The Lonely Hearts Book Club is the story of a group of friends supporting one another through the ups and downs of life. These group of friends each have a unique, quirky personality that keeps the book lively throughout. Everyone has their own backstory of why they are part of the "Lonely Hearts Book Club". The book tackles difficult issues head on that makes a reader look at their own life more closely. I found this made the book quite relatable. Overall, I would definitely recommend this book! Be sure to pick it up when it is published on April 4th.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Sourcebooks Casablanca, for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Sloane lives a very small contained life as a librarian in her small town. Her small life contains her husband, colleagues and a grouchy old man Arthur. Sloane is very content with the way life is, simple but enjoyable for her. When Arthur oversteps his normal rudeness Sloane is hurt, but then Arthur doesn't turn up to the library for a few days. Against the advice of her manager Sloane looks up Arthur's details and visits his house, where she sees he is very ill and refusing help from nurses. Sloane then gets fired because of her desire to help Arthur and starts to catalogue his books for him. Along the way she gains friends and confidence in her self.

This book was brilliant, the perfect mix of humour and darkness for me. The book was told from every friend in the groups perspective which I loved. I also really loved the ending, it was the perfect way to end this lovely book about books. Really warmed my heart.

Could not get through this. It really dragged on and while I could tell the characters would be lovely to get to know, it took too long to get there.

The Lonely Hearts Book Club by Lucy Gilmore is such a sweet and heartwarming read, you won’t feel lonely after this one. And it’s smart, too!

I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a review and opinions are my own.

This book had a little bit of everything, so many emotions and stories. I loved the way the relationships developed and changed between the characters. I did struggle with the different narrators - I felt like parts of the story from the previous narrator were dropped and had to keep reminding myself that it was because the new one wasn't a part of every aspect of the others' lives. There were moments where I thought it was a generous 3 stars and moments when it was a full 5, so I settled for 4. I do think this is one where I'll be thinking about the characters for some time to come.

I have a weak spot for stories with a bookish angle as well as stories with one or more older main characters, so it's no surprise that the blurb of The Lonely Hearts Book Club caught my attention immediately. Arthur McLachlan gave me A Man Called Ove vibes, which is an all time favorite... Add the promise of unlikely friendships and a bunch of misfits thrown together, and I fully expected to have an excellent time with this story. I'm now happy to announce that I might just have found a new all time favorite to add to my list, and this story was everything I hoped it would be and more!

I don't hand out those full 5 star ratings often (it's like an A++ for me), but I couldn't give The Lonely Hearts Book Club any less than the full rating. My first 5 star read of the year that will without a doubt appear on my list of 2023 favorites! Why was this story so successful for me? More than one reason, but a lot of it has to do with the main characters. Arthur McLachlan makes for the perfect old curmudgeon grump, and the A Man Called Ove comparison is definitely accurate. His character growth is one of the reasons this story truly stands out, and his attitude makes for some hilarious banter and interaction in general. His character is complemented with a great mix of other misfits; a truly unlikely bunch to be thrown together into a book club and friendship, but even more powerful because of it. Every single one shows character growth over time, and I loved spending time with them.

The story uses a multiple POV structure, but not in your usual way. Instead, The Lonely Hearts Book Club is divided into 'parts' where each main character is in the spotlight before moving on to the next. These changes in the POV made it easy to truly get to know every single one, and since their friendship evolves and they started spending more and more time together, you will still get to see all of them anyway. Having Arthur's POV later in the story is a brilliant play, because he might not have had the same impact early on in the story... As a whole, I loved the structure of the plot and how everything was wrapped up in the end.

The Lonely Hearts Book Club is a true bookish story with not only part of the plot set in a library, but also two librarian main characters, an old professor, the book club and lots and lots of bookish references and quotes. If you like a bookish angle in your contemporaries, you will be in for a real treat! I particularly loved the book club part, and how the characters with a different background and education all got something different out of the books they read. Such a perfect representation of what books mean to different people! Another bonus: the fact that there is hardly any romance at all. Instead, The Lonely Hearts Book Club focuses on friendship as well as family, grief and self reflection... And I loved the story so much more because of it.

All in all The Lonely Hearts Book Club turned out to be such a wonderful, heartwarming and moving story, and I cannot recommend it enough if you enjoy well written bookish contemporaries with a fantastic cast of characters.

Quite unexpectedly charming. I was expecting more of a chick-lit/ rom-com thing, but this was so much more.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC copy for my review.

This is such an emotional book, definitely written with feeling. It is one of those books that you root for all the characters. Add in a librarian, book club and small town characters you have the recipe for a really good book. This book should be a must for anyone who loves a heartfelt book.

I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book provided by NetGalley

Sloane loves working as a librarian. And she loves her daily interactions with the old curmudgeonly patron, Arthur MacLachlan. But one day, he doesn't show up. After numerous days, she tracks him down, worried about his health. She forces her way into his life, and oddly enough, starts the strangest book club she could've imagined, full of misfits and the misunderstood.

This book is like a cross between 'The Authenticity Project' and 'The Bookish Life of Nina Hill.' It is beautiful 🩷; beautifully written, articulated and felt. The reader needs each character to help flesh out the other characters; they bring each other's real selves out. For any o e who has every struggled, ever loved and lost, ever wanted more from life, this. book. is. yours.

📚Book Review: The Lonely Hearts Book Club by Lucy Gilmore ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Sloane works at a library and is worried when the grumpy old patron she always interacts with hasn't come in for a while. She breaks privacy rules to find his address and go to his house to check on him, and discords that he is I'll and was in the hospital. Put on suspension, she starts taking care of him under the guise of agreeing to help organize the stacks and stacks of books around his house. She starts to meet and invite in more random people from their lives and they form an unexpected bookclub.

This is an incredible story about a group of misfits who find each other and learn to live life again. Explorations of grief, loneliness, friendship, love, literature, and more. I teared up multiple times and will definitely consider purchasing it when it releases Mar 28/23.

Thank you @netgalley and @sourcebookscasa for the ARC!

#BookReview #TheLonelyHeartsBookClub #LucyGilmore #BookClub #FoundFamily

I love books about books or ones that take place in a bookshop or library, this book was right up my alley. There are many characters that join The Lonely Hearts Book Club and this story is divided into sections so each character gets their point of view across. I loved that the author did that as it made me feel connected to the characters and helped me to understand them and their problems better. The characters were very real and not all of them are always likeable but the relationships they forged were true to life and believable. They were people I’d like to be friends with. What book lover wouldn’t?

I liked how books were the reason this group of lonely people was brought together. They made a family for themselves and learned a lot about each other but also about themselves and they grew as a group and changed a bit along the way. This is a very character-driven storyline with well-thought-out backstories for each, it was also very emotional at times. I adored this book and the characters inside. All. The. Stars.

The Lonely Hearts Book Club is a rich ensemble novel with a cast you'll come to love. It had the taste of a Frederik Backman book in the best way. I enjoyed it very much.

This book is so interesting to read. I love Sloane's journey and development. Arthur's character development is so good and so sweet. I simply adored the friendship between Sloane and Arthur. The ending of the book is satisfying and wholesome. However, I do have a problem with the pacing as for it being quite slow for me.

The Lonely Hearts Bookclub by Lucy Gilmore was such a refreshing, heart warming read about friendship, love and most importantly a Bookclub that brought together the lonely members.

I enjoyed each and every character but my favorite was Arthur and the neighbor Maisey. Arthur being Arthur was always arrogant and rude to her but she never lost her calm and always made the situation light hearted.

Thank you @netgalley and @sourcebooks for the gifted galley for this beautiful book that releases on March 28, 2023! This is a perfect Bookclub read!

Wow! This was truly an amazing read!

It follows the story of a small town librarian (Sloane), and her daily interactions with a super old and grumpy regular library patron (Arthur). She somehow finds joy in their daily banter, however unfiltered and often times mean-spirited it can be. Arthur is a well read, extremely opinionated book snob. He does not find any contemporary authors worthy of reading . The story takes a major turn when Arthur does not make his usual appearance at the library. Sloane the ever caring human being cannot resist the urge to check in on him. She find his address via the library’s patron log. This is of great consequence to her library career. When she finds him sickly and in need of assistance she meets his motherly neighbor Maisey and they begin to formulate a plan to care for him much to his very vocal protest. Then enters his long lost grandson Greg, her former co-worker Matteo and his arch-nemesis/ oldest friend Nigel. These unlikely friends/ lonely hearts form a bookclub as a ruse to care for Arthur. And so a beautiful, meaningful and oh so heartwarming story begins. It is an ode to friendship and to the love of books.

I cannot get over how much I loved this book! It is a must read for the book lover. It was really surprising to love all of the characters. They were all so fully developed. I highly recommend and look forward to hosting a buddy read upon publication. My only warning is that you are certain to have a book hangover.

A book with a lot of heart.

Arthur should be the outcast of the library(The Phantom, The Grinch) but Sloane, the librarian, has taken a liking to his curmudgeonly ways.

When Arthur doesn't show up one day, she's worried. What happens next brings together unlikely people who never knew that they were lonely.

Everyone needs someone even if what brought you together is a grumpy old man with no appreciation for TikTok pranks. It was the friends we made along the way!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read and review!

The book is well paced, the characters leap off the page and their emotions are so well described you can feel it. How these amazing people end up together through various mis-steps in their lives will tug at your heart strings, and i think we can all relate to the experiences each one has gone through.

My only issue was I was left wanting more. I wanted to see how they ended up, did the relationships persist. The author really knew how to wrap up the story.

If you're looking for a book to make your cold heart warm while inspiring deep reflection this book is for you.

I received an arc of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

⭐️: 4/5

Sloane, a librarian in a small town, looks forward to her verbal sparring match with one of her patrons, curmudgeonly Arthur, every day. Worried when Arthur doesn’t show up at his normal time for several days, Sloane goes to check on him finding him bedridden and sick, and pretending that he’s unhappy to see her. In efforts to cheer him up, she starts a book club with him, and as their book club finds more members, Sloane finds that she has been missing the joy of human connection as well.

I love a good book about people who love books, with the message that books do wonders to bring everyone together. It’s always so heartwarming to read about and gives me the warm fuzzies inside. When I started this book, I wasn’t sure how this review was going to go, since the setting of the stage for the plot of the book, plus most of the logic in the character’s decision making processes didn’t make much sense to me. Add in that the background development describing the interpersonal relationships between the characters as they are at the start of the book is a little shaky, in that the characters act in ways that don’t quite make sense with each other (looking at you, Octavia). However, ultimately, I think this boils down to the fact that the author had a story that she had in her mind and wanted to tell, and it was a beautiful story that was entirely worth telling, but the process of setting the stage for the story to make sense was a little clunky and clumsy, and reliant on some bad plot decisions. Once the stage was set and the characters, their personalities, and their relationships were set though, this book was a winner that made me feel a lot of feels, and I loved the unapologetically saccharine nature of it.

Thank you to @netgalley and @sourcebookscasa for this eARC in exchange for my honest review!!

I really wanted to like this book, but it was a miss for me. Written from the different perspectives of a newly formed book club, there's a cast of diverse characters. I just didn't find any to be relatable. The book references tucked in were probably my favorite part.

In The Lonely Hearts Book Club by Lucy Gilmore coming out in April, Sloane Parker is a librarian in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. She decides she will engage crotchety old Arthur McLachlan when he makes his daily visits to the library. His personality is oft putting, he scares most of the staff at the library, and he does not mind hurling unpleasant comments to Sloane or anyone else. After months of this daily taunting and teasing of Sloane, Arthur fails to visit the library.

Day after day, Arthur is a no-show, and Sloane’s anxiety increases until she decides to find Arthur at home--against the library’s rules—to learn what has happened to the old book lover. Turns out, Arthur has had some kind of health episode and is bedridden. Sloane is relieved to track him down, and in his own way, Arthur is actually pleased to see her.

Arthur is antagonized by how his body has failed him, and he shuns everybody’s help until Sloane worms her way into his life full time as she has been fired from the library for violating the rules in seeking out a patron’s home. Arthur and Sloane pretend she is just there every day to catalog his personal collection of books, which allows him to maintain his dignity while he is on the mend.

Through the guise of starting a bedside book club, Sloane brings others into lonely Arthur’s life, including his long-lost grandson Greg, his neighbor Maisey, fellow librarian Mateo, and a former colleague of Arthur’s, Nigel. This motley crew learns much about each other through the very books they study: The Remains of the Day (Kazuo Ishiguro), The Joy Luck Club (Amy Tan), and Anne of Green Gables, (L.M. Montgomery).

This author writes under three pen names: Lucy Gilmore pens uplifting comedies, Tamara Berry composes cozy mysteries, and Tamara Morgan is a romance writer. She lives in Spokane, Washington, with her family.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting February 15, 2023.

I would like to thank Sourcebooks Casablanca NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.