The Book Charmer

The Book Charmer
by Karen Hawkins
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 1982105542
Publication Date: July 30, 2019
Pages: 344
Publisher: Gallery Books

I’m still fighting a book slump, and I need fluff.  Industrial grade fluff.  This fit the bill pretty perfectly.

Small town America, seventh daughter of the town’s founding family, all of whom have ‘gifts’, is the town librarian and the books talk to her.  And nobody tries to medicate her, because it’s magical realism.  A newcomer with a boulder on her shoulder comes to town and the books tell Sarah that miss-cranky pants is going to save the town.

I’m being a little snarky, which isn’t fair to the book.  Even though the story is entirely predictable, it’s well written.  Once I started it I was sucked into the magical little town of Dove Pond, and the characters all felt more real and well-adjusted than most of reality at the moment, so while it wasn’t high literature, it was an absolutely perfect antidote to current events.