I am on a mission to read as many books as I can. With Love From London, Sarah Jio caught my attention rather quickly at the library. It is a book about a woman losing a mother she really never got to know in real life. Considering I gave my oldest daughter up when she was seven years old, and know that devastated her in more ways than one this book was enlightening for me.

About With Love From London Sarah Jio

When a woman inherits her estranged mother’s bookstore in London’s Primrose Hill, she finds herself thrust into the pages of a new story—hers—filled with long-held family secrets, the possibility of new love, and, perhaps, the single greatest challenge of her life.

When Valentina Baker was only eleven years old, her mother, Eloise, unexpectedly fled to her native London, leaving Val and her father on their own in California. Now a librarian in her thirties, fresh out of a failed marriage and still at odds with her mother’s abandonment, Val feels disenchanted with her life.

In a bittersweet twist of fate, she receives word that Eloise has died, leaving Val the deed to her mother’s Primrose Hill apartment and the Book Garden, the storied bookshop she opened almost two decades prior. Though the news is devastating, Val jumps at the chance for a new beginning and jets across the Atlantic, hoping to learn who her mother truly was while mourning the relationship they never had.

As Val begins to piece together Eloise’s life in the U.K., she finds herself falling in love with the pastel-colored third-floor flat and the cozy, treasure-filled bookshop, soon realizing that her mother’s life was much more complicated than she ever imagined. When Val stumbles across a series of intriguing notes left in a beloved old novel, she sets out to locate the book’s mysterious former owner, though her efforts are challenged from the start, as is the Book Garden’s future. In order to save the store from financial ruin and preserve her mother’s legacy, she must rally its eccentric staff and journey deep into her mother’s secrets. With Love from London is a story about healing and loss, revealing the emotional, relatable truths about love, family, and forgiveness.

My Review of With Love From London Sarah Jio

I gave up my oldest daughter when she was seven years old for her to go live with her father and her stepmother. They convinced me to let her stepmother adopt her to make her life easier, and I was supposed to still be able to have a relationship with her after the adoption papers were signed. However, that is NOT what ended up happening. Instead, I didn’t have any contact with her until she was seventeen years old.

My daughter admitted to having mixed feelings about how things panned out with our relationship. I can understand why she did because when she was with me she was my whole world. We had a close-knit bond and did a lot of fun activities together.

When I was off work, we were inseparable. But much like the character in this book, she had others brainwashing her throughout her childhood making her believe that I didn’t care about her or love her. When that was the farthest thing from the truth. Unfortunately, the journals that I wrote for my daughter got totally destroyed in a flood. So, I never got to show her how much she was missed and loved daily when I did finally get to see her again.

While this book did remind me of my strained relationship with my oldest daughter, it did also make me cry, laugh, and rejoice over the love stories that unfolded within the book. Since the author also shared her passion for books, it was a fun adventure as well. It blew my mind how often the main character read the same book repeatedly. I have not watched a movie or read a book that many times before. (Of course, I will admit when I’m really down and out, I will pull out my favorite movie and watch it again, but I still don’t think I’ve watched it as many times as this character read her favorite book.)

Overall With Love From London Sarah Jio was a fun engaging book perfect to read over a Spring Break.

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