The Forgotten Bookshop in Paris: from an exciting new voice in historical fiction comes a gripping and emotional novel

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This story will keep you reading, it is engaging and full of suspense and close calls. Secret meetings, and fatal consequences. I recommend this book, you will want to read it.

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Yes it is…Jacques and his wife lived in that very apartment above the bookshop while Jacques kept the peace with the Germans by selling books to an officer, but his wife Mathilde was in the resistance and got herself in trouble. It’s a story that reminds us that change is always possible and that taking risks can provide rewards. Why did the present timeline bother me this much? Well, it's not only that I hadn't mentally prepared myself for the contemporary romance part, but it was also the content of this storyline itself. I'm sorry, but I didn't sign up for a story about an extremely irritating woman whining about her husband being a cheat and a bastard, and then disrespecting the history and people of 'her square' just because she thinks its her destiny to reopen the bookshop. To make things worse, after she is being cheated on (something the story doesn't let us forget), she actually oggles a man who she KNOWS has a girlfriend?!?! Double standards indeed. It's safe to say that I STRONGLY disliked Juliette's character, and she was one of the reasons I came close to DNFing this story. Books were his livelihood, his passion, his raison d’être; how could he allow them to be destroyed? He had already accepted so much humiliation from the Nazis but this was a step too far.’After discovering her husband’s affair while on vacation in Paris, Juliette finds herself unable to leave the city. Drawn to an abandoned bookstore, Juliette discovers its secrets and how they entwine with her family history. It was as if she was meant to be there. Jacques is no hero, he has had a constrained lonely upbringing enduring recurring illness. He fell in love at first sight with Mathilde and was surprised that she felt the same way. However, this inept bookshop owner surprises himself when only after a short time he begins to understand Mathilde's need not to be a passive spectator but to be proactive in resistance and he puts aside his fears and becomes a man of real compassion and great bravery.

A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by Netgalley and Avon in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! *** The couple live in an apartment a couple of floors above the bookshop, under the close scrutiny of Madame Bourdain and they don’t know if they can trust her? Mathilde finds living under German occupation difficult, the Gestapo are watching her movements and she has to flee Paris. The occupation continues and the couple witness atrocities to their fellow Parisians, Mathilde is determined to become involved with any sort of resistance. However, after she is taken in by the Police and brought home by Herr Schmidt, he makes it perfectly clear that she leave Paris and for which he has arranged a pass. As things turn out the couple are already hiding a woman in the secret room and it's decided for Mathilde to take her on the train south with her. Jacques stays in Paris to look after his ailing mother as well as running his bookshop.

In a word, disappointing. I was happy to review this through Netgalley but this isn’t my sort of story. Primarily a work of historical fiction bouncing between occupied France in WWII and a by the numbers romance set in 2022. Normally historical fiction is my favorite genre but the modern romance is straight out of a Hallmark movie. If you like those cliches and light romances, you’ll most likely enjoy this. It’s very heavy on tropes like a woman fresh out of a bad marriage, starting her life over in the city of romance and meeting a man she’s immediately drawn to. However they end up hating one another when they first meet, getting close while fixing a sink that suddenly bursts, and almost derailing the whole relationship twice because of simple misunderstandings.

Using the all to familiar dual time line technique this novel, set in Nazi occupied and current day Paris, tells the story of a bookshop and the people who run it. And of course how they come together across history. In 1940 Paris, Jacques and Mathilde had just gotten married as WW2 broke out. Jacques owns a bookshop, while Mathilde works at an art gallery. Eventually, with Germans taking over Paris, the art gallery closes and Mathilde is without a job. Jacques keeps up with the shop, as both secretly aid in the war. Soon, however, Mathilde must escape for her safety. Will Jacques and Mathilde ever see each other again? How does Juliette presently tie in with the history of Jacques and Mathilde? There are secrets to be discovered!!! Then the German Army arrives. Paris falls. Life for these two people will never be the same. Mathilde is a firebrand. She wants to resist. Mild mannered Jacques is terribly afraid of her getting into trouble with the Nazis. He doesn’t want to lose her. As time passes, Mathilde must leave Paris for her misbehavior. Fortunately a German officer who has been haunting the bookstore gets her a pass to the south of France. But trouble follows her. A lovely read that has some romance, mystery, history, and a chance to enjoy the city of lights both past and present. In the present timeline, you get to follow strong people too. But it felt more like a romance and or women fiction.

This is a beautiful read that is set in two time zones of 1940 after the invasion of France and present day with Juliette and husband Kevin. Books are important to save but so are people. Everyone has a story to tell and what a great one ours will be when all this is over."

Juliette and Kevin are on holiday in Paris from the USA. Juliette is half French and wants to find the square that has been drawn in her late mothers painting, that she kept on her wall for so many years. But things don’t go to plan with the holiday in the city of love. Her Husband Kevin decides that he wants to stop short the holiday and go home but Juliette has other ideas and when she finds out that her husband ha been having an affair, she decides that she wants to stay on in Paris. Paris 1940 Jacques and Mathilde gets married just as WW2 breaks out. They live in an apartment above a bookstore. Mathilde works for a museum but also the resistance. She decides to leave Paris and help an Englishwoman too safety, but Jacques decides to stay in Paris and sells books to the Germans, hoping that one day Mathilde with return to him. Jacques finds a secret room in the Bookshop, so he does his bit for the war and hides jews and children that would be otherwise get caught by the Gestapo.This is a bit of a dual storyline with part in 1940's Paris during WWII and part in 2022 Paris. It centers around a bookshop in a Paris square.