Thank you to Negalley and Lake Union Publishing for e-ARC copy, in exchange for an honest review. The Lending Library is a story for the bookish lovers of the world, following our main character Dodie, who escaped from big city life to settle down for a slower paced life. Dodie is an avid reader, and lover of books, and is a frequent visitor to her local library. When her library shuts down for renovations, Dodie decides to band together with her community to create a "Lending Library" hosted out of her own home. The Lending Library gives her passion, purpose, and of course TROUBLE.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

This story is a solid 3 stars for me, as I love the premise, and am always a fan of a main character who loves books as much as I do. As much as I enjoyed the key storyline, there was a lot of slow and then fast paced plot, and too many different struggles. Not only is there a love story that progresses extremely fast, there is parenting drama, death, adoption decisions, friend trouble, family strife, and that's not at all. I had found myself wishing there was a bit less of a struggle with every character introduced, and more time spent on the actual romance of the novel.

Overall it's a cute, and fairly fast paced read! 10/10 for cover art, which is what initially drew me in.

I wanted to like this book, and I wanted to like the characters. But I didn’t. Maybe it was the wrong time for the story for me but the loss hit me harder then I would have thought, which meant I didn’t enjoy the read.  I didn’t like Dodie and I don’t like Shep and I really didn’t like Sullivan‘s parents. This was just a miss for me..

With thanks to Netgalley and Lake union publishing.

The Lending library by Aliza Fogelson is a light and fun book that I enjoyed reading and took my mind off the things that are going on in the world right now.

I'm sure many others will enjoy the book as much as I did.

An easy to read book, that helped me completely escape all thoughts of the 2nd lockdown! 
I found all the characters likeable, and I enjoyed getting to know them all.
When I was younger I could spend hours in a library too, so I think most bookaddicts can see a bit of themselves in Dodie.
I really enjoyed this .... Would definitely recommend it.

Omg! As someone who thrived on libraries as a child...who found libraries to be a sanctuary and a place of wonder...OMG is all that I can say about this book! The range of emotions are all here...happiness, wonder, anticipation, grief, hope...each page a testament to all that is good in a beautiful novel. I hope to see a sequel someday, or at least a movie adaptation (although no faithful adaptation could even begin to do it justice!).

Light and fun this story was an easy read, if not a memorable one. Good characters but a bit messy overall.  Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher!

Good book. I love the story and the writing was great. Can't wait to read more  by the author. Thank you for letting me read this.

Let me start by saying I really wanted to love this book. A story about a lending library and the love of books? Sign me up! Unfortunately though, this one didn’t end up being what I had expected.

At first the storyline and characters really had me wrapped around their fingers. It has that cozy, small town feel and just felt good to be reading! But then things took a turn and fizzled out for me by about the halfway mark, as the story becomes more slow moving and even a bit heavier in feel. It almost felt as if I had read two different stories. The main character, Dodie, really became rather unlikeable to me and without giving anything away, a lot of relationship and baby drama kicked in which really distracted me from the overall charm I felt was leading the story. Something that I really did appreciate though were the topics of infertility and adoption that this story touched on. It’s not something you always see in books, and while it could be triggering for some, I do believe it’s important to see these very real struggles navigated on the pages of a book.

Overall this one held a lot of promise, but due to what I feel we’re some major execution issues, it sadly fell flat. 

Thank you NetGalley and Amazon Publishing for the gifted copy.

Thank you netgalley for allowing me to read this early.   I enjoyed this story so much & look forward to seeing what the author has in store for upcoming books!  :)  Check this one out asap!

Was intrigued by the concept and it does have some really good parts. Possibly aimed at more of a female audience than other 'womans fiction'. I did enjoy it, but wasn't possibly a 'page turner'

I wanted to LOVE this one, I even preordered a copy because the premise just was everything I love reading a book about books, but this one just wasn't what I was hoping for.

AMAZING! Very well written, a genuine can't put down book!  You follow the emotional and twisting lives of everyday characters, who do what they wish they can do, with ups and downs, but are happy!

Dodie’s local library closes for renovations so she decides to turn her own personal library into a “lending library” for others. A sanctuary for everyone to share the power of books together. I thought this was be the main story of this book with maybe some romance but it was quickly forgotten about. The book began to focus on getting married and having babies. Dodie obsesses with infertility, babies, getting pregnant.. etc. Safe to say, I got bored quickly. I think the books synopsis should have mentioned something like that otherwise I don’t think I would have picked this one up. Dodie herself is not a very likable character, I found her a bit judgmental and annoying. 
 
Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for copy of this book.

A fun read about the importance of books, friends and family. Love the idea of starting my own library in my house.

I thought this book was a good story a light read.

I certainly understood the main characters feeling of wanting to do it all herself, and not have to have help. By doing so she almost lost everything that mattered to her.

The real truths are finding why she couldn't accept help.  I think you have to think a little deeper into with this book to see what the messages are.

I did feel like the writing to the end was clunky but all in all I enjoyed it.

Such an enjoyable book! When the town library closes abruptly for repair and renovation, Dodie Fairisle, an art teacher decided to open a lending library in her sunroom. The sunroom becomes more than just a library and impacts the lives of Dodie and others in ways never imagined. It is a superb debut novel.

I wanted to love this one, as the title of The Lending Library sounded right up my nerdy book worm self.   And the setting of Chatsworth England Jane Austen country should have also been up my alley.  And for the most part it was. But I hated the main character I couldn’t find anything about her personality that I could like. If I had at least like one of the secondary characters, it could have at least helped me to at least enjoy the book.

DNF. Thank you NetGalley and Publisher for this early copy! I decided to not keep reading this one, it was not for me. Thanks!

This read was ok..but .just ok. I wanted to like it more than I did but it didn’t quite hit the mark for me sadly.

The Lending Library by Aliza Fogelson - publish date 1/7/20

A sincere thank you to the publisher, author and netgalley for providing me with an ebook copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

A book about books is a wonderful thing in my opinion. I instantly loved the characters especially Dodie. She was depicted with such character that I genuinely cared about her and wanted her to be happy. It was a cheesy story; a laugh out loud story but mainly a book about hopes and dreams. I don’t want to say too much without spoiling it, however, I would recommend this book to every bookish friend I have. It was an escape in a very uncertain time. 

The only downside to this book was the additions to my ‘book wish list ‘. Dodie talked about so many books that she had read and that she recommended leading to my ever-growing list lol.

Highly recommend this story to everyone and would definitely read it again. 5*****