I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was an engaging read! I enjoyed the plot and would read it again.

The Page Turner by Viola Shipman,
The two main characters stood out in very different ways for me. Emma for some reason was unlikeable for me she was a little irritating, although this could be on purpose. Gigi was my favorite character in the book. I was having trouble with the pace of this book. I really wanted to love it as I've enjoyed other novels by this author. This was a miss for me even though the storyline was solid.
Thank you Netgalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this arc.

Emma Page grew up in a family that owns a small publishing house. She is the only member of her family who likes genre fiction; she later went on to write a romance novel. She wants to publish but also wants to protect her family's reputation.

I wanted to read this novel because I enjoy Viola Shipman books. I loved the Lake Michigan setting. The idea of conflict based on literature was interesting.. I especially loved Emma's memories of her grandmother.

This is an enjoyable read, recommended for fans of cozy women's fiction.

Emma just wants to be a romance author, escaping to her family’s home in Michigan to write. The problem is that she’s expected to live up to her family’s legacy of her parents’ The Mighty Pages and their quest for vanity and status…while dealing with an influencer/publisher with a secret grudge against her family. While at her late grandmother’s cottage, she discovers tons of romance stories and a secret about her family that could make or break their future in the writing world.
This was a fun read and made me nostalgic for Michigan. I sometimes struggled with the family & sister (which was likely the point!) and some of the resolutions felt too quick or unrealistic, but otherwise really enjoyed the premise of the story.
Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Viola Shipman is a new author for me. I am so glad I found her. The Page Turner gives us a behind the scenes look at what all goes on behind the scenes and how a book truly comes to life. A book about books, perfection. We get a front row view of how a book comes to life ; the agents, publicists, authors, and publishers. They all have one goal: to create a great story. The world of reading is now heavily influenced by social media, Bookstagramers, Goodreads, Reese Witherspoon, Read with Jenna and Oprah all have book clubs. Influencers have really changed the dynamics of reading. The Mighty Page is where the story starts. The main characters are Marcus Flare, Gigi, Phillip, Piper, Jess, and Emma Page. Emma, a recent graduate of the University of Michigan, comes from a family in the literary world, her parents run a small press company, specializing in literary fiction. Emma's sister Jess, an influencer who all work together. Emma shared a special bond with her grandmother Gigi and holds fond memories of Gigi’s charming summer cottage on Lake Michigan, which holds unexpected secrets. When Emma’s parents enter a partnership with Marcus, a successful but shady author, Emma and her sister find out that Marcus had a connection to Gigi and a powerful motive that could destroy everything they love. Determined to protect their family's legacy and get Emma’s novel published, the sisters take matters into their own hands. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Emma Page has just graduated from Michigan with a degree in literature - her parents are run their own "vanity press," "The Mighty Pages," and her sister, Jess is a book-tok influencer. Emma seems to be the "Black Sheep" of the family, not worried about making money, but she is worried about publishing a book that she wrote while a student at Michigan. Emma desperately misses her grandmother, Gigi, who owned a house on Lake Michigan and died while Emma was a student. Emma felt closest to Gigi, who shared the love of literature with Emma.

Enter Marcus Flare, a popular writer who is entering into a collaboration with Emma's parents in a "vanity press" imprint, "Books with Flare." Emma doesn't trust Marcus, who seems to only want the collaboration with her parents to ruin them. How will Emma protect her parents when no one will believe that Marcus is up to no good?

I enjoyed this book - special thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for the Advance Reader Copy of this title. "The Page Turner" is available now.

The Page Turner is a unique twist on the world of literature with a twist of feminism thrown in. However, a "page turner" it certainly was not. While the overarching theme of family and loyalty is positive, the plot is often lost through a slow, somewhat muddy journey through the main character's heroic quest of self actualization. While avoiding spoilers, the story has an ending that is simply too tidy and holds no true life lessons. I wish there was more struggle or more of a learning journey, but the characters fell flat with minimal growth. It was not a total miss for a novel, but it missed the mark for me.

Part rant about the publishing industry, part heart warming family drama. I’ve read Viola Shipman’s entire backlist, and typically adore Shipman’s tales. In this particular novel, Shipman prioritizes a critique of the publishing industry over plot and character development in the first quarter or so of content, While informative and at times interesting, this choice did not work well for me or, from my vantage point, serve the story well. The book eventually morphs into a more cohesive and entertaining story, more in line with Shipman’s talented works. I was glad I continued to read, and enjoyed the story that followed. Unfortunately, this wasn’t my favorite Shipman novel, however.

Two and a half stars, rounded up due to the apparent personal nature of the opening rants and rages and the ode to books relayed in the subsequent chapters.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Graydon House for the privilege of a complimentary ARC. Opinions are my own.

This is only the second Shipman book I have read, but I have so many on my TBR - I’m excited to get to them! This one was charming - great characters and a story that certainly kept me turning the pages. I withheld one star as there were some parts where the plot got a little fuzzy and I struggled a bit with what was going on, but it always came back around. Certainly worth the read!

I just could not get into this one. The cover led me to believe it would be a little more cutsey but it was a little more serious and based around publishing. I liked the story that Emma was writing more than the overall book.

This was a lovely book about books and the publishing industry. I loved how it was a little bit mystery, a little bit of a heist, but mostly it was about family and realizing the power of books and rediscovering your direction in life.

I expected to love this one a lot more than I did since books about books are usually right up my alley, but this one just ended up being a middle of the road read for me. The drama surrounding Emma and her family was pretty engaging overall, especially the idea that Emma was kind of a black sheep in their elitist literary family, just like her grandmother before her, and that she wrote a book she was sure they would turn their noses up at.

I think my biggest issues revolved around the plot being somewhat slow moving and that I didn't find many of the characters especially likeable. My favorite character actually ended up being a sassy literary agent that Emma shows her book to partway through the story.

Viola Shipman has done it again. The Page Turner is a heartfelt tribute to the women who guide and lift us up throughout our lives. It is a clever story that uncovers long buried family secrets with the backdrops of Lake Michigan and the cutthroat publishing world.

I highly recommend any novel by this fabulous writer and this latest release is no exception.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book early. #thepageturner #violashipman

While this wasn't my favorite of this author's work, I still enjoyed the story. Written about a small town in my homestate, it's always fun to read about locations I know and have visited. I liked reading about the close relationship Emma had with her grandmother, especially with how horrible and snobbish the rest of her family are. It took me a while to get into this one but things started to pick up after the halfway point and I did enjoy the satisfying ending although I had guessed it fairly early on.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Started to read the story and I kept thinking I am not liking the start of this story and I hope it gets better. Halfway through is when the story really starts getting interesting and nostalgic. Ended up really enjoying the story.

This was an okay read! Not my favorite but maybe also not the intended audience. Would check it out !!

Really tried to get into this one and eventually accepted this one just isn't for me. I thought this was going to be a RomCom type book and it wasn't.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. This was not at all what I was expecting. From the cover and the description, I was led to believe it would be a romance but it's not. I enjoyed it, mostly because it took me out of my comfort zone. It was alright in the end.

A wonderful read!
This novel drew me in from the very first page and kept me hooked until the end. The characters were vibrant and relatable, the writing was engaging, and the story had just the right balance of heart and humor. Highly recommend!
Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

Meh… this took me over a month to read, if that tells you anything. Very odd opening with a young man pretending to be Julie Andrews from The sound of music . I have zero clue what this had to do with our story….
We follow Emma a new graduate as she meanders her life just after college , this goes on way too long….like 75% of the book…. Het family’s Book Business is the focus and will they ir won’t they survive…Finally we get to the family secret which doesn’t seem like such a big deal…
The author just seemed to want to go on and on and on about the Bechdel test. We get it, good to have women as focus and this definitely passed the test, but we had to hear it repeatedly in case we were too dense to understand!?
Just not a fan of those book.
Thanks Net Galley for the copy.