A review by matmatmatty
The Bookshop Sisterhood by Michelle Lindo-Rice

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

2.5

This was weird honestly. Follows four friends (three black and one white) who decide to open a bookshop together. In the process of doing this, each of them experience something that will change their lives forever...

The start felt a bit like a sequel (like I didnt really get the closeness of these women, because so many characters were thrown at me it felt like I was missing something). The book references felt a little too forced at times for me, and I didn't like some of the messaging at all.

I'm gonna go by character because I think its easier that way:
Celeste - our 'main' character (opens on her and closes on her)
Mild spoiler for start of book (from first couple of chapters):
Celeste is struggling after the after math of a carjacking at gunpoint and is refusing to go to therapy, even though she can barely get in a car without having a panic attack. Her husband gets annoyed and asks her for a divorce.

Spoilers for later on:
It turns out that her husband did that so she would get the therapy and never expected to actually divorce her, which WHAT. If a man tried that with me, I would be fuming and would NOT ask to renew our vows jfc


Toni - the influencer
Toni is about to get married to her dream man, who wants to have kids. She finds out that she might not be able to have kids (and I have a MASSIVE issue with the doctor who told her outright that she can't have kids because she's stil having a period, so she can still get pregnant, it'll just be difficult) and decides to hide this from her fiancé. also she starts getting messages from an account that turns out to be her old boyfriend, who knocked her up when she was like 15, forced her to get a backstreet abortion and tricked her into committing a crime. He's out of prison and is now blackmailing her or he'll tell everyone.

Authors need to stop writing influencer characters without actually knowing what it is like. She goes live constantly and has a ridiculously high viewer count, but isn't being swarmed constantly? Those are like Drake numbers she's doing honestly. But she can still live a normal life? also
the idea she could put her wedding info out on social media and not expect gatecrashers is ridiculous.

I also think her story raised a lot of issues in my opinion.
It does get addressed, but the fact that Toni goes so long talking about her abortion and how she can't have kids that i read it that she thinks she can' have kids because of her abortion. Which is not true, and i think is quite harmful.

Also i need words with her fiancé because
telling a woman that he can't wait to see her 'belly swell with his child' is the least sexy thing I can think of and dude needs better dirty talk lines.



Leslie - the white one
Spoilers:
Leslie's only daughter gets sick and then she finds out that she was adopted and her dad isn't her biological dad. She needs to find a match for her daughter so reaches out to find her birth parents and turns out they are still together and have a bunch of kids. She gets the match, makes up with her dad and has more family.

Leslie's story was maybe the weakest for me because I felt that she was overreacting a lot. I get she went through a lot (probably the most) but for a 34 yo woman, damn she felt whiny.

Yasmeen - the poor one
First, I think it is crazy to see how well off her friends are and how she struggles to get a job that pays well, and how any of them could have helped her, But whatever.
Spoilers:
Yasmeen wins the lottery but starts spending like crazy, ends up meeting a woman who scams her and she loses most her money. Also there is the subplot because her parents disagree with gambling and so don't want any of her money (despite literally having their lights turned off at the start of the book, I just think that's unrealistic)


Overall, this felt like a lot of drama and not what I was expecting. Really didn't like this one.

Also maybe the audiobook was different, but I;ve heard people talking about sex in this book and everything I heard was 'fade to black' at the most. Mostly people talking about having sex and no actual sex shown.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings