By: Nina George
I really wanted to love this book and there are times when I was reading it that I really did, and then I would have to slog through at other times. The premise, an orphan in a French village who can see love and whose father runs a book bus business seemed so charming, I could hardly wait to start it.
It’s like those movies where you go to see them and then realize that the best parts were in the trailer. The rest was very confusing and wordy. The book bus doesn’t even become a thing until about 45% of the way in to the book and even then it is not really central to the story and in no way connected to Marie-Jeanne and her ability to see love.
There is a very large cast of human characters, many of whom narrate parts of the book along with love, fate, and an olive tree. This makes the book seem even more disjointed and fractured.
While it was a quick read and a charming story, it could have been so much more if it didn’t try to have the gimmick of the narrators.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for this review.
