Cover Image: The Library of Lost Things

The Library of Lost Things

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Member Reviews

Love love love love love this book. I do NOT like contemporaries very often but when I do they normally have murder or books involved. This was such an amazing story and I reread it every year.

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This was a fun, sweet read but also tackled some hard things that are not usually discussed. Hoarding is something most people know about but don't really come across in real life. For those who do deal with it, either themselves or someone they know, it is good to see that portrayed in a story. But the story also had some lighter elements like a feisty best friend and a cute love interest.

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This is a great beach/summer/easy read! The characters are well developed and their relationships all feel authentic. There were some aspects that were pretty tropey (a house party, a beach party) but there is a smart, awkward girl and a broody boy, of course it's going to be a little tropey!

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Overall, an okay coming-to-age book of how your life can change completely within a few months. I liked Darcy and her BFF's friendship and I liked Marisol's family. The stuff with Darcy's mom had its good and bad moments.

Here's why I'm giving it 3 stars: I didn't buy the 'intensity' of the feelings between Darcy and Asher aside from that one scene in the alley. Every other interaction between them was like 'and Asher was there too'. She shut him down in her mind so fast because he was dating someone else when they met, that I didn't anticipate them getting together at all. Oh, well.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-galley.

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Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Books about books or the love of reading often fall flat. Readers know why reading is spectular and a book trying to sell us on the magic of reading just sounds off. This book was good but not great. It has no memorability factor.

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Good coming of age book, where the main character Darcy has lived her life through books and made her self invisible to hide the fact her mom is a hoarder. As Darcy approaches her eighteenth birthday she lives in fear of losing her home and being taken from her mom should the extent of her mom’s hoarding be discovered. Darcy develops a crush on Asher, a young man dealing with his own issues, who seems to appreciate her for who she is. Over the course of the book Darcy must face her life, and decide if we wants to “write” her own story, or continue to live through the books she reads. A satisfying read.

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Hoarding may be one of the most complex mental illnesses out there and is far too often represented as easily treated in fiction, so I appreciate that Namey's characters experience the difficulty and fragile balances that come with addressing it. And the mother is defined by more than just her compulsion. She isn't some frightened slob. She's a career woman, well put together, with a secret buried by shame. This is a real story reflecting genuine struggles experienced by complex characters. A solid read.

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A heartfelt novel that oozes vulnerability and an authentic aching charm, “The Library of Lost Things” is a stellar YA read that should not be missed. With a main character who favours books more than people, author Laura Taylor Namey has written a story that bookworm readers are certain to identify with and cheer for. Darcy is smart, funny and caring. A character with a well-developed backstory allowing her actions to be rationalized. There are some deeper themes at play that may be triggering for some readers including abandonment, hoarding and OCD.

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2.5 of 5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the premise of this book and I was very excited to pick this one up, but it missed the mark for me.
YA contemporary romance is one of my favourite genres, and I’ve read quite a few in my time. The Library of Lost Things simply pales in comparison to most others that I’ve read. The characters lack depth and the plot verged on boring at times. The story had a lot of potential, but it needed to be fleshed out more.

I struggled to make a genuine connection with the protagonist, Darcy. At the very least, I expected that I’d relate to her because of her love for books, but she was a bit of a literary snob. I know that it was briefly mentioned once or twice that she reads modern fiction, but she mainly talks about classic literature and she can be extraordinarily pretentious about it. All of the references to Shakespeare and other works of classic literature did absolutely nothing for me.
It felt as though being a bookworm and having a good memory was Darcy’s entire personality.
Unfortunately, having a somewhat unlikeable protagonist can really damage the whole reading experience for me.

The love interest, Asher, could be sweet and cute at times, but he was not at all memorable.
I did enjoy Asher’s passion for flying. He wanted to be a pilot and I actually really liked reading about his love for flying planes. I think it’s interesting and fun to see characters who have less conventional hobbies and interests.
Darcy’ friend, Marisol, loved sewing, and I enjoyed reading about the costumes she designed and created, as well.
If only our main character could have been passionate about something without being pretentious and snobby about it…

This is the first book that I have ever read that involves a character that hoardes, and initially, I appreciated the way that it was incorporated into the story. We got a good look at how Darcy’s mother’s hoarding impacted her everyday life. Later into the story, it was revealed that Darcy’s mother’s reason for hoarding was not at what everyone had thought it to be, and honestly, the actual reasoning was kind of ridiculous.
At the end, Darcy has this revelation about how, like her mother, she is a hoarder, except she is hoarder of words since she memorizes books. I honestly just found this to be weird. I don’t think that memorizing literature can really be compared to hoarding.
I think that this book did a decent job of exploring the topic of hoarding, but Darcy’s realization and her mother’s big reveal about her reason for hoarding stripped away the complexities of the disorder and it cheapened the whole plot for me.

Furthermore, I felt like the story had a bit too much going on at times. I would have preferred if the author had kept Darcy’s mother’s hoarding and Darcy and Asher’s romance at the forefront of the novel and really delved into those two plot points. There were other minor plots going on, including but not limited to conflict with Darcy’s grandmother and her father, which I felt were unnecessary and got in the way of the rest of the story.

This story had some cliche high school drama, which I was not a fan of. It made the story feel juvenile. The characters were supposed to be 18 years old, but the way that they acted often seemed immature and made them feel younger.

Ultimately, The Library of Lost Things is an okay read, but it definitely isn't the first YA contemporary romance that I would recommend.

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Cute YA story about a Girl who is too embarrassed by her hoarder mom and messy home to ever have more than 1 real friend. She falls in love; uncovers secrets about her dad; helps her mom

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I wanted to love this so much more than I did! It feels like a book made for me. Bookworm Protagonist - Darcy - with genius level literature recall. She can quote almost anything and is able to flip through books and text in her mind. It's basically a super power, and yet she was such a let down. There could have been more literature references in relation to the plot. She had a whole brain filled with books and we didn't even get to see it. I'm disappointed with the romance as well. It felt like there could have been more emotion between them. I did appreciate Asher's candor about his mental health and relationship throughout. It was also interesting to read about a "high" functioning hoarder and what that meant for Darcy's life.

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This is the fourth YA I've read in a short span of time and it was easily the best. This is an engaging story free from the pitfalls of most Young Adult books of late. The use of language was light, the teenaged romance was realistic and in surprisingly (to me) appropriate boundaries compared to others. The theme of home and family was well fleshed out as was the theme of friendship and loyalty. Even more appealing to me was that books and reading were treated by the author as a super power of the protagonist in the story. The book at the center was Peter Pan and I loved how it was used throughout. I really enjoyed this book and am so happy to have been given the opportunity by the publisher to read it.

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I really wanted to enjoy this novel and I was excited about the concept.... but basically, I just didn't LOVE it.

The main character is a "bookworm." I feel like it's one of those "I'm quirky and different because I read a lot of books" characters. Every conversation seemed forced to have some sort of connection to literature or a book reference. Overall, the dialogue just felt a little bit unreal to me, like most of the things said would definitely not be said in real life. And I just like for characters to have depth and be believable.

Unfortunately, I wasn't the hugest fan of this book.

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Love! Well-written, intriguing characters. I was so endeared to Darcy and every supporting character.

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I’m really not sure what I was expecting from this book. I love libraries, I love books, I love book stores. So, this story seemed like it would be right up my alley. And it was! At times I felt the story was taking quite a meandering path, but it worked so that wasn’t a problem for me.

The heroine of this story, Darcy, is a very likable character. She’s kind, funny, smart, caring, and diligent. Yet, for some reason, I found I most enjoyed the parts of the story where she was interacting with her best friend, Marisol, or her crush, Asher. I’m sure part of that is because both Marisol and Asher are just as amazing as Darcy. They possess many of the same qualities and they seem to understand her on a level nobody else does. But I feel that’s not the whole reason. While I feel many of the scenes that have Darcy having deep inner reflections are very well written and important, perhaps it was too much? I can’t say for sure, there’s a block to me putting my finger on exactly what was holding me back in Darcy’s solo scenes.

I found the relationship that builds between Darcy and Asher to be so organic and sweet. Her angst, his ability to put her at ease even when she was unsure of her position in his life, his obvious struggle with doing the right thing…all felt true to life to me.

There are so many wonderful things about this story. The fact that the story itself sometimes got caught up in itself doesn’t dampen the joy I felt from reading Darcy’s journey. The highs and lows and everything in between.

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I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. I did not like this book and did not finish it. The main character, Darcy is unlikable and I didn't care about her story.

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Good read! The author was creative and created a relatable character for the reader to sympathize with.

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An amazing YA romance that shows off some real issues. I highly recommend this to anyone (especially teenagers) who may need their own happy ending amongst stress.

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As you all know I am a fan of books about books and/or bookstores. So, this book as you might imagine was right up my alley!

The main character of this novel is Darcy Wells and though her life is far from perfect she finds solace in her job at the local bookstore. Her mother is a hoarder and has bombarded much of their apartment with stuff. Due to this, Darcy is afraid to let anyone close for fear they would call the authorities and those people would find her mother unfit and have Darcy sent away.

Things are getting more stressful for her, however, since there is a new manager for their apartment building. Not to mention there is a new man in her life named Asher Fleet. They become friends as he spends his breaks (from his own job) in the bookstore she works in.

I enjoyed this book tremendously! I believe that they handled are the different subject matters (including the mother’s mental illness) with care and sensitivity. The growth of the relationship between Darcy and Asher was equal parts heartwarming and heartwrenching and one I was sincerely hoping would work out. If you want to know how things ended up I suggest you grab this novel for yourself!

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Read 139 pages and still not sucked in. Darcy's ability to recite entire books while not having a photographic memory seems suspect, and the characterization feels off. Not bad but too slow.

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