Those who enjoy stories imbibed with magic realism are going to love the fairytale aspects of this charming, well-written book with its uplifting message and sweet romance.

I particularly liked the premise of the story: a bookshop that heals through books that mirror the turmoil in the character’s own lives. The linking of well-known and well-chosen books to the three disparate main characters was skilfully and tenderly executed and brought perfect resolution.

I also loved the premise of getting lost in a book: to inhabit the world created by the author so completely that your own life gets suspended while you take on that character’s struggle. By immersing yourself so deeply, by seeing them through their jeopardy and any injustice they face, their perils become your perils and their world, your world, so that when you finish the book your own demons seem surmountable and a way forward seems clearer. This was very skilfully executed.

I think it’s important to add that in the description on the back cover there is no mention that the genre is magical realism which requires the reader to suspend belief. I believe this should be made clearer.

My thanks to NetGalley and One More Chapter for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

What a strange novel! Three people each tell their own troubled stories in the magical world of the Midnight Bookshop. It is so far removed from reality, there is nothing tangible to cling onto. Each find their lives can improve through a close bond forged from their escapades to the bookshop. A book for dreamers, but not one for me - but other readers may enjoy it.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers HarperCollins for this ARC.

I will admit I stopped reading this during chapter three because I was bored. The story didn’t hook me in like I hoped it would.

A lovely story told from three perspectives. These three are brought together by all responding to a flyer for The Midnight Library. The seek it out and in doing so become a tight group and begin to find a way to happiness in their unique situations through the magic of the bookshop and Faye, it's keeper. Really lovely.

This book started for me as just another easy fluffy read to devour whilst on a sunbed with a cocktail in hand. However it soon became much much more.

To appreciate the book fully you have to leave any preconceived ideas at the first page and open up you mind to a magical world.

Jo, Adelaine and Kye are all struggling for one reason or another in their fairly mundane lives without being able to see a future. From a brief meeting at a food bank and a mysterious leaflet about the Midnight Bookshop, little do they know that their lives are about to change.

There is much talk in the book about escaping into a book and becoming part of it. As a deaf person I have said for years that I am no deaf when I read as I become the narrator or a character or just intrinsically woven into the story.

The magical part of this book does require you to suspend belief for a while but I suggest you do to have the full experience of a fabulous story!

I will be recommending this to my Bookclub

A magical bookshop that inspires people. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if a book helped you change your life? This is what happens to three unhappy people who discover the Midnight Bookshop, run by the enigmatic Fay, where the books seem to choose their readers, rather than the other way round. Jo escapes into The Great Gatsby, Kye to One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Adelaide to Oliver Twist. Each person learns from their special book how to solve a problem and improve their life. There’s romance in the air for some of them too. A book I was sorry to finish.