In a Nutshell Reviews - Backlist Edition

In a Nutshell Reviews are my version of mini-reviews, because sometimes, you just want the highlights.

---

The Bookshop of Yesterdays by Amy Meyerson
Published by Park Row on June 12, 2018
Age/Genres: Contemporary, Fiction

Goodreads

A woman inherits a beloved bookstore and sets forth on a journey of self-discovery in this poignant debut about family, forgiveness and a love of reading.

Miranda Brooks grew up in the stacks of her eccentric Uncle Billy’s bookstore, solving the inventive scavenger hunts he created just for her. But on Miranda’s twelfth birthday, Billy has a mysterious falling-out with her mother and suddenly disappears from Miranda’s life. She doesn’t hear from him again until sixteen years later when she receives unexpected news: Billy has died and left her Prospero Books, which is teetering on bankruptcy—and one final scavenger hunt.

Uncle Billy was Miranda’s childhood idol, but she had been estranged from him following her uncle’s argument with her mother. Following her uncle’s death, Miranda returns to California to find her uncle left her one last scavenger hunt. This one leads to uncovering long buried family secrets.

I picked up this book looking to read more books set in bookshops. An odd goal, but I love the setting, and I adored this book. It was fantastic spending time in the book shop, and I loved the hunt and the way Uncle Billy used books (well-known and classics) to convey emotions about the situation. Each clue lead to a different person from Billy’s life, and I thought it was great to get those glimpses into the past via those varied POVs.

Full disclosure, I predicted parts of this, but other parts were a bit surprising and quite sad. I shed some tears for this family as their secrets were uncovered, but I was pleased with the outcome for Miranda. Great characters, incredible bookish references, a save-the-bookstore subplot and lots of emotion made this a wonderful read for me.

---

A Little Hope by Ethan Joella
Published by Scribner on November 16, 2021
Age/Genres: Contemporary, Fiction

Goodreads

A deeply moving, life-affirming novel about residents in a small Connecticut town facing everyday fears and desires—a lost love, a stalled career, a diagnosis—that pulls at the heartstrings and provides hope, for readers of Olive Kitteridge.

In the small city of Wharton, Connecticut, lives are beginning to unravel. A husband betrays his wife. A son struggles with addiction. A widow misses her late spouse. At the heart of these interlinking stories is one couple: Freddie and Greg Tyler.

Greg has just been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a brutal form of cancer. He intends to handle this the way he has faced everything else: through grit and determination. But can Greg successfully overcome his illness? How will Freddie and their daughter cope if he doesn’t? How do the other residents of Wharton learn to live with loss, and find happiness again?

An emotionally powerful debut that immerses the reader into a community of friends, family, and neighbors, A Little Hope celebrates the importance of small moments of connection and the ways that love and forgiveness can help us survive even the most difficult of life’s challenges.

I had to hold onto hope for the people of this community as they were dealing with significant life events, such as illness, death, and other losses. I loved the way the story moved through this year in their lives, switching from on point of view to another, as time marched on, and also appreciated the way their stories were connected. I am trash for stories of connection.

But we all know I adore a book that evokes lots of emotion, and this one had me riding the emotional roller coaster. These people were rolling with the punches, but they had been dealt some hard blows. There were times when the pain was so palpable, and I was forced into fits of snotty tears. But there was the dawn of a new day, and bit by bit, each of these people had an injection of hope and joy into their lives. Yes, there were tears, but my payoff was those final chapters. There I was at one point, sobbing, when a bit was revealed, and instantly, my tears turned into the happy kind. I have a soft spot for heartfelt stories of healing and survival. I find they give me comfort, and this book definitely delivered on its title, leaving me filled with hope.

What book would you include in a bookish scavenger hunt?
Let us know in the comments!