(blog review scheduled for 4/30/18) The Lost for Words turned out to be a pleasure. While I'm usually tempted and often enjoy books about bookshops, Lost for Words was more than I expected.

The Lost for Words Bookshop, a used bookshop, comforts and shelters Loveday Cardew. Sometimes she may be at a loss for words, but words are not lost on Loveday, and her love of books has sustained her for over half her life.

When Loveday's family is destroyed, she ends up in foster care and the loss of her family results in a happy and friendly child becoming an isolated and reclusive teen.

At fifteen, however, a visit to the Lost for Words bookshop provides a sanctuary when Archie, the owner, offers her a job. Ten years later, Loveday continues her mostly self-imposed and unsociable existence with Archie as her only real friend.

On her way to work one day, Loveday picks up a book that has been lost or discarded and posts a "found" sign in the bookshop window--an inciting incident that will change the course of her life.

The story is told in past and present, and the traumatic events that destroyed her family are revealed in small doses. In the present, boxes of used books begin arriving that connect to Loveday's past, a new relationship offers the opportunity for Loveday to expand her life beyond her small flat and the bookshop, and a past relationship becomes threatening.

I was expecting bit of romantic chic lit, but found a more thoughtful coming of age tale.

NetGalley/St. Martin's Press

Bibliophile/Contemporary. First published, 2017; June 19, 2018. Print length: 304 pages.

Loveday Jenna Cardew‘s life changed when she was nine years old. She is from Cornwall, Her story is contained by silence. She has and is a secret. There are references to her past but the reader is allowed no clear definition of what has happened to her. The story is doled out in a trail of breadcrumbs. She has worked in a book store for over ten years.

The writing at times seems to be angry and that is easily explained by the griefs and losses piled one on top of another. Survival means Loveday has to separate feelings and avoid any that might form meaningful relationships. She isn’t sociable - “Don’t accept a drink, don’t create obligations.” Keep the world at a distance and never answer any questions about your past.

This is a story about people who are marginalized through no fault of their own and the ultimate disaster their lives become. It is also a story about what can happen when those lives are intersected by others who have the ability to become care givers and friends. It is a story about a bookstore that while not magic can not only steal but heal a heart. It is a story worth your time and attention.

I had some problems with the “jazzed” language, the slang and British idioms, but it fit the story. This was a single sitting read that kept my attention and delivered on all fronts.

Thank You NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an ARC

A tale of lost and found with a main character so guarded that it takes you a while to get to know her. A clever story that seemed to cross several different flavors of reads that I enjoy. It is more than a "bookshop story that draws in learnings from favorite books." It is more than the story of a young woman with a mysterious past that is told in present time and also by jumping back into her history. It is more than a young woman trying to figure out her way in the world. Woven into the storyline is an ode to the tactile memory we all have as we hold a book in our hands and are transported back to the time/place/moment of reading that book for the first time and the memories that will always be invoked.

Free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Book is available June 19th.

Lost for Words by Stephanie Butland is Contemporary novel about a book enthusiast named Loveday. Loveday, an introvert woman, works in a second hand bookshop and has a mysterious past. The story unfolds her mysterious past as in the present she learns to let her guard down and find happiness. This book was definitely different from the other books I read. It was a bit more depressing than I anticipated it to be. I found Loveday’s perspective to be refreshing. The chapters alternate from present and past slowly unraveling Loveday’s mysterious past. The author touches upon surviving from traumatic experiences and learning to move on. The characters are unique and lovable/unlikable in their own ways. My favorite character from the book was Archie. He is such a loving caring boss and friend to Loveday. It was wonderful to see the many people who care for Loveday in different ways. I also liked the way the author unfolded Loveday and Nathan’s relationship - it was sweet and realistic. However, I didn’t like how choppy and rushed the ending was. There were a few times in the novel where certain situations felt like they were being prolonged and could have been cut short. Overall, I would recommend this novel to anyone who likes women’s fiction. The book releases on Tuesday 6/19.

I loved this book and will definitely be recommending it to others. Loveday is an endearing character with a wonderful supporting cast. She makes you laugh and cry, but also to feel and root for her. Certainly, one of the best books I've read in a long time. Thank you to the author and publisher. I will look forward to another book by this author.

This book snuck up on me. At first Loveday was a quirky bibliophile who loved books but not so much people. Slowly her past was revealed in short flashback chapters that showed us what led her to where we meet her. The book is full of fun characters that do a great job of balancing what could be a very dark book. I was drawn into Loveday’s story and couldn’t put it down.

4.5 Stars, rounded up for all the feels.

This BOOK. My HEART.

Tucked in a corner of York, next to a little cafe, is our home away from home - a second-hand bookshop, Lost For Words. We meet the larger-than-life, he-of-a-million-stories owner, Archie and our heroine- Loveday.

It took me a little while to warm up to Loveday and the book overall, but as her story is revealed and we get to meet the cast of characters that frequent the bookshop, I eventually came to love them both. Loveday does not have much affection or need for people, reasons for which are revealed slowly. As we start to see her fall for magician Nathan and learn her history with academic Rob, we also learn learn about her past. A past that seems to have caught up with her in the form of books and postcards that suddenly show up at her refuge, the bookshop.

The chapters jump from present to 15 years in the past to just a few years ago, a technique that I tend to enjoy, little pieces coming together. There are heavy themes in this book, namely domestic violence and mental illness, themes I think the author could have delved into a bit more. The latter especially may deserve more of a story line, more of an explanation - but if we take the narrative only though Loveday's eyes and only what she knows, it's understandable.

The end was both heartbreaking and life affirming with lives and stories coming together in a very Dickensian fashion. Thank you Netgalley for this book in exchange for my honest review.

This is about lost people, lost relationships and lose of self. Loveday loses her family at the age of 10 when her mother kills her Dad during a domestic argument. Placed in foster care she hides all feeling and moves away from people. She begins to work in the bookstore and the owner Archie takes to building her confidence.
The bookstore scenes are wonderful and the reader quickly becomes a part of the struggle. When Loveday begins to go poetry readings small pieces begin to fall away. She also finds old books belonging to her Mother in the book store. The many loses in this story however are not depressing as you watch Loveday begin to accept herself and her life.

I love finding a new author that I can not wait until their next book comes out, That is what happened with my first exposure to Stephanie Butland, and her book Lost for Words Bookshop. ( and to find out she has already written a bunch, bonanza)
To start with the title is amazing, and what a great name for a bookshop, you would have to stop and wander in. I imagine once you did you would become lost into the possibilities of all the books. This is akin to the book's setup into three topics Poetry, Crime, and History which was a delightful way to get lost in Loveday's world.
Loveday's life unfolds slowly as we read, we are with her and cheering her on as she is slowly opening up her guarded heart. The characters in the book are wonderful. and multidimensional. and could each hold their own as lead character in a book. I throughly enjoyed this book, I laughed, cried, and hated reaching the end.

There is something special about a book that evokes so much feeling from me that I need tissues near the end. And this is one of those rare books where everything comes together in perfect fashion- fascinating story line, believable characters, lovely setting (what could be lovelier than a bookshop!), and a main character who is vulnerable and strong all at the same time. I absolutely fell in love with the main character, Loveday, a 25 year old woman who lost both her parents tragically when she was 10. She works in a second hand bookshop, Lost for Words, and the bookshop is a place for her to hide, but also a place where she heals and moves towards wholeness and forgiveness... and love. Yes, there is a romance woven among the pages, but the story is more about Loveday's own journey towards revealing her story and her true self to those around her who love her but whom she has been keeping at a distance for fear of losing them to her vulnerability. Highly recommend!

I was able to read this book for free from NetGalley, and am grateful to the publisher and the author for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book took a little while to hook me, around 20% into it I still wasn't feeling it. I felt like Loveday (adorable name!) reminded me too much of Eleanor Oliphant. Socially Awkward twenty-something, hiding a secret from her childhood, and unexpectedly meeting a man who would become very important to her...I've read this book before. 

But as the details unfolded, Loveday became less like Eleanor and more like her own person in my mind. Loveday is a young woman with a complicated childhood who is content in her world of books. That is until a new man enters her life and she realizes that the secrets she has been wearing like armor, are suffocating her instead of protecting her. I ached for Loveday and desperately wanted to see her let go of the past and move into her future. 

I loved that there was a dash of mystery thrown in and it definitely helped to keep my attention. The second half of the book was read in one sitting and my husband laughed at me as I gasped in alarm and sighed with contentment in the final chapters (what can I say, I'm an expressive reader!).

One of my favorite parts of this book is all of the literary references! Many books, old and new, are mentioned and Loveday's tattoos had me looking up the first lines of my favorite books just to see what they were. Loveday is a true bibliophile (a girl after my own heart) and if you've ever been carried through difficult times with the help of a book, this will be right up your alley. 

Overall, I give this a solid 3 out of 5 stars. I definitely liked it and found it enjoyable but wouldn't say that I loved it. Don't be deceived by the cute cover, there are some dark topics covered (abuse, foster system, mental illness) but overall it was just the kind of reader reset I needed.

Writing: 5 Plot: 4 Characters: 5+

Welcome to the spiky interior world of Loveday Cardew. By turns comic, powerful, uplifting, and literary, this book about books and the people who love them made me one happy clam.

Loveday has worked in the Lost For Words bookshop in York (England) for 15 years. Her network of tattoos is a compendium of significant first lines from favorite novels — I was hooked right there. By the way, the first line of this book? — “A book is a match in the smoking second between strike and flame.” Not bad!

She works for Archie — the rich, eccentric, and larger than life (in more ways than one) bookstore owner who feels that “good relationships are more important than being able to see your feet.” Through the accidental recovery of a Liverpool Poet book, she meets Nathan — a cravat wearing poet who daylights as a magician. Nathan teaches her that you can “write a different story for yourself” — both in terms of the future and the impact you allow from the past.

The book is simultaneously a tender love story, a positive recovery tale, and a foray into the literary world. There is no catalog of horrors, but we do follow the trajectory of a woman who is establishing her own life in the wake of a tragic childhood event. I appreciate that this event is not painted in black and white — there is a realistic complexity to understanding how things happened the way they did and what she can do to become a fully realized human being. Here is a hint — performance poetry has an unexpected role to play!

A great comic style. As an example, when admitting that used book stores have to pulp the extras, Loveday says: “Five million copies of The Da Vinci Code were published in 2003. How many of them does the world still need fifteen years later? A lot less than five million.” (FYI, personally, I might suggest “a lot less than five” — not a huge fan).

Some of my favorite lines:

“She seemed the type who went through her days tutting like a pneumatic disapproval machine.”

“Nathan came over and the nearer he got the more I wanted to run, and cry, and touch him, and blurt, and hide, and kiss him and generally behave as though Barbara Cartland had just sneezed me out.” Love the comic ending on a sentence that was hurling into heavy-duty romance territory!

“It felt as though his words, rather than heading out into the air, were falling off the edge of his lower lip, drooping into my hair, and sliding down the side of my head and into my ear.”

Top recommendation!

The lost for words bookshop is a heartwarming story of beautifully messed up life.

Unfortunately I did not finish this book. I think the concept is extremely promising and interesting and I appreciated the writing style and characters despite not enjoying them myself, but I personally could not get into it.

I really enjoyed this story about Loveday. We follow her mostly in the present as she struggles to trust. Then we go back and learn why. I loved this character and her strength to move forward in the best way she could.

Stephanie Butland is one of the best writers I was introduced to this year on NetGalley. Her new book "The Lost for Word Bookshop" is a work of art. I was shown that a book does not need to be linear to produce deep feelings. Loveday Cardew's world changed every three weeks when her dad returned from the offshore oil rig for his week at home. She loved both parts of her life. When she was ten she no longer loved her life. Her father was dead, her mother was gone and Loveday entered the foster care system. This is not a book about foster care. This is a book of discovery and choices and how a life can expand or remain unchanged.

Loveday's journey gave me so many things to think about. I would be reading and out would come a phrase I needed to write down so I could think about it later. Loveday described a brother and sister as puppies playing in the sun. What a wonderful way to say they had easy lives. In a letter: Is not meaning to hurt the same as not hurting? The book is full of word pictures that made it a pleasure to read. I strongly recommend this book that is scheduled to publish the first week of June.

I love this book. It made me laugh and cry and "feel." The characters were beautifully and realistically drawn and I drawn in from page one. A completely satisfying read, and a book I'll be recommending to others.

Delightful book. The first half of the book reminded me a little of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. This would be a great beach read. I’d like to read more by this author.

4.5 stars. I loved this realistic yet heartwarming story of a damaged young woman's journey back to love and community.

A 5 star book is a rare and wondrous thing – something to be savored and appreciated. Who can say what exactly defines a 5 star book? For me, it is a story that is completely absorbing and transports me to a different time and place, until I at last look up from the final page and slowly reenter the physical world.

I recommend that you sit down with this book when you have time to devote to it. Believe me, you won’t easily walk away.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. My thanks to the author, the publisher and NetGalley.