Rachel is an incomer to the village. She arrived five years ago and found a place she could call home. So when the owner of the Lighthouse Bookshop dies suddenly, she steps in to take care of the place, trying to help it survive the next stage of its life.
But when she discovers a secret in the lighthouse, long kept hidden, she realises there is more to the history of the place than she could ever imagine. Can she uncover the truth about the lighthouse’s first owner? And can she protect the secret history of the place?
Comment: I got interested in this book while looking for something else. This got in my radar and I wondered if it would be a good story, at least the premise seemed fine... since it wasn't expensive, I've decided to give it a go.
In a small village near Aberdeenshire, there is a lighthouse in a place that isn't very usual, even more so since it is where the local bookshop is located. The business part of things isn't the best but what matters is the local community and those who live nearby enjoy their life as it is. Then, suddenly, two new people arrive to shake things up a little. Toby, a writer, finds the bookshop and its mysterious employee Rachel fascinating, and Gilly, who seems to be homeless, finds comfort and shelter there. However, the bookshop's owner Cullen, an old man is true, sadly passes away and his last words to Rachel seem to be a confused mess, but then Rachel discovers a secret in the lighthouse and the lives of everyone are about to change. Will Toby and Gilly, newcomers, be the help the community needed to maintain the coziness of their lives?
I really focused on the "romance" and "community" words I've seen when this book got on my radar and those were the elements I expected to find while reading. It is a fact these elements exist in this novel, but I will also say I didn't think the plot choices to be as great as they could have been.
The story is told in a very lyric manner I'd say. It reminded me of a tale told by the fireplace, the setting and the story are wonderful details but perhaps not to the extension it has. I liked the story, both the one related to the characters we follow, as well as the one hinted at while they research the secret found in the lighthouse. Perhaps it was how the author chose to tell this story that didn't fully work for me... the writing is correct and fluid enough but it is also a little bland and safe and lacks vibrancy.
All the characters have a past that would be great to develop, to go into more deeply but we are given only surface ideas and situations. This contrasted with the lengthy descriptions of the days going by while everyone is going on with their lives and the little things happening here and there. I can't explain it better, but the writing style wasn't fully suitable, I think the author should have focused on just three or four characters' POVs, and let us infer things about others in a different way, instead of having third person references to so many characters. It got to a point where things were repetitive, not always exciting...
I did like the characters, but Rachel was just too mysterious acting, even though she had a good reason, and this means her interactions with Toby were too superficial and didn't seem to be that important, considering the wording in how they saw each other and what they did together, which wasn't much. It was difficult to see how they would be this amazing couple, although they don't really become one officially, anyway. The romance we do get is actually related to another couple and while I can see how they would be a good match, most things happen out of the page. To summarize, the story has a lot of themes and situations and neither feels really developed.
I did like the local references, some information about Scotland and books, one of the characters is an artist so some interesting details about what she does is also interesting, then when they investigate the lighthouse's secret, those sections were good too. I think the idea of this story was great, and the characters in general as well, but the mix of everything wasn't as fluid as I assume the author wanted. I did fail to establish an emotional connection with everyone, except Gilly, but Gilly wasn't the main character, so she didn't have as much focus as she could.
For most of the novel, I had mixed impressions, sometimes things seem great and captivated me, other times things were boring and I wish we could move on from that moment. Some of the things hinted at, both the romantic relationships and the story hidden in the lighthouse, seemed to not have a matching "reward" in how they were dealt with. I feel the author just wanted those elements to justify plot decisions and not because they were really intrinsic to the main story. It feels some details weren't used as well as they could.
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