On a quiet street in Dublin, a lost bookshop is waiting to be found…

For too long, Opaline, Martha and Henry have been the side characters in their own lives.

But when a vanishing bookshop casts its spell, these three unsuspecting strangers will discover that their own stories are every bit as extraordinary as the ones found in the pages of their beloved books. And by unlocking the secrets of the shelves, they find themselves transported to a world of wonder… where nothing is as it seems.

Usually I’m meh about magical realism, but this was a nice book. I think it worked because the magical realism stemmed from the magic of books, and as every book reader knows book magic can take all types of forms, and you just go with it because of the nostalgia, imagination, the journey, what have you.

My friend and I felt that Opaline, and Martha’s POVs were the most interesting. Opaline because of the twists and turns in her journey, and Martha in learning to love herself and her connection to the book shop. Henry’s POV was kinda there. He’s the catalyst for Martha to get into reading, and then to the bookshop, but his own personal arc was less interesting. He’s was primarily there to be the love interest.

The big twist between Opaline and her brother was one we didn’t see coming, but there are a few questions we have that the narration left ambiguous. Like who/what is Mrs. Bowden? Why did Lyndon say the something to Opaline as Armand did, did he orchestrate Opaline and Armand’s whole romance?

Overall, nice book. Not groundbreaking, but certainly a nice beach read with a tight plot and interesting female characters.