Hallie Reads: The Bookshop of Secrets

ABOUT THE BOOK

A collection of lost books holds the clues to her family’s legacy… and her future.

Hope Sparrow has mastered the art of outrunning her tragic past, learning never to stay anywhere too long and never to allow anyone control over her life again. Coming to Wanishin Falls in search of her family’s history already feels too risky. But somewhere in the towering stacks of this dusty old bookshop are the books that hold Hope’s last ties to her late mother—and to a rumored family treasure that could help her start over.

Only, the bookshop is in shambles, and the elderly owner is in the beginning stages of dementia and can’t remember where the books lie. To find the last links to the loved ones she’s lost, Hope must stay and accept help from the townsfolk to locate the treasured volumes. Each secret she uncovers brings her closer to understanding where she came from. But the longer she stays in the quaint town, the more people find their way into the cracks in her heart. And letting them in may be the greatest risk of all…

Publisher: Love Inspired Trade

Release Date: October 25, 2022

EXCERPT

Only the sharp clang of a bell above the door and lopsided towers of books greeted Hope Sparrow as she entered Dusty Jackets bookshop.

She breathed in their ancient paper dust, their gentle decay. Between pages like these, she’d always found her refuge.

Her Lucy Maud, Jane, the sisters Brontë, dear Louisa—all whispered the words she’d pored over in the dead of night and now fortified her strength for what she hoped was the last leg in a long journey.

“Hello? Anyone here?” She strode to the empty wooden sales counter, blew out a slow, steadying breath and sat her tattered cloth suitcase containing all of her worldly possessions at her feet. The coach bus that had dropped her a block from the shop rumbled away in the distance.

If this worked out the way she’d planned, she’d retrieve what she’d come for, find a place to stay for the night and catch the next bus back to Chicago. So close to fulfilling her dreams now.

In a rounded alcove, a silky black cat snoozed atop a precarious sun-drenched stack of tomes. Nothing stirred in the transformed Victorian home, where every available space held piles of books resembling mini-Leaning Towers of Pisa. Her nose wrinkled. This was no joyful celebration of literature. This was where books came to die. A book graveyard.

“Austenite.” A voice creaked in the still air like a window groaning open after winter.

She whirled around. How had she not noticed the small round room to her left, a long-ago sitting room, perhaps? A tuft of white hair bobbed between the book pillars.

She moved closer. “Excuse me?”

“I said, Austenite.” A small elderly man, all eyebrows and shining forehead with a lone patch of hair on top, popped out from behind a pile of now-obsolete—or so many assumed— encyclopedias. “I’d know one anywhere. It’s the buttoned-up self-satisfaction.” His wink rang more jovial than his words.

She put a hand to the tidy bun at the nape of her neck, and her lips tugged at the corners. “Guilty. Though I prefer the melancholy beauty of Charlotte Brontë’s moors or Lucy Montgomery’s charming Prince Edward Island.” She clutched a hand over her heart. “But give me a book aged to perfection in one hand, a cup of hot oolong tea in the other, and I’ll be there till the sun turns cold. A bit like C. S. Lewis that way, I guess.”

A tingle of heat swept across her cheeks. This is what she got for living and traveling alone for three years. Spouting weird things at strangers. She needed to quickly adopt people skills for her plan to work. Or at least learn how not to act awkward around them. The thought twisted her gut. How could she gain expertise in something never in her wheelhouse, even if the opportunity to hone her social etiquette hadn’t been stolen from her for ten years?

But the older man beamed and stuck out his hand. She shook it, trying to hide the anxiety human touch brought on. “I couldn’t agree more. I’m Ulysses Barrick. I co-own Dusty Jackets with my wife, Margaret. Welcome to Wanishin Falls. I hope Lake Superior and her steely gray wiles are treating you well. And, love, you are…?”

She cringed at the word love, not only for the meaning—so foreign a concept—but for the memories threatening to bring her under their churning undertow. “I’m…”

Ulysses poked a finger into the air. “Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.”

The words “thou art mine” clenched her stomach in a tight fist while the rest pulled at a little-used place in her chest.

“That’s lovely. Paul Laurence Dunbar?”

“Isaiah. Old Testament. Beauty and truth, I think.” He dipped his chin in a precise nod.

She couldn’t help but smile at this eccentric, seemingly kindred spirit.

“I’m Hope Sparrow. I’ve been trying to call, Mr. Barrick. I understand you’re—were—the brother of Agatha O’Brien. She was a good friend of mine, and I think she sent some very special books for you to hang on to until I was able to collect them.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mollie Rushmeyer writes contemporary romantic fiction with a blend of modern settings and fascinating historical elements. A born and bred Midwestern gal, Mollie makes her home in central Minnesota with her husband and two beautiful daughters. She is not only a bibliophile (the dustier the better, in her opinion), she’s a true Britophile at heart. Tea and coffee fuel her travels, by Google maps at least, and her passion for the written word.

Connect with Mollie by visiting MollieRushmeyer.com to follow her on social media or subscribe to email newsletter updates.

GIVEAWAY

(1) winner will receive a $25 Amazon gift card.

Full tour schedule linked below. The giveaway begins at midnight October 4, 2022 and will last through 11:59 PM EST on October 11, 2022. Winner will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. US/CAN. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.

Giveaway is subject to the policies found here.

TOUR SCHEDULE

JustRead Publicity Tours