I am blown away by the beauty captured in this book. This read deserves each of these 5 stars and more. It is not for the adventure or drama seekers, but for book lovers who want to lose themselves in absolutely captivating writing that transports you to charming Nyons, France. I felt like I was there, drinking in the lavender fields, feeling the warm sun warming my cheeks, and smelling amazing French cuisine and wines.

This book reminded me of The Book Thief and The Island of Missing Trees in that they all have nontraditional, personified narrators. This book is narrated by Love and an Olive Tree who are both so sage, doting, and maternal for our young protagonist, Marie-Jeanne. Marie-Jeanne was orphaned as a child and when Love visited the side of her cradle, the child grasped onto Love's hand, taking on the ability to see love in the people around her in the form of magical, glowing lights. This magical gift reads almost like a legend or fairy tale and the reader is captivated by the magical realism.

Marie-Jeanne is adopted by a kind couple who almost remind me of Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert (Anne of Green Gable's guardians) in their kind generosity and dynamics as a couple. The three become a team and put together a mobile library that brings the community together in such beautiful ways. The way Nina George explores the strings that connect each character and the unique ways in which books and literature open their eyes and hearts is just so perfect.

Through Marie-Jeanne's observations, interactions, and experiments in match making, we learn of all the different forms of love. Reading these different and unique experiences with love made me tear up, smile with joy, laugh out loud, and have to put the book down just to reflect. I am not one to read books a second time, but this one is tempting.

Thank you so much, NetGalley, Nina George, and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine Books for this advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review.

I found this book to be so lovely and beautiful that it brought me to tears, not from sadness but from the overwhelming presence of Love. In fact, the narrator is Love, and it tells of a village of people whose lives are changed by books and whose lonely, stubborn, or scared hearts were filled with Love. Marie-Jeanne is a girl who could have seen the world as cold and bitter, but instead saw it sparkling with something she didn’t understand at first and later understood but eluded her. Marie-Jeanne uses books to help lovers find their loves. This book is perfect for anyone who loves books and loves people and loves love. Full disclosure: I have not read The Little Paris Bookshop, but I have already added it to the top of my TBR pile.

A very well written beautiful poetic book!!! I very much enjoyed this read!!! At first it was difficult to read; it did not grab me... but further down it started to gel and I was hooked!! It was very enlightening, and for a book lover, it did not dissapoint!

I read and fell in love with Nina George's 2016 book, The Little Paris Bookshop, so I jumped at the chance to read this upcoming release when I saw it on NetGalley. This book was just as touching, meaningful, and magical as The Little Paris Bookshop. This story follows the life of Marie-Jeanne from cradle to adulthood in the small French mountainside village where she lives. While her life may have begun with much difficulty and sadness, she always finds joy and things to love in her life and she spreads that joy and love to all she meets. Her adoptive parents, Elsa and Francis, are wonderfully complex characters who you cannot help but care for immediately. The village she is from is filled with interesting characters whose lives may seem full but are still somehow lacking and Marie-Jeanne and her father are there to help enrich their lives through a novel idea her father has one day that brings change and enriches so many lives. Charming characters one and all and a story that makes you believe in love and the power it yields when we are ready to accept and recognize it in our lives. Do not pass up this beautiful book that made me laugh, cry, and feel grateful that I had picked it up. This was one of those books that found me reading more and more slowly so that I could savor every delicious word and spend more time with the characters who were so vibrant, real, and endearing. I love a book that makes me simultaneously happy that I had read it and sad that it is over ... this was definitely one of those special books. I cannot wait to see what magical tale Nina George brings us next.
*I received an advanced reader copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I looked forward to reading Nina George’s latest novel. It turned out to be very different than what I expected and I was disappointed. It was hard to follow with the multiple voices and I had trouble connecting with the characters. In the end, I found the whole story to be a bit odd.

It's an interesting concept - to write a book after it's been featured in a previous book!
As a fan of magical realism, I enjoyed the more fantastical aspects of the story. The characters are well rounded and I loved the setting.
My favorite thing about this book, however, was the humor - sometimes subtle, sometimes biting. I love the funny asides slipped in.

read 15% of this book and just couldn’t get into it. It’s like a French adult version of the movie inside out. The emotions are talking back-and-forth about what they’re goingbto do to the humans and how they make humans do things. And then you read stories about a baby and a mother and then you have a story about a child and a foster parent and her husband…and it’s a little too garbled for me. Emotions are talking, trees are talking and then you get stories about humans. I just wasn’t into it.

This book was great! I couldn't put it down! The premise was fresh and new, which is hard for me to say as I read so much each year! Sometimes it feels as though I keep reading similar stories, but this was a so original!

This was my first book from Nina George and overall I did enjoy this book! I felt that the story fell a little flat at times, which made it difficult to connect to the characters. However, I loved that the book was written in different POVs including love, death, and the olive tree.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for this ARC!

Interesting read. It’s a more heavy book, difficult to get through at times. It does paint a beautiful picture of the time and area. It also paints a nice picture about Love. Many people will enjoy this book.

An absolute gem. I was touched by this book in an unexpectedly beautiful manner. With love, an olive tree, fate, and various other narrators I didn’t know what to expect. I will say the quirky characters and narrators collectively made this book sublime. The writing is lush and you breathe in the descriptions. I was reminded of how alluring love is and best enjoyed by accepting and/or giving without fear or guarantees, merely enjoying love if only for a moment or infinitely.

“Everyone knows me, but none can see me. I’m that thing you call love.”

A perfect read for today's questionable times. It certainly filled my heart in many ways. Magical realism ideally demonstrated.

The Little Village of Book Lovers by Nina George was different than anything I've ever read. It was a little bit of Markus Zuzak in its voice mixed with Alice Hoffman's magical realism.
It's mostly told from the POV of Love, but also from others, like Fear and an Olive Tree. This book touched me in its quiet and its almost poetic way of telling a story. There were many quotable lines.

Links and formal review to come.

I can see why there are a number of mixed reviews on this title.
I thought that the title started off very strong. It had so many beautiful passages about literature. The connection of literature to life. It being a textbook to life, etc. The writing was beautifully done, the character development was exceptional, I was interested in the slow moving plot, just enjoying the lovely word usage as I read on.
However, something happened a little over halfway through the book. The writing became less lovely, the plot seemed to be going nowhere fast. And the original vision of the book became muddied and it was fast becoming a confusing, immature writing needing to be finished.
I was disappointed with the ending, disappointed with the fact that such beautiful writing all of a sudden crashed and never recovered.
Started out strong to the small audience that would appreciate this title with its slow moving plot and magical realism. Ended with a thud.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the chance to read this title ahead of its publication date.

I really wanted to love this book and there are times when I was reading it that I really did, and then I would have to slog through at other times. The premise, an orphan in a French village who can see love and whose father runs a book bus business seemed so charming, I could hardly wait to start it.

It's like those movies where you go to see them and then realize that the best parts were in the trailer. The rest was very confusing and wordy. The book bus doesn't even become a thing until about 45% of the way in to the book and even then it is not really central to the story and in no way connected to Marie-Jeanne and her ability to see love.

There is a very large cast of human characters, many of whom narrate parts of the book along with love, fate, and an olive tree. This makes the book seem even more disjointed and fractured.

While it was a quick read and a charming story, it could have been so much more if it didn't try to have the gimmick of the narrators.

I love Nina George, so really wanted to love this story. However, it was really. hard to follow at times. So many characters and so much dialogue that kept me confused most of the book. I think with some edits and tweaks, this story could be amazing!

Thank you to net galley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Marie-Jeanne is an infant orphan who is taken in by Francis and Elsa. Francis is good natured and kindly, Elsa...is not. As Marie-Jeanne grows up she starts to see a "glow" on people, on first on her best friend Loulou's older sisters, then on Elsa, and then when Loulou and Luca interact with each other. She becomes more and more curious to know what this glow means and documents when she sees it, on who, and so forth to understand the pattern.

When Francis starts a mobile library, Marie-Jeanne helps him with deliveries and in the process tries to learn more about the glow wherever she notices it. She eventually comes to the understanding the when people have been touched by love, they glow. She uses this information to bring the lovers together, attempting to match make.

I enjoyed this novel. The pacing was good to me, though it did pick up more when mobile library story line started. The writing flow was good, and the characters had depth and showed growth as the story progressed. I enjoyed reading how Francis worked hard to convince locals of the need for a mobile library. It was very fitting how receptive women were to this idea while men were resistant.

I'd like to Netgalley and Ballantine for giving me the opportunity to read this amazing ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book sounded fascinating and I know the author is very well known for doing an amazing job. However, I couldn't get into this story. There was way too much conversations to the side by Love and Fate. It interrupted the flow of the story for me and once the story got rolling it improved but it just didn't live up to the description for me. I did appreciate the author's lyrical style and the carefully selected words at the beginning to paint a picture in your mind. Unfortunately after that it just lost it for me.

I was very hopeful for this book when I read the description. However, I could just not get into it. The point of view and the sideline narratives were distracting to me and made it hard for me to connect with the characters. I’m sure many will love this book because of the author, but unfortunately I did not.

I’m appreciative of the opportunity to review this book, but unfortunately I could not get into it. I thought it would be great by the description, but there were too many names, too many voices and conversations between life and death, and not enough story to keep my attention.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing the ARC for this book. I loved "The Little Paris Bookshop" and looked forward to reading this. I enjoy it when there are connections among multiple works by an author. This book had a slow start, but it was more enjoyable once the mobile library began traveling throughout the countryside and the literary references started to emerge.