Ebook and Paperback Book Giveaway: The Bookstore by Deborah Meyler

I found the book rather "slow going". It needed a bit more "whoomph".

There was too much reference to art and literature, which detracted from reading the story.

Thanks for the book. I enjoyed the story but wish she'd just got rid of Mitchell in the first place, he was just an idiot. Some bits were a bit boring, it wasn't as easy to read as I expected, ok but put down able. I probably wouldn't read this author again.

Thank you for the book. I couldn't get into this book. It felt contrived, and I lost interest fairly early on after the electric toothbrush incident. Just wrong, on so many levels. I have tried to get into it again but think it will be during a book drought.

I found this book ok but I wouldn't say I was gripped.

Well, I am another here who has mixed feelings on this book.

Esme was so naïve it was ridiculous. She was meant to be an intellectual woman and her weakness for M was just too much. I loved the Owl and its odd characters and felt it would be perfect to work there.

From the start we all knew that M was a loser and that he treats her like a doormat got me mad at times. how can she be in love with this guy?

The ending was fine, hopefully we may get Esme book#2

Thank you for the book!

Love bookshops, love New York, love reading. So should all have been a perfect fit but afraid it didn't work. The characters here are cardboard cut outs and I couldn't work up any enthusiasm for any of them - even Esme, who I think I was supposed to feel sorry for, just annoyed me by the middle of the book. The ending is obviously written with a sequel in mind and it's one I won't be reading.

I think that the author brought to life a story about an English art history student in New York with their written descriptions but the story wasn't very believable and by the end I was fed up of the art and book references as they didn't seem to relevant. I did finish the book and didn't mind it but wouldn't recommend it to a friend.

Thanks for the ebook.
I'm still undecided on this book after finishing it. I usually enjoy some chick lit type books but not sure on this one. Esme was wet and I kept wanting to shake her, Mitchell was awful but she kept going back for more. I liked the ending however and would liked on think she finally got shot of Mitchell and lived happily ever after...

Loved it. Light hearted but layered with literary allusions, soft-subjected but with some tough subject themes (emotional abuse much Mitchell?!)

Apparently this is her first. Look forward to more of her books.

As others have said the book is quite light reading and therefore some of the serious issues raised such as the plight of the homeless were glossed over a little. I enjoyed the descriptions of the Owl and the depiction of Manhattan life seen through Esme's eyes. As a main protagonist I didn't feel much empathy with Esme. Whilst she was able to stand up to Mitchell's father at the party she was quite willing to repeatedly let Mitchell treat her appallingly. I liked the open-ending - I think having her skip off into the sunset with Luke would have been out of tone with her indecision throughout the book and would have seemed a bit false. As a quick read I enjoyed the book and would certainly read others from this author.

This book was mildly entertaining, fine for a short flight I took recently. I had no trouble putting it down. How any intelligent woman could keep going back to Mitchell is beyond me, and the ending was unsatisfactory without making me care enough to be frustrated. Chick lit, and not a great example. On the upside the style was ok and it was well written enough.

I only got a few chapters into this book. Too much chic lit for me and like others have already mentioned it feels as if the author has tried to make it more high brow by throwing in all the arty bookish references.

I might be too old for this book as I used to read more chic lit books when I was in my 20s so perhaps 10 years ago I would have enjoyed this book more.

I only got as far as to the masturbation with the electric toothbrush. This scene made me put the book down I'm afraid.

Thanks for my e-copy of this book. From the blub it really sounded like my kind of thing, New York, bookshop, chick lit so not too heavy etc but I'm afraid I didn't get on with it at all. I've now given up reading it as I just didn't care about any of the characters enough (and some of them I really disliked, I know you're not really supposed to like Mitchell but he didn't seem to have any redeeming qualities!) I found myself feeling irritated rather than engaged. I may come back to it in the future in a different frame of mind but at the moment it seems quite unlikely sorry.

There were some things I liked about the book, already mentioned above (the Owl community), the art references, some of the griminess of day-to-day living in the metropolis. Mostly, it was very nicely written. What didn't chime with me was that I had no empathy with the protagonist Esme and I felt a bit prudish about some of the sex in the book. I am usually selective about what books I apply for and this one did at moments make me wonder what I was thinking of! (I am old enough to be Esme's mother and there simply not enough about her to satisfy me.) Mitchell seemed to be a construct of Sex and the City mashed with a number of other stereotypes (and the scene when she goes to the Hamptons or wherever is reminiscent of a movie!)
If you've read 'The Gold Finch' then this is another book which has an excursion into a storage facility... Not a particularly insightful comment I know.
In fairness I thought that the book was well-written, accessible with quite a wide-appeal and I enjoyed it more than Sarah Walters' latest which I read in tandem. Luckily neither will grace my shelves (the former an e-book and the latter a library book). I feel a bit of a sucker for punishment - I am now reading 'A Girl is a Half-formed Thing'.

I am struggling to read this book as not much is really happening. I dislike Mitchell and of course his rich unsupportive parents. Esme is supposed to be well educated but why would she fall for this fool in the first place. I will finish it though and move on to another book which will hopefully be more gripping.

I liked the book. Easy to read. Agree with Haffdonga, that there were parts of the plot left unexplored. The ending was quite open which I didn't like but that is personal preference rather than a poor book as I like everything wrapped up and finished off at the end.
Thanks for the book!

There is some truly beautiful writing in this book. Unfortunately I came away feeling it was wasted on some thoroughly unpleasant characters. I found it impossible to believe how little Esme thought about the impact of a baby on her PhD, especially the funding - it simply didn't ring true. Opportunities like that very rarely come along in life and it was almost a non-issue.

Mitchell is so awful that I found it hard to understand why she would ever have fallen for him. His family was so stereotypical I felt they lacked any interest (I watch a hell of a lot of US tv and am very familiar with the type.) The book shop was more interesting but still didn't totally grab me.

What just about rescued it for me was some exquisite observation, and a few turns of phrase that really wowed me.

Thanks for my copy, I enjoyed the book.

I love New York City, so was very happy to spend a few days imagining it.

Unlike some of the others on this thread, I liked the art references in the book. I don't think they were added extras to make the book more high brow. They showed Esme's emotions and how she uses her imagination.

Yes, Mitchell was an arse. I spent the whole book hoping she would dump him. Esme is ruled by her heart, convinced that she loves him, no matter how badly he treats her. That resonated with me, because I have a good friend who is similarly intelligent and highly educated with an equally unsuitable partner.

OK, it's not Great Literature or anything, but a good bit of escapism for a cold week in January.

Finished it thank you.

Yes it's chick lit with added cultural references but in a cold week in January when I'm half into hibernation it hit the spot. This made me smile; "I gave Mitchell a Paddington stare over the top of my menu. He might see it as the furious stare of a human being..."

Mitchell & family are obnoxious but The Owl 'gang' are lovely. The author creates a sense of community with credible characters. (Don't know why but it came to mind this was better than that created in A Casual Vacancy.)

In the chick lit genre I would give it 4 out of 5 stars. I wouldn't pick it for a bookclub.

Thank you for my free copy! I really wanted to love this book as the synopsis sounded wonderful and i couldn't wait to read it but couldn't get on with it at all. I struggled to understand how Esme ever got together with Mitchell as he was baffling and his behaviour was mostly just cruel. I loved the Owl and the characters there and would have liked more of them and a bit more of their back stories. I found Esme disappointing as the main character and just couldn't get past her behaviour and relationship with Mitchell. In the end I skim read to the finish. Really disappointed by this book.

Thanks for my copy! I really enjoyed reading the book. Loved the Owl and could relate to living abroad and feeling a little lost sometimes. Esme seemed a strong character but caught up in the whirlwind of Mitchell. I really wished she just could say No to him. When I finished the book I said out loud 'Is that it?' It felt like it had ended so another book could be written.

I've just finished this (thank you for my e-copy!), and found it enjoyable but lightweight. Nothing wrong with that, but the novel struggled to find its tone. At times, as previous posters have mentioned, it came across as chick lit dressed up as more serious literature by adding lots of art references. Still, the plot bounced along at a great pace, and it captured New York very well. Mitchell was an arse, and I found it difficult to understand why Esme, supposedly a strong, intelligent woman, would put up with him and his casual cruelties. I wanted to know more about Anastasia, and Luke and Stella. I liked the inconclusive ending, and it made a sequel likely. I think a second instalment would work well, now we've got the measure of the characters and Esme's world.

I received a free ebook copy of this. I'm ploughing my way through it but not enjoying it much. Is Esme really as naive and as much of a door mat as she comes across? Surely someone with her brains and intelligence would have a bit more about her and stand up to the obnoxious Mitchell.

The synopsis of the book made it sound more interesting than it is. I'll finish reading it but am glad I hadn't paid out money for it.

Thanks for the book Mumsnet. But actually nobody has emailed me to tell me I was a lucky winner or where to review the book - I hope here is OK.

I enjoyed it in a rather forgettable sort of way. The story of Esme falling for and pregnant to the wealthy and good looking Wrong Man is as old as time, but Meyler's easy to read, descriptive style makes the story rich with enjoyable colour and character. I have never been to New York but Meyler's depicitions of the setting, both its good and bad, make me feel familiar with the city. The description of Esme's first desperate weeks of single motherhood were especially resonant.

Somehow though, I finished the book feeling a little fobbed off. Meyler chooses to end the story with Esme's future and happiness still uncertain, realisitically so, and I was comfortable with that. But through the plot there are several hints at more complex and interesting developments that are not only unresolved but are left completely unexplored. For example, Esme mentions several times that she doesn't want to tell her mother she is pregnant. Later her mother has been told and comes out to support her with the baby. So what went on between them? How did she tell her mother? How did her mother react? What did Esme feel about it? Likewise Esme's relationships with Mitchell and Luke, although both believably 'open-ended' don't give us quite enough depth of information to explore either characters' motives or to care quite enough about their outcomes. There is a feeling that the editor's knife cut too deeply and Meyler chose to depict a broader cast of bookstore staff and customers, rather than allowing us more insight into the characters who are plot rather than backdrop.

I hope Meyler writes more and would definitely read her next novel. I also hope that one day I go to New York.

Thank you Mumsnet for my copy of the book.

I found the book quite compelling. I thought it would be fairly predictable but there are some unpredictable moments and a particularly harrowing bit that really struck a chord and made it more than mere "chick-lit" for me.

I love how the author captures what books mean to a book-lover, the joy of reading, the escape. The descriptions of places are evocative and vivid and the bookstore and the eccentric group of characters that frequent it are particularly charming. Having said that I expected to love the book more than I did. There were bits of it that really grated. In some ways, I really liked Esme's character, particularly as she is so determined not to give up and go home. Having spent a year living abroad I could identify with her adapting to life in a new city and embracing a somewhat different culture (there are some funny moments highlighting the great British/American language divide). A far from perfect heroine, she is intelligent but rather naive and so it is easy for others to take advantage of her trusting nature (something that reminded me uncomfortably of my younger self). Sometimes she really annoyed me though - I could not believe she allowed Mitchell to get away with some of the things he said to her, let alone did!

Then there's Mitchell. I could see how Esme would initially be attracted to him but given just how obviously manipulative he is, I couldn't quite see how such an intelligent girl would come to love him! Nor why his many issues and cruel nature don't have her running for the hills! We get so little insight into his character and, in particular, I would have liked to hear more from Anastasia.

Another unpredictable and surprising thing about the book was the way it ended so abruptly. I have pondered this for while and now it makes sense to me, being pretty much a snapshot of Esme's life during her pregnancy but I would have liked to know more.