rolopolobookblog
A site for all things bookish and for lovers of the written word.
Mini-Review: The Little Bookshop on the Seine (Book #1: The Little Paris Collection) by Rebecca Raisin
Bookshop owner Sarah Smith has been offered the opportunity to exchange bookshops with her new Parisian friend for 6 months! And saying yes is a no-brainer – after all, what kind of a romantic would turn down a trip to Paris? Even if it does mean leaving the irresistible Ridge Warner behind, Sarah’s sure she’s in for the holiday of a lifetime – complete with all the books she can read!
Picturing days wandering around Shakespeare & Co, munching on croissants, sipping café au laits and people-watching on the Champs-Elysees Sarah boards the plane. But will her dream of a Parisian Happily-Ever-After come true? Or will Sarah realise that the dream isn’t quite as rosy in reality…
Source: NetGalley and Carina Press Rating: 2½/5 stars
The Bottom Line: I read this book cover to cover but I can’t deny the struggle I had in getting from one cover to the next. The idea of this book, two bookshops owners swapping shops for a change of pace, scenery, and lifestyle, is quite lovely, and the Parisian bookshop is a wonderful setting, but I struggled to find a likeable character in this book and that is always going to be a deal breaker for me. The Parisian bookshop, Once Upon a Time is so wonderfully described, I could actually see all the rooms in my head. I just wanted all that wonderful to be populated by different characters. For example, Sarah is so painfully naïve, she borders on stupid, not a single one of the “casual” employees are respectful, considerate, or even nice, and the full-time employees (with the exception of TJ) are just awful human beings with generally bad attitudes. I finished this book because I kept (naively) hoping there would be a miraculous evolution in at least some of the characters. Unfortunately, from start to finish I was disappointed. For myself, the only redeeming quality I found in this book was the bookshop itself and that just simply isn’t enough to like and enjoy a book.
Coming in January 2020: Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Audible
