By Susan Wiggs
“You’re never alone when you’re reading a book,” Mom used to say.
The Lost and Found Bookshop
Summary
Natalie Harper had a job she couldn’t stand. But the job was stable and predictable, so she stayed…until one fateful day when she received news that would change her life. Her boyfriend and mother were both killed in a plane crash, leaving Natalie alone to care for her ailing Grandy and the struggling bookshop.
Natalie’s plan was simple: sell the bookshop and go back to her old job. But when it turned out that Grandy was technically the sole owner of the store and he wasn’t going to sell, Natalie had to find another path. First, she quit her job to return to the shop full time. Second, she hired a handyman (Peach), who happened to be the father of one of the shops most loyal young customers, to help with all of the building repairs. Lastly, she tried to drum up some interest in the bookshop in an attempt to save it from disaster.
Natalie, Peach, Grandy, and their friends find hidden artifacts, make new friends, and find love, all in an effort to save The Lost and Found Bookshop.
My Thoughts
Plot
I had been in a reading slump for a bit before picking up this book, so I had been looking for something quick and easy to read. Boy was I in for a surprise. This novel was much sadder than I had ever expected-not that that is necessarily a bad thing. Natalie losing her mother and boyfriend, Grandy forgetting, maybe losing the bookshop?
For me, the most difficult part was Grandy forgetting. I recently lost my Grandfather, and my Grandmother has dementia-so she sometimes forgets he has passed. Just like with Grandy, every time we tell her that Pop is gone, her heart breaks all over again.
Was I worried about them losing the bookshop? Not really. I would place this book pretty squarely in the chick-lit genre, so picking it up, I expected everything to work out in the end. That wasn’t a deal breaker for me though, since the joy of reading this type of book is the journey more than the destination.
And the ending-I feel like everything was wrapped up in a neat and tidy little bow way too quickly. I was left feeling like the last little bit was super rushed when the rest of the book kind of dragged.
Format
For this title, I did listen to the audiobook at 1.5 speed. For me, all audiobooks read extremely slow, so I speed up everything. Emily Rankin read the audiobook, and she has been the reader on many other books I have listened to. Her voice is easy to listen to, and she is good at portraying emotion in her voice. I have no issues with format.
Writing
I felt that this book was pretty predictable. Early on, Natalie calls an author’s agent and was told that he wasn’t available to do a book signing for 2 years-at that point, I knew he would come into play at some point. When they introduced Peach, I knew he would end up with Natalie. For some readers, this might be a turn off. For me, it’s hit or miss. In this case, I wanted something short and predictable. Some readers might take pause at the language in this book-but in my opinion, those people need to get over themselves. If you want a clean book, then go read some Amish fiction, not a chick-lit title where you will expect at least one sex scene. There were also some descriptions in this book that didn’t make sense to me. For example, there are comments about how in shape Natalie is, but never once do we see her even attempting exercise. The same is true for Peach-though his could be explained away by his job.
Characters
This book should have been a character driven book, and I was mostly disappointed. The exceptions to this disappointment are Grandy and Dorothy. In the sections from Grandy’s point of view, I could really feel his pain, confusion, and fear with knowing he is forgetting things. I felt you could really see the world from his eyes. And Dorothy-don’t get me started on this adorable little girl. She was spunky and resourceful, and a great side character.
The rest of the main cast of characters were sub-par for me.
Trevor-Trevor is portrayed as this Adonis of a character that swoops in to save everything. Do I think he was poorly written? No. But because of the predictability of the book, I knew he wasn’t going to last. His perfectness was a weird turn off for me too. Like, from the moment he was introduced, I was waiting for the shoe to drop.
Peach-A sexy handyman/walking encyclopedia/divorced father/avid reader? What can this man not do? Well, except tell Natalie that he likes her for like 98% of the book. His name comes from his military service/his Georgia birthplace, and it kind of sucks. And he’s obviously attracted to Natalie, but sometimes it seems almost creepy when he is in the bookstore. I mean, you know he and Natalie are going to get together in the end, but there was never a point where I was rooting for them.
Natalie-OK, so this girl was so confusing. On one hand she is described as a toxic boss, but then on the other she is described as this sweet, caring individual. She starts the book pretty full of herself, and you would expect that over the course of the book she learns to not be, but that just doesn’t happen. She is proud of Grandy for returning the found items to their owners-but she shouldn’t be surprised since he’s already done it at least one other time in the book. She dates Trevor even though throughout the book she finds herself continuing to be interested in Peach. She doesn’t take the time to get to know people, and doesn’t seem to take the time to care about the people she already does know.
Final conclusions
I mean, I finished the book, which means it did what it was supposed to do. Would I recommend it to others? Probably not. 2.5/5
Jenn V. Reads 