This Book Made Me Think of You
by Libby Page
A story about the intimate act of passing a book to someone you care about, and what that gesture reveals about connection and longing.
$10.99 on AmazonRead our full reviewAt a glance
This Book Made Me Think of You
by Libby Page
LuvemBooks Verdict
Best for
Readers who love books about books — particularly those who experience independent bookshops as sanctuaries and fiction as a companion — and who want a grief novel that also functions as a slow-burn romance and an unabashed celebration of reading culture.
Worth it if
The twelve-books-in-twelve-months conceit appeals and you want a novel that can hold genuine heartbreak and warmth at the same time — one that earns its emotional weight through sharply drawn characters and a grief-paced structure rather than sentimentality alone.
Skip if
You prefer grief fiction that resists resolution and sits in the darker, more formless passages of bereavement — the novel's hopeful architecture and meta-literary warmth may feel tidier than raw loss tends to feel in practice.
What readers & critics say
Kirkus Reviews awarded the novel a starred review, calling it "the perfect cozy read for book lovers, sure to break and heal hearts," while Brookline Booksmith's listing records a critical coverage starred review describing it as a "heartbreaking tale sure to find a wide audience" and Shelf Awareness praising it as "an eloquent and passionate ode to book lovers, book shops, and booksellers, and a book that offers hope to those who've experienced great loss." BookBrowse also notes a second starred review from critical coverage, calling it "a beautifully crafted tribute to books, booksellers, and the transformation" — an uncommon distinction for commercial fiction.
“The perfect cozy read for book lovers, sure to break and heal hearts.”
— Kirkus ReviewsAsk LuvemBooks
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- Is it worth reading?
- For readers who love books about books and independent bookselling, this is an unusually well-crafted entry in the genre — the rare commercial fiction title to earn starred reviews from both Publishers Weekly and Kirkus simultaneously. People called it 'a lovely, affecting paean to the power of books and enduring love,' while Shelf Awareness praised it as 'an eloquent and passionate ode to book lovers, book shops, and booksellers, and a book that offers hope to those who've experienced great loss.' The key caveat is the novel's deliberate commitment to warmth and healing: readers who prefer grief fiction that resists easy comfort may find the twelve-books framework tidier than raw loss tends to feel.
- Similar books
- Readers drawn to this novel's blend of grief, quiet hope, and literary warmth will find a natural companion in Matt Haig's The Midnight Library, which shares the theme of a life reassessed through an imaginative, book-like conceit and earned similarly wide critical and commercial praise. Critical reception for Page's novel explicitly positions it for fans of Cecilia Ahern's PS, I Love You — another story in which a late partner guides the surviving spouse through grief via carefully arranged messages — and Abbi Waxman's The Bookish Life of Nina Hill, which shares the bookshop-culture sensibility. Libby Page's own debut, The Lido, offers a similarly warm, community-centred British setting for readers wanting to explore her back catalogue, and Sally Page's The Keeper of Stories has drawn comparable praise for its celebration of ordinary lives and quiet resilience.
- Who should read this?
- This novel is designed for readers who experience books as companions and independent bookshops as sanctuaries — those for whom fiction about fiction carries its own emotional charge. It will also resonate deeply with readers who have experienced significant loss and are looking for a narrative that acknowledges grief's weight while ultimately orienting toward hope and forward movement. Holly Miller, author of The Spark, described it as 'heart-breaking and heart-mending… a treat of a read for any book lover,' which serves as a useful self-selection guide: if that framing appeals, Page's novel is a natural fit.
- About Libby Page
- Libby Page is an internationally bestselling author of six novels, with work published in over 20 territories worldwide. She graduated from the London College of Fashion with a BA in fashion journalism and went on to work as a journalist at The Guardian. This Book Made Me Think of You was an instant USA Today bestseller. Her second passion, after writing, is outdoor swimming.
- What are the main themes?
- The novel's central themes are grief, the redemptive power of reading, and community — specifically the community formed around independent bookshops and the people who inhabit them. Beneath those runs a quieter thematic question about whether recovery from loss can be guided or must be lived through formlessly. The novel also functions as an extended meditation on enduring love: Joe's presence persists through his curated books and letters, giving the story a sustained argument that the dead continue to shape the living.
- Is this a good book club pick?
- This Book Made Me Think of You is well-suited to book club discussion: its central conceit — a late husband pre-arranging a year's worth of books and guidance for his grieving wife — raises rich questions about love, control, grief, and what it means to be truly known by another person. The novel also works on multiple levels simultaneously (grief narrative, slow-burn romance, celebration of independent bookselling), giving groups with varied reading tastes a range of entry points. Critical coverage notes the tonal balance between heartbreak and warmth, which tends to generate genuine divergence of opinion in group settings.
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Age & Reading Level
Recommended age
Adult
Reading level
Adult
Content to know about
Skip if you prefer grief fiction that is unsparing and resists comfort or resolution.
Editorial Review
Libby Page's novel This Book Made Me Think of You is a moving work of contemporary fiction about widower Tilly Nightingale, who discovers that her late husband Joe left her a year's worth of carefully chosen books — one per month, each with a handwritten letter — to guide her through the first year of life without him. Published by Berkley and a National Bestseller, the novel has drawn starred reviews from both Publishers Weekly and Kirkus, earning praise as one of the most emotionally resonant works of fiction for book lovers in recent memory.
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