Book Review: The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan

This novel didn’t claim to be anything it wasn’t. It’s just a light, cute, and cozy read to get lost with in an evening. The protagonist Nina loses her job as a librarian, decides to buy a van, turn it into a bookstore on wheels, and heads to Scotland to become an entrepreneur, finding love on the way. It’s your classic feel-good rom com, though I wouldn’t say it’s among the best rom coms. 

But before we jump to the novel itself, Jenny Colgan wrote “A Message to Readers” at the beginning as a prelude into the novel. It amused me and added a personal touch straight from the author, setting the tone for the rest of the book. 

Nina was a relatable protagonist at the start, but then her character was overshadowed by all of the unrealistic events that happened around her. Things seemed to align a little too perfectly for Nina, books falling into her lap, two random men buying the van for Nina when the owner refused to sell, a train stopping just before hitting her van, the engineers willing to risk their jobs and train timelines to transport books to Nina, a modern yet charming barn all to herself with a view at a steal of a price, Nina resolves a divorce battle in five minutes where lawyers could not make any headway, and all the people from a small town suddenly become voracious readers and are willing to pay market prices for books all because of Nina’s influence. A little too many things fell perfectly into place, but I honestly didn’t mind it because I didn’t take the novel too seriously. My expectations weren’t too high. I was expecting chick lit and got chick lit. Which brings us to the romance…

The banter between Nina and Lennox was one of my favorite parts. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen very often. Lennox was such a rude person that shy Nina felt comfortable being herself with him and throwing it back at him: “Nina didn’t care about saying the wrong thing, didn’t feel embarrassed. There was something quite liberating in Lennox being so rude.” That part of their budding relationship was so believable to me. But then there was no true development from there. There were some attempts, like showing Lennox cuddling baby lambs, and they had one actual civilized conversation before they began to get it on. And then Lennox took his shirt off and chopped wood quite charitably (probably the cringiest part of the book, if that role isn’t taken by the van’s name: The Little Shop of Happy Ever After), and then the rest of the book was just Lennox and Nina lusting after each other. (And side note: I don’t get the appeal of men in kilts.) I felt like Lennox as a character disappeared from the novel at the most integral point where the relationship could actually develop on a meaningful level.

There are a lot of flaws, but the novel fit the vibe of the moment I read it, and it’s a good fluff read. It’s not especially memorable, but it was pleasant and light.