The Bookshop on the Corner By Jenny Colgan

Review by Veronica

 “She would be as kick-ass as Katniss Everdeen, as uncompromising as Elizabeth Bennet, as brave as Hero.”

With the warmer weather fast approaching, The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan is a perfect book to read while soaking up the sun.

Nina Redmond works at a local library in Birmingham and loves helping people find that perfect book. However, Nina soon finds herself without a job when her library becomes a tech hub with no books! For the first time, Nina isn’t too sure what she will do. All she knows is she wants to work with books. Nina heads up to a sleepy town in the highlands and ends up buying a van on an uncharacteristic impulse. She decides to transform it into a mobile bookshop and finds herself driving around to all the little towns selling books. The only one who doesn’t seem sold on this whole reading idea is her grumpy landlord. Nina finds herself having adventures, falling in love, and realizing that there is a real-world waiting to be explored outside of her books. 

Now comes the hard part: how to put my love for this book in words. This is my favourite Jenny Colgan book, I have read it several times and it never stops being charming and always leaves me feeling like I am on cloud nine. It has everything a romance bookworm could want: a fun cast of characters, a feel-good story, romance, and lots of book talk. This book really has the power to make you believe that happily-ever-afters do come true.

I adore Nina, and if she were real, I know we would be fast friends. She is kind, charming, and loves making people’s lives better with books. I also loved how Jenny incorporated this message that even though books are lovely, it’s also really important to put them down and go out and experience life, make mistakes, go on adventures, fall in love, and get your heart broken. It was wonderful to see Nina grow as a person through these new experiences and interactions. 

I also had the chance to listen to the audiobook for this book, and it was well done. Lucy Price-Lewis did a fantastic job bringing life to this story and giving each character their own voice. I was impressed with her ability to keep up with the Scottish accent; I would have started to sound like a drunken pirate by the end of the first chapter. I found myself just as engaged with the audio version as I was when reading the physical book.

Be prepared to be swept into a world with unforgettable characters, a charming Scottish highland town, and a story that will make your heart burst with happiness. 

If you are interested in more books that take place in bookshops, check out our list Love Between the Stacks