Cover Image: The Bookshop on the Shore

The Bookshop on the Shore

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Member Reviews

This was such a fun read. It has all of the ingredients necessary to make this a must-read - a quirky small-town bookseller, a grand baronial house and of course a single mother looking for a fresh start.

Here we find Zoe leaving the big city for a small town to start a new life for herself and her four-year-old son. So, with the help of Nina, the friendly local bookseller, Zoe begins to put down roots in the community.

Well-crafted characters and an enjoyable read make this a great story.

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These characters were all super relatable and I have a niche group of readers who love "literary" stories set in libraries, bookshops, etc. I have no doubt this will be come a new favorite!

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Jenny Colgan is one of my favorite authors, and who can resist a book about books? Also, baking? I am a girl who loves to bake. This has our girl from London going to start her life over again meeting a ragtag group of characters who really come to life with the author's writing. The characters are well thought out, and believable. This also has just the right amount of romance. I am so happy I read this delightful book after reading all my mysteries and thrillers. A great change of pace. Thank you to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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"The Bookshop" of the title is what caught my attention, "The Shore" sounded like a quaint and splendid setting. Main character Zoe moves from London with her son, Hari (who is four years old but doesn't speak yet) for what she hopes is a better life near Loch Ness in Scotland. Thanks to a friend and fellow book-lover, she finds employment manning a bookmobile ; she also cares for three children in a dysfunctional family, whose mother is not present and father is distant. The book is a sort of roller coaster ride of happy and sad, with just a touch of romance, as Zoe deals with the children's issues and finds her way through her new life with a colorful cast of characters. It's an easy read that touches on some mental health issues and perhaps could be a bit kinder to the main character overall, but remains engaging. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital review copy; this is my honest opinion.

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A modern day retelling of Jane Eyre. I loved this book and love the bookshop series by Jenny Colgan.

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This was just okay for me. Pretty predictable. There were things I like and things I didn't like.

I liked:
-Zoe, and her strong will to provide a better life for her and her son, Hari.
-the children she was nannying for. Patrick and Shackleton were the cutest kids. Mary was prickly, but you could tell she was dealing with a lot of demons with her Mother leaving them.
-the towns people who rallied behind Zoe and her book van.

What I didn't like:
-the character development of Ramsey, the children's father. He was a total dud and I hated that it was left to the very last chapter of him and Zoe finally realizing their love for each other. It would have been so nice to have more since we built up the entire book.
-the paragraph when Jenny Colgan expressed her opinion, just felt weird!! and it brought different vibe to the rest of the book.
-some of the storyline felt scattered and some of the characters weren't given enough attention in their development. Especially Nina. Colgan built up Nina at the beginning to be one of the main characters, but because an annoyance towards the end,

I probably wouldn't recommend this book. It was just okay.

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I liked this story but it is not my favorite Jenny Colgan book. This is book 2 in the Scottish Bookshop series and has Nina from book 1 helping out Zoe and her son Hari. Zoe is the new nanny for three children who have grown wild since their mother left their father. He is absent minded and has no clue why Zoe is Nanny 7. I found it difficult to connect with any of the characters in the story but fans of Jenny Colgan will love it. I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

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This was a really cute story, with some pathos and a lot of whimsy. I loved how the relationship between Zoe and her charges changes from confrontational to caring and how Hari found his voice. It was interesting to see how the characters introduced in the previous novel interacted with the new characters and how their lives had changed since the last time the reader "saw" them. Nina and Lennox were especially good.

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I love Jenny Colgan’s books, full of hope and love. Zoe is a single mom, looking to find a way to support her son, Hari. She takes a job as a nanny in a large Scottish estate, where three children, Shackleton, Mary and Patrick, have run off six previous nannies with bad behavior. Zoe also takes over the book van for Nina who is on maternity leave. The many characters are appealing, and you will root for Zoe all the way through. Highly recommend, not as a piece of high literary fiction, but as an enjoyable, fun read that is heartwarming.

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Jackie’s got the scoop on another fabulous book coming out this month: Thank you so much to William Morrow for my copy of this book. I love Jenny Cogan and I was so happy to have an advance copy. This book, while related to her previous book “The Bookshop on the Corner”, is not a sequel. In fact, I felt that this book was a departure from her previous work. It dealt with some issues that are definitely more serious and delved into these issues in her unique way. The book felt light and easy to read even though it had some more serious issues without trivializing them. Despite the length of the book( 400+ pages), I really wish the ending was longer. I loved the character development and wanted more. I’m hoping there is a sequel!

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This was a lovely book. The characters were well rounded and it was so atmospheric that you felt like you were with them in Scotland. Some of the characters from the previous book make an appearance, but this is its own story. Jenny Colgan's writing style is unique and I greatly enjoy it. I look forward to reading more of her books!

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Jenny Colgan is one of those authors I gravitate towards when I want a fun, light read that also has some depth to it. The Bookshop on the Shore, a follow up to The Bookshop on the Corner, fits that bill nicely. Zoe is a single mother with an adorable four-year-old son, Hari, who doesn't speak. She finds herself in Scotland, helping Nina run the mobile bookshop and working as a live in au pair to Ramsey, the local laird, and his three wild children. I really enjoyed this book. It delved into issues of anxiety and mental health in ways I wasn't expecting, but not in a heavy handed way. Colgan fills all of her books with hope, and this is no exception. Although a little darker than the first of this series, I actually liked this one a tiny bit better. I highly recommend this one!

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I’m giving this book 2 stars - I couldn’t get into this story. No plot and boring characters. I’m a fan of Jenny Colgan and love her previous books but this one just wasn’t interesting to me. It was a struggle to finish it.

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I loved this sweet novel that included characters I already knew! Jenny Colgan did a fantastic job making me fall in love with the remote Scottish village, and I liked how she deviated from her usual romance formula so there was a bit more grit than usual. There was still a little bit of her signature elements (remote area, main character hates it at first) but it was a nice break from the standard.

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An entertaining, light and easy read. This is Jenny Colgan at her most Jenny Colgan-ish: young woman escapes her suffocating city problems in the idyllic, fresh-air world of the Scottish highlands. It was fun to revisit the Nina and Lennox and the mobile bookshop even though they aren’t major characters in this book, and I love the daydreaming about the Scottish highlands that is an unavoidable side effect of these stories. It’s the kind of story that goes down so easily and is a perfect distraction. Just don’t think too hard about any of the plot points, and do your best to overlook the moments of fatphobia that tend to pop up in her books.

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This was a bit different from my usual reads, although I was interested from the synopsis. Zoe is a single mom who takes on the book mobile in a small Scottish town, moving from London with her small son. There are definite elements of Jane Eyre to this story, though a bit more grown up. Lots of fun characters, and issues that many today might see in their own lives are woven throughout. This is not a pure romance, although love of all kinds does play a role in this book. This book is part of a loose series, with characters who you may have seen in previous books, but it is not a straight sequel and can be read as a stand alone easily.

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Another summer treat by Jenny Colgan! This was the perfect book to wrap up my holiday! Light and fun, with likable characters and a cute story.

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This was a wonderful second book in the "Scottish bookshop" series by Jenny Colgan. While some say you don't necessarily need to read the first book, The Bookshop on the Corner, before you read this one, I definitely think it was a better read having enjoyed the first book. In fact, I read these back-to-back and couldn't put the second book down. I stayed up late one night just to finish up this one.

Zoe is a wonderful addition to the van bookshop adventures. It is perfect timing for Zoe to take over the bookshop and the excitement begins! Once again, a book about books just fills me with joy! And the delightful characters and quirky people have you wanting to move to Scotland and become part of the community.

I hope the author will bring these characters back and continue the crazy antics and relationships among the residents.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review! I'm hooked on Jenny Colgan now!

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The Bookshop on the Shore is a sweet but slow moving novel that centers around a strapped single mother who is trying to better her life. Zoe and her not yet speaking four year old son move from the bustle of London to the quiet of Scotland. She finds a better and unusual life for the two of them.
Taking on two diverse jobs, Zoe grows as a person as she makes her own decisions for the three love- lost, needy children she becomes an au pair to and for the traveling bookstore she takes over for the pregnant owner, Nina. Her decisions bring betterment for all.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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Such a crazy fun book to ready! I love all of Jenny’s books. Can’t wait to read the next one on my shelf. Always a fun, whitty read that leaves me with a smile.

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