• Home
  • About Me
  • 5* Elements
  • 2019 Reading Challenges
    • Other Reading Challenges
    • 2013 Reading Challenges
    • 2014 Reading Challenges
    • 2015 Reading Challenges
    • 2016 Reading Challenges
    • 2017 Reading Challenges
    • 2018 Reading Challenges
  • My Bookish Lists
    • My Classics Club List
    • Reading the Newberys
    • Reading My Own Books
Smiling Shelves

The Secret of Lost Things [Review]

6/18/2014

2 Comments

 
Picture
The Secret of Lost Things by Sheridan Hay is set in a used bookstore in New York City. And honestly, the setting was about the only reason I stuck with the book to the end. What bibliophile doesn’t love a used bookstore? Especially one whose labyrinthine interior allows you to get lost in a world full of books, used, rare, and slightly read.

Rosemary is an 18-year-old girl from Tasmania. Her mother has just died, and she has never known her father. Effectively an orphan, she moves to New York to begin her great adventure. Except her adventure is really not that adventurous. Mostly it involves getting too emotionally tangled with her fellow bookstore co-workers, all of whom have some sort of unusual and often disturbing quirk. Oliver is in charge of the nonfiction section. He keeps copious notes in a notebook, and despite being sexually ambiguous, Rosemary falls in love with him. Pearl is in charge of the cash register. She becomes a mother figure for Rosemary, even though she’s not technically a woman – yet. I guess the cast of characters was just too weird for me. None of them tugged at my heartstrings. In the end, I didn’t care what happened to any of them. The plot is ostensibly based on finding a lost manuscript by Herman Melville, but that’s really only a vehicle for further complicating already complicated relationships.

If by the end I can’t learn to care about a redheaded bookstore employee (what I would secretly love to be!), then there’s something seriously wrong with this book.

2 Comments
Jade @ Bits & Bobs link
6/22/2014 06:42:45 am

It's such a shame that this book was a disappoint. The title, plot, setting and cover art all scream to me though. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this one!
:-)

Reply
Julie @ Smiling Shelves link
6/24/2014 01:16:41 pm

I know! Isn't that cover awesome? Sometimes judging a book by its cover backfires...

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    My name is Julie, and I own a lot of books. As in, they are stacked on the floor because I've run out of room on the shelves. And those shelves? There are so many books on them that they smile -- not sag; smile. This blog will cover book reviews and all manner of other bookish things.

    You can contact me at julie@smilingshelves.com.

    Picture
    What are 5* Elements all about?

    Picture
    Picture

    RSS Feed

    Follow on Bloglovin

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    Currently Reading

    Clara and Mr. Tiffany
    A Little Folly

    2019 Reading Challenge

    2019 Reading Challenge
    Julie has read 9 books toward their goal of 75 books.
    hide
    9 of 75 (12%)
    view books

    Archives

    November 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013

    Categories

    All
    5* Atmosphere
    5* Characters
    5* Learning
    5* Learning
    5* Meaning
    5* Plot
    5* Plot
    5* Voice
    5* Voice
    5* Writing
    Book Club
    Book Club
    Challenges
    Children's
    Classics Club
    Fiction
    Historical Fiction
    It's Monday
    It's Monday
    Library Loot
    Life
    Newbery Reading Challenge
    Nonfiction
    Read A Thons
    Reading
    Review
    Saturday Snapshot
    Smiling Shelves Soapbox
    Stacking The Shelves
    Top Ten Tuesday
    Travel
    Young Adult


    Picture