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mschrock8's review
4.0
"She's doing a kiss-ass job on the thank-you cards. She's making them herself, and they're pop-up. I asked if I could have one to keep on my fireplace mantel." pg. 276
jenlynnhill's review
3.0
I liked the book, although I did think it would be more about Sarah given the name of the book and less about Grace...but we learned very little about Sarah overall.
tsquare345's review against another edition
3.0
Enjoyable, a bit slow at times. I do enjoy a story about small town community. Let's see how the next book in the series goes.
sunshine169's review
4.0
The Book Charmer is about the small town of Dove Pond and it's close knit community. It's a everyone knows everyone and everything kind of place. Sarah Dove comes from a long line of Dove's who founded the town. Their family is said to bring good luck and each member has a bit of something extraordinary. Sarah, the town librarian, hears books talk. They tell her what books a person needs and she makes sure they receive them. A librarian who can hear books talk is what drew me to The Book Charmer. I am not wholly decided on if the story is reflected in the title since I find myself wanting more of the talking books in the narrative.
Dove Pond is in financial trouble but it is not Sarah who is slated to save it. However, she knows who will. Grace Wheeler is an uprooted city girl who moves into the town temporarily with her foster mother and niece. She becomes an unwilling participant in the town's survival efforts.
Due to the story being told from three perspectives you don't get much of the books talking aspect. That aside it was a cute quick read. I loved Dove Pond even though some of its residents are mighty pushy! I am looking at you Sarah!
Thank you Netgalley and Gallery Books for an e-arc of this title in exchange for an honest review.
Dove Pond is in financial trouble but it is not Sarah who is slated to save it. However, she knows who will. Grace Wheeler is an uprooted city girl who moves into the town temporarily with her foster mother and niece. She becomes an unwilling participant in the town's survival efforts.
Due to the story being told from three perspectives you don't get much of the books talking aspect. That aside it was a cute quick read. I loved Dove Pond even though some of its residents are mighty pushy! I am looking at you Sarah!
Thank you Netgalley and Gallery Books for an e-arc of this title in exchange for an honest review.
rebroxannape's review against another edition
3.0
Jane, a softhearted child who loved animals, cried at the thought of all the thirsty farm animals. As her tears fell, clouds gathered, and it began to rain. From then on, every time Jane cried, it rained. It was said that whenever local farmers wanted it to rain, they would bring Jane onions. And when they wanted sunshine, they brought her cake.
From page 1
I loved the way this book began! It had a whimsical fairytale-like aura that was charming. After a few pages, I was hooked. In 2001, The eccentric youngest of 7 daughters who loves the library discovers a grouchy old 18th-century book about the history of her town that is demanding she read it. Literally. I loved the way she just took this in stride and even would not let the book boss her around. There was even a promise of future romance in an exchange with an awkward schoolmate who overhears her answering back to the book. And it turns out that at least some of her sisters also have special powers. I was thinking “Oh, Great more to come once the intriguing Sarah’s story is told!--Lot’s of possibilities!” Then we meet Grace, a hostile young girl, seeming unrelated, trapped in the foster system whose only care is protecting her beloved and beautiful younger sister. She is finally taken in by her “last chance”: a fiesty, wise, no-nonsense woman who strangely seems to take to her, instead of her pretty and seemingly sweet sister. This was all in the prologue.
Unfortunately, starting in Chapter 1 when we meet them again as adults, it started to go downhill.
Grace turns out to have made a successful career as a financial advisor, her spoiled sister is dead, and she has become the ersatz parent of her 8-year-old niece as well as the parent of her parent, “Mama G”, who has Alzheimer's. The depiction of that tragic disease and its effect on the victim and their family was handled beautifully. Not so the depiction of the 8-year-old girl, who acted more like a difficult teenager. Instead of feeling sympathy and caring about Grace’s growth from an angry closed off sour old biddy, I just didn’t like her. Plus, she is not an old biddy, she is only around 25 years old. That just didn’t track with me. Actually, how she overcame her difficult childhood with the help of Mama G would have been an involving journey. But I still liked and was interested in Sarah. Unfortunately, she devolved into a side character and her "book charmer" capabilities are only a sidelight and a catalyst to Grace’s story.
At about a third of the way through the book, it got very slow and dull. And though I kept reading, it lost me. And the reason was the writing. The author kept circling back and going over old territory without doing much to advance the plot and deepen the character development. It’s as if she was circling back to ensure understanding like she was a 4th-grade teacher whose class is not keeping up. We got it the first time, Karen Hawkins: Grace has a lot of anger, She does not want to be friends with anyone, Daisy is struggling, Sarah is nice and wants to be friends because she believes Grace is the key to saving the town. Travis is hot, a good guy, damaged, and he and Grace are fighting their mutual attraction but are meant to be, even though Grace is determined to move back to Charlotte.
Spoiler
It picked up a bit when Grace unraveled the town’s neglect of finances, took the negligent townspeople by the scruffs of their necks, and reconstituted the beloved Apple Festival to revitalize the town. She also did a 180 personality-wise. After all the turmoil and hurt feelings she is turned around after a short conversation with Kat, the local femme fatale. After the build-up to the all-important festival which took over more than half the book, we don’t even get to go! She skipped right over it! I was also grateful (yes, grateful) that we didn’t get any more of Grace’s determination to leave town once her neighbors saved Mama G’s life, made Daisy a nice little girl, and brought her love and friendship.I won’t go into the idyllic southern town where black people go to the same 2 churches as their white friends. And a prominent character, Zoe, looks like a “black Audrey Hepburn” whose family owns the bank and is so powerful and popular that the Mayor lives in fear that she will run for office because she would win in a landslide. The other black person that we get to know a little is Aunt Jo who has a dog named “Moon Pie”. I’m just not going to go there. I looked up Karen Hawkins’ biography because I was sure she had never been within two states of the South. I guess Tennesee is really different? I liked the magical realism when it popped up from time to time, but I’m not sure feeding into this kind of fantasy of what it is like in small-town southern America is helpful. It would be wonderful, but unfortunately not remotely recognizable.
**a rounded up 3 stars**
https://rebekahsreadingsandwatchings.com/
redhdlibrarian's review
5.0
Absolutely LOVED this book. The characters were realistic and lovable. The city of Dove Pond is one which I would want to move to. It reminds me of the small town spirit and people caring for one another. the plot of the book was saving small town America with the resources, people, and traditions that our small towns already possess. Overall, a somewhat feel good book that includes real world problems with just a hint of romance and a wallop of friendship.
Great couch read/weekend read. Looking forward to the next book in the series. Please hurry.
Small town, festivals, friendship.
Great couch read/weekend read. Looking forward to the next book in the series. Please hurry.
Small town, festivals, friendship.
amym84's review
4.0
Sarah Dove has more than just an average love of books. Books speak to her...literally. She first noticed her special ability when she was a young girl and a journal written by her ancestor told Sarah that she would one day save Dove Pond - their quaint and sleepy little town in North Carolina, yes named after the Dove family.
After the death of her sister, Grace Wheeler moves back to Dove Pond with her niece and foster mother - who has Alzheimer's - to give them a familiar setting as they get back on their feet after the tragedy.
As soon as Sarah sees Grace she knows Grace will play a pivotal role in revitalizing the near-to-failing Dove Pond she just doesn't know how, and the books aren't helping her out any either.
Grace doesn't want to set down roots in Dove Pond she only plans to be there for a year, but her new job as the city clerk pulls her deeper and deeper into town business and, with it, into more interactions with the colorful group of people that live in Dove Pond, but they just might get past her carefully built walls and make her see that there's enough room in her heart.
The Book Charmer had this wonderful ability to pull me into the story, fully engrossing me within its pages with the characters and the setting. I liked the feint in that you believe, going into the story, that it will be about the titular Book Charmer - Sarah - but once you are fully settled in, you realized that it revolves mostly around Grace's journey. From life as a foster child bouncing around from home to home with her sister, to being an adult now taking up the motherly role for her niece you see the challenges that are upon Grace and that her hesitations about getting attached to the town and the people are well-founded. She comes off a bit prickly for much of the book, but I really enjoyed the fact that no one in Dove Pond really let this stand as an excuse.
Almost complimentary to Grace's reticence is her neighbor Trav Parker. Trav and Grace are like mirror images of one another. Both have parental figures who suffer (or suffered) with Alzheimer's and both are closed off from letting people in. While Grace's reasoning is due to her childhood spent in foster homes, Trav is the PTSD he's still suffering from after returning from Afghanistan. I wanted a little more focus placed on Trav's journey because I think it's just as important as Grace's. I almost felt like it was too quick a turn from him just wanting to be left alone to forming an interest in Grace. I really enjoy the interactions between Trav and Sarah. I really liked seeing a male/female relationship that wasn't romantic and where the pair weren't related - even though their feelings for one another ran more toward the familial than romance.
Sarah Dove was a wonderful character. Her brightness and caring really shown through the story and jumped off the page. I loved the introduction of her ability and the idea that all her siblings - of which there are seven - seemingly have their own special talents. Her sister Ava - the only other Dove that we meet - seems to have an affinity with planting and growing and brewing teas. Just the idea that the Dove's talents are all open secrets within the town and people either believe or don't, but never really question it was endearing. But as I said above, Sarah was not the focus of this book. In that way I felt like there's still so much left to her story, added to that is an apparently complicated former relationship that is teased but never settled one way or another. As this is apparently the first book in a series, I'm hoping Sarah's character continues to grow around the other characters introduced here. I'd be happy if Sarah was the fixture around which the series is based and kind of ends up getting her story secondarily. Also, I really wish for more Dove sister appearances. I'd love to see all their special abilities front and center.
Overall, The Book Charmer really turned out to be a feel-good magical story. By the end, I really didn't want to leave Dove Pond and it's various citizens, but I look forward to the fact that there will be more stories in the series.
*ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
After the death of her sister, Grace Wheeler moves back to Dove Pond with her niece and foster mother - who has Alzheimer's - to give them a familiar setting as they get back on their feet after the tragedy.
As soon as Sarah sees Grace she knows Grace will play a pivotal role in revitalizing the near-to-failing Dove Pond she just doesn't know how, and the books aren't helping her out any either.
Grace doesn't want to set down roots in Dove Pond she only plans to be there for a year, but her new job as the city clerk pulls her deeper and deeper into town business and, with it, into more interactions with the colorful group of people that live in Dove Pond, but they just might get past her carefully built walls and make her see that there's enough room in her heart.
The Book Charmer had this wonderful ability to pull me into the story, fully engrossing me within its pages with the characters and the setting. I liked the feint in that you believe, going into the story, that it will be about the titular Book Charmer - Sarah - but once you are fully settled in, you realized that it revolves mostly around Grace's journey. From life as a foster child bouncing around from home to home with her sister, to being an adult now taking up the motherly role for her niece you see the challenges that are upon Grace and that her hesitations about getting attached to the town and the people are well-founded. She comes off a bit prickly for much of the book, but I really enjoyed the fact that no one in Dove Pond really let this stand as an excuse.
Almost complimentary to Grace's reticence is her neighbor Trav Parker. Trav and Grace are like mirror images of one another. Both have parental figures who suffer (or suffered) with Alzheimer's and both are closed off from letting people in. While Grace's reasoning is due to her childhood spent in foster homes, Trav is the PTSD he's still suffering from after returning from Afghanistan. I wanted a little more focus placed on Trav's journey because I think it's just as important as Grace's. I almost felt like it was too quick a turn from him just wanting to be left alone to forming an interest in Grace. I really enjoy the interactions between Trav and Sarah. I really liked seeing a male/female relationship that wasn't romantic and where the pair weren't related - even though their feelings for one another ran more toward the familial than romance.
Sarah Dove was a wonderful character. Her brightness and caring really shown through the story and jumped off the page. I loved the introduction of her ability and the idea that all her siblings - of which there are seven - seemingly have their own special talents. Her sister Ava - the only other Dove that we meet - seems to have an affinity with planting and growing and brewing teas. Just the idea that the Dove's talents are all open secrets within the town and people either believe or don't, but never really question it was endearing. But as I said above, Sarah was not the focus of this book. In that way I felt like there's still so much left to her story, added to that is an apparently complicated former relationship that is teased but never settled one way or another. As this is apparently the first book in a series, I'm hoping Sarah's character continues to grow around the other characters introduced here. I'd be happy if Sarah was the fixture around which the series is based and kind of ends up getting her story secondarily. Also, I really wish for more Dove sister appearances. I'd love to see all their special abilities front and center.
Overall, The Book Charmer really turned out to be a feel-good magical story. By the end, I really didn't want to leave Dove Pond and it's various citizens, but I look forward to the fact that there will be more stories in the series.
*ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
zoe_booklover's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This book is not much about books really, and the magic aspect is very small, it's actually about another character and is very sad.
karenluvstoread's review
4.0
I loved this book! Sarah Dove is not your ordinary librarian who loves books. She has a gift: she talks to books and books talk to her. At one point, books start telling her about a new person that would arrive and help the town of Dove Pond. Sure enough, a city girl named Grace Wheeler moves there and Sarah suspects she just might be the one that will save the town.
The Book Charmer has bookish fun mixed with a bit of magical realism. While this is a lighter read, it’s not fluff. It is a heartwarming story with the magical realism element thrown in. Here are just a few quotes from the book:
“‘Don’t you think that’s the beauty of a book? It can take you places you can’t visit on your own, lets you meet people and see things you can’t in real life.'” (p. 271)
“Love can’t cure a broken heart, but it can hold the two sides together while they heal.” (p. 343)
If you are looking for a lighter read that still has some depth, and you enjoy books with magical realism, then this just might be one you will enjoy too!