Review:The Bookstore by Deborah Meyler (audio)

Title: The Bookstore    

Author: Deborah Meyler      

Narrator: Heather Wilds  

Published: February 2014, Tantor Media (First published August 2013)  

Length: 11 hours 23 minutes  

Source: Personal copy via Audible 

Brilliant, idealistic
Esme Garland moves to Manhattan armed with a pres­tigious scholarship at
Columbia University. When Mitchell van Leuven—a New Yorker with the
bluest of blue New York blood—captures her heart with his stunning good
looks and a penchant for all things erotic, life seems truly glorious . .
. until a thin blue line signals a wrinkle in Esme’s tidy plan. Before
she has a chance to tell Mitchell about her pregnancy, he suddenly
declares their sex life is as exciting as a cup of tea, and ends it all.

Determined to master everything from Degas to diapers, Esme starts work
at a small West Side bookstore, finding solace in George, the laconic
owner addicted to spirulina, and Luke, the taciturn, guitar-playing
night manager. The oddball customers are a welcome relief from
Columbia’s high-pressure halls, but the store is struggling to survive
in this city where nothing seems to last.

When Mitchell recants
his criticism, his passion and promises are hard to resist. But if Esme
gives him a second chance, will she, like her beloved book­store, lose
more than she can handle? A sharply observed and evocative tale of
learning to face reality without giv­ing up on your dreams, The Bookstore is sheer enchantment from start to finish.

My thoughts: Being the avid reader and lover of bookstores that I am, I was of course drawn to this book by the title alone. It also helped that it’s set in New York City, one of my favorite places!

The story itself is quite charming and has a cast of interesting, quirky characters. I quite liked Esme, though I did not understand her infatuation with Mitchell. I found him to be quite the cad and would get so excited when they would split up. He was cold and arrogant and I just did not get the attraction there. 

My favorite parts of the story happened while Esme was working at The Owl, the little bookstore she gets a part-time job at. There she meets all sorts of quirky, fun people. Between the people that work there and those that just come in, she learns valuable lessons, all during a rather difficult time in her life. 

Oh, and I loved that there was one scene when Esme and Luke, one of the bookstore employees, are picking up books from an older woman who is selling them. She offers Esme tea and they go into the kitchen while Luke starts packing up the books. The woman opens her cabinet and Esme sees quite a collection of small tins of tea and the woman tells her they are from this delightful little tea shop in Greenwich Village, called McNulty’s – this is my favorite tea shop!!! I love going there – they have the best loose tea, my favorite being their Special Blend, which I am drink right now as I write this review. Hands down this might have been my favorite scene in the whole book!

I enjoyed this debut novel from Deborah Meyler and will certainly keep my eye out to see what she writes next.

Audio Thoughts: This is the first time I’ve listened to Heather Wilds narrate a book and I enjoyed listening to her. She was able to give Esme a fairly decent British accent while giving everyone else their own unique voices. The one voice I couldn’t stand was Mitchell, but since he was a cad anyway, it seemed to fit! Good narration and I will definitely be looking to see what else Heather Wilds narrates.

*** Devourer of Books
hosts Sound Bytes  – a monthly link-up to share the audio books that
everyone is listening to. Stop by and you just might find your next
audio book!