The bookstore was advertised to me as a ‘quirky’ book about a young woman who finds herself single, pregnant, and working in a bookstore (while also working on her PhD in art history at Columbia) and it certainly delivered. I found it easy and relaxing to read although there were parts that annoyed me.
The main character, Esme, is a smart young woman but in sections of the book she seems way too naive. Overly so. More so that I would have believed of a “real” woman. Especially because in other sections she’s not naive at all. Everyone came across as a bit too perfect – except Esme’s ex-boyfriend of course.
The characters are colourful, and I found myself wanting to hear more about them as the story progressed which is always a good thing except that the book never delivered on my desire.
There’s a lot of details about her schooling, and her ex-boyfriends career. Details about the bookstore which I found really endearing. The writing flip-flopped while I was reading though, from being detailed and quite intricate to being very plain and simple. That’s not necessarily a bad thing but it did make me want to skip some of the boring bits to get to the main story again.
Over all, I do think it was a well written debut novel. No issues with grammar or layout of the ARC I was given in return for an honest review. I would recommend it for anyone looking for a light romance story with a lot of education packed behind it – and of course anyone who loves those little bookstores that are tucked away in all of our cities.
4/5 stars
The Nomadic Reader 