What a truly delightful book. An interesting concept. A bookshop trying to survive during lockdown cones up with the idea of a prescription, for whatever you need in the form of a book. The reader follows the bookshop owner, her manager and many of the customers through their individual journeys. Interesting concept and lots of book recommendations to keep me entertained for years to come

Wow! What a book, at times it felt like the best non fiction work I'd come across describing the past few years but then realising it was fiction blew my mind as all of the characters felt real & the world of book selling/book recommending match my experiences doing the same thing in retail & in libraries, and then on social media during the pandemic exactly.
Part of me still wants this to have been real, so I can go and visit Lost for Words

This book is beautiful. The perfect book for anyone who adores reading and can connect to the fact of how wonderful books are and how they can transport you to another place and time. Lovely, heartwarming, and romantic.

Found in a bookshop is the sequel to to 'Lost for Words'. In the peak of the covid pandemic, Loveday is struggling to know how to adapt the bookshop to survive. Kelly is struggling with the early days of romance now being socially distanced and over the Moors, in Whitby, Rosemary band George Athey are trying to fill their days.

This book is very real; the emotions, pitfalls and harsh times of the pandemic all feature. At points, I found it a tricky read, but the stories of the humans within it are so compelling to read that I never once thought about not finishing the book.
The book encompasses a lot of highly emotional subjects that could be triggering for some readers (grief, domestic violence, terminal illness for example) but all are dealt with incredibly sensitively.

If you enjoyed 'Lost For Words', I think you'll enjoy revisiting the bookshop and it's unconventional bookshop family.

We return to ‘Lost for Words’ bookshop in York now owned by Loveday Carew. Kelly is her manager with Madison later joining the team as a Saturday girl. Currently the shop is closed because it’s the Covid pandemic and Loveday like most other traders is very concerned about the impact on her business. One day, Kelly opens a letter from Rosemary Athey, a retired headteacher from Whitby. She encloses a cheque for £100 and asks that the shop find her and husband George some wonderful books to help them get through the next few months. This sparks an idea in Loveday and it makes her realise that there is something positive they can do to help people through the crisis and help the business into the bargain. They will offer to match books to customers needs and requirements and this could be anything from loneliness to escapism or transporting them to another part of the world.

Yet again Stephanie Butland has hit upon a wonderful idea and has created some lovely characters in these vignettes, all of whom have a different issue. George and Rosemary are a delightful couple and their lifelong love warms your heart Loveday is a fabulous quirky character and I enjoy the introduction of Kelly and Madison who are very likeable too.

At times there is humour although not as much as in the last book which is understandable given the serious nature of the times. It’s very moving and poignant with some heartbreak and it’s thought provoking too. Along the journey there is kindness and thoughtfulness, there are situations that arise that overcome preconceptions and finding commonality along with plenty of honesty.

I like the concept of the book, as book lovers we already know the joy of reading and the idea of prescribing books as a form of medicine or a remedy is a good one. To lose yourself in a book is a marvellous thing especially at a time such as Covid. My only negative is that it is perhaps a bit repetitive with the letters and the book lists as my enjoyment lies in the characters that you follow through.

Finally, you do not have to have read book one in order to enjoy this although it is a very good novel.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Headline for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

This was such a nice read, centred around the bookshop and the main characters. Will definitely read more from the author

This quite a book. It’s a second one but don’t need to have read the first one but I it helps. It covers covid and I finally feel it is ok to read about covid though very sad at times. Also brings back memories . It is a story of a secondhand bookshop and the characters who work and their customers. It covers some difficult subjects well and if you love books so many recommendations . I love the area it is set in as I live in the same area. , York. It is a blinding good read but not easy at times.

This is just a beautiful book on all levels. Set in the early days of the pandemic, it manages to both capture the fear we all felt but without hammering home how scary it was. Stephanie Butland focuses on a variety of people caught up in all the different ways the pandemic affected everyone, and then centres in the Lost For Words bookshop.

The business is struggling with everything that's going on and creates a 'book pharmacy' which is just a gorgeous idea and I know if there was such a thing available to me in 2020 it would have saved many tears. And this is what it does for the customers of Lost For Words, old and new.

I loved this book. It's not my usual genre at all but I will definitely be putting Butland on my book prescriptions from now on. Totally recommend.

Loved this book! The characters are real life people who I had an immediate affinity with. It was set during Covid and centres around a book shop and the character/s that own, run and use it. It’s a beautiful story and you can’t help but care for each and every one of the characters- hoping they get what they need. It was a salutary reminder of what the pandemic was like in the early days. A couple of twists that I didn’t see coming and maybe one that I did! It’s the sort of book you can curl up with a cozy blanket and a cup of hot chocolate and just read till you finish.

I had not heard of the author of this book before and I’m glad I have ‘found’ her now thanks to NetGalley. I started this book with mixed feelings but soon became engrossed. It is a book which reflects current times very well and issues of growing older. The story was interesting and as it progressed, it was at times, heartbreaking, funny, comforting and life affirming. I will now go back and read the previous book.

This is a new author to me and am pleased I have discovered them as will certainly be reading more of theirs. I didn’t realise until I had finished reading this was a sequel to lost for words which I have since downloaded so I would say that if you haven’t read the first book in the series then you can read this on its own quite easily.

This was a poignant and emotional and heartbreaking read and very topical for current times. It did have some light hearted moments and excellent characterisation especially the story of rosemary and George. I loved the idea of the book prescriptions to and of how books can help us through our darkest of times which I believe is totally true as my love of books definitely helped get me through lockdown and shielding.

I also loved the book recommendations that were interspersed throughout.

I hope there is going to be another story on this series as would love to know how the lives of Lovejoy and the other inhabitants of the lost and found bookshops lives progress post pandemic

I previously read Lost for Words and whilst I remember enjoying it I can’t really remember much about it so I think this felt more like a standalone than a sequel to me which is possibly why it took me a little while to get into this with the many characters in it yet once I did - wow - this really is a special book. Set during the covid lockdown there’s such a simplicity to this that it easy to miss the utter depth of it but the many book requests with people expressing how they were feeling in that moment, it all just felt so real and it’s extremely rare for me to have that kind of reaction to a fiction book. Whilst this is a uplifting read it has such raw heartbreak in it too and I found myself far more engaged with the characters than I often am. It worked so well with the prescription requests but equally the events in the lives of the staff and also George and Rosemary and their backstory. This really is an absolute gem and I feel like there’s so much I want to say but just can’t find the right phrases… I’m truly lost for words.