Book Review: The Library of Lost Things

Author: Laura Taylor Namey

Publisher: Inkyard Press

Genre: YA contemporary

Release Date: 10/08/19

My Rating: 3/5 stars

Synopsis:

“From the moment she first learned to read, literary genius Darcy Wells has spent most of her time living in the worlds of her books. There, she can avoid the crushing reality of her mother’s hoarding and pretend her life is simply ordinary. But when a new property manager becomes more active in the upkeep of their apartment complex, the only home Darcy has ever known outside of her books suddenly hangs in the balance.

While Darcy is struggling to survive beneath the weight of her mother’s compulsive shopping, Asher Fleet, a former teen pilot with an unexpectedly shattered future, walks into the bookstore where she works…and straight into her heart. For the first time in her life, Darcy can’t seem to find the right words. Fairy tales are one thing, but real love makes her want to hide inside her carefully constructed ink-and-paper bomb shelter.

Still, after spending her whole life keeping people out, something about Asher makes Darcy want to open up. But securing her own happily-ever-after will mean she’ll need to stop hiding and start living her own truth—even if it’s messy.”

The hardest reviews to write will always be books I felt just “meh” about. You know what I’m talking about… the books that aren’t bad but aren’t good either. Unfortunately, The Library of Lost Things was one of those books for me. Rating it was difficult, and trying to cohesively describe why I didn’t love this book was even worse. I had a lot of hope for this story so I am kind of disappointed. But, at the same time it wasn’t a bad story! I can see how some people would love it even if it wasn’t the story for me.

Reasons I did enjoy this book:

• The representation of hoarding was very interesting to me! I’ve never read a book that included that topic before and I thought this story handled it well.
• I loved how Darcy’s best friend’s family was also kinda her family. Seeing “found families” in books always give me the fuzzies.
• The bookstore that Darcy worked at was atmospheric. I had a lot of fun exploring that store and trying to set up the atmosphere in my head.
• The writing is beautiful. All the settings and feelings come across so vividly. I felt transported into Darcy’s world of bonfires, bookstores, and boys!
• I liked how quirky and unique this story was! The characters (and the settings) were all interesting and each had a lot of traits that I haven’t seen in books before (the best friend did a lot of sewing, the book store & wig shop, Darcy’s home with her hoarder mother, etc.)
• Complex mother and daughter relationship!
• Darcy’s memory of books and love for reading was so cute, I could actually see myself in the way that she lives inside her stories. It was nice to see that part of myself represented.

Things I didn’t enjoy about this book:

• The pacing was slow which made getting into it difficult
• Although the side characters DO have their own unique traits they still didn’t feel completely developed. There was still a lot about the love interest and best friend that I would have liked to know.  I had a hard time understanding them, their actions, and picturing them in a world outside of Darcy’s lens. (This also made it impossible for me to really connect or care about the characters).
• The romance wasn’t for me… I just didn’t feel the chemistry between Darcy and Asher. Plus, as I mentioned, he didn’t feel completely developed so I had a hard time rooting for their relationships.
• There were a few things that never got mentioned again in this story. (very mild spoiler ahead) the grandmother offers to let Darcy live with her, yet I don’t think they ever really talked about it again?? Darcy makes it clear to the narrator she isn’t going to, but not to her grandmother.

Overall, this was an enjoyable book I managed to read it in one day (but not one sitting) because of how pretty the writing is! If you think you might enjoy this book I would say it is worth a try, but to me it was just meh. I’ll probably forget about this story with some time and I doubt I’ll pick it back up to reread.

DISCLAIMER: I received an early finished copy of this book from a giveaway on Twitter that was hosted by the author. I was NOT sent this book from the publisher and I was NOT under any obligation to read or review. Opinions are all my own.