An amazing cast of characters make this a really great read. I love a book where the main character loves to read too, so fun! The relationship between Darcy and her mom who is a hoarder is really well done. It is a YA romance but there is so much more to it, definitely recommend!

Darcy lives with her mother who is a hoarder. No one but her best friend knows this about Darcy, and it's starting to impact her life. After meeting Asher, he helps her to open up about her life behind closed doors and to decide how to make both her and her mother's life better.

Darcy’s life is full of books just the way she loves it. Sort of like me I really enjoyed her! A bit of romance and family drama mixed with secrets! What’s not to love! A must read for any age !

When writing a book in first person, there are better ways to introduce the character's names. Having the main character randomly say her friend's first and last name for not reason is not the way to do it. Having the main character say her own first, middle and last name for no reason, is not the way to do it. I can go on, but I won't because that would be annoying. Also, having large swaths of Emma in this book early on did it no favors. Don't show the reader what brilliant writing looks like and then not do that. Thanks to Net Galley for the ARC. I only request books I think I would like and hope I would love. This is not it. I see a lot of folks love this book so clearly, every book has its reader, but I am not this book's reader.

I love this book! Darcy is a fantastic and relatable character. The romance is sweet and I loved her relationship with her best friend. This is a beautiful book that tackles mental illness and mother/daughter relationships. Library of Lost Things is a really strong debut for this author! There was really only one thing I didn't love about it. I read an arc, so this may be different in the final version, but a couple of things seem to set up a later conflict that never happens. Two characters' behaviors imply that they'll be a problem but nothing comes of it, which was a bit frustrating. But other than that, this book is so good!

I really enjoyed a great many things about this book. Characters were fleshed out and the plot was well spaced. Some of the secondary storylines could've used a bit more page space but all in all an enjoyable read!

I think this book is very relevant to today. I have seen so many people dealing with the issue of hording whether their own or someone in their family. This has a great love story and a very complex mother daughter relationship. Just an all around great book.!

Possible Triggers: OCD, Hoarding, parental abandonment

"He was the home for all my words, even the ones I hadn’t defined yet. He was the home for all my stories, even the ones I hadn’t imagined."

There was just so much in this book that I loved!

I really loved hearing Darcy's story, how she fell into her books and was invisible to 'life' around her. I have done this myself in my own way with my mental health.

It was fascinating learning more about how hoarding affects family members. I found myself researching this mental health diagnosis, as I wanted to know more.

I was happy with the ending! Thank goodness Darcy found love and got to narrate her own story!

A fun fast read! I really enjoyed the writing style and look forward to reading more by this author in the future.

Book Review: The Library of Lost Things by Laura Taylor Namey

Darcy Wells escapes the difficulties posed in her real life by reading. What book lover can’t relate to that? She is forced to face her real world problems when a new landlord begins poking around. Afraid that her mom’s compulsive shopping habit will be discovered, she takes to action to keep the landlord out. In the midst of this crisis, walking into her life is Asher Fleet, a hot pilot who’s been grounded due to the injuries he suffered from a horrible accident. Darcy is used to keeping heir life closed off from others and had only shown her true self to her best friend. Will Asher be motivation for her to change that?
A bibliophile such as myself loves a book about a fellow book lover. This young adult book satisfied my love of a slow burn romance while also focusing on the difficulties of being a teenage girl being forced into the position to be more of a parent than child. Darcy is well-written in that she feels honest, real, and like a whole person instead of just a girl with a crush. The way the author showed the complications of her mother’s hoarding on their relationship and their lives is thoughtful. I looked forward to reading this book each night and seeing where Darcy’s story went.
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Thank you Netgalley and Inkyard Press for this advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

I connected with the themes in The Library of Lost Things on many levels - hiding from life within the pages f beloved books, "hoarding" the things that make us feel safe, struggling to feel worthy, etc. - and I think most readers will too. In particular I liked that Darcy's struggle to deal with her mother's hoarding was not the main plot (which may have limited this book to "problem novel" status) but instead was just one part of her deeply felt journey of self discovery. Also - Asher - swoon!

The title of this book deceived me. I was hoping there’d actually be a library involved and there sort of is but it’s not the kind of library I was expecting. The main character has a personal library at home and that seems to be the library insinuated by the title, although the word library is never applied to it. That being said, that is the only disappointment that I had with this book. Namey’s woven a touching and moving story that handles mental health issues, and chronic illness with compassion and empathy. For me this is up there with The Fault in our Stars in terms of moving stories. It didn’t make me ugly cry like Green’s famous tearjerker, but I was incredibly moved by the story in a way I haven’t really been since I read the story of Hazel and Gus. Asher and Darcy are up there with them for me.

Darcy is a girl with a big secret, her mother if a hoarder. Darcy has had to grow up a lot quicker than other girls her age in order to deal with that. In that regard it’s a classic case of the child having to parent their parent, she goes to school; has a job to help try and keep the financial ends meeting with her mother’s shopping habits; does her homework; plays middle man between her mother and the property manager so they don’t get kicked out; and manages her mother’s mental illness. That’s an awful lot of burden on a girl who isn’t even 18 yet at the start of the story.

Then Asher Fleet walks into her life. He’s got baggage too, almost as much as Darcy. He’s lost his life’s dream because of a car accident that he’s also still fighting the physical repercussions of while his relationship with his girlfriend is deteriorating. These two meet at the exact moment in their lives where they just need someone who can understand the shit they’re dealing with. They find that in one another and watching their friendship blossom throughout the book is so beautiful. The love story itself is not surprising in the least – you can see exactly where Namey is going with it and predict exactly how it’s going to play out from very early on in the book. That doesn’t make it bad though, because in this instance it’s watching Asher and Darcy get there that matters, the journey they go on together, the growth and realisations that happen for both of them along the way to the happy ending are what matter. It’s not a sappy love story, but it is an emotional and moving one.

Life is messy, but it can also be beautiful, and it took each of them finding someone with a life as messy as their own for these two to realise that. And that’s a lesson we can all learn from that even in the messiest life there are going to be moments and pieces and people and places that can make it beautiful. That doesn’t make the shitty parts good or erase them, but just knowing that the beauty exists can sometimes make the shit a little less shitty. We know that Asher and Darcy aren’t getting a perfectly happy happily-ever-after where they ride off into the sunset together, their lives are still full of baggage, but they’re no longer alone to deal with that baggage, which is a more realistic version of a happy ending.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC copy of this book. The original posting of this review can be found on my website: https://twobirds1blog.wordpress.com/2019/11/11/the-library-of-lost-things-by-laura-taylor-namey-review-bookreview-arc/

This is a sweet romance about a girl who’s forced to become an adult too soon, because her mom is a hoarder. I work with young adults, and I particularly liked the way Darcy and her friends seemed so real, from the dialogue to their actins and reactions. A fun read!

Darcy Wells not only loves books but she was named after one of the most memorable characters in literature, Mr. Darcy of Pride & Prejudice. She has withdrawn from most teen activities and immerses herself in the tales of her favorite characters. Luckily she has Marisol, a best friend, who saves her from living a hermetic social life. One of the main reasons she has isolated herself from other teens is her fear of anyone learning of her mother’s compulsive hoarding. When Darcy starts to open up to a boy who is adjusting to a life-changing injury, it’s a step toward letting others in.

What works best here are the characters. Marisol brightens the scene every time she appears. She is the epitome of a best friend. Darcy is sympathetic and her relationship with her mother and grandmother are realistically portrayed. Asher is a likeable and admirable young man who has had to adjust to his own situation. His relationship with Darcy is given time to develop slowly and that works well. The one flaw might be the rationale for the hoarding which doesn’t completely work. Despite that, Darcy lives with fears that she must face and Namey nicely brings about change that is believable.

It took me a little while to get into this, but in the end I enjoyed it. This is the story of Dacry Wells, a tee who lives in books rather than show anyone her truth - her mother is a hoarder. Only one person really knows her secret, her best-friend Marisol. As senior year begins though, it is getting harder to stay invisible, especially when she meets Asher Fleet, a boy with struggles of his own.

Darcy’s real life was sometimes difficult to face, and therefore, she has chosen to live in her fictional worlds. Then, during her senior year of high school, she has met the perfect someone, and her financial and living situation are both threatened. With the real world crashing in, Darcy has to decide if she is willing to take a risk, open herself up, or remain hidden behind the wall she has erected to protect herself and her mother.

It was so easy to connect with Darcy as a book lover. I adored all the quotes and word games incorporated into the story. I also found her really easy to empathize with. She was a child being forced to assume the adult role in her home due to her mother’s struggle with mental illness. I, too, had such a childhood and for much of the same reasons. So what I enjoyed most was seeing Darcy slowly remove her protective barrier and begin to let more people into her life. She expanded her social circle, and even made an effort to make peace with her father’s absence. I was so proud of her as a character to see how far she grew throughout the story. The supporting cast of characters in her best friend Marisol and love interest Asher enhanced the story as well.

Overall: This was a lovely and touching story, which incorporated romance, friendship, forgiveness, mental health, and books in a captivating way. A stellar debut, which has me looking forward to more from this author.

Thank you Netgalley for the chance to read and review this book.

The Library of lost things was a great easy read that tugged at my heart strings and got me really invested in the lives of the characters. Darcy is navigating her senior year feeling as though her carefully safeguarded life is careening towards destruction. Every moment of her life has been spent protecting her mother's secret hoarding problem. From counting down the days until CPS can no longer remove her from the household to hoping the new landlord won't find out and choose not to renew the lease, she has way more on her plate than she should. The only person in her life she trusts is her best friend Marisol, but all that changes when a new friend appears in the form of cute boy Asher Fleet with the tragic back story.

One of my favorite thing about this book was how well it flirted with being cheesy without ever approaching too much or poorly done. There were a lot of romcom tropes sprinkled throughout the book, but the characters still felt genuine, and it didn't have too much of the mean girl cattiness that I can't stand in many contemporary romances.

Overall, this was a 4.5 star read for me!

Thank you to Laura Taylor Namey, NetGalley, and Inkyard Press for providing me with a review copy in exchange for my honest opinion

Darcy Wells is an exceptional young lady. However, she does not realize it. As many know, life as a teenager is fraught with hills and valleys, and Darcy definitely has her share of them and then some. Added on top of the complex life of a teenager is the fact that Darcy’s mother is a hoarder. Every spare area in their home except for Darcy’s room, is covered in “stuff”. Darcy has spent her whole life keeping people out, until she isn’t able to do it anymore. A certain young man by the name of Asher, slips past her guard and makes Darcy want to live again. Her relationship with him helps her to open up and embrace her truth, messy mother and all.
This book is well written and a great coming of age story. In this story we learn that dysfunction is a point of view when it comes to family, and that it is possible to work through issues. There are a lot of quotes from a variety of books which is perfect for a book worm. Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to review this book.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy!

This book took me a long time to get through. I liked the characters enough and I enjoyed the plot, even though it was more fluff than I had expected. The hoarding storyline hit close to home for me and I feel like it kept me reading. There were a lot of beautiful pieces of writing throughout the story and I really could relate to Darcy. I think the issue for me was the slow burn was a little too slow and it made it a bit hard to root for Darcy and Asher when he was already in a relationship. Overall, I have mixed feelings about this book. I enjoyed it, but it won't be on my list of favorites.

I could not get into this one and DNFed pretty early on. I could tell that the writing style and the characters were simply not for me.