"Victor would never have done that." -From The Bookbinder's daughter

3 stars

This beautiful cover and idea for a book suffers greatly from the main character. I loved the idea of this book. But this girl. She spends most of the book being controlled by men. Even when she's meeting a new guy, she is constantly comparing him to the big bad boyfriend she just left. All in all, there was a LOT of dialogue, many conversations were redundant-- and I'm someone who usually loves dialogue to advance plot. When Victor came back I wanted to throw the book across the room. The actual setting of most of the book and the magic system are really captivating, I just wish that was the focus, not this MC and odd insta-love affair. I want more about the library, more secrets, more book bindings and that process.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGlley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

With magical realism similar to books by Alice Hoffman and Erin Morgenstern, the story of Sophie, a bookbinder who can't remember her past due to a traumatic experience, is brought back to her childhood home, the Ayredale Library, home of a fine book collection. When she arrives, the mysteries of her past and her lost memories begin to resurface. She is drawn to Will, her childhood best friend and boyfriend, and tries to understand the magic in the library that surrounds her. Magic, mystery, intrigue and love abound in this story.

A fun read to sink into.

Sophie is a bit of a doormat when her uncle offers her a job at a fantastical library. She had grown up in the library but has no memories of her time there or why she left, beyond her mother's disappearance.

Once at the library she discovers her dyslexia is really her struggling to read a second language as the language of the birds was her first. With this ability she's able to read old books with powerful magic.

She also reunites with an old friend and first love, Will which of course blossoms again.

Drama happens when less loyal members of the library try to take over the power and knowledge for their own gain.

Overall the book was fun, but it was surface level. There wasn't slow, intentional character growth, just they are one way and then suddenly another. The story also has a few holes that limit the enjoyment of the fantasy world.

A beautifully crafted tale of books and magic. Sophie is the child of two well-known book binders and now a well-respected binder herself. Her mother disappeared in mysterious circumstances when she was a teenager and Sophie has been struggling to cope with the aftermath ever since. A surprise visitor at work leads her on a new path of discovery.
I found myself rooting for Sophie to escape her controlling and emotionally abusive partner and find her true place in the world. The magic and mythology woven into the story made it hard to put down and fascinating. I always love books about books and this was no exception.
The narrator was easy to listen to and fitted with the story well.

I enjoyed this book overall. The pace of it was good the characters were interesting all in all a good fantastical read.

Thanks NetGalley and Bookatouture Audio for the advanced copy of The Bookbinder's Daughter.
Plot line: Sophie is unexpectedly visited by her uncle Edward who offers her a job at the Ayredale Library. All this seems so sudden yet something about this library feels familiar.
Review: A mysterious and magical tale set in a library was enough to grab my attention. Sophie's surreal ventures at night, her family secrets and her reunion with her past lover were good scenes, just not good enough as I expected. The story seemed to lack something. There were repetitions of certain dialogues and descriptions.
Overall it was an ordinary fantasy story.

I wanted to love this book. The idea of a magical library had me intrigued from the blurb. Unfortunately, I just could not get into this one. Thanks to the narrator I was able to finish this book, as I do not believe I would have without her. I just found the characters unappealing and the personality very dry for each and every one of them. The main character really didn't seem to have any significant emotion throughout the entire story. She would show a glimpse here and there, but just barely. The IDEA and the setting of this book was great, I would have liked to have the characters a bit more development and signs of life, emotion, etc. Less repetitive dialogue as well.

Sophie is the protagonist of this mystery fantasy story. After her father’s death She ends her relationship with Will Rhys. Will its a dominating abusive man and he is reluctant to let her leave.
Sophie is a dyslexic and has been offered an opportunity to work at a magical place. The Ayredale Library holds many mysteries including her Sophia’s mother disappear there years ago.
Sophie was a child when her mother disappeared and she makes it her mission to discover what happened.

The author’s writing style drew me in . The descriptions of characters and places set my imagination alive! This book lived up to my expectations from reading the descriptions.. I enjoyed the intrigue and the imagery was beautiful.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bookoutre for this opportunity to review.

As a super-fan of everything books and libraries, and typically enjoying fantasy stories, I was immediately attracted by the title and premise of The Bookbinder's Daughter. I couldn't wait to dig in. It was . . . okay. It has enticing elements: magic, books, a cat named Titivillus (patron demon of scribes), and secrets (mystery). It's also painfully repetitive, especially for a work so short—we hear the same things, in the same exact words, over and over, sometimes from different characters (which doesn't make it more interesting). In the opening, there's a work friend of Sophie's whose character I would have liked to have stayed in play—their friendship might have been the best/healthiest relationship in the book (this is very sad). There's a particularly unhealthy relationship that made me like and respect Sophie much less as the story went on. The reveal toward the end wasn't bad, but it doesn't make up for the bulk of the book. Titivillus the cat was probably my favorite character (also sad).

The book is advertised as being perfect for fans of The Night Circus, which I awarded 4- stars (3.66 in my current rating system). I think a better magical book about books is Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, which I awarded 4+ stars (4.35).

Thank you, NetGalley and Bookouture Audio, for the audio ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.

The Bookbinder’s Daughter is a rich with mystery with a magical library at the heart of the story. I really enjoyed being immersed into this world. The story is of Sofie who goes back to a place where she spent much of her childhood until her mother disappeared and her father took her away. When she returns, she encounters Will who was her friend and first love and they still have a connection. He helps her to heal from the grief of losing her mother as well as her terrible and emotionally abusive husband. She finds fulfillment in her work at the library as well as uncovers answers to her mother’s disappearance. The ARC I received was an audiobook and I was impressed by the narration. It was performed beautifully and she brought the story to life.

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture Audio for the opportunity to read and review this advanced reader copy.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture and Jessica Thorne for the early read and listen! The first thing you see is "An absolutely magical and gripping page-tuner" So true! What a magical story! It caught me and did not want to let go until the end. I was a little sad that the story did end. Hope to see more of Sophie and many of the other characters in the story. I would name them but I feel that would be a spoiler. Enjoyed reading about Sophie and how she grew into the strong woman that was inside her all along. The loss she had to bear and the love she found once again.
You can lose yourself to this story!
Highly recommend and will be reading more by this author. She knows how to immerse the reader into her story. The narrator did a fantastic job narrating and helped draw the reader into the story. Will look for more by this narrator.

The Bookbinders Daughter has the perfect setting; a magical library with a mystery at its heart. Sophie is offered a job at Ayredale Library, the last place her mother was seen when Sophie was just a teenager. Her father whisked her away and the further she got from Ayredale, the less she remembered of both the place and the people there; including Will, her first love. As her memories slowly return, so do the vivid dreams she’s had since childhood; Sophie learns she has a unique skill, opening up a world that is as dangerous as it is magical.

The story is rich with mystery and magic; I loved being transported into this world that at first seems wonderous but soon shows its true nature. At heart, though, this is a strongly character driven story and each one of Ms. Thorne’s characters are so richly described and emotive – found family, my absolute favorite trope, is a strong underlying theme and it’s done so well.

Charlie Norfolk narrates and she has an absolutely lovely voice; perfect pitch and timbre, moving seamlessly between characters. She kept me invested throughout!

My thanks to Bookouture Audio for this gifted ALC.

The Bookbinder's Daughter - Jessica Thorne
Narrated by Charlie Norfolk

I received an advance review copy for free thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture and I am leaving this review voluntarily

The song surrounded her now, the murmuring of the library insistent, and her foot took the first step on the winding stairs. She knew it wasn’t entirely a dream. It was the library calling her, its magic driving her.

When Sophie is offered a job at the Ayredale Library – the finest collection of rare books in the world, and the last place her bookbinder mother was seen when Sophie was just a teenager – she leaps at the chance. Will she finally discover what happened to the woman she’s always believed abandoned her?

A magical library - what's not to love? A spell binding story with love, magic and a girl that is deprived of her past. This book turned out to be far more thrilling that I had originally anticipated. I was drawn in by the magical mystery that was going on around Sophie.

If you enjoy a good fantasy read then I recommend giving this book a read. Whilst I was quite confused by the magical world in places this was not enough for me to abandon the book.

Rating 4/5

Thank you to @netgalley @bookouture for the digital ARC and ALC in return for my honest review.
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My thoughts…
Interesting plot. This book started off strong and interesting. But then the plot became quite slow a quarter of the way through. Fortunately, I was approved for the audiobook as well, and that worked better for me in terms of keeping my interest. This book had a lot of potential. There were themes, such as Sophie’s memory loss that became repetitive. Although necessary, it was mentioned too often that it became distracting. Tia was a great character because her character was the most developed; the others were okay, acting more as secondary characters, even though they had important roles. The narration was good and read like new adult/young adult. I did enjoy the whole concept of this magical and fantastical library though.

3.5 ⭐️

A new fresh world of magic, where both main characters and readers are introduced beautifully through its pages until there is no other way than to love it and appreciate it.

This was my first book by Jessica Thorne, I am more than glad I picked it. She wrote more than fantasy in this book in a certain and remarkable way.

I loved the narrator, she does a great job. She is definitely a plus in this combo

Lovely and encouraging!

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Thank you Net Galley for an audio of The Bookbinders Daughter by Jessica Thorne. This is a story about Sophie who finds her meaning, in a library. I am giving this 3.5 stars rounded up. This book started out really strong but I was somewhat disappointed as the book progressed.

Wow, this is one of the best books I have read this year. It is simply fantastic, amazing, outstanding and superb. I loved it so much and I highly recommend it to anyone who loves magic, fantasy and books.

The story is about a girl called Sophie who goes to a magical, mysterious place, which is a huge library full of books, secrets, sparkle, suspense, soul energy, love, wisdom and knowledge. It is the place where Sophie is meant to be, just like her mother was, so that she can carry out what she needs to, in order to save the library and the tree which dwells there. She is a bookbinder, just like her father was. But she is not only a bookbinder; she is one with the books that she touches.

Her love interest Will is amazing and I loved the way he and Sophie were together. She has gone through an emotionally abusive relationship with Victor and Will helps her to heal from this. This touched me.

The writing of the book is beautiful and very descriptive. It is a literary masterpiece. I loved the way the author described everything so that I felt that I was inside the book, seeing everything that Sophie could see. I also felt as though I could feel the energy of what she was feeling. It was much like being inside a movie set.

The narrator of the book was fantastic and she helped the story to feel exciting and the magic to feel alive.

This is an amazing book, which you just have to read so that you can feel the magic too!

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Reading The Bookbinder's Daughter is to fall under a spell.
Enchanting to say the least.

Reviewed by
Starving Words; finding a place for our creativity to blossom.

#TheBookbindersDaughter is Unputdownable

I loved everything about this book. The characters were well fleshed out, especially our MC, Sophie Lawrence, that you fall in love with from the beginning. What I liked the most about her was that even though she was searching for answers and the truth about her past, she was presented as a very strong woman, instead of weak and whiny. She wasn't afraid to take action, and always willing to take risks, but without being a fool. I was rooting for her the whole time.


The setting was so well described, that you could submerge right into it and feel the atmosphere surrounding you. I think it's the words she uses that makes it so vivid.
I quote, so you see what I mean:


“A tree…
...It stretches beyond understanding, so very far beyond my dreams.”
It feels eternal."

You see? I saw the tree, tall as she described, and I wanted to be standing there, in front of it, just like Sophie. I wanted those leaves she described, to fall all over me, no matter if they burned me.
“She could feel the weight of centuries clinging to it.”

I literally stopped and started wondering how much a century would weigh. This sentence says so much in only ten words. Brilliant!
The story captured me from the beginning. The narrator, Charlie Norfolk, did an amazing job bringing the story to life. But it was the musicality of the words combined with all the similes and metaphors which made me fall in love with Thorne's writing style. This was my first time reading a work by Jessica Thorne. I'm happy to say she didn't disappoint me.


“Words have power.”

This is (SO TRUE!) and in my opinion, it sums up what Sophie's story is all about. It's also a lesson we should all learn and apply to our lives. Words are powerful, indeed. We all need to be wiser with how we use our words.


The prologue starts with a dream, a beautiful and mysterious tree.
The dream is so vivid, it'll not only capture her, but also the readers. If you love fantasy, believe me when I say, you won't be able to put it down.
On chapter one she receives a letter. Here's a fragment of the blurb from GR:


Sophie Lawrence, (our MC), is offered a job at the Ayredale Library – the finest collection of rare books in the world, and the last place her bookbinder mother was seen when Sophie was just a teenager – she leaps at the chance. Will she finally discover what happened to the woman she’s always believed abandoned her?

The acceptance of that job takes us into an adventure full of mystery, enchantment, envy and love, to mention a few.
I really loved the ending. It all came together and it didn't leave me with unanswered questions or a bad taste on my palate. I can't say much without spoiling it, so you have to read it in order to know what happens.


This Gem of a book is coming out soon! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
I want to thank #NetGalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange of an honest review.
I loved the book, and I know Sophie's story will stay with me for a long time.

This was very whimsical and full of beautiful prose. The main character had me literally yelling at her to stand up for herself and when she finally did it felt victorious! The relationship between her and the library could have been developed more, then I would have felt more satisfied with the ending. Honestly, Jessica Thorne could have made a trilogy out of this and the history behind it. I did feel like it resembled A Discovery of Witches at different points in the book but honestly it wasn’t wrong to. 3.5 rounded up to 4.

Thank you NetGalley for this arc of The Bookbinders Daughter in exchange for my honest review.

Following the death of her father and the end of her relationship, Sophie accepts a job offer to work at the Ayredale Library, which is very prestigious with its large collection of rare books, and somewhat mysterious. Sophie’s mother used to work at the library too, until she went missing when Sophie was just a child. She hopes that she may find some answers about her mother’s disappearance during her time at Ayredale. Will Rhys was Sophie’s childhood friend and love interest, and she discovers she is still drawn to him upon her return. As Sophie settles in at Aryedale, she soon learns things may not be exactly as they appear. This fantasy adult read is in magical and intriguing. The magic system and setting were beautifully done creating so much mystery and imaginative. . The writing was excellent, the worldbuilding superb, and the story enchanting and gripping. Set in a secret library with magic and mystery included, reading this story was absolute bliss.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for sending me this ARC to read and review!