The Library of Borrowed Hearts

By: Lucy Gilmore

Narrated by: Leanne Woodward, Aven Shore, Joe Jameson, Bob Ball

Librarian Chloe Sampson has been struggling: to take care of her three younger siblings, to find herself, to make ends meet. She’s just about at the end of her rope when she stumbles across a rare edition of a book from the 1960s at the local flea market.

Deciding it’s a sign of her luck turning, she takes it home with her—only to be shocked when her cranky hermit of a neighbor swoops in and offers to buy it for an exorbitant price. Intrigued, Chloe takes a closer look at the book only to find notes scribbled in the margins between two young lovers back when the book was new…one of whom is almost definitely Jasper Holmes, the curmudgeon next door. And when she begins following the clues left behind, she discovers this isn’t the only old book in town filled with their romantic marginalia.

This kickstarts a literary scavenger hunt that Chloe is determined to see through to the end. What happened to the two tragic lovers who corresponded in the margins of so many different library books? And what does it have to do with the sad old man next door—who only now has begun to open his home to Chloe and her siblings?

In a romantic tale that spans the decades, Chloe discovers that there’s much more to her neighbor than meets the eye. And in allowing herself to accept the unexpected friendship he offers, she learns that some love stories begin in the unlikeliest of places.

©2024 Lucy Gilmore (P)2024 Dreamscape Media

Clever writing!

What’s not to love about a book that is an easy listen/read but is actually pretty clever writing? This book’s plot, characters and themes are all interesting and flee the norm and somehow that makes space for the listener/reader to relax in their own skin. The book *feels* like a safe listen even though the author actually subverts a lot of stereotypes and grounds her story in the challenges of reality.

Very engrossing!

A lovely story of love, and how it doesn’t always go in the direction you expect.

Clever and unique story

It was a great story, I loved 75% of it. The ending was just meh. I felt like there were a couple better directions it could have taken, but overall I would recommend it. 3.5 stars.

Meh

Under developed characters with a lot of literary tropes, which is ironic because the book goes on about avoiding tropes used by other well renowned authors or books.

emotionally fulfilling

a most emotionally fulfilling, satisfying read./listen characters truly alive off the page. the goodness of humanity- i sure hope it exists.