I received this ARC via Netgalley and Avon/Harper Voyage, in return for an honest review. This is a lovely, gentle book about changing one’s life and lessons in opening up to those around you. Jess Metcalf is bereft when the grandmother who raised her dies of cancer. Distrusting of love because those who love you also leave you, Jess loses her librarian job and decides to make a complete life change of environment. Circumstances bring her to a tiny village and a funny old, dilapidated house that comes with a non-working phone box on the road. A member of the town council proposes that it be used to house a defibrillator for easy access. While that’s admirable, Jess proposes it become a free lending library, ‘The Littlest Library’, and she will share the wonderful books that she and her grandmother collected. This decision leads to friends, angst, challenges and the realization that home is where you make it and how you make it.
The author does a great job of sharing how Jess came to her distrust of opening herself up to others. The circumstances surrounding a possible romance are well-crafted and the reasons why it might not come to anything are sound. The friendships that develop are fun and varied. I hope the author produces another of similar quality to this gentle oasis!

Very cute, heartwarming book about a girl who needs a major life change and moves into a little cottage in a cute English community. On the property of the cottage is an old fashioned phone booth. Jess must decide what to do with the phone booth and her decision was just what the town needed in order to bring everyone together. I loved this book and it felt very cozy and sweet!

A wonderful story. I couldn't put it down. I loved, loved the storyline, all the characters, the place. This is a story about loss, love, determination, friendship. I want to move to this little town. I highly recommend this read for a quiet, tea and blanket kind of day. Will make you smile.

What a lovely, gentle story. The perfect antidote to the daily news!

Jess loses her job as a librarian, she loses her beloved grandmother, Mimi, and she knows she can't afford to keep the only home she has ever known. A spur-of-the-moment long drive finds herself in a small village, with a cottage that has a for sale sign, and out front, there is a red telephone box, no longer in use. She buys the cottage, sells her house and belongings, packs up all hers and Mimi's books and heads out to live a new adventure. Refurbishing the telephone box into a tiny library, the villagers are gradually drawn in.

Jess makes new friends, and discovers that she truly is a strong person, able to do for herself and others. Alexander's descriptions make one want to travel to Middlemass and see the sights.

This was a heartwarming read. This felt like I was really living there, the writing was just that vivid and engaging

The Littlest Library breathes life into the age-old desire to leave the fast-moving, overwhelming life and find an adorable cottage in the middle of nowhere. The concept and descriptions are picturesque and wholesome. In particular, the image of a telephone booth turned library is vivid and always makes me smile. I love the characters in the village, and how they felt relatable while also specific and fleshed out. The themes of community and found family perfectly feed into the warm, optimistic comfort read.

This being said, I find the pacing a bit jarring. Often, spans of weeks pass in the middle of a chapter, and there lacked a consistency in how time moved. The first half of the book in particular spends a lot of time describing Jess' renovations in great detail, making the second half of the book packed with plot points and almost seem rushed. This being said, the amount of time Jess spends renovating makes the reader understand the scope of how much work she really puts into her new home.

I absolutely love the concept of this story and the imagery it provides, but wish it was a bit shorter. With the slower pace in the first half of the book, I found it difficult to get into, especially since it was so solitary and task based with Jess' renovations, as opposed to character/relationship driven. By the end I enjoyed the journey, but wish I could have gotten into that action sooner.

All in all, The Littlest Library is like a warm hug for book lovers that enjoy daydreaming and romanticizing of countryside charm, human connection, and the power of books. It captures the joy of taking life a little slower and embracing the things that make you happy.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishing team for sharing this story with me!

Unfortunately, this book wasn't for me. I couldn't connect with the writing style and this impacted any enjoyment I had of the story. For lack of better words, this was dull. I was really excited about the concept of the book because it's so wholesome and a book lover's dream but, it fell very flat.

Such a sweet and magical novel, and the cover art is awesome!
Jess is stuck in a life she has always known until her grandmother who raised her dies and she loses her job as a librarian. Deciding to move into a cottage her grandmother once dreamed about, Jess moves into a small seaside town in Devon and begins to help the locals find happiness which brings her the true meaning of love, friendship and joy. It reminded me a bit of The Holiday movie and the red phone booth that becomes the town's library is so neat. Now I want one of my own!

If a book could be a cozy blanket - this was the book!

This was so darn sweet, charming, cute, warm and cozy.

This story hit me just right! It was what I needed after a darker read and I totally recommend this for when you are looking for something lighthearted with the right amount of depth.

What a delightful, heartwarming read! Poppy Alexander is a wonderful author and I highly recommend this book to anyone with a love of reading.

If you are a fan of Alexander's previous work, then you will love this one too! It was so darn cute and I really enjoyed it. This was a great book to read before bed to calm down after a long day. The plot was cute and it was a good sunshine grump romance. I'd recommend it!

BLURB: Jessa Metcalf is content in sage predictable life, still reeling from the passing of her grandmother. So why is it one day, she packs her entire life away and moves to a country village? While there, she learns to love herself and by doing so, let love in.

As mentioned, this book was definitely a warm, feel good pick me up. However, it was heavy on the women’s fiction element with a hint of romance (which I expected going into). This sweet little novel had

📚 Grump/Sunshine vibes
📚 DILF (single dad, but not a widow)
📚 Amazing secondary characters
📚 Librarian heroine

Overall, I thought this book was absolutely charming and I really enjoyed it. If I had to give me one tiny critique is that Aidan’s wishy washy act was a bit much… but because this book was so much more than romance, I could over look it.

Heat Level: 🔥
Release Date: July 19 2022

A lovely book about a small English village and it's inhabitants. Still reeling from the death of her beloved grandmother, Jess losses her job as a librarian. She decides to sell the home they shared and moves to Middlemas, a village she stumbled upon by accident. Using her grandmother's favorite books, Jess sets up a little library in an old red telephone box. Full of heart, friendship, perserverance and a tiny bit of romance, this is a lovely little read.

I received an ARC, of The Littlest Library, by Poppy Alexander. I love books by Poppy Alexander, and this is a good one. Jess is starting over, new place with a red phone booth. I love the characters in this book.

I happened to see an Instagram post of a real UK phonebox library the same day I came across this book. I can’t resist a book about libraries, let alone a phonebox one? I was hooked. The Littlest Library is a sweet and clean romance that’s really more about finding yourself than it is about finding that special someone. Jess Metcalfe moves to an old stone cottage in a small village and the cast of characters she finds there are both kind and supportive. And fun! I’d love to have a glass of wine with them all! The author does a wonderful job setting the scene. Her descriptions of he village, the cottage, the gardens, create a delightfully cozy atmosphere.

A lovely story I love little library’s and this book involving one was just delightful.I sat down started reading and was transported to the village loved the people who came alive.This is the second bookI read by this author and loved both.#netgalley #thelittlelibrary.

this was such a cute light and easy read. i loved the concept of the story and the characters. it kept me engaged and felt like i was on a journey with them. i loved how the phone booth was turned into a library in honor of her grandmother. its just heartwarming all around.

I was delighted by The Littlest Library by Poppy Alexander! This book was fun and frothy! There was community, home decorating and books! What better combo is there? I loved seeing the depth of Jess the main character grow throughout the book right alongside her garden! Not to spoil it but the ending is sweeter than I could have imagined!

This was such a sweet novel about the power that books can have in our lives and the importance that holds. I would recommend this novel to anyone that loved "The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry", and who wants a read that really makes you ponder your own romantic and platonic relationships.

We meet single gal Jess fresh off the heels of her grandmother's passing. She's at a crossroads of life as she sees the road signs for Middlemass. The Littlest Library is a sweet tale with a bit of enemy-to-lovers romance and a lot of great book talk. Jess sells the home she's shared with her grandmother since childhood, but she doesn't leave empty-handed. She's got a little library handed down from Mimi with sweet notes hidden in the pages.

Settling into Middlemass, Jess purchases a home with a peculiar decommissioned phone booth out front. And Jess knows exactly what to do with it. She's got sexy "almost" single dad next door, a host of hilarious village characters, and a fabulous best friend in New Zealand. Overall this book was fun to read and get immersed in the English countryside.

I love books, and I love books about books. There is something romantic about working with books, the stories that hide between the pages just waiting to come out. A library, even if it's smaller than a coat closet, is the perfect backdrop for love. The characters are well developed. Alexander swirls the characters with small details that bring the village to life. However, I didn't like the character development of the love interest Aiden. I thought he was a whiney male who thinks he knows best. I didn't get why Jess was so interested in him besides small connections.

This story was easy to get hooked. It was fun to read and be immersed in the English countryside. Alexander's world is worth exploring, and I hope we see more adventures in Middlemass.