3.5-
I love reading and books and I love books about books, bookshops, and bibliophiles, so this seemed to fit the bill. While there are lovely bookish scenes throughout, it is more than just a book about books. It’s a good reminder of the adage “not all who wander are lost.”
Luna was raised a traveler. She and her Mom have been traveling the world since before Luna was born, never setting down roots, but managing to have a community. After Luna’s Mom, Ruby, decides her days of wandering are over, Luna continues to travel around with her best friend, Gigi. One summer they go to Venice to figure out a part of Ruby’s life she’s kept hidden from Luna and both Gigi and Luna discover there is more to life than just traveling around.
I loved many things about this book. All of the main characters were quite likable. Luna and Gigi have just enough whimsy that it makes them fun and not annoying. Venice was described so beautifully from the food, to the canals, and even the streets, and while I’ve never been, I felt like I was there.
At first this felt like it was a story of a young woman finding herself, but it ended up being a romance. I don’t have anything against romances, per se, but it drives me crazy when the two lovebirds keep crossing paths because neither can read the other’s signals and both think they are mind readers. That happened so often with Luna that it stopped being cute and flirty and became annoyingly excessive.
I didn’t really see too much character development in Luna, probably because of all the crossed lines in the romance department. Luna didn’t seem to know what she wanted and it makes it hard to root for a couple when one person can’t decide if she wants to be in a relationship or not.
I have never read anything by Rebecca Raisin before and while I won’t rule her novels out, I’m not sure I’ll jump to pick up another right away. Thank you to NetGalley and HQ Digital for an advanced copy of this. This will be hitting the shelves on March 30th.

Fell in love with this wonderful story it was such a cosy captivating read.
Luna & her mother lead an interesting life always on the move from one place to another.
Living in communes with a close network of women friends that made them one big family.
Luna who has been travelling in Thailand with a friend is in shock after hearing her mother has died.
She is trying to come to terms with her loss & while going through her mothers belongings on her return home she comes across a letter.
She never new her father & had always wondered what her mum was holding back from her,
This was a love letter from a Giancarlo who lived in Venice,
She has the urge to go to Venice to see if there is any chance that this man could really be her father.
Thoroughly enjoyed this emotional entertaining read & absolutely fell in love with the unique bookshop in Venice,

I’ve read one of the travelling series of books by Rebecca before and throughly enjoyed it, so jumped at the chance to read another. Unfortunately, this one fell a bit flat for me.

I loved the descriptions of the bookshop, the maze of books and rooms filled to bursting with old forgotten books - who wouldn’t! The cats were an added bonus, all with their own personalities and war wounds. The overall storyline of Luna loving for her lost family was good, she did jump to conclusions a few times but got to the truth in the end, but the traveller/hippy side just didn’t do it for me, there just seemed to be too much of it and it just didn’t feel right. It’s difficult to put a finger on exactly what I disliked about it but I didn’t feel it added to the story for me, or a lot of it didn’t.

Overall, a nice cosy novel that was enjoyable but isn’t one I’d pick up again unfortunately. It hasn’t put me off reading more by the same author though.

The Little Venice Bookshop was a beautiful, lovely and uplifting story about love (no exactly romantic), and finding yourself.
I really liked the setting, who wouldn’t love to work in a bookshop in Venice? And I really liked the characters. Luna was a very different character from what I’m used to but it was refreshing. I really liked Gigi and Oscar and Aunt Loui and all the cats!
I enjoyed reading it and when I felt the story was finishing soon, I started reading slowly so I could enjoy it for a longer time.
I loved the daughter-mother bond and I think the author approach the whole grief subject in a good way. Overall, it was a heartwarming story that even when it broke my heart a little bit at the beginning, it put it back together in the end. It felt different from other stories by Rebecca Raisin, but in a good way, I deeply liked it.

This was my first experience of reading a Rebecca Raisin book, and it definitely will not be the last.

The Little Venice Bookshop is a heart warming, sincere story about a young woman finding her place in the world after the loss of her Mother.

In this romance story, with the main character Luna, we cover love, loss and connection in so many different ways.
We follow Luna, and her best friend Gigi, as they travel to Venice. We get to meet so many fantastic characters, with Oscar and Giancarlo being amongst my favourites, and follow the story of finding lost relatives and restoring a beautiful bookshop back to its former glory. The plot line was sweet, adventurous and as a huge book worm I loved it.

The twists and turns of the story kept me interested to the very end, and for a romance novel the ending was perfection for me personally.

I gave this 4 stars as the continued theme of spiritual connections and practices that were spoken about in the story were not really my thing. I would have preferred less of this. However, I do appreciate this is important to many so I understand the authors choice to go into detail about the practices of spiritual healing.

I highly recommend this book, it was easy to read and I loved so many of the descriptions on Venice, the Bookshop and Luna’s adventures!

Rebecca Raisin's novels are also perfect for a bit of escapism, and The Little Venice Bookshop was no different. We meet the main character Luna as she is travelling around Thailand with friend Gigi. But she comes back down to earth with a bump with the death of her beloved mother. As she is sorting through her mother's things, Luna comes across a letter which might lead to the identity of the father she never knew. Luna heads off to Venice in search of him, and gets a lot more than she bargained.

The Little Venice Bookshop is a great light breezy read, which will make you yearn for Italy, and bookshops!

A really lovely feel-good book jam-packed with books & cats, family & friendships and finding romance. I really enjoyed reading this book. Perfect for the summer, take it with you when travelling or, if staying at home escape to Venice through the pages.

A beautiful book that made my bibliophile heart sing. The strong sense of place, made it an ideal escape to somewhere warmer and atmospheric.
I was immersed in the bookshop and characters lives

I was drawn to this book by the cover and synopsis and I was excited to read it. I enjoyed The Little Venice Bookshop but I didn’t love it. For me the beginning dragged on, I felt like the middle of it focused on things that weren’t all that important, and the ending...what should have been a big, beautiful ending was rushed beyond belief and I felt cheated. Even an epilogue would have helped to bring this book full circle, but alas that did not happen.

After her beloved mother passes away, Luna finds some letters she’d kept from a man named Giancarlo. A man who obviously loved her and had a life with her at one point, something she and her mother’s best friend knew nothing about. Luna and her mother lived an interesting life; living in communes and building a network of other women who became their family. Luna never knew her father; her mother always told her she was a gift from a new moon ceremony in Thailand. With her best friend Gigi in tow, Luna heads to Venice to unravel the mystery of the letters and hopefully find Giancarlo.

I felt like this book was all over the place and instead of focusing on Luna, her quest for answers, and even the slow building romance with her co-worker Oscar, the book spent too much time with Luna seeing another man she met the first night she was in Venice and sneaking around trying to find the letters her mother had written to Giancarlo instead of just sitting down and asking him. There were some interesting twists that weren’t hard to figure out, but once Luna got her answers and made her discoveries the book was pretty much over. We were told there were conversations and spending time together but sadly we didn’t see any of it. On top of that Oscar was basically absent towards the end instead of us seeing them moving forward together.

I loved the bookshop setting I could envision it perfectly, I loved Giancarlo (I’m pretty sure I met his counterpart in a bookshop in Edinburg, Scotland), I enjoyed Luna and Oscar basically resurrecting the bookshop with their innovative ideas, I just wanted more of that and Luna enjoying the relationships she grew while in Venice.

Anyone who loved books and bookshops will love this one. Luna is a sweet character and although I couldn’t see the fascination for continually travelling as she does, her love for the written word was a huge positive for me. The bookshop on the canal sounded magical and I loved how Luna and Oscar worked together to give the shop a new lease of life. The descriptions of Venice were beautifully captured and the romance of the city flowed from the pages.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for a copy of this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Luna has grown up travelling the world with her mother Ruby and when her mother decides to settle down in America, Luna continues on with her travels. This comes to a sudden halt when she gets the call she had been dreading from her aunt Loui telling her that her mum has passed on. When Luna and her best friend and travel buddy Gigi return to the commune to say goodbye to her mum they find old love letters to Ruby from someone that Luna had never heard of before. Luna gets hopeful that this man may be the father that she never knew and as soon as her mum is buried Luna and Gigi are off to Venice in search of the elusive writer of the love letters and the bookshop that he hopefully still owns.
his was another one sit read for me and I had tears in my eyes from pretty much the beginning and they didn't stop until the end but not all were tears of sadness some are from happiness and some from laughter.
Although initially it seemed to be quite predictable with what would happen, the twist near the end was unexpected.
Loved the characters although Luna was a bit airy at times which seemed contradictory with her character. Gigi was awesome and I really enjoyed when she was in the story. The romances seemed a bit predictable but did not take away from the enjoyment. The bonus was all the cat content who with their own personalities Madde the whole thing just the little bit better.

A heartwarming, feel good, gentle read.
Love the descriptive writing and there was a lovely aura about Luna, the main character, she was a total free spirit
Totally related when her beloved mother passed away, and the love letters that were found after her mother’s funeral were a lovely twist as to how she ended at the Venice bookshop.
Loved the recurring theme of the importance of books - “I live and breathe books. They’ve been there for me when I’ve been all alone and not sure of my place in the world”
The ending to the book was perfect, leaving potential for a possible follow up book (please!!!) to explore the relationships with her new love interest Oscar and and her newly found half-sister
Perfect summer read - switching off and taking you to the Country of Gondola’s

Loved the bits about Luna, the cats and the quirky little book, shop. Great ideas for an independent book shop and ways to promote it to tourists on limited visits, but not so sure about the hippy back story. Those bits just didn't flow for me.
A bit of a mixed bag.

Luna discovers her mother has tragically passed away so sets off on a mission to explore who her father is.

This leads to a stay in Venice where she gets a lot more than she bargains for.

I discovered Rebecca’s books last year and she’s now my go to comfort read author. This one didn’t disappoint. It was another delightful read. The story takes you to all corners of the globe before settling in Venice. We are then introduced to the most amazing sounding secondhand bookshop. Complete with an eccentric owner, bookshop cats and some interesting sounding displays that I don’t want to spoil! You really need to read it discover them yourself.

Luna was an interesting protagonist and I enjoyed reading about her nomadic lifestyle she had with her mother. I felt heartbroken for her after her mother passed away and was glad that she had her Aunt Loui and friend Gigi for support. I cheered along for her as she discovered Giancarlo’s letters to her mother and went to find out him and discover what their connection was.

As with Raisin’s other books there was also a dash of romance. A love triangle between rival Oscar and the perfect sounding Sebastiano. All parts of the story were expertly woven together and it finished up with a satisfying ending.

A sweet story. The characters were all likeable but just not quite as well developed as I would like. They were kind of inconsistent. I understand that people change even in books, but somehow both Luna and Gigi had personalities that changed daily. I also found the dialogue a bit challenging and often had to reread a passage to figure out who was actually speaking.

I would still absolutely recommend the book to someone looking for a sweet romance! Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read the ARC.

DNF at 28%

Sadly this one wasn’t for me. I didn’t care for the overly hippy/new age vibes which totally detracted from the story. Luna was flat and boring whilst Gigi was annoying. I’m not sure who the love interest was going to be either. At the point I stopped reading we had seen one guy and met another.

The pace was excruciatingly slow and had very little substance to it. I normally enjoy this author’s work but this one fell far short of my hopes and expectations.

This is a warm book, a book about a book shop in the beautiful city of Venice - what is not to like!! It started in a very emotional manner and there are a few tears along the way. Although you might quickly see how some of the story is going, the journey provides an enjoyable and easy read.
I definitely wanted to visit the book shop and the nods to different books/stories was good fun.

After her mother dies, Luna discovers some letters which sends her on a journey to Venice in search of the man who she believes is her father. Luna uncovers more than she bargained for!

This is a pleasant and easy read, some of it sad and some of it happy. It’s a little predictable, not that that bothers me too much! I’m just mentioning it. It’s set in a beautiful location. Venice is one my favourite places to have visited. I doubt whether I will visit it again but have some fantastic memories which will last a lifetime. The descriptions of the city are evocative and I was able to visualise it well. The bookshop sounded wonderful! I loved the book references. With some zany characters and an engaging storyline, it’s a lovely piece of escapism and will take you away from life’s trials and tribulations, especially in the current climate.

This may be a great book for some, but unfortunately not for me.
Too many “flower child” vibes for me. I kept expecting somebody to bring out the peyote and marijuana.
If you’re into “being one with the Cosmos”, give it a read.
DNF for me.