Review of This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page

Page's romantic novel celebrates the importance of books for coping, celebrating, and exploring, while also delving into our main protagonist's deep grief and fight to find her footing again after loss. The sweet story offers poignancy, heart, and hope.

Tilly is a young adult still reeling from the death of her beloved husband Joe, and she's hoping that the start of a new year will mean hope and maybe a version of a fresh start.

She receives a mysterious message from the owner of Book Lane, a local London bookshop, and learns that Joe had made arrangements for a handpicked book for Tilly each month of the coming year, hoping to inspire, comfort, and challenge Tilly, but most of all, to open her up to living again. The books become a touchstone each month during that first difficult year after Joe's death.

Tilly befriends bookseller Alfie and his coworkers, and her new friends allow her to grieve as well as celebrate small joys without guilt. But the year following Joe's passing also allow Tilly to imagine a new version of herself and a future with happiness, hope, and the promise of unexpected adventure.

But the grief, the books--and her friendships, particularly with Alfie--change Tilly. She considers her life as she hasn't before, she grows fully into herself, and she has difficult conversations she's avoided (the daughter-in-law/mother-in-law discomfort and rehashing of old grievances resolves messily-beautifully, in satisfying fashion).

While the young widow fights to get her footing back, she thinks back on her relationship with Joe, who was in many ways her polar opposite. She doesn't sugarcoat her memories, and her revisiting the key ups and downs is powerful. Joe celebrated her passion for books but was hardly a reader himself--and then he was gravely ill, hardly able to do more than mastermind the book-a-month plan. It becomes clear that Alfie the well-read book lover was obviously the driving force behind the actual, perfect book suggestions, which makes Tilly feel all kinds of ways.

But Alfie's bookstore, which he inherited from his father, is under threat due to rising rents, rising costs, and an increasingly posh neighborhood threatening to price him out. The community loudly voices support for their beloved store, but it will take a contemporary-romance miracle for the store to be saved.

Luckily, this is a feel-good romance celebrating books while its main protagonist reels with grief. While the complications and difficulties exist, Page makes you certain things will turn out with hope and the promise of joy.

The book recommendations by theme that kick off the chapters (courtesy of Alfie and the bookstore) are a fantastic touch, and along with Tilly's book-a-month selections, Page offers up dozens of titles to explore.

I listened to This Book Made Me Think of You as a libary audiobook via Libby.

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Libby Page is also the author of The Lido, The Vintage Shop of Second Chances, The Island Home, The Lifeline, and The 24-Hour Café.

You might also want to check out these other Bossy reviews of books about books and books that deal with grief.