📚 Book Review: The Bookstore Keepers by Alice Hoffman (Kindle Edition, Once Upon a Time Bookshop Stories #3)
A tender, introspective novella about grief, legacy, and the quiet strength of love—Alice Hoffman deepens her Once Upon a Time Bookshop series with a story that explores how loss reshapes the heart and home.
🧠 Overview
Published in 2025, The Bookstore Keepers is the third installment in Alice Hoffman’s Once Upon a Time Bookshop Stories, set in the coastal town of Brinkley’s Island, Maine. The story follows Johnny Lenox and Isabel Gibson, five years into their rekindled relationship after the events of The Bookstore Sisters. Their life together is peaceful—until Johnny’s father, Jack Lenox, passes away unexpectedly.
Johnny’s grief is profound and disorienting. He begins to withdraw emotionally, haunted by dreams and memories, and unexpectedly expresses a desire to have a child—a chapter he and Isabel had long considered closed. Meanwhile, Isabel’s niece Violet, fresh out of college, returns to the island with plans to escape to Paris rather than take over the family bookstore. These intertwined journeys of mourning, longing, and rediscovery form the emotional core of the novella.
💘 Key Themes & Highlights
- 💔 Grief and transformation: Johnny’s mourning leads to unexpected desires and emotional shifts
- 👨👩👧 Family legacy: Violet’s struggle with expectations adds generational depth
- 📖 Bookshop as sanctuary: The bookstore remains a symbol of memory, comfort, and continuity
- ✨ Magical realism: Hoffman’s signature touch appears in dreamlike visions and symbolic moments
- 🌊 Island atmosphere: Brinkley’s Island is richly drawn, evoking solitude, nostalgia, and quiet magic
“This was the day when Johnny didn’t want time to go forward. Let it all stay as it was, he thought. Let us wait until it does. But he had the sense that it was already too late.”
💬 Reader Reception
- ⭐ Goodreads rating: 4.1/5 (early reviews)
- 📖 Readers praise Hoffman’s lyrical prose, emotional sensitivity, and multi-generational storytelling
- 💬 “A beautiful meditation on how love persists through change, and how grief can open unexpected doors.”
- 🧾 Some note that the story follows familiar patterns, but its emotional resonance remains strong
⚠️ Considerations
- 📄 Short format: At around 40 pages, it’s a quick, reflective read
- 📚 Series continuity: Best appreciated after reading The Bookstore Sisters and The Bookstore Wedding
- 🧠 Subtle storytelling: Focuses on emotional nuance rather than dramatic plot twists
🏁 Final Verdict
The Bookstore Keepers is a gentle, emotionally layered novella that explores how grief reshapes relationships and how love endures through life’s quiet upheavals. Alice Hoffman’s storytelling remains poetic and deeply human, making this Kindle edition a moving addition to the Once Upon a Time Bookshop series.
