Review: The Little Bookshop of Lonely Hearts

The Little Bookshop of Lonely Hearts by Annie Darling
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Honestly not entirely sure why I enjoyed this as much as I did! I have so many nitpicky complaints but overall I actually got caught up and, even predicting everything that was going to happen, I still enjoyed the story. I think I might be coming down with something. Hmm.

So here's the plot: Posy works at this adorable little bookshop, and suddenly finds herself the owner of it when her dear friend passes away. Lavinia had been like a second mother to Posy and her brother, Sam - who have been living above the shop - since their parents passed away years earlier in a car accident. But ownership of the bookshop comes with the pressure of turning it into a profitable business, and the frustrating interference of Lavinia's grandson, Sebastian, who's the totally-rude-but-secret-heart-of-gold love interest.

Cue shenanigans.

Character-wise, there's not really anything new here. Posy is the cute, awkward protagonist who does dorky things and has trouble standing up for herself but is a genuinely thoughtful person who looks out for her friends and loved ones. I didn't mind her, but she frustrated me a lot with the amount she lied and hid things and just her general awkwardness. Also, she totally got off light with the 'I used to be your colleague but now I'm your boss' drama. She just took right over and that was that and I'm not sure it was totally believable because she was so uncertain in everything else.

Her ragtag band of fellow workers/friends are cool but pretty simple, and though they are a diverse cast, they're never really a big part of the story. I liked Nina and Verity, but Tom didn't really rate and I kind of forgot who Little Sophie was? At least they were different enough that I remembered who was who, though!

Now where do I even begin to talk about my feelings towards Sebastian.

We all knew where this was gonna go just from reading the blurb (and if you don't foresee romantic hijinks, do you even read?) but the whole 'jerk with a heart of gold' shtick was too much jerk and not enough gold for me. I mean, Sebastian really is a total dick at times. He says totally horrible things and Posy is humiliated but still falls for the guy? I tell you what, if a guy starts flinging around insults that cover my weight, size, hair and general appearance, he's gonna cop a black eye , not a feel. But he also did the typical helpful things like pay for everything Posy could possibly need because of course the man is always the rich one.

I mean, this story is quite obviously influenced heavily by Pride and Prejudice (which I actually loved. Sue me.) but because it's set in present day it just made for a lot of sexism and maybe I'm overreacting but that kind of bothered me. Darcy acts cold and indifferent but is actions are just misinterpreted by Elizabeth. So she only thinks he's been a jerk when he's actually being a total hero. Whereas Sebastian is not only acting like a jerk but speaking like a jerk and that kinda makes him a jerk. Plus, the whole deal with him not hearing no just infuriated me.

So why was I still shipping them?!!

Not gonna lie, I'm slightly depressed by my warm reception of this novel. It makes me wanna feminist-rant to myself about how women just let themselves be treated like crap and how that should not be romanticised etc but I liked it and I hate myself a little for it.

Darling's writing is okay and pretty typical, but Posy's writing is utter trash. I could not help cringing at the smut she wrote! But hey, at least she kind of realised it? I appreciated her giving herself crap for it because that echoed my sentiments.

It was such a predictable book with a familiar romcom plot, and I knew every single plot development before it happened, but I still enjoyed the way it all played out. I don't know if this book is gonna rate higher with lovers of chick-lit because they appreciate the genre more than me, or if they'll rate it lower because it's such a familiar story. It's definitely frustrating and there's so many parts I want to criticise but I gotta own up to how much I actually enjoyed reading it. God help me.

So I guess I'd recommend it to lovers of chick-lit? It's a nice trashy piece of fluff and it's centred on a bookstore so who could get mad about that, right?

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