Written in a series of emails between our bookseller Fawn and various people ranging from the competitor, to a prospective suitor (disguised of course), then to her mother and long suffering sister, to her employees and to sundry people who come in and out of her daily life. Light hearted but underlying loneliness and isolation of Fawn, tempered by her inability to be diplomatic, tunnel vision in the extreme and fortunate enough to have people not call her out rudely. They do but in extreme polite language. I thought her sister and mother could have called her out in much more vivid language - it may have done a lot of good.

Set around a decrepit and crumbling bookshop, specialising in Mark Twain books, Fawn tries to have a living and run a business despite terrible sales. Mainly due to her inadequacy of seeing beyond the small margins of her life, not willing to learn, adapt or depend or take advice from those who may know better. Every critique is taken in the wrong spirit and as business failure looms over, it is her fighting spirit of never saying die that keeps her going.

Dealing with workmen, intricacies of online dating, competitive business practices, her deep rooted dislike of her father, and the relationship that she had with her mother and sister all are part of this story.

Described as funny, but that would not be my view of this book. I'd consider Fawn a sad character, desperately needing love and support and not knowing how to either get it or reciprocate if it is shown to her.

This epistolary told through letters, emails, tweets, and advertisements tells the story of an eccentric woman who runs the Curious Cat Bookstore. From its description I was expecting something along the lines of Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine where the narrator is a bit annoying and unlikeable but has a redeeming character arc; this, however, is far from that.

The story was unfulfilling in its plot and development, and the characterisation is a little lacklustre. The main character, Fawn, our curious bookseller is an incredibly unlikeable and an unreliable narrator - being untruthful, deceitful, fake and narcissistic.

I imagined the rivalry between two bookshops would be right up my street but instead, this was lacklustre and tedious.

With thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for a digital arc of this book, all opinions expressed here are my own.

Confessions of a Curious Bookseller by Elizabeth Green was an interesting read. It is written in the form of emails, journal entries, tweets etc. This is obviously a hard style to read, and a difficult way to get to know characters, but I actually surprised myself by enjoying this book more than I thought I would upon discovering the writing style. I felt there were a lot of similarities to the movie You’ve Got Mail (loved) and the book Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine (hated.)

Fawn is an unlikable 50-something liar, grump and bookstore owner. She has run her little used bookstore for 20 years, so when Mark’s new bookstore is opened on the same block she is ready to do battle to keep her shop. There are loyal (or not so loyal) employees, family dramas, a childhood penpal, an elderly tenant, an illusionist and many, many cats.

I was up and down with how I felt about this book, but my final rating is 4 stars. I hope others will give this book a chance to grow in them too.

I just couldn't finish this book. I really tried but did not like the main character at all. I also did not like the way the book was written- in all emails and journal entries.

This was a DNF. I just couldn’t get into the writing style, everything is written in email form. I do want to thank Net Galley for the opportunity to read a digital ARC in return for a honest review.

Fawn is the owner of an established book shop, and this this novel chronicles a year of her life and that of the shop. The narrative is told through a series of emails, shop reviews and blog posts, which does make for rather a quick read. Bearing that in mind, I still found it about 40% too long.

The problem with this novel was the main character and her development. The protagonist really has very few redeeming features - Fawn is argumentative, deceptive and unresponsive to the kindness of others. However, she’s not that bad that she’s a real villain, she’s just awkward and unrelenting. The character arc is also flawed, with Fawn’s redemption being sudden but for no apparent reason. I found the other characters to be equally unlikeable as they were so unrealistic, mainly because they were just so insipidly nice and let Fawn get away with anything she wanted to.

Whilst inaccurately=named book is perhaps styled on comical epistolary novels such as The Diaries of Adrian Mole or Bridget Jones’ Diaries, this one really fell flat in terms of its humour. I also got really fed up with hearing about cats, damp and broken things, but that may just be me.

On the positive side, this book is not badly written per se, and was actually quite readable as long as you’re not too concerned about characters or plot development - these are biggies for me though, hence the low rating.

I am a sucker for books about book stores, but this one was just bad. There isnt one redeeming quality about the main character. She's a narcissistic, pathological liar who alienates every person she comes in contact with.

I just couldn’t get into this one. I couldn’t connect with the characters. The writing seemed really choppy and inconsistent. I didn’t feel like there was any real storyline. I struggled with this one a lot.

*This book has been provided by the publisher to me via NetGalley for honest review of mine*

What an interesting way of introducing the concept of loneliness, longing, and the weight of personal expectations on an individual! This story is being told in emails, tweets, journal entries, and letters between the characters and in this way, we start knowing our curious bookseller Fawn and her life adventures in Pennsylvania suburb.

With 20 years of experience in bookselling, our protagonist Fawn in her fifties is running a second-hand bookshop in an old Victorian building with her 3 employees and a de-clawed cat Butterscrotch. She loves books, writes all her emails in a long literary fashion and isn't getting along well with her family. Her life immediately changes when a new fashionable, modern bookshop with coffee and beer stands opens just on the other side of the street and this is when we start seeing the whirl of emotions, small "sins", rivalry, and funny, but dangerous actions by Fawn to keep her face and status to prove herself she's a successful businesswoman not repeating her father's mistakes.

Fawn is unlikeable, she lies a lot, pictures a world to others she'd love to live, puts pressure on her employees in a negative way, flirts with married men by being insensitive, is not flexible and stuck to her past, thinks of asking for help being a sign of weakness. But the deeper the narration evolves, we can see the realities of her past haunting her present, her loneliness in every minute of her day despite being with hundreds of books and how she can't get away from this circle of failures.

With this narration style, it's how much we could get to know Fawn and her life, but I wish it'd have stronger background story with more vivid examples and the stronger side characters as sometimes they felt too flat. I wanted to get more of Mark, Gregory, her employees, etc. Also, the book name should have been "The lies of curious Bookseller" as we didn't get much of confessions (maybe 10% of this book?), but more of her imaginative "lies" to keep things going. And the cover is very cheerful which I think is not the true reflection of this story.

Overall, enjoyed this experience, had a strong empathy with Fawn, would love the story be more meaty.

Although it wasn't my favorite read of all time, I definitely did enjoy this book. It was a quick and easy sort of read. And being from Pennsylvania myself, I appreciated that the setting was in Philadelphia. I could picture the area that it was located in and that definitely drew me into the story. I wish that Fawn had more character development throughout the book instead of just at the end. Overall, I enjoyed the story but it just didn't hit the mark for me.

Fawn, the protagonist is quite a similar character to Eleanor Oliphant, however the story is very different. Written in several different mediums including email, reviews and letters, it’s quite a tricky read. I also found it quite hard to warm to any of the characters in the book if I’m being honest.

I am sorry to say that I could not finish this book. As others have said, the protagonist was very hard to warm up to, with her lies and living in a fantasy of her own success. I am disappointed as the blurb was much more positive. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

It is so difficult to pull off a five-star epistolary novel; while Confessions of a Curious Bookseller is a good read, I can't give it five stars.

The story is told through letters, posts, and emails between the protagonist and the various people in her life: her mother, sister, business competitor, a pen pal, to name a few. Fawn Birchill owns a used book store in an old Victorian but her business is compromised when a new, shiny big bookstore opens up down the street from her (shades of "You've Got Mail."). Fawn's store has water pipe issues, plumbing issues, it apparently smells bad, the books have mold, and the basement floods. It's no wonder that customers prefer the new store which offers coffee, craft beer, and author readings.

There's a reason Fawn hangs on to her business and why she struggles so hard to make it work, but for me, that came just too late in the story and was anticlimactic. I found myself frustrated with her rather than sympathetic.

Negativity aside, I did enjoy the book but I just didn't love it. I feel like it might have been better had it been structured differently.

I'm thankful to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This was not a novel for me. It was written as a epistolary and it didn't work at all. It was a bit confusing and not quirky or funny at all. I DNF:ed early on.

Thank you to Net Galley and Lake Union Publishing for this DARC in exchange for my honest review. I've seen many low ratings on this book, and I'm not sure why. I loved the unique style, set in a series of emails, newspaper ads, web site reviews, etc. Yes, it's unique and different, but I loved it. The bookseller clearly had a history of a childhood she felt was neglectful. She makes up a life, and pretends to be what she isn't because she doesn't seem to feel like she is truly worthy. She comes across as quirky, old fashioned and very opinionated, but I feel like there were reasons she felt that way. The author did an admirable job with this very unique narrative, and I loved it.

Going in I was really excited to see where the book was going to go but was ultimately let down. The format of the book is done through a series of emails, reviews, social media posts, blogs, and/or journal entries, which started off as an interesting choice but quickly became monotonous. I thought the lead character Fawn Birchill, a struggling bookstore owner, went past the point of eccentric to over the top and unlikeable. I continued with the book, hoping for some redemption at the end, but ultimately was left unsatisfied. I think the book had potential, but it definitely missed the mark.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a copy to review.

I enjoyed the way this book was presented as letters and emails, rather than a narrative, and I did like the story. I'm looking forward to more books by Elizabeth Green.

An epistolary novel about the story of a woman who manages her bookshop, her love life and her family.. The Blurb and story and narrative(and i specially love epistolary novels) made me really like this book.. But the protagonist seems even more rude as the pages progress and to keep going just to find some redeemable (a tiny vestige) quality seemed futile after 30%
All I am going to say is.. The writing was great, some satiric One liners made me snort out loud, but it was just not worth it to keep searching for some reason behind why the protagonist was sooo very rude.. I hope it gets better, but i dont have high hopes..

I love stories about quirky characters and those stories tend to be my very favorites. But Confessions of a Curious Bookseller fell short. It didn't even get close to the target of quirky. Green wrote her main character, Fawn, in to an obnoxious self-centered woman who was plain rude. I kept reading thinking that Fawn would evolve in to a likable character but it never happened.

It takes a lot for me to give such low reviews but this book just rambled on and on with no characters that I could root for and instead I just wanted the book to be over.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC. All thoughts & opinions are my own

Thank you to NetGalley for providing to me a free digital edition of this book in return for an honest review.
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A heartening and uproariously funny novel of high hopes, bad choices, book love, and one woman’s best—and worst—intentions.

Without question, Fawn Birchill knows that her used bookstore is the heart of West Philadelphia, a cornerstone of culture for a community that, for the past twenty years, has found the quirkiness absolutely charming. When an amicable young indie bookseller invades her block, Fawn is convinced that his cushy couches, impressive selection, coffee bar, and knowledgeable staff are a neighborhood blight. Misguided yet blindly resilient, Fawn readies for battle.

But as she wages her war, Fawn is forced to reflect on a few unavoidable truths: the tribulations of online dating, a strained relationship with her family, and a devoted if not always law-abiding intern—not to mention what to do about a pen pal with whom she hasn’t been entirely honest and the litany of repairs her aging store requires.

Through emails, journal entries, combative online reviews, texts, and tweets, Fawn plans her next move. Now it’s time for her to dig deep and use every trick at her disposal if she’s to reclaim her beloved business—and her life.
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This is a hard one for me to review. First of all, I want to address the cover and the title, neither of which fit the book. The title suggests a light, easy read, which this is not, and the cover suggests a younger main character, while she is described as being in her fifties with grey or white hair (I can't recall which). This doesn't detract from the book, but it does mean that you can't judge this book by its cover.

I initially found this book very funny. The first 20% or so (I read it digitally) had me laughing out loud in several places. It was written as a series of emails between the main character and several others, as well as some entries from her journal, and I enjoy books of that format. However, as I traveled further into her story, I found it to be less funny and more sad in an, "I really feel sorry for this person," kind of way. We see her go through some rather ludicrous situations, pushing the boundaries of even my "It's fiction; accept it," state of mind, and then the book comes to a bit of an abrupt end with a convenient solution that I can say I didn't see coming. I did find it to be an enjoyable read, but it didn't capture me in a way that made me itch to get back to it anytime I had a moment free. That said, I am glad that I read it and would certainly check out other work from this author.