The Bookshop on the Corner - Jenny Colgan

Seldom have I been left with such mixed emotions about a book as I have by Jenny Colgan’s The Bookshop on the Corner (perhaps published as Little Shop of Happily Ever After in the UK). I absolutely loved and enjoyed about one-third of the book, and I was pretty much bored with the other cliché-filled two-thirds of it. This is the first title I’ve read by Jenny Colgan, but a quick review of her backlist leads me to believe that she discovered a successful book-selling formula years ago and that she intends to milk it as long as it continues to work for her. Granted, I am not the target audience for a Jenny Colgan book; I know that now, so my reaction to this one is as much my fault as it is hers. Luckily enough, however, I “read” this one via its audiobook version, and Lucy Price-Lewis, the narrator, has such a charming voice and way about her that I continued listening almost despite myself. 

The basic premise of The Bookshop on the Corner is that the rampant library-closings in the UK have finally put Nina Redmond out of the only job she has ever wanted to have. She loves her work as a front-line librarian, and she is very, very good at perfectly matching library patrons to books they are certain to enjoy. Now, even though she is being given the opportunity to interview for a different kind of library position – a backroom job that would isolate her from patrons – Nina is not at all sure that she wants the job even if it’s offered to her. And then, she has a brilliant idea. 

Why not open that bookstore she’s dreamed about owning all of her life? Of course, she has no money, can’t possibly come up with the rent on a shop, and after selling on all the books her library is now discarding, she has no idea how she would even restock the shop. Nina solves the money-problem by deciding to open up a mobile-bookstore housed inside a large van. So now, the only problem is that the only old van she can afford is located somewhere in remote Scotland – a long way from Birmingham, especially for a tiny young woman who has never driven anything that big in her life. 

To this point, and then as Nina worked on setting-up shop, I was totally on board with The Bookshop on the Corner. But then the book turned into a formulaic romance novel filled with exactly the characters that come in that recipe. I still had two-thirds of the book to go, and I could already predict (with near-perfect accuracy, as it turned out) how it was going to proceed all the way to the end. (And don’t even get me started on those awful “hot” love scenes.) 

Bottom Line: The Bookshop on the Corner was a disappointment to me because of Colgan’s failure to sustain the book’s strong start through to the end. I don’t do star-ratings, but if I did, this one would get two stars on a generous day, and I would throw in an extra one because of Lucy Price-Lewis’s narration. Romance fans are certain to disagree with me on this one – so I’ll just call The Bookshop on the Corner a learning-experience.

Jenny Colgan

Lucy Price-Lewis