Member Reviews
This is one that I absolutely adored. I loved the characters and even the setting. Anything that has to do with cute, cozy bookshops is right up my ally. It was one of those books where I caught myself smiling at my Kindle. Thank you NetGalley for providing me the ebook for an honest review!
The book drags its too many details and it reads boring. The book starts of good and then goes downhill. DNF.
***********I received an ARC for my honest opinion from Netgalley***************
I can't resist a book set in a bookshop and I love when you find a dedication handwritten on the inside of a second hand book. This book combines both so I jumped at the chance to read The Little Bookshop of Love Stories.
I have to admit to being rather envious of the main character Hallie. Although the book starts rather inauspiciously with Hallie losing a job due to a clumsy moment in the restaurant where she worked, her day takes a turn hugely for the better when she finds out that she has won a bookshop in a raffle. And not just any bookshop, but the little bookshop where she has spent many, many happy hours Once Upon a Page.
She seems to have inherited an illustrator too in the rather lovely form of Dimitri, who spends his days working on illustrations based on an old and valuable book in the shop. With Dimitri's help, Hallie begins to catalogue the books and they soon come across many books with inscriptions inside.
Like Hallie, I also often wonder about the people who the books used to belong to. So I loved the parts of the book where Hallie and Dimitri use the power of social media to try to reunite the owners with the books. I couldn't wait to find out the stories behind the inscriptions and what had happened to them in the meantime. And when it became clear that some of the books had a more personal connection to one of the characters, well that just piqued my interest even more.
I have to mention as well that this book made me smile rather a lot. There were so many funny moments in the book, often because of Hallie or Dimitri's clumsiness but special mention must go to Hallie's mum and her cooking and match-making skills! She's determined that Hallie will find her own happy-ever-after but Hallie isn't so sure that those exist outside the pages of her beloved books.
Dimitri says at one point "I think there's very little to be miserable about in a bookshop" and I absolutely agree. And the same definitely applies to this book which is such a romantic, cheerful and feel-good read. I absolutely loved this book from start to finish - it was a absolute delight to read.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Thank you to NetGalley and HQ Digital for letting me read this book.
Like some previous Jaimie Admans books, the main characters have wonderful personalities shaped by deep personal experiences. As a lover of books, the setting of a bookshop makes it easy to read, and the street itself sounds idyllic.
Romance wise, Dimitri and Hallie are quite clumsy together, and at times he was too sweet to be true. However, their reluctance to pursue a relationship made it more drawn out and fun.
The plot was slightly predictable but it was a really lovely read. One to help you focus on the good in people.
Thank you to HQ Digital for a digital review copy via NetGalley - my views are my own.
This is the first book I've read by Jaimie Admans - I saw positive comments on Twitter about the book and was pleased to be approved - I was missing visiting real bookshops and looked forward to a virtual visit.
Hallie is a great character - I giggled through the opening chapter describing how she lost her waitressing job. Her love of books and passion to keep Once upon a Page open was a delight to read. The book looks at her family relationships and how her friendship with the 'resident artist' develops.
This was a great feel good read, full of books, love for books and community spirit.
It’s hard not to empathise with the disastrous life of Hallie. As her world crumbles around her, she receives a random email telling her that she’s won a failing book shop. As Hallie is recently unemployed and hates her current living arrangements, it seems like a dream come true to learn that the book shop also comes with a tiny flat.
On her first day at the shop, Hallie learns that she has also inherited a goldfish named Heathcliff and a resident artist, Dimitri.
I absolutely loved the way this story was told and the fact that a happy ending was hinted at but, was not obviously achievable. Hallie’s well-meaning mother and her kind sister are the polar opposites of the greedy and callous Drake Farrer; the local property developer who seems desperate to get his hands on the bookshop and open a leisure centre. Drake was so well written, you could almost hear the hisses and boos each time he enters the story!
This book takes the reader on a delightfully lovely adventure as Hallie and Dimitri discover books with romantic dedications which they use to try and reverse the fortunes of the wonderful, Once Upon a Page bookshop.
If you love books, you NEED to read this. It's that simple.
I still cannot get over how absolutely perfect this books is. It's about Hallie, a 35-year-old woman, who wins a book shop in a prize draw and then enter the best fictional book crush ever - Dimitri.
I don't want to spoil anything, I want to scream at everyone to pick this up and I never had an urge like this before to waive it in people's faces. But here I am.
Hallie's mum is also in a league of her own (online dating sites, dick-pics and mentioned "willy-warmers had me cracking up).
The Little Bookshop of Love Stories is all I ever wanted in a book, thank you so much Jaimie Admans for writing this (I did even send you a fan e-mail via your homepage and I've never done that before).
6 coffee cups for being now one of my all time favorite books I won't ever stop talking about.
Dear HQ Digital and Netgalley, thank you very much for introducing me to this book.
What with the state of the world as it currently is, I’ve felt the need more and more to pick up adorable romances with perfect yet not quite perfect people you wouldn’t meet in real life. As someone who’s a bit of a cynic when it comes to love and doesn’t really like pda, I’ve been loving these at the minute.
The little bookshop of love stories has been no different. I knew right away that it was the type of book I’d adore, as a reader who doesn’t love a book that revolves around books. Hallie is extremely relatable, especially when it comes to her clumsiness, and I could picture myself in her shoes, being thrown into the deep end of a situation that I do not understand.
Dimitri I was adorable, just the type of character we rarely ever see in literature because he’s too shy and introverted. Expect, he’s the type of character I always want to see because of those reasons. And yet, despite his nature, he is still passionate about the things he loves and is willing to let Hallie in. When usually these types of characters aren’t allowed to do anything like that.
The cosy little village of Buntingorden seems like the perfect place to live, I’d love to have seen more of it and the characters there.
The plot was cliche yet also unique; something I find myself thinking a lot with romance novels. They use similar troupes and ideas, yet each author brings her own flare into it.
Please, if you are a fan of books and love stories give this a read. You won’t be disappointed! 4.5 stars
Thank you for the opportunity to read this book. I enjoyed it very much - the characters were well developed. I thought maybe there was a bit too much detail in the book but it did not take away from my enjoyment of the book.
This story was such a heartwarming story with lots of fluff and cute moments, It is feel good type of read when you need a cute love story to brighten your day.
Book lover Hallie finds herself the winner of a bookshop after being down on her luck for so long which is every book lover's dreams but realizes that it is a lot more work than she imagined but Dimitri comes with the bookshop
and spends his days helping Hallie and illustrating a fairy tale. He loves books just as much as Hallie does but he’s got a past that he’s trying to recover from. The humor was light and comical, even poking fun at rom com tropes which i found to be refreshing.
But overall, It also dives into the idea of dealing with issues of grief, inadequacy, and rediscovering hope. The protagonists have a complicated relationship but with a book shop and their love of books, it really does make your heart melt.
This has been such a funny and cute read!
"Books connect us in a world where a lot of connections are broken nowadays. They can help us, heal us, break us and put our broken pieces back together again. They can make us believe in magic. In love. In anything."
Hallie has recently been fired from the restaurant where she worked as a waitress due to a very peculiar accident. She's been through it before and she feels like she's the most unlucky person in the world. Although, that's about to change very soon, but Hallie finds it difficult to believe. She thinks that the e-mail that says she's won a bookstore can't be real, but she knows the current owner wouldn't joke on something like that.
Hallie's dream (as well as any bookworm) has come true. She owns a bookshop!
She knows that it won't be easy, she'll have to learn lots of things, and try to solve the financial problems the bookstore has been going through. Hallie won't be alone in this journey. Dimitri, a unique customer who goes every day to work on the illustrations of an old fairy tales book will be there when she needs it the most. He seems to know everything in the bookshop.
Lovely and funny characters, books, books, and more books... the Little Bookshop of Love Stories is the book you may be looking for if you want to escape and be surrounded by books... a cosy and heartwarming read.
Super happy to be part of the @hqstories #booktour for this title due out soon! I’m pretty confident that all of us on here would LOVE to win a bookshop!? Being a very organised person myself, I was super jealous that the bookshop needed sorting out to make it a bit more user friendly. Add on the fact that Hallie stumbles across hidden personal messages inside each book of her shelves, the excitement continues! This was my first read by Jaimie Admans and I really enjoyed it. Hallie and Dimitri’s wit and banter was infectious and on a personal note.. I loved the many references to the Beauty And The Beast and Anastasia movies - my favourites from my childhood too! This is a happy, uplifting and easy read and perfect for a summer read! I’d definitely be keen to read more from Jaimie.
What a beautiful story, finding notes in the cover of old books and........... Having won a bookshop and meeting a guy who seems to be their all the time they get together to sort out a mystery several times over. What and who will they find, you must read this book to find out exactly what happens. There is a mystery around one of the characters but will the answer be found and what happens around it. I am giving this 5 stars, Jamie Admans has written this very well and this is one to curl up with, you wont want to put it down. Read and enjoy.
I was like to start a review by saying that I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher HQ Digitial so thank you to both of them so much.
I honestly rate this book a 3.5 but rounded down because of GoodReads not allowing you to do half ratings.
The Littel Bookshop of Love Stories stars Hallie Winstone who is unlucky in life she feels. She has been fired from multiple jobs and is klutzy. Oh the day that Hallie gets fired from her last job, she gets amazing news she has won her favorite little bookshop in a prize drawing. Hallie is super excited because the Bookshop comes not only with all the books she can ever imagine reading but also with her very own flat. What she doesn't know is that the bookshop comes with a resident artist by the name of Dimitri. Dimitri comes into the bookshop every day to draw. But he does more than draw while he is there. He finds himself helping Hallie turn this failing bookshop around. Together they find that almost all of the second handbooks in the bookshops have little notes inside. Together Hallie and Dimitri make a plan to find the owners of these books while also creating buzz about the bookshop.
The Little Bookshop of Love Stories is a really sweet and cute read. Who wouldn't want to win a bookshop in a raffle? I know I would! While I enjoyed reading this book, I feel as it was very long-winded. The main characters spent a lot of time organizing the books in the story vs finding their owners. I would have enjoyed more about them finding the different previous owners as well as more love between the main characters. They slowly fall in love with each other and it isn't until the last 20% of the book do we see Hallie and Dimitri together.
Overall it was an enjoyable read and a really cute story.
Thirty-five-year-old Hallie Winstone was having the worse day ever. She had been fire from her job for being so clumsy and returned home to the flat she shares with her obnoxious flatmate. That is until she receives information that she has won a bookshop. The one she has been visiting since she was a little girl.
Robert Paige who owns ‘One Upon a Page’ bookshop has decided the time was right to retire but he didn’t want to sell the shop he wanted to pass it on. With no family to pass it down to he raffled it off and Hallie’s ticket came out first. There is only one stipulation when she has had enough she has to raffle the shop off or pass it on too.
Hallie doesn’t have a clue how to run a bookshop but she is going to give it a good try and not let the vultures who are trying to buy the place get their hands on it. She also has to look after the bookshop fish and clumsy, eccentric Dimitri who literally falls into Hallie’s life.
I’ve been reading Jaimie Adman’s books for the last few years and they are always a lot of fun and completely enjoyable and this one was no different. I love books set in or featuring bookshops so I knew I was in for a treat.
Hallie is an amazing, charismatic woman who is far more capable and braver than she thinks. The bookshops came at a good time in her life, especially as it has a flat too, so no more flatmate from hell to put up with.
The bookshop is so adorable. It reminds me of those you see advertised where they look so inviting and magical and you just want to spend all your time there.
The writing was perfect and I adored the book from the very first page including all the hilarious moments and the more serene sections too. This is another book from Jaimie Adman’s that features a wonderful protagonist who is there to spark joy into the community and help those down on their luck, including herself.
What a fun story. Two awkward bookworms team up together to make a bookshop flourish. They discover that many of the books have writing in them and they decide to find the original owners, and to come up with ways to make the shop profitable. A nice easy read.
This was an ARC from netgalley.
In the little bookshop of love stories we meet Hallie, a young woman working (and getting fired from) dead end jobs she doesn't enjoy, living with a weird young roommate and spending her money on books, to escape from everything. To put it simply, Hallie is unlucky, going through life only finding joy in the stories she reads. She gets these stories from a small, lovely old bookstore in a town close by, Once Upon a Page. Hallie's luck turns around when she discovers that she has won a contest! She has won Once Upon a Page, hers to own, run and transform-because the bookshop is facing a difficult time. Hallie takes over the bookshop, doubting herself and her abilities, and starts to make changes, meeting a sweet as pie illustrator Dimitri, and an evil businessman Drake along the way. Hallie discovers herself, love and that books really are magical, in this feel good story that'll leave you smiling.
I would rate this book 4.5 stars. It was extremely sweet! I absolutely loved reading it. Hallie was a great character, funny, likeable and relatable. Her take on life and her love of books is infectious-it jumps off the page and leaves you happy. Hallie's life, her relationship with her family and her self-doubt are things everyone faces. I loved the story between her and Dimitri, and I thought there was just enough interweaving between running the bookshop and the relationship between these two characters. It was refreshing to have such a genuine, sweet love interest for the main character. I loved how neither of them were perfect, they were honest with their flaws and what they needed to work on in themselves. The only reason I can't give it a full 5 stars is because it was mostly predictable. Regardless, the book was feel good. As a book lover, it was great to read a book where I felt like I could relate to the story and main character in such a strong way. How much better does it get than reading a story about a bookshop and love? This story was sweet as pie, highly recommended for a light, easy, but extremely enjoyable read.
I always say that Jaimie Admans’ stories are like sunshine in book form, and The Little Bookshop of Love Stories is no different. This book is sweet, laugh-out-loud funny, romantic, and just an overall delight. The world feels like it’s going to hell in a handbasket at the moment, and this book was a much-needed escape. I started giggling on the first page, and I had a giant, goofy grin on my face almost the entire time I was reading.
Hallie can’t seem to win; she has terrible luck and she’s clumsy to boot. But her luck changes suddenly when she wins - yes, wins - her favourite local bookshop. The store is in dire need of updating and organizing, and its finances are in pretty rough shape, but Hallie’s book-loving heart is happy, and she’s determined to turn the shop around. I loved Hallie’s perseverance, humour, and creativity. It’s always been a secret dream of mine to own a bookstore, and this book made me feel like I was right there with Hallie, helping her make improvements in the shop and figuring out how to make it succeed.
Then there’s Dimitri...ahh, Dimitri. *heart eyes* Jaimie always writes the best heroes; they’re sweet and swoony and aren’t afraid to show their softer, more vulnerable side, which is such a refreshing change from the oh-so-popular alpha-hole trend. Dimitri was adorable, quirky, and smart, and his sensitivity and kindness made me long to hug him as often as Hallie wanted to. I loved that these two found kindred spirits in each other; they were two misunderstood book lovers who were both clumsy and had bad luck, who found comfort and companionship in each other and lit each other up. Their banter made me giggle and grin, and I swooned so hard as they began falling for each other.
The Little Bookshop of Love Stories is like a love letter to books. I have no doubt Hallie and Dimitri’s deep love of books will both charm and resonate with fellow book lovers. If you’re looking to get swept up in a magical, whimsical romance, look no further. Be prepared to fall head over heels (or arse over tit!) in love with The Little Bookshop of Love Stories.
This book was as if someone had taken a dream of mine and turned it into a book. I loved it! The characters and their relationships were likable and interesting and the setting was beautiful and made me very envious. After reading this I will defiantly looks into the authors other work and would love a sequel for this! Was a book lovers dream book!
Thanks to Netgalley for allowing me a ARC of this book in return for an honest review.
An absolute delight of a book. Almost like a fairy tale for adults. Two delightfully quirky characters, a highly unlikely scenario and the result is an enchanting romance. A must for book lovers.