Tag: Stephanie Butland

Posted on

What I Read This Week – July 12th

I finished 3 books this week. It could have been 4, but I kept jumping between 2 different books, so they are both half-finished.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Incense and Sensibility by Sonali Dev – The Rajes #3

I really enjoyed this one. I felt it had more similarities to Austen than the previous book in the series did, and I loved getting into Yash’s story. I am looking forward to book 4.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Lost for Words Bookshop by Stephanie Butland – Lost for Words #1

I actually read the second book in the series before I was aware this one existed, but I don’t think I lost too much by reading them out of order. This book centers on Loveday, who is in the second book but not the main focus. She has had a lot of sadness in her life and the book shows how she struggles to overcome it, flipping back and forth between the past and the present. It has some heavy themes, especially of domestic violence.

⭐⭐⭐💫

Winter in Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand – Paradise #1

Hilderbrand’s books are usually a quick read for me, and this was no exception – I read it in one sitting the other afternoon. I enjoyed this story of a woman whose husband dies but turns out to have had many secrets. It was a fun story, and I am looking forward to reading the rest of the trilogy.

Posted on

Found in a Bookshop

Found in a Bookshop by Stephanie Butland

Loveday Cardew’s bookshop has fallen quiet due to the pandemic lockdown. The business is struggling and Loveday and her staff are trying to figure out how to connect with readers in some new way. Out of the blue, they get a letter from a woman named Rosemary, who sends them a check and asks them to pick out some books for her and send one every few days.

This surprising request prompts Loveday to open a book prescription service where people can contact them for book recommendations based on what they need. The customers can share how they are feeling and what they are looking for, and the bookshop staff will pick out some books that can be picked up at the store or mailed or even dropped off to them.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was a bit on the longer side, which allowed the time to really get to know Loveday and her staff as well as the stories of several of the customers who requested book prescriptions. There were also a ton of book recommendations with descriptions of why the book was being suggested for the particular person or situation, and all of the recommended books are gathered into a list at the end of the book in case you want to look them up.

There are several reflections on the act of reading scattered throughout the novel, and this is my favorite quote from one of them:

In short: you, dear reader, are correct. You are always correct.

Not only in what you imagine, but in what you feel. You are allowed to not-love the novel the rest of the world is raving about; you are allowed to cordially loathe your sister’s favourite author. Reading is not a test. Whether or not you love a book is not a matter for debate; and not something you can be persuaded into.

Books are the magical everyday that is all your own.