This book blew me away! I was unable to but it down. Perfect, dazzlingly, very well written. The details the author described throughout the book was so amazing. The characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming Truly Amazing and appreciated the whole story. This is going to be a must read for many many readers. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! No spoilers. Beyond amazing I enjoyed this book so very much. The characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming Could not put down nor did I want to. Truly Amazing and appreciated the whole story. This is going to be a must read for many many readers. Maybe even a book club pick.

This was adorable, honestly one of the sweetest books I've read recently.

A really enjoyable read, very well written, with some very heartfelt and moving moments as well as amusing ones.

Such a lovely story celebrating multi-generational friendship.

I loved the relationship between the characters and how their stories tied in with the main storyline of saving the local library.

A really good read which was wonderful from start to finish!

The Library is a delightful story of friendship, family, and community. When Tom, a 17-year-old teenager, and 72-year-old Maggie meet at the library an unlikely friendship develops. Together they help to rally the community to stop the local library from being closed. Along the way, they discover that friendship has no age limit, and sometimes family is by choice. Thanks to author Bella Osborne, publisher Aria & Aries, and NetGalley for providing a copy of this ebook for an honest review.

3.5 stars.

This was a heartwarming story about an unlikely connection between a seventy-two-year-old lady and a sixteen-year-old teenage boy. Maggie and Tom met under an unfortunate (albeit quite comical) circumstance. They continued bumping into each other at the local library where both of them were members. Having suffered great losses in their lives, they found family in each other, while trying to save their local library at the same time.

I really liked Maggie. She was pretty much Yoda. Full of wisdom, funny and very capable in most things. Tom, however, I didn’t quite connect with. I found his thought process and actions to be much younger than a sixteen-year-old. He felt juvenile, more of a middle grader than a high schooler to me. The connection between the two characters was beautiful, though. It was the main thing that tied the story together.

The library itself didn’t really have much involvement until way later in the book. Maggie and Tom’s story building could’ve been set in any place. The library was just a background till the later half of the book. I wish it had featured more prominently from the start, seeing that it was the main reason I picked up the book.

Having said all that, while the details might not have been perfect for me, the overall story still moved me enough that I got misty eyes in the end.

It took me a minute to really get into this story, but once I did, I didn’t want to stop reading. I love Maggie. I love how the characters grow and become the people they truly are. I saw people and situations I could totally relate to. I bet you will too. The story line just kept getting better as I kept reading. I would love to know what happens next with Maggie, Tom, Paul, Christine and Penny. I received this book from NetGalley, but my opinion is my own.

When I first picked this book up I wasn’t sure if it was going to be for me but I ending up really enjoying it. Maggie and Tom were both interesting and complex characters and I liked that it was told from both of their POV’s. My favourite part of any book is usually the romance and this book didn’t have one, which was again another reason why I thought I might not like it. While it didn’t have a romantic focus it did have a lot of focus on friendship and the unlikely friendship that blossomed between Maggie and Tom was really special and lovely to read.

The Library by Bella Osborne is a charming, at times heartbreaking, but ultimately uplifting book about intergenerational friendship. I'd call it a love story too, a love story to libraries and how intergral libraries are to communities.

Although this book purports to be a "save the library" story, many other issues are discussed. When teenage Tom and senior citizen Maggie meet at the small local library, they do not expect their lives to intertwine as they do. Themes addressed include alcoholism, bullying, freedom of speech, and generational understanding. The story alternates between the two different viewpoints of Maggie and Tom.

I liked Maggie as a strong character, who survived through many heartaches and disappointments in life. She was willing to help others and showed a caring spirit. Tom had some redeeming characteristics, although he was a whiner and judgmental of adults. Tom had a lot of growing up to do. I wish the book had stuck to a lighter "save the library" theme instead of going off into so many darker tangents; maybe two different books could be written here, as the two themes really did not have a lot to do with each other.

I received this novel from the publisher and from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

As a big reader and user of libraries, this book called out to me. I was worried it might be a little too saccharine, but it wasn’t.
Maggie is a 72 year old widow who comes to the library for a weekly book club. She also still manages her small farm of sheep and chickens. Tom is 16 years old. His mom is dead and his dad is an alcoholic. The library becomes a sanctuary for him on the weekends. When the council decides to close the library, their unlikely friendship really blossoms over a united cause.
The chapters alternate between Tom’s and Maggie’s POVs. Both characters felt fully realized and I was equally invested in both. Osborne does a great job of portraying Tom as a boy verging on manhood but not there yet. All of their issues (loneliness, alcoholism, money problems, grief and trust issues ) are handled sensitively and realistically. Flip side, Tom’s introduction to farming provided some comic relief.
This was a lovely, heartwarming story about the families we make and not being afraid to rely on others.
My thanks to Netgalley and Aria&Aries for an advance copy of this book.

Quite possibly my favourite book of the year so far!

When I saw this book I knew I had to read it... and it did not disappoint!

The Library will have you wanting to visit your local library at the very next opportunity.

I liked how the topic of alcoholism was covered and it was refreshing to have a different, varied range of cast from the usual types of characters and the relationships between them. It was nice to see different age groups connecting in positive ways.

The Library made me laugh, it made me emotional... this book ticked all the boxes!

This was a completely excellent read and i quite unexpectedly loved it. upon reading the synopsis i wasn’t sure if it would be for me but it really was. I enjoyed the characters and the writing style and I found it so easy to just sit for hours and read.

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Isn’t it the best when you stumble upon something wonderful? That’s how I felt about The Library. I will admit, I wanted to read this book because libraries and books on the cover; however, I was not prepared for how lovely this story was and how much it made me feel.

This book was about Tom, who had been complacent blending into the background. Following the death of his mother, his father became an alcoholic, and Tom was sort of left to care for himself. His home life was rather heartbreaking and grim, and Tom seemed a bit lost, even if he would not admit it.

A trip to the library made a world of difference for him. There, an unlikely friendship formed between him and Maggie. Maggie was much, much older than Tom, a widowed hippie who lived on a farm. Let me tell you, there is nothing I love more than an unlikely friendship, and this one, was spectacular. You might think it was one-sided with Maggie stepping in to offer care and support to Tom, but it wasn’t. He made Maggie’s life better too, and oh, my heart! Their relationship was really a thing of beauty.

This book was about friendship, but also about forgiveness. Tom’s father had sunk deeper and deeper into his alcoholism, and Tom struggled with that and his emotions regarding his father. Osborne did a great job exploring those issues and the fragile bond between father and son, as well as dealing with the grief Tom carried associated with his mother. This was a source of some very heartbreaking and heartwarming moments for me. Maggie carried some baggage from her past that she needed to work through as well. Osborne was slow to reveal her full story, and it was sad and surprising, but the results were extremely satisfying.

How wonderful that fate brought these two together at their local library just when they both needed someone most. This was an absolutely lovely and feel-good story that filled me with joy.

I had great expectations for this book from the blurb and the setting but it didn't quite blow me away as I had hoped.
That said it was still an enjoyable read but I was expecting some wow moments and they didn't come through.
It is a lovely tale of friendship and I loved the fact it was told from both Tom and Maggie's POV's.
The two of them make an unlikely duo but that does set the book apart from others, there were a few parts of the plot that I didn't particularly enjoy but also a few heart wrenching moments that gave it back an edge,.
Overall an enjoyable read and fabulous setting.

This is a delightful novel about an intergenerational friendship between two lonely people. Warm and humorous it also tackles some big issues like grief and loss, social isolation and alcoholism.

Tom is a sixteen year old and thinks of himself as invisible and happy to blend into the background. The only friends he has are the ones he plays X-Box games with. He fancies a girl in his classes, Farah, but thinks she's too pretty and popular to ever notice him and anyway the school bully has told him what will happen to him if he so much as looks at her. Tom's Mum died when he was eight and since then it's just been him and his Dad, who drinks too much and wants Tom to leave school for a job at the dog food factory now that he's sixteen, whereas Tom has his sights set on going to University.

When Tom's X-Box is broken, he finds himself at a loose end at the weekend and heads off to the library, a favourite place his Mum would take him to as a little boy, where he hopes he might see Farah there. Instead he ends up borrowing a swag of romance novels and helps Maggie a seventy two year old woman after she's tackled by a bag snatcher. A stalwart of the library's bookclub, Maggie has lived alone on a small farm since her husband died, raising sheep and growing vegetables. Over the weeks Tom and Maggie become good friends and when Tom's life starts to come off the rails, she provides a welcome safety net for him. With the library facing closure by the council in a few weeks, Maggie and Tom also join forces to rally the village to put up a fight to keep it open.

What is so delightful about Tom and Maggie is the way they not only bring out the best in each other but support each other through difficult times. Tom needs someone to care and nurture him and help him deal with his Dad while Maggie needs company and the joy of having a boy around, experiencing the delights of a farm for the first time. It was also lovely to see Tom open himself to learning new things, like yoga and discovering the joy of reading, to the point of becoming confident in talking about books with Maggie and others.

This book overall was just okay, of course I enjoyed the library setting.

The character dynamic was wholesome but whilst having some conflict involved which I found real & flushed out the characters more.

Whilst I enjoyed my time reading it I wasn’t blown anyway by it.

A story of an unlikely friendship, that will lift and inspire you with an important message.
I could not have loved this book more. The relationship that grows between Maggie and Tom through their struggles is absolutely delightful to follow. The way they get each other through and learn so much from each other was an absolute joy to read.The characters are so special and well written they leap from the pages. It was told from the perspectives of the main characters, giving you the reader, a window into their thoughts and internal monologues that showed their vulnerability and feelings and therefore giving the story an incredible depth and moving you in a way that only a really good book can.
I read late into the night as I just couldn’t put this down. Maggie’s farm sounded like the perfect place to be. I could feel the warmth and care that was poured into helping Tom.
The book also addressed issues with alcohol addiction and takes a realistic look at how people struggle, manage and then even thrive. It made it feel real and I was willing these characters to come together.
I was really sad to finish this as I just adored the setting, the library, the quirky characters, the very real life worries and am delighted I was lucky enough to receive a copy of this. I will follow Bella Osborne and can’t wait to read more wonderful stories in the future.
Thank you to Netgalley and Aria and Aries for the ARC, it really was an absolute treat!

Ok, let me tell admit to something first... I have a HUGE expectation of this book. The title - library, the description - books and friendship, cover - bookish vibes, of course, and the author who I know quite well. So what could go wrong?

That was... ok. Just ok. It does not break my heart, it does not make me laugh out a laugh. It was nice to read it but I moved forward and just forgot about it. Nothing really holds me there and makes this book special in any way.

Shame, cause it has great potential, it is well-written, but something is missing. Something that would keep me waiting for more.

This time, it is no love, no chemistry between me and this book. Who knows, maybe next ones? ;)

What a feel-good story! Just reading the title of this book drew me in. So many people can relate to having a connection to a library or having some fun or interesting tale about visiting one. When I go on vacations, I do my best to try to find libraries and book shops to stop at just to see all the different ways people show love for literature and find new recommendations.

This story will make you smile and also pull at your heartstrings. When people find a partner, one of the first questions asked of them as a couple usually is: how did you meet? But what about your best friend? Do you ever take time to look back and try to determine that moment you met your best friend or the moment you knew you had found a kindred spirit? That’s what this story is all about.

The chapters flip back and forth between the elder Maggie and the teenager Tom. It’s interesting to see both points of view as anyone’s experiences can be skewed to be a bit one-sided; this way you get a full picture and find empathy towards each character. It really does put you in the mindset of a teenager and that of someone older and wiser who has had time to better understand herself and others (which helps her to help him).

I read this at a solid pace, never feeling like I needed to take a break or slow down; I became very invested in how their friendship evolved. What was also lovely was how they showcased how many good things happen in libraries. Most people tend to identify them mainly with book loans, but they are so much more tied to the community than people may be aware of.

It starts out as seeming to be two unlikely people becoming friends, but it just goes to show that, as they say: you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Your willingness to get to know new people can really open up your life to new worlds (whether real or fictional), new emotions and new bonds.

Thank you to Aria, the author and NetGalley for this eARC of the novel!

The title of this book drew me in first and even though I wasn't entirely sure it was something I'd like I thought I'd try it, and I'm so glad I did. It was such a delightful read about a 16 year teenager, Tom, and a feisty 70-something lady, Maggie, who became friends through their local library and helped each other out.

Tom's mother died when he was younger, so it's just him and his Dad now, but his Dad is struggling a lot with finances and life in general, drinking all the time, and not looking after his son at all, the house is a mess and both father and son are fighting all the time, so it's a really unhappy home life for Tom who struggles along on his own most of the time as his Dad works nights, he doesn't like the way his Dad has become, even though he loves him.

Maggie lives on her own on a farm, but daily life on the farm is getting harder for her as she gets older, so meeting Tom is a godsend for both of them really. Maggie helps Tom navigate his relationship with his father, feeds him a lot of the time (as there's hardly any food in his house), and gently steers him in the right direction, as he's got a good head on his shoulders, but just needs a bit of encouragement as he's quite shy. Tom in turn helps Maggie around the farm a bit and finds he quite likes it, even though he's not so sure of it initially. Their relationship was like grandson and grandmother, something they both really needed in their lives, even if they didn't realise it.

Then their local library, where they meet on a weekly basis, comes under threat of closure and the local book club who use it, start a campaign to keep it open, with Maggie as the ringleader and Tom and others helping out. But then a spanner is thrown in the works when Tom finds out something about Maggie that he doesn't like, their relationship falls apart, and it takes them both a little while to work through things.

This book had two such completely different perspectives from both Tom and Maggie but it really worked, I loved both their characters, and there was a really lovely ending. One of my favourite reads.