Reviews with content warning for Grief - The Last Bookshop in London: A Novel of World War II

Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Last Bookshop in London: A Novel of World War II by Madeline Martin

8 reviews

val_theburrowofstories's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad 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? No

5.0

I started The Last Bookshop in London this day just to listen to something while I was working and ended up in my bed in tears finishing the last chapters of this book. It was so good it gave me back that feeling of loving books so much and how special they are to me.

I can't believe it's been 10 days since I read this book and I haven't done the notes yet. It's just as if I don't want to get over it, objectively maybe it's not the best book out there, but I know I really liked it and it meant so much to me.

The way I picked up this book after I watched Pearl Harbor and I wanted some historical fiction and then I made Shannel choose one of the little papers from my tbr jar lol

I had listened to this narrator before in When We Had Wings and I already knew the audiobook was going to be great, I'm excited to listen to more books narrated by her.

I honestly don't think I can't put into words how good this book was in my opinion. Like just for this book I have lost the ability to write reviews, but I'll try.

"Out there you safe lives, in here you safe souls"

This book is about Grace Bennet, a young girl who went to live to London just before the war got to them and finds a new job at a bookshop with this grumpy old man who didn't want her at first and yet she's determined to do a good job. So we see how the years go by and she lives with her mom's best friend and has to adapt not only to a new city but a city in war, desperate to do her part to help people she joins kind of a night watch to do so. But she did not only helped people that way, she saved people's lives by building a little community around books, during those years in the bookshop she learned to love books and reading, the old man became like a father figure to her and he recommended her books, she started to read for people when the city was being attacked and every afternoon to help them get through it. That’s basically it, but the connections between the characters are so special and emotional to me, I feel like she ended up with a little found family and so much support from different people.

I love love love reading historical fiction books set in WWII, I keep learning new things about that time with each book, I get to meet these incredibly strong characters and feel so much empathy for them hoping they and their loved ones will survive.

Grace getting to a new city and working on a bookshop while she had a support system back at her new home just made me want to do it too and have the same things!

I think one of the most especial things in this book for me was the way the author talked about books, about reading, about being a reader and the way she built a community around these stories Grace would read them. I just absolutely loved that. I wanted to immediately start reading so many classics after this.

This book truly reminded me of how much I love books and how especial they are to me, it made me want to have my own personal library and people I could share the stories with, I love thinking of books as a love language 🤎

Reading my annotations from the last couple of chapters makes me so sad and almost in tears again, this book I swear 😭

I hope I can own my own copy someday in my little library <3

I have this author's other 2 historical fiction books on my TBR and I'm so excited, I love that they have something involving books on the title.

Content Warnings

suzannewilliamson1's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

kfrickle's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I found this a very enjoyable read. I listened to it on audiobook and thought the narrator did a great job. I love how the atmosphere is set, and it really brought you to London and in the bookshop! This book pulled at my emotions and I really enjoyed the characters. I also loved the book recommendations that the characters gave each other in the story! I added a few to my shelves! It does have some sad moments and there is talk of death and grief here. However, I really would recommend this to everyone, especially if you are a History Fiction and Book Lover! For those who are curious about language: I did count about 5x that the characters used God's Name in placement of "gosh" but in my opinion it wasn't distracting.

Content Warnings

toriffic's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad 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

4.25

Content Warnings

passionatereader78's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful sad tense 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

4.0

Grace works at a bookshop. She can't wait to get a job at Harrod's Department store until she is given a book to read. She falls in love with the book and the bookshop. She likes recommending books to the customers and listening to what they are reading. One even Grace and her family gets the terrible news, London is at war. As she watches her friends be called up to serve, she doesn't know what to do to help with the war efforts. Little does Grace know that she and her fellow store owners will have to defend their community during the blitz. This story was well written. I enjoyed reading it.

Content Warnings