You wouldn’t think you’d find cozy fiction set against the blitz, but this book does so with charm. The themes of loyalty, determination, sacrifice, and optimism soften the backdrop of war, fear, destruction, and loss. The love of literature and its ability to inspire, transform, provide escape, and yet also connection is the true main character of this tale. This story is a good reminder that in difficult times it is more important than ever to read a good book.

As close to "cozy fiction" as a historical fiction book set in the Blitz could be.  Enjoyable light read.  Relationships develop very quickly

Normally, I avoid WWII books, because they often feel like the same stories retold. This one feels more about the community and the ties the circle of characters have to each other and their little corner of London. I love how the bookstore functions as its own character with the importance it plays throughout the story. Grace's journey of falling in love with books warmed my heart, and her new, surrogate parents are so wholesome. Everyone ended up being exactly who others needed at that time. Despite my knowing the bombings of Britain were coming, I appreciated and enjoyed seeing those events through the eyes of Grace, Mr. Evans at the bookshop, her partner protecting the city, and the rest of the cast. A full cast for the audio narration would have been phenomenal, but the narrator still does a wonderful job. The comaraderie during disaster is akin to what we experience after hurricanes and floods in Louisiana, so I understood how people came together run support those who need help. The romance is sweet and natural with the minimal contact they have combined with the constant exchange of letters - it works and adds just enough to be story to be believable. 

“Books are what have brought us together. A love of the stories within, the adventures they take us on, their glorious distraction in a time of strife. And a reminder that we always have hope.” 🥹❤️

In another life, I could only hope that I would be a Grace Bennett.

I quickly fell in love with the characters in this story. With Grace, Mrs. Weatherford, and especially with Mr. Evans, the curmudgeonly bookstore owner whose heart softened along the way.

There isn’t much plot to this one, but there’s a lot of heart. If you’re at all interested in getting a peek into what life was like during the London Blitz, how bookstores were affected, and how a young girl can fall in love with reading and bring a community together in times of strife, I highly recommend picking up The Last Bookshop in London.

This was my first book by Madeline Martin, but it won’t be my last.

I started The Last Bookshop in London this day just to listen to something while I was working and ended up in my bed in tears finishing the last chapters of this book. It was so good it gave me back that feeling of loving books so much and how special they are to me. 

I can't believe it's been 10 days since I read this book and I haven't done the notes yet. It's just as if I don't want to get over it, objectively maybe it's not the best book out there, but I know I really liked it and it meant so much to me. 

The way I picked up this book after I watched Pearl Harbor and I wanted some historical fiction and then I made Shannel choose one of the little papers from my tbr jar lol 

I had listened to this narrator before in When We Had Wings and I already knew the audiobook was going to be great, I'm excited to listen to more books narrated by her. 

I honestly don't think I can't put into words how good this book was in my opinion. Like just for this book I have lost the ability to write reviews, but I'll try. 

This book is about Grace Bennet, a young girl who went to live to London just before the war got to them and finds a new job at a bookshop with this grumpy old man who didn't want her at first and yet she's determined to do a good job. So we see how the years go by and she lives with her mom's best friend and has to adapt not only to a new city but a city in war, desperate to do her part to help people she joins kind of a night watch to do so. But she did not only helped people that way, she saved people's lives by building a little community around books, during those years in the bookshop she learned to love books and reading, the old man became like a father figure to her and he recommended her books, she started to read for people when the city was being attacked and every afternoon to help them get through it. That’s basically it, but the connections between the characters are so special and emotional to me, I feel like she ended up with a little found family and so much support from different people. 

I love love love reading historical fiction books set in WWII, I keep learning new things about that time with each book, I get to meet these incredibly strong characters and feel so much empathy for them hoping they and their loved ones will survive. 

Grace getting to a new city and working on a bookshop while she had a support system back at her new home just made me want to do it too and have the same things! 

I think one of the most especial things in this book for me was the way the author talked about books, about reading, about being a reader and the way she built a community around these stories Grace would read them. I just absolutely loved that. I wanted to immediately start reading so many classics after this. 

This book truly reminded me of how much I love books and how especial they are to me, it made me want to have my own personal library and people I could share the stories with, I love thinking of books as a love language 🤎 

Reading my annotations from the last couple of chapters makes me so sad and almost in tears again, this book I swear 😭 

I hope I can own my own copy someday in my little library <3 

I have this author's other 2 historical fiction books on my TBR and I'm so excited, I love that they have something involving books on the title.