The Last Chance Library

I learned a valuable lesson in reading this book: never read two similarly themed books in close proximity to each other, because like it or not, you’ll compare them.  Having just read The Library by Bella Osborne, there were some prominent similarities:  They both deal with the imminent threat of closure to the village library and the scrappy villagers’ plans to fight it, they both had younger and older characters bridging the age gap to find common ground and friendship in their united cause, they both had characters with broken family relationships due to a secret past, and they both had mousy, socially-awkward main characters finding their voice to help others and grow individually, to name a few of the bigger ones.

In this case, the main character is thirty-year-old wallflower June Jones (sorry - I can’t help but think of the children’s book series Junie B. Jones about a precocious six-year old, which distracted me a bit). June has lost her mom and is coming to the realization that she has no friends or life experiences outside the little village of Chalcot, where she’s a library assistant. Her days consist of helping library patrons like older members Stanley Phelps, caustic Mrs. B, crotchety Vera, teenager Chantal, bright young Jackson and others.  When the city council announces plans to potentially close Chalcot Library, these patrons form a group called FOCL (Friends of Chalcot Library, but pronounced “Fock All”) to fight it.  Initially told she’ll lose her job if she joins, June stays out of the fray until she comes to terms with her own personal loss if the closure goes through and joins the fight.

There’s so much more to the story, including “mean girl” women from June’s school days, revealing backstories about other characters, a potential romance for June with another old school mate, Alex, but at the end of the book, I just hadn’t connected as I would’ve liked with any of the characters, nor did I find their stories particularly compelling.  June is sweet, and it was nice to see her find her voice, and Alex was a great guy, but I didn’t really feel any sparks between them.  Other characters, like loud, abrasive Mrs. B, prim and proper Stanley, difficult Vera felt a little too cliché.  As for the story, it followed the expected arc with an ending that was wrapped up in an almost comically convenient bow. Had this been a movie, it would feel like one I’d seen way too many times.

I’ll definitely watch for future books by Freya Sampson - it’s an admirable debut effort and well written, but I think my timing was off.  Had I read this before or sufficiently distanced from The Library, I think I would’ve better seen it on its own merits.  As it stands, it was a perfectly nice story, but not a standout for me. 

 

★★★ 

Thanks to Berkley Publishing, Netgalley and author Freya Sampson for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinions. It will be published August 31, 2021.