Exceptionally cute small-town romance that showcases the hidden power of books.

Thank you, NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager, for the opportunity to read an advance reading copy.

The Littlest Library by Poppy Alexander

Jess Metcalf is perfectly happy with her quiet, predictable life - it's just the way she likes it. But when her beloved grandmother passes away and she loses her job at the local library, her life is turned upside-down.

Packing up her grandmother's books, she moves to a tiny cottage in a charming country village. To her surprise, Jess finds herself the owner of an old red telephone box, too - and she soon turns it into the littlest library around!

It's not long before the books are borrowed and begin to work their magic - somehow, they seem to be bringing the villagers together once more...


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Thank you NetGalley and Orion Books for an ARC of The Littlest Library! This book felt like a warm hug. One of my favorite book tropes is communities coming together around books. It feels meta to me and I absolutely love it. This book was just that. I also loved and connected so much to Jess’ grieving process of losing her Grandma as I deal with my own grief and loss over the loss of my Grandpa. This book could be slow at times, but overall, it was a happy little read.

4⭐️

3.5
A love letter to how books bring us together. This is a cozy story about our protagonist starting a new life in a small charming community. It's full of beautiful descriptions. It moves at a slow pace but was a comforting read.
It was a good book to read when I wanted to relax. I just wish the romance was a bit more developed.
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

📚The Littlest Library 📚

“The right book can be the cure for everything from fear to loneliness.”

This book was certainly a balm to my heart. A charming story about Jess, who moves to a new village to start over after recovering from the loss of her grandmother. In her new village, she starts “The Littlest Library” from the red phone booth in her front garden where her grandmother’s book collection becomes a cornerstone of the community, bringing people together, helping them find their way, and helping Jess find herself and love along the way.

Check this out if you are looking for:
📚 a heartwarming story about the power of community, and leaning into joy & gratitude
📚 a glimpse into life in the English countryside
📚 grumpy / sunshine trope
📚 single dad male lead
📚a mischievous pair of kittens
📚a tale to honor that, “Reading will never go out of fashion”

Thanks NetGalley for this arc !

What brought me in was the telephone booth!
It’s so cute. Loved it ! Jess’s character evolves throughout the book. It’s wonderful to read. I really enjoyed the writing she describes it so well ! I would recommend this book!

So this was cute.
I read it all in one sitting, even though it meanders a bit (ha, thats a joke, cause well if you read it, you'll get it).
Imagine if Stars Hollow was in the UK. I liked how we explored grief, how to build community, what shouldn't be done in home buying, and general day to day things that happen in small towns that keep things running. The author does a good job of explaining the area and the decor of the house, so you can feel a little english cottage-y-ness in your mind.

All of the characters were pretty fleshed out, with the exception of Lucie... that will continue to boggle me, but if you consider that she is an entitled white lady who is just doing what she wants, it becomes less boggling. Maisie was well rounded for a kid, especially one going through house things. I felt Becky's parenting struggles in my soul. Diana and Mungo were also fab. I did pull back a little when they were dicussing Mungo's life situation because he is a gay man, and they were discussing his history and such, and it felt a little too nosy, but you can also chock that too small town things. I just would have preferred to here his history from him, instead of through Jess and Diana. Paddy was a delight. And as for Jess and Aidan... I would have liked more. This book was more a romance of her falling in love with her small town and the people, and less about the relationship with her hot neighbor. Which is an expectation thing, so adjust yours accordingly.

Overall, just a good little read.

For readers who like The bookshop on the corner series, The Littlest Library is the story of a grieving librarian, who loses both her grandmother and her job. She lucks into a quaint cottage with a red phone box out front, which "accidentally" becomes her new library. While the story was cute and was full of new friendships and romances, it dealt a lot with the grief of the main character. A bit slow moving and a whirlwind wrapped up ending made it a little hard to get into, but a solid readalike for readers looking for a British cozy romance.

Everything about this book called out to me. A cozy chick-lit in a small British village with a tiny library in an old red telephone booth!? Gimme it. And it definitely delivered on most of that. It's a very calm, very cozy, very gentle story. The small village setting is wonderful, and the tiny library in the telephone booth was an excellent focus point of the story.

BUT, I was let down a bit by the main character and by the romance, both of which I found a little lacking. I'm not sure if the main character was intentionally written to be bland so that readers could picture themselves in the story instead, but I do feel like she needed a bit more personality that wasn't tied to her grief. And the romance, while it wasn't the focus of the story, still left a lot to be desired. Not a lot of spark or heat between the MC and the love interest.

BUT, if you're not looking for something super romantic and maybe a story where you can imagine yourself as the lead character, then this is the right choice for you. If you like stories that are very calm and have low stakes (and there is nothing wrong with a story with low stakes--sometimes you just need something chill), then this is also the right choice for you.

<i>Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the e-ARC</i>

As a librarian, I enjoyed this book. I like how she talks about how little things in books can help change lives. I found the overall story enjoyable. I understand her fear of being able to find a job and feeling like you can do what is being asked of you. I did enjoy the side romance and the interaction she had with the other characters in the village that helped bring her out of her shell. I would love to read more by this author.

This book is so cute and made me want to build a little library and go to England. I fell in love with this one. It is an excellent book.

The Littlest Library had me at the cover and the title! The US cover, done by the same illustrator who created Ideal Bookshelf, is a full color wonder! It makes me long to have one in my front yard!

The Littlest Library is a lovely story about love, loss, finding yourself, and creating community. All set in an English cottage with lush gardens and a phone booth turned littlest library.

After the loss of her beloved Mimi, with no other family and the loss of her job, Jess finds a house in a small village she just can't resist buying. Both Jess and the cottage slowly mend throughout the book, and she finds friends (and maybe love) where she least expected (both human and animal).

This book creates a warm, cozy feeling that makes you wish you could live in this small community that comes together around the awkward newcomer who takes a leap of faith and shares her beloved books with them.

Thank you to NetGalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

Jess has a lot of changes to make. Her dear Mimi has passed, leaving her their family home, and she's lost her librarian job as her beloved local library was closed.
Fate steps in and leads her to Middlemass and Ivy Cottage.
I was immediately entranced by this little village and all it's inhabitants. And loved reading as Jess became a part of it.

The Littlest Library by Poppy Alexander is a treasure of a story!

Jess is dealing with the loss of Mimi, the woman who raised her. Her life stalls, then when she is trying to get away and think, her car stalls, and she happens on the perfect cottage. Ivy Cottage needs work, it needs love, it needs Jess, and it comes with a red telephone booth, and a colony of bats. Village hijinks ensue, the bats have to stay, and the red telephone booth becomes the Littlest Library. Jess uses her training as a librarian to match people to books, to match people to each other, and to match people to solutions. She finds herself in Middlemass and in Ivy Cottage.

All of the secondary characters in the story are wonderfully full of life. They could each have their own book! The village characters are so wonderful and I wanted to befriend them all! Well, except for April, Blondie, and Lucie. They just seem like unhappy people who want others to be unhappy too. But every story needs some conflict, or we would be bored.

Ivy Cottage is such a dream! I was swooning over the things Jess found in the garden. Veggies, flowers, an orchard, berries, and a meadow! And I really want her recipe for Rhubarb Jam.

I received an advance review copy for free from NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This is such a lovely book - perfect for a rainy day. Heart-warming doesn't even begin to cover it. As an avid lover of books and stories, this captivating story is perfect for all readers out there.

Poppy Alexander does a great job capturing the charm of England, which is really nice as well!

This story follows main character Jess turns a little phone box into the littlest library in England - and the magic of sharing stories get a life of its own. As the book continues on, Jess finds a new version of herself and has to decide if she's brave enough to start over in the country side village she is now the owner of.

Thank you for the early look at this book! Absolutely love it <3

My review in failed haiku mode -
I loved this novel
This heartwarming story was
so cozy and sweet.

In all seriousness though, this novel was charming and a wonderful read. It's a definite recommendation from me.

Cute, quick, cozy, romance book. The picturesque countryside of England lends to the charm of the book.

This is a perfect story that reinforces how much I dream of moving to the English countryside, where I can garden and read all year long. After losing her grandmother and her job in quick succession, Jess takes a leap of faith and moves to a cottage in a small village. Turns out, an old phone booth also lives on her property, and it becomes a place that brings the town together. Along the way, Jess learns more about herself than she ever could have in her previous life, and creates every bibliophile’s dream life.

I adore the setting and the characters. Jess is so likable, and as somewhat of an introvert, I really found her to be a character that resonated with me. The reason I gave this 4⭐️ instead of 5⭐️ was because she came across as a pushover throughout the book (especially when it came to Aiden!!). That said, she shows a lot of personal growth throughout, and I would have loved more of an emphasis on that. All in, solid read.

Would recommend if you like: cozy fiction, English countrysides, books, libraries, village drama (of the generally harmless busybody kind), and the thought of moving to a delightful village.

What a wonderful story! I had never read anything from this author, but I really enjoyed reading this one. I have been to England once and could completely picture the red telephone box on the hill in the countryside. With a touch of romance and a plot of restoration, it's a highly recommended read.

This is exactly the sort of book I needed! I love books that feel like a warm hug and that's exactly what this book with it's adorable phone box library, grumpy neighbor, lovely townspeople, and solvable problems feel like. There was just enough angst in the form of mild custody battles and grieving a beloved grandparent to give this book weight without making it any less lovely to read. More of this!

When we meet Jess in The Littlest Library we learn that her beloved grandmother that she lived with has passed away and she lost her job at the library. Her life prior to these two events happening was stable and predictable. After exiting off of an impromptu drive up the motorway, she stumbles across an open house and encounters a very grumpy neighbour. Impulsively she puts in an offer on the home and readies her house to be sold. Upon hearing she is the new owner of a precious bungalow and decommissioned telephone box Jess makes the move to not only change her location but her future as well. Poppy Alexander writes a beautiful story of a young lady who grows into her own skin with heart warming characters.