Posted on by Empress DJ

Book Review: The Love Scribe by Amy Meyerson @amy_meyerson

The Love Scribe
by Amy Meyerson

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From the bestselling author of The Bookshop of Yesterdays comes a charming novel about a woman with a special gift—her stories help people fall in love.

When Alice’s best friend, Gabby, is reeling from a breakup, Alice writes her a heartfelt story to cheer her up. While reading it in a café, Gabby, as if by magic, meets the man of her dreams. Thinking the story might have some special power to it, Gabby shares it with her sister and other friends, who all find instant love. Word of mouth spreads, and Alice stumbles upon a new calling—to be a love scribe.

But not all the love stories she writes unfold as expected. And while Alice tries to harness her extraordinary gift, she is summoned to a mansion in the woods where she encounters the reclusive Madeline Alger and her mysterious library. As Alice struggles to write a story for Madeline, her most challenging assignment yet, she’s forced to confront her own guarded heart. Because maybe—just maybe—there’s a love story waiting to be written for her, too.

Emotional, deeply imaginative, and brimming with valuable life lessons, The Love Scribe explores love, fate, and the power of stories when we choose to believe in them.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

There’s something about that story. I can’t explain it. It opened me up. Maria said the same thing. It was like being unfolded from the inside out, so the love could seep in.

“My gift? Gabby, the only thing I’m gifted at is quitting. I have a preternatural talent for giving up.” Gabby frowned. “All the more reason not to quit now. And for the record, I’ve never believed that about you. It’s just an excuse you’ve been telling yourself for years so you don’t have to pursue anything challenging.” She was a clever one, that Gabby. If Alice turned her down now, she’d be proving Gabby right.

Most people’s problems, Alice was beginning to discover, were pretty obvious. Everyone thinks they’re hiding their pain, their insecurities, their struggles. Really, most people are just so focused on their own issues that they aren’t particularly observant of others. If you stop for a second and look, really investigate someone, they unfold before you like a book. Most people, at least.

“Blame is its own form of grief.” Madeline scratched at the scar on her cheek. “It’s easier to feel guilty than to admit you’re helpless.

Do you always eat sandwiches like that?” … “Like you’re afraid of them. Like that—” he pointed to the piece she’d ripped off and was about to eat. “The entire point of a sandwich is that you can just take a bite.” He gnawed at his baguette like it was a turkey leg at a Renaissance fair.

He was tall and thin, with warm brown skin and a head so bald it shone. His chin was hidden by a neatly trimmed beard with a white patch shaped like a heart. When he caught Alice staring, he rubbed his palm against the spot. “Some people wear their hearts on their sleeves. I wear mine on my face.”

My Review:

 

Rereading the vast plethora of highlighted passages I saved during perusal reminded me of just how cleverly insightful and intricately nuanced this novel was. Amy Meyerson is such a nimble raconteur, I kept marveling at the creativity and vibrant details of the brain-snagging and mind-prickling scenes her words conjured. I was sucked into an oddly compelling vortex that kept me a bit on edge yet unable to look away for fear of missing a crumb. I felt on unsteady ground throughout the journey, and can’t remember the last time I enjoyed that peculiar unsettling feeling more.

 

Amy Meyerson is the bestselling author of The Bookshop of Yesterdays and The Imperfects. Her books have been translated into eleven languages, and her short fiction has been published in numerous literary magazines. Amy teaches in the writing department at the University of Southern California, where she completed her master’s degree in creative writing. Her third novel, The Love Scribe, will be published by Park Row Books in February 2023. Originally from Philadelphia, she currently lives in the Los Angeles area with her husband and two children.