Welcome to a brand new week on TWG, and what better way to kick start a Monday than with the start of a brand new blog tour! I have the pleasure of kicking off the blog tour to celebrate the paperback release of Matthew Sullivan’s ‘Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore’. Big thanks to Penguin Books for the blog tour invite, as well as a copy of the book. Here is my review:
What do you do when the life you’ve carefully built for yourself comes apart?
Lydia Smith lives a quiet life, spent in the company of her colleagues and customers at the bookstore where she works. But when Joey Molina, a young and mysterious regular, hangs himself in the bookstore and leaves Lydia secret messages hidden in the pages of his books, her world starts to unravel.
Why did Joey do it?
What did he know?
And what does it have to do with Lydia?
What does TWG think?
I heard so much about ‘Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore’ when the e-book was released last year. It was a book that just kept popping up on all of my social media channels so when I got the e-mail about reviewing it for the blog tour, I jumped at the chance to see what all of the fuss was about. So many differing opinions, I couldn’t help but be intrigued!
‘Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore’ has been dubbed a ‘thriller’, but, even though the storyline involved some rather chilling elements, I couldn’t work out why it had been dubbed that. Mystery? Perhaps. Literary fiction? Most definitely. Thriller? I’m not too sure. Genre aside, the book has an intriguing storyline which will draw you in, allowing you to match your emotions to the characters you get to know.
Even though I read the book a little while ago, I am still having to allow my brain to digest the words my eyes came into contact with. Why? Honestly, I can’t seem to put my finger on the reason for that, all I know is that it is not a negative one.
Personally, the pace of ‘Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore’ wasn’t as fast paced as I thought it was going to be, but it did seem to work with the overall premise of the book instead.
Matthew Sullivan writes in a way that is both moving and memorable, allowing readers to create vivid imagery with his cleverly crafted descriptions throughout the storyline. Whilst the concept didn’t blow me away, the author’s style of writing did. Despite his words actually being two-dimensional due to being written on a page, his delivery turned those words into three-dimensional intensity. A very well written novel. I look forward to reading more from Matthew Sullivan in the future.
The Writing Garnet 
I adored the parts set in the bookstore but found everything wandered a bit too much for me when they were delving into her past. Saying that, beautiful writing!
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