You can't tell a book from its cover. You have to open it, read it, digest it and then tell if you like it or not. The same could be said about Loveday, a 25 year old who works in a bookshop that sells second hand books. You could call her anti-social, you could call her quiet, but you don't know her, You don't know her past, her hidden secrets and what has made her the way she is. What you really don't know is the pages of her past and like a book, in between covers, she has secrets that have shaped her and you have to delve into those pages to know what lies there...and as you read the awful truth is revealed.
Therein lies the story. A bit slow for my taste, but nonetheless a good read. However, what I liked about the novel, aside from the quirky characters, was Loveday's sharp mind, her wit. When I started this novel, I wasn't sure I was going to get into it, but then I got hooked and couldn't put it down. I needed to know her secrets, I had to find out who she really is.
My thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

(IT TOOK ME SO LONG TO PICK THIS BOOK BACK UP BUT I'M SO GLAD THAT I DID !)

The first quarter or so of The Lost for Words Bookshop hit me like a sloth. As in, it was just a l i t t l e on the slow side of the spectrum for me. I think it was due to a mixture of my general shrugs attitude regarding the author's writing and the mildly long period of time in which nothing really happened
––––but then I hit a reading breakthrough.

It turned out really well for me in the end, I think. Loveday's story was nice and mellow for the most part, and the rest swept me away like the tide. Quirky characters can be either make it or break it, and Loveday was pretty cool. She was written with this simple sense of displacement, for lack of a better word. It was like she was yet to be hardened by life, regardless of the fact that she of all people should be twisted and bent by the world at the present time.

The whole bookstore aspect and bibliophiles unite thing going on was wonderful. Book clubs, poetry sharing, and working in a bookstore. Seeing as the target audience is people who are into books, it's basically a reader magnet.

Something decently interesting about this book to me was its narration, with this different mix between internal and external. Loveday was a fairly thought-orientated character, but there was enough going on around her that it wasn't overly internal monologue-filled, so it was still nice to read as a whole and thankfully not overdone.

As mentioned earlier, pacing was kind of an issue for me, and it took a while for me to even vaguely understand where the plot could possibly be. This may or may not be because I'm used to the fast-pacedness of YA. Nonetheless, the characters and their dynamics kept me intrigued and got me back on track after I picked the book back up again.

Overall, this was a very enjoyable and rewarding read. It has some pretty good themes, nice past-present timelines, and quite the unique premise.

Many thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the fascinating ARC!

Beautiful cover that I was immediately drawn to. Plus, it's a book about books! What could be better?!

Loveday Cardew tattoos the quotes from her favorite books all over her body. She prefers books to people and her employment in a used bookstore suits her perfectly. However, Loveday has a secret and traumatic past and someone has begun sending her suspicious items related to these memories that she has tried to suppress.

I wanted to love this story. I really did. However, I had difficulty connecting to the characters and found the story to move slowly. I loved reading quotes from my favorite books throughout the novel, though.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley for free in exchange for an honest review.
The Lost For Words Bookshop is filled with quirky, memorable characters and books - thousands of books. Loveday Cardew has been working at the bookshop for over ten years. It is her workplace and only real source of social interaction.
Loveday is extremely guarded because of the secrets she is keeping. They get in the way of her having any normal sort of relationship. And she is okay with that. She has her books, what else could she possibly need?
The answer to that question is Nathan - a magician with a few secrets of his own.
The story unfolds at a gentle pace. Slowly, present day and past Loveday come together and we get to know who she really is.
The Lost For Words Bookshop is a wonderful, sad, and vibrant story about finding yourself and love and always the secrets we keep.

Loveday Cardew was always a shy, solitary kid who loved books. Loveday liked being indoors in a cozy nook, maybe with her mom, reading the whole day and night. She had the life she loved, but suddenly, in one day, she lost it all. That tragic day was fifteen years ago. Today, Loveday is working in a second-hand bookshop in York. Loveday's boss, Bruce, is a big burly garrulous man who loves talking with everyone he encounters, sort of the mayor of the corner where he stands outside to smoke his pipe.

Loveday trusts Bruce. He looks after her and even arranged for her to have a lovely small apartment, fresh and painted. Loveday has everything she needs, spending each day sorting out boxes of donated books and continuously organizing the shelves. Most people are kind to Loveday in return for her kindness. Her one mistake seems to be in agreeing to go out with a Ph.D. student, Rob, who turns into a nuisance when she tries to keep their relationship at arm's length. Loveday has no interest in committing to a relationship and Rob is determined to get closer to Loveday. He begins to be a real irritant which makes LD worry about how to get rid of Rob without hurting him.

The sky opens up when Loveday meets a charming poet, Nathan, in a local pub. He isn't overpowering but offers her kind attention, and she finds herself becoming more attached with each Wednesday poetry night she attends. Life is beginning to open up for Loveday, and then strange things start to happen. First, she finds a box of books that are like the same set of books as she had when she was a kid. Bits and pieces of her lost childhood begin to appear, and she is sure that someone she trusted is now taunting her and making her life miserable once again.

It was a joy to continue following this character's journey to find the resolution to her suffering and see how it all turns out for our dear, dear Loveday. I enjoyed meeting all the caring people who came together as a loving family in the Lost for Words Bookshop.

wow! Emotional, charming and wonderful! Books are my passion, thus the cover grabbed my attention. The story grabbed my heart! Loved it! I think most of you will also ! Thanks Netgalley for providing the arc. The opinion in the
review are mine

A very unexpected, deep and poignant story about a young woman who has survived more trauma than any one person should have to and has found a safe home within the confines of a second hand bookstore and its amazing owner. I like Loveday from the very first few pages...as she discovers a discarded "lost" book and attempts to connect it with its irresponsible owner. That one moment launches the whole story that will come to force Loveday to finally confront her past and her future. As a booklover, I enjoyed the many author and story references littered throughout the story, but this book was so much more than that. This story confronts a lot of serious issues, but also shows the strength one gains from the love and support of others. I really enjoyed this book, and I'll admit, it also made me cry. I am so glad that I had the opportunity to review this story.

I received a copy of this title from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

I love reading books about bookshops, fiction or non. This story is about a young woman who works at a bookshop and has tattoos of first lines of favorite books. She has a secret about her background and she doesn't take to people very well until she meets a charming poet/magician. This is her story of coming into her own. Told through poetry readings and flashbacks, with literary references. A cast of characters who are eccentric yet relatable drives the narrative.

Copy provided by the Publisher and NetGalley

When I saw the cover for this book, I thought that it would be a typical, light, women's fiction read. That is not the case at all! This book is much more than that. Protagonist Loveday, who does work in a bookshop, is a unique, idiosyncratic, hurt young woman who does not trust easily. There are reasons for this as the reader learns. She is tattooed with quotes from her favorite novels, has a painful backstory, is bright and someone the reader hopes for. All of the characters from Nathan, to Rob, to Annabel, to Archie, to Loveday's family are vividly portrayed and each has an important role in her life. This book is definitely worth reading in my opinion. I was inspired to look for the author's other novels upon completing this. Thanks NetGalley and St. Martin's for this excellent read.

I have a soft spot for novels set in a library or bookshop, but I struggled with The Lost for Words Bookshop. 100 pages in, it was part "Eleanor Oliphant..."and part "...A J Fikry"( 2 of my favorites), but the pace seemed labored. Nuggets of information regarding Loveday's past were slowly revealed, but the current-day plot line just didn't hold my attention.

The Storied Life Of AJ Fikry is one of my all time favorite books, so I was nervous to delver into another book about bibliophiles! Luckily, The Lost for Words Bookshop did not disappoint! It had the shame I was looking for, but with WAY more twists and turns than I was expecting. I also found Lovejoy really really relatable as I go through my own relationship challenges.

As a lover of books, I am drawn to stories that feature bookstores. The Lost for Words Bookshop is set in York, so there are some uses of regional dialect that aren't used in the United States; however, nothing is out of reach via context.

Our protagonist Loveday is a tattooed goth girl who works in a bookstore. She is private, and one wonders whether her outward appearance and aloof attitude is to keep people at a distance; we quickly learn Archie, her larger-than-life boss who has taken on the unofficial role of parenting figure, is one of her few friends; "Archie says I keep all my interesting bits well hidden and getting to know me is an exercise in faith rewarded."

This book started slow for me, and I wondered whether I would be able to finish. When a book feels forced or it's trying too hard to be clever, it keeps me from feeling fully engaged and I never completely enter the story; I feared this was going that route. However, I was pleasantly surprised as the book found its groove. There is depth in it, and I became invested in the storyline. Loveday doles out little snippets that hint at a complicated past; we knew at one point she had a happy childhood with two loving parents, but then we learn she was in foster care for years. Finding out what took place is the meat of this book, in interchanging chapters.

Loveday is still coming to terms with her past, and we witness her make strides to trust in the present time. One impetus to these reflections is when titles identical to those from her childhood bookshelves make her pause.

This was a good read, one with themes of family and new beginnings, but it's not for everyone, especially if you're turned off by casual swearing; it's peppered enough throughout the pages that it might be off-putting if you're sensitive to such language.

I received a free digital ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I'm going to keep this short and simple, I adored the character of Loveday and initially and even throughout, I found her to be a mystery! I felt like I could tell she was hiding something about her past, something she wouldn't open up about to other people, and I was definitely wondering why and what it was.

I suppose it is through the flashbacks where I got to know Loveday the best, I loved how she was always bookish, awkward, shy, things I can definitely relate to, and I found the flashbacks endearing about how she discovered her love of books and how she always knew they'd be a part of her life, and then we had the flashbacks regarding her parents, where I suppose things really started to become fractured for her. I felt like the flashbacks were so powerful at times, it was like I was reading her journal entries, like, there's no filter here, Loveday as a child just leapt off the page for me and she definitely had me feeling!

However, I felt like Loveday and all the fabulous bookishness in this story was all that I really loved?! I wanted to adore the other characters but they didn't really impact me that much unfortunately, and I was hoping they'd develop but it just didn't happen!

However, I'll conclude by saying Loveday was definitely a memorable character.

I love any book about books and being set in a book store is a bonus. I started out not liking the book, I didn’t like the protangist,, Loveday, but that is actually the point. She is hiding behind her tattoos (sentances from favorite books), nose ring and ombré hair. She has trouble interacting with new people, in fact most people. As we learn her back story and her current immersion into “society” we find that love of friends as well as romantic love take meaning for her. It definitely has a Me Too theme but not heavily so. It isn’t often that a book brings a tear to my eye, this one did. I also realized that I haven't read poetry for years and need to correct that hole in my reading. It is very well written and the characters well drawn. I am giving it 4 Stars because of my initial non engagement, my fault not the book’s.. I was allowed to read the book from NetGalley for an honest review

Thanks to Netgalley, Stephanie Butland and bonnierzaffre for my review copy of lost for words

So, I think this one is a case of it’s not you it’s me because looking on goodreads everyone loves this one and me not so much.
Loveday finds solace in books. She worked at the same bookstore since she was 15 finding comfort in the written word. Loveday is secretive, standoffish and she doesn’t want people to know about her past and that night... she begins receiving messages that remind her of that past. Does someone know? Can she no longer hide?
I really wanted to like this one. I think the plot was sort of there but to me it needed more fine tuning. I want to care for my characters but I don’t think I ever felt that connection it was more like watching than experiencing. I wasn’t invested in the story or the characters and that might have been the problem. That said I think it had a lot of potential and I did enjoy the idea of it.

This book captured my heart. I read it straight through and loved every minute. It was charming, sad, heartwarming and probably the best book I’ve read in months. No spoilers from me, just an enthusiastic two thumbs up.

This is definitely a book for book lovers. The cover is a bit misleading, because while it is an easy read in terms of style, it can be difficult in terms of content. It is charming at times but twists at your heart at other times. Loveday is an incredibly drawn character with a fully realized present and backstory, and I think she will speak to any bibliophile, from her tattoos to her preference for books over people. I loved nearly the entire story, and Butland has some beautiful language, including poems that seem to have been written for the book but that could easily stand alone. The ending got a bit too melodramatic for my taste, but despite that I can easily recommend it anyway. I would definitely read another book by Butland, who clearly loves words and understands people.

This book was everything a book is supposed to be. I loved every second of reading it. I have a strange infinity for books about books and this fit the bill perfectly. Highly recommend.

3.5 Stars really.

This is very bookish, with a cute love story and a dash of mystery. Loveday Cardew works at The Lost For Words Bookshop and is hiding a secret about her past. I enjoyed that the story is told in three alternating sections and also the multiple references to literature throughout the book.

However, I felt like I’d read this story before in that the plot felt too predictable for me. Still, most of the characters are very likable and this is a very enjoyable read, if you ignore the bad poetry that the main characters swap.

“I don’t don’t do Facebook. There are enough people to contend with in real life without adding virtual ones. Or ones who might remember you from way back.” Loveday


This is the first book I have read by author Stephanie Butland, and it certainly won’t be the last. I thoroughly appreciated how the story unfolded with alternating chapters that go back and forth in time to tell Loveday’s story. The book weaves a tale of a rather outgoing young girl with friends who was very happy living with her mom and dad; surprisingly, the adult Loveday is reclusive, prefers to keep to herself, and has no desire to let down the walls she has built in order to let others truly get to know her. The slow unraveling reveals the circumstances that caused her to drastically change her behavior.

The book is peopled with other interesting characters who I got to know as the story progresses. My favorite was Archie, who had a fascinating history full of unbelievable moments that he loves to talk about. He is caring and kind, an almost father figure for Loveday.

With such great characterization and well-researched background information for the story, I can see why this has such a high rating.