THE BANNED BOOKSHOP OF MAGGIE BANKS, written by Shauna Robinson. Shauna is a new to me author, what attracted me to read this story is the bookshop in the title. Trust me a bookshop book story is always fun to read as its increases the pleasure, satisfaction of every reader and lover of books. What better for a reader, booklover to be in a bookshop, an ideal situation and share their love with fellow and new readers? Add Banned to that and it adds to the intrigue of booksellers and everything behind the scenes of running a bookstore.
In this story we follow Maggie, who is in between jobs, desperate to find a long time, fulfilling career even if to just up everyone and their Mom’s around her. Filling in at her friends’, part owned, bookshop while she is on maternity leave, Maggie finds herself in a new city-town with a sweet community and some really friendly people. Soon she loses herself amongst the friendly neighbours and getting up to date with the rules of the bookshop. As Maggie settles and get comfortable she resolves to make sure her friends bookshop business is thriving despite the limitations it comes with. So starts the sleuthing, selling books clandestinely, and organising underground successful book events. All the while Maggie can’t help but fall for her new home, community, the friends she’s made and the cute yet grumpy Malcolm whose job entitles him to be a problem for Maggie every step of the way.
Will Maggie find a career everyone but her can be proud of? Or, Will she give up like everyone knows and expects her to?
What I liked in this story -
I loved the premise of this story especially as it has a story within a story which is always great to have in a book.
The way racism is addressed in this story is subtle. Not in our face yet impactful enough to let the reader know they need to educate themselves even if just to be a decent human being to be around.
I loved the energy and vivaciousness of the heroine, her enthusiasm is infectious and keeps you wanting more of her.
The clandestine parts of the story are thrilling in the context they are presented.
Overall I love this story set in a small town, sprinkled with History, some mystery paired with strong and quirky characters.
When Maggie Banks arrives in Bell River to run her best friend's struggling bookstore, she expects to sell bestsellers to her small-town clientele. But running a bookstore in a town with a famously bookish history isn't easy. Bell River's literary society insists on keeping the bookstore stuck in the past, and Maggie is banned from selling anything written this century. So, when a series of mishaps suddenly tip the bookstore toward ruin, Maggie will have to get creative to keep the shop afloat.
And in Maggie's world, book rules are made to be broken.
To help save the store, Maggie starts an underground book club, running a series of events celebrating the books readers actually love. But keeping the club quiet, selling forbidden books, and dodging the literary society is nearly impossible. Especially when Maggie unearths a town secret that could upend everything.
Maggie will have to decide what's more important: the books that formed a small town's history, or the stories poised to change it all.
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