The Lonely Hearts Book Club follows Sloane Parker, a librarian who is happy yet also somewhat unhappy about her life. It all comes to a head when she ends up talking to a patron named Arthur McLachlan. While most of their conversations start with insults from him, the two end up striking up an unlikely friendship.

Once her friend ends up not coming back to the library and Sloane loses out on a promotion, the two end up becoming a lot closer and eventually, starting a book club. From there, they’re joined by Maisey one of Arthur’s neighbors, Mateo, Sloane’s former co-worker, Greg who is Arthur’s grandson and eventually, a special guest but I won’t spoil the connection for that.

While there was no romance within the pages of this story, The Lonely Hearts Book Club came alive via the friendships of the characters. Arthur was dealing with a lot and frankly incredibly angry at life, but everyone around him never blamed him for anything. They had their moments, but in the end, the book club was a family.

With a family though, there were plenty of disagreements, hurtful insults hurled at each other, and also lots of love. I especially enjoyed seeing the books they picked to read and how towards the end of the story, there was a grand gesture. I know it’s usually reserved for romance books, but The Lonely Hearts Book Club did it so well.

Aside from the lack of romance, there wasn’t much I didn’t enjoy about the story. I will say that the only thing I didn’t love was how Sloane’s fiance was portrayed. He was set to be the villain from the beginning and it made sense yet I didn’t want to see Sloane have to deal with his dumb face.

All in all, there were so many references to books and authors. It was such a beautiful bookish story yet it did focus on some heavier topics. If you’re sensitive to grief, the loss of a family member, strained parental relationships, or don’t like rude characters, then I’d steer clear of this one unless you’re in a better place.

If you’re up for it though, The Lonely Hearts Book Club is a great one to pick up this spring especially if you’re a book lover.

The Lonely Hearts Book Club by Lucy Gilmore is a heart warming read, perfect for fans of The Reading List. Based on the unlikely friendship between meek librarian Sloane Parker and curmudgeonly library patron Arthur McLachlan , the book is a real feel good story that will cheer up even the greyest day. While Sloane and Arthur are at the heart of the story, it would not be much of a book club with only two members, so we are gradually introduced to the wonderful cast of characters who will become a real support network for each other and become true friends. These include Arthur's estranged grandson , Sloane's co worker with a second life as a performer and Arthur's neighbour Maisey , as well as a mystery figure from Arthur's past. As parts of the story are told from several of these perspectives we get a full picture of the character's lives as seen from the outside, not just the stories they as narrators are telling the readers about themselves, and this made for interesting reading.
A sweet feel good story that I know many readers will enjoy.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

When I read this was a book about books and happening in a library, I was in. But I did not expect to love this book as much as I did! I loved all and each of the characters, the heartwarming and all the emotions around them. Sloane, Maisey, Arthur, Greg, Matteo are all fantastic characters, I felt like I wanted to be part of their Book Club! If you like books that leave you with a heart full of joy, make sure you pick this one up, its release date is April 4th, 2023.
Thanks NetGally for sharing this amazing ARC with me.

Sloane Parker is a librarian and lives a nice, calm life with her chiropractor fiancé, Brett. That is, until she meets the well-read but curmudgeonly library patron, Arthur McLachlan, who shows up at 10:30 every morning to grab his books and send her off with snide remarks. She plays into the game and dishes it right back, much to the shock of her co-workers who literally hide from him. Then one day Arthur doesn't come in, then two days, and then three, before Sloane becomes worried that something terrible must have happened to this lonely old man. Knowing she could lose her job, she uses the library computer to gain his address information - she just wants to do a wellness check to make sure he's okay, only to discover him bedridden and desperately trying to not show her how happy he is to see her. Wanting to bring more cheer into Arthur's gloomy life, Sloane creates an impromptu book club, slowly adding the lonely misfits of their town and finding friendship in them all.

Every single one of these characters had so much life and emotion breathed into them through Gilmore's writing, each having their own section to shine in the novel. This eclectic, quirky, loveable cast of characters - Sloane, Arthur, Maisey, Mateo, Greg, and Nigel - each had such a different personality and story and were each written so distinctly that you were able to connect to each of them well. It was special to read just how much each person benefited from the book club while they were going through what they were each handling in their personal lives. I'm also a sucker for a book about books, so this was an enjoyable read for me in that aspect as well.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for my e-ARC in exchange for my honest review. I can't wait to pick up my own copy of this when it comes out and will be looking from more from Lucy Gilmore in the future!

This book is an example of why comparing books to others can be dangerous. I've seen this book compared to "A Man Called Ove" several times, so I was expecting an incredibly impactful, emotional story with phenomenal character growth and a deeply satisfying friendship as the center of the novel. I'm bored with the characters and don't feel any real emotion in the story. They're just a funny group of friends. The story is okay, if slightly boring, but I don't feel deeply impacted and likely won't remember these characters later.

This is a book lovers dream book! It was so heartwarming and a genuinely lovely book. This book was a breath of fresh air.

he Lonely Hearts Book Club was an absolutely lovely read. This book was full of all the things that I never knew I wanted in a story - I was so captivated by the sheer love captured in its pages. The Lonely Hearts Book Club follows a group of very different people, tied together by their book club. When Sloane, a librarian, meets an ornery old man by the name of Arthur, she cannot help but make friends with him. One day, Arthur doesn’t show up at the library, and Sloane begins to worry. After tracking him down, she finds him bedridden and in need of help. Along with Maisey, Arthur’s neighbor, they begin a book club. Soon after, their book club is introduced to more members, including Arthur’s estranged grandson.

Following the growth of friendship and love in this book was an absolute delight. The way each and every member grew to care about each other was so endearing and exactly what I needed. The book switches between multiple different POVs, and being able to see the story from multiple perspectives was something I enjoyed. There were a few times where I wasn’t able to properly discern one character’s voice from another, but overall each of the sections contributed a new and nuanced take on the situation at hand.

I enjoyed all of the characters in this story, with Maisey being my favorite. She seemed like such a sweet person, and I was rooting for her relationship with her daughter throughout the course of the story. What was most evident in her POV was the loneliness that she felt- it was something present in all of the members of the book club, but it was expressed the most in her section. That loneliness was something I thought was instrumental to the story, as the characters bonded and began to fill their hearts with the book club.

In terms of pacing, I thought the beginning of the book was a bit quick- I felt that Sloane’s relationship with Arthur didn’t develop as much as I wished it would have, and it felt a little jarring when Arthur disappeared and Sloane immediately went out to look for him. Seeing the book club’s relationships progress throughout the rest of the story was such a good experience. I was rooting for Mateo to follow his dreams, for Arthur and Greg to open up to each other, and most of all for Sloane to stay where she was happy. The ending felt satisfying, and I loved the platonic love developed throughout the story.

Overall, I would absolutely recommend this book to others, and I’d give it 4.5 stars out of 5.

Review by Staff Editor Ivi Hua.

This will be a book I remember at the end of the year when choosing my favs for 2023. Its got it all....characters so specific you grab them into your heart and wish they were your real friends, a heartwarming story cunningly told and love of books and the meaning of living books.

A beautiful story about love, loss, loneliness, and friendship.

This is the story of a group of lonely individuals all coming together to take care of Arthur, a grumpy, old man who is ill. Each member of the group realizes that this book club is exactly what they needed as their lives become more and more intertwined. Each book the club reads also helps the members admit truths about their lives and deal with their issues.

This book was more serious than I expected but it also had a lot of heart and humor. The ending was a little more abrupt than I expected but I suppose it leaves the rest up to the reader, you can decide what happens to everyone after the book ends.

I absolutely loved this book and found the characters really relatable. If you've ever felt loneliness, grief, or directionless, maybe this will be a really helpful book for you, if not, it's still a really good read!

The Lonely Hearts Book Club
Lucy Gilmore
The Lonely Hearts Book Club
Lucy Gilmore

Books, friendship and a book club with a great bunch of people!

Sloane Parker is an engaged small town librarian as the story begins. Arthur MacLachlan is a daily patron, a grumpy fiesty gentleman who always has a surly remark and condescending attitude to most non classic books. He spars with Sloane daily and she begins to spar back.
They fall into a rhythm until one day he doesn't show up. Sloane worries, then a few more days go by and she just knows something is wrong with him since he isn't coming to the library.
She breaks the rules and tracks him down and the story really begins. She meets some interesting people who happen to be in the neighborhood. Not necessarily neighbors but there is a lovely lady who talks to Sloane.
Arthur is very ill and Sloane wants to help him so she decides to start a book club in his home.

Just the title had me hooked. Then realizing each character had their own loneliness and issues plus they talked about books oh so many books, well yes a great time was had reading this book.
A book about books is wonderful. My heart went out to each person in the book and a few tears might have been shed at times.

I liked how the book was told in sections and each character had their own say and chapters so we got to know them better.
I really enjoyed the book club part of the story, and the building friendships as the book went along.
I liked the growth of the characters as well and the writing flowed well.

I finished the book with a smile and a warm glow feeling.

highly highly recommended

thanks to NetGalley the author and published for the opportunity to read and review this great book

4****

Always a sucker for a library/bookstore book, I was pleased to try out the advance e-copy of this book, about a librarian whose small and contained life is turned upside down when she takes it upon herself to care for an elderly library patron who is as curmudgeonly and difficult as they come. This leads to a bit of a rag-tag group who form a little book club as they develop friendships and help each other through the various individual life challenges they have. I’m not always a fan of the curmudgeon book like A Man Called Ove as sometimes they feel maybe a little flippant or even too cute - but the twist of focusing the different sections on different members of the book club really helped make for a rounder picture than “just” a curmudgeon story. There’s lots of good literary references with the book club, and I also liked how this unlikely group that gets together gives you perspectives from a variety of ages and life experiences, coming together on how they all need literature and friendships to heal their loneliness and sense of self worth. Overall pretty gentle, somewhat comedic, and of course heartwarming, something easy to breeze through and enjoy even if not super memorable. I'd recommend for fans of curmudgeon books like Ove (very similar in themes and in the overall light tone but still hitting on deeper issues like loneliness and grief); it also reminded me of some books by British authors like Ruth Hogan (The Keeper of Lost Things) or Phaedra Patrick (The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper), and it had definite Bookish Life of Nina Hill vibes too. ★★★.5

The Lonely Hearts Book Club by Lucy Gilmore follows several people who find solace in a book club haphazardly started by a young librarian Sloane and her septuagenarian friend Arthur. The book changes perspective between each member of the book club, allowing for further introspection and investigation into the personal lives of each individual.

I enjoyed how this book used books as a way to process and express emotions in real life. I thought the characters were able to grow and find themselves in between the pages, which is an important part of reading in my opinion.

While I enjoyed the book overall, I think I would've enjoyed switching perspectives more if they weren't all using first person. I got so used to Sloane's voice being "I" that when it switched over to Maisey, it was a little jarring to remember whose head we were in now, especially since Sloane and others were still characters in the story. That being said, I thought the way Gilmore weaved all of the stories together in this was very unique and overall well done.

I do think some characters needed a little bit more attention in order to drive home some of the points that the author was working towards. Maybe it was because we were following so many characters and they each had their own internal struggles that some of the balls were dropped on this front. For example, I felt like Sloane's fiancé was underdeveloped and that the scenes we got with his character didn't match up with how the book club group was talking about him (being boring, stuck up, etc.). I also felt like his character wasn't consistent through each scene we got with him. This ultimately colored my opinion of Sloane's internal struggle regarding her fiancé. This is just one example, but I felt like it kept me from getting fully invested in some of the storylines.

All of that being said, I found the relationship between Sloane and Arthur to be entertaining. I loved the banter between the entire book club as a whole, and I enjoyed reading about the different books they chose for their book club.

An emotional, sweet slow-burn read about friendship, love, loss, and the importance of books! Probably a 3.5/5 rounded up to a 4.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

A feel good tale told from the perspective of 5 different main characters that gave me all kinds of fuzzy feelings. This story isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, and does deal with a lot with grief from several different character’s perspectives, looking at how it affects different people but how it can connect them, too. I loved all of the characters and really enjoyed gaining insight into their personal stories through their individual narratives.

This book club was a great way to connect people at different stages in their lives, all with different interests and different troubles. Seeing them find that acceptance and become truly comfortable to be themselves, and to watch each of them grow, was something special. I’ve never found so many characters in one book that I wanted to hug. And on that note, I have to say that I did have a particular soft spot for Greg - the large, blushing man with the soft heart, always trying to shrink himself down into a smaller space so he doesn’t scare anyone. And all he really wanted was a hug - which (spoiler alert) I’m not sure he ever got - perhaps my only gripe with the book. And if that’s my only negative, then it’s a sign this was truly a wonderful book! It reminded me that friends can be found in unexpected places and loneliness is universal. The ending didn’t tie everything up, which would usually frustrate me, but in a novel like this it offers hope and potential, letting me imagine the futures of this ragtag bunch of friends instead!

4⭐️ I really enjoyed this story of unlikely friends helping each other through difficult times. The characters were well developed and I quickly became invested in their lives. It always amazes me how willing people are to avoid confronting their demons. Sloane and company had a lot to work through, but they didn’t give up. I loved the literary references and banter. Most of all I loved how this book reinforced one of my favorite sayings: “If you look for the good in people, you’ll surely find it.”
Thanks to SOURCEBOOKS Casablanca and NetGalley for the ARC.

The Lonely Hearts Book Club by Lucy Gilmore is a wonderful and emotional standalone novel. The storyline revolves around 5 main characters, who will eventually form a book club. We meet Sloane Parker, our heroine, who loves her job as a librarian, and is engaged to a chiropractor doctor. Sloane always is outgoing when meeting people in the library, and then she meets Arthur McLachlan, who is mean grumpy old man, constantly hurling insults to anyone who looks his way. In a short time, Arthur makes sure to come to the library when he knows Sloane is there, happily insulting her, but Sloane enjoys giving it back to Arthur.

One day, when Arthur doesn’t show up, Sloane becomes concerned when a few days pass with no Arthur. She decides to track him down, and learns he was bedridden, having checked himself out of the hospital. Though he was grumpy, Arthur was happy to see Sloane. When she loses her job, because of her visitation, Sloane makes it her business to visit Arthur every day, including at times staying over his house to help him.
Sloane meets Maisey, a clairvoyant and Arthur’s next-door neighbor. The two of them become friends, and together they make it their business to watch over Arthur. When Maisey notices a man parked by Arthur’s house for a few days, she confronts him, and learns that he is Arthur’s grandson, Greg. Of course, the grumpy Arthur treats his grandson as bad as the others. Soon Mateo ( Sloan’s coworker from the library, who is also a trained nurse) will join them, as he becomes part of the newly set up book club.

What follows is we learn more about each of the group, their lives, their secrets, their personality, and even Arthur slowly opens up. Especially when Nigel, a former enemy of Arthur, joins the book club. The characters were great, with so much fun humorous banter between them; you couldn’t help but care about each of them. All 5 were an unlikely group of friends, who were always there to support each other, with each having their own favorite books.

The Lonely Hearts Book Club was so very well written by Lucy Gilmore. This was a joyous story of friendship, that was heartwarming, emotional, fun, humorous, with each person dealing with love as well as their own grievances. The Lonely Hearts Book Club was a fantastic read.

This novel is based around a librarian named Slone and a grumpy old man named Arthur. When Arthur doesn’t come in to the library Sloane begins searching for him and wondering about him and finds that he is now bed ridden. This novel is such a good story of friendship despite being enemies at first. I really enjoyed this novel and the authors focus on the lonely finding one another!

As an introverted reader, this book made me so unbelievably happy.

The Lonely Hearts Book Club centres us on an unlikely group of lonely people and their bookclub. Each character has their own unique story and feelings. Not one person feels more important or pushed to the side to further the story of someone else. It's difficult to carry the amount of sarcasm and humor, but Lucy Gilmore has handled all of it with great success.

The warm nostalgia of the setting really pushed this one along, adding such a great warmth to the story. After all, we all love a good bookstore. I highly recommend this one, it'll be a hot anticipation for all lovers of reading.

Whether brought together by a love of books, familial obligation, neighbor nosiness, or happenstance, the characters of The Lonely Hearts Book Club find themselves delving into discussions on The Joy Luck Club and Anne of Green Gables. Meanwhile, their lives are all, in their own unique way, falling apart at the seems.

The character who brings this band of misfits together is the quiet, unassuming librarian, Sloane, who shares little of her emotions with the outside world, preferring the comfort of books to people. However, when a frequent library visitor, the miserly Arthur, is discovered to be recovering from a health scare alone, Sloan embarks on a quest to help him out; and possibly discover what has made Arthur so belligerent and downright mean in the process. As the story unfolds we meet Arthur's estranged but not-so-reluctant to help out grandson, Greg, nosey neighbor and psychic-hotline operator, Maisey, and librarian/home health aide, Mateo.

Each of the MCs had sections to share their POV and I definitely think it added to the story. Some of the issues the characters were facing seemed a bit dramatic at times, but I still loved how it all brought them together; misfits who find their own. I really enjoyed this read and look forward to getting a physical copy when it is released later this year.

Content warning: There are references to the death of various family members (wife, mother, sister, etc) throughout the story, but no graphic imagery.

ARC provided by NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Casablanca in exchange for a fair review.

I really enjoyed this book! As the story progressed the characters grew through the support of their new book club. Normally I do not care for books where the point of view is from too many characters but it worked so well the way it was done here because you gained such a deeper understanding of them by doing so. The story felt very real and full of hope, in so many different ways, for such a diverse group of individuals.

I absolutely loved this character driven novel. Amazing characters! I also always love an old curmudgeon character and this novel has a great one. I will recommend this book to my book club!