How to Find Love in a Bookshop

How to Find Love in a Bookshop by Veronica Henry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A bookstore owner dies of cancer, and his daughter moves home to take over his shop, which has had a big impact on a wide variety of people over the years.

I so enjoyed this delightful book! I especially enjoyed listening to it on audiobook, as the narrator is fantastic with the accents. The feel of the book is a lot like the movie Love Actually, with different characters' story arcs intersecting in different ways, although the main character was definitely Amelia Nightingale.

Reminded me a bit of a Maeve Binchy novel also, although to be fair, I've not read one of hers in probably 20 years, so memory could be faulty. And the story resolutions here are MUCH more satisfying that with the Binchy books I've read--Henry doesn't seem to get bored with her book and rush through the ending, making the characters behave out-of-character like Binchy did. The only "Hunh?" moment for me was near the end when Amelia was sick for a couple of weeks, culminating in a couple of disastrous decisions, and no one seemed to notice or take care of her. She was surrounded by people who knew and loved her--how could no one notice she was near collapse with a combination of stress/grief and what sounds like pneumonia??

Otherwise, though, I wanted to live in the world of these flawed, wonderful people--just...delightful!

For readers' advisors: character doorway is primary, setting is secondary (Peasebrook is a small fictional village in the Cotswolds in the U.K.). A bit of swearing. No onscreen sex or violence.

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