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A review by srivalli
A Little Place in Prague by Julie Caplin
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
4 Stars
One Liner: Heartwarming and a great virtual tour!
Anna Love and Leo Knight share a history. However, he was the last person she expected to be her new housemate for six months in Prague. As they walk through the streets and work on their professional goals, the city’s magic might give them more than what they hoped for!
Anna Love and Leo Knight share a history. However, he was the last person she expected to be her new housemate for six months in Prague. As they walk through the streets and work on their professional goals, the city’s magic might give them more than what they hoped for!
The story comes in Leo and Anna’s third-person POVs.
My Thoughts:
Firstly, kudos to whoever wrote the official blurb for the book. It is short, sweet, and shares only the bare minimum details. That means, right from the beginning, we get a series of surprises unspoiled by a lengthy blurb. This makes a lot of difference in how we perceive the characters and their backstories. No presumptions or assumptions!
Since I mainly got the book to enjoy a virtual tour of Prague, I can say it delivers in that aspect. The city’s charming old buildings, the historical sites (and relevant snippets), the warmth of the locals, etc., are beautifully presented. The writing is easy to read. It flows well without being overly descriptive or dramatic.
Quite a few Czech words have been used but mainly for the food items (with descriptions) and common terms like please, thank you, cheers, etc! This adds to the local flavor and provides an immersive reading experience.
I do wish the beer brewery track was given a bit more space. While we get introduced to different types of beer, the learning and working part takes a back seat since the focus is mostly on the personal track.
We cannot immediately take sides here, though we want to. I did naturally side with one character but could see the flaws as well. The details are revealed in stages as the plot advances, thus keeping us wondering about the whats, whys, and what next.
Some of the side characters are adorable! A few of them are 2D, but they do what’s required of them. The sudden change of one character didn’t really fit, but she was the only one available for that scene, I guess. (There are 5 characters whose names start with J. It seems author Julie Caplin loves the letter J.)
The book was an almost 5-star read despite a few niggles. However, an important aspect hadn’t been dealt the way I hoped it would be. Let’s just say that internal acknowledgment is not enough. It had to be said out loud, followed by an apology for being an idiot and wanting to get away with it. This is too important for me to ignore. All I needed was a two-line dialogue!
To summarize, A Little Place in Prague is almost like an ode to the beautiful city with a heartwarming second-chances love story thrown into the mix. There’s an epilogue, but I would have loved an extended epilogue as well.
Either way, I’m going to check out the previous books in the series. They have gorgeous covers!
Thank you, Rachel’s Random Resources and One More Chapter (HarperCollins), for eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.
#NetGalley