I knew that grief would be a big theme in this book with the heroine having just lost her grandmother, so I put it off having just lost my own grandfather. I finally decided to pick it up and I was pleasantly surprised by the way Jess’ grief was dealt with in the book as more of a celebration of her memories with her grandmother and everything she’d taught her, along with an acknowledgement that tears are okay sometimes too. What disappointed me was the lack of romance. This was definitely more of a women’s fiction type story with the focus on Jess’ growth and learning to take risks, which definitely did hit home for me as I’m more of a security focused person myself. There was a lot of ‘will they/won’t they energy between Aidan and Jess and I enjoyed that, but it was left feeling unfinished in the end. I did thoroughly enjoy the supporting characters and the village atmosphere of this book had me longing to visit Devonshire. Overall this was a heartwarming story with a good approach to dealing with grief, but I wanted more romance and a more definitive, secure-feeling HEA.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book was fine. The plot was cute, but I really didn’t connect with any of the characters and the love relationship was awkward and didn’t make sense to me. And the writing was stilted at times, written weirdly (and that’s not because it was British English).

This was such a great feel good story. Being a librarian, I'm a sucker for stories that involve libraries and/or librarians. I loved this!

This book was wonderful. I love the small town setting, the care with which the character chose books for the library, and "reading" her community members for what they might be interested in. I did like the main characters' relationship and wished the book was longer, or that there was more in this world.

BOOK REVIEW

BOOK: The Littlest Library
AUTHOR: Poppy Alexander
FORMAT: eBook
RATING: DNF (did not finish)

MY THOUGHTS

I started this book and found that I had a lot of difficulty connecting to the story. I did not finish it, not for lack of quality of the book but more so that I felt it was a “right book wrong time” situation where I wasn’t in the right mindset for this one at this time! Hopefully will be picking it back up in the future!

This was the cutest, cozy romance! Great for us book lovers! Jess inherits a cottage and... a red phone booth. Isn't that the best? She turns it into a tiny library with varied reactions. She also gets a great prospective neighbor! Loved this story and all the characters!

Super cute and well done book. Definitely a great pool or beach read. It keeps you entertained the whole way through.

What a tender book about loss, and newfound peace.

Jess picks up her life and goes to find a new one in this lovely ode to books.

What a great way to spend a lazy Sunday with the best cup of tea.

Thank you to the publisher for the gifted ecopy, all thoughts are my own.

Thank you for the gifted book.

Super cute read, and about libraries! LITTLE Libraries! I love how she turned the phone booth into a library for the community. I recently lost my grandmother and this book gave me so many emotions. I want to move here and live in this sweet community!

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC for an exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this story, a good read.

I loved the sound of this story and the cover is absolutely amazing, but I just could not get into the story sadly. I am sorry!

Super cute and emotional and heartwarming! Anything to do with books and I’m down! Definitely one I’ll be rereading!

The Littlest Library by Poppy Alexander

I loved this quirky quick read about one of my favorite places - libraries! Jess's world is turned upside-down when her beloved grandma passes away and leaves her with an extensive book collection... and then she loses her job as a librarian. Jess rallies and moves herself to a small English village and decides to use her grandmother's books to create a library out of an old English phone book. She simultaneously brings the community together and finds love with the handsome and grumpy neighbor. The story is heartwarming, adorable, brave, and a total pleasure.

The Littlest Library is a sweet story about community, friendship and the power of books and reading. I loved the idea of a little library in an abandoned phone box. I enjoyed reading the love story but I wish it was more central to the book. There seemed to be almost too many subplots woven into the story, I wish there were a few less. The pace of this book was also way too slow for me so it was hard to get through. The ending felt rushed and just resolved without enough happening. Overall it was a really nice read but it was pretty predictable.

The Littlest Library, by Poppy Alexander, follows Jess Metcalf, whose predictable life is turned upside-down when her grandmother dies and she loses her librarian job. She decides to take the plunge and move to a rundown cottage in the countryside, using her grandmother's old books to start a little lending library in an old phone box on her new property. As she begins to get to know her neighbors and see the effects that her books have on village life, Jess must begin to look to her own future and consider what she wants for herself.

I absolutely adored this book. It's so cozy—it feels like being wrapped in a warm blanket while drinking a steaming cup of tea. It's a love letter to books, but it's also the cottagecore romance that we all need and has such an eclectic cast of characters that you can't help but fall in love with the life of the town of Middlemass.

Jess is such a relatable protagonist. She's at a crossroads in her life, and, even as she integrates herself into this new community, is grappling with the fact that there aren't any job opportunities in the village, and she cannot survive on her savings forever. Caught between practicality and wanting to hold onto the happiness that she has found in Middlemass, Jess's struggles feel real and relevant. I also just always love reading about characters who love books; her passion for reading is infused in every element of her character, and I just know that all sorts of bookworms will love her.

The romance is also cute, but doesn't overwhelm the rest of the book; far from being the focus of the book, it simply enhances the rest of the plot, which I appreciated. Aidan (the love interest), and his daughter were some of my favorite characters in the book, and I absolutely loved how Jess grows closer to them over the course of the story.

The rest of the characters are amazing as well, though discussing all of them would take far too much space for this review. They're eclectic and distinct and there wasn't a single one of the subplots that I wasn't invested in. Far from being simply a story about Jess, the book rather expands to encompass its wide cast of characters.

The plot is fairly slow-paced, but it didn't pain me in the way that it normally would.. Due to the coziness and atmosphere of the book, the languid nature of the story simply felt like an extension of the overall mood. It's a peaceful and comforting reading experience, and I wouldn't want it to be any faster-paced than it is.

I can't recommend this book enough for anybody who loves books about books. This story of a tiny phone box library will absolutely capture your heart. I'm giving it 4.5/5 stars.

This wasn't hugely groundbreaking, earth shattering or omg amazing. Pretty passable, there are significantly better things to read right now

This was cute! I wouldn’t necessarily call it a romance because the romance part of the plot is very secondary (not a bad thing), but a very sweet story nonetheless.

This is very much a story about starting over and finding community in a new place, which is something I really enjoyed. I loved seeing how the little phone box library effected the community. However, sometimes the way that the author was trying to tie events back to the library was a bit of a stretch.

Overall, I recommend!

received anE-ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars

This was fun, lighthearted, and crazy fluffy. It's mostly about Jess finding a way to survive without the woman who raised her, and it's really pretty melancholy, but primarily it's genuine and sweet. Also it's wild British which has been positively lovely; I've missed it there, and this allowed me to take a little book vacation. There was just so much cozy-ness! Constantly! I'm more than a little tempted to move to a tiny little town somewhere (preferably in the UK lol) and buy a tiny house, and just exist for the rest of my life. *sigh*

The only things I object to in this story are the recurring comments about libraries dying out. As a librarian I know that is absolutely untrue! They may be different than they were in the early days, but they're still here, and they're thriving! Yes, there's a perennial struggle for funding and important people tend to underestimate the library (which can be dangerous for it), but they're in no way dying out. Maybe this is more of a problem in the UK and I'm not aware of it? That would be a shame, because my back-up career plan was to library over there instead of over here 🙃 Overall enjoyed this book, very sweet!

‘The Littlest Library’ by Poppy Alexander was a truly heartwarming read full of community, friendship, grief, love, a sweet romance, beautiful and quaint settings, and books. It had me on an emotional roller coaster, but it was also so cozy, and I adored every moment. Definitely recommend!

I loved the setting, The writing. The Plot. I loved it all. I read this one so fast could not put it down. Highly recommend