There was so much to love about this book. I love the rich descriptions of Iranian culture, food, expectations, the clothing the wore and the vivid picture I had of life for the characters in this book. The love story was beautiful and heartbreaking and kept you rooting for all of the characters involved in the story throughout. I thought the story was well-developed and unpredictable in the best way. Of course, I am also a sucker for a stationery shop, so that added detail made the experience of reading this book even better!

Roya goes to the Stationery Shop every day after school. She loves the shop and it's books as well as the pens and paper. One day a boy "breezes" in. It's as if an energy has entered the shop. Mr. Fakhri, the shop owner knows the boy and knows what he is after. Every Tuesday, Bahman comes in and Roya and Bahman become very close.

This book was so richly written, I felt a part of the story. Kamali brings the strife of 1950's Iran back to life and you feel the angst of the people living there. The love between Bahman and Roya is young and pure and you find yourself trying to figure out what happened. This is a beautiful love story that goes through the ages until the tearful ending. I highly recommend. Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this beautiful book.

A wonder romantic story of live that never truly dies. Two young people fall in love at a stationary store and until predicted circumstances change what could have been . Follow the lives and love the remarkable characters.

The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali has a lot going for it. It is a wonderful love story. Definitely have your tissues ready, especially at the end. It also taught me about Iran in the 1950s when the Shah was in control. Wow, it was certainly a different country from what it is today. I was aware of this in a vague way, but learned many details from this well researched book. This aspect of the book was very educational. I did feel that it was a bit slow at the beginning. About halfway through, I felt that it would be a three star read for me. It definitely picked up enough towards the end that I changed my rating to a four.

<i>Disclaimer: I received an advance review copy from NetGalley in exchange for a review.</i>

A captivating work of beautiful prose. I wasn't at all sure what to expect from this, but I'm a sucker for a stationery shop and I knew I had to read it. Learning more about Iranian culture before the 1970s was also a big reason for requesting this book from NetGalley. I'm happy to say that it more than lived up to my expectations.

Without providing spoilers, let me just say that the first half of the book has a fairly methodical plot. One event leads to another in a fairly predictable way. It's not unenjoyable, but you there are no big surprises. Then the author throws you for a loop with a new detail that I didn't see coming. You already know one big clue from the very beginning, because it's a flashback novel, but this one shakes things up midway through the story. I found it a very nice plot twist that added depth to the story and its characters.

You won't be disappointed in this one.

While I love historical fiction, I must admit I knew nothing about Iran in the 1950’s. With Marjan Kamali’s The Stationery Shop, I see what it was like in Iran at this time. It’s a simple story of a girl and boy who met and fall in love. But because of a complicated world around them their plan to marry doesn’t happen. The are torn apart by forces they can’t control. It was interesting to experience a different culture, but in the end the story is about the need to love and be loved. Once you get started on the journey with Roya and Behan, you will not want it to end. I received a copy from netgalley which allowed me to be introduced to this wonderful story.

Still sniffling as I write my review. The Stationery Shop is such a beautiful story I was consumed from the very beginning. Marjan Kamali is such a good storyteller and the book flowed perfectly between the different parts of the book as well as the many characters. The love story is something right out of a Nicholas Sparks book, and I hope one day they make this into a movie, so I can ugly cry in the theater.
Life as a teenager is never easy, but growing up in Tehran in the middle of a political battle makes things much more difficult. It’s not safe in her town and Roya’s parents worry about her and her sister. They want their girls to have the best schooling so they can go to college and make something of themselves. Roya takes refuge after school at The Stationery Shop where she loves to browse the aisles of fountain pens, writing paper and books. Especially the poetry section.Mr.Fakhri is the owner and takes great pride in his shop and its contents. When a young boy Roya’s age comes running into the shop, Roya is immediately struck by feelings even she can’t explain. Mr. Fakhri can see an interest between the two, so he decides to make himself scarce when they are in the store together, so they can speak freely and build on their friendship.
Roya and Bahman quickly fall in love in the most beautiful and organic love, true soul mates from the very beginning, but have to struggle with what’s going on politically as well as Bahman’s mother who does not approve of the marriage to Roya. After their engagement party Bahman goes missing, and Roya has no idea what happened to him. She goes to the stationary shop to look for him, and Mr.Fakhri gives her a special book of poetry, and inside is a letter from Bahman explaining why he had to leave, but filled with love and the promise to return quickly. The two will spend time writing letters back and forth, talking about their love for one another and dreams of their future. Roya has no idea how Mr.Fakhri gets these letters back and forth, but she is so thankful for his help.
Roya receives a letter from Bahman telling her to meet him at the square, that he will be returning and they will go get married immediately. What follows will change the course of both of their lives forever.
The Stationery Shop is emotional and will truly touch your heart. The story is put into different parts, and two different time lines, but it has the best flow of any book I’ve read recently. I loved the characters, the culture, and of course the romantic in me loves the emphasis on the letters Roya and Bahman wrote to each other. With today’s technology handwriting letters is old school, but nothing beats the feeling of a card, or beautiful stationary, being able to see the person’s handwriting and read the letter they took time to compose. I enjoyed this book so much I will defiantly be choosing this for my book club after the book comes out in June.

Highly encourage everyone to read this book, could not put it down. One of the best books I have read this year.

Bahman and Roya and their love story and how life's obstacles and family can alter our decisions and our lives outcomes makes it very relatable, loving, yet sometimes sad.

Hope to read more by this author in the future.

This is a wonderful book. It's a love story, but it's also a portrayal of a culture and the aftermaths of the ouster of the Shah. The plot line is interesting and particularly the back stories of the characters. I would highly recommend it.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Love lost and deeply mourned by an Iranian couple who eventually reconnect at the end of their lives. The back stories of the people who meddles to prevent their marriage are told in flashbacks.

Beautiful novel with well written characters

Marjan Kamali's The Stationery Shop is a fictional reflection on the personal devastation resulting from the ongoing political upheaval in Iran over the past 65+ years - specifically in this book since the uprising against Mossadegh in 1953. The novel focuses on a young girl, Roya, who falls in love with Bahman, a boy who is going to change the world. Politically active, Bahman believes like many others that Mossadegh can improve Iran, modernize it and offer people better lives. Roya and Bahman fall in love and the course of their lives are laid out for the reader - all the way to present time - but the author also goes back, shedding light on Bahman's troubled mother and her struggles as a child.

The Stationery Shop brings to light a political history that Americans in particular might not know in great depth through the very personal love story of these two young people. I found the first half of the book a little uneven but overall, found it engaging and eye-opening in terms of how the political culture influenced everything about people's lives and how those events in the 1950s affected the changes that came later.

This book could have been so much better with some good editing and polishing of an uneven writing style. The first half of the novel is filled with unnecessary repetition. How many times is it necessary to tell us the younger sister sets her hair with newspaper strips to make it wave? It's interesting to read about cooking smells, redundancy here never ends, and descriptions of body odors and soap smells? Not necessary. Phrases like "sounds like a plan" and words like "wimpy" are anachronisms and I know because I grew up in the mid-50's.

Marjan Kamali could have written a 4 or 5 star book if the deathless love story had been more believable and less fairy-tale. Descriptions of the life-style, practices and real pictures of parents and Iranian history were so well done that you know the author can do better. And she does, in the second half of the book.

Thanks to NetGalley for an early copy and to Simon and Schuster, Gallery Books for a chance to read and review.

Book Court - Where I'm the Judge and Jury

CHARGE (What is the author trying to say?): How is love affected by loss, reconciliation, and a 1953 coup in Iran that will change their country forever?

FACTS: The book looks back on Bahman and Roya, two seventeen-year-old students who fall in love in a stationery shop in Tehran in the midst of a city in political turmoil. From the way the book is structured, we know from the beginning that their love is ill-fated and as the book unfolds, we find out why. Bahman disappears in the months leading up to their summer wedding. With this disappearance, the book shifts back into the more distant past, to the life of the owner of the stationery shop who will take on more significance than just their matchmaker. His life will prove intertwined with them in ways that can only be determined by examining the past. Unexpected relationships, twists of fate, breathtaking losses, and poignant reunions ate the book. The beautiful descriptions transport you to another place and another time. Emotions run the gamut in a book I couldn’t put down.

VERDICT (Was the author successful?): Guilty, as charged. This book is a jewel – one you won’t soon forget!

#NetGalley #StationeryShop

Read this book if you love stories where the main characters delve into their past and get their questions answered about a love lost long ago. I just started reading this book but I love it already. Kamali takes us from the present to the past with a fluid and flawless transition.

A lovely novel about relationships and life, that express those things with beauty and sorrow.
Recommended to anyone who enjoys literary and women's fiction.

5 enormous stars!!! I absolutely fell in love with this story, The Stationery Shop is a novel that will stay with you long after you finish! Marjan Kamali does a brillant job telling us Roya and Bahman’s journey- a true combination of a beautiful fairytale and gut-wrenching heartbreak. The storyline spans 60 years from Iran to the Untied States, Marjan Kamali’s descriptions are so vivid that it’s as if this novel plays out like a movie in your mind. I really enjoyed all of the characters and their stories and more importantly how Marjan Kamali intricately weaves them together. The Stationery Shop is a 5++++ star novel that is most definitely one of my top reads for 2019! I was blow away by Marjan Kamali and cannot wait to read her future novels!

This book had me in tears, and still, I never wanted it to end!! It's a beautifully captivating tale about love and loss and is also so rich in culture. It's simultaneously heartbreaking and uplifting and I promise you, you will not want to put this novel down! It has continued to stick with me since the moment I finished reading it and I think it will stay with me for quite some time. Easily one of my favorite books thus far of 2019! Very excited to read more by the author.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Another good one for me. Overall this book took me on a journey that I was so glad to be apart of. The struggle and uncertainty pulled me in and kept me there for the entire length and I was sad to see it end. The author painted such a vivid picture in my mind and I didnt want it to end.

This book made me cry, and cry some more. It's an absolutely stunning work set in 1950's Tehran about love and loss, heartbreak, and finding yourself.

I liked this book, but did not love it. I was totally pulled in wanting to know why he’d left her standing in the square. It moved a little slowly for me, though, and parts required too much suspension of disbelief.