The littlest library A novel

Jess Metcalf and her grandmother were always a team. Losing her parents at age four meant Mimi became Jess's sole caregiver and confidante. When Mimi dies, 32-year-old Jess is jobless, alone, and ready to make some changes in her life. She puts her house on the market, then drives until she runs out of gas, ending up in the small English town of Middlemass. There she finds the perfect cottage; what she doesn't expect is the grouchy, very handsome neighbor Aidan, with whom she has a contentious first encounter. Nevertheless, Jess purchases the cottage and attends a rousing meeting with the town council concerning the phone box in her front yard, where she agrees to start a lending library, using the books she and Mimi collected. New friends, new kittens, and a new house give Jess newfound confidence, but will this bliss last? Or like everything in her life, will it all come crashing down? VERDICT Alexander's second novel (following 25 Days 'Til Christmas) is a fun, sassy jaunt. Readers will love Middlemass and the sweet people who live there.--Jane Blue

After a bereavement, a young Englishwoman moves to a small village and figures out what she wants from life. Jess Metcalfe has been contentedly floating through life, working at the local library, living with her beloved grandmother Mimi, and having regular video chats with her best friend, Hannah, who's moved to New Zealand. In what seems like an instant, however, Mimi dies, the library closes, and Jess doesn't know what to do with herself. On a whim, she buys a little cottage in the Devon village of Middlemass and finds herself with a daunting renovation ahead of her and an iconic--and abandoned--red telephone box that she's now responsible for out front. After attending a town meeting foisted on her by Aidan Foxworthy, her cute, single-dad neighbor, Jess finds herself setting up a tiny lending library inside the phone booth and watching as it slowly brings the whole community together. This is a novel about a village, and Alexander has created a group of colorful characters who each have their own charm--from Becky the harried mom to Diana the stylish retiree, Joan and Muriel the sniping neighbors (and possibly sisters?), and of course Aidan the attractive neighbor. While Jess is connected to everyone, the other character' stories mostly happen off the page, so a large part of the novel consists of villagers telling Jess what happened to them slightly earlier. Even during scenes where Jess is present, the reader is often simply told that she gave a speech and it was touching rather than being shown the speech itself. All this auxiliary plot leaves little time to dive into Jess' main problem, which seems to come out of nowhere (as well as being something she should have foreseen from the start). Nevertheless, the book does charm, especially in its descriptions of the village. A pleasant dramedy for people who want to retire to the country. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.