I have been converted my loves, the hopeless romantic in me has been won over and perhaps I will read more contemporary romances in the future. The Book Ninja blew me away, I am in utter awe of the beauty of this book, perhaps more so because of how much I relate to dear, dear Frankie and her unusual tactics to find the love of her life.
Synopsis
Sometimes love means having to broaden your literary horizons.
Frankie Rose is desperate for love. Or a relationship. Or just a date with a semi-normal person will do.
It’s not that she hasn’t tried. She’s the queen of online dating. But enough is enough. Inspired by her job at The Little Brunswick Street Bookshop, Frankie decides to take fate into her own hands and embarks on the ultimate love experiment.
Her plan? Plant her favourite books on trains inscribed with her contact details in a bid to lure the sophisticated, charming and well-read man of her dreams.
Enter Sunny, and one spontaneous kiss later, Frankie begins to fall for him. But there’s just one problem – Frankie is strictly a classics kind of gal, and Sunny is really into Young Adult. Like really.
A quirky and uplifting love letter to books, friendship and soul mates.
I was hooked from page one. I was browsing the books in Harry Hartog in Bondi Junction, like I do at least two times a week, when, after having seen it staring at me on multiple visits, I finally picked up The Book Ninja and read a few pages to see if I would like it. I loved it, bought it, walked to Starbucks to get a coffee (and guess what, didn’t spell my name right haha), and sat for well over an hour reading, no – devouring, this book. Then I went home and curled up in my favourite reading arm-chair, wrapped in a warm blanket, and read all through the night.
Frankie is unlucky in love, and sets to find the one by book dropping copies of her favourite novels on the Melbourne train network with a note in the last few pages asking for a date. Between working in the bookstore with her crazy but loveable, pregnant friend Cat, multiple weird and often terrible dates (as a result of her book dropping), she manages to win over the loveable Sunny, whose history of love isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. Ensues their quirky relationship and hilarious moments which, thanks to Frankie’s actions involving the book drop dates, ends disastrously and suddenly. But she’s not giving up on Sunny, the man she is truly, madly, in love with. Armed with his favourite books, an apologie note, and a lot of time, she does everything she can to win him back with a rather large, literary, romantic gesture spanning the Melbourne metro network.
Dear, dear, Frankie, I sympathise with your heartache and struggles, from loosing someone who thought was ‘the one’ to terrible Tinder dates (you can see my last post re those – it’s been an experience). Her profound love of literature, particularly Austen, and how it envelops her life as a writer resonated with me right down to my core.
This book is the lover letter I didn’t know I needed but so desperately wanted. It’s a book that reflected so many of my own thoughts, struggles and mental blocks when it came to love, life, writing, my career or just being brave enough to let someone in. It’s hilariously funny at times but also so wise and poignant. I laughed, I nearly cried (I’m a truly a sap), I laughed again. My face hurt by the end from all the smiling as I read Frankies various silly moments and ill throughout out plans.
The Book Ninja, in my humble opinion, is officially one of my all time favourite reads, one that will forever stay with me. It won my heart over wholeheartedly, in the words of Austen, “I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.”
Thank you Ali and Michelle, not only for writing a book that made me feel so understood, but for opening up to a genre I had always disregarded as something I would never read. Call me a book snob, just like Frankie, but I’ve opened up, and now I don’t think I can look back. I look forward to your next books, you’ve made a lifelong fan out of me!
