First of all thank you to the publishers and Net Galley for an ARC of this book.
What a fabulous book. The characters are all realistic & well written. The story is focussed and well plotted out.
It made me smile, laugh and cry.
I can't really say more about this book without blurting out the plotlines! I just urge you to read it and not enjoy it.

Quirky,sad ,deep thoughtful. Thoroughly delightful book full of quirky characters. How do we cope with loss and stop ourselves from being hurt. Sad too at the end, but happy resolution.

Lost For Words by Stephanie Butland is a beautiful and powerful contemporary novel that will stay with you long after the last page is read.
Set in a second hand bookshop in York, the reader is in for a real treat - books within a book. Books that will evoke memories. Familiar quotes. Plus a 'dear reader' transported this reader back in time and place. A paradise for the book lover and an absolute delight.
The novel is about love, loss and life. It is beautifully written. The reader 'feels' the conflicting emotions of the lead character. We understand her motivations and why she seeks solace in books.
Being written in the first person enables us to really get into the head of the character. The story alternates between present day, three years earlier and 1999, as the back story is gently unravelled.
Family is important. Traditional roles portrayed. "Dads were for being protective and unbreakable." Every little girl wants to have a Dad who makes her feel protected. Family is not just blood relatives but "Your-family-is-the-people-who-remember-your-birthday-and-look-after-you-when-you-are-ill." There is a wonderful family of what some may term misfits, but who love and protect. This love just radiates throughout.
There is the difficult topic of domestic abuse. The person you fell in love with is still there. "Unless you've been there you can never understand that you might love someone who hurts you." So what do you do?
The whole novel is covered in love. Love is complicated. Love is messy. And love is beautiful.
Lost For Words is a study of love and friendship. It is stunningly beautiful in its rawness and its honesty. I loved it.
Unbelievably beautiful.
I received this book for free. A favourable review was not required and all views expressed are my own.

Sorry struggled with this book. May try again another time

I thoroughly enjoyed this book which I read through Net Galley.
Set in a bookshop, the main character. Loveday, emerges as someone with a troubled and mysterious past which she tries to keep to herself for fear of publicity. She works in a second hand bookshop in York and loves books. Her history emerges throughout the book and is entwined in present day action.
Her relationships with the quirky bookshop owner who clearly understands her well, with passing customers as well as with regular customers are developed well through the book.
There are dramas and crises, mental illness is touched upon and generally the difficulties of living a normal life after a traumatic childhood.
Throughout the story, Loveday and the other characters are well developed and in general appealing. Her early difficulties are well handled as are peoples' reactions to them.
Highly recommended, in going on to read more of Stephanie's writing.

Even though I toiled through the first 60 pages of this free ARCopy, kindly given to me by netgalley / publisher, I was unable to muster any interest in the musings of the heroine or the drab everyday lives of the other characters. Not for me, sorry.

Lost for Words has all the elements you would wish for in a book. Loveday (damaged and beautiful but doesn’t know it, not that comfortable with people, running from her past) works in a second- hand book shop run by the benevolent Archie. She meets poet Nathan (far too good to be true) while getting over a bad relationship with Rob.
This is a lovely feel good read and there were times when it all took off and flew, but the thin line between charming and over-sentimental was in danger of being transgressed on occasion.
With thanks to Netgalley and Bonnier Zaffre

I loved this book! Books about books and bookshops are always a winner for me but there was so much heart and truth in this story which added to its appeal. Loveday Cardew is a damaged and somewhat prickly protagonist which inevitably invites parallels to Eleanor Oliphant, although each book is brilliant in its own right. Loveday works in a bookshop with the larger than life Archie, and it's testament to how well the characters were drawn, that I'd love to read a prequel to this book which told Archie's story too. Throughout the course of the book, Loveday's relationship with the written word provides a thread that links her troubled start in life to her building of new relationships in the present day. I will be highly recommending this book and seeking out others by this author. Thanks NetGalley for the opportunity to discover this author!

This reminded me somewhat of Eleanor Oliphant, the book that everyone is currently raving about. It has a socially awkward heroine with a dark past that is gradually uncovered as the book progresses, and which deals with dark and dysfunctional families. Like Eleanor Oliphant it's a love story, both in a traditional and non traditional sense. Loveday, the heroine, learns about the full spectrum of love, familial love, romantic love, and love for herself. I liked the book. I particularly liked the bookshop setting, and Loveday's passion for books and how it was woven into the fabric of her life. I think I'd have enjoyed it more if I hadn't already read Eleanor Oliphant so recently to be honest. I kept drawing parallels with it. It is a good book, well written, with a nice balance of dark and light themes and a good, strong heroine.

This book is Loveday's story, which is slowly unfolded for us. All the characters are beautifully drawn. The book is set in York and Whitby, giving a good sense of place particularly of Whitby. This beautiful book made me cry, and I thought about it long after I had finished it. I'm looking forward to recommending it to my book club.

Such a wonderful and heartening story, it made me cry at the end and not many books manage to do that. Loved ay is so hurt by her past but so strong and clear-headed and determined not to fall into depression, it makes anyone think of how to cope sadness. I love that this books happens in a bookshop, one of my favourite places in the world, I love female characters that make their own future and this book is exactly that, a cry for help and a cry for hope

Such a lovely book! The main character Loveday works in a second hand bookshop - the story alternates between the present and past and you discover the past to Loveday and her how she got to work in the bookshop. The writing is exquisite and some of the sentences are so lovely and descriptive. Really looking forward to reading her next book

I loved this book. From just about the first page to the last it was like being amongst friends; warm, engaging and utterly compelling. The character of Loveday Cardew is easy to identify with - I've always loved the idea of working in a bookshop and her attitude to the world often resonated with mine. The supporting cast of characters were well realised and I loved Nathan and Archie almost as much as Loveday does! As a former resident of York I really wish the bookshop had been there for me to frequent when I lived there!
Books are Loveday's refuge, her safe place. From a traumatic event in her childhood, which the story shares as it unfolds, to her present day reluctance to live properly in the world, Loveday must embark on a journey of self discovery and the reader accompanies her on this.
There is a lot of sadness in this story, the flashbacks to her time with her parents and her abusive ex boyfriend are a huge part of Loveday's personality which she must overcome if she is to fully embrace the love available to her in her life now.
This is a truly wonderful novel. It was like being wrapped in a warm blanket with my favourite book beside me. I'd love to revisit Loveday's story as finishing the book was a hard goodbye.

I adored this book. I would have given it six stars if that had been possible. It had all the elements I look for in book - a sympathetic heroine and an engaging style. And it was about a book shop. What more do I need to say?

Loved it.
Books, tick. bookshops, tick. A main protagonist that I care about, tick. What's not to like? Actually, nothing is 'not to like' - the author has written a book that most people who love books, ie her readers, would enjoy. There is drama in the Loveday's background, possible romance, and a bit of mystery. And who didn't cry when Archie ...... ?

Lost for Words is a beautifully written book. Loveday has worked n a second hand bookshop in York since the age of 15, the owner Archie eccentric and kind has taken her under his wing. Loveday has had a troubled past and as an escape learnt to cope with life by immersing herself in books, preferring then to any social interaction or relationship. This books skips easily from present to the past so we learn the reasons for Lovedays behaviour. Gradually Loveday has started to blossom under Archie's care and the lovely Nathan who enters her life.
With humour, angst, secrets and a cast of characters good and bad this book brilliantly describes every emotion possible to feel when reading.
A wonderful story, difficult to describe fully as you need to take this journey for yourself without knowing the full plot, it's all the better for it.
My thanks to net galley and publisher for opportunity to review this book honestly.

I read that if you liked Eleanor Oliphant, you will love this and can only agree wholeheartedly with those sentiments. I identified with Eleanor and definitely identified with Loveday Cardew. I laughed at her descriptions of the bookshop, it;s customers and of course Archie, I cried as her backstory emerged, I had empathy with her feelings that if she blocked people out, they could not hurt her any more, and I felt her pain, mentally and physically as she attempts to move forward, and finds solace in the poetry she begins to create. Could say so much more but don't want to give anything else away!!!

Which booklover doesn’t love a book about a book shop? Right from the very first chapter I knew that I was going to love this book. It has a warm, charming feel to it and whilst I didn’t want to stop reading it, I also didn’t want it to end. I felt so much compassion for Loveday. How different she could have been as a adult if her childhood had been different. I just wanted to bring her home and look after her and love her. The author has ensured that you warm to each of the characters - Loveday, Nathan, Archie and whilst the subjects of foster caring and mental illness can sometimes feel draining when reading about them, the author has included them in a really lovely, intriguing, touching story. Loved it!

Stephanie Butland writes a delightfully charming, moving and beautiful piece of contemporary fiction set in a second hand bookshop in York. It features the wonderfully prickly, hard to get to know and sarcastic Loveday Cardew, with her nose ring and tattoos of lines from treasured books. Books mean so much more to her than humans, and the bookshop is her refuge from the world. Only the endearing and eccentric bookshop owner, Archie, has managed to pierce her heavily fortified armour, with a friendship that has developed through the years, and even he has no idea of the secrets she keeps close to her chest. Archie adores Loveday, feeling that she is worth the time and effort it takes to get to know her.

Fifteen years ago, Loveday experienced a huge heartbreaking trauma that led to her being taken into foster care. One day, she happens to come across a book of poetry outside on the pavement, picks it up and puts up a found notice in the shop. This fateful act presages the entrance of the magically entrancing poet, Nathan Avebury, who sees beyond the difficult and unprepossessing exterior of Loveday's character. Strange parcels begin to arrive which have meaning for Loveday. This is a dark story of heartbreaking secrets and love. Will Loveday be able to let love enter her life after her experience with Rob? This is a novel that goes back and forth in time narrated by Loveday. This is a brilliant read with great quirky characters, the memorable Loveday and the perfect setting of a bookstore where it is understood just how special books are. Just wonderful and highly recommended! Many thanks to Bonnier Zaffre for an ARC.

Straight off the bat, let me just say: I absolutely adored Lost for Words. It’s a book that is, by turns, funny, heartwarming and that tugs at the heartstrings: I couldn’t put it down until I’d finished it.
Our heroine is Loveday Cardew, who works in the Lost for Words bookshop at York. She’s a bibliophile, and sassy, and prickly, and very human: Loveday is an amazing character! She feels real and rounded and as you learn more and more about her you understand why she acts the way she does, and love her even more. Just watching her backchat customers and generally just not give a damn about what people think of her is hilarious to watch, but she’s also damaged, with a tragic past that makes it hard for her to trust- or care about- anybody.
Watching her develop and open up over the course of the book is therefore really, really heartwarming, especially with the strong cast of supporting characters. Butland gives equal time and attention to them, from Nathan, a magician-come-poet who is more like Loveday that she realises, to Archie, the bookshop owner who gave Loveday a chance when he employed her.
That all ties neatly into the plot. The author foregoes a big, dramatic storyline in favour of focussing on the relationships between the characters in her story, and the book is all the richer for it. We get to learn about Loveday’s past, both in York and with her family in Whitby, and as such we really get to care for her and the people that she cares for: no spoilers, but I was genuinely sobbing at the end of the book.
And of course, the books play almost as large a part as the characters. Butland’s own love for reading is evident here, and the importance of those books are present in every part of Lost for Words, from the spoken-word poetry in the poetry slams Loveday goes to, to the quotes that Loveday has tattooed on her skin. Words are important- whether it’s because of their meaning, the comfort they give or the way that they reveal things about you- and as a bibliophile it’s something that really chimed with me. The bookshop here is presented as a haven, a sanctuary- and the descriptions of it are really quite beautiful.
Overall, then? It’s a beautifully-written ode to the power of words, populated with fully-realised characters that it’s easy to care about. I loved it; I fully recommend it. Get yourself to a bookshop!