Library of Lost Things by Laura Taylor Namey, 352 pages. Inkyard Press, 2019. $18.


Language: PG-13 (46 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: ; Violence: G



BUYING ADVISORY: HS - ADVISABLE



AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE



17yo Darcy is counting the days until she turns 18 – not so that she can leave her home, but because then DCFS can no longer take her from her mother. And she knows that they would if anyone from outside her very small circle of friend (yes, just one) ever saw their apartment – the apartment that is full of all the things her mother hoards. Darcy lives most of her life inside the books that she inherited from her long-absent father and even works in a secondhand bookstore. Then Asher starts coming into the store - the handsome recent high school graduate, who had a promising future as a pilot, only to have his dreams crushed when he was in a terrible car accident. As their relationship starts developing, Darcy has to decide how much of herself she wants to share – especially since there are parts of that story she only thought she knew.

I thoroughly enjoyed Namey’s look at a child living with a hoarding parent (though the books that I have read always have the mother as the hoarder). She adds more dimension to the psychology of hoarding and recovery from hoarding. Darcy is a sympathetic resilient main character and her ability to recognize and deal with her own problems is solid and satisfying. The romance is a nice addition and I love that is just that – not the focus of the narrative.

Cindy, Library Teacher, MLS

Unfortunately, this book just didn't work out for me. I found it incredibly boring, and I didn't like how the main character immediately turned to "pick me" energy when the love interest said something supposedly rude to her (it really wasn't, anyone in retail would know that people blend in sometimes). Also, I got a really bad feeling whenever the MC talked down on her mother's disorder.

The Library of Lost Things follows Darcy Wells, a bookish girl with a secret. Her mother struggles with hoarding and compulsive shopping, so their apartment is filled to the brim with objects. For years, they have managed to keep their property manager out of their apartment, but now there’s a new manager and they want to make some improvements. Darcy realizes her home could be taken away from her at any time, or she could be taken away if anyone discovers her secret before she turns eighteen.

Darcy has been able to rely on books and her best friend, Marisol. Darcy’s love of literature is so strong that she is able to memorize large portions of it with little effort. Throughout the story she clings to an annotated copy of Peter Pan that comes her way at the bookstore she works at. But Darcy’s life is about to change when Asher Fleet comes into the bookstore after an unpleasant interaction. Asher is a former teen pilot whose dreams ended after an accident.

Writing a character who is also a bookworm is a dangerous game. Sometimes it works, but often the character can come off as pretentious. I think the author did a great job of allowing Darcy to enjoy and reference most literature. I would have been upset if Darcy only cared about classics, especially since younger readers might want to read from the perspective of another YA reader. There were a few moments that made me roll my eyes, like when Darcy had a conversation with Asher about speed reading. He explained his process to her and she essentially mocked him. During the conversation, the topic of eBooks/eReaders came up, and *gasp* Darcy doesn’t like them. One of the revelations later on in the book could be a reason for this, but I’m only speculating about that. As a librarian, I still occasionally hear unfair criticisms of eBooks and it gets old.

I also thought the writing could have been more concise, but it’s also a debut and Laura Taylor Namey’s second book seems to have won over a lot of other readers. I think taking out a plot line or two might have helped with this.

I recommend this book for any YA contemporary readers who want their protagonist to enjoy reading. If the topic of hoarding will be triggering, definitely avoid this book.

Great author, so I was a little disappointed that I couldn’t connect with this one as much. I do think it was well written and each character was fleshed out very well!

Love love love love love this book. I do NOT like contemporaries very often but when I do they normally have murder or books involved. This was such an amazing story and I reread it every year.

This is a great beach/summer/easy read! The characters are well developed and their relationships all feel authentic. There were some aspects that were pretty tropey (a house party, a beach party) but there is a smart, awkward girl and a broody boy, of course it's going to be a little tropey!

Overall, an okay coming-to-age book of how your life can change completely within a few months. I liked Darcy and her BFF's friendship and I liked Marisol's family. The stuff with Darcy's mom had its good and bad moments.

Here's why I'm giving it 3 stars: I didn't buy the 'intensity' of the feelings between Darcy and Asher aside from that one scene in the alley. Every other interaction between them was like 'and Asher was there too'. She shut him down in her mind so fast because he was dating someone else when they met, that I didn't anticipate them getting together at all. Oh, well.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-galley.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Books about books or the love of reading often fall flat. Readers know why reading is spectular and a book trying to sell us on the magic of reading just sounds off. This book was good but not great. It has no memorability factor.

Good coming of age book, where the main character Darcy has lived her life through books and made her self invisible to hide the fact her mom is a hoarder. As Darcy approaches her eighteenth birthday she lives in fear of losing her home and being taken from her mom should the extent of her mom’s hoarding be discovered. Darcy develops a crush on Asher, a young man dealing with his own issues, who seems to appreciate her for who she is. Over the course of the book Darcy must face her life, and decide if we wants to “write” her own story, or continue to live through the books she reads. A satisfying read.

Hoarding may be one of the most complex mental illnesses out there and is far too often represented as easily treated in fiction, so I appreciate that Namey's characters experience the difficulty and fragile balances that come with addressing it. And the mother is defined by more than just her compulsion. She isn't some frightened slob. She's a career woman, well put together, with a secret buried by shame. This is a real story reflecting genuine struggles experienced by complex characters. A solid read.

A heartfelt novel that oozes vulnerability and an authentic aching charm, “The Library of Lost Things” is a stellar YA read that should not be missed. With a main character who favours books more than people, author Laura Taylor Namey has written a story that bookworm readers are certain to identify with and cheer for. Darcy is smart, funny and caring. A character with a well-developed backstory allowing her actions to be rationalized. There are some deeper themes at play that may be triggering for some readers including abandonment, hoarding and OCD.

2.5 of 5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the premise of this book and I was very excited to pick this one up, but it missed the mark for me.
YA contemporary romance is one of my favourite genres, and I’ve read quite a few in my time. The Library of Lost Things simply pales in comparison to most others that I’ve read. The characters lack depth and the plot verged on boring at times. The story had a lot of potential, but it needed to be fleshed out more.

I struggled to make a genuine connection with the protagonist, Darcy. At the very least, I expected that I’d relate to her because of her love for books, but she was a bit of a literary snob. I know that it was briefly mentioned once or twice that she reads modern fiction, but she mainly talks about classic literature and she can be extraordinarily pretentious about it. All of the references to Shakespeare and other works of classic literature did absolutely nothing for me.
It felt as though being a bookworm and having a good memory was Darcy’s entire personality.
Unfortunately, having a somewhat unlikeable protagonist can really damage the whole reading experience for me.

The love interest, Asher, could be sweet and cute at times, but he was not at all memorable.
I did enjoy Asher’s passion for flying. He wanted to be a pilot and I actually really liked reading about his love for flying planes. I think it’s interesting and fun to see characters who have less conventional hobbies and interests.
Darcy’ friend, Marisol, loved sewing, and I enjoyed reading about the costumes she designed and created, as well.
If only our main character could have been passionate about something without being pretentious and snobby about it…

This is the first book that I have ever read that involves a character that hoardes, and initially, I appreciated the way that it was incorporated into the story. We got a good look at how Darcy’s mother’s hoarding impacted her everyday life. Later into the story, it was revealed that Darcy’s mother’s reason for hoarding was not at what everyone had thought it to be, and honestly, the actual reasoning was kind of ridiculous.
At the end, Darcy has this revelation about how, like her mother, she is a hoarder, except she is hoarder of words since she memorizes books. I honestly just found this to be weird. I don’t think that memorizing literature can really be compared to hoarding.
I think that this book did a decent job of exploring the topic of hoarding, but Darcy’s realization and her mother’s big reveal about her reason for hoarding stripped away the complexities of the disorder and it cheapened the whole plot for me.

Furthermore, I felt like the story had a bit too much going on at times. I would have preferred if the author had kept Darcy’s mother’s hoarding and Darcy and Asher’s romance at the forefront of the novel and really delved into those two plot points. There were other minor plots going on, including but not limited to conflict with Darcy’s grandmother and her father, which I felt were unnecessary and got in the way of the rest of the story.

This story had some cliche high school drama, which I was not a fan of. It made the story feel juvenile. The characters were supposed to be 18 years old, but the way that they acted often seemed immature and made them feel younger.

Ultimately, The Library of Lost Things is an okay read, but it definitely isn't the first YA contemporary romance that I would recommend.

Cute YA story about a Girl who is too embarrassed by her hoarder mom and messy home to ever have more than 1 real friend. She falls in love; uncovers secrets about her dad; helps her mom

This is the fourth YA I've read in a short span of time and it was easily the best. This is an engaging story free from the pitfalls of most Young Adult books of late. The use of language was light, the teenaged romance was realistic and in surprisingly (to me) appropriate boundaries compared to others. The theme of home and family was well fleshed out as was the theme of friendship and loyalty. Even more appealing to me was that books and reading were treated by the author as a super power of the protagonist in the story. The book at the center was Peter Pan and I loved how it was used throughout. I really enjoyed this book and am so happy to have been given the opportunity by the publisher to read it.

Love! Well-written, intriguing characters. I was so endeared to Darcy and every supporting character.

I’m really not sure what I was expecting from this book. I love libraries, I love books, I love book stores. So, this story seemed like it would be right up my alley. And it was! At times I felt the story was taking quite a meandering path, but it worked so that wasn’t a problem for me.

The heroine of this story, Darcy, is a very likable character. She’s kind, funny, smart, caring, and diligent. Yet, for some reason, I found I most enjoyed the parts of the story where she was interacting with her best friend, Marisol, or her crush, Asher. I’m sure part of that is because both Marisol and Asher are just as amazing as Darcy. They possess many of the same qualities and they seem to understand her on a level nobody else does. But I feel that’s not the whole reason. While I feel many of the scenes that have Darcy having deep inner reflections are very well written and important, perhaps it was too much? I can’t say for sure, there’s a block to me putting my finger on exactly what was holding me back in Darcy’s solo scenes.

I found the relationship that builds between Darcy and Asher to be so organic and sweet. Her angst, his ability to put her at ease even when she was unsure of her position in his life, his obvious struggle with doing the right thing…all felt true to life to me.

There are so many wonderful things about this story. The fact that the story itself sometimes got caught up in itself doesn’t dampen the joy I felt from reading Darcy’s journey. The highs and lows and everything in between.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. I did not like this book and did not finish it. The main character, Darcy is unlikable and I didn't care about her story.

Good read! The author was creative and created a relatable character for the reader to sympathize with.

An amazing YA romance that shows off some real issues. I highly recommend this to anyone (especially teenagers) who may need their own happy ending amongst stress.

As you all know I am a fan of books about books and/or bookstores. So, this book as you might imagine was right up my alley!

The main character of this novel is Darcy Wells and though her life is far from perfect she finds solace in her job at the local bookstore. Her mother is a hoarder and has bombarded much of their apartment with stuff. Due to this, Darcy is afraid to let anyone close for fear they would call the authorities and those people would find her mother unfit and have Darcy sent away.

Things are getting more stressful for her, however, since there is a new manager for their apartment building. Not to mention there is a new man in her life named Asher Fleet. They become friends as he spends his breaks (from his own job) in the bookstore she works in.

I enjoyed this book tremendously! I believe that they handled are the different subject matters (including the mother’s mental illness) with care and sensitivity. The growth of the relationship between Darcy and Asher was equal parts heartwarming and heartwrenching and one I was sincerely hoping would work out. If you want to know how things ended up I suggest you grab this novel for yourself!