In a Nutshell: A character-oriented contemporary fiction with a strong Christmas spirit and a dash of Christmas magic. Excellent characters and a well-connected narrative linking them all. True to contemporary times in every way. Might get a bit too sugary, but works well for the genre. A fabulous and heartwarming option for the festive season.

Plot Preview:
When Molly McGinley moves from London to her Northern hometown of Merry-le-Moors, she feels like an utter failure. Ten years in the big city, and all she has to show is a broken relationship and no job. Her widower dad Jack is more than happy to have his daughter home, especially as he is still missing his wife who passed away a decade back. Jack now whiles away his time driving the town’s mobile library and he insists that Molly accompany him on his rounds instead of moping alone at home.
As the two take the library bus to various locations within the small town, we meet many townspeople, whether library patrons or not. We see their frustrations and their struggles, and we learn more about what drives them onward. We also see a threat coming the way of the library, which might throw the new friendships in jeopardy.
The story comes to us from the point of view of an omniscient narrator, with each chapter focussing on one specific character.


Bookish Yays:
📚 The fabulous prologue that gives us a lovely intro to the location of Merry-le-Moors and also offers an excellent glimpse of the attitude of its denizens. What a great way of knowing the setting!
📚 The storyline, which is much more complicated than that cute cover suggests. Though the book is quite heartwarming and humorous, it isn’t the usual light-romance kind of Christmas fare. That’s what makes it stand apart from the clutter of similarly-themed books.
📚 The narration by the apparently omniscient narrator, whose identity we don’t learn for most of the book. The approach gives us a close perspective of various characters, thereby helping us know every character intimately.
📚 Varied characters with varied personalities, thus ensuring a nicely heterogenous crowd in this story. The book is not about any individual character and it is still about all of them. Almost every character deserves a separate Yay, but that would be too many to list out. But I do want to mention Jack, Molly's father. What a wonderful human being! The star of the whole show! 😍
📚 It is fitting that in a book that begins with info about the town, Merry-le-Moors is almost like a character. Its locations as well as its culture and beliefs are as vital to the story as the attitude of its residents.
📚 The mobile library and all things connected to it. Shouldn’t be a surprise that everything bookish is wonderful!
📚 The multitude of themes, thanks to the multi-character arc. The emotions range from happy to sad to infuriating. The story even includes the troubles of a small community such as financial troubles, remoteness, and loneliness. Most of the subplots are handled well. The best is the found-family angle.
📚 The Christmas content is perfect for the season. This is how Christmas stories should be written, focussing more on giving and sharing than on commercialised splurging and partying. The book is festive in spirit than in material things such as decorations and gifts.
📚 I don’t like chapter titles in adult fiction, but this book has some really interesting chapter titles that immediately enhance the reader’s curiosity.
📚 I'll be honest: there were many moments when I could feel my rating slipping. But every single time this happened, the story twisted and brought forth an event that spiked my feelings as well as the rating.
📚 The big reveal. If you read the book, you know what I mean. I didn't see it coming and I loved it!

Bookish Mixed Bags:
📖 While I do love character-oriented fiction, there are too many characters in this book, and it gets tough to keep track of who’s who. My Kindle Search feature was put to a lot of use while reading this novel. If you have the physical or the audio copy, it would be better to take notes on the characters as many pop up randomly throughout the story.
📖 Each chapter comes from a separate character’s perspective. There are some key characters (like Molly and Jack) who get multiple chapters, some characters get at least a few, and a couple of the characters get just one-two chapters. (There are even a couple of chapters from canine characters.) So you need to be ready for a lot of character-hopping. Thankfully, as the viewpoint changes only with every chapter, it is easy to pay attention to the shift in narration. Going with the flow also helps.
📖 There are a few new romantic relationships in the book. While one of them was almost insta-love (a trope I always hate), it was written well in this book. However, another relationship went into insta territory without even being insta-love – that was awkward to read. There are closed-door intimate scenes, but again, one of them came out of nowhere and didn’t seem plausible. One person’s relationship-related decision towards the end felt out of character. Basically, very mixed feelings about the handling of romance in this novel! On the positive side, the romance doesn’t dominate the core storyline.
📖 The start of the book is slow, partly due to the writing style. It is almost like a raconteurial kind of storytelling, with a cosy casualness to the flow. It took me a while to get used to the style, but once I was accustomed to it, I found the pacing a bit quicker.

Bookish Nays:
📕 While I liked almost all the characters’ stories, one specific character’s arc was very dissatisfactory to me. The turnaround in the person’s behaviour was almost instant and hence unbelievable. It is not that easy to overcome years of conditioning. Plus, the reason for that commitment is never clarified.

All in all, I mostly enjoyed this quaint novel. Combining two favourite topics of readers – Christmas and books – into a character-focussed cosy read isn’t an easy task, but the author handles it well. Certain scenes and event timings might seem too good to be true, and the story also becomes too sappy at times. But this is feel-good fiction after all. Suspend disbelief and enjoy the ride.

Definitely recommended to readers of contemporary fiction with a dash of Christmas magic and bookish magic. It would work better for those who enjoy character-oriented narratives.

4.25 stars.

A lovely little Christmas story about community, relationships and life, with books at its core - what isn't to love? A story written from many viewpoints and each one as welcome as the last - loved it.

This was the first book I’ve read by this author. It was a different take on a Christmas read. I like the characters and their different personalities and how they all found friendship in each other. So many relatable feelings from different characters especially at the time of year where you are expected to be happy and jolly and have lots of friends and family to spend time with.

The story telling was a bit different and I’m not sure it was for me. The whole premise of ‘who’ was telling the story and giving the reader little bits of information was a bit far fetched for me, but it was a Christmas book and Christmas is a time when you have to believe in magic.

The underlying message of friendship and community was nice and relevant situations in today’s society.

Molly moves back to her hometown, Merry-Le-Moors after she finds her boyfriend cheating on her with another woman. But being back at her Dad's house means reliving the memories from before, when her mother was still alive. But while helping her Dad with his mobile library, she comes across a diverse group of people and they form a friendship.

This book was a cozy, Christmas read. It was a little confusing as their were many points-of-views and a different writing style too. Although at times it felt like a children's book but it isn't as their were some adult themes.

This is the first book i have read by this author, it was a lovely cosy read and really gets you in the christmas mood, it has a good community feel and the characters are very well written, if you need to get in the christmas mood this is the book for you.

I received a free copy of, The Little Christmas Library, by David M. Barnett, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Molly McGinley moves back home to Merry-le-Moors, from London. Her mother has been gone for a decade, but her dad Jack still mourns her. I did not care for Harry at all. The other characters were all right. This is not a happy read for me.

This was a lovely Christmas read. Forced home after a bad break-up, Molly McGinley moves back in with her Dad. Christmas is on the horizon, and the move will give her the space she needs to decide what to do next with her life.. Her Dad, Jack, is still missing her mum who passed away several years before. He encourages Molly to join him at work- he drives the local mobile library. Soon, the library becomes a haven for those looking for warmth and companionship., and new friendships are formed - but will Molly find her own happy ending?

A real treat of book for a cold afternoon in front of the fire. Thanks to NetGalley and Orion for my ARC- this has not affected my review.

Cute quick read, this was focused on a small town and how they handle their hardships and help each other. This deals with a lot of characters and it not your typical Christmas read. Enjoyed the main message about book being able to help you in any time of your life.

I was drawn to this by the combination of a local mobile library (such a fond memory from my childhood) and the father-daughter dynamic. I found it a bit too heavy handed and clichéd about Northern England, however, this turned out to be a heartwarming story about a little community that finds friendship and romance in the mobile library that serves the run down town of Merry-le-Moors. It works better as a small town drama than a festive romance, but still an easy and enjoyable festive read about community and the magic of libraries.

I want to read books about hope, solidarity, friendship, and a pinch of Christmas magic.
This was the right book at the right time: poignant, heartwarming, moving and life affirming.
Molly, Jack and the cast of characters are facing grief, loss, a sense of needing hope. Molly is helping her father with a small mobile library and the library helps to create community in a village called Merry-le-Moors but not famous for being a merry place since 1069 (when William the Conqueror razed it).
It starts with a sense of loss and defeat and build hope and a sense of happiness page after page.
I loved the atmosphere, the descriptions of the place, and the fleshed out characters.
The storytelling is excellent and the plot is tightly knitted and compelling.
I hope to read other books by this author, this one is heartwarming and poignant.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to Orion and Compulive Readers for the digital copy, all opinions are mine

Overall I liked this book, but due to the writing style, I found it a bit odd at times. Who was the narrator? But the story, about the mobile library bringing people together, was lovely. With thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A cute and cosy read about a library that helps people. I loved the idea of the story about people helping each other during hard times. Unfortunately for me I didn’t enjoy it that much due to the writing style and characters.
Thank you netgalley for an advanced copy of this book, all opinions expressed are my own

The Little Christmas Library in Merry-le-Moors is now my happy place as I'm sure it was for the lovely characters in the story. Jack and his daughter Molly turned the library into a safe and warm place for anyone and everyone to come to for a cup of tea and a chat. Each and every character I felt such warmth for and wished them only the best. The story shows that books can bring people together and they are great source of escapism. No matter what is happening in your own life a book can take you on a journey anywhere and anything can happen. The book made me cry and smile and warmed my heart with festive spirit. It was a pleasure to read and will stay with me forever!

I loved this book. I love a Christmas read, feel good, cosy, Christmas spirit vibes, love etc. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who loves a Christmas romance

This is quite a read.. Not the story I expected but loved it. You follow a library bus and how it helped people. Moving at time. You had some great love elements . Two characters I really liked were Frankie and Pamela..All the characters had stories. Read it . A neat ending

Thank you to NetGalley and Orion Publishing for this ARC.

Molly moves back from London to Merry-le-Moors at Christmas time after a break-up. Her Dad Jack runs a mobile library there for the council after the physical libraries were shut down like so many services. There are a plethora of characters using the library, mostly elderly people just trying to get out of the cold. Soon, a table and chairs plus hot drinks making facilities and mobile heaters are added and the Merry-le-Moors Mobile Library Friendship Society is born.

This is a difficult book to review because it is well-written but the disconnect between the pink cover and cutesy title and the actual content is so stark. From the outside you expect a traditional fluffy romance book but you are getting a male author with lofty ambitions of being literary and letting you know it, by quoting Camus and referencing politics and racism.

He then goes on to comment on his own story: "Maybe if this was more of a feelgood Christmas story, which you may feel you were promised, then things would be different." I'm sorry, but thing's like that take me right out of a book. I don't want an author to comment on his own story, I just want him to write a good story. And this is largely a good story.

A lot of feel-good things actually do happen, with people connecting, reconnecting and breaking out of abusive relationships left, right and centre. There is community, romance and laughter, even in the face of a threatened closure of the mobile library service, and I liked the many supporting characters.

The narration hops from person to person and, strangely enough, to dogs too. You will never guess who the principal narrator is supposed to be!

There is a lot to like about the book but it might be better to change the cover and title to something more accurately reflecting the content, and to maybe leave the author's many comments on his own story out.

3.5 stars

A lovely book about Christmas and books and libraries. All of which I love. This was an addictive read and very sweet. I loved the friendly characters who wanted to help people. We need more people like that these days. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.