I really wanted to love this book - and I did love parts of it. The literary references, the settings, the bookshop itself. I loved the puzzles, the set up, the way that they made me (the reader) think and the way that they made Miranda think. I loved Miranda's memories of the bookshop, of seeing her life in the past and how it melded into her present.

I didn't love how predictable the storyline was - we knew what would happen many chapters before it did. The surprise at the end of the puzzle was no surprise.I was sad that it fell into so many stereotypes - girl is in relationship with boy far from home, something happens for girl to go home, girl loses herself/gets in a fight/etc., girl finds new guy that is unobtainable and/or unwantable, boy accuses girl of dating new guy, girl does go after new guy, girl dumps old boyfriend as part of quest to find new self, hooks up with new guy and life is perfect.

I wanted so much more from this story, and it had all of the potential.

Combine the predictability with questionable narrative style and the weird first-omniscient-third cycle of narration, and you've lost 2 stars from me.