isn’t an option, no matter the dangers lurking round their way; or the strangeness at home that started the day Miv’s mum stopped talking.
Perhaps if she could solve the case of the disappearing women, they could stay after all?

So, Miv and Sharon decide to make a list: a list of all the suspicious people and things down their street. People they know. People they don’t.

But their search for the truth reveals more secrets in their neighbourhood, within their families – and between each other – than they ever thought possible.

What if the real mystery Miv needs to solve is the one that lies much closer to home?

My Thoughts:

This book had a lot of hype when it first came out so I wanted to wait a while until I read it. It is set in Yorkshire in the 1900’s and the main character is Miv. Something bad is happening where Miv lives and her and her best friend are on a mission to find out the culprit. They start making a list of anything or anyone suspicious and hope that they can solve it before the police can. But the only problem is they start finding out things about the people around them that no one else knows. Should they stop now or carry on? it was an interesting story to follow along with, but I really didn’t get what all they hype was about. Yeah it was good but it did not wow me like I thought it would. It was a pick up and put down kind of read for me.

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A young man comes of age and crosses continents in search of an identity—and a cause—at the dawn of the Spanish Civil War in a thrilling, timely, and emotional historical saga.

New York City, 1929. Young Theo Sterling’s world begins to unravel as the Great Depression exerts its icy grip. He finds it hard to relate to his parents: His father, a Jewish self-made businessman, refuses to give up on the American dream, and his mother, a refugee from religious persecution in Mexico, holds fast to her Catholic faith. When disaster strikes the family, Theo must learn who he is. A charismatic school friend and a firebrand girl inspire him to believe he can fight Fascism and change the world, but each rebellion comes at a higher price, forcing Theo to question these ideologies too.

From New York’s Lower East Side to an English boarding school to an Andalusian village in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, Theo’s harrowing journey from boy to man is set against a backdrop of societies torn apart from within, teetering on the edge of a terrible war to which Theo is compulsively drawn like a moth to a flame.

My Thoughts:

This is not my usual kind of read but I wanted to give it a try as I am always open to new genres. It is set in 1929 in New York and we follow Theo, who is in the thick of the Spanish Civil War. He wants to fight and change the world but he cannot do it all by himself, he must prove his worth. It shows a journey of a boy becoming a man and some of the things he goes through and sees along the way are truly frightening. It was a very eye opening story that is powerful and captivating. I did find it quite heavy going but I am so glad I chose to read about such a strong and poignant story.

I received an ARC copy of this book for an honest review.

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