Bookworm in the City

Of literature and lattes / Katherine Raey
What it is: a cozy smalltown coffee story
Did I like it: it wasn’t as sweet as I had hoped

This category was provided by friend E2 and it had me strolling through different parts of the library and two bookshops before I found something befitting it. Joy!
Unfortunately, that’s where the fun ended for me. A book with a title as this seemed a perfect fit for me: I love books! I love coffee! What could go wrong? As it turns out: quite a bit.
Spoiler alert: this review contains some reveals that might ruin your own reading experience of this book. Continue at your own risk.

First of all, the main characters were not attractive to me: they are stuck in some problems they don’t think they are to blame for and they whine about it a lot. On top of that especially Alyssa has snob tendencies, and is very dramatic (she accuses her mother of this trait and refuses to acknowledge the apple didn’t fall far from the drama tree). Alyssa and Jeremy both move from big cities on the West Coast to a small town in the Chicago area. Alyssa worked for a company that came under FBI investigation and the entire staff was fired. The pending investigation leaves her resume tainted and a lot of failed applications later, she is out of money and options and moves back home. Jeremy moves to be closer to his daughter. He has this daughter from a previous relationship which ended before the girl was born, and his ex moved back home so Jeremy was not really involved in his daughter’s life for years. Then, he decides to become a more involve parent, buys a coffeeshop in the town his ex moved to and expects things to naturally evolve into a normal shared-custody situation. Sure, his ex reads like a nightmare but Jeremy reads as very naïve: he signed divorce papers without reading them, he doesn’t check on his rights and doesn’t communicate like an adult (he doesn’t discuss his plans, just informs about them on the day of his move). He expects people to accept his changes and conform to them without so much as blinking. Also, he brings along a friend he hardly knows to be his partner in the coffee shop but then proceeds to ignore this friend pretty much from the moment they open the doors of the shop.
Both Alyssa and Jeremy are offered help by the people in town which they are unwilling to accept, even though they consistently complain about having to do everything alone. Ugh, these two. I like flawed characters because perfection is boring and it also gives them the chance to grow. The problem with these two for me was that there was not enough likeability to balance out the flaws and to root for them. Their growth also didn’t feel steady, more like a fluke.
But the main characters were not the only issue I had with this book. My next is this: for the first hundred pages or so the story is told from the interchanging perspectives of both Alyssa and Jeremy but then suddenly more people are added to the mix. Alyssa’s parents, a doctor (before he is even needed for the story: he seems to have stepped in from a previous book maybe?), a pastor, the owner of a shop, a member of the men’s meeting group that Jeremy sometimes attends…suddenly it seems everyone is invited to the party. I found this odd and it made the story clunky to read at times, especially the middle part where the “teller” switches every paragraph. I didn’t think this was necessary at all, and it only made it difficult to follow the story.
Then the ending: several of the storylines were left dangling which might have been a tool to set up future books. Before the ending Alyssa and Jeremy had already been together for quite a few chapters without any issues between them. Their problems got wrapped up with a ribbon around them and that felt way too quick and sudden because until three pages before the end these supposedly were Big Problems. It made the ending feel very discombobulated and odd.

I had been so busy finding a book to fit this item of the reading challenge that I hadn’t checked the publisher before starting to read. This is a Christian publisher and that’s evident in the story where the pastor has a voice, there are church meeting groups, people quoting the bible and praying. The themes of forgiveness and reconciliation are driven down hard and it is all very chaste. If that’s not your thing; steer clear.
I don’t mind characters of any faith in stories, and I don’t mind if that faith is detailed as long as there is a reason for it, as long as it’s driving something. But I don’t like to read verses from Holy books or prayers spelled out if it doesn’t add to the story itself because it feels too preachy. Unfortunately, that’s what happened here and although it’s limited to a few occasions it was still too much for me.

All in all this book left me feeling disappointed. I was expecting a cozy read featuring coffee, books, and some romance. Technically those elements are all there but it was too clunky and I just didn’t care about the main characters enough to get really involved.
Onwards to the next!