Only a Scrooge with a heart of granite could not warm lo The Littlest Library. Okay, I admit to being a lover of English village life novels, but this one had bonuses of wry humor and vegetation galore. The cute old-fashioned telephone box tells you what the title refers to.

Jess was orphaned at the age of 4 and raised by Mimi, her French/British grandmother. Mimi instilled in Jess a love of books and reading, and Jess, of course, became a librarian. (Did I mention I also love library themed books?)

After Mimi's death, Jess loses her job, sells her grandmother's house and moves to a picturesque village in Devon, rife with ducks, quirky characters and a resident hunk. Jess grew up feeling she couldn't count on happiness because of her sad history so she simply refuses to believe it when happiness comes to her in her new environment.

This novel would have rated 5 stars if the above-mentioned self-defeating psychology had not been repeated ad infinitum, page after page. Okay, small potatoes, but still...Poppy Alexander knows how to spin out this delightful story to keep your interest right up to the de rigeur happy ending.

Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyager and NetGalley!

What a delight of a book. I love little free libraries and the magic they provide. This book reminded me of them.

Jess lives a predictable life. Her grandma dies, and she buys a cottage far away on a whim. There’s an empty phone book in her yard that she transforms into a library. She adjusts the quirky town and its people and maybe discovers some magic herself.

I really loved everyone and everything about this book. What a wonderful read to start off 2022.

They don't get cuter than this -- a library in a red phone box and the small village it brings together. Heartwarming doesn't even begin to cover it.

What a lovely, heartwarming book about new beginnings and the importance of finding and fulfilling your dreams. Thirty something Jess is at a turning point as she loses her job and the grandmother who raised her all at the same time. She sells her childhood home and literally on a whim she buys a run down picturesque cottage in a small village. There all sorts of lovely things happen and a bit of drama as she comes out of her shell and becomes part of the village. One of the books main plots is the power of books in our lives. This was a really nice book to read.

Thank you to Avon and HarperCollins for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Littlest Library by Poppy Alexander is a heartwarming, book-filled novel with a dash of romance. The story revolves around Jess, who has recently lost her grandmother. One day, she moves to the English countryside and finds out that she owns an old red telephone box. She decides to fill it with her late grandmother's cherished books. What is possible with the power of books?

Here is an emotional excerpt from Chapter 1:

"“Not now, but you will, and when you do—when you are ready—you will unpack these boxes and it will be like I am standing there beside you; all our memories, all our precious times together, wrapped up in these books . . . Trust me. You’ll see.”
But Jess did not see. She could not see how nearly thirty precious years spent with Mimi by her side could possibly be contained in the ten smallish boxes, each with Books in Mimi’s distinctive copperplate handwriting on the sealed lids...
Since Mimi died, the ten boxes had remained untouched, crouching in the corner of the newly decluttered sitting room in the little house they had shared for all those years. Jess allowed her grief at the loss to surface only in tiny increments. It was like a caged animal liable to consume her if she gave it too much freedom; and this, her own form of grief management, definitely didn’t include exploring any of the ten boxes—simultaneously her most precious and most distressing possessions."

Overall, The Littlest Library is a lovely novel about the power of books. This is the perfect book to read while you're curled up on the couch and looking for something light-hearted and cozy. One highlight of this book is that I absolutely love books about libraries and books. I did take off 1 star, because there wasn't much action in the plot. However, I'm sure many people can appreciate that about this book. If you're intrigued by the excerpt above, or if you're fan of books about books, I recommend that you check out this book when it comes out in July!