This is a story of Tom, the teenager, and Maggie, the mature lady, who meet via the local library. Each of them have holes in the lives which the other fills for them in the best way. There are ups and downs, and the book touches on a number of sensitive topics along the way.

I really warmed to the main characters and enjoyed seeing how their relationship unfolded. I felt the highs and the lows with them, and thoroughly enjoyed the ride. Each time I came to put the book down, I couldn’t wait to get back to it

It’s a great read for any time of the year and I fully recommend

Copy provided by Aria & Aries and Netgalley.

I’m a sucker for any type of book that also has books on the cover and is called something that is bookish related. I almost always buy it and read it. No matter the content. Luckily for me, this book was great and witty and just everything a book lover would want in a book-related book. I throughly enjoyed it. Now I just need a physical copy of it for my collection.

I like the characters of this book Tom and Maggie who both have very different things going on in there lives but both find comfort in the library

With thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the arc of this book in exchange for this review

Two very different generations
One library
One excellent friendship

What a fab read, so heartwarming.

I love Bellas books this one slightly different from her normal but still just as fabulous

Well and truly enjoyed this one and a must read.

I loved this book. The development of the relationship between Tom and Maggie is just so lovely and well written, it's impossible for you not to get drawn in to cheering on their progress. It's a very timely story considering how many people are suffering from loneliness to an even greater extent due to the impact of the pandemic and a reminder not to judge a book by its cover, as the most unlikely candidates, however old or teenage, have something to offer. This may have been a departure from the author's usual writing, but I loved it as much, if not more, than her other titles. Also as someone who works in a library I'd like to thank the author for her insightful observations that a library isn't "just books" and highlighting the positive social impact a library can have on the community. Highly recommend.

A heartwarming novel about an unexpected friendship between 72 year-old Maggie and 16 year-old Tom as they rally others to save the local library threatened with closure in their small English village. I enjoyed the way the author used alternating perspective between Maggie in third person and Tom in first person to tell the story. Both characters were flawed yet relatable. At first glance it might sound like a light and fluffy plot, however, Maggie and Tom are two very lonely people dealing with some heavy emotional burdens and the central theme of The Library is really the importance of human connection in everyone's life regardless of age or circumstance.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC.

What a joyful, heartwarming book! I read this in one sitting as I was fully invested in Tom and Maggie’s story and their unlikely friendship. Although this book deals with some difficult subjects such as alcoholism, it is not difficult to read - the subjects are dealt with in way that acknowledges the illness with understanding and hope.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it. Bella Osbourne is fast becoming one of my favourite authors and although this is a slightly different genre for her, it is still recognisable as her writing, full of believable and fully developed characters. I loved it!

What a sweet story! I loved the exploration of interpersonal relationships in this read. Maggie and Tom's friendship is heartwarming and really highlights the concept of found family. While this novel covers some heavy topics, Osborne found the perfect mix of depth and humor.

I took one star away because I felt this read like YA, even though it isn't classified as a YA read. It was distracting at first, but I got used to it quick as I grew to love the characters.

The Library is about two unlikely friends who meet and bond over their library. Tom feels like he's invisible. He's happy living in the background but then he meets a girl who changes everything. He knows nothing about women so he starts reading romance books. While he's at the library he meets Maggie. She's a 72-year-old lady who's been alone for years. They become friends and its pure joy to read. I honestly enjoyed this contemporary story so much. It was very refreshing to read about two unlikely friends without the romance. Their bond over books and the library was so fun to read about. My fellow book worms are gonna love this one!

This is a bit of a departure from Bella Osborne's usual books. Not a romcom but a study of different relationships between a teenage boy and his father, and the same teenage boy and an elderly lady he befriends when he assists her after she is mugged.
The community are forced into action when the local council intend to close the village library. Secrets are revealed and discoveries made which change everything.

After the initial pages, I found myself not connecting with the story or characters, so I decided to pass on this book. Did not finish

What a delightful read. Fresh, original with a host of interesting and well thought out characters. There are some lovely twists and turns in the plot that I didn't see coming. Although its a heart warming read, it also touches on several issues. I couldn't recommend this too highly.

I read this in one afternoon. And I'm so sorry it ended. I loved Tom and Maggie. A beautiful story of family.

The Library explores the unlikely friendship between a teenage boy and a young-at-heart septuagenarian as they work together to save the local library.

I felt this one started a little slow but I know that Bella Osborne always delivers, so I kept reading. The Library has a child-like innocence to it but as the story progresses it covers some harder-hitting subjects like poverty, grief, and alcoholism.

Obviously, this is a great one for book lovers. I reminisced at the many books mentioned that I'd read myself, as well as soaking up the calmness experienced when visiting a library. In contrast, I loved visiting Maggie's farm enjoying the characters of the various animals, and I certainly learnt something new about lambing 😲.  

Warning: there's also a lot of cake mentioned which left me feeling very hungry.

Published September 2021 Aria Books

TW contain spoilers so will be at the bottom of the post - read with caution!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Aria & Aries books for letting me read The Library.

AHHH this is such a difficult review to write because I absolutely loved the premise of this book and probably about the first 40% of this book but it just slowly went a bit downhill for me and I think this is purely based on the fact that this book tries to focus on so so many topics and big issues which in the end means none of those topics are really dealt with that well. I loved Tom and Maggie and their relationship and honestly wish that the wider topics had just been halved so we could really focus more on how that relationship developed rather than almost shoehorning in any big topic you could have thought of.

I love the focus on the library and kind of wish that the library closing down was just the central story and how this brought all the wider characters together. Personally I felt that the other topics were both under-developed and also rushed in their conclusion.

The cover of this book is gorgeous and it was almost a winner for me but it just didn't stand up as much as I hoped it would.


TW: SPOILERS BELOW
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TW: parental alcoholism, neglect, parental death during child birth, child death during child birth, adoption, removal of child from parents care due to alcoholism, vomiting, character almost chokes on own vomit after drinking, mugging, scenes of sheep giving birth, bullying

This is the third book I have read by Bella Osborne & all three have been magnificent. I love reading books about books & bookworms. Absolutely fab!

Thank you Aria & Aries and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Library by Bella Osborne is a heartwarming tale about two bookworms from different generations who get to know each other through the power of books. Tom is a shy high schooler who hates being the center of attention at school, and he sees the library as a source of escape. Maggie is an old but shrewd woman who comes to the library for her weekly book club, the only time she gets out of her house. After the two initially notice each other in a library, they don't hit it off right away, but they eventually develop an unexpected friendship. I've always been a fan of libraries and I fully believe in the power of books to bring people together, so when I read the description of this book, I knew that I needed to add this book to my TBR list right away. I was so excited to read on about how these two very different people eventually become friends.

The book alternates perspectives between Tom and Maggie.

Here is an excerpt from Chapter 1, which is from Tom's perspective:

"My name is Tom Harris and I am invisible.
Not actually invisible - that would make me interesting and I'm not. I'm the person others find easy to forget. The one who is lost in the crowd. To be honest it suits me to be invisible. I hate it when I get noticed and I'm thrown into the spotlight, I'd rather be lost in the white noise of life. My neck goes red and blotchy at all sorts of unhelpful moments, like if a teacher asks me a question."

And here is an excerpt from Chapter 2, which is from Maggie's perspective:

"Maggie hadn't enjoyed this week's book club read. She was getting sick of psychological thrillers that told you you'd never see the big twist coming when invariably she could spot it like a pink striped cow in a field of sheep. She also found some of the stories played on her mind, which wasn't good for a seventy-two-year-old living on her own. Not that living alone bothered her; it didn't, She'd been on her own for almost ten years. Maggie liked her own company and her own space but she forced herself to make the trip into the village every week. Without it she would likely not see or speak to anyone unless the postman had something she needed to sign for..."

As you can see from the excerpts, the book is humorous and witty. I had a wonderful reading this book in between two darker, more thrilling reads, and this was just the light-hearted comedy that I was looking for. It's definitely a good idea to read books from different genres once in a while. I was definitely invested in both characters, but I found myself enjoying the chapters from Maggie's perspective more. There's something about her dry humor that I found very fun. The author did add in a plot about Tom and Maggie teaming up to save their library from closing, but to be honest, I was already invested in the book just from reading about their developing friendship. If you're intrigued by the excerpts above, or if you're a fan of heartwarming books about libraries, then I highly recommend you check out this book when it comes out in September!

This is just so lovely. From the very first sentence it hooks you in and I realised immediately that Tom would be a likeable character that I could relate to immediately. As his friendship with Maggie evolves, its great to see both characters trust each other and use each other as a support for a trickier past. Not afraid to tackle difficult subjects, alcoholism is a prominent feature in the book, and in my opinion is tackled sensitively, honestly and very well indeed.
My one criticism of this book is that it spoils the ending of another book whilst Tom and Maggie are talking books- I suspect most people have read it but for those of us who haven't, there is a spoiler alert with no warning!
Overall, enjoyable, sweet, honest and thought provoking.

A great read.

Tom and Maggie become unlikely friends, having met at the library. They are trying to help save their local library, along with everything else that is happening in their lives.

A lovely read so well written a book of a surprise it friendship. I started reading and was drawn right in this book is charming warm will be recommending.#netgalley #The Library