Book Smart Kate

Book: 🌟🌟🌟💫 Spice: Closed Door

by Tessa Bickers (September 3, 2024) Many thanks to @netgalley @htp_hive for an advanced copy. Below is my honest review. 

Erin Connolly needs a life reset. After a personal heartbreak and professional upheaval, she takes it upon herself to “Marie Kondo” her flat – donating unused clothes and bringing books to her local little free library. But when she realizes that she accidentally donated her beloved (and heavily annotated) copy of To Kill a Mockingbird. She returns over and over to the little free library, hoping someone will return it. To her surprise, someone does—but with a twist. The mystery person has added comments to hers and invites her to continue their conversation in the margins of Great Expectations. Thus begins a life-altering relationship, sharing raw and personal details neither has ever shared before, but Erin and the mystery man aren’t the strangers they think they are; in fact, he is the one person she’s sworn to hate forever.

I thought this would be a fun, lighthearted book. It, in fact, deals with some weighty issues related to shame, loss, illness, and other things (DM me if you want more details). I enjoyed the love story that unfolded in the margins of the books and liked the subplot between James and Joel, where they explore why men often struggle to share their feelings in friendships and how they can hold each other accountable to do better. There were, however, times when I found Erin hard to root for, and there were several situations that were set up as binary choices where I felt like there were options that were less so. But, if you love books about books, this one is an ode to classics, modern must-reads, and everything in between (Great Expectations, On the Road, Perks of Being a Wallflower, etc).