A review by brandongallant
The Hobby Shop on Barnaby Street by Jillianne Hamilton

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

 Thank you for the author, Jillianne Hamilton, for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review! 

This book was a very pleasant read. As the blurb above says, we follow two characters named Maisie and Cal. Maisie is sent by her father to help support her brother's hobby shop in London while he is away servicing in the navy during World War II. She wants to prove herself as being capable of running this store and will go to great lengths to support it, including putting her wages back in the cash till and starts taking pinup photos of women that want to send these to their partners that are off serving. This causes a lot of drama that I won't get into, but it's not seen as being a good job for a young lady in the 40s. 

Our other character is named Cal and he is Maisie's brother's best friend and co-owner of the hobby shop. He is not serving during the war, for reasons that are initially unclear. He struggles to keep the shop going and also seems reluctant to try out new things that Maisie suggests until they bond a little bit. Cal comes off as being very loyal and protective throughout the book, which are traits I really admire. 

Maisie's brother, Roy, deserts the navy and makes Cal promise to not do anything romantic with Maisie which puts him into a bad spot as he begins to fall for her and she falls for him. Included in all of this falling are the bombs being dropped every night. I know a bit about the Blitz, but I didn't really understand what it must have been like for people living in London during that time. Reading this has encouraged me to spend more time reading up on this dark period of time (I'm more familiar with World War I). 

Overall, I fell in love with these characters and their fight to love each other and keep their hobby shop open during this time of crisis. I definitely recommend checking this out!