"This is a love story.
It's the story of Howling Books, where readers write letters to strangers, to lovers, to poets.
It's the story of Henry Jones and Rachel Sweetie. They were best friends once, before Rachel moved to the sea.
Now, she's back, working at the bookstore, grieving for her brother Cal and looking for the future in the books people love, and the words they leave behind."
It's the story of Howling Books, where readers write letters to strangers, to lovers, to poets.
It's the story of Henry Jones and Rachel Sweetie. They were best friends once, before Rachel moved to the sea.
Now, she's back, working at the bookstore, grieving for her brother Cal and looking for the future in the books people love, and the words they leave behind."
This is not really a love story.
The plot was kind of interesting, and I liked the idea of having a main character whose family owns a second-hand bookshop. The story didn't progress much from there, though. I know these books aren't that plot-based, and it's more about the other things, but I was still bored. The book was short, and that was good because I might have stopped reading it midway otherwise.
I didn't like any of the characters much. There were enough of them to have some side-plots, but all their separate stories intertwined, and I found that annoying rather than satisfying because the author gave just the one happy ending to them all. With that being said, I also couldn't get myself to care about Fredrik's wife or Josie's son, and maybe it was for the better that the side characters remained side characters.
The plot was kind of interesting, and I liked the idea of having a main character whose family owns a second-hand bookshop. The story didn't progress much from there, though. I know these books aren't that plot-based, and it's more about the other things, but I was still bored. The book was short, and that was good because I might have stopped reading it midway otherwise.
I didn't like any of the characters much. There were enough of them to have some side-plots, but all their separate stories intertwined, and I found that annoying rather than satisfying because the author gave just the one happy ending to them all. With that being said, I also couldn't get myself to care about Fredrik's wife or Josie's son, and maybe it was for the better that the side characters remained side characters.
All of them felt like cookie-cutter characters from a typical romance novel. Their friendships and relationships felt more forced than I would've liked, and it didn't really feel like a love story, though the blurb claims to disagree.
Though nothing else was happening, I felt like Rachel and Henry's relationship didn't progress much either. They already knew all there was to know about each other, and after a few chapters, Rachel went back to being her earlier self. There was no unlearning and relearning, just going back to how they were before.
In the first three-fourths of Rachel's chapters, it was all Cal this and Cal that. At first, it didn't bother me so much, because I get that a lot of things are going to remind her of her brother. But after some time the repetitiveness started to get to me. The author also repeated some of the recent events when the point-of-view changed. It was just a few paragraphs, but at first, I was confused as to why it was all happening again, and I didn't want to read all of that one more time. I skimmed through a few pages toward the end, as I was desperate to reach the climax of the story.
I also don't get why all of them insisted on writing letters to each other. They all had cell phones, and they texted their families. If Henry and Lola were as good friends of Rachel's as she claimed, I don't see why they couldn't have just called or occasionally texted each other. Yet the first thing that Lola says when she sees Rachel is that "good friends write" not text.
The Letter Library sounded sort of impractical and unrealistic, but hey, imaginative books are what I'm here for. I didn't like the concept of scribbling in the margins of books and writing notes for each other, but leaving a part of yourself in your favourite book sounded nice.
Overall, the book was a good short read, and somebody who likes romance novels will mostly enjoy this one too.
Though nothing else was happening, I felt like Rachel and Henry's relationship didn't progress much either. They already knew all there was to know about each other, and after a few chapters, Rachel went back to being her earlier self. There was no unlearning and relearning, just going back to how they were before.
In the first three-fourths of Rachel's chapters, it was all Cal this and Cal that. At first, it didn't bother me so much, because I get that a lot of things are going to remind her of her brother. But after some time the repetitiveness started to get to me. The author also repeated some of the recent events when the point-of-view changed. It was just a few paragraphs, but at first, I was confused as to why it was all happening again, and I didn't want to read all of that one more time. I skimmed through a few pages toward the end, as I was desperate to reach the climax of the story.
I also don't get why all of them insisted on writing letters to each other. They all had cell phones, and they texted their families. If Henry and Lola were as good friends of Rachel's as she claimed, I don't see why they couldn't have just called or occasionally texted each other. Yet the first thing that Lola says when she sees Rachel is that "good friends write" not text.
The Letter Library sounded sort of impractical and unrealistic, but hey, imaginative books are what I'm here for. I didn't like the concept of scribbling in the margins of books and writing notes for each other, but leaving a part of yourself in your favourite book sounded nice.
Overall, the book was a good short read, and somebody who likes romance novels will mostly enjoy this one too.
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