Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this lovely Wednesday? Things here are fine, I guess. We’re not here to listen to me grumble. It’s the last Wednesday of March, so you know what that means. It’s book review time! This month, I just went with something that had a pretty cover. The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop by Takuya Asakura was released by Harper360 on the 24th (yesterday). As usual, I must thank them and NetGalley for access to an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Let’s do the thing!

The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop follows Sakura and Kobako, her cat, as they use their unusual bookshop to help people confront and conquer their own grief. The customer must be reading the same page of the same book on the same day in the cherry blossom season for the path to the bookshop to open. It’s a strange kind of magic. No one quite understands how it all works. But if you’re lucky, the bookshop might even appear for you.

The plot and arrangement. The book is broken into four short stories, basically. Each one focuses on a different person or people and refers back to a book that somehow shaped their lives. The last one gets pretty meta. It’s all very lovely, but kind of shallow. Instead of really digging into each character and situation, everything is kept simplistic. That’s not bad at all. It makes for a calming read in a time of chaos. I think it’s mostly meant to make the reader think about their own life. To make them conjure up a story about the grief that they need to process. I’m not the target audience on that front, but it was still a soothing read for me.

The characters. Again, they’re all pretty simplistic. We don’t get to spend enough time with them, even Sakura and Kobako, to form any bonds. I enjoyed the different depictions of people, but there wasn’t much flesh to them. I don’t even remember most of their names. It wouldn’t be ideal if this were a character driven story, but it’s not. This is a plot driven story. The reader is meant to engage with the plot more than the actual characters. At least that’s how it seems to me.

The writing. Even that is pretty simplistic. I don’t know if it’s a translation thing or what, but it’s very basic. I know a lot is lost in translation, the translator even explains some of what is lost. But I think it works to enhance the calming effect of the book.

Ultimately, I enjoyed The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop for what it was. A calm in the storm. Did I want more out of it? Yes. Am I mad about not getting more? Not really.

Overall, I gave it 3 out of 5 stars. A solid 3. Yes, it could’ve been better, but if you’re looking for something calming and easy to read, I recommend trying it.