The story of an indie bookseller struggling to keep doors open when a competitor moves in has been done before, notably by Ernst Lubitsch. This books promises to be a literary-equivalent of "You've Got Mail" but struggles in a few spheres:

1) The epistolary form. Taking in the footsteps of books like "84 Charring Cross Road," this books tells its stories through means of written communication like letters, emails, and even customer reviews. However, it all feels anachronistic and contrived. For a story based on 2018 and thereabouts, there is a significant amount of snail mail and email which feels more like a plot device than anything else.
2) The plot. There is very little in terms of an overarching plot arch. There is a threat of bankruptcy and closure for the store in the background but what the protagonist does to counter that threat does not have an arc or growth trajectory to it.
3) The characters. There is nothing wrong with having an unlikeable protagonist. That is fine. But it is difficult to read about a protagonist who is one-dimensionally irritating and only has one redeeming feature. This is made especially hard by the fact that the other characters are very flat with no details about their motivations or reactions.

Overall, I would not recommend this book.

Elizabeth Green’s Confessions of a Curious Bookseller grabbed me from page one. The letters Fawn, the main character, pens to her co-workers, competitor, and other people who enter her life expose her strained family relationship, passion for used books, and struggles to keep her store thriving when a rival book store opens down the street. As a book lover myself I liked Fawn and her quirkiness. However, as the story progressed, Fawn became less likable as her bitterness consumes her.
The story has a good premise and is an easy read. It becomes bitter in the middle but redeems itself by the end of the story.

A breath of fresh air! Easy to read and highly enjoyable. This tale was a well-written epistolary novel that was both hilarious and endearing.

I wanted to like this book so much. I love books about booksellers (obviously) and the cover and description made this seem like such a good book, I requested bit immediately. However, I couldn't finish it. The writing was well done, but the story was a bit bland, I didn't feel any chemistry, and I just didn't connect to it. I look forward to trying the author's other works.

The cover grabbed me. The description made it sound like something I would love. It wasn't. I just couldn't find anything to like about Fawn except for her tenant. Quite honestly, I'm surprised that I made it to the 45% mark before giving up.

Fawn owns a secondhand bookstore in Philadelphia combining her love of novels and cats. Throughout the book you read her various memoirs and communications with her family members, employees and members of the community, including a rival business owner.

Fawn writes about her childhood, relationships and other daily struggles. You quickly begin to unravel the layers of this complex character, at times I found I had a huge amount of empathy for her, but mostly I laughed at the hilarity and outrageousness of her comments. She is quite a fantasist and tended to be quite rude and outspoken.

Like others who have reviewed this book, I found the layout on my Kindle to be a little disjointed, emails would go over two pages so it wasn’t always clear who the messages were from/ to. I read the unedited version of the book, thank you to NetGalley for this, so this may be corrected once the book is officially published. I have also read how some readers gave up reading the book before the end, but I have to say I am pleased I read to the end. The ending was quite a heartwarming way to end the story.

Confessions of a Curious Bookseller follows Fawn, a grumpy fiftysomething woman who just wants to run her bookstore, The Curious Cat Emporium. This gets harder when a newer, rival bookstore moves in next door.
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This book had one thing going for it. The premise. The premise sounds so interesting! Paired with an epistolary format, this seemed like a perfect book!
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However, it had one major problem. It was so dull. In 488 pages I want something to happen, but it just never did, leaving the ending almost rushed. The format got old quickly as well.
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0.5 of my rating is because of the premise and the other 0.5 of my rating is for Scooch.
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Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

I could not finish this book. It has an unlikable protagonist and felt poorly written and disjointed.

This is an epistolary novel about a rather self-deluded bookseller who, despite her best efforts, seems to be her own worst enemy. Her wacky antics will keep you shaking your head and face palming throughout. Some readers may find that irritating, but I enjoyed the book and wanted to continue on the journey with her.

In the beginning, I was highly entertained by the main character, Fawn Birchill, in Elizabeth Green's new book, "Confessions of a Curious Bookseller." I laughed at Fawn's quirky behavior and truly enjoyed her quick wit and beautiful prose and hyperbole. Halfway through the book, I was filled with sorrow and emotion, realizing how sad Fawn really was. She was a likable character with whom I found myself cheering for throughout her story. By the end of the book, I was back to being enchanted, as Fawn finally faced all of her demons and planned to embark on healthy changes and new adventures. This book certainly delivered on the details, and through the clever writing of emails, journal entries and pen-pal communication, it beautifully unfolded as a story worth reading. Thank you NetGalley, Elizabeth Green and Lake Union Publishing for this advanced copy ebook. I wish you great success and would love a follow-up to Fawn's adventures.

I thought I was in for a great read so was bitterly disappointed with this book. The cover looks great but alas for me this is where the greatness ends. It is written via a volley of emails to the many people who are important in Fawns life, the rival bookstore and her dysfunctional family. I really wanted to like this book and had this book had some va va voom in it and maybe a little romance or something to get my teeth into I think the could have been an amazing book. I liked the style it was written it was easy to read.
Many thanks to both netgalley and the author for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

If there’s one thing that stands the test of time it’s simple tradition...hipster indie additions soon die off and become a thing of the past

I loved following in this bookshop owners footsteps as she battled to safe not only her shop but everything else she loved too

If you love Jill Mansell then this is for you!

Written in a series of emails between our bookseller Fawn and various people ranging from the competitor, to a prospective suitor (disguised of course), then to her mother and long suffering sister, to her employees and to sundry people who come in and out of her daily life. Light hearted but underlying loneliness and isolation of Fawn, tempered by her inability to be diplomatic, tunnel vision in the extreme and fortunate enough to have people not call her out rudely. They do but in extreme polite language. I thought her sister and mother could have called her out in much more vivid language - it may have done a lot of good.

Set around a decrepit and crumbling bookshop, specialising in Mark Twain books, Fawn tries to have a living and run a business despite terrible sales. Mainly due to her inadequacy of seeing beyond the small margins of her life, not willing to learn, adapt or depend or take advice from those who may know better. Every critique is taken in the wrong spirit and as business failure looms over, it is her fighting spirit of never saying die that keeps her going.

Dealing with workmen, intricacies of online dating, competitive business practices, her deep rooted dislike of her father, and the relationship that she had with her mother and sister all are part of this story.

Described as funny, but that would not be my view of this book. I'd consider Fawn a sad character, desperately needing love and support and not knowing how to either get it or reciprocate if it is shown to her.

This epistolary told through letters, emails, tweets, and advertisements tells the story of an eccentric woman who runs the Curious Cat Bookstore. From its description I was expecting something along the lines of Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine where the narrator is a bit annoying and unlikeable but has a redeeming character arc; this, however, is far from that.

The story was unfulfilling in its plot and development, and the characterisation is a little lacklustre. The main character, Fawn, our curious bookseller is an incredibly unlikeable and an unreliable narrator - being untruthful, deceitful, fake and narcissistic.

I imagined the rivalry between two bookshops would be right up my street but instead, this was lacklustre and tedious.

With thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for a digital arc of this book, all opinions expressed here are my own.

Confessions of a Curious Bookseller by Elizabeth Green was an interesting read. It is written in the form of emails, journal entries, tweets etc. This is obviously a hard style to read, and a difficult way to get to know characters, but I actually surprised myself by enjoying this book more than I thought I would upon discovering the writing style. I felt there were a lot of similarities to the movie You’ve Got Mail (loved) and the book Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine (hated.)

Fawn is an unlikable 50-something liar, grump and bookstore owner. She has run her little used bookstore for 20 years, so when Mark’s new bookstore is opened on the same block she is ready to do battle to keep her shop. There are loyal (or not so loyal) employees, family dramas, a childhood penpal, an elderly tenant, an illusionist and many, many cats.

I was up and down with how I felt about this book, but my final rating is 4 stars. I hope others will give this book a chance to grow in them too.

I just couldn't finish this book. I really tried but did not like the main character at all. I also did not like the way the book was written- in all emails and journal entries.

This was a DNF. I just couldn’t get into the writing style, everything is written in email form. I do want to thank Net Galley for the opportunity to read a digital ARC in return for a honest review.

Fawn is the owner of an established book shop, and this this novel chronicles a year of her life and that of the shop. The narrative is told through a series of emails, shop reviews and blog posts, which does make for rather a quick read. Bearing that in mind, I still found it about 40% too long.

The problem with this novel was the main character and her development. The protagonist really has very few redeeming features - Fawn is argumentative, deceptive and unresponsive to the kindness of others. However, she’s not that bad that she’s a real villain, she’s just awkward and unrelenting. The character arc is also flawed, with Fawn’s redemption being sudden but for no apparent reason. I found the other characters to be equally unlikeable as they were so unrealistic, mainly because they were just so insipidly nice and let Fawn get away with anything she wanted to.

Whilst inaccurately=named book is perhaps styled on comical epistolary novels such as The Diaries of Adrian Mole or Bridget Jones’ Diaries, this one really fell flat in terms of its humour. I also got really fed up with hearing about cats, damp and broken things, but that may just be me.

On the positive side, this book is not badly written per se, and was actually quite readable as long as you’re not too concerned about characters or plot development - these are biggies for me though, hence the low rating.

I am a sucker for books about book stores, but this one was just bad. There isnt one redeeming quality about the main character. She's a narcissistic, pathological liar who alienates every person she comes in contact with.

*This book has been provided by the publisher to me via NetGalley for honest review of mine*

What an interesting way of introducing the concept of loneliness, longing, and the weight of personal expectations on an individual! This story is being told in emails, tweets, journal entries, and letters between the characters and in this way, we start knowing our curious bookseller Fawn and her life adventures in Pennsylvania suburb.

With 20 years of experience in bookselling, our protagonist Fawn in her fifties is running a second-hand bookshop in an old Victorian building with her 3 employees and a de-clawed cat Butterscrotch. She loves books, writes all her emails in a long literary fashion and isn't getting along well with her family. Her life immediately changes when a new fashionable, modern bookshop with coffee and beer stands opens just on the other side of the street and this is when we start seeing the whirl of emotions, small "sins", rivalry, and funny, but dangerous actions by Fawn to keep her face and status to prove herself she's a successful businesswoman not repeating her father's mistakes.

Fawn is unlikeable, she lies a lot, pictures a world to others she'd love to live, puts pressure on her employees in a negative way, flirts with married men by being insensitive, is not flexible and stuck to her past, thinks of asking for help being a sign of weakness. But the deeper the narration evolves, we can see the realities of her past haunting her present, her loneliness in every minute of her day despite being with hundreds of books and how she can't get away from this circle of failures.

With this narration style, it's how much we could get to know Fawn and her life, but I wish it'd have stronger background story with more vivid examples and the stronger side characters as sometimes they felt too flat. I wanted to get more of Mark, Gregory, her employees, etc. Also, the book name should have been "The lies of curious Bookseller" as we didn't get much of confessions (maybe 10% of this book?), but more of her imaginative "lies" to keep things going. And the cover is very cheerful which I think is not the true reflection of this story.

Overall, enjoyed this experience, had a strong empathy with Fawn, would love the story be more meaty.