The Last Chance Library by Freya Sampson
Genre: YA Realistic Fiction
Blurb (on back of book): June Jones emerges from her shell to fight for her beloved local library, and through the efforts and support of an eclectic group of library patrons, she discovers life-changing friendships along the way.
Lonely librarian June Jones has never left the sleepy English village
where she grew up. Shy and reclusive, the thirty-year-old would rather spend her time buried in books than venture out into the world. But when her library is threatened with closure, June is forced to emerge from behind the shelves to save the heart of her community and the place that holds the dearest memories of her mother.
Joining a band of eccentric yet dedicated locals in a campaign to keep the library, June opens herself up to other people for the first time since her mother died. It just so happens that her old school friend Alex Chen is back in town and willing to lend a helping hand. The kindhearted lawyer's feelings for her are obvious to everyone but June, who won't believe that anyone could ever care for her in that way.
To save the place and the books that mean so much to her, June must finally make some changes to her life. For once, she's determined not to go down without a fight. And maybe, in fighting for her cherished library, June can save herself, too.
MY OPINION: **
I was not a fan of this book. It was a quick read (I read it in the span of one day) which was nice but aside from that, there wasn't a lot about of it that I enjoyed. I picked this up at my school library from the featured "New" section and read the back, thinking this would be great. The plot is interesting: a young librarian with a fear of public speaking has to fight loudly and proudly to save her library from austerity in Britain.
There are so many things I can say about this book but I'm going to try to keep it short and sweet.
There was a lot of unnecessary name dropping of various books that ironically only made more visible and glaring how bad this book was in comparison. I normally love books about books but with each new title or author mentioned within this one, I longed to read those books rather than continue reading this one. I feel bad saying that but it was true. I think a lot of the name dropping could have been taken out. Yes, she's a librarian but does she need to mention three books she loved on each page?
June was incredibly annoying, insipid, boring, and quite frankly pathetic at times. I don't want to crap on her fears and insecurities. I definitely understand how a fear of public speaking can be inhibiting and awful, as someone who used to suffer from that same problem years ago. However, she claimed to be so invested in saving the library and doing all that she could to live up to her mother's memory and then would proceed to do NOTHING. Yes, she started a FAKE social media account to spill some insider secrets but how much is that really doing? When it really counted, she decided to step it up but she was never willing to face her fears to save something she claimed to be so passionate about and that was what made her so unlikeable to me. I think that at the end of the day, you have to face your fears to get what you want and I hated how she just stood there and literally became a background character in her own book. Stanley played a ten times more important role than she did.
There was also an underlying romance plot that felt SO unnecessary. Now, I usually LOVE romance. None of us should be a stranger to this undeniable fact. However, in this specific book, it was not needed. Alex, the love interest, did not have an important role. I said it. He could have been cut out completely and the plot would still have been the same. It felt as if he was added in for the sake of a love story. If he had had some other real role in the plot to save the library, I would have been fine with his character and even have tolerated a little romance between him and June. However, he was legit there solely to play a male lead and counterpart to June and I wasn't a fan, no matter how sweet he was. I didn't hate him as a character, I just hated his existence in the book overall because he did not need to be there.
All of the library patrons become a part of the plan to save the library which should have been endearing but was quite frankly annoying by the end of it all. It felt as if the author had tried so hard to give them these unique and quirky traits to make them different from each other and seem more real. However, she only succeeded in making them seem more fake, as if they were built from a mold and then someone tacked on 5-10 character traits to give them a personality. I wasn't a fan of literally any of the characters.
Vera was horrible and rude, even if the author tried to give her a redemption arc. Mrs. B felt like she was trying to be a social justice warrior which just felt tacky and performative. Stanley was sweet and I loved him but he felt the most unrealistic of them all in terms of his role in saving the library. There were some random teens and kids who also definitely did not need to be there. I understand the theme of showing that libraries are for everyone, young and old, but frankly, I did not care about any of ht younger kids and felt as if they had really unnecessary and inane roles. Also, the boss of the library and her husband... just why?
It's not marketed as YA but it was really reminiscent of YA. The only thing that made it "adult" is the fact that the main character is 30. Otherwise, this was very clean and PG.
Overall, I just wasn't a fan of this one. I can see how it could be endearing and cute to others but for me, I found it boring and annoying. I would recommend it to readers looking for a slower-paced novel with a more fluffy and less melodramatic plot as other books in this same genre.
Main Character: June
Sidekick(s): Alex, library patrons, etc
Villain(s): Misunderstandings, fear, etc
Realistic Fiction Elements: This book was all very real to life.
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