I loved this book. I have read a lot of book store related books lately for some reason. This one was different int that it had three well described characters and worked in romance, family, and mystery. It would be great for a BookClub. I enjoyed it immensely for the story and characters.

Being a librarian, I knew I would love this book! It's about loving friendships, imperfection and forgiveness. I felt for these women and related to some of their struggles with the pain in their lives. The ending was very satisfying - this book will stay with me for a while!
Thanks to Katherine Reay, Harper Collins and NetGalley for the ARC of this great book!

I loved this book so much :) It felt a bit like a love letter to all bookish people. The writing was amazing, and Janet, Claire and Madeline’s stories were exactly what I needed in my life right now. It was about friendship, love, loss and basically just life. It was so charmingly written, I didn't want the book to end. I will definitely go and read some more books from this author.

A book about the importance of looking deeper, searching for your true place, and finding friends where you never thought to look are themes that run deep in this glorious novel by Katherine Reay. I was overwhelmed by the delight of having a bookstore be its center since so many are dying out because of big stores and the ebook craze. This is a prefect tale for those who want a feel good book about a jaded woman in need of friends and someone to love her when she can't love herself. It also reminds us that friendship is a very powerful force that sometimes becomes all someone older or lonelier has. Definitely a great read.!!

**thanks to Thomas Nelson for the Arc. These opinions are mine alone.

Katherine Reay's newest novel is a beautiful story about friendship, fresh starts, healing, and second chances, and a beloved bookshop becomes the perfect setting for three women beginning this journey.

Katherine Reay has a beautiful way with words that feels like she was able to incorporate a style reminiscent with the classics into her own unique contemporary setting. I don't think she could write a bad book if she tried, and The Printed Letter Bookshop may just be her best work yet. I tend to really enjoy books that have a bookstore setting, especially when the bookstore plays an integral role in the story. That's definitely the case here, as the bookstore becomes interwoven with each women's story, and plays a central role in the friendship that eventually forms between them.

Often when you're reading a novel with three different main characters, one or two will stand out above the rest. I'm happy to say that with this one I actually enjoyed each woman's story equally, and never found myself bored or confused with who's point of view I was currently reading. Madeline's beloved aunt Maddie owned the bookstore, but thanks to familial issues, she never had the chance to know her aunt the way she truly wanted to. When Madeline is left the bookstore, her first thought is to sell it, but when she's passed over for promotion at her big time law firm, she decides to take a step back to reevaluate her life, and decides to spend some time working at the bookstore. Janet has been working at the bookstore for quite awhile, and thanks to a huge mistake she made, the bookstore and Maddie were all she really had left in her life. She's bitter about the way her life's gone, and she can't imagine what will happen if Maddie's niece decides to sell the bookstore. Lastly, Claire has come to feel like her family no longer appreciates or needs her in their lives, and she's begun spending more and more time at the bookstore. She's determined to help Madeline make a go of The Printed Letter bookshop, but they may have bitten off more than they're able to chew.

This is the type of Christian fiction novel I really love. It's about real people facing real problems, and learning that only by turning to God, and truly letting yourself heal that you can move forward and overcome past hurts. The bookstore setting is perfect in this novel, and makes an already amazing story even more of a stand out. I especially enjoyed the way many popular book titles are featured throughout, and the way that Maddie uses many of these books to help the three main characters deal with their grief.

I couldn't have enjoyed this one more, and I gave it five out of five stars. I think it would be a perfect book club read, and it'll be one that get the highest recommendation from me.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. I was not required to give a positive review.

The Printed Letter Bookshop is a softly elegant and invitingly intricate ode to books and the power of their communal solace. With the charm and insight of Nina George and the sheer reckless book love of Jenny Colgan, The Printed Letter Bookshop enfolds the reader in a welcome literary embrace. Reay’s natural talent of putting the reader at ease in her fictional world is evident from the first page. But the story is also deceptively accessible, for the moment you fall into its continued spell, you are confronted by a mature narrative that allows three remarkably different women to become the unlikely heroines of their own stories

This is a stunningly, beautiful contemporary novel that stayed with me long after I finished reading it. It's the kind of book that just needs to sit in your soul for a while before you can really talk coherently about it...or at least that's how I felt about it. I absolutely loved the journeys this book took me on with all four of the women featured, one of whom dies before the book even starts but she nevertheless plays such a pivotal role in so much of the book that you feel like she was your best friend! I will read this book again and again. I absolutely loved it, and I have no doubt that I will love it over and over again for different reasons each time.

Madeline's relationship with her Aunt Maddie, her namesake for being amazing, fizzled out when a disagreement occurs between her aunt and father. She never knew what the cause really was but she stood alongside her father nevertheless. She never knew her aunt was sick, let alone dying, until she had passed and left everything to her. Everything meaning her home, her book shop and her debt.
Having just quit her job as a lawyer, Madeline decides that selling everything for a profit would be more beneficial than at a loss and steps into the world of her late Aunt Maddie to try to raise the profit of the Printed Letter Bookshop before the sale. When she does that, her live becomes entwined with that of the community and the two employees Claire and Janet.Entwined in a way that slowly begins to make her question the things that she believed about herself and her aunt... that makes her begin to question how she wants the rest of her life to look, what she values.

This was an excellent book. It felt light and a bit like a warm hug. This book is about learning being brave enough to learn the truth and experience new things. To do things that maybe you aren't trained to do. How to forgive and the importance of community. So many good things.

I don't think that this book will become classical literature but it makes my heart warm to read about Madeline and her walk to understanding, forgiveness and friendship. Sometimes the best things for us are the things that we might not have ever considered.

I received a complementary copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased review.

In June 2017, I reviewed Veronica Henry's endearing How to Find Love in a Bookshop. My exact words at the end of the review stated that this book "is the novel that people need right now...period." It's no surprise to me that "bookshop" books are practically their own genre now. People long for an escape from negativity and derision to a place where the characters are like long-lost friends and there aren't really a whole lot of surprises. That, in a nutshell, is a bookshop book.

Katherine Reay's The Printed Letter Bookshop is all that and more, with three women brought together by circumstance and changed forever. Madeline is a young lawyer, and yes, she is making a lot of money but has all the stress that comes with it. When her aunt passes away, she leaves everything to Madeline, including the beloved bookshop that she owns. Madeline gives up her high-powered lifestyle and meets Claire and Janet, two women who work at the bookshop but who are far more than employees. Along the way, she finds what she has been missing all along -- love, as well as a sense of purpose.

I especially enjoyed that the reader sees many events from all three perspectives. While I didn't think the characters were as well developed as they could have been, I still devoured The Printed Letter Bookshop. Want to feel better after a bad day? Brew up a cup of tea, cozy up under your softest blanket, and read a bookshop book!

MY RATING - 3.5

* I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

A great book, full of emotions and engaging.
I loved the style of writing and the well written characters.
There's a lot of food for thought and it's a book I'll surely read again.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC

"Good characters let us live their lives vicariously, and bad ones tell us about the authors."

It's really true. I've always sensed it but i actually read it in this book. This story is all about books ,people and relationships and so much more. At first i wasn't that hooked. The lives of Madeline, Janet and Claire are so different from each other and yet as the story unfolds they intertwine together and it's so beautiful.

Some stories have so many twists and turns and yet they wouldn't affect you or your heart. But stories like this are different. This story is fictional but it has changed my views on so many things. And as the characters are all older than me and also going through different stages of life, it's like gaining experience or to learn something for me.

Maddie who is Madeline's dead aunt is so beautifully written i can always feel her in the story although she wasn't there directly delivering it. And another thing i really liked that the main 3 characters aren't perfect nor the author tried to force that. They all have their flaws and they are trying to be better persons which i really liked. Because we all know nobody's is perfect, not even fictional characters.

And yes! There is a great list of books (that are mentioned throughout the story) at the end. So thanks to the author for that!

( Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing me the Arc in exchange of an honest review.)

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Wonderful book about imperfection, forgiveness, and friendships. I hurt for all of the characters and their struggles with the pain in their lives. The ending brings redemption--very satisfying.

The Printed Bookshop tells the story of a woman who inherited her aunt’s beloved small-town independent bookstore.
I loved the idea of this plot, but it ultimately failed to hook me and I did not finish the book.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Katherine Reay's books always intrigue me, but this one surpassed several of her others in its plausibility and real-life issues..

The struggles her main character faces are completely relate-able, and I found myself hoping, struggling, wishing for her throughout the book. The setting is cozy and pulled me in as I read, leaving me wishing I could visit the town, look at the bookshop, etc.

There were a few times that the author's omniscience felt annoying..in that I wished I could have had a little more suspicion about the outcome rather than seeing where it was going. I wanted to see things even more through the character's eyes in those places rather than being able to see the clues and guess where things were going.

All in all, though, this is book I remember with fondness, that I'm sure I'll go back to read again, and that I look forward to seeing on shelves.

This book was absolutely wonderful! I really enjoyed Janet, Claire and Madeline’s stories. I could really relate to the characters and their relationships. It's the sort of book that has you thinking about it long after you've finished it! I will certainly be purchasing this book for my library!

Three women, whose lives are intertwined by the death of another. Upon Maddie's passing, her estranged niece Madeline inherits her aunt's bookshop, and along with it, her two employees Janet and Claire. Janet, not known for being warm and fuzzy, and Claire, competent in the Bookshop but accused by Janet as being a bystander in her own life, yet somehow the women find ways to bond and heal through the legacy of the woman who brought them together.

There were so many layers to this book, that I hardly know where to start. First of all, I love the setting of a small town bookstore where the owner knows her customers well enough to recommend books to each person, and the town's love and loyalty to Maddie continue after her death. I love Janet's prickly personality and her journey to realizing what's missing in her life. Claire's family struggles and search for where she lost herself is completely relatable. Madeline goes through her own changes as she realizes that her relationship with her aunt could have been very different. I love all of the supporting characters and how they strengthen the main characters’ stories. Between the three women's individual journeys and their evolving friendships and external relationships, this book was deep and rich, and I waffled between wanting to speed through to discover everything about it, and wanting to slow down and savor it. I especially enjoyed the references to so many books within the context of not just recommendations to customers, but also Maddie's individualized book lists in her letters to the three women that played such a part in their growth.

I give this book 5 stars. I have enjoyed all of Katherine Reay's books that I've read, but this one stands out for me.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This book is Katherine Reay at her finest. Once I started this book, I couldn’t put it down. The characters are living and breathing and leap off the page. While the three heroines are very different people, and are at different walks in life, their lives intertwine in many ways between beginning and end. The story is layered with many twists and turns. And The Printed Letter Bookshop, a character itself, is as warm and inviting as any bookshop you can imagine. I’d love to spend a day at the shop. Nearly every emotion is portrayed in this novel. At times, it is heartbreaking, and at others, it will make you smile, sometimes even laugh. It’s such a rich and satisfying novel.

While not overt, the faith theme in The Printed Letter Bookshop is more noticeable than in most of Reay’s other novels, something I appreciate seeing. I love seeing the messages of grace and self-worth portrayed for each character in the book.

I can definitely see myself returning to this novel someday. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves literature and is looking for a prolific read.

All opinions expressed in this review are my own. Many thanks to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for the complimentary copy of this wonderfully full novel.

I loved this book so, so, so much...and on the one hand, that doesn't surprise me at all, because I've loved all of Katherine Reay's books. But on the other hand, I was surprised at how personally touching this story was...it could not possibly have landed in my life at a better time. I finished it weeks ago and I'm still thinking about it!

It's Katherine Reay, so of course the writing is lovely. I adored the bookshop setting ... and I especially loved the relationships formed between the three main characters—three women with their own hurts and haunts and hopes. Janet was honestly the most surprising to me...she's prickly and hard, but she ended up tugging my heart so strongly. Claire's story is one, I think, that many, many women will relate to. And Madeline was so relatable and so believable.

I feel like whatever I write in this review isn't going to do justice to how profoundly affected I was by this book. But suffice it to say, I will definitely be reading it again!

A novel about books, lattes, and friendship? Sign me up! The Printed Letter Bookshop by Katherine Reay is such a beautiful story about family, friendship, love, and self-discovery. It follows the lives of three very different women, Madeline, Janet, and Claire, brought together by their love of books and this fabulous little bookshop in small town Illinois. With alternating points of view throughout the story, I felt uniquely connected to each woman and her journey of finding her truth.

Aaaaand, it’s official. I want to quit my job and go work in a bookstore. About 20 pages in, I actually put down my Kindle and headed straight to our local independent book store just to touch new books. There’s certainly some appeal to lying in bed in your jammies and buying books online, but there’s magic in roaming a bookshop and feeling pages in your hands.

As one might expect about a book about books, I found myself highlighting so many book titles referenced throughout the story to revisit and check out later - cookbooks, fiction, classics, young reader chapter books to share with my daughter. Pro-tip: they’re all listed at the back of the book.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves books, bookshops, and books about books.

Thank you Netgalley and publisher Thomas Nelson for this ebook ARC.

A great book for people who love books! Usually I don't read books in this genre but I venture outside my comfort zone once in a while when I see a book blurb that interests me, like this one. Really liked the story setting, Katherine Reay is a great writer. The story gripped me even though the characters weren't very interesting to me. Janet especially didn't interest me, I thought she was kind of rude and unlikeable. But it worked for the story and she too got her happy ending, sort of. I didn't really understand all the money problems that were pitched in the beginning of the book, those were hard to follow. Second half was easier to get into. So, in short, enjoyable book for the genre, just okay for me.