The Lost Bookshop

I feel like I'm being pranked/gaslit by the internet. This book is so-so. What drew me in was the promise of being drawn into a rich literary world, filled with cities with a rich literary history. Initially there was some promise of that: Paris and Dublin are beautiful backdrops with the aforementioned ambience. There is a hint of magic that kept me intrigued.
As I was reading it, I was torn between “I'm not the target audience for this” and “just hold on... There might be just enough intrigue and mystery for me to enjoy this.” Sadly, by about halfway, I realized I'd been duped.
The characters are boring (save for one minor character who seemed to only serve as a catalyst for romance to bloom and then there was no mention of them).
The author wants opaline to be written as a struggling suffragette, but always seems to be under the thumb and influence of other male characters. Her most interesting story is the climax between her and her brother, which, I'll admit, was a page-turning section for me.
Martha is a marginal step up, but seems unrelatable due to her emotional distance from the reader and vague backstory from which she all too neatly overcomes.
Henry is just a Hugh Grant-esque awkward English boy with all the cliches that come along with it.
As I mentioned above, the one character that I truly found interesting was a minor character: Madam Bowden. But we learn nothing about her. Was she the spirit of the house personified? Was she another past owner? Was she the daughter of Opaline? Who cares! The author just flicks her away to the side. At least make her sing and dance around like Tom Bombadil if you're going to treat her as a throwaway mystery.
Anyway: I don't understand why so many ppl are raving over this book. It's barely a “cozy bookstore read” as some have said. There's very few sections that even deal with the cozy bookstore atmosphere. One really nice scene is where Opaline is first decorating the store when she initially moves in. I would have loved more of that and less cliched cheese.
I'm still giving it three stars, because, as I said, there was enough there to keep me going toward the finish line. But I would not revisit this again. I'll likely forget about it in the weeks to come.