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A review by readwithnat
The Bookshop of Forgotten Dreams by Emily Blaine
4.0
Disclaimer: I received a free digital ARC (Advanced Reading Copy) of this book from NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.
This book was somewhat of a slow burn for me and overall I wasn't into the story as I thought I would be.
Max is a rising movie star but his temper keeps getting him in trouble. After getting in a physical violent altercation in the city, he gets arrested and faces serious charges that could land him in prison for a long time. His best and oldest friend Damien testifies in his favor and gets the judge to sentence Max to house arrest which he can serve in his small hometown outside Paris. The conditions of his sentence include Max working at a small bookshop and help Sarah, the store owner, maintaining the building. Sarah is a shy town girl trying to keep her late grandmother's bookstore afloat but doesn't have the money to pay for the work the building needs. It's a win-win situation and Max moves into Sarah's small apartment above the bookshop.
As the week pass and Sarah and Mac get to know each other, they both realize their lives could be different. Max's bad-boy attitude and anger issues keep getting in trouble, and he doesn't want to admit that his life is not what he thought it would be as a rising star. Sarah realizes that while she loves being a bookworm, there is more to life than simply reading, and she could have her own love story if she opened her mind and heart to new experiences.
Overall, this story was something I'd choose to read based on the fact that the setting is in a bookstore. However, I wasn't into the story as I thought I would be.
This book is translated from French to English, so I think there were some issues with the translation that made the story hard to follow at times. The pace of the book is incredibly inconsistent. While the first few chapters lay the foundation for the love story between Max and Sarah, the middle part of the book is incredibly boring. I found myself skimming so much of the story and I can't even remember how it got to the end. The characters are written in very stereotypical ways. Max is described as a "bad boy" with tattoos and having anger issues. Sarah is a shy bookworm who has never even left her hometown and does not understand the world outside her bookstore. The worst part is that they don't go through meaningful character development, so while it happens, we don't get to read how they get there. I also had a hard time believing the love story because the characters were very incompatible with each other, and I'm not the biggest fan of this type of troop when a woman becomes the savior to an angry man.
The plot is also inconsistent and it throws some twists that came out of nowhere. TW for suicide talk and spoiler ahead. I usually enjoy twists that are not foreshadowed in any way, but when it comes to sensitive topics, I sheer away from this type of writing. It might have been because of the translation issues, but the scene when Max finds out about the person's suicide was hard to read, and I wish it had been handled differently. I'd say that it did help to shape the final part of the book, so the reading pace got better for me after this scene. I did appreciate the subplot about the play Sarah was working on, and I really liked some of the other characters. While the pace and plot stay inconsistent throughout the book, I did like the ending.
Overall, the story was a slow burn for me. I'd like to point out that I do find that the translation from French to English might have been one of the main reasons the book felt so off. Unfortunately, I don't read French but I've read great reviews from people who have read the original novel so it might be worth exploring for people who speak the language.
This book was somewhat of a slow burn for me and overall I wasn't into the story as I thought I would be.
Max is a rising movie star but his temper keeps getting him in trouble. After getting in a physical violent altercation in the city, he gets arrested and faces serious charges that could land him in prison for a long time. His best and oldest friend Damien testifies in his favor and gets the judge to sentence Max to house arrest which he can serve in his small hometown outside Paris. The conditions of his sentence include Max working at a small bookshop and help Sarah, the store owner, maintaining the building. Sarah is a shy town girl trying to keep her late grandmother's bookstore afloat but doesn't have the money to pay for the work the building needs. It's a win-win situation and Max moves into Sarah's small apartment above the bookshop.
As the week pass and Sarah and Mac get to know each other, they both realize their lives could be different. Max's bad-boy attitude and anger issues keep getting in trouble, and he doesn't want to admit that his life is not what he thought it would be as a rising star. Sarah realizes that while she loves being a bookworm, there is more to life than simply reading, and she could have her own love story if she opened her mind and heart to new experiences.
Overall, this story was something I'd choose to read based on the fact that the setting is in a bookstore. However, I wasn't into the story as I thought I would be.
This book is translated from French to English, so I think there were some issues with the translation that made the story hard to follow at times. The pace of the book is incredibly inconsistent. While the first few chapters lay the foundation for the love story between Max and Sarah, the middle part of the book is incredibly boring. I found myself skimming so much of the story and I can't even remember how it got to the end. The characters are written in very stereotypical ways. Max is described as a "bad boy" with tattoos and having anger issues. Sarah is a shy bookworm who has never even left her hometown and does not understand the world outside her bookstore. The worst part is that they don't go through meaningful character development, so while it happens, we don't get to read how they get there. I also had a hard time believing the love story because the characters were very incompatible with each other, and I'm not the biggest fan of this type of troop when a woman becomes the savior to an angry man.
The plot is also inconsistent and it throws some twists that came out of nowhere. TW for suicide talk and spoiler ahead. I usually enjoy twists that are not foreshadowed in any way, but when it comes to sensitive topics, I sheer away from this type of writing. It might have been because of the translation issues, but the scene when Max finds out about the person's suicide was hard to read, and I wish it had been handled differently. I'd say that it did help to shape the final part of the book, so the reading pace got better for me after this scene. I did appreciate the subplot about the play Sarah was working on, and I really liked some of the other characters. While the pace and plot stay inconsistent throughout the book, I did like the ending.
Overall, the story was a slow burn for me. I'd like to point out that I do find that the translation from French to English might have been one of the main reasons the book felt so off. Unfortunately, I don't read French but I've read great reviews from people who have read the original novel so it might be worth exploring for people who speak the language.