Review: The Little Bookshop on the Seine

Rebecca Raisin's books have been on my radar for awhile now but, for some reason or another, I just never picked one up. That changed when I had the chance to review the newly rereleased The Little Bookshop on the Seine. It seemed like a perfect read for me as it featured a (bit too) dreamy bookshop owner who travels to Paris to explore a brand new world and tries to jumpstart her stagnated life.

Here's the synopsis:

It’s The Holiday on the Champs-Élysées in a great big love letter to Paris, charming old bookstores and happily-ever-afters!
When bookshop owner Sarah Smith is offered the opportunity for a job exchange with her Parisian friend Sophie, saying yes is a no-brainer—after all, what kind of romantic would turn down six months in Paris? Sarah is sure she’s in for the experience of a lifetime—days spent surrounded by literature in a gorgeous bookshop, and the chance to watch the snow fall on the Eiffel Tower. Plus, now she can meet up with her journalist boyfriend, Ridge, when his job takes him around the globe.
But her expectations cool faster than her café au lait soon after she lands in the City of Light—she’s a fish out of water in Paris. The customers are rude, her new coworkers suspicious and her relationship with Ridge has been reduced to a long-distance game of phone tag, leaving Sarah to wonder if he’ll ever put her first over his busy career. As Christmas approaches, Sarah is determined to get the shop—and her life—back in order…and make her dreams of a Parisian happily-ever-after come true.

I think I might have been burned just a little bit by high expectations. I had already seen some glowing reviews from bloggers I trust so I went in expecting something fantastic - which may have been a mistake. The book was really sweet and a nice read but it didn't completely wow me. 

Sophie (the owner of the Paris bookshop who came up with the whole swap idea) is completely unreasonable. I was so frustrated with how she was reacting to the issues Sarah was facing. What did she expect would happen? And even though it was part of her story arc, Sarah's inability to stand up for herself - at first - was hard to read. Maybe it's one of those cases of it's hard to read because I sometimes feel like that too and it's a part of my personality that I'd like to work on. Too much psychoanalysis for a book review? Moving right along!

The other thing that nagged at me a little was that, while this is a stand-alone novel, it does follow a novella about Sarah and how she and Ridge originally started dating. Do I think you need to read it first? Not necessarily. I didn't, after all (though I learned I do have it on my kobo and have for some time...). But there were a few moments when I felt Raisin was relying too heavily on readers already knowing Sarah (and her past), Ridge, and the girls at The Gingerbread Cafe. I also felt like Sarah, at times, used British phrases instead of American ones. She calls a macaron a biscuit, for example. Americans (or Canadians, even, and we use a lot of Britishisms) would not use "biscuit" to refer to a cookie. A weird thing to bother me, perhaps, but bother me it did. 

I did adore the people Sarah met, and connected with, in Paris. Raisin created some wonderful characters and I was fully invested in all of their lives. Even Beatrice who was completely awful to Sarah (side note: I totally called Beatrice's secret and am shocked none of the characters figured it out). It was just a wonderfully fun cast of characters who were so great to read about.

And the setting! Swoon. I've never been to Paris (it's on the never-ending bucket list) but I kind of felt like I was there with Sarah, experiencing the city for the first time. Plus, the magic of the bookshop was just...oh, it was wonderful. I wished I could explore Once Upon a Time (and Sarah's shop in small-town Ashford, too!) and run my hands over the spines to see what sorts of stories the books would want to tell me.

All in all, The Little Bookshop on the Seine was sweet and heartwarming. Rebecca Raisin has created a character and a story that is a love letter to both book lovers and Paris. 

Buy the book 
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About the Author
Rebecca Raisin is the author of several novels, including the beloved Little Paris series and the Gingerbread Café trilogy, and her short stories have been published in various anthologies and fiction magazines.

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, Harlequin, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration for the purposes of a blog tour. All opinions are honest and my own.*