A charming story that celebrates the power of books in bringing people together. Sloane appears to be a shy, sweet, sensitive librarian who may just be a little bit lonely and friendless. Arthur is an awfully grumpy and cruel man and library patron who hurls insults at anyone in front of him. Somehow, they forge a connection, stemming from a mutual love and respect for literature. When Arthur stops showing up to the library, Sloane senses something must be wrong and puts her career in jeopardy to find out more.

The Lonely Hearts Book Club is a cozy, comfort read. We get to know Sloane and Arthur (and Maisey, Mateo, and Greg) as they embark on an unlikely friendship and organize an even unlikelier book club. 3.5 stars.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

Lucy Gilmore has a fan for life. This was such an amazing read and was one of the first books to bring tears to my eyes in awhile. I love the mixture of characters. They touch your heart.. you’ll laugh, cry and not want to put this one down.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

“This world was a terrible place. It gave you people to love and then took them away before you stopped loving them. It made you mean and angry and cruel to those who needed you most. It ground you down until it was all you could do to get through the day. But most of all, it tried to convince you that you were alone in your suffering.”

Thus the impromptu creation of the Lonely Hearts Bookclub. Slowly, the lonely misfits of their sleepy town begin to find each other, and in their book club, find the joy of unlikely friendship. Because as it turns out, everyone has a special book in their heart—and a reason to get lost (and eventually found) within the pages.

I LOVE THIS BOOK. I don’t remember the last time I read a book that resonated so deeply - the value of friendships, the complication of family, the love of books. This has it all. The characters were the best part, each unique in their own way and so so lovable.

I can’t say enough good things about this gem from Lucy Gilmore so I’ll leave you with an apropos quote. “You wouldn’t deny a man a book any more than you’d deny him water. It’s the one soft spot you’ve never been able to hide, the one place where all your feelings are allowed to thrive.”

Thank you Sourcebooks Casablanca and NetGalley for the privilege to read this advanced copy that I truly covet. Check this one out on April 4th of next year!

so many thoughts. so many feelings. this book put me into a state of introspection.
i went into this book thinking it's going to be one of those lighthearted reads with comical humor. but i was so wrong.

this book deals with love, loss, friendship and family bonds. i don't remember the last time i read a book with an eloquent value on friendships.

sloane, arthur, mateo, greg, maisey & nigel have my heart. i would do anything to be one of them.

appreciation for the setting. who doesn't love a book where the characters hang out in a library to escape the reality.

somewhere in the middle i got so lost in the book. i could relate SO MUCH TO THIS BOOK, it consumed me. the characters have immense depth and they're so well written, i felt like i was living among them.

it was a memorable read, and i just know that i am gonna buy it as soon as it comes out.

thank you netgalley & sourcebooks casablanca for the arc!

I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This may be the greatest book I read this year. It is a beautiful platonic love story centred around people who love books (and some learning to love them). The members of the Lonely Hearts Book Club are warm, wonderfully written and delightful. Somehow Gilmore managed to write a book about change while making it feel comfortable and cozy. I am in absolute awe of this book. If you loved the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society or the Bookish Life of Nina Hill, you have to pick up this book!

What a witty and sweet story ! I really enjoyed reading this book, thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca.

Sloane is a young librarian. Her life seems happy, she loves her work and she's engaged to a caring man. But inside her, she's empty. Since her sister died when she was 12 years old, she hasn't felt happy.
Arthur is an old curmudgeon. He's very educated, was a former litterature professor in university. But he's mean with everyone.
One day, Sloane and Arthur begin arguing in the library. And every day since then, they have fought over whatever subject.
Eventually, Arthur ceases to come to the library. And Sloane decides to go and see why. But this is the end of the life she has known since : suddenly, Arthur's grandson, Arthur's neighbour or her former collegue at the library begin to become importants to her. And together, they decide to create a bookclub. Because books are life !

So this is a sad story (that ends well) written in such a sensitive and funny way that you can't let it down. I really loved it, and highly recommend this little gem !

First of all a warning: if you are after some light reading, this book is not for you. It is literary fiction with depth, not a lighthearted 'chick lit' (which I also like a lot).
While I was reading this story I heard in my mind 'Eleanor Rigby' by the Beatles: 'Ah, look at all the lonely people'. All the main characters in this novel are suffering from loneliness. It was heartwarming to se how during the events, when they form an unususal'book club', they find friends and their life begins to turn much better.
The novel has a slow pace with lots of musings from the part of the protagonists. The story unfolds from the different points of view of the different characters, starting and finishing with Sloane the heroine. It is remarkable how her character develops . First I was not very keen on her when she seemed to be so weak and cowardly in her relationships. I started to warm towards her, however when she started to grow some backbone! And it was the same with all the characters. They somehow had grown on me during the story. So I was happy to see that their lives took a better turn and they would hopefully be happier (if they live).
I can recommend this story to anyone who is interested in difficult human relationships and emotions.

Incredibly cute novel with an eccentric, sweet, and often funny cast of characters. This novel makes you feel good…and smile.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61341469

This is a fantastic book about the unlikeliest of friends supporting each other through life’s difficulties and giving each other the strength to reach beyond comfort zones.

The setting was one of the stars of this book. I loved the idea of a bookshop as a safe place to foster growth. What a wonderful bookish community!

The characters were the other stars of this book. Gilmore has assembled an eclectic, loveable and quirky cast that grew on me and made it difficult for me to choose a book bestie. Sloan, Greg, Arthur, Mateo, Nigel and Maisey will grab your attention and soon you’ll feel like you’ve known them for ages. Each one is shaped by the books s/he reads and their personality is slowly revealed by the manner in which each approaches reading. Gilmore did something unique here - she mirrored what was going on in her characters’ lives with the book the club chose to read! One last appreciation - I loved Gilmore’s focus on intergenerational friendships. We don't think we put enough value on these types of friendships anymore.

Gilmore’s examination of friendship, parent-child relationships, books and how important it is to find the family you were always meant to have, is heartwarming and uplifting. She highlights the idea that everyone has a reason to hide in a book…have you found your reason?

Grab your highlighters and a copy of this book before finding somewhere comfy and quiet to enjoy it.

I was gifted this copy by Sourcebooks Casablanca and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review

Wow! This book is so much heartwarming, emotional, quirky, moving, special! I think it’s guaranteed its place at my top 10 readings of 2023!

I fell in love with each of the characters:
Sloane , Maisey, Arthur, Greg, Matteo, Nigel are fantastic characters you may truly want to be best friends, having long chats, drinking tea, nibbling biscuits.

Let’s dive into storyline:
Sloane: shy, introvert librarian who is sick of living like an echo, jeopardizing her job for the meanest old guy she keeps daily bantering. She crosses the line by checking address of regular patron Arthur McLachlan who always stops by at the library at the same time to throw his signatured cruel lines at poor Sloane but last few days he’s been seen which was not like him.

Sloane gets worried about his health and she risks to lose her job to pay him a visit and meets with him unusual, eccentric neighbor Maisey: a clairvoyant, once upon a time a groupie of rock star, having a teenage girl from him, enjoying to feed the others, hating to leave her neighborhood.

Both of them realize Arthur left the hospital, terrorizing the nurses who are designated to take care him. Finally Maisey finds a solution to convince him hire Sloane as his private nurse even though he insists he hired her to catalog his books in his library.

Maisey also confronts the guy who spies on Arthur’s house in his car. She realizes he’s his estranged grandson Greg. When Arthur rejects to give him a room, Maisey welcomes him into her home.

Then Sloane’s lovely coworker from library joins their team and this Motley Crue organizes a book club. Only thing common about these characters are their loneliness, regrets about their pasts, their need for true love!

Overall: I adored each of the characters, their sarcastic remarks, their backstories and the way they find each other to be part of their unique community. This book is everything I may want: it’s intelligent, it’s genuine, it’s sentimental, it’s engaging! It deserves my bookish, shiny five stars!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

A delightful book that will give you warm fuzzies. An excellent ensemble of relatable characters that you just can't help but root for. I would definitely recommend this one to anyone who likes feel-good books with plenty of book appreciation.

Thank you to Sourcebooks and NetGalley for the e-ARC.

Sloane, a young librarian, becomes engaged with an elderly patron who keeps everyone at an arms (or ladders length). However, after an extended absence, Sloane cannot help but check on her "frenemy"--despite the risk to her job. As a result, she meets lifelong friends, can pursue her dream of creating a book club, and find freedom in the unknown.

I absolutely loved this book! It was a breath of fresh air, with complex, likeable characters, who were intertwined in complicated relationships. It was reminiscent of a "Tuesdays with Morrie" meets "Grumpy Old Men", and I am totally here for it!

I am a sucker for books set in libraries or with librarians. I just had to read this book because of its fabulous cover and main character!
The Lonely Hearts Book Club starts as a fun lighthearted read and then turns into a deep meaningful story. You get to learn each character by their chapter and I loved getting to know them all. While slightly predictable, you are rooting for the ending by the time it comes.
I so enjoyed this ARC and will definitely be recommending it when it is released in April!

5 strangers coming together to bond over their heartaches is exactly what all people going through heartbreak should do. Sometimes it is easier to confide in a stranger than it is your best friend, family member, or someone you already know. I promise you will likely relate in some way or another to at least 1 of these characters if not all of them. In a lot of ways, this book makes you feel less alone and more empowered to go beyond romantic love and find love in other forms. This is a book that makes you look back at your past heartbreaks with sadness, fondness, and perhaps a new insight. I loved that there were so many different stories (5 to be exact) as it shows you the different ways people handle love and loss and how there is really no right way to do so.

Cannot wait to see what this author writes next!

Thank you, NetGalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Review: Currently going through a book hangover as we write this review! The Lonely Hearts Book Club is exactly what it sounds like - a book of a number of completely different characters, each with their own heartaches, coming together in a book club that emerges in the strangest of circumstances.
 
The story focuses on librarian Sloan, her friends, and a very grumpy, older book enthusiast whose ultimate goal is to berate and offend Sloan and her choices daily. The story focuses on interactions, and how sudden, unexpected events bring strangers closer than our closest friends and families.

The author writes these characters in such depth that you don't know their entire life stories inside out, but you still know their deepest fears and wounds, and it hurts you in the process of discovering them.
 
Each character has a different story, but you still bond, relate, and connect with them early on in the book.
 
The transition from one POV to another works well and serves to draw the reader in. There were certain scenes within the story that we felt may have been stretched but other than that we highly recommend this book.
 
It's a story of love and loss, with loveless and lost characters which is the ultimate comfort read for book lovers.
 
Check this one out on April 4th 2023!

We want to thank Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for the e-ARC of this book.
 
L&L rating: 4.5 stars

TL;DR: feel good, heartfelt, humour. We recommend!

I have little words to describe the emptiness this book left me with. Actually, I'm not sure if it emptiness, loneliness, or happiness, because they all combined to leave me with an ache for more of this writing, more of these characters and more of this love they all shared.

The Lonely Hearts Book Club is exactly what it sounds like - a book of 5 completely different characters with their own heartaches coming together in a book club that emerges in the strangest of circumstances, and eventually finding the bonds they yearn for in each other. It's a story of love and loss, with loveless and lost characters. Not the bubbly, special, interesting characters written in books that light up a room when they enter it and everyone desires or looks up to, but the opposite: the kind of characters that are neglected and forgotten. The ones that are left behind, settling for their boresome, empty lives because they know they aren't worth more. The ones that do not dream or dare, the ones that only live to get by, not to their fullest. These characters and how much life has taken from them that they reach the point of never trying for a life, for friends, for love, and yet finding it all where they least expect it, and when they most needed it. That's what makes this book so special to me.

Lucy Gilmore writes these characters in such depth that you don't know their entire life stories inside out, but you still know their deepest fears and wounds, and hurts you in the process of learning them. Each character has different stories but you still bond, relate, and connect with them so deeply that from the very first chapter I had tears falling down my face already. She writes a hard-hitting story about emotions more than anything else, about life and how lost and lonely it leaves you, in real and raw writing. She had me crying, then laughing the next second, and for that I'm so grateful.

I wanted to compare this book to quite a few that I have read that brought me to tears as well, like A Man Called Ove, but I realise it is its own tale, and has to be appreciated as such. To me, Lucy Gilmore has created a story that I did not want to let go of, with characters I wasn't ready to part with, and I keep wishing I accidentally missed a chapter. I wanted to hold on to them so dearly that I started reading a little slower, watching the page number closely in fear of reaching the end too fast, but simultaneously being unable to stop reading.

(Spoiler-ish paragraph ahead) I loved Sloane, I loved Arthur, I loved Maisey, and Greg, and Mateo (which by the way, if Lucy Gilmore didn't draw inspiration from Mateo in Superstore I will be in awe of her coincidentally writing the same character). I loved how they are complete strangers, to each other and to me, but now they are strangers who I know so closely. I loved their own individual connections to books and how much they referred to them for love. I loved the parting of Sloane and Brett, the raw reality of it. I love the prospect of Sloan and Greg (which I am so bummed I cannot read more about, please tell me they live happily ever after!!). I loved so much about this book, and I will recommend it to everyone I know.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for granting me an ARC of this book in exchange of an honest review.

Ein richtig schöner Roman über Freundschaft, Bücher, verlorene Seelen und das Leben und wie es so spielt.

So ein richtig schöner herzerwärmender Roman, für die kalten Tage.
Absolut empfehlenswert.

This book has easily become my most anticipated release of 2023!

And also my most favourite ARC read ever!

Thank you, SOURCEBOOKS Casablanca, for the advance reading copy.

I love this book so much!!! It talks about quirky characters, especially one older character no one would ever like but the writing has a way of letting you know that these characters are breathing and more real than you would ever know!

The story is about a younger librarian Sloan, her very realistic (reality bite infusing) friends, a very grumpy older book enthusiast whose ultimate duty seems like insulting Sloan and her choices everyday. This is their story about their interactions, how sudden unexpected events bring strangers closer than our most closest friends and families.

That ending. I can’t… I just can’t.


The writing is too good and the characters so convincing! I love the book cover to cover. I cannot wait for it to come out!

I love the fact that the plot lives its title to the fullest. Never have I been so awed about a book about books with different kinds of reader characters which are more convincing than any other book blogger/vlogger I ever known. It was like I was watching my favourite blogger talking about their book clubs and their bookish thoughts on some very popular books. Yes, you all will enjoy the banter and the discussions! It’s like I was enjoying the main dish and I know the dessert would not be any less.

*-* (book hangovers are real…)


Ooooh the cover…. And more ooooohhh to the title 💋

This book!!!!! Love it so much!!!!!!

4.2/5
An ultimate comfort read for book lovers. For the better part of my childhood, I wanted to be a librarian when I grew up. I even volunteered at my small town's public library for several summers in elementary school. So everything about this book drew me to it: the cover, the premise, the coziness of the characters. This book really focuses on the connections between people and how everyone has something to offer. There is a real sense of community and warmth throughout it, and I'll admit I had a sweet/sad tear in my eye on several occasions.

This will be a cozy-up with a blanket re-read in the future.

I received an advance review copy for free through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Man is the only creature who refuses to be what he is, according to Camus. And don't we all? Who doesn't have fears or regrets from what our life has been so up to this far? Would you care to change it which might mean you've been doing it wrong all this time? Or would you just soldier on, imitating yourself like before. Similar to the 53-year old caller Maisey is dealing with...

I enjoyed the set up of this book with the different points of view. But somehow the whole story was rather confusing, I didn't get it. I don't understand the dynamics between Sloane and Arthur, Mateo's thoughts and fears...
On the other hand, it doesn't take much to feel lonely in a world as fast as ours: Hell is oneself, hell is alone.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the book.