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lenaoknihach's review against another edition
3.0
San Francisco. Historická budova s nádhernými detaily. Výloha plná těch nejkrásnějších vydání klasické literatury. Dluhy. Staré a zašlé trubky. Málo zákazníků.
Knihkupectví ztrát a nálezů padne jednoho dne neplánovaně do rukou Natalie Harperové. Nejen obchod, ale i celý dům má problémy, které je nutné vyřešit. Zatímco se nová majitelka knihkupectví topí ve fakturách a upomínkách, Peach Gallagher má na starosti stavební práce a rekonstruuje budovu.
Prostředí a atmosféru knihkupectví vystihla Susan Wiggsová dokonale. Měla jsem pocit, že sama chodím mezi regály, v pozadí slyším řemeslníka Peache, za pokladnou Natalii, že cítím vůni starých i nových knih a čerstvé kávy.
Příběh se příjemně odvíjel, nikam nespěchal, vše mělo svůj čas. Romantická linka byla slabší a s kýčovitým koncem jsem počítala. Ale myslím si, že obzvlášť Natalie si takový pohádkový konec zasloužila.
Knihkupectví ztrát a nálezů padne jednoho dne neplánovaně do rukou Natalie Harperové. Nejen obchod, ale i celý dům má problémy, které je nutné vyřešit. Zatímco se nová majitelka knihkupectví topí ve fakturách a upomínkách, Peach Gallagher má na starosti stavební práce a rekonstruuje budovu.
Prostředí a atmosféru knihkupectví vystihla Susan Wiggsová dokonale. Měla jsem pocit, že sama chodím mezi regály, v pozadí slyším řemeslníka Peache, za pokladnou Natalii, že cítím vůni starých i nových knih a čerstvé kávy.
Příběh se příjemně odvíjel, nikam nespěchal, vše mělo svůj čas. Romantická linka byla slabší a s kýčovitým koncem jsem počítala. Ale myslím si, že obzvlášť Natalie si takový pohádkový konec zasloužila.
athenaowl's review
3.0
I really wanted to like this book, and for the first half, I did. But there were a few things that took me out of it in the second half. I did really enjoy the premise, I think every book lover dreams of owning or working in a bookshop, and it was fun to read the titles the author dropped in when Natalie (the protagonist) recommended or sold a book. I really liked the character Andrew aka Grandy and how respectfully Wiggs treated his POV chapters and his dementia.
Be warned I kind of go on a rant below this line. In short, there was limited and bad character growth, some bad writing, some plot points that don't make sense, and a lot of telling not showing when it comes to characterization.
My biggest issue with the book comes from feeling like Natalie didn't really grow as a character until maybe the last chapter of the book. I kept on waiting for her to slowly let her guard down, for her to gradually move past her grief and live her own life. And she never really did. She kept on talking about how she wanted to and then suddenly Peach proposed (and I have a few things to say about that!) and Natalie suddenly became an impulsive and non-risk averse person. It took like 30 seconds to change her entire character. And then we never got to see her and Peach's relationship. It was a will-they-won't-they thing for most of the book and finally at the end they get together but it's so rushed. I almost would have preferred it without the epilogue because it just felt tacked on. Like Wiggs went oh here are all of these kinds of loose ends I need to tie up but I don't want to write them in any detail, lets just do newspaper articles instead.
I also felt like Wiggs was often too heavy-handed with Natalie's grief and worry over her grandfather. I'm not at all saying that there is a right and wrong way to handle grief in the real world, but the job of an author isn't to write the real world, it's to write things in a way that feel truthful to the reader and that don't leave the reader rolling their eyes because Natalie said "oh Grandy," sadly 21for the millionth time in a chapter, or because Natalie decided that she has to bring her dead mom up in almost every conversation she has.
There are also some things that just didn't make sense and narrative opportunities that weren't explored. To keep this review somewhat readable in length I'll just list out some of my pet peeves: 1) Natalie apparently has great abs but she never talks or even thinks about working out. I know it's a small thing, but it just felt unrealistic and took me out of the story. 2) Trevor's secret was so dumb. It's built up to be this big thing, and I'm thinking that maybe he doesn't actually write the books, but no, it's just that he lied about his childhood. 3) Trevor, someone who is apparently super-duper famous, was somehow able to keep his real childhood a secret for years, despite having a mother who is in and out of rehab and has no problem telling Natalie the truth. Like, no journalist decided to dig into his very vague backstory? 4) The smoking a joint in bed thing. I don't care about smoking weed but it felt incredibly out of character. 5) Natalie never really thinks about Rick except in the "oh I was so wrong about our relationship so now I can't trust my instincts" kind of way. I get that she didn't love him and that her grief for her mom is much larger, but I find it hard to believe that she could just move on without any hangups over the fact that her boyfriend died the night he was going to propose to her. 6) Peach's proposal. It's insane and out of character for both of them and I hated it. 7) the fact that apparently, every guy was into Natalie, and whenever Trevor met any other man around Natalie her would size them up or something. It just felt very cliched and unnecessary, like something you would find in a not-great YA novel. 8) I don't get why Trevor likes Natalie. She's always so awkward on their dates, doesn't come across as particularly charming, never does anything nice or sweet for him in return, and just seems kind of boring around him. And this is in part because we're just told as an audience that Natalie is nice and kind and loyal, but I felt like we never really saw that. She doesn't seem like a great friend, I mean her close friend was many months pregnant and Natalie just had no idea? I feel like a lot of the time the reader was just told that a character acts a certain way or feels a certain way and we're just expected to believe it with no proof. 9) Last one, I promise. there were so many cool historical parts that could have been drawn out or woven in better that just seem random. The old war medal they find, it's just never mentioned again once they give it to the family. The same thing with the vase. I feel like these were just planted there to show how good a person Grandy was for not wanting to sell them and to return them to their rightful owner. And that's sweet and all, but narratively kind of meaningless.
Be warned I kind of go on a rant below this line. In short, there was limited and bad character growth, some bad writing, some plot points that don't make sense, and a lot of telling not showing when it comes to characterization.
My biggest issue with the book comes from feeling like Natalie didn't really grow as a character until maybe the last chapter of the book. I kept on waiting for her to slowly let her guard down, for her to gradually move past her grief and live her own life. And she never really did. She kept on talking about how she wanted to and then suddenly Peach proposed (and I have a few things to say about that!) and Natalie suddenly became an impulsive and non-risk averse person. It took like 30 seconds to change her entire character. And then we never got to see her and Peach's relationship. It was a will-they-won't-they thing for most of the book and finally at the end they get together but it's so rushed. I almost would have preferred it without the epilogue because it just felt tacked on. Like Wiggs went oh here are all of these kinds of loose ends I need to tie up but I don't want to write them in any detail, lets just do newspaper articles instead.
I also felt like Wiggs was often too heavy-handed with Natalie's grief and worry over her grandfather. I'm not at all saying that there is a right and wrong way to handle grief in the real world, but the job of an author isn't to write the real world, it's to write things in a way that feel truthful to the reader and that don't leave the reader rolling their eyes because Natalie said "oh Grandy," sadly 21for the millionth time in a chapter, or because Natalie decided that she has to bring her dead mom up in almost every conversation she has.
There are also some things that just didn't make sense and narrative opportunities that weren't explored. To keep this review somewhat readable in length I'll just list out some of my pet peeves: 1) Natalie apparently has great abs but she never talks or even thinks about working out. I know it's a small thing, but it just felt unrealistic and took me out of the story. 2) Trevor's secret was so dumb. It's built up to be this big thing, and I'm thinking that maybe he doesn't actually write the books, but no, it's just that he lied about his childhood. 3) Trevor, someone who is apparently super-duper famous, was somehow able to keep his real childhood a secret for years, despite having a mother who is in and out of rehab and has no problem telling Natalie the truth. Like, no journalist decided to dig into his very vague backstory? 4) The smoking a joint in bed thing. I don't care about smoking weed but it felt incredibly out of character. 5) Natalie never really thinks about Rick except in the "oh I was so wrong about our relationship so now I can't trust my instincts" kind of way. I get that she didn't love him and that her grief for her mom is much larger, but I find it hard to believe that she could just move on without any hangups over the fact that her boyfriend died the night he was going to propose to her. 6) Peach's proposal. It's insane and out of character for both of them and I hated it. 7) the fact that apparently, every guy was into Natalie, and whenever Trevor met any other man around Natalie her would size them up or something. It just felt very cliched and unnecessary, like something you would find in a not-great YA novel. 8) I don't get why Trevor likes Natalie. She's always so awkward on their dates, doesn't come across as particularly charming, never does anything nice or sweet for him in return, and just seems kind of boring around him. And this is in part because we're just told as an audience that Natalie is nice and kind and loyal, but I felt like we never really saw that. She doesn't seem like a great friend, I mean her close friend was many months pregnant and Natalie just had no idea? I feel like a lot of the time the reader was just told that a character acts a certain way or feels a certain way and we're just expected to believe it with no proof. 9) Last one, I promise. there were so many cool historical parts that could have been drawn out or woven in better that just seem random. The old war medal they find, it's just never mentioned again once they give it to the family. The same thing with the vase. I feel like these were just planted there to show how good a person Grandy was for not wanting to sell them and to return them to their rightful owner. And that's sweet and all, but narratively kind of meaningless.
motherjuggler's review
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-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? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Death of parent, and Dementia
Minor: Death
pam2375's review
3.0
This was a very sweet book. The characters, even when they are trying to be 'not-so-sweet', are all sweet.
If you want a book to read to escape the reality that is happening around you at this crazy time, this is the book for you!
My thanks to Netgalley and William Morrow for this advanced readers copy. This book released July 2020.
If you want a book to read to escape the reality that is happening around you at this crazy time, this is the book for you!
My thanks to Netgalley and William Morrow for this advanced readers copy. This book released July 2020.
aileenmaria's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
bargainsleuth's review
4.0
For this and other book reviews, visit www.bargain-sleuth.com.
The Lost and Found Bookshop is a hot new release from Susan Wiggs. It just came out in July 2020, and my library is currently swamped with requests for it. I was lucky enough to listen to the audio narration of the book.
First, props to the author, who leads off quoting the Newbery honor book, Tuck Everlasting. It is one of my favorite books from childhood (even ahead of Nancy Drew!) so I immediately had hope that the book would be as good as all the reviews I’d read.
Natalie is reeling from the sudden death of her mother and boyfriend of one year in a plane crash. What makes it especially horrible is that she had been planning to dump Rick because she just didn’t see their relationship going any further; she like Rick well enough, he was a good man, but there was something missing. When she finds out that Rick was flying her mother to visit her and had an engagement ring on him, Natalie is stunned.
She returns home to the bookshop her mother ran, a place where she grew up, in the upstairs apartment. Not only does Natalie have to deal with the mounting debt of the bookshop, she has to take care of her Grandy, her 79-year old grandfather who is in the early stages of dementia and lives behind the bookshop. In fact, the shop had originally been his typewriter factory, and before that, a shop run by his father.
While running the store, Natalie meets a young girl named Dorothy (named after the L. Frank Baum heroine), who just loves the books of Trevor Dashwood. He’s an immensely successful author who happens to live in the San Francisco area. Dorothy’s father, Peach (Peter, but he grew up in Georgia and obtained the nickname when younger) Gallagher is hired as a handyman to make some needed repairs to the building before Natalie can sell it and move her grandfather into assisted living. Handyman Pete is a looker, of course, and finds Natalie attractive, but has a strict no dating clients rule.
There’s just one wrinkle to selling the building: Grandy owns it, not her mother, and refuses to sell. So Natalie and Handyman Peach set about to making the living space safer for her grandfather, moving him to the first floor, adding an alarm system, guard rails in the bathroom, etc. It is this time that Natalie decides to move back home full time, quit her job and run the bookstore.
But Natalie’s in for a big surprise. There’s a mountain of debt for the bookstore and building, and there seems to be no way out of foreclosure. She hopes to boost sales by having some author signings and increase online sales. Meanwhile, Grandy keeps mentioning that the building had a treasure that was lost long ago.
Throughout The Lost and Found Bookshop, we read both Grandy and Peach’s perspectives, which furthers the narrative. Added to that narrative is a journal of a young Irish woman, Colleen, found while doing repairs to the building. She was an incredible sketch artist. She mentions meeting a Hearst, as in the publishing Hearsts, and something about a first edition of Audobon sketch books, four oversized, hand painted volumes that were said to number only 200 when first published in the 1830s.
While repairing the plumbing, Peach discovers a metal box full of personal mementos and medals. Grandy insists that while they might be worth some money, they should go to the descendants of the original owner, whose information is inside the box. The same thing goes for the Chinese vase found while renovating. After finding out the history of the vase, and the fact that it could be worth millions of dollars, Grandy insists that the rightful owners reclaim the property, instead of using the monies to help save The Lost and Found Bookshop.
Meanwhile, as Natalie plans author visits, she encounters Trevor Dashwood, who says a young girl name Dorothy wrote and asked him to visit because the bookstore is in trouble. When Natalie confirms that this is true, Trevor offers to squeeze in a personal appearance within the month, and makes a date with her, too. Now there’s kind of sort of a love triangle with Natalie and Peach and Trevor.
The story progresses, and so does Natalie’s growth as a person. She finds herself again, after years of living in the corporate world. Her relationships with Peach and Trevor also progress, and she feels bad about feeling any desire so soon after losing Rick, even though she was going to break up with him.
The story has several obvious conclusions and a few surprises, too, which I won’t spoil you with here. If you’re interested in the story this far, you’ll probably want to pick up The Lost and Found Bookshop yourself.
The Lost and Found Bookshop is a hot new release from Susan Wiggs. It just came out in July 2020, and my library is currently swamped with requests for it. I was lucky enough to listen to the audio narration of the book.
First, props to the author, who leads off quoting the Newbery honor book, Tuck Everlasting. It is one of my favorite books from childhood (even ahead of Nancy Drew!) so I immediately had hope that the book would be as good as all the reviews I’d read.
Natalie is reeling from the sudden death of her mother and boyfriend of one year in a plane crash. What makes it especially horrible is that she had been planning to dump Rick because she just didn’t see their relationship going any further; she like Rick well enough, he was a good man, but there was something missing. When she finds out that Rick was flying her mother to visit her and had an engagement ring on him, Natalie is stunned.
She returns home to the bookshop her mother ran, a place where she grew up, in the upstairs apartment. Not only does Natalie have to deal with the mounting debt of the bookshop, she has to take care of her Grandy, her 79-year old grandfather who is in the early stages of dementia and lives behind the bookshop. In fact, the shop had originally been his typewriter factory, and before that, a shop run by his father.
While running the store, Natalie meets a young girl named Dorothy (named after the L. Frank Baum heroine), who just loves the books of Trevor Dashwood. He’s an immensely successful author who happens to live in the San Francisco area. Dorothy’s father, Peach (Peter, but he grew up in Georgia and obtained the nickname when younger) Gallagher is hired as a handyman to make some needed repairs to the building before Natalie can sell it and move her grandfather into assisted living. Handyman Pete is a looker, of course, and finds Natalie attractive, but has a strict no dating clients rule.
There’s just one wrinkle to selling the building: Grandy owns it, not her mother, and refuses to sell. So Natalie and Handyman Peach set about to making the living space safer for her grandfather, moving him to the first floor, adding an alarm system, guard rails in the bathroom, etc. It is this time that Natalie decides to move back home full time, quit her job and run the bookstore.
But Natalie’s in for a big surprise. There’s a mountain of debt for the bookstore and building, and there seems to be no way out of foreclosure. She hopes to boost sales by having some author signings and increase online sales. Meanwhile, Grandy keeps mentioning that the building had a treasure that was lost long ago.
Throughout The Lost and Found Bookshop, we read both Grandy and Peach’s perspectives, which furthers the narrative. Added to that narrative is a journal of a young Irish woman, Colleen, found while doing repairs to the building. She was an incredible sketch artist. She mentions meeting a Hearst, as in the publishing Hearsts, and something about a first edition of Audobon sketch books, four oversized, hand painted volumes that were said to number only 200 when first published in the 1830s.
While repairing the plumbing, Peach discovers a metal box full of personal mementos and medals. Grandy insists that while they might be worth some money, they should go to the descendants of the original owner, whose information is inside the box. The same thing goes for the Chinese vase found while renovating. After finding out the history of the vase, and the fact that it could be worth millions of dollars, Grandy insists that the rightful owners reclaim the property, instead of using the monies to help save The Lost and Found Bookshop.
Meanwhile, as Natalie plans author visits, she encounters Trevor Dashwood, who says a young girl name Dorothy wrote and asked him to visit because the bookstore is in trouble. When Natalie confirms that this is true, Trevor offers to squeeze in a personal appearance within the month, and makes a date with her, too. Now there’s kind of sort of a love triangle with Natalie and Peach and Trevor.
The story progresses, and so does Natalie’s growth as a person. She finds herself again, after years of living in the corporate world. Her relationships with Peach and Trevor also progress, and she feels bad about feeling any desire so soon after losing Rick, even though she was going to break up with him.
The story has several obvious conclusions and a few surprises, too, which I won’t spoil you with here. If you’re interested in the story this far, you’ll probably want to pick up The Lost and Found Bookshop yourself.