Review by dandelionfluff - The Lost Bookshop

dandelionfluff 's review for:

The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods

2.0

lighthearted fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

A promising, charming premise that turns into a very confusing narrative that, as it turns out, really doesn't focus on a lost bookshop all that much. If you're hoping to be invested in the setting, you'll be disappointed!

I could go on and on about what I'm baffled by throughout the book, but here's the big big thing: if Madame B is the personification of the lost bookshop, and can appear to and even intervene in Martha's life, then why on earth didn't she intervene in Opaline's? Opaline gets thrown into an asylum, loses her child-- a child whose survival doesn't even really mean much because if I have this right she gets hit by an actual train later in the story-- NO ONE intervenes on her behalf. Not even, it would seem, a magical book store. What magic did it have for her at all in the end? It could have been just a normal shop waiting for her after everything was said and done! Absolutely not worth the near 500 page read.

Content Warnings