The Christmas Bookshopby Jenny Colgan
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9780751584240
Publication Date: October 6, 2021
Pages: 355
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Sphere
Carmen has always worked in her local department store. So, when the gorgeous old building closes its doors for good, she is more than a little lost.
When her sister, Sofia, mentions an opportunity in Edinburgh - a cute little bookshop, the spare room in her house - Carmen is reluctant, she was never very good at accepting help. But, short on options, she soon finds herself pulling into the snowy city just a month before Christmas.
What Sofia didn't say is that the shop is on its last legs and that if Carmen can't help turn things around before Christmas, the owner will be forced to sell. Privately, Sofia is sure it will take more than a miracle to save the store, but maybe this Christmas, Carmen might surprise them all...
I know – I’m a little over a month late to be reading this book, but I’ve found myself in dire need of comfort reads. We’re in the middle of a very unusual, almost 10 day long, heatwave that’s making my smashed leg and foot swell up worse than is to be expected. I’m living on ice packs and in a state of constant … not pain, but discomfort. So I need to be entertained by something well-written enough to hold my attention while I constantly shift about in search of a new comfortable-for-five-minutes position.
This fit the bill very well – almost too well, as I saw midnight last night for the first time in months, engrossed in the story. I’ve read two other Colgan books before, The Bookshop on the Corner, and The Bookshop on the Shore, and, story for story, I think I might have enjoyed them a little bit more, but that could just be the leg talking. Edinburgh at Christmas sounds lovely, enchanting, chaotic, and with all the steps, my current nerve-exploding nightmare. I’d have liked more page time devoted to the bookshop and it’s rebirth, rather than sister angst, or the silliness with the man-child author. But I did appreciate that the sister angst had a solution that didn’t involve perfect-Sophia being anything less than perfect; I like that they both got to be happy being themselves with each other, without involving earth shattering life changes for either of them. I enjoyed seeing Mr. McCredie come out of his shell, though I’d have loved to spend more time in that attic of his.
There’s a tiny hint of magical realism that’s too small to matter, but could have been explored a bit more. The genre is listed as ‘romance’, and while, yes, there is a romance, it’s very, very light. The focus is on the shop, and the sisters’ relationship, and the kids, and the MC’s pulling on her big girl knickers and growing up. The development of the romance is saved for the very end, where it’s all massive epiphanies and mad dashes in snow storms, but that bit is over as quickly as it starts (the story part, not the romance part) and we end with everybody’s HEA.
All in all, a book that served its purpose. So well, in fact, that I’m off explore her backlist a bit more in depth, to see if further relief can be found between the pages of her books.