The Library of Lost Things

Written by Laura Taylor Namey

Narrated by Brittany Pressley

From the New York Times bestselling author of A Cuban Girl's Guide to Tea and Tomorrow, this deeply heartfelt love story explores hiding the worst parts of ourselves, and finding the people who love us anyway.

“How could I open that door and let him see the messiest part of me?”

From the moment she first learned to read, literary genius Darcy Wells has spent most of her time living in the worlds of her books. There, she can avoid the crushing reality of her mother’s hoarding and pretend her life is simply ordinary.

But then Asher Fleet, a former teen pilot with an unexpectedly shattered future, walks into the bookstore where she works…and straight into her heart. For the first time in her life, Darcy can’t seem to find the right words. Fairy tales are one thing, but real love makes her want to hide behind her carefully constructed ink-and-paper wall.

Still, after spending her whole life keeping people out, something about Asher makes Darcy want to open up. But securing her own happily-ever-after will mean she’ll need to stop hiding and start living her own truth—even if it’s messy.

“A lovely tale for bookish readers that will give them all the feels.” —Kirkus

• Language: English
• Publisher: Harlequin Audio
• Release date: Oct 8, 2019
• ISBN: 9781488207228

Laura Taylor Namey

Laura Taylor Namey is the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of young adult fiction including Reese’s Book Club pick A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow, A British Girl’s Guide to Hurricanes and Heartbreak, When We Were Them, and With Love, Echo Park. A proud Cuban American, she can be found hunting for vintage treasures and wishing she was in London or Paris. She lives in San Diego with her husband and two children. Visit her at LauraTaylorNamey.com.

Reviews for The Library of Lost Things

[Natalia Martinez · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Amazing narrator! really captured the story and just overall really enjoyed using the audiobook to read-along to the book. It added to the experience!

[Mukvipa S. · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

This book is just dull, fairly boring if you ask me. there were too many drawn out scene. I lost the plot at the middle of the book. and it kinda 'not like other girls' trope which I roll my eyes so hard.

the issue for me in The Library of Lost Things is the fact that Asher cheating on his girlfriend (even Laura Taylor Namey try to make it better by told us they wasn't right for each other for some time) I'm sick of novels or films try to normalize cheating. it wasn't necessary it was so STUPID! and I can't stand cheating.

the thing I like about this book was Peter Pan references and Marisol’s family.

[Kris Boucher · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved it. Sophisticated, sweet, bookish. Couldn’t want more. I shouldn’t have waited so long to read this one

[GMunro · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I started this because I got the title mixed up with another book on my (mental) list but decided to keep reading. It's YA fiction, but was an enjoyable story, with a lot of deep exploration into (& by) the characters. It could easily have been written from an adult character's perspective, or switched perspectives and kept the same storyline - it's more about self-discovery than a teenage coming of age story.

Incidentally, I also live with post-concussion syndrome & I thought the author represented it accurately here. There were some facts to increase awareness, without making it the focus of the story. I think this can work well for awareness of different medical/ health issues. It's good to see this kind of awareness being normalised in fiction.

[Emma · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

So, this was a big no for me. It started off very intriguing with the mental health aspects of the mother daughter relationship, but the writing and content eventually veered into something I didn't enjoy at all.

I personally do actually like the scenes with her mother and grandmother, to me those felt the most interesting and eventhough Darcy is naive it felt fitting during those moments. But everything else? Oof..

Another reviewer mentioned the cringy pick-me personality and cheating - totally agree about that being awful. If you've been cheated on you know. And the whole "oo i know this is bad but im going to do it anyway" in a book thats contemporary and not more sinister is cringy. Endorsement of this behavior is B-S.

Darcy's naivete is huge in other areas as well, I don't want to super spoil so I won't give examples but yeah... I'm sure some girls will relate but most won't. Her character felt like 14 vs 17/18.

The dad stuff was meh..

The play arc *sigh*, I was a theatre kid in middle school... but I grew out of that pre-seniorhigh. In my opinion that was usless. I would have loved more scenes dedicated to her development with the people around her. Not a washed up trope of "girl thrown into a play last minute and she finds herself". I totally get how being in theatre opens up your confidence as a person... but that whole bit didn't fit into the theme.

All of this is my opinion of course, and there's no shade to the author. I think this type of book would be enjoyed by a lot of readerships, but I've never been one for the pointless drama. I think I'll try her other book that came out after this one still - so hopefully it was just a one off!