Read 139 pages and still not sucked in. Darcy's ability to recite entire books while not having a photographic memory seems suspect, and the characterization feels off. Not bad but too slow.

My Thoughts
The Library of Lost Things is one that leaves you with a whole library of feelings. It is a wonderful combination of family drama, new loves and old friendships, the escape found in books, mental health issues, and so much more. Each and every one of these elements meld together like magic under Namey’s pen. You can even say it is a serious teenage rom-com with all the sweetness you can expect along with many heart-warming as well as heart-breaking moments.

We go along on a beautiful journey of a story; that of Darcy, a girl who lives within books, and who gets all she needs from the words within them. “I had enough literature inside me to recite it by heart; a storehouse of pages and passages.” And we rejoice and cheer as she steps out of those bookish walls and into the real world. (Not really a spoiler!!)

What I Loved

THE BOOKISH REFERENCES
--The cover and the title of the book
--Each chapter’s title and the quotes at the beginning of each chapter, ranging from Austen to Hawthorne to Shakespeare, and of course, J.M.Barrie
--That awesome thing that was the story within a story within this story; or rather the book within a book within this book; the parallels drawn between that story within (of Peter Pan) and Darcy’s story.

THE CHARACTERS AND THEIR RELATIONSHIPS
--Marisol (Darcy’s bff) and her family!! I loved the friendship between Darcy and Marisol. Marisol’s family fills and spills over the pages it occupies with love and warmth and laughter and life; and all that is family!
Asher who is sweet, and just falls short of perfect; and the slow and sweet love story between Darcy and Asher:)
--Darcy: While Darcy sometimes appears as a book-snob, I am sure that each of us has different pet peeves and likes as far as books are concerned. And she is a fellow book-lover! So I could overlook that ‘book-snob’ attitude that showed up sometimes. But for all that she was real, I simply loved the other characters (namely Asher and Marisol) way more than I did Darcy!! What I did love and admire about Darcy is her super-cool superpower. I know I would not mind having the ability to recite whole passages (even whole books sometimes)…
--All the other characters! Namey has fleshed out each one so well that every character has a role to play; and adds so much to the story, even if their appearance is brief.
--And of course, I loved the focus on Darcy’s relationship with her mom; with all its layers and complications.

EVERYTHING ELSE IN THE BOOK
--The focus on the issue of hoarding. It shows how people with severe problems can look completely in control, and even perfect in the eyes of the world. I appreciated the thoughtful and realistic portrayal of mental illness; and learned a bit too.
--Totally enjoyed the ‘word of the day’ game that Darcy and Marisol play often in the book! Added all those cool words to my dictionary and enjoyed the made-up meanings from Marisol for those words.
--And that perfectly swoony ending (but not saccharinely so).
--The whole ‘books are an escape’ concept; as well as the need to grow up and step away from that escape towards reality.

What Could Have Been Different
Not much that I can think of, honestly.

Quotes
There were way too many I had marked up so just picked a few randomly.
--“Great books give us spine-tingling plots or twists that reach right into your lungs and snatch your breath. I knew about those; I knew about stories. Enough to realize I was sitting in the middle of one and already hated the ending.”
--“I sipped water and breathed deep, hiding my thoughts inside her nesting dolls and glass vases.”
--“For years, I’d hidden my mess carefully from everyone but Marisol, keeping quiet, sticking to the shadows. I rooted for love in stories. I filled empty, invisible arms with storybook kisses and the happily ever-afters authors gave to other heroines. At night, I folded my truth between the pages.”
--“My smiles always came too easily around him.”
--“How could I hold real love inside an invisible heart?”
--“​Tonight, the books all around me held the clear endings my life could never promise. Some of them were even happy.”

In Summary
A book that will make smile, and make your heart warm and fuzzy; like I said before, give you a whole library of feelings!

Disclaimer: Thanks to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for the digital review copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Bought for our Young Adult department for out public library.

Loved this charming story of romance and friendship.. It is the perfect book for all book lovers to read.

The Library of Lost Things was ok. I had a lot higher expectations for this one so I ended up being disappointed. The characters were ok. The saving grace was the end, I really enjoyed how everything came together.

Really allows you to understand the nightmare of obsessive-compulsive disorder and hording and it's impact on the families effected by it. A real eye opener.

I received an ARC of this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This was such a lovely YA book. It discussed real family issues and I love how Asher and Darcy came together by being friends and getting to know each other first. It was very old fashioned, but I loved it, especially with all of the books and words! I also loved how Darcy and Marisol have a healthy friendship! You don’t see that too often in YA novels!

I'm beginning to think I don't like YA as much as I do middle grade and adult fiction. The description of the book appealed to me, but in actual reading, I felt less drawn to it and ultimately didn't enjoy it as much as I had hoped. Perhaps a storyline of dealing with a relative with mental illness was not an escape for me., which is what I am looking for in my reads lately. Thank you for the ARC. I'm sure this book will have other enthusiastic readers.

So I have a lot of thoughts.

Darcy's whole personality is basically "I read and I've never been in a relationship" I love seeing book lovers in books but this just takes it too far. Darcy will be feeling overwhelmed and then just find herself subconsciously reaching for a book? I'm not to sure about that. She kinda places all her value as a person on the fact that she's never dated or been with a guy.

The subplot of her getting the letter from her dad was unnecessary and felt like it was just there to progress the main plot.

Darcy was all over Asher and then when he told her that the feelings were reciprocated she was all "whoa maybe this is moving too fast" even after she got London's approval. Speaking of London, she kinda threatened Darcy at the party and then nothing ever came of that. Darcy also said that she would tell Asher but never did, proving that it wasn't very important.

Marisol was the only character I really liked, because she had the most personality, even though the majority of that was just her liking gum. Then they had to go and do her dirty with that Jase relationship that came out of nowhere.

This book had so much potential but it just wasn't everything that I wanted it be, but that's okay. Hopefully there is someone out there who loves it.

I ended up not finishing this one because I couldn't really get into it and it ultimately wasn't unique enough to hold my attention. That being said, it could just be a case of this book not being right for me but still being a good book. So check it out if the blurb interests you!

The premise of the book was very compelling, and the main character was given a lot of depth, but it did suffer from some predictability (the author of the notes in Peter Pan). Fortunately, there was no pat, everything ends happily ending and that gave it some strength.

Rating: 3.5/5

*Thank you to Laura Taylor Namey, Inkyard Press, and NetGalley for this ARC!

This was such a great read! Namey does an excellent job of putting the reader directly into the story and feeling their struggles and successes right along with them. For Young Adults, I highly recommend this book! For the young at heart adults, it's still a great and easy read- it's just based around teens so you may have a harder time connecting with the main characters.

I love this book SO MUCH. It was equal parts emotional and romantic. Lots of times the love interests in YA novels come across as quite flat in comparison to the MC, so I loved that each of them had their own issues. They way they began to lean on each other for help was amazing. I also loved how the mother's story was developed over the course of the novel. I cried several times. Would totally recommend for fans of Words in Deep Blue by Cath Crowley or Don't Date Rosa Santos by Nina Moreno

2.5 stars rounded up
A heartfelt YA romance with some serious issues surrounding hoarding and all of the implications of that. It wasn't an easy book for me to read because I have such a difficult time with parents who can't see past their own issues in order to raise their children. I get that hoarding is a mental illness, but I just truly felt for Darcy and the burden put on her for her entire life. If her mother was together enough to go to her job each day, she was together enough to address her problems. Plus, when Darcy tries to, I don't know, justify the hoarding by saying that she herself is a hoarder ("of stories"), I didn't buy it. Just because Darcy escaped into books because her life was so screwed up didn't make her a hoarder, it made her a teenager trying to deal with her anxiety and frustration at her terrible life.
I enjoyed the literary references and the fact that Darcy worked in a bookstore, and her relationship with Marisol was delightful.
I didn't care for the snide comments about e-readers and speed reading. If you're going to celebrate books then why not celebrate them in any form that someone reads them in without making value judgments.

If you like YA contemporary, then definitely add this to your reading list. I don’t usually read contemporary but I’m so happy I picked this up. The author does such a great job of developing the MC’s, and we get a closer look at something most people don’t think about (at least I hadn’t)- the not just physical but emotional mess that family members have to deal with when a loved one has an addiction problem, in this case, hoarding. I never thought much about hoarding besides the little I’ve seen on tv, so this book was a bit of an eye opener. I loved the close knit friendship in this story, and how the MC’s look past the facade to get to know the real inner person. This gave me all good feels :)

Left review on Goodreads and amazon

Oh wow, this book hit me hard. For those of you who don’t know, I’ve started my Master’s Program and reading hasn’t come easily lately. It’s been a struggle to do the very thing that defines who I am. So it’s no surprise at all to me that I instantly fell in love with Darcy. She’s a girl who is built of stories. Words are her fuel, and she builds herself a life within the pages of books. I’m Darcy. Darcy is me. This book and I already were meant to be before I even picked it up.

Can I please thank Laura Taylor Namey for really nailing down what it’s like to live inside your own head? Darcy’s growth from page one, right on to the end, felt realistic to me. Battling her mother’s hoarding, trying to stay afloat in a world that wanted to knock her down, and just trying to be a person who had a place in the world, all of that was pure Darcy. I was so glad to see that there was no sugar coating around her world. Darcy’s brain was a a place that I could take shelter in, because it made sense. Namey hit the introvert gene, the anxiety driven thoughts, the books used as walls, all right on the head. If you’ve ever felt the least bit like Darcy, you’ll know as soon as you start reading this story.

Oh, and the other characters were so well fleshed out as well! Not one person in this book is overlooked. Marisol’s family was vibrant, and full of wild love. Asher was sweet, but not overly perfect. Even Jase, Bryn, and Landon, who didn’t get as much page time, were all just perfect puzzle pieces in the overall story. I felt like I was living this right alongside Darcy. I felt like I was part of their small world of plays, bonfires, and magical memories. This is the first time in a while that I’ve really felt nostalgic for high school, and it was a feeling that I’ll cherish.

I could gush on and on, if you’d let me. I could share with you the page of quotes that I jotted down while reading this, smiling the entire time. I’ll let you experience it for yourself though, because this book is well worth your time. Pick up The Library of Lost Things. Get lost in the pages. Grow with Darcy. You won’t regret a minute of it.

THE LIBRARY OF LOST THINGS • Laura Taylor Namey • ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

"That's where I was wrong before. We can't get stuck on one goal and plan it to the letter. Life isn't to-the-letter unpredictable. It's messy, like us, and it changes. So our dreams can change, too."

Brief Synopsis: Darcy Jane Wells is a seventeen year old girl who lives more inside of the books she reads than in her own life. Why? Because Darcy's mother is a hoarder, reduced to endlessly buying things in an attempt to fill the void left by Darcy's absentee father. Meanwhile, Darcy is the one stressing about paying the bills, keeping food on the table, and making sure they don't get kicked out of their apartment. Darcy's best friend Marisol is the only one Darcy has let see the mess; the only person that truly knows Darcy and that Darcy allows herself to rely on. That is until she meets Asher, a former aspiring pilot with his own secrets. Asher makes Darcy yearn for a romance outside of the pages of her books, but can she let Asher into the messiness that is her life?

I do not tend to gravitate towards YA books. I usually think they're corny and a little boring. But this book? SO CUTE. Sure it was super YA, but the story was sweet while also touching on some heavier topics. The relationships in this book were also strong and genuine, especially the friendship between Darcy and Marisol.

What I did not love about this book was how "Darcy the literary genius/bookworm" was constantly shoved in the reader's face. I love books as much as the next girl, but it was definitely overkill. The pacing of the story also felt a little off. The beginning was slow and the plot threads in the middle seemed to come out of nowhere. It all came together in the last third of the book though!

Overall, this is a cute debut novel. I would recommend this one to YA lovers, introverts, book worms, romantics, and for any reader who loves a bit of an emotional, heart-warming story.

This book was so wonderful and heartbreaking. There are a few things that I wish were explored a bit deeper, but overall I highly recommend this book!

Though I can't call myself a literary genius like Darcy, I was looking forward to reading about a voracious reader such as myself. Even more intriguing was the mention of her mother's hoarding problem in the synopsis, which has always been a point of contention for me and my own mother.

The Library of Lost Things has a little bit of everything: romance, strained family relationships, self-discovery, and all things bookish. The romance between Darcy and Asher was heartwarming. He was genuinely curious about her passions and encouraged her throughout the book: the type of relationship I fantasized about as a teen.

Possibly due to my own (too high) expectations, I wasn't over the moon about this book. At times, it read as borderline corny. That being said, it was still enjoyable. I particularly loved watching Darcy grow as a character and accept her authentic self. I think this book would be well-suited to high school students going through similar times of self-discovery.

I received an advanced digital copy of this book from the author, publisher and Netgalley.com. Thanks to all for the opportunity to read and review. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

The Library of Lost Things is a wonderful story. At times heartwarming, heartbreaking at others, it is 'Pride and Prejudice meets Gilmore Girls' in the best sense. Darcy who is just trying to keep things together with her mother and grandmother while nosy neighbors and a new apartment manager keep trying to see into their apartment.

The story could be triggering to those who have loved ones suffering with hoarding and addictive behaviors. These sensitive topics are written lovingly as well as frustratingly as the main character deals with her mother's illness.

5 out of 5 stars. Highly recommended.

I did not love this book. It had moments and parts I really liked, but something about it felt disjointed. I found myself skimming as the story went on (or speed reading as Asher would call it) because I didn't care too much about the small details and just wanted to see how the story resolved. Something about the ending didn't sit right with me either.