Fun easy read, until it's not. This book is not what I was expecting and maybe that is why it's just 3 star review, The book started out great and then shifted to a totally different tone. It was very swift and harsh change in tone.  It was almost like an book identity crisis - am I fun chick lit or dark drama.

While the overall premise of the book wasn't bad,the execution was.

Thank you NetGalley, author Aliza Fogelson, and Lake Union Publishing for giving me a free Arc of this book in exchange for an honest review! All thoughts and opinions are my own!
2.75 stars
This book takes the reader on a journey of self-discovery, family, and love. Dodie Fairisle, a small-town art teacher, is full of love for the local town library and the life-advice the books have given her over the years, but when the library has to closed until further notice, Dodie is suddenly struck with the idea of starting a library in her unused sunroom in her house! What starts out as a hobby turns into a life line for people from all walks of life including a new possible romance. 
I found the whole baby drama a little over done. I understood her need to want a baby, but Dodie had a hard time communicating with her support system around her including her fiancé. She seemed to have a hard time putting her priorities in the right order. I liked her sister Coco and thought she was the best fit to adopt! The writing was well done, but the pacing and story was a little dragged out! Overall, I liked the first part of this book, but then the later half fell flat! I would like to read more books by this author in the future.

DNF

This book is just downright awful. I picked it up because it seemed like the perfect book: sweet, feel-good, and it's about a library (books!!!!) but it turned out to be just plain bad.
It's literally just about a woman who wants to have a baby and literally nothing else happens? Or maybe something else happens and I just didn't get far enough to see it happening.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest opinion.

I liked this book completely. How Dodie was trying to help the community while the town Library was closed for repair of some severe damage.  She sets a small library up at her home for the town to use.  It was a fun read with a bit of family troubles, poor fiancé choice, sibling competition, adoption and death.  The book is well written and the little emotional outbursts that create chaos are explained.  
I was looking for a book to take me elsewhere and give me a break. this book did exactly that

The Lending Library by Aliza Fogelson, unfortunately was not for me. I struggled with the main character and just found that I wasn't interested. 

Thank you to Net Galley and Lake Union Publishing for the opportunity to read this book for an honest review.

The storyline in this book had so much promise, however it just didn't really deliver for me personally. 

I did however find Dodie's character likeable and endearing, and felt for her as she navigated her way through some difficult times throughout. The characters around her were extremely unsupportive and only ever considered the ways in which her decisions would impact upon them. 

The ending was far too quick and inconclusive for me unfortunately.

Cute idea and had so much potential but execution was poor. The plot was all over the place and seemed like it lacked direction. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

Starting a library in your home sounds like a huge task for anyone, but Dodie is ready for the challenge when her small town public library closes indefinitely. What she's not ready for is the journey life takes her on, including the chance to adopt an orphaned child, and what the means for the other relationships in her life.

I loved reading Dodie's story, and how she juggles her planned life goals with the obstacles in her way. Was she perfect? Not by a long shot, but I really got to know her journey and I could relate to the way books played such an important role in her life.

I did think the people surrounding Dodie were very unsupportive, and always thinking about how Dodie's decisions affected them, without ever trying to put themselves in her shoes. I also thought the ending kind of fizzled out without any resolution. Overall, though, it was a quick, enjoyable and entertaining read.

This was a DNF for me. I really tried but just could not get into it.  I thought the premise was really interesting and loved the idea but the main character irked me and honestly just wasn't very interesting.

Ahhh! I loved this, literally a hug in a book. I loved the main character and felt like I would love to do what she did. Brilliant book about community, friendship, helping out.

When I saw the word Library in the title, I was immediately excited. Being a reader, I often connect with books about readers / books and libraries and I saw this as one too. However, I was very disappointed. Way too much. 

I don't even know how to tell about this book without letting it turn into a rant but I guess we'll try. Truth was, I was utterly bored and couldn't bother to read every single line and chapter, and hence I don't even remember the main character's name. While we talk about names, one that struck me the most was the little kid's name. Terabithia. Effing TERABITHIA??!! Who in their sane mind would ever name their kid that? I understand you're a reader and love and breath books but that doesn't simply mean you name your kid after your favorite fictional place. Now, I won't go ahead and name my future kid Ketterdam or Ravka you know, no matter how much I love those places?!! Do you get me? Gosh, I was so mad. 

But let's leave that aside now. Let's delve into the plot. I must warn beforehand that I couldn't really bother to stay through the chapters and hence ended up skipping a lot and made up for the holes through the spoilery reviews here. Even then, I was so bored and so annoyed at everyone. Especially the MC. She is one of the stupidest and hypocritical MC I've read about. Her obsession with having a baby was annoying, irritating and all the similar synonyms. It also seemed like she gaslighted her potential husband into feeling bad that he wasn't ready for a baby. For god's sake, don't traumatise the dude. If he isn't ready for a baby, he isn't. Why would you force him to want to have a baby and feel bad because he didn't?? That is so absurd and upsetting. I just couldn't understand her obsession at all and it just annoyed the shit out of me. In conclusion, I hated her. 

I don't even know what to say about the plot because it was a hot mess. The title indicates about a lending library as a prime theme in the story but it just gets pushed back into the background and the only focus is on how the MC wants to adopt her friend's adopted baby after she dies (someone kill me already). And don't even get me started on the insta love. I understand it's not impossible to happen but here it was plain exaggerated and way too fantastical. I'm surprised the dude came back; he shouldn't have. 

There were no emotions, no heartfelt moments, no nothing that could pull me into the story. There was no substance, no plot except desparate for a baby. Like, gosh, ugh. 

When I picked this book, I was looking for a light and fluffy read but this book just made me mad. It should've been titled 'The baby craze' instead of The lending library, is all I can say.

This was such a fun read. I throughly enjoyed it. I love a nice easy read and I found this heart warming

I really enjoyed this one! Sometimes I was a little confused by the timeline or how time was moving, but overall a really good read.

Thank you to Lake Union Publishing, NetGalley, and the author for the gifted ebook copy.  All opinions in this review are my own.

I liked The Lending Library in the beginning when it was more focused on Dodie setting up the library and recommending books to her patrons. Once the focus of the story shifts to Dodie obsessing about having a baby, I lost interest.  Because she feels pressure to find a man, marry him, and have a baby in two years, it cheapened the romance that Dodie is eventually able to find.  It made it hard to tell if she had true feelings or just felt pressured by her own timeline.

Interested to read one day but book was archived before I had the chance to download - unlikely to buy and not available to download from my library

My thanks to Netgalley and Publishers for a. Copy of “ The Lending Library “ for an honest review.

I was interested by the synopsis of this book but unfortunately it just didn’t seem to hold my attention and I struggled to finish it.i didn’t really warm to the characters so I can’t really recommend this book.

The Lending Library is a wonderful book about Dodie's quest to bring books to the people of Chatsworth whilst navigating the frightening prospect of infertility. The characters, description and story are rich but I feel it would've benefited from a little fleshing out. It needed a little in between to prevent it from the jarring feeling I felt in places. It's not the most gripping read for me this year but because the characters are well-developed and have many varied interests, you fall for them and that draws you back in. I especially love the number of books, authors and artists referenced. I would be interested to see what Aliza writes next.

Found the main character to be a bit insipid and self-centered, and the whole baby-obsessed angle turned me off, unfortunately. Did not connect with this book

The library in town closes for renovations and Dodie, our main character, realizes that there are a lot of people missing the use of the library. So she sets up a temporary library room in her sunroom. Small towns are different and are more tight knit and people are closer. 
There are a lot of life events happening that change her life dramatically in such a short period of time. This was a quick cute read. 
Rating: 3.5Thank you Net Galley and Lake Union Publishing for the ARC copy for my voluntary review.

I can't read this. I thought it would be fun based on the summary, but it's just a snobby white woman unaware of her privilege. The main character is insufferable. I tried to keep going because maybe she'd learn and get better, but I knew I'd hate her from the moment her friend said she doesn't want kids and she said "You just haven't met the right person yet."