You've Got Mail--but with lovable Teens!

His family's small bookstore chain is flourishing, Her family's bookstore is closing at the end of August. Both stores are on the same block. I don't recall how this book ended up on my library hold list, but since I was notified that my hold was available, it's clear at some point I heard about this book and added it to my holds!

I started reading it and for the first few pages, I was not particularly intrigued.  I gave it a few more pages and I found myself getting more and more drawn into Madeline's world.  This YA romance is an enemies-to-lovers tale and is a retelling of the movie You've Got Mail (starring Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks). The main characters are just out of high school and so this book is about endings and beginnings, worries and hopes for what the future will bring. 

Madeline has body-esteem issues, and in other books I would have been turned off. However in this book, she is only 17 so it's more understandable.  Plus and most importantly, you see her working on reframing her negative thoughts, and this to me seemed very authentic.  The writing style and Madeline's interior dialogue were just the right amounts of funny, self-deprecating, and sweet. 

 4 stars for a delightful summer before college tale! 

 

An All Around Solidly Good Read! #TheConductors By Nicole Glover

 

I don't know exactly how this book is categorized, but to me, it was a magical, historical cozy. This book takes place in a post-Civil War era where Black people are finally free to live and to use their magic. During the Civil War Hetty and Benjy were conductors on the underground railroad.  These days they live in Philadelphia where Hetty is a seamstress and Benjy is a blacksmith. 

They also solve crimes the white establishment can't be bothered to try and solve. That's where the murder mystery comes in--plus they practice sigil magic.  Hetty is still searching for her sister who was captured during their escape from a plantation. Benjy and Hetty are married by it's a marriage of convenience, not love. 

In the first book in this new series we are introduced to an interesting and quirky cast of characters, we learn what motivates Hetty and Benjy and what they are up against. The book is told from Hetty's point of view, I liked her voice and her opinions. She is a quintessential amateur sleuth and she has a little magic so I don't get too upset when she puts herself in a tight spot. 

If you like magical cozies, or historical cozies, I really think you should check this book out, it's longer than a standard cozy and it's described as fantasy fiction---but I know a new kind of cozy when I read one and this is a wonderful one! 

4 Stars for The Conductors by Nicole Glover.  Add it to your TBR!