Really enjoyed this novel the dual storyline.Nancy Mitford really came alive following her story was my favorite part of the novel.This was a wonderful novel that I will be recommending,#netgalley#harlequinbooks

This book wasn't for me. Michelle Gable's The Bookseller's Secret uses the typical present/past structure to explore the lives of a struggling writer who goes to live with a friend in London and, well, Nancy Mitford. My issue was this: the Mitford sisters are fascinating. One could easily write a ten-volume treatise on the Mitford sisters and their brushes with fame, fascism, communism, and literature. Gable, unfortunately, fails to see it. She writes a book that fails to identify what's interesting about Nancy Mitford and so the narrative doesn't really hang. The less said about the present narrative, the better. Did not care for this and would not recommend it for a library collection, although Gable is a competent enough writer.

I can genuinely say I wasn’t bored with this book. Going back and forth between Katie and Nancy not only kept you on your toes but really gave the story some excitement.

I loved the parts of the book about Nancy Mitford! I also enjoyed the dual timelines - those are always my favorite! This was a thrilling, quick read for me.

Thank you NetGalley and Graydon House for the digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This story is driven by dialogue. I am on the opposite spectrum of that, I prefer less rather than more dialogue. Between the breaks from the dialogue, there are some descriptions of the characters, who is who, how they’ve met, and such, but I didn’t find it compelling. I wasn’t able to get attached to any character.

It is a dual timeline with one heroine being fan of Nancy Mitford’s writing. While visiting London, she stumbles upon a bookstore where Nancy Mitford worked during WWII.

There are some interesting aspects to this story and the premise is what attracted me to this story. If you like dual timeline stories and brimming with dialogue, then you may find it interesting.

The book was well written, but I found it had too many characters and with much that needed editing out., especially in the parts related to Nancy Mitford. There just wasn't much of a secret when I got to the end of the novel. Reading the historical research notes at the end would have made a better history book. Just having the modern day version would have made it a better rom-com.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A dual time line book that includes Katie from present day and Nancy Mitford from the 1940’s. This book alternates between the two with Katie’s journey of getting her life and writing back on track and with Nancy Mitford’s life and writing career during WWll. Their connection is through a London Bookstore, Heywood Hill, where Nancy worked and Katie discovers while visiting.

When Katie’s life couldn’t get any worse, she receives a call from a friend, JoJo in London offering her to come live with them, in order to take a break from her current life and get her writing career back on track. She agrees and her friend recommends she visits Heywood Hill bookstore where she discovers Nancy Mitford, which becomes her inspiration for her next book. With this discovery, will this give Katie the push to write another book or will she continue to have bad luck?

This book is engaging and fast paced. I loved the history the reader gets through Nancy Mitford, while getting the real life present day struggles of an author, Katie. I also enjoyed the real life epilogues the author includes in her author’s note. A great book club pick!

Two struggling writers eighty years apart - Katie Cabot, present-day, and Nancy Mitford, 1940s. Their stories are linked a little more closely than one may realize at first glance, and there are indeed some secrets to be kept in this novel. Gable does a great job weaving parallels between the two timelines and including real details from Nancy Mitford’s life; it’s a great glimpse into the life of a former Bright Young Thing.

Thanks to Graydon House for a digital ARC via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

A historical fiction book with a dual timeline, a focus on a London bookstore and a famous literary author - well that sounds like my kind of book. Thank you Netgalley and Harlequin for my DRC.

Dual timelines always interest me and I find that many times I’m equally interested in both. That wasn’t the case this time. The modern one didn’t capture me half as much as the 1940s London did. That may be in part because I didn’t really care for Katie and couldn’t connect with the issues she was going through. Plus her relationship with Simon just felt off considering the time they’d known each other.

I did love when the story focused on Nancy Mitford and all that was going on in her world. It definitely kept me engaged in the book. She really is a fascinating woman from a wild family. Overall I found this to be a solid read as I really enjoyed stepping into Nancy’s world. A three and half star read that I’m going to round up to four.

This book has a dual timeline and focuses on author Nancy Mitford during WW2. The present day focus is about searching for a potential lost manuscript of Nancy's. While it was interesting to picture the busy bookstore back in the war period, and learn a bit about the refugees some took in during the war, I struggled to feel any strong connection to the characters. The flow was a little off for me as well.

THE BOOKSELLER'S SECRET
BY MICHELE GABLE

This interesting literary fiction takes place during a dual time line.

Present Day

Katie is an author with writer's block who is American and goes to stay with a good friend in London. While there she finds every book lovers dream. A bookshop with the history of her iconic muse Nancy Mitford who apparently worked in the same shop between 1942 through 1945. Katie is told by one of the male colleagues that there exists an unpublished memoir by Nancy. After the time period that Nancy Mitford wrote "The Pursuit of Happiness."

1942-1945

Nancy Mitford managed this same bookshop. The book is such a treat for book lovers since it goes back and forth between working there and her many other endeavors during World War II and blitzed out London. She was one of six daughter's with one brother. Nancy's was the oldest and her five sister's gave their brother Tom a hard time when they were growing up. Next to Nancy was Pamela who I hadn't heard much about. Nancy reflects on Pamela as mostly boring after she was born she usurped Nancy's role as only child. Tom came after Pamela and Diana, was the middle child who Nancy describes being the dreamiest of the Mitford brood. Diana could be spotted gazing out of the window while they were growing up. Most people are familiar with Diana Mosley who spent some time of her adult life incarcerated during the war and Nancy took care of Diana's boys. Diana and her husband were known to be Fascists during World War II.

Next was Unity who was next born descending downward in age. Unity was linked to be a lover with Hitler. Nancy thought that Unity was someone who liked the idea of Hitler and the Nazi's more than she liked Hitler himself. It is said that Unity always wanted to be a part of something and was also known for her inability to think critically. She couldn't decide whether her country was England or Germany and tried committing suicide twice. Decca was born next a few year's later. Decca was known to be a Communist and her and Unity were closest growing up. Nancy believed that it was their closeness that pushed each girl to their ultimate extreme. Deborah, was the youngest and Nancy thought was her parents last chance for a boy. Their mother was mostly a pleasant woman who instilled in all of her daughter's to be independent of men.

The thing that I enjoyed the most were mentions of other literature and a mostly constant dialogue that went on throughout the entire novel. I liked how the back stories of many other character's kept the story moving forward. Katie and her friend Jojo in London both discussing the writing of novels and their character's. This novel was a joy to read and one that I would recommend for it's fascinating modern and historical details. Then there is the love of books and both contemporary and historical fiction.

Publication Date: August 17, 2021

Thank you to Net Galley, Michelle Gable and Harlequin Trade Publishing for providing me with my ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

#TheBookseller'sSecret #MichelleGable #HarlequinTradePublishing #NetGalley

Fabulous! If you’re a fan of the Mitford Sisters, you’ll definitely enjoy.
Dual historical fiction with a story that will make you smile. Thank you NetGalley!

This was an interesting book to read. I kept feeling like I was missing something, missing the point of it. In reading the author's note - I realized Nancy Mitford wasn't just a character, but an actual writer. I'm guessing if I'd known that prior to reading, it would have made more sense. Overall good story - it just felt incomplete to me -- what happened with Simon? What did Felix do with the manuscript? It wrapped up quickly and I feel like there are some lose ends.

I've been enthralled by the works of Michelle Gable since she published "A Paris Apartment" and this one has even more of my heart because I'm an aspiring author whose day job is grant writing. I'm also from Northern Virginia and grew up cheering for the NFL Washingtons until I transplanted to West Virginia and Appalachia. Yeah yeah, I know this is a book of fiction, but finding yourself on the pages of one of your favorite authors is still really rad. Just let me have a moment to fan-girl, mmk?

(If you want to understand the above connection to the main characters, then read "The Bookseller's Secret".)

She tied historical fiction in with women's fiction for two subplots that aligned beautifully and had me whispering "Oh my God, what!?" so many times.

Exhibit A:

"We were always either on a peak of happiness or drowning in black waters of despair; our emotions were on no ordinary plane, we loved or we loathed, we laughed or we cried, we lived in a world of superlatives."

I'm a fan of Michelle Cable's work and have long been fascinated by the Mitford sisters. I enjoyed this book, but admit to being confused by too many characters at times.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. This was a decent book but it was a little confusing at first. I felt like the past and the future could have been their own separate books. I did love the parallel between Katie and Nancy and how they were experiencing the same things.

This was a great story about Nancy Mitford. I’ve always thought the Mitford girls were fascinating ..all so different and some of their actions unfathomable. Nancy seemed to be one of the good ones.

The Mitfords, the Blitz, a bookstore, intrigues, a cast of quirky characters, a lost manuscript, and more. All make THE BOOKSELLER’S SECRET a great escape for WWII hist fic mystery lovers. Cheers!

4 of 5 Stars
Pub Date 17 Aug 2021
#TheBooksellersSecret #NetGalley

Thanks to the author, HARLEQUIN – Trade Publishing (U.S. & Canada), and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The story lines were a little messy and confusing at times because there were so many characters in the flashback to the WWII time frame. It would have been nice if the current time line would have been more developed. Honestly there was enough material to make the WWII portion of the story its own book.

This book was sent to me by Netgalley on Kindle for review. It is a mystery with characters who work together to discover the secret. At times, the story moves slowly with too much detail. At other times, it goes along at a pace that is intriguing. The characters are not particularly fascinating but for a quick read, this might be worth giving a try.