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3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The Library of Borrowed Hearts by Lucy Gilmore
⭐️⭐️💫 (2.5/5)
Genre: Contemporary Fiction/Romance
About 350 pages
Chloe Sampson, a librarian in a small town, has spread herself thin as she is the sole guardian for her three young siblings while she is only in her early 20s. She is barely getting by and her grumpy neighbor, Jasper, seems to always want to make her life harder. But the one thing that always warms Chloe’s heart is books, so when she finds love notes scribbled in the margins of an old library book, she is naturally drawn to that story. And as it turns out, her grumpy neighbor has something to do with those notes. In an effort to find out the details, Chloe finds herself and her family interacting more with Jasper, who may not be as bad as they once thought.
The Lonely Hearts Book Club won my heart earlier this year, so I was looking forward to this “sister” novel. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite measure up. The pacing was pretty slow and there were a ton of subplots that never were fully developed. Conceptually, it was cute, but I didn’t really get invested until the last 25% of the book 😕
Favorite Quote: “If marriage is out of the question, does that mean we’re running away like Romeo and Juliet instead? I can tell you right now, I’m no Hemingway heroine. I’m not dying at the end of the book for the sake of a good redemption arc.”
medium-paced
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This wasn’t the heartwarming book I was expecting. I felt so sad for the characters so much of the time.
Chloe works at the library. She’s only 24. She has custody of all of her young siblings, she chose to step in and raise them when her mom abandoned them 4 years ago she dropped out of college and fought to get her siblings. Chloe is strong and she’s been through a lot.
Her life gets more interesting the day she finds a copy of The Tropic of Cancer in stack of books in the library basement to be discarded. She takes it home to sell it, hoping to make some much needed money.
But her curmudgeonly neighbor Jasper gives her a blank check in exchange for the book. And Chloe realizes that he’s one of the two people exchanging secret love notes on the pages of the book.
And this begins the best thing about this book, Chloe and Jasper’s friendship. They see a lot of themselves in each other. Jasper’s young adulthood also involved a loyalty to his siblings that left Jasper barely keeping his head above water.
As the book goes on, more and more notes are found by Chloe in other library books. It’s almost amazing no one else found them since 1960. But we get to learn more about Jasper and Catherine’s ill fated love. Unfortunately the more I got to know Catherine the less I liked her. And I was *supposed* to like her. She was supposed to be a character to care about but instead she just made me mad. She hurt poor Jasper and the guy has been trying to get over that hurt since 1960 :(
The story was just so much sadder than I anticipated.
Chloe works at the library. She’s only 24. She has custody of all of her young siblings, she chose to step in and raise them when her mom abandoned them 4 years ago she dropped out of college and fought to get her siblings. Chloe is strong and she’s been through a lot.
Her life gets more interesting the day she finds a copy of The Tropic of Cancer in stack of books in the library basement to be discarded. She takes it home to sell it, hoping to make some much needed money.
But her curmudgeonly neighbor Jasper gives her a blank check in exchange for the book. And Chloe realizes that he’s one of the two people exchanging secret love notes on the pages of the book.
And this begins the best thing about this book, Chloe and Jasper’s friendship. They see a lot of themselves in each other. Jasper’s young adulthood also involved a loyalty to his siblings that left Jasper barely keeping his head above water.
As the book goes on, more and more notes are found by Chloe in other library books. It’s almost amazing no one else found them since 1960. But we get to learn more about Jasper and Catherine’s ill fated love. Unfortunately the more I got to know Catherine the less I liked her. And I was *supposed* to like her. She was supposed to be a character to care about but instead she just made me mad. She hurt poor Jasper and the guy has been trying to get over that hurt since 1960 :(
The story was just so much sadder than I anticipated.
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
funny
reflective
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No