English translation of La librairie des rêves suspendus c. 2019

This was such a refreshingly quaint and beautiful story. I’ve read a ton of contemporary romances lately and, after a while, they all kind of blur together. This work felt different and somehow weightier than others.

Blaine’s book feels like a vacation in France, with a close knit (never tedious) cast of characters that you actually want to get to know.

I genuinely had no idea how it would end, but I was left with a huge smile on my face.

Merged review:

English translation of La librairie des rêves suspendus c. 2019

This was such a refreshingly quaint and beautiful story. I’ve read a ton of contemporary romances lately and, after a while, they all kind of blur together. This work felt different and somehow weightier than others.

Blaine’s book feels like a vacation in France, with a close knit (never tedious) cast of characters that you actually want to get to know.

I genuinely had no idea how it would end, but I was left with a huge smile on my face.

https://clife.blog/2022/02/09/book-review-the-bookshop-of-forgotten-dreams/

Max is a French film actor with anger management issues. When his temper takes him too far, his friend offers a solution: to do community service under house arrest at a friends bookshop in his tiny hometown. It’s either that or prison, so he doesn’t have much choice. At first he is angry and resentful toward bookshop owner Sarah. She is extremely shy and nervous to be sharing her home with tattooed and angry Max, but she needs help with repairs to the shop to keep her business afloat. As time goes on and she sees that his attitude is more to keep people away, she grows more attracted to him. But how can a relationship work when her whole life and livelihood is in this tiny town and he needs to be in Paris for his film career?

It seemed as if he was analysing her in every way possible in order to seduce Sarah that’s how it seemed like it was a game for him and then for him to suddenly change.
This book was just an ok read for me. Translated from French, I think some things just didn’t translate well. The idea that someone that shy and nervous would accept living in close quarters with a complete stranger, friend of a friend or not, seems implausible to me. I did love Sarah’s love of books, stuffing her cozy bookshop to the rafters and beyond. It really seems like someplace I’d really love to visit.

Max is a bad boy actor who always finds himself crossing the line. Sarah owns a bookshop and is your typical bookworm who lives life on the safe side. Max has pushed his luck one too many times and ends up getting assigned community service which happens to be at Sarah’s bookshop. Sarah and Max couldn’t be more different but something keeps pulling them together.

This book wasn’t for me. I didn’t like the main character Max. The book was really just blah. The characters didn’t really develop and some unnecessary parts that left me questioning why they were even included.

Even though this book wasn’t for me, you may enjoy it. It’s an easy read and does have the bad boy good girl romance vibes.

This book was not what I was expecting and I’m not sure if that was a good or a bad thing. The book itself is a short and easy read, which made me happy because I’ve been in slump the past few days and haven’t been able to get through anything.

I thought the book was going to be British because it’s a Harper Collins UK book, but it is actually French. I didn’t catch that the book itself was originally written in French and translated to English when I picked it up until I started noticing a few instances of odd phrasing. But as a whole the translation was very good and some readers may not even notice.

I absolutely adored Sarah. As a fellow lover of books she really spoke to me. I really felt her when she said, “I’m happy here, among the books and far away from reality,” because it perfectly captures my love of books. Max on the other hand is a walking talking red flag. He’s a “bad boy” loner with rage issues and a secret that could ruin his acting career if it comes out. I get that he is a romance hero but he is painfully cliche (and I say that as someone with a very very deep love for the romance genre). Also other than admitting his feelings and buying people flowers I never saw him grow and develop into a more mature / better person.

I struggled with the pacing of the book. Where the book was short I felt like Sarah and Max’s relationship was very fast and didn’t have a lot of build. I know that it was technically over an entire summer but because the book wasn’t enough of their growing attraction on page for me. I also thought that the twist that takes them to Paris came way out of left field and felt out of place in the book as a whole.

Overall I did enjoy my time reading the book and because it was short I’m not overly mad upset about the things that didn’t work for me. If I had the opportunity to read another one of Emily’s books I would.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Marketed as a romcom, I didn’t get that vibe. Heartwarming, redemptive story. It was fun to be “back” in Paris, if only in a book.

Merged review:

Marketed as a romcom, I didn’t get that vibe. Heartwarming, redemptive story. It was fun to be “back” in Paris, if only in a book.

Nice, but the topoi of the genre are all there, so that I could have numbered them one by one (she shy and kind, he tormented and grumpy, she bookworm, he viveur, etc.etc.).
Nonetheless, I enjoyed reading it and quickly too, I'm just saying that I'm not surprised, even the big plot twist that the author maybe imagined, I even imagined, but okay, I just read too many books.

Carino per caritá, ma i topoi del genere ci sono proprio tutti, tanto che avrei potuto numerarli uno per uno (lei timida e gentile, lui tormentato e scontroso, lei topo di biblioteca, lui viveur, etc.etc.)
Ciononostante, mi sono divertita a leggerlo e anche velocemente, dico solo che non ci sono sorpresa, anche il grosso plottwist che l'autrice magari immaginava, io lo avevo pure immaginato, ma ok, ho solo letto troppi libri.

I received from the Publisher a complimentary digital advanced review copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.

The end made me angry. Maxime is gross and Sara deservers better. I did like the bookshop setting though.