With Love from London: A Novel

My first read by Sarah Jio. With Love From London was so well written I felt like I was at all locations in London. Valentina will pull at your heart as she goes through sadness and life. I highly recommend this wonderful book and will now read all of Sarah's books. Thankful for another gifted writer to follow.

I love Sarah Jio and this book was long awaited! She is a master at constructing a story in two different timelines that always come together seamlessly.Valentina hasn't seen her mother since she was a child. Her parents got divorced and her mother moved back to London, while Valentina remained in the US with her father. Her mother returned home to London, and to her dream of owning a bookstore with her friend Millie. Many years later, Valentina learns that her mother is deceased and that she has inherited her mother's bookstore. Valentina is a recently divorced librarian, so she decides she will move to London to try and save her mother's bookstore.Little does Valentina know, her mother has planned all kinds of surprises for her. She has left behind clues that take Valentina on a scavenger hunt throughout Primrose Hill. She is able to meet many of the people who her mother loved the most, and who loved her mother as well. She is able to learn about her mother's life in London, her bookstore, and her friends.I love these characters and their complicated history. I love reading about characters who love books. The bookstore setting was magical. The multiple timelines tied together seamlessly. I was heartbroken for Valentina and her mother - for all the time they missed together. The sense of community in Primrose Hill was palpable and all of the characters came together as important parts of Valentina's story.Valentina and her mother have a complicated past. Now that her mother is deceased, it is time for Valentina to learn the truth about her mother and her reasoning for leaving Valentina behind. many years ago.

I have a special place in my heart for Sarah Jio books - and this latest one did not disappoint! Coincidentally, my mother and I share a love of her books and we've swapped all of her books back and forth over the years. All that said, this book - which is essentially an ode to mother/daughter relationships is one I can't wait to share with my own mom. :)Valentina Baker is only 11 years old when her mother Eloise unexpectedly leaves Val and her father on their own in California and flees back to her native London. Now an adult in her 30s, Val - a librarian who is fresh out of a failed marriage - still hasn't reconciled with her estranged mother. However, Val soon learns that her mother Eloise has died and left her a Primrose Hill apartment in London along with the Book Garden, the storied bookshop she opened nearly 20 year ago. Stunned this news yet still reeling from her own failed personal life, Val jets across the pond to London hoping for a fresh start and the chance to learn more about the mother that she barely knew.Told in alternating storylines between present day Valentina in London and past Eloise (her mother), this lovely novel is about healing and loss, and asks the question, how well do you really know your parents and their past struggles, grief and sacrifice? It's definitely a book to treasure - and share with my mom. Thanks #Netgalley for the complimentary electronic version. I recently purchased the paperback for my bookshelf too.

Sarah Jio is one of my favorite authors and her latest book just increases the respect I have for her. Most of her books are what I call "then and now" where part take place in one time period with a mystery that is solved in a present time period. My only complaint is that the book ends, when I want to know what happened to the characters for the rest of their lives. It's the kind of book that is hard to put down, satisfying while reading, and sad when it ends. Can't wait for the next one!

On the surface, WITH LOVE FROM LONDON fits the go-to plot in much of contemporary women's literature: overcoming hardship and tragedy. For me, the tragedies of Valentina Baker losing her mother Eloise twice, once as a child when her mother leaves her behind in California for London, and later as an adult, are compelling. A major response the grieving Valentina has in London is saving the Book Garden, her mother's beloved bookstore. This endeavor is cleverly advanced by a collection of loving notes with clues left by Eloise for her to follow. For me, the powerful emotions and events in the book deserve so much more depth as the book drifts too easily into happily-ever-after land without the deep poignancy and compassion both Valentina and her mother deserve.

I guess I'd give it 2 1/2 stars. I was so irked that I didn't try to type the review from my Kindle, but got on my computer.There will be *****spoilers***** in this review.I liked the beginning of this novel. I really did. But then it started to get really weird. The story line is just so unbelievable. I don't buy for a minute that BOTH Elosie and Edward were so enamored with each other after, basically, 1 1/2 dates. Sorry. (And that this deep love...would have Edward give Val 300,000 pounds to rescue her, as he did years earlier, to rescue Elosie, by being the property owner of the bookstore, and lowered the price; that was done behind the scenes.)I don't buy for a minute that Frank would have kicked Eloise out, to never again let her see her only child. And the excuse was so ridiculous--a detective? Well, if he hired a detective, then the detective would have told Frank that nothing was happening!Val and Daniel: Why would he invite her to meet his parents (after 2 dates)--when he is leaving for India? And he tells her on that same night he wasn't the guy who wrote the notes in the book. But guess what--Eric was! Wow.How can you have such a low opinion of your readers that you felt like you needed to add that??Obviously the author knows that females are the bulk of her buyers. And she embarrassingly panders to them.

Non conoscevo Sarah Jio e devo dire che con questo libro mi ha conquistata. Mi aspettavo un libro pesante e invece ho trovato una storia agrodolce scorrevolissma e non " affezionarsi " a certi personaggi è impossibile. Consigliatissimo!!!

Loved it read it