The Echo of Old Books A Novel

I will be honest I didn’t enjoy it to begin with, but as I got farther into it and learn more about Hemi and Belles relationship I could feel myself hoping. And I knew my hope was wasted because according to Ethan, we already knew how the books ended. Once the reading of Regretting Belle and Forever, and Other Lies was done I kind of saw where the book was going and then you get just a little bit farther and your heart breaks and breaks and breaks and you probably cry and you can’t figure out why you thought you would be happy when this book ended why you thought you would hope for happiness, and then, maybe you get it, maybe happiness comes.

If you love books with angst, with terrible heartbreak and no happy ending in sight, this is the book for you.This book is told in alternating chapters, the main storyline follows main character Ashlyn as she discovers a couple of books with no author. The other chapters are chapters of the books she is reading. I loved this method of conveying information. Instead of Ashlyn just telling us what she read in the books, we get to read the books and see the anguish and despair they were written in.Ashlyn was soooo frustrating in the beginning of the book, I would get secondhand embarrassment whenever it was her chapter lol but she grows on you and her unapologetic curiosity drives the story.Ethan was ALSO frustrating, his blatant LACK of curiosity had me fuming.I listened to this book for as much as I could. I would listen to it on my way to and from work, but once it got to 70% I HAD to read it on kindle during my lunch or at home whenever I had time.I loved this book, 10/10 would recommend.

This story was unlike anything I have ever read. We are introduced to Ashlyn our main character who owns a bookshop and has a special talent when it comes to books. By luck she comes across “Regretting Belle” and then “Forever, and Other Lies”, two books each written by one half of a couple. We journey through each of their stories as well as Ashlyn’s. This was so beautifully done, I thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of the story telling and the writing. I will be looking at reading more books by Barbara Davis with how much I enjoyed this one.

There are several main characters in this story. The story starts with a young socialite engaged to marry a man of her fathers choosing. A wealthy new York family. Our young socialite falls for a journalist from the UK who us as assigned to write a story about the socialist iffy family. They fall in love and plan to run away but things go terribly wrong. This thwarted love story is found documented by a young woman who owns a rare book store as in collectable books. The 2 lovers documented their feelings for each other in a * book the story has a lot of twists and turns and covers a lot of years. The ending is a happy one and I enjoyed reading it

EXCERPT: It (wasn’t) the first time she had been caught off guard by a book’s echoed. It happened quite often, actually. Secrets so scandalous, they singed the tips of her fingers. Sadness that felt like a stone lodged in her throat. Joy so fierce, it made her scalp prickle. There wasn’t much she hadn’t come across. But she had never experienced anything close to what she felt while holding Regretting Belle.Her eyes slid to the book. Even closed, she could feel the pull of it, the allure of its anonymity, its careful, inscrutable prose, beckoning to be read after who knew how long.And the echoes.Over the years, she’d come to think of them the way a perfumer describes the notes of a scent. Some were simple, others more complex – subtle layers of emotion combined to create a whole. Top, heart, base.With Regretting Belle the notes were complex, heavy, and slow to lift. Against her better judgement, she placed a hand on its cover. It was bitterness that came through first, hot and sharp against the pads of her fingers. That was the top note, the initial impression. Next came the deeper and rounder heart note, betrayal, which carved a hollow place beneath her ribs. And finally, there was the base note, the most resonant of all the layers – grief. But whose grief?How Belle?ABOUT ‘THE ECHO OF OLD BOOKS’: Rare-book dealer Ashlyn Greer’s affinity for books extends beyond the intoxicating scent of old paper, ink, and leather. She can feel the echoes of the books’ previous owners—an emotional fingerprint only she can read. When Ashlyn discovers a pair of beautifully bound volumes that appear to have never been published, her gift quickly becomes an obsession. Not only is each inscribed with a startling incrimination, but the authors, Hemi and Belle, tell conflicting sides of a tragic romance.With no trace of how these mysterious books came into the world, Ashlyn is caught up in a decades-old literary mystery, beckoned by two hearts in ruins, whoever they were, wherever they are. Determined to learn the truth behind the doomed lovers’ tale, she reads on, following a trail of broken promises and seemingly unforgivable betrayals. The more Ashlyn learns about Hemi and Belle, the nearer she comes to bringing closure to their love story—and to the unfinished chapters of her own life.MY THOUGHTS: What a great read to end the year on. I have a book hangover and doubt I will be able to look at another book for several more days. The Echo of Old Books is a love story. Not a romance. A love story. And a mystery spanning decades.Barbara Davis tied my hearts in knots. She wrung every emotion possible from me. I plunged from the heights of joy to the depths of despair. I am emotionally bereft, quietly excited, and absolutely satisfied.The story is told over two historical timelines, aided by alternating chapters of two books: Regretting Belle written by Hemi, and Forever and Other Lies written in reply to Hemi’s book by Belle.I couldn’t stop reading. I cried. I smiled. I felt frustrated, angry and ultimately, satisfied.This was my first book by Barbara Davis. It won’t be my last.A Few Favorite Lines: We develop a particular fondness for our favorite books, the way they feel and smell and sound, the memoires they invoke, until they begin to exist for us as living, breathing things. – Ashlyn Greer, The Care & Feeding of Old BooksWe never think of our parents that way, as people with dreams and passions. They’re just parents.⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐THE AUTHOR: I’m a Jersey girl raised in the south, now living and writing in New England. Confused? Constantly. Happy? Deliriously! But then, living your dream will do that! After fifteen years of wearing heels and schlepping a briefcase as an executive in the jewelry industry, I traded in my pinstripes for a little peace of mind, and decided to follow my dream of becoming a women’s fiction author. And what a ride it’s been! Six books later, I’m still pinching myself, and I’m still as much in love with writing as I was the day I began this journey. Maybe it’s because I believe in miracles, in happy endings and new beginnings. Heaven knows I’ve had my share.I’m blessed to be married to my best friend and soul mate, Tom, who I must say, sets the bar pretty high for my on-the-page heroes. We also have a lovely ginger cat named Simon, who is twenty years old, wretchedly spoiled, and doesn’t give a fig if I’m on deadline or not. When I’m not making up stories, you’re likely to find me reading, cooking, watching college football, (Go Gators!)DISCLOSURE: I own my copy of The Echo of Old Books by Barbara Davis.