This Book Made Me Think of You

It's Tilly Nightingale's birthday, but she doesn't feel like celebrating. Less than six months prior, she lost the love of her life, Joe, to cancer. Since then, she has thrown herself into her work as an editor for a London publishing company, but the rest of her life has compressed to wallowing in her small London flat, surrounded by memories of her husband.

Then she receives a phone call from a local bookstore owner named Alfie Lane. It turns out that before his death, Joe had hand-selected twelve books—one per month—and that the first is waiting for Tilly at Alfie's shop, Book Lane. Tilly had always been a voracious reader, but Joe's illness caused her to withdraw and, in the process, stop reading. Through Joe's posthumous gift, he hopes that he can restore Tilly's love of books, as well as her zest for life.

This Book Made Me Think of You is, as you might imagine, a story about grief and the challenges of moving beyond the loss of a loved one. It's also an homage to reading and books, as well a love letter to independent booksellers. Author Libby Page rebuilds Tilly from the ground up through Joe's carefully selected set of books, helping to pull her from her doldrums, reevaluate several aspects of her life, and even allowing her to start to love again.

It's sad, and sappy, and sweet, and one that many are latching onto because it gives “all the feels”. But if I step back and truly evaluate it, there are some pretty big gaps. I appreciated the novel premise, but among the topics it tackles, it failed to truly distinguish itself for me. There are more enchanting love stories, and there are more gut-wrenching depictions of grief. Tilly's personal journey of growth is fine, but there are components of Joe's puppeting from beyond the grave that were a little cringy. If all of his gifted books reconnected Tilly with elements of herself that she had lost, it would have felt better, but some felt like Joe was trying to make Tilly into something she wasn't.

All of that, coupled with a too tidy and coincidental ending, left me feeling fairly neutral about the book. It's a perfectly fine read with an interesting premise, but it's one that failed to leave a lasting impression.