The Bookshop on the Corner
Books | Fiction / Women
3.7
(1.2K)
Jenny Colgan
Nina Redmond is a librarian with a gift for finding the perfect book for her readers. But can she write her own happy-ever-after? In this valentine to readers, librarians, and book-lovers the world over, the New York Times-bestselling author of Little Beach Street Bakery returns with a funny, moving new novel for fans of Nina George’s The Little Paris Bookshop. Nina is a literary matchmaker. Pairing a reader with that perfect book is her passion… and also her job. Or at least it was. Until yesterday, she was a librarian in the hectic city. But now the job she loved is no more. Determined to make a new life for herself, Nina moves to a sleepy village many miles away. There she buys a van and transforms it into a bookmobile — a mobile bookshop that she drives from neighborhood to neighborhood, changing one life after another with the power of storytelling. From helping her grumpy landlord deliver a lamb, to sharing picnics with a charming train conductor who serenades her with poetry, Nina discovers there’s plenty of adventure, magic, and soul in a place that’s beginning to feel like home… a place where she just might be able to write her own happy ending.
Buy Now
AD
Buy now:
More Details:
Author
Jenny Colgan
Pages
384
Publisher
HarperCollins
Published Date
2016-09-20
ISBN
0062467263 9780062467263
Community ReviewsSee all
"A mundane easy read. Nothing memorable jumped out at me. I did very much enjoyed the unconventional book shop though. Still, if the story focused more on Nina's customers like they were patients who gave symptoms in which she cured with the right book, that would have bulked the story up a lot more. Also the plot gave me a bit of travel lust which is always a welcome addition. <br/><br/>Honestly it was difficult for me to associate with Nina because she is very timid which only added to the okayness of the story. Like I said it needed more bulk, more memorable characters and happenings. The romance was quite nice with its slow burn which made it more natural but other than that the words didn't brim with their connection.<br/><br/>Also the audiobook narrator Lucy Price-Lewis did a very good job. Of course this appealed to book lovers everywhere. There's nothing like the smell and feel of pages and getting lost in time. Nothing much else to say about this. It was good not great and somewhat forgettable."
"This book is a super cozy read. I loved the descriptions of Scotland, makes me want to move there! I really enjoyed living through the life transition with Nina, moving away and restarting her entire life to do what she loved connecting people with books they needed at the time of their lives. The only part I felt hard to take in was the romance part, not my fav. I really enjoyed the Ainsley storyline as well, spotting and helping an at risk youth, close to my heart."
F
Fourstar
"I liked it. However it felt like something was missing. Also I didn’t get why it was called the Bookshop on the Corner. "
A P
Adelaide Ponte Usdin
"This entire book is a love letter. A love letter to Scotland, to every single person who enjoys a good book, to everyone who doubts their own dreams and ambitions, to all the hopeless romantics, as well as to everyone who wonders where in the world their soul mate might be.
Without ever stepping foot in the country, I've fallen hopelessly in love with Scotland through Nina! On a not-so-unrelated note, I know where I'm taking my next vacation!
We get to witness the sheer beauty-as well as the unfortunate pitfalls-of life in Scotland through Nina's eyes as she herself falls utterly head over heels for all of it.
Jenny Colgan, I feel, wrote this book exactly for people like myself. People who much prefer a physical book to a kindle or nook, etc. People who constantly have a "to-read" stack or two or ten scattered about the home. People who carry at least three books with them, just in case.
Nina is my new best friend. She is me in another life, if I was ever willing to part with any of my cherished books.
This book is also such a beautiful encouragement to go after your dreams, no matter how crazy they may seem. However cliché that may sound, it is a reminder to think of your dreams often, and find a way to make them work.
"'I mean, I don't see what's stopping me from just traveling around selling books.' ...Why not her? Why should everyone else get to have dreams and not her?" -pg.17
And then she just goes for it! After arguing with herself for awhile about how crazy it is, but she does it! She makes it work! It is so impressive and inspiring, and even though she had to upend her entire life for it, it all worked out beautifully in the end. It wound up being the greatest decision of her life, BECAUSE it was the HARDEST decision of her life.
To all the hopeless romantics, this book is like a warm, reassuring hug. We watch as Nina falls in love with everything from the land to the endless days and bone-chilling nights to the way the people care for one another. She discovers the heartbreak of building up a person in your mind, comparing them to the books you've read, and ultimately discovering they are something entirely different from what your mind had made them into. And then... she feels more hopeless than romantic. She wrestles with the idea that maybe, there are no happily-ever-afters. She falls into that dark, depressing place all of us romantics fall into after a breakup. That place where you look out bitterly at all the other young, happy couples, filled to the brim with resentment and a sadness to rival the great tragedies. Yet after all is said and done, she finds-as many do-that her happily-ever-after was right there in front of her the whole time.
Lennox and Nina were made for each other. She softens and inspires him, he guides her through the highlands and their way of life. They are beautiful together, and I was rooting for them from the moment Nina stood defiantly against Lennox.
My final note is much more of a personal issue, but I thought I'd include it anyway. For about the first half of the book, I DISLIKED Surinder. I was a bit biased against her, as she reminded me of an old real-life ex-bestie. She seemed very fake in the way she was originally encouraging Nina to get after her dreams, and couldn't really seem to make up her mind if she was even actually encouraging her or just shaking her head in disappointment and telling her to move on and find something else. Also, the book-alanche was ENTIRELY Surinder's fault, you cannot tell me otherwise. She did redeem herself though, later on in the book, when she was ALWAYS available for Nina over the phone, and would listen to her and give advice when appropriate. The way she would wake up in the middle of the night for Nina, and never used "I told you so" to hurt Nina-never did or said ANYTHING to hurt her. All of this redeemed Surinder in my eyes.
There is so much more to love about this absolute treasure of a book, I could go on forever about the detail, the emotion, the spicy scenes, the tension, and OH so much more!!!
Alas. My hand is cramping and I need to start the next book resting precariously atop the "to-read" pile beside me!!"
"This was my first exposure to really cozy stories and I was immediately hooked. I enjoyed how the people were just... people. Flawed enough to make me frustrated at them, but winning enough to make me cheer for who the reader's meant to cheer for. The real draw of the book is the setting. Everywhere this story takes you, the place is a character all its own. I think the author did very well building the world and I especially enjoyed the charmingly unconventional bookshop and the main character's challenges in building her new life. This book is a love letter to book lovers from a book lover, and it shows.
But I also gotta admit that the charm of the story lies mostly with its settings and world-building, not really with the characters and storyline. I found myself reading just to get the feeling of being in Scotland, not so much to find out what happens. The predictability of the storyline is part of what makes it so cozy, I guess - it's a low-stakes story. But the pacing of the romance rubbed me the wrong way and I found the overall storyline very anti-climatic. I just wasn't emotionally invested in Nina and the others.
Bottom line, this is very cute, very easy to read, and a very safe choice. I'm happy it exposed me to the world of cozy stories, so it'll always have a warm spot in my heart. I loved the setting, didn't love the characters, and didn't find it difficult to get through."
"It was hard to get into at first but once it got going, I couldn’t put it down. It was a lovely book. "
J C
Janeth Campo
Similar Books
3.8
4.4
3.9
4.4
3.7
4.1
3.6
3.7
4.1
3.7
3.9
4.4
4
4.9
3.4
3.7
3.8
3.8
3.6
4.2