Reviews with content warning for Suicide - The Echo of Old Books

The title drew me in but the story kept me reading and crying as well. I listened to this audiobook while working out or cleaning or relaxing. But I'll never forget walking around the neighborhood crying as Ashlyn, Ethan, Belle, and Hemi, and all the wonderful characters found answers for long awaited questions. Each character background broke my heart, but in the end all their heartaches were worth what they found to love in the end. 😭💕

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bnscrivner's review against another edition

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emotional relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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book_reader_lover's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring mysterious medium-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? Yes

5.0

I have not read a book so beautifully written in a long time. Davis wrote a heartfelt book. Her writing is engrossing, effective and heartfelt in The Echo of Old Books.

Ashlyn can feel the Echo of Old Books when she holds them. It's a gift she discovered at age 12. She owns the bookstore An Unlikely Story. One day she gets a call from her friend, Kevin, who has just gotten a box of books in. Ashlyn picks one of the books up and gets nothing, until she opens the book. There's no author, copyright, or publisher in the book. She's never heard of the book, but something draws her to it. Soon, another book appears with the same thing just a different title. Ashlyn is soon on the hunt to figure out who wrote them and what happened in their lives.

Part mystery, part love story, but a whole lot of descriptive beautiful writing. There are flawed characters with great character development. I have never read Barbara Davis before, but know I want to read all her books, especially if they are all beautiful and well written, as The Echo of Old Books is. I highly recommend this book!

😊 Happy Reading 😊

#carlislepubliclibrary #lonokecountylibrarysystem #barbaradavis #theechoofoldbooks #readaway2024

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shaybunchanumbers's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I definitely enjoyed The Echos of Old Books more than I thought I would. The well placed reveals of tragedies and other characters’ backstories were so well done and left me on my seat. I know I audibly gasped at Helene’s heritage reveal. I closed the book with a smile on my face and am excited to watch my friends’ reactions reading it, too.
The book describes itself as a mystery genre but the only mystery that really existed in it were the real names of Hemi and Belle (one of whom didn’t last very long) and how such a misunderstanding occurred in the first place. But, even that, wasn’t really a mystery.

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whiskeywoman79's review against another edition

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challenging emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Historical Fiction / Fiction / Romance / Mystery / Magical Realism

⭐⭐.5 /5

TW: Suicide, death after childbirth, toxic family relationships, WW2 racial divide, cheating
I wanted to love this book. I loved the concept. The dual timeline was okay. A bit annoying but I thought the idea that books could hold a magical energy would make up for that. It didn't.

I wanted to pull for at least one of the characters but I am not sure I liked any of them. Except for Ethan, I guess I did like him. I felt like Ashlyn's (current-day FMC) character is intrusive and overwhelming. Her so-called gift to feel the echoes in books was never explored beyond the first few chapters, although it was once mentioned later in the story when giving an explanation. Belle and Hemi (past timeline MMC and FMC) were both genuinely awful. One had no issue cheating and the other had ulterior motives.

I get Ashlyn's curiosity and the want to research but as the reader, I just keep going back to the thought "Finish reading the books FIRST!" I had visceral feelings about the fact that she was asking questions of people whose lives and history could have been affected by the story without knowing what the story was, or at the very least knowing the information available at her fingertips first.

For it being over 400 pages I feel underwhelmed and the ending left much to be desired.

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