I really enjoyed this story about Loveday. We follow her mostly in the present as she struggles to trust. Then we go back and learn why. I loved this character and her strength to move forward in the best way she could.

Stephanie Butland is one of the best writers I was introduced to this year on NetGalley. Her new book "The Lost for Word Bookshop" is a work of art. I was shown that a book does not need to be linear to produce deep feelings. Loveday Cardew's world changed every three weeks when her dad returned from the offshore oil rig for his week at home. She loved both parts of her life. When she was ten she no longer loved her life. Her father was dead, her mother was gone and Loveday entered the foster care system. This is not a book about foster care. This is a book of discovery and choices and how a life can expand or remain unchanged.

Loveday's journey gave me so many things to think about. I would be reading and out would come a phrase I needed to write down so I could think about it later. Loveday described a brother and sister as puppies playing in the sun. What a wonderful way to say they had easy lives. In a letter: Is not meaning to hurt the same as not hurting? The book is full of word pictures that made it a pleasure to read. I strongly recommend this book that is scheduled to publish the first week of June.

I love this book. It made me laugh and cry and "feel." The characters were beautifully and realistically drawn and I drawn in from page one. A completely satisfying read, and a book I'll be recommending to others.

Delightful book. The first half of the book reminded me a little of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. This would be a great beach read. I’d like to read more by this author.

4.5 stars. I loved this realistic yet heartwarming story of a damaged young woman's journey back to love and community.

A 5 star book is a rare and wondrous thing – something to be savored and appreciated. Who can say what exactly defines a 5 star book? For me, it is a story that is completely absorbing and transports me to a different time and place, until I at last look up from the final page and slowly reenter the physical world.

I recommend that you sit down with this book when you have time to devote to it. Believe me, you won’t easily walk away.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. My thanks to the author, the publisher and NetGalley.

This book had me at the title and only got better from then on. As a lover of reading, libraries (and bookshops) as well as being a sucker for scenes set in England, I was fully prepared to love this novel. But it gave me so much more to enjoy in the person of Loveday, the nose-ringed and raspberry-haired young woman escaping from a traumatic time in her childhood that left her reclusive and withdrawn. The other characters, good guys and bad, are also boldly drawn. Archie, the former spy now used book shop owner is someone you want to meet. He is the antithesis of Loveday, being outgoing and a friend to all but particularly to this young woman.. You may fall in love with Nathan and hiss at Rob, but your heart goes out to this solitary reclusive bookworm herself.

There's enough suspense and action to keep you turning pages, and some tearful moving moments too.

Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas Dunne books for the opportunity to read, enjoy and review this book.

3.5 A quick and pleasant read. I had trouble relating to the main character, Loveday, as she seemed just as closed off to me, the reader, as she did to the other characters in the book.

Even though I liked this book, there were a few elements that were off to me. I wished for a more suspenseful build up around the ex boyfriend, Rob. I found myself puzzling over Loveday’s choices and reasoning behind her choices. She was a very puzzling character. I assume she had C-PTSD, but the symptoms were glossed over which disappointed me. There were a lot of missed chances at character development. I wanted to know them better.

My favorite character was Archie, and he brightened every scene he was in. He brought more life to this book than any of the other character’s in it, though Nathan’s Doc Martins were a close second best.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy of this ebook in exchange for an unbiased review.

A book lovers dream book! A story about a used bookshop and it's unusual cast of characters. I love Loveday Cardew. She's a lovely blend of quirky and charm. A protagonist that is deep, intelligent, marches to her own (tattoos and piercings included!) and just this side of different that you wonder what she'll say or do next. Add to the story a wonderful, quirky in his own right, bookshop owner (Archie) and an intriguing poet/magician (Nathan Avebury. Fabulous "day" job, BTW) and you get a hard to put down story that draws you in, and won't let go.

This book was a beautiful blend of fun and sadness. It was so much more than a "cozy" or chick lit.

I admit that I had a difficult time putting it down and when I finished it, was sad that it ended. It was that good.

*I would like to thank the author/publisher/Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a fair and honest review*