dalaia's reviews
81 reviews

just so.much.cheating. it was unbearable

It may just not be the right time for me to read this, but it's just too much. Too much of everything, too much violence, too much abuse, too much tragedy

Repetitive, boring, uninspiring. directionless, misleading title. And did I mention, repetitive? Just a few interesting stories or points here and there. Not worth, in my opinion, reading the whole book. 

Eye opening, heavy, atrocious 

A sweet and lighthearted story of two women's redemption. For one, in her youth, unburdened by a lifetime of regrets but still deeply regretful of her choices. For the other, seeking to right her wrongs and reconnect with the parts of her she'd put aside for over 40 years before the end. 

The descriptions of their travels through England were beautiful. I've added so many places to my travel list now. The book really is also a love letter to books, specifically to Victorian-era English books. I always enjoy that about Katherine Reay's work. While I'm reading her books, I also feel like I'm hanging out with someone who loves the written word even more than I do. It inspires me as a reader and writer. 

The romance, a subplot in the story but a driving motivation for our main character, is sweet and genuine. The romance between a couple of the side characters -around the last third of the book- is just plain adorable.  I want more of them and their background. 

The storyline of the main character, Lucy, wanting to meet her dad after 20 years, hoping that seeing him and having answers from him would liberate her in some way, was so well done. I will say, for those who have strained relationships with their dads, this could be slightly triggering but also, very healing.

I love that when she did meet him, it wasn't a cliche. He hadn't magically changed. He was everything her mom expected him to be. It was realistic. But that did not take away from the message that people can change. It wasn't his having changed that would liberate Lucy and let her know she could, too.  Meeting him showed her he was making choices, and she could make different ones.

I love how the writer managed and closed this story. Not forcing an unrealistic reconciliation but still enveloping it in plenty of forgiveness and acceptance while allowing Lucy to maintain healthy boundaries.

Lovely story✨

I enjoyed this book, but it felt unpolished. 

It was sooo repetitive! 

The rules of the cafe were restated every chapter, multiple times per chapter as well. I know the new characters may not know or, but we, the readers, do. I felt it could’ve just been said that the rules were told to the person, emphasizing or explicitly saying whichever rule this particular character may have an issue with. 

Also, details about the cafe, what it looks like and the physical experience of traveling back in time were repeated in almost every chapter, with the exact same descriptors. It made no distinction as to what it might’ve felt like to different characters. No, they all had the exact same internal experience. 

And on that note, the internal experience of characters was often told to us, not shown, repeatedly. What they were thinking, what they were feeling, what they had *just thought* 5 book minutes ago, explicitly repeated over and over again. 

This took me out of what was a heartwarming, charming, and emotional narrative. I could never get fully immersed in the story because of these repetitions. If it was a movie it would’ve been like constant flashbacks, and the same exact transformation sequence over and over, with descriptive informative interjections of different things. For example there was this line where it interjected the narrative to tell us in a medical sort of way, what certain conditions were/how they manifested “blank is when blah blah blah happens….” The purpose? To tell us that the associated character knew this information. Why not say something like “Character knew that _____ manifested in ___ way so there was no way that____.” It’s so much more punchy like that. The character is grappling with the knowledge and limitations of this thing that they know. As a result, we learn it too, but more importantly we learn what they know and how to affects them and the people around them. This issue happened a couple of times. I couldn’t help but feeling like we were interrupted by an excerpt from a University Lecture. 

However, I kept reading because the characters are lovely, and their stories and connections are truly heartwarming. I wanted to get to know them better, and learn more about the history of the cafe. Sadly, I’m not sure whether I am willing to struggle through the cobwebs of 4 more books to satisfy this curiosity.

Sweet charming story. Adorable characters. Intricately weaved micro-stories with a bit of mystery. Atmospheric. Happy ending

I’m actually sobbing, this book is so beautiful 😭

I’m ugly crying bc humans can be so stinking sweet, and the human connection is so beautiful, and time is so short, and the loveliness of art and the preservation of history, and honoring loved ones.

What a beautiful, beautiful story of connection, humanity, friendship, support, generosity, love of literature and knowledge.

May we all carry the legacy, the best of Frank and the best of Helene.