Book Description from Book Bub:
“Brought together by a charming bookstore in England, three women fight to defy expectations, dream new dreams, and welcome love into their lives.
As a counselor, Sophia Barrett is trained to help people cope with their burdens. But when she meets a new patient whose troubles mirror her own, she realizes she hasn’t dealt with the pain of her recent past. After making a snap decision to get away for the summer, Sophia moves overseas to an apartment above a charming bookstore in Cornwall, England. She is hopeful she will find peace there surrounded by her favorite thing: great literature.
Bookstore owner Ginny Rose is desperate to save her business without asking for help from a husband who’s decided to take a break from their marriage. Ginny never imagined she’d be solely responsible for keeping afloat her husband’s dream, but the unexpected friendship with her new renter has her feeling more optimistic. Between the two of them–and Ginny’s brother-in-law, William–the bookstore might stand a chance.
Then Sophia finds a notebook in the bookstore that contains journal entries from Emily Fairfax, a governess who lived in Cornwall more than 150 years ago. Sophia learns that Emily harbored a secret passion for becoming an authoress–as well as a deep love for her childhood friend, Edward, whose station she dared not dream to touch.
Eager to know more of Emily’s story, Sophia goes on a quest–dragging Ginny and William with her–to discover the heart of the woman behind the beautiful entries. Soon Ginny’s need to save the bookstore becomes more than a way to save her marriage, and Sophia finds new purpose of her own. Together they find that sometimes both heartache and hope can reach across the centuries.”
My Review:
Be warned: I’m going to gush over this book in this review.
I finished this book with a sigh and the thought of “That was such a perfect ending to a great story.” As with most books that I’m going to review, I consider if there’s something negative about the plot or something with the characters that I’d change. Honestly, with this book, there’s nothing I’d change. Nothing. It’s a compelling contemporary love story with characters that capture your heart. This is a “split time” book with two of the main characters in the present and one in the past, and the story flows seamlessly back and forth in the storyline. All three of the main characters—Sophia, Ginny, and Emily—-are equally interesting in their own storylines. And the fact that the story is set in an English bookshop and an undiscovered book is a main theme, well, that’s just the icing on the cake.
This story is not all sweetness and light. There’s some sad themes throughout this book. Sophia comes from a broken home, and has herself suffered abuse from her spouse. She’s dealing with his untimely death and the guilt and fear from their relationship. Ginny is an American who has basically been abandoned by her husband in Cornwall and is trying to keep her bookstore open. Emily, whose story takes place in the past, is a governess who loves the heir to the manor, but knows that they could never be married because of her social status. All three of these storylines tie together in a wonderful way at the end. (Yes, I adored the ending of this story.) The romantic element of this story comes about as all three struggle to learn to trust and love again.
The story that captured my heart was Emily’s. It very much has a regency feel to it. We learn her story through her journal, and I think her story is the heartbeat to this book. I was amazed that the author could give Emily such a complete story in a few chapters. I know that Lindsey Harrel writes contemporary fiction, but I think she needs to give a regency story a try.
This is clean, Christian romantic fiction with no foul language or embarrassing scenes. If you love reading Christian romance, you’ll love this book.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.