1.5 ⭐️s rounded up. I really should have just abandoned this one but I’m awful at ditching books so here we are. I couldn’t stand the main character, Pandora. She was flighty, self-absorbed and ridiculously shallow. She never considered (or even really cared) about what her actions would do or who they would affect. And she had no grasp of reality most of the time. (She “loves” one guy but will sleep with someone else and then smile at them both happily? She thinks it was unfair of herself to have asked her husband to be faithful??)

The writing wasn’t great either. It was repetitive, went over certain back story or detail multiple times, completely omitted others, and lacked a lot of character development. Often it had a sort of clunky feel - sort of like a “see spot run” primer at times, especially in the beginning.

There’s not much of the book that gives any glimpse into the 20s, and the frivolity of the wealthy post-crash was really annoying knowing everyone else was starved and destitute. Only tiny bits had anything to do with fashion design as well, mostly at the end, and even that didn’t make a whole lot of sense. Most of the book was just about Pandora and her awful life choices and love life.

Of the many WW2 books I’ve read, this is only the 2nd that takes a look at Lisbon, Portugal during that time and how important it was to get refugees in and out of France or other countries. I loved the look at such a different location and environment as well as how a librarian in the OSS was involved there.

I’ve also never heard about the printing of the newspapers by the resistance either to get the truth and updates out, so that was a great new aspect. Such immensely brave people and their stories were intricately told in the book, explaining how brutal an unforgiving their role was.

It was odd how the title was Librarian Spy - I wouldn’t consider Ava a spy just because she was looking at intel to photograph it. It was just not the story I thought I was going to read based on the title. I enjoyed it, for sure, but it felt a little misleading by the end - it’s just not what I expected going into it so I kept waiting for it to branch into espionage that never came up. Also, at the time I’m reading it, whoever edited this missed so many typos and grammar mistakes…

While the story was little bit stiff, this was a great read on the City of Saint-Malo in France during WW2 thru the eyes of the city librarian. Anyone who loves books as so many of us do, as well as history itself, understand Jocelyn’s loyalty and love to preserve the books and their history at a great cost. It is truly sad that the city lasted so long during the occupation to only be decimated in the weeks following D-Day, right at the tail end of the war.

I struggled a little with the romance Jocelyn had with Hermann, the Nazi soldier. While there certainly were Nazi’s who fought because they had to, or even as spies, and life is certainly not as black and white as we would like it to be - it’s easy to group a whole people as “evil” when the lines can blur individually - he still believed in his cause and the evil philosophy of Naziism as a whole and participated willingly in it. He didn’t agree with many of the methods but the book doesn’t allude to him trying to dismantle any of it with the position he was given aside from protecting some of Jocelyn’s books and a handful of forged Jewish papers. So for Jocelyn to be part of the resistance especially, but so against the Nazi’s and still allow herself to seek him out - be infatuated or even in love, fine, but not to intentionally pursue it - seems a little off kilter for me and unrealistic. But that’s just my opinion as a reader of a lot of WW2 stories.

Thank you to Netgalley and Thomas Nelson for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

So many amazing thoughts and truths about the importance of books and reading, about not censoring things you don’t agree with, and how the little things are what make a difference. Loved the point of “redemption had never lived in a single moment. It lived in a thousand of them.” The overarching thread in the book was that we tend to think life is made up most importantly of big noticeable impacts, but it’s the small shifts and seemingly insignificant actions that move the ship to change course.

Overall, I was conflicted on the book but ultimately the good parts were so good, I gave it 4 stars. Some content I was not a fan of and the first half was a bit slow and harder to get into. The 3 characters each with different timelines was a lot and didn’t give you enough time to really get invested or develop the characters. I don’t feel like the majority of the 1936 storyline with Hannah was really necessary and was just too much outside of the end. I also didn’t care for Hannah’s character. She was bitter, mean at times, lacked humility and angry (understandably), even before all hell broke loose in Berlin.

I really liked Viv and the 1944 timeline a lot. The ASE system was fascinating. But her character and timeline was the most interesting, relatable and able to be invested in, to me.

There were so many amazing concepts about books and the importance of them, the dangers of censorship and hidden agendas, and how the small things are what make the lasting impacts in our decisions and ourselves as well as history itself. Also loved all the points of how important reading is and finding books you like, not just what you’re “supposed” to like or what sounds superior. All of that really swayed the book higher for me and overtook what I didn’t care for.

On a lesser note, it seems a little of a misnomer in the title - it wasn’t really about the Librarian of Burned Books, but her and 2 other women equally. I guess it brings attention to the concept but seemed a little off target.

Thanks to Netgalley and Harper Collins for the advanced copy of this book. All options are mine.