Title: The Lost For Words Bookshop
Author: Stephanie Butland
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
First published: April 20th 2017
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Finished reading: June 9th 2018
Pages: 368
“Our pasts are as unfixed as our futures, if you think about it. And I like the freedom I have to tell a different story.”
*** A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***
Here we go again: unpopular opinion time. Trust me, I was fully expecting to love this story, especially since I have a weak spot for books about books… But I guess it turns out it wasn’t ment to be. On its own The Lost For Words Bookshop has all the right elements to turn the story into a success. And that is probably one of the reasons I’ve seen only glowing reviews so far. I’m asking myself now: why didn’t enjoy this story better then? Well, first of all it’s probably me that is part of the problem. Because let’s face it, introduce a love triangle and I start sneezing. But surprisingly it wasn’t exactly the romance in this story that bothered me. The main problem I had was with the main characters, who somehow I just wasn’t able to get a proper feel for. Which is strange, because each of them is well developed, feels real and adds a little something to the story. But it is what it is, and I can’t change my feelings. Another thing that I wasn’t so sure about were the flashback chapters, going back to Loveday’s childhood. Instead of adding dept and intrigue to the plot, I mostly felt it interrupted the flow of the present storyline, especially since both seemed to have a quite different writing style. The switches were actually one of the reasons it took me longer than expected to finish this read. That said, I did love the incorporation of poems, many many bookish references and of course Loveday’s tattoos and their meaning. A true bliss for any booklover to find. Likewise, the descriptions of the bookstore make me wish I could visit the place myself. But somehow, The Lost For Words Bookshop just didn’t hit home for me. Being able to see some of the plot twists coming from a mile away didn’t help either… But like I said, I’m in the minority here and fans of contemporary romance with a darker twists will probably enjoy this one a lot better than I did. Because there is no doubt that Loveday’s past is no joke.
Loveday Cardew has been working in Archie’s bookshop ever since she was fifteen, and to be honest she prefers books over people. Books have always played a role in her life, and she even has the first lines of the novels that mean the most to her tattooed on her skin. Loveday doesn’t want to get close to a lot of people for a reason though, as she is trying to hide her past… Something she will never want to talk about. But after certain books arrived at the bookshop, she is starting to wonder if someone knows about her mysterious past after all…
On its own, The Lost For Words Bookshop seems to be having all the right elements. It has a lot of bookish references to fall in love with, complicated and well developed characters, suspense and a mysterious past, drama, a healthy dose of romance for the romance fans… I was expecting to love this one, but somehow I wasn’t completely convinced. Between the lack of connection to the characters, love triangle and past-present storyline switches that didn’t feel natural to me, I ended up taking a lot longer than I thought I would to finish this one. There were elements I loved of course, including the bookish elements and Archie’s character. And I’m positive most of you will enjoy this story a lot more than I did.
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