The Lost Bookshop
Jan. 4th, 2025 10:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearI keep a wish list of books, from which I choose 12 every year and ask my parents to buy me a selection of those for my birthday and for Christmas. So, those 12 are the ones I'm most excited to read out of all the books I add to my wish list throughout the year.
The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods was one of my selection in 2024 and I got it for Christmas, so I was really looking forward to reading it - and it saddens me that my second review of 2025 (after a terrible murder mystery game we played over New Year) is also going to be a negative one...
This book started really well. It was fun and engaging - I liked all three of the protagonists (two of whom connect early on in the modern day, and the third of whom is followed from the 1920s onwards) and the story seemed intriguing. But all three characters and/or storylines got steadily more and more annoying as the book approached halfway. The magical aspects also seemed very sporadic and didn't prompt much interest and/or surprise from the characters, which felt odd. It picked up again briefly just after the halfway point, but then went rapidly downhill, with some horrifying turns of events that seemed very out of keeping with the previously cozy vibes of the story. And it all kept unravelling, with the eventual reveals not feeling in the least bit earned. I really don't understand what this book is trying to be - tonally, and in terms of content, it's all over the place. It unfortunately lost my interest and never got it back, which was disappointing.
The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods was one of my selection in 2024 and I got it for Christmas, so I was really looking forward to reading it - and it saddens me that my second review of 2025 (after a terrible murder mystery game we played over New Year) is also going to be a negative one...
This book started really well. It was fun and engaging - I liked all three of the protagonists (two of whom connect early on in the modern day, and the third of whom is followed from the 1920s onwards) and the story seemed intriguing. But all three characters and/or storylines got steadily more and more annoying as the book approached halfway. The magical aspects also seemed very sporadic and didn't prompt much interest and/or surprise from the characters, which felt odd. It picked up again briefly just after the halfway point, but then went rapidly downhill, with some horrifying turns of events that seemed very out of keeping with the previously cozy vibes of the story. And it all kept unravelling, with the eventual reveals not feeling in the least bit earned. I really don't understand what this book is trying to be - tonally, and in terms of content, it's all over the place. It unfortunately lost my interest and never got it back, which was disappointing.
