The Book Ninja in Aussie Readers

Jun 12, 2018 Bree T rated it it was ok

Shelves: australian, arc

Sometimes a book sounds so perfect for you on paper that it’s almost inconceivable to realise that it isn’t. And for me, that was this book. Based on the blurb, I thought I would absolutely love this. I’d heard a lot of really positive things too and I’m a big fan of the Books On The Rail project, which the authors are involved in. But when I began this, I discovered that unfortunately for me, it was not to my liking at all.

And I have lots of reasons why – the first one was the main character’s Sometimes a book sounds so perfect for you on paper that it’s almost inconceivable to realise that it isn’t. And for me, that was this book. Based on the blurb, I thought I would absolutely love this. I’d heard a lot of really positive things too and I’m a big fan of the Books On The Rail project, which the authors are involved in. But when I began this, I discovered that unfortunately for me, it was not to my liking at all.

And I have lots of reasons why – the first one was the main character’s book snobbery when a handsome man comes into the bookstore she’s working in. Her and her friend make bets with each other about where in the store people will go, a guess to their literary tastes. When this man buys a young adult fiction book, the main character Frankie is horrified. Why would he be buying something from that section, he’s a grown man? I mean young adult fiction has its place and all but surely it’s something people you know, grow out of right? And then they start reading real books, like the classics, literary fiction, clever fiction. He’s so attractive but she can’t possibly be attracted to a person who still reads young adult fiction, despite not being a young adult anymore!

Oh hell no. So I was set against Frankie from then to be honest. Her name is ridiculous (Frankston. And if you’re thinking hey, that’s kind of a colourful suburb in south-east Melbourne, why would anyone call their kid that then ding ding ding you’re a winner. She is named after Frankston. Because she was conceived on the Frankston train line. And that’s {a} far too much information and {b} gross. Keep your business off of public transport). Luckily she can be nicknamed Frankie. What if her parents had been on the Upwey line? Or Werribee? Pakenham? Craigieburn? Ugh.

Quirky can be good, but there’s such thing as too much quirky and this book has it in spades. Everyone is quirky. Frankie is quirky, her best friend is quirky, the best friend’s husband is quirky, Frankie’s mother is most definitely quirky. The random teenager that comes and hangs out is quirky. The love interest is quirky. The randoms that find the books Frankie leaves on the trains and contact her for a date are quirky. There’s so many ‘quirky’ people in this book that I was just craving someone regular who wasn’t an acrobat or afraid of bananas or a stalker.

There’s a subplot in this book revolving around Frankie’s best friend Cat, who owns the bookstore Frankie works in with her husband Claud. Cat is pregnant and I don’t want to spoil this subplot but it actually made me rage. It annoyed me so much I had to put the book aside and take deep breaths before I picked it up again. Actually I considered DNF’ing this more than once but one of the things that kept me going was actually what would happen with Cat. Well why did I bother? Because after dominating parts of the story, the reveal and resolution all happens in about a paragraph “off page” and is kind of hastily recounted to Frankie in a few sentences and that’s it and why did it take up so much page space then? Ugh. It’s horrid, it made me hate Cat. Honestly Frankie was such an enabler of Cat’s bad behaviour, she never once said to her WHY THE HELL ARE YOU DOING THIS, THIS IS HORRIBLE and instead just kind of petted and soothed her or whatever and it made Cat’s husband look completely stupid, despite supposedly being a very intelligent man. I felt incredibly sorry for him, this was passed off as almost a little funny joke, like ha ha ha he doesn’t notice this very obviously noticeable and important thing that will probably break his heart BUT HOW COULD HE NOT and okay I’m getting angry again even just writing this review. It’s not funny. I didn’t find anything about that whole story funny, it was cruel and shallow and actually chronically UNFUNNY.

But I think the biggest problem I had was the hypocrisy. It was everywhere. Frankie finds a photo of the YA reader (did I mention his name? It’s Sunny Day *eyeroll*) with another woman as the screen lock photo on his phone after they’ve been dating a little while. She flips out, conveniently forgetting that she’s also dating a bunch of randoms behind his back who are finding the books she leaves on public transport, as fodder for her blog. The photo turns out to be from a bunch of years ago and is another hugely improbable part of this book. And the ending? Is just far too ridiculous for words.

Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this.

***A copy of this novel was provided by the publisher for the purpose of an honest review*** ...more

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Feb 12, 2019 Brenda rated it it was ok

Shelves: contemporary-fiction, reviewing-by-request, aussie-authors, sent-by-publisher, 2018-release, own-read, arc

Frankie (named after the suburb of Melbourne called Frankston – because… well…) worked at The Little Brunswick Street Bookshop and loved the classics. Her best friend and owner of the bookshop, Cat, worked with her, and between them they decided to leave books on trains with Frankie’s phone number in the back so she could find a man with the same book tastes as her.

When Sunny entered the picture, Frankie was smitten – but his choice of reading was young adult. So of course that didn’t suit Frank ...more

49 likes · Like · see review

Feb 20, 2019 Kathryn rated it it was ok

Shelves: reading-list-2019, fiction, australian-authors, aty-2019, ps-2019

The good:
References to books
The main character works in a bookstore
The potential of the plot

The not-so-good:
The 29-year-old character, Frankie, acts and sounds like she’s 18 (and yet turns up her nose at a guy who reads young adult books - talk about the pot calling the kettle black!)
Gratuitous swearing - not excessive, but it certainly wasn’t necessary for the story
The judgmental attitudes of Frankie and her best friend, Cat (they work at the book store together) when a customer walks in and st ...more

8 likes · Like · see review

Jul 07, 2018 Nicki Markus rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-contemporary

The Book Ninja was a delightful tale that so captivated me I devoured it in just two sittings. The characters were quirky and great fun, and I loved the literary references and in-jokes. This is most definitely a book for the book-lovers out there. Frankie brought many of her troubles upon herself, but that made her seem all the more human and likeable. The mix of prose with tweets, messages, emails, and blog posts worked well. In fact, the book has inspired me to think a little more about some ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

May 26, 2018 Tonile Reads 📚 rated it liked it

Shelves: 2018-release

Curse you, Goodreads, and your inability to let me leave a half-star rating. This was a solid 3.5 star book for me. The story was sweet but it was such a confused book and the characters never quite felt fully believable. I loved the literary references and the overall bookishness of the plot, though! Even though it’s not strictly being marketed as a YA novel, I think that’s where it will find the most love.

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May 08, 2018 Kim rated it really liked it

Shelves: own

It was a fun, light read and I now have a strange desire to read some YA lit.
Very enjoyable. More of a review to follow.

4 likes · Like · see review

Aug 06, 2018 Cathy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Frankie Rose is in a bit of a relationship rut. She is a bit lost for ideas as to how she can rectify this. But she comes up with a plan. She starts to plant her favourite books on trains, trams and buses in the hope that she will find her perfect man that way.

Meanwhile a YA loving man comes into the bookshop where she works and she is not sure whether to date him or not. As she isn't into YA books and can't see how it will work.

The Book Ninja is a delightful book. Definitely one of my favourite ...more

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Feb 10, 2019 Tanya rated it liked it

Frankie works in a book store with her best friend Cat. Desperate to change her single status, she comes up with the idea of leaving her favourite books on trains with her email address inside. In the midst of all this, she meets Sunny, who seems perfect in every way, except for the fact he likes YA fiction.

To look at this book, it seemed like everything I'd love. Quirky characters, romance, book references. Awesome, right?

Unfortunately for me, no. I took issue with a few things, which ultimatel ...more

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Nov 10, 2022 Rina rated it liked it

3.5 stars.

This was the book that started booksontherail. I had wanted to check out this book for ages as I think booksontherail is an amazing initiative.

Frankie Rose was desperate for love. So, inspired by her job at The Little Brunswick Street Bookshop, she had a brilliant idea of leaving her favourite books on trains and trams with her email address to find a perfect, well-read guy.

Aw, Frankie and Sunny’s love story was a different kind of whirlwind romance. The romantic gestures introduced th ...more

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Feb 11, 2022 Karen rated it liked it · review of another edition

A funny, chick lit story of Frankie, a twenty something living in Melbourne and working in a book shop. Frankie is determined to find love, but it has to be with the right man, a man who loves the same type of books she likes. With her best friend Cat, they decide to leave books on trains, trams and buses with her contact details. She does have a few dates which are not very successful. After a spontaneous kiss with a customer, she begins to fall for him, but there is one problem, Frankie is a J ...more

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