The Lost and Found Bookshop

I wanted to read The Lost and Found Bookshop, by Susan Wiggs, as soon as I saw the title. It was really a no-brainer since it has the word books in the title. I have this thing for stories about books and bookshops. Lucky for me this book turned out to be everything I enjoy in a good book.
Natalie Harper is working for a winery in California. The job pays well, but she finds the work unrewarding. She also feels stuck in an unfulfilling relationship and is planning to break things off just when tragedy strikes. Her Mother dies suddenly and she inherits a small bookshop in San Francisco. Her world is suddenly turned upside down and she is devastated.
In an act of rashness, she quits her job and moves into her Mother’s apartment above the show more bookshop. As Natalie sorts through the mess that was her Mother’s life and livelihood, she discovers that the bookshop is in dire financial straits. To make matters worse, she finds out, after meeting with her attorney, that her grandfather owns the building. This is were he was born and has lived all his life. She knows he will never agree to sell. Therefore, she decides to tackle the problem and see if she can revive the store.
Natalie has taken on a lot. The building is old and on the historic registry and old means issues. The roof leaks, there are some electric problems, along with a slew of other issues. She reaches out to a contractor and in steps Peach to the rescue. Natalie is immediately attracted to him but feels it is too soon to invest herself into another relationship.
However, her luck seems to be turning when Peach finds some historical items of value hidden in the walls of the store. Then she is able to secure an author signing with the top local children’s author. Maybe there is hope for the store yet.
I adored Natalie. She is strong and humble but also has some issues with opening up to be loved because of a Father that was absent all her life. It made me want to hug her and assure her that not everyone is like her father and encourage her to take a chance so she can be happy. In short, Natalie felt like a real person. The supporting characters had a lot of charm also and rounded out the story nicely.
The plot did not move very fast, but that was OK. It did not need to. The characters are the true driving force behind this story. The only thing I was not crazy about in the plot was how these unexpected lost items kept popping up in walls and in the basement. It just was not believable and it took away from the story a bit. I know this is a minor thing and the story was really good otherwise. I enjoyed it and everything does not have to perfect for me to love a story. After all, it is fiction.
This would make a great book to take on vacation, beach or to the pool. I recommend it to readers of all ages who enjoy a story about love, loss and hope.
I received an ARC in exchange for my honest review. For more of my reviews, and author interviews, see my blog at www.thespineview.com. show less

The Lost and Found Bookshop by Susan Wiggs takes readers to San Francisco, California where the Harper family has the Lost and Found Bookshop in a historic building called the Sunrose Building. Natalie Harper is stunned when she learns that her mother and boyfriend died in a plane crash. She is now responsible for her mother’s beloved bookshop and her aging grandfather. I thought contained good writing and vivid descriptions. I enjoyed the word imagery of the bookshop, he beautiful historic building, and San Francisco. Bookshops are a magical place. I thought the characters were developed with my favorites being Grandy, Natalie’s grandfather, and Dorothy Gallagher, Peach’s adorable little girl. I enjoyed the relationship Natalie show more had with Grandy. He has the beginnings of dementia where he confuses Natalie with his deceased daughter, Blythe. Grandy’s memories are slipping away which bothers him. He wants to finish out his days in the building where he has lived his whole life. I liked Grandy’s compassion and wisdom. There are some great book references throughout the story. Love, devotion, letting go, and living life to the fullest are themes in the book. We get to see Grandy and Natalie move forward slowly after the death of Blythe. As we got to know Blythe from Grandy and Natalie’s reminisces, she seemed a woman who was full of life. Blythe was a happy person who thoroughly enjoyed the bookshop. I was not a fan of the foul language in the book and repetition (I got it the first time). I did feel that the ending felt rushed and I did not like that they had two of the characters smoking weed (it came out of nowhere). My favorite phrase from The Lost and Found Bookshop was “You’re never alone when you’re reading a book.” It was fascinating the items found within the walls of the shop and how the Harpers dealt with the objects. Grandy was a good man with strong convictions and values. I appreciated the epilogue which nicely wrapped up the book. The Lost and Found Bookshop is an easy-going story that is just the right type of book to read during the summer months. The Lost and Found Bookshop is a charming story with financial misfortunes, uncovered objects, a hurt heart, a grieving grandfather, dementia dilemma, and beloved books. show less

Another wonderful character-driven novel by Susan Wiggs that I absolutely devoured. Natalie is making a huge presentation. Her mother has been invited. She doesn’t show. Natalie is then rocked by later receiving the news her test-pilot boyfriend (who she’d been planning to break up with) was killed in a crash. The news only gets more shocking—her mother was in the plane with him.

Natalie is left to pick up the pieces of her mother’s life—a bookshop that is heavily in debt and about to be foreclosed on. Her beloved grandfather who is suffering from dementia. As mentioned before, it’s the characters that make any Susan Wiggs book so magical, and Dorothy, a young reader who loves the books in the shop, and Peach, her father, show more and a handyman hired to do work at the store, instantly pull at your heartstrings. This was slower paced than some of the other books by SW I’ve read, but I didn’t enjoy it any less. The romance was more of a slow burn, and the family story was really at the heart of it—with Natalie’s desire to save her grandfather and the bookstore driving the action. A beautiful read.

Please excuse typos/name misspellings. Entered on screen reader. show less

Natalie Harper's single mom, Blythe, runs an independent bookstore in San Francisco. In addition, Blythe is the devoted caregiver of her father, Andrew, who is in his eighties and has become increasingly forgetful. Natalie adores her mother, and admires her strength of character, love of literature, and people skills, but she wishes that they had spent more time together over the years. Natalie has a job in Sonoma County that she loathes; is hesitant to commit to her handsome and good-hearted boyfriend, Rick; and is skeptical about her future prospects for happiness and fulfillment.

Susan Wiggs' "The Lost and Found Bookshop" is a charming novel about a young woman who is struggling emotionally, even before an unexpected tragedy forces show more her to take over Blythe's store and look after Andrew, whom she calls Grandy. The characters are beautifully delineated, and Wiggs handles such themes as love, fate, grief, and the tough decisions that can make or break us with warmth, humor, and compassion. Suddenly, Natalie finds herself juggling a great many tasks, such as renovating the dilapidated bookshop and balancing its books. At least, Blythe had hired a handyman, Peach Gallagher, who is good-natured, hard-working, and skilled at electrical work, plumbing, and carpentry. Moreover, Natalie worries about her grandfather, who is becoming increasingly frail. When Grandy is up to it, he and Natalie reminisce about the past, look into their family history, and make some surprising discoveries.

Thanks to a series of serendipitous events, the heroine meets a wealthy and handsome children's book author who becomes infatuated with her. Should she quit her old job and try to save a failing business that can never turn a profit? Why not marry a rich man who will give her the security that she needs? A third option is to sell the shop and place Grandy in an assisted living facility. We can relate to Natalie's confusion and uncertainty as she tries to put her priorities in order. The most satisfying aspects of this enchanting tale are its emphasis on the glory of reading for pleasure; the importance of bonding with our loved ones before it is too late; and the joy we derive from friends who share our values and interests. Although the conclusion is a bit too pat and predictable, on the whole "The Lost and Found Bookshop" is a delightful and engrossing work of fiction. show less

Natalie is grieving, she’s taken over her mother’s struggling bookstore, she’s also dealing with an ill grandfather and a couple romance possibilities, yet despite all that it rarely felt as if there was enough story for the number of pages. It fell into repetition more often than I would have liked, for instance, the one and a half page prologue basically sums up what’s about to happen in the first quarter of the book. Either make use of the prologue to then start the story with Natalie’s first day in charge of the bookshop or don’t have a prologue and let events just unfold, by having both it made the beginning feel both slow and repetitive.

I also had a problem with the name of a cat, which I know sounds odd, but it was show more off-putting when it’s stated that the cat is named for Sylvia Beach not Sylvia Plath and it’s noted that presumably Sylvia Beach didn’t have mental issues. I just, I’m not sure what to make of that, are we saying that Sylvia Plath is less of a literary genius, less worthy of having a namesake, because she struggled and ultimately succumbed to her mental health issues? I just didn’t get why that aside needed to be there, why it couldn’t just be stated which Sylvia the cat is named for and left at that. It felt like a slight against the mentally unwell, I hope that wasn’t the intention, it probably wasn’t, but it unfortunately reads that way.

As for the romantic interests, it seemed pretty obvious which one Natalie would end up with and while he is a nice guy, I just didn’t find him all that appealing, which is a total personal preference thing, I’m sure there are other readers who will feel differently. However, the bigger issue for me with the romance was how long it took for Natalie to find out some basic information about this guy, it seemed highly implausible that it took that long to come up in conversation. Given previous relationships and family histories, they both had reason enough to be tentative about starting something, there didn’t need to be a convoluted misunderstanding between them.

I would have been happy to ditch Natalie’s romantic dilemmas and instead see her attempting to establish a connection with her father or better still see more of her day to day in the bookshop and dealing with customers, for me the best moments were the ones spent talking books and how to keep a brick and mortar store alive in the current climate. I would have welcomed a lot more of those scenes, especially if it led to wrapping things up in way that felt more earned and organic rather than a solution easily falling into place. show less

Natalie has just been promoted and is having a party in her honor. Her mother is supposed to be there. Come to find out, there has been a tragic plane crash and Natalie’s mother and boyfriend have been killed. Natalie moves back home to help take care of her grandfather and to sort out her mothers book shop.

Natalie discovers the book shop is in horrible financial woes. The historical building is in terrible shape and the book store is in debt. Plus, her grandfather has the beginnings of dementia. He refuses to sell the historical building because there is a hidden treasure lost in it somewhere (and yes there is…you MUST read this to find out what!)

I adore this book. I love everything about it. I love the quirkiness of the show more characters. The setting of the California Bay Area had me researching. I actually sent a text to a friend of mine who lives there and told him he had to go the the Tower Library Bar and take pictures. Oh…and the mystery of the hidden treasure and the book references. This is the perfect read for a bibliophile!

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review. show less

I guess every women's fiction author has set at least one of their books in a bookstore - it's catnip for so many readers. This one is distinguished slightly by the fact that our heroine Natalie doesn't really want to be there (unlike so many of the other stories that portray owning a bookstore as the heroine's dream job), but after her mother's tragic death she has no choice but to come back to San Francisco, take care of her ailing grandfather and try to make the bookshop a success.

Some interesting artifacts hidden in the store provide a glimpse of the city's history, including the 1906 earthquake/fire, and the prejudice faced by the Asian immigrants who were such an integral part of the city's culture. While they may not be the key show more to saving the bookshop, they help Natalie and her grandfather better understand the family's past, including the reason why so many of her ancestors were unlucky in love.

Natalie, who believes she is incapable of truly loving someone, ends up with more than one suitor, and although it's obvious which one will provide her HEA (handsome, successful, rich author who may be good to be true, or ruggedly-good looking handyman with an encyclopedic knowledge of literature and history who comes equipped with adorable daughter? No contest!).

The plot isn't as overly stuffed as Wiggs' 2019 release, [b:The Oysterville Sewing Circle|40535953|The Oysterville Sewing Circle|Susan Wiggs|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1551313435l/40535953._SY75_.jpg|62933434], and it's never a hardship to read about characters who love books. Nothing extraordinary, just a good solid summer women's fiction read. show less