I liked it but not as much as the first book.
It was fun exploring more of Edinburgh and the bookshop building. Unfortunately, the title essentially gives away when the plot will resolve. It feels like characters are frequently marking time til the clock strikes.

Readers can always count on a Jenny Colgan novel to produce vivid imagery of her setting. Midnight at the Christmas Bookstore is no different. Scotland's beauty is brought to life through Colgan's story. The book is charming and sweet and fast read. At times the characters are a bit frustrating in their efforts to connect and some are a little odd but it keeps the story interesting. Fans of Colgan may not love this one but it's a definite like! Thank you NetGalley for a first look.

I'm going to give myself a fair amount of blame for not connecting with this one, I didn't realize it was a sequel to The Christmas Bookshop (my brain must have made the word sequel into series). I would say you absolutely have to read the first before starting this one, otherwise you'll feel as bewildered as I was reading it.

She had lost Oke. And soon, she was going to lose her home.

If you did read the first, you'll have already been introduced to these characters and all their relationships, family and friends that work on Victoria Street in Edinburgh. This starts off with Carmen still dating Oke (Obedience), her Quaker boyfriend from Brazil and going a little crazy that he doesn't want to have sex with her. This leads her to set-up a seduction that goes very badly and they end up breaking up, right when Oke gets the opportunity to go to the Amazon for a six months expedition. There's anger but also a little regret by Carmen at how she handled things while Oke also regrets his rejection but sees Carmen's anger and doesn't want to force his attention on her as he thinks she is firmly done with him. So, Oke takes off to the Amazon but not quite a full stage exit as we get povs from him as he battles his mother trying to set him up with a family friend and then a horrible case of malaria. Back in Edinburgh, Carmen's sister that she is staying with is going back to work and hiring a nanny, so Carmen needs to leave and find her own place to stay while also trying to keep her job and the bookshop she works at open and out of the clutches of the dastardly millionaire trying to buy up all the businesses on the street and turn them into cheesy survivor shops.

And there was comfort in that, too: Make all your choices as well as you can; that is all you can do.

One of the things that kind of threw me, was the numerous povs, even the family friend of Oke, Mary, is given a pov. The pov changes bleed into each other at times and that gave the story kind of a chaotic feel, even with Carmen the central character, this felt like a story of no one and everyone. There's dabbling into Carmen's sister Sofia and her stress at going back to work and her husband firmly on board with getting Carmen out, Carmen's boss Mr. McCredie wanting to go on an expedition to Antarctica at seventy-nine years old, and of course, Carmen trying to figure out her feelings on Oke, where to live, and how to keep the bookshop open. It's all dabbling though, and then we get numerous time jumps, the book takes place from summer to winter, and it all made for a story and characters that I never felt like I could get a solid grasp on.

She was hungering for physical contact. Nobody touched her. She missed that. She had missed the very simplicity of being touched. She had been so lonely; so cold.

The latter second half has Carmen leaving a phone message for Oke stating her feelings and readers see Oke telling his mother and Mary to contact Carmen and tell her he has malaria but with some schadenfreude, Oke and Carmen never learn what the other has to say. This leads to Carmen looking for love again and an almost bedroom scene with Rudi, Sofia's new nanny (Rudi was my favorite character and the one who brought the sweet, lightness, and heart that I want in holiday reads). It also led to a brief dark moment between Carmen and Sofia but that gets resolved fairly quickly. Carmen finds a way to save the store, get Mr. McCredie on his expedition, and see a new side to her Scrooge (shop buying millionaire) to give this a Christmas miracle ending. To really tie a bow on it, Oke comes back right before the end (they come face-to-face with about five percent left in book) and they get their happily for now. The ending felt really abrupt but there was happiness and a feeling of Carmen, seemingly, having figured it all out. If you read the first and want more of your favorite characters, you'd probably enjoy this but definitely don't try and just jump in here.

I tried to read Midnight at the Christmas Bookshop, but the story didn't hold my interest. I found it a bit confusing.

Jenny Colgan's "Midnight at the Christmas Bookshop" is a heartwarming read and I found it perfect for bringing the Christmas spirit to me early in July thanks to Netgalley. This is a charming sequel to the New York Times bestseller, "The Christmas Bookshop." and continues the story of McCredie's little Old Town bookshop in Edinburgh, Scotland. I have this book on order for my library.

Let me start off by saying that Carmen was a complete nut but I loved her! The cast of characters was just as crazy but there were moments that I laughed out loud!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon for the opportunity to read Jenny Colgan's Midnight at the Christmas Bookshop. I can always count on Jenny Colgan for a fun, heartwarming read.

*This book was received as an Advanced Reader's Copy from NetGalley.

Eh, this one didn't improve or get worse from the first book in the series for me. It had charming elements, but ultimately the lack of communication and the improbable events just took me out of it.

We return to the Christmas bookshop where not too much has changed, except Carmen is newly single again. That miscommunication I mentioned before. And there's a guy trying to take over all the shops, including her beloved bookstore, and turn them into souvenir shops, complete with bagpipe music. Needing to turn a profit, and send her boss to Antarctica, Carmen is hard-pressed to make everything work.

The characters are really the weak points of these books. They just aren't very realistic, or even likable at times. Almost caricatures of people. The plots are decent, and fun and cozy, but it's hard to enjoy them when you don't really like the people passing through them. That being said though, I can recognize these are light reads, meant for fun, and so I can't judge them too harshly because fo that.

Review by M. Reynard 2023

I really enjoyed The Christmas Bookshop when I read it last year, so was looking forward to reading this one when I say it pop up on NetGalley. This is a continuation of Carmen’s story at the Christmas Bookshop.

Unfortunately, this did not hit the mark for me. You need to have read the first book in the series, and you need to have read it in the recent past. The author jumps right in and does little to remind you of the setting or the characters, so it slowly had to come back to me over time, which caused the book to feel disconnected at times. I had a hard time relating to, or even liking a lot of the characters. Some of the snarky dialog was mean spirited and off putting, instead of humorous, which I hope was the intention. And it seemed like the plot line was a little bit like an underground river, only observable every now and again, but you knew it was there somewhere. The best part about this book, was the absolute fantastic descriptions of the city and it old world charm.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Im obsessed with this book it was such a great story it was my first read by this author and i cant wait to read more.

Edinburgh, Scotland - Present Day

Thanks to Carmen Hogan, and her determination to keep Mr. McCredie's bookshop afloat, a film crew is in the store to shoot a rather cheesy Christmas movie this summer. While Carmen knows that the shop desperately needs this income, still it's a rather depressing thing to see. Now Mr. McCredie, in his late seventies, has announced that he needs more money in order for him to take his dream trip - to Antarctica on a research vessel. To Carmen's horror, he seems to be falling for a millionaire who wants to turn the bookstore into yet another of his touristy stores selling cheap Chinese-made souvenirs. And, to make matters worse, her sister, whom Carmen has been living with for a year, is hiring a nanny to care for her four children so that she can return to work. This means, of course, that it would be nice if Carmen moved out to make room for that person. Then there is Oke, the Brazilian Quaker who arrived in Edinburgh as a post-graduate student, and stayed because of Carmen.

Carmen knows that her salary from the bookshop won't pay for any decent spot in Edinburgh, but her boss does own the entire building and lives in the upper regions of it. Maybe Carmen can make a deal? At any rate, there is Oke who is a puzzle to Carmen because he's shown no interest in her sexually, so Carmen thinks he's waiting for her to make the first move. Which she does, and which goes terribly off kilter. Oke is off to South America for a planned research project, and that, it seems to Carmen, is that. Now she is without a home and heartbroken.

Despite her woes, Carmen still wants to do more with the bookshop to make it enticing to the general public. Mr. McCredie has been less than enthusiastic about her rearranging his tangle of bookshelves that run beyond the store itself. And he's still not convinced that cheap souvenirs won't be able to finance his trip. How will Carmen remedy this situation, and her need for housing, not to mention her broken heart? That's where the story gets more fun.

A sequel to THE CHRISTMAS BOOKSHOP, MIDNIGHT AT THE CHRISTMAS BOOKSHOP is a true delight. The quaint Victoria Street section of Edinburgh with its quirky stores, and store owners, is the backdrop to this tale, and Carmen's slowly growing optimism is fun to watch develop.

Don't miss this latest of Jenny Colgan's terrific book. It's the perfect Christmas read.

I am a sucker for a good love story that has an interesting plot, doubly so for a plot line involving a bookstore with a collection of quirky characters. That covers many novels, to be sure but this novel succeeds in creating a terrific story, set in Edinburgh Scotland on a downtown street that is filled with small shops that are fighting to stay true to their owners' vision of providing an alternative to the homogenized commercial tourist experience that can be found all over the world. The bookstore in question is placed in a lumbering building that also is home to its aging owner, who is trying to raise funds for a trip to the South Pole while he is still capable of making the journey. His comely young assistant is involved in a complex relationship with her sister and their brood of kids, a male nanny who seems to know everyone in town, and a love interest who leaves the country on his own journey. Along the way you get involved with this wonderful cast of characters and are rooting for a happy ending for all.Highly recommended.

Though I am usually a big fan of Jenny Colgan’s books, I was disappointed by Midnight at the Christmas Bookshop. The lack of communication between the two main characters drove me crazy as a simple, direct conversation would have saved them both a year’s worth of depression and heartache. The many coincidences that prevented them from connecting felt contrived. The secondary characters were hit and miss, as well. Mr. MeCredie’s behavior was vague and sometimes inexplicable. How did this man stay in business for so long? I did appreciate the children and little Eric was especially beguiling. The new nanny, Rudi, was a bit of a puzzle, though a very likable one. The book takes place over the course of a year and it seemed longer as it took nearly that long for the various storylines to resolve. The book ultimately did reach a satisfying conclusion, though it felt a bit rushed after such a long wait. Two and a half stars.

I was given a copy of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The opinions stated are solely my own.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Carmen is a little skeptical about a movie being filmed at the store where she works. Business does improve due to the filming. She is dating a guy, and is unsure about everything. This book will remind you of Christmas and all the goid things that the holidays bring.

Part sassy, part sweet. This is a fabulous follow up to Christmas Bookshop.

This book doesn’t go quite as deep into the town and the fixer-upper bookshop as the first, it is more focused on Carmen and her relationships. I still liked the characters overall, but I don’t like book plots that are essentially a big miscommunication and this leans partially on that. However, it’s not too overdone and the plot has several other points, so overall this wasn’t a bad second-in-series. I would definitely read a third, if one’s coming!

{This ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.}

I love Jenny Colgan's books, they are always full of the unexpected! Mr. McCredie’s bookstore is once again the scene of strange and interesting happenings. Carmen, the manager and the man in her life, Oke have a very quirky love affair. Carmen, who has been staying at her sister's house, has to find other accommodations. The street the bookshop is on, begins to change or not. The characters are quirky and interesting. The plot has unexpected turns in a charming setting that is being threatened. Who could resist? Strongly recommended!

Once again, the books I have recently by Jenny Colgan have been hit or miss. This one was another meh one for me. I found myself wanting to skip over the pages because the story did not pull me in and keep my attention. I am not one to put a book aside and not finish it, so it was a struggle for me to get to the end. I didn’t connect with the characters and that’s a huge issue for me. But I think I am in the minority on this one. So I encourage you to give it a chance to see if it is your cup of tea.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

For more reviews, please visit my blog at: https://www.msladybugsbookreviews.com/. Over 1000 reviews posted!

Delightful Christmas read! I loved going back to the bookshop and seeing all the characters again. The struggling bookshop and neighborhood go through some drama which is mostly lighthearted. One can't help but cheer them on! We also get to see what happens next with Oke. This story has a strong sense of place which I enjoy. I just love hearing about the old books discovered in the shop! Thank you Netgalley.

I am a super big fan of Jenny Colgan’s work and was delighted to be able to read the sequel to The Christmas Bookshop. McCredie’s bookshop is the site of a Christmas movie by an American film company; it is a bit of a cheesy production and also in the middle of summer, but it pays good money. The money Carmen, the manager, gets from the production helps her spruce up the store and keep a buyer away from the bookshop. Carman soldiers on into the holiday season, while still smarting from a past relationship. But then, things start to…look up? This is another cozy story set in Edinburgh, although I would have liked a little more Christmas and romance. A little slow, but still a great read with plenty of atmospheric settings.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager. I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4/5

When people want a magical little escape some people love Elin Hillderbran, some love Lucy Score, I love Jenny Colligan.

Written with her classic cozy style, this book carries forward Mr. McCredie’s bookstore, Carmen and the fantastical world of Edinburgh. Focused on making the store profitable, protecting the cities function and charm and figuring out her new relationship Colligan’s description of the city and the characters makes you feel like you’re there watching. While it wasn’t my favorite of her plots (and it wasn’t very Christmas focused despite its name) I was happy to escape to Scotland for a few hours.