After learning she’s lost her estranged yet beloved Uncle Billie, Miranda heads out to his funeral and learns she’s inherited his bookstore. She loved that bookstore as a child but she isn’t sure what she’s going to do with it as she has a teaching job out East that she loves. Amidst her grief, she sets out on his final quest, similar to the ones she had growing up. Only this time, the secrets of the past that have been long buried will come to light.
I thought the clues for her were fun and well thought out. With the exception of his consuming grief, I liked Uncle Billie through the eyes of everyone that knew him. There were so many buried secrets that it was heartbreaking to watch Miranda’s mother refuse to give in for so long. I felt she was old enough for these things to come to light, and when she started asking questions, that would have been the time for her mother to speak up, but instead, she kept her silence and it drove them apart.
Miranda’s relationship with her boyfriend was weird. They didn’t seem like the right fit from the start and I felt when she went off to the funeral, that both of them were a bit selfish. He for his blatant disregard for her grief no matter how much time it had been since she had seen her uncle. Her because she kept stringing him along with promises to come home that never came to fruition. It was a doomed relationship that should have ended the minute we met them as a couple.
While I figured out what the mystery was fairly early on, it didn’t detract from the book at all. I loved the bookshop and the people that were involved with it, either as employees or devoted customers. There was a great mix of family drama, intrigue, and charm. While I would have liked to see a stronger main character, I think overall it’s definitely a fun read.
You can read my review on Amazon, Goodreads, and Bookbub, give it a “like” while you’re there. You can purchase The Bookshop of Yesterdays on Amazon for $7.49
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