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9.92k reviews for:

The Lost Bookshop

Evie Woods

3.8 AVERAGE

mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

This was an enjoyable quick read, but it didn't blow me off my socks. It was original, but also a bit predictable. The translation I read has quite some errors, which annoyed me. 

The mini cliffhangers at the end of each chapter kept me engaged, but at some point I just wanted one of the storylines to continue for a bit. 

I did not enjoy the part where Opaline's brother puts her away. I just don't like reading about all the injustices men did (and do) to women. It's good that we are made aware of things like this, but it makes me so so angry.
 

The magical elements in this book seemed superfluous, they didn't really add a lot to the story. This did feel a bit like the magic was tacked on to attract fantasy readers to a historical novel, while trying to keep it small enough to keep historical fiction readers happy.
adventurous mysterious
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
emotional mysterious sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

There is something about Henry that I don't love.

I also can't get past the part where Josef was literally fighting for the Germans in WWII and Opeline is all "he's my soulmate." Girl what? Are we going to ignore that he was a literal Nazi? I don't care that he was supposedly conscripted and he's actually Austrian. It's still pretty freaking weird and wrong.

Armond, Lindon, Shane, and Matthew all sucked in there own ways. Armond didn't come as a surprise. The Star Wars reveal for Lindon was strange. Shane was obviously a bad human. Matthew was probably an okay guy until he developed feelings for a pregnant woman when he had a whole wife and family at home.

Anyway, after some thought, it seems like the main theme of this book is "Men are the worst."

Give me more Madame Bowden though. I'm obsessed with her.

I enjoyed this book. It was a little slow to start but once I got a couple chapters in, I was hooked. I loved the back and forth from past to present. The characters were so believable. I was so absorbed I didn’t even see the couple of twists coming. Well done! 
adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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: Yes

I can’t even think of words to describe this book.  Feeling lost myself, it was just the book that I needed to read! 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
medium-paced

I have to say, this book was delightful. It did reach a point where Opaline’s story would have you in a high and then Martha & Henry’s would bring you down from it. After processing it, I think it helped the wanting more of Opaline and making her chapters something to look forward to. The richness of the plot was incredible and the plot twists, yes twistS, caught me off guard and was pulling my heartstrings.

Incredible read.
adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
emotional inspiring slow-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