Goodnight June by Sarah Jio

★★★ 1/2

"We didn't have much, but we always had books, thanks to Aunt Ruby, who brought over boxes of them.  and because of her, we learned of entire worlds that existed beyond the walls of our drab apartment.  We followed Madeline through the streets of Paris and made pumpkin pie with Laura and Ma in Little House in the Big Woods.  And every night, I read Amy her favorite book, Goodnight Moon."

This heartfelt take on the history behind the writing of the famous children's book, Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown, collides with the contemporary tale of June Andersen - a successful, but mostly unhappy young women who finds unexpected adventures when she aims to sell a bookstore after her aunt passes away.

The author had a perfect story set up, but for some reason I left like there was something missing.  This book had the potential to be amazing - but instead it was just ok.  Maybe it was too much like a Hallmark movie (just add in a Christmas tree and some snow and you're pretty much there) or it could have been the twists that kept being thrown in there towards the end like one bad acting classes where you're suppose to act out ridiculous plot lines that don't have anything to do with one another.   I felt like the author was just pulling for things out of thin air.  But, I think that big problem I had with the book was the lack of feeling I had for the characters.  For whatever reason, I didn't find myself as interested in them as I should have and that left the book feeling a little meaningless for me.

I did, however, like reading the book - I just couldn't give it a very high rating due to it's flaws.  It was fun read (despite the tragedy near the end) and I like how the author used letters to give the readers a glimpse into the past.  Plus I have a huge thing for Goodnight Moon and it was the first book that I read to my daughter when she was born: