What a fantastic, magical masterpiece! ✨📚

Anna James has an extraordinary gift for bringing stories to life, and her first adult novel is nothing short of spectacular.

Reading this book felt like stepping into another world entirely. Dare I say, almost like walking through a magical wardrobe? 😉 Although, I suspect Anna knows a thing or two about that! Her storytelling has that wonderful ability to make the impossible feel possible, and the ordinary feel extraordinary.

From the very first pages, I was completely captivated. Anna has such a beautiful way with words that you don’t just read her stories, you become part of them. I genuinely struggled to put this book down, constantly desperate to discover what would happen next and where this wonderful journey would take me.

There is something so special about finding a book that makes you forget everything around you, and Read Me Like a Book did exactly that. It reminded me why I fell in love with reading in the first place.

Anna James has made the transition into adult fiction beautifully, bringing all the imagination, charm and magic that make her storytelling so extraordinary.

This is one of those rare books that stays with you long after you’ve turned the final page. I already know I’ll be thinking about this story for a very long time.

An absolute triumph of a debut adult novel. Magical, captivating and utterly unforgettable. I cannot recommend it highly enough! ❤️📖

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this wonderful book in exchange for my honest review.

Marianne Buxton is the most unbookish member of her family by a long shot; in fact her life revolves around music. But when her dream job in the music industry comes to an abrupt halt, she is desperate for work so drunkenly applies for a temporary job in an independent book shop. Shocked that the owner, Celia, gives her the job, she’s even more surprised when she discovers that there’s a secret doorway in the store and it leads her into the world of Pride and Prejudice. But can this fictional world provide Marianne with what she needs to help put her life back together again?

Anna’s Bookwanderers series is one of my favourite middle grade series so I was incredibly curious and eager to read her first novel for adults. If I had to sum up Read Me Like A Book in one sentence, I’d say that it's book wandering for adults with a whole delicious dollop of romance running through it.

Marianne’s life is a bit of a mess really! She’s been sacked from her job for an accident that wasn’t her but she doesn’t feel she can reveal the truth as she is covering for the rock star she’s been having a secret affair with. With no job, she’s been forced to move back home where she once again has to share her childhood bedroom with her sister, Tess. Getting the job at Wildflower Books is a bonus but then she meets Jude who also works there, and it’s fair to say they get off to a very rock start: he’s very bookish and she hasn’t read a book in years; he can’t understand why Celia has given Marianne the job and is rather rude to her from the start. The secret door seems to be Marianne’s only escape but even there, things aren’t plain sailing… I mean, how exactly do you explain those sudden disappearances? (especially the one with Mt Wickham!)

Read Me Like A Book is everything I hoped it would be and more: it’s a wonderful tale set in the most bookish of worlds about a character who is very real and relatable and is someone readers are going to love; it’s romance and regency splendour; it's heart-warming and funny; it’s utterly moreish and completely absorbing. Anna’s writing is beautiful and you will find yourself swept away in both worlds whilst desperately hoping that the book will never end. Publishing on the 6th May, this will be a book you will fall in love with and a world you will want to return to (I sincerely hope there will be a return to Wildflower Books).