"A place ain't a place without a bookstore, Izzie."

I have a soft spot for books about books. Last year's [b:Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore|13538873|Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore (Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, #1)|Robin Sloan|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1345089845l/13538873.SY75.jpg|6736543] landed on my favorites of 2020 shelf. This book wormed its way onto my favorites of 2021 shelf. It's sweet, heartfelt, very at-face-value, but I loved it all the same.

AJ Fikry owns a bookstore on Alice Island. He purchased this bookstore with his wife, but in the way of these sorts of literary books, she's no longer in the picture. He's...sort of let himself go since, but maintains the bookstore (and a sour disposition) out of loyalty to the idea. He left the store unlocked one day while he was out, and comes back to find a small child, abandoned with a note asking for the owner of the bookstore to take care of her, because the mother wants the child to grow up around books. This is Maya. The book follows the unlikely pair as AJ remembers what it's like to be, well, a person with human emotions again, while caring for this abandoned child.

The book is fairly straightforward, funny in spots, but the dialogue is a little simple. A few twists occur, monkeywrenches in AJ's life that he has to navigate, and there's plenty of witty remarks about books and authors. I really felt for Maya, who grows up without knowing who her parents were, who grows up around books and develops a love for them, who grows up wanting to write them. None of that describes me, but I can imagine how difficult such a background might be for a child like her.

I can't really put my finger on why I loved this book so much, except that I did. The stories are funny, sad, heartbreaking, uplifting, in the way that books in the general fiction category tend to be. It's not deep, not thought provoking in the hidden meaning sort of way, but I did leave the book feeling sad, and any book that leaves an emotional reaction with me is a good book in my eyes. The ending touches on one of my personal fears about growing old, and maybe I projected a bit much.

A good, quick read for people who love reading books set in old bookstores.