Elodie’s Library of Second Chances – ARC Book Review

An uplifting story about fresh starts, new beginnings and the power of stories, from the bestselling author of Rosie’s Travelling Tea Shop!
When Elodie applies for the job of librarian in peaceful Willow Grove, she’s looking forward to a new start. As the daughter of a media empire, her every move has been watched for years, and she longs to work with the thing she loves most: books.

It’s a chance to make a real difference too, because she soon realises that there are other people in Willow Grove who might need a fresh start – like the homeless man everyone walks past without seeing, or the divorcée who can’t seem to escape her former husband’s misdeeds.

Together with local journalist Finn, Elodie decides these people have stories that need sharing. What if instead of borrowing books readers could ‘borrow’ a person, and hear the life stories of those they’ve overlooked?

But Elodie isn’t quite sharing her whole story either. As the story of the library’s new success grows, will her own secret be revealed?

I really love, love reading Rebecca Raisin’s books, having read Rosie’s Travelling Tea Shop and make sure to read each and every one of her books–so this book is no exception and I actually enjoyed reading this book!

Ellie Astor has it all–a lavish lifestyle and is set to become the female CEO of the family run media empire. However, Ellie is miserable and did not really want that kind of life. So by chance when she comes across an advertisement in the job posting looking for a librarian at a small town of Willow Grove, Elodie takes that chance and moves to downtown. But when Elodie reaches the library, she realizes that the library was about to shut down due to lack of people. As a result, Elodie hatches up a plan creating a People’s Library with the help of the local journalist Finn. Will her plan succeed?

I actually read this book in two days. I really like the setting of the story and do like the community setting of the story as well. I do like how the author has managed to pull the reader into the story, making the reader feel like they are also the part of the story. This was actually a really cute story and I enjoyed reading stories about the people, such Alfie’s story, Henry the homeless guy’s story. This book also teaches us a lesson–never to judge a book by its cover which is actually a very important lesson that people should learn these days.

Overall, this is a sweet, heartwarming story that you would most certainly, particularly if you are somone who likes to read books–worth five stars!

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.