read | The Little Paris Bookshop

The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George is the story of a man, Jean Perdu, coming to terms with the end of a past relationship. It says this on the back so I don’t think it’s too spoilery, but he finally reads a letter his lost love sent him twenty years before in which she tells him she’s dying (and therefore long dead by the present day). Upon learning this, the shop (well, boat, really) owner heads down the Seine in pursuit of closure. This book is pleasant enough, and the characters are pretty likable. Nothing about this book really stands out to me. The cover is a hazy pink, and that sums up my feelings about the story. It’s an easy, simple read that doesn’t require much of the reader. I found it hard to connect to the past romance, told through Perdu’s recollections and some journal entries by the woman. Perdu is still grieving, and a loss so deep it took him twenty years to get past should have some emotional impact for the reader. The story would move on to some character development or minor plot point and then suddenly jump back into Perdu’s pain, which I didn’t care about. I do see why these moments keep popping up, since grief can reappear when you least expect it, but they always threw me out of the current story. While this book won’t be making any favorites shelves for me, it has enjoyable characters and moments of great writing (though I might be biased because I’m a sucker for pretty much any description of the water). This is a nice read perfect for the upcoming summer.

3 out of 5 stars

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.