The Secrets of Paper and Ink

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
An enjoyable tale of three women, two in the present day and one in the past, all struggling with issues. Sophia is a therapist coping with the aftermath of an abusive relationship. She travels to Cornwall as a way of escaping where she meets Ginny, a bookstore owner who is coping with her husband leaving her. In the course of working in the bookstore, Sophia finds a mysterious diary. Is it from a real woman or has someone invented a fictional character?
The stories are interweaved well, and I particularly liked the writing style I'm the diary. There is some gentle romance, but I felt like the focus was primarily on the women making lives for themselves first and foremost. As it is Christian fiction, there is both a focus on this and it's the kind of book that can be read by people who are not necessarily interested in sexual content. Nevertheless, this was a good read with a warm and fluffy ending.

An easy read with pages that practically turn themselves. There are three POV characters, two modern and one historical. Sophie has most of the page time and the most complete emotional arc; Emily was my favorite despite her having the least page time, but she was so colorful. In all I think I'd have tripped over line from loving it to adoring it if it had been longer and the characters given a bit longer arc. (A good bit of the beginning of the stories are hinted at and some of the future is left to the imagination.)

I loved the bookshop atmosphere and how it was almost its own character. I liked the ending it got!

I wanted to string up Garrett for his babyish cowardice...ugh.

There's some Christian content, brief and to the point, of the encouragement sort (as opposed to the evangelistic sort). There were a lot of hurting people and I thought there should have been a bit more pointing back to Jesus as a refuge for out hurt.

note: dropping my rating two weeks after reading it. A storyline keeps bugging at me and I can't just let it stand without mention. After a separation, a woman begins to keep company with another man who is a former friend of her husband's. She is not yet divorced and she does not physically cheat, but emotionally she becomes romantically attached to another man. I cannot endorse such flaunting of vows before a divorce becoming finalized because then she also is breaking her vows. Moving on after a hurt does NOT include finding romance again right away and therapists generally recommend waiting at least a year to avoid rebounds...so why is everyone modern in this story so eager to jump back into new relationships?

Thanks to the publisher for a free reading copy. A favorable review was not required.