Oh, I do love a good book about books. They make me feel all warm inside and I can relate to absolutely everything that happens… Perks of being a book lover! When I saw this book on Netgalley, I instantly requested it. It’s just the type of contemporary that I love reading and I had such high expectations!

Bennett’s Bookshop has always been a haven for sixteen-year-old Paige Turner. It’s a place where she can escape from her sleepy hometown, hang out with her best friend, Holly, and also earn some money.

But, like so many bookshops, Bennett’s has become a ‘casualty of the high street’ – it’s strapped for cash and going to be torn down. Paige is determined to save it but mobilising a small town like Greysworth is no mean feat.

Time is ticking – but that’s not the only problem Paige has. How is she going to fend off the attractions of beautiful fellow artist, Blaine? And, more importantly, will his anarchist ways make or break her bookshop campaign?

The premise of this book sound absolutely incredible. I love reading books about books, I mean, who doesn’t? And I can 100% relate to the book. I’m so sick of seeing book stores close down… They’re world treasures.

Wow… This book was so childish… I definitely think that this book is aimed at a younger audience, it doesn’t even feel like YA. I think it actually verges on middle-grade. As a 22-year-old, I can happily read from a teenagers perspective, but with Bookshop Girl, I just felt like the language was condescending. Coles used ‘words’ like “oh em gee”, or “ridic”. I couldn’t hack it. I know what Coles was going for; she wants her audience to connect with the characters, and use the language that young people use. But it just got too much. Who actually enunciates “oh em gee” anymore? Or says that something is “ridic”? I’ve got so many notes on my Kindle referring to times that I was horrified with the simplistic language that Coles was using. She even referenced BHS (which, for you. U.S readers, is a U.K department store that shut down AAAGGESS ago), and then she called The Chronicle newspaper, “The Chronch”. I’ve never heard it been called that before.

It’s like she was trying to shorten nearly every word she was writing to sound cool (?). I know that sounds really harsh, but it made the reading experience very staggered because it didn’t make the book flow.

However, one of the things that I really enjoyed about this book was when Paige and Holly took part in the art class, and we got to meet the incredible people who also took part in the class – especially Sue! She was amazing, and I love her so much. I also love how Sue and the others got involved in helping Paige save Bennett’s. I also love how the romance was completely turned on its head. It was such a surprise and I’m glad that Coles decided to do it.

“Books are more than just a prop to pose around with when you’re trying to convince people you’ve got a bit of substance. Books are an escape route. A refuge. They can be a connection to a stranger, someone you’ve never met, who writes something that you hadn’t considered anyone in the world to have felt but you. When you grow up feeling too big for a place, and you make that kind of connection with a book, it’s like a link; it’s a tunnel to the outside world. A glimmer of something beyond.”

― Chloe Coles, Bookshop Girl

There is actually going to be a second book, which I’m very confused about. The end of Bookshop Girl seemed final, so I don’t know what Coles is going to do for the second book. I’m probably not going to read the second one…

Overall, this book wasn’t my favourite. I feel like it could have been a little bit longer by Coles fleshing out the characters and the plot a little bit more, but oh well. It felt too childish for me to fully enjoy, so I do feel like I was too old for this book (which is a first for me!)