Portobello Book Blog

I’ve recently begun listening to audiobooks with my Audible subscription. I haven’t reviewed any on my blog but thought I’d should maybe start. After all, I do add them to my GoodReads list and usually add a few words with my thoughts. So here is a short review of my most recent audiobook read/listen.

I loved The Bookshop on the Shore which I think is the first Jenny Colgan I’ve read. I say read but of course I listened to it on Audible. There is often a debate about whether listening to a book actually counts as reading it but I think that whether you read a physical copy, an ebook copy or listen to an audiobook version, you are still experiencing a book in some way so it counts to me as reading.

The narrator of this audiobook was Eilidh Beaton, She was excellent, using many different voices and accents for the characters, really bringing them to life. This is the first time I’ve listened to a book she has narrated but I understand she has narrated lots of books for Audible. I can see why as she has a wonderful way of bringing all the emotions of the characters alive with her narration.

There wasn’t as much about the bookshop (actually a travelling bookshop van) as I’d expected but that was fine. The focus was very much on Zoe who has moved to Scotland from London with her son Hari and is working as an au pair in a large house, for a rather unusual family who seem to have plenty of secrets. Although the children were all quite challenging I really loved them, particularly precocious Patrick and my heart went out to Mary.

With a fabulous location and characters you will come to love, this is a heart-warming and engaging story. There are serious issues covered but also a lot of warmth and light-heartedness and a rather lovely love story too. I’ll definitely be looking out for more Jenny Colgan books.

The Bookshop on the Shore is published by Little Brown UK and is available in hardback, ebook and audiobook formats. The paperback will follow in April next year. You should be able to buy or order it from your usual book retailer or you can order a copy from Hive UK (where every purchase supports your local High Street): The Bookshop on the Shore

From the back of the book

Escape to the Scottish Highlands where a tiny bookshop perches on the edge of a loch. Zoe is a single mother, sinking beneath the waves trying to cope by herself in London.

Hari, her gorgeous little boy is perfect in every way – except for the fact that he just doesn’t speak, at all.

When her landlord raises the rent on her flat, Zoe doesn’t know where to turn.

Then Hari’s aunt suggests Zoe could move to Scotland to help run a bookshop.

Going from the lonely city to a small village in the Highlands could be the change Zoe and Hari desperately need.

Faced with an unwelcoming boss, a moody, distant bookseller named Ramsay Urquart, and a band of unruly children, Zoe wonders if she’s made the right decision.

But Hari has found his very first real friend, and no one could resist the beauty of the loch glinting in the summer sun.

If only Ramsay would just be a little more approachable… Dreams start here… 

About the author

Jenny Colgan is the author of numerous bestselling novels – Little Beach Street Bakery and the Top 5 bestseller Welcome to Rosie Hopkins’ Sweetshop of Dreams, which won the RNA Romantic Comedy Novel Award 2013. Meet Me at the Cupcake Café was also a Sunday Times Top 10 bestseller, and won the Melissa Nathan Award for Comedy Romance 2012.

Jenny is married with three children and lives in Scotland. For more about Jenny, visit her website and her Facebook page, or follow her on Twitter: @jennycolgan.