This was a cute read, and I was hooked and needed to get to the end with Chloe. I was rooting for her and liked her as a FMC. The romantic tale was sweet and pulled at my heartstrings.

What a sweet book! Librarian Chloe leads a quiet life, work and taking care of her younger siblings, but it's not really the life she would have chosen. When she finds an old, rare book in the library's trash pile, she thinks that selling it might help her situation. Then she discovers writing in the margins, and this leads her to an intriguing love story.

The characters are well drawn, the story is full of heart and moves swiftly. The story fluctuates between Chloe's story in the present day and the story of the young lovers who corresponded through the writing in the margins of the book. Both stories are captivating and very sweet. I could not put it down. Yes, it's a bit sappy. Yes, it's a bit predictable. But I just didn't care. Nothing new or shocking, but a fun, romantic book.

This book was really sweet! It was my first time reading anything by Lucy Gilmore and it definitely won’t be my last - I felt that this story was super heartwarming despite some of the heavier and sadder topics throughout. A book about books is always fun to read about and I loved that Chloe worked in the library, since that’s such a fun setting.
Her family’s dynamic reminded me a lot of Shameless, it was hysterical but also so sad and I felt for every one of the kids. They were written to be so dynamic and layered that they felt so real to me. I had suspicions early on about the reveal towards the end of the book and I thought it was clever. Jasper and Catherine’s love story was realistic and sad, but a bit over the top for me. But hey, it’s fiction! Jasper grew on me and I love him so much, I have a soft spot for grumpy old men I guess!

The premise of this story was great and had me excited to read, but the story was very slow moving for me and I had a hard time getting into it and wanting to pick it back up. I had to put this down a little more than 1/4 of the way through because other books were catching my eye.

Book lovers and rom-commers will come together for this delightful read! This book keeps you cheering for Chloe and her family as she investigates a long lost rare book that connects two lovers. This was a lovely book that kept me hooked and entertained!

Librarian Chloe Sampson has been struggling: to take care of her three younger siblings, to find herself, to make ends meet. She's just about at the end of her rope when she stumbles across a rare edition of a book from the 1960s at the local flea market. Deciding it's a sign of her luck turning, she takes it home with her—only to be shocked when her cranky hermit of a neighbor swoops in and offers to buy it for an exorbitant price. Intrigued, Chloe takes a closer look at the book only to find notes scribbled in the margins between two young lovers back when the book was new…one of whom is almost definitely Jasper Holmes, the curmudgeon next door.

When she begins following the clues left behind, she discovers this isn't the only old book in town filled with romantic marginalia. This kickstarts a literary scavenger hunt that Chloe is determined to see through to the end.

I thought this was a nice book, but it just moved a little bit slow for me. There were a lot of points of view, and it was sometimes hard to keep track of all the details. I know a lot of people enjoyed it, but I think it just wasn't for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this Advanced Reader Copy. All opinions are my own.

It took me a really long time to finish The Library of Borrowed Hearts. While the storyline could have been great the book was so slow. I had a hard time staying focused on it. I was not a big fan of the characters and had no emotional attachment to them.
Just wasn’t the book for me.

I 50% through and was just too bored. It was a cute story but just too slow for me. Thanks for the opportunity.

3.5 stars, rounded up!

This book definitely wasn't what I expected, spanning multiple generations, focused on families that were struggling. The cover is so bright and cheery! I ended up getting into the story, but it just felt a little bit off for me.

I love books that have anything to do with books and libraries.
This story was no different. Chloe is struggling to take care of your younger siblings after they are abandoned by their mother. On top of that having to deal with a grumpy old man next store. She comes across an old book at a flea market with a romantic message inside and starts connecting the dots with other books she finds while working in the towns library.

Thank you source books and netgalley for an arc.

I liked The Lonely Hearts Book Club quite a bit for its found family themes. However this one just missed the mark for me. It's SO slow, and when I actually think about it nothing much happens really.

Set in two timelines--one the present day, where Chloe was forced to leave college because her mom abandoned her three younger siblings. She's now working at the library and raising them, while navigating their curmudgeonly older neighbor Jasper. Chloe finds a copy of Tropic of Cancer in the library basement and smuggles it out in order to sell it to help pay the bills. It's filled with notes between a young man and a young woman. When Jasper sees the book, he offers Chloe a blank check for it. As it turns out, it was the way Jasper and Catherine, his love in the 1960s, communicated with each other, their developing love story is the second timeline.

There were way too many things going on in this book, but none of them were heartwarming. I mostly felt depressed and other than Chloe, I really didn't care for any of the characters. The mystery of what happened between Jasper and Catherine wasn't really a mystery, I found her incredibly selfish and full of herself. The story would have been more believable had it been set in the 1920s, but I couldn't believe a logger in the 60s was really that destitute.

The entire storyline with the mother of the four kids was just overall weird--it felt underdeveloped, but so did what happened with Noodle and the romance between Chloe and Zach. I don't know the entire book just fell totally flat for me.

I listened to the audiobook, and there are different narrators for various points of view, which was entertaining. But because so many of them were just brief snippets, it was all the more glaring that there were way too many points of view to make a cohesive story that reaches the reader emotionally.

There are lots of people who enjoyed this one, it just didn't work for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read and review an advanced copy of this novel. I highly enjoyed it and will be recommending it.

I will readily admit that romance is not my genre of choice. However, I need to build the romance part of our collection due to patron requests. Maybe my lack of appreciation for most romance titles influenced my feelings for this title, but I felt like this is amazingly slowly plotted. It made this a slog that I had to finish. I think this is contrary to most other reviews - so take my review with a grain of salt. It is just not a title for me - others seem to love it.

Chloe has a lot on her plate. She has taken on the responsibility for her younger siblings and has therefore disrupted her career plans. Rather than being a full blown librarian, she works in a library doing a variety of more menial tasks.

One day, Chloe is asked to clean out the books that are to be discarded by the library. She makes a few finds while there. One is a trove of Harlequin romances that her friend wants for her grandmother (Chloe agrees to sneak them out). The other find is a former banned book that may be worth enough to make a difference for Chloe. She takes it.

Chloe later finds that this book has writing in the margins. Much as in The Book Swap, the messages have significance. Someone offers to buy the book; why does he especially want it?

How will lives change? Will characters grow? Find out in this story that takes place in more than one time frame.

I always am drawn to books about books so I was eager to read this one.

Many thanks to Sourcebooks Casablanca for this title. All opinions are my own.

This book got off to a good start. The pace of the story was quick. However, I am pretty disappointed in the characters. None of them had solid time to develop into anyone you could love/hate/root for. In fact, I despised atleast a few. I was disappointed that none of the characters who had ample opportunity to redeem themselves actually did. It was honestly just a disappointing read.

First book by this author. The Library of Borrowed Hearts by Lucy Gilmore follows the lives of four siblings, a young outdoorsy man and one grumpy old neighbor as their lives intersect and intertwine. Almost Librarian, Chloe Sampson works her butt off to support her three younger siblings and keep their crumbling house from falling down around them. After their mother left without an explanation, Chloe quits college mid-library science degree to move home and win her siblings back from CPS. She works, helps with homework, budgets, fixes the house and occasionally has to deal with grumpy octogenarian who lives next door to retrieve a stay frisbee or two. While cleaning out the library's basement she comes across an old book with love notes in the margins and uncovers a sixty year old love story. Meanwhile she meets Zach, a survival instructor and sometimes EMT, who helps Chloe unravel the love story as she works to find out more about the lovers. Turns out that each character needs the others support, whether they know it or not. This story was lovely, heartbreaking, funny and thought provoking all in one. Thanks to netgalley, the author and publisher.

Lucy Gilmore's writing is like a warm hug. I love the characters, the story, and the writing.
Family. Love. Books. Multiple POVs.

3.5 stars

Thank you for the opportunity to review this book! I enjoyed the literary aspect of this, and getting snippets of their tale through the years!

This was such a great read!
I love books about books and I also love dual timelines so this was fab for me!

This was a cute read, but found the plot to be a little slow. I love stories that revolve around libraries / books / and stories, but I didn’t feel connected to any of it this time around unfortunately. There was a lot going on with the multiple subplots and storylines, but many were of no consequence so I felt that I was meandering.

I would still read this book for a cute book to read. It is a bit of a love mystery, so you might just love it.