ARC REVIEW – The Paper and Hearts Society by Lucy Powrie – A book of pure joy and literary perfection!

The Paper & Hearts Society (The Paper & Hearts Society #1) by Lucy Powrie
Published by Orchard Books on June 19, 2019
Genres: Contemporary
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A brand new series from Booktuber Lucy Powrie - about what happens when you give up on trying to fit in and let your weird out! It's time to join The Paper & Hearts Society ...

Tabby Brown is tired of trying to fit in. She doesn't want to go to parties - in fact, she would much rather snuggle up on the sofa with her favourite book.

It's like she hasn't found her people ...

Then Tabby joins a club that promises to celebrate books. What could go wrong? EVERYTHING - especially when making new friends brings out an AWKWARD BUZZING feeling all over her body.

But Olivia, Cassie, Henry and Ed have something that makes Tabby come back. Maybe it's the Austen-themed fancy-dress parties, or Ed's fluffy cat Mrs Simpkins, or could it be Henry himself ...

Can Tabby let her weird out AND live THE BEST BOOKISH LIFE POSSIBLE?

Perfect for fans of Holly Smale and Super Awkward.

A couple of weeks ago I took literary journey of pure bookish joy, written by someone I can call my friend which makes it all the more special. The Paper and Hearts Society is a book that every will have heard of as Lucy is a literacy and book ambassador of all things, she has stormed social media with UKYA chats and now she has written a book that will readers will say ‘She gets it!’ Readers are uniting to read this book and together we would have found our people!

Tabby Brown has moved to stay with her Gran until her parents finish up selling the house. It’s the summer holidays, she’s alone apart from a very active Zumba tactic Gran, she alone with no friends apart from the ones she finds in her books. Until she finds a leaflet in the local library, stuffed in on her favourite books, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. It advertises a bookclub. This must be fate! So on their first meeting, she finds Henry, Ed, Cassie and Olivia each with their literary inspirations like Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Bronte Sisters and Harry Potter. What Tabby didn’t expect to find was friendship, love, support and becoming someone she enjoys being. But what happens when the past catches up with Tabby, the people she ran from find you on social media and start to tear you apart from inside, targeting the people she finally can call her friends.

The Paper and Hearts Society is a book for all book lovers without a doubt but it also goes deeper than that. Lucy’s voice comes through every word on every page. It’s hard not to see how much this means to her and how precious it is because you feel it. I felt it. This book really chocked me at times because it feels so true. Whilst it brings out the your inner book lover to surface, fangirling over a bookclub that you so desperately want to be part of and going on cool literary road trips, it also explores the heartfelt truth of being a teenager, facing the darkest parts of the internet, the stress of friendship and growing up but most of all about finding yourself within all of that. Finding your identity.

Lucy couldn’t have created perfect set of characters. My favourite being Ed, (you thought I might say Henry hey!?) he isn’t afraid of being him. He loves his donuts and quotes Shakespeare – he’s a friend after my own heart. I loved their platonic relationship between them because in the end it grew to something special. Platonically special. We need more of these in UKYA.

But I found my inner Tabby, (see profile pic) I really related to her on so many levels and I think that’s what really got me emotionally with this book. I was one of those readers that thought ‘she gets me’. YOU GET ME LUCY! School wasn’t fun me and my teachers would always find me not deep in a book, a different one every couple of days and those characters, they were my people and that made my school life bearable. But I found myself from those books, I just wish more so than ever that I had The Paper and Hearts Society when I was 15. Instead I will recommend it constantly to my students, so they know they have characters like Tabby and authors like Lucy, that say you aren’t alone and you will find your people.

This book is a book I will honestly cherish forever. The Paper and Hearts Society is uplifting, a book of pure joy and literary perfection. Lucy Powrie is an inspiring voice of UKYA.

Favourite quote – “Everyone had a story. As the saying went, ‘You should never judge a book by its cover.'”

Thank you to Team Bkmrk for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest (and fangirly) review.