The Juniper Gin Joint

by Lizzie Lovell

[Leah]

The Juniper Gin Joint was a cute, easy read. I must confess to not having a lot to say about the book - especially since it was mostly building up to being a gin joint rather than us actually getting to see the gin joint in action. There was a lot of showing, rather than telling where despite being written in first-person present-tense it skipped over a lot of important scenes I would have liked to have seen.

While I liked the general plot, I do wonder exactly who has half a million pounds lying around randomly to offer with the purchase of a run down museum. It’s almost pie in the sky - not to mention, Jennifer’s sons boyfriends parents offering another half a million, without wanting to see a business plan or anything. Like if you look too closely, you see problems. If you ignore all of that, it’s a fun, light read. Jennifer is an easy to like character and I LOVED her dad immensely.

I hate myself for being so picky, but there were a few editing issues. The spelling of Kerrang as Kerang. The use of “sarney” instead of “sarnie”, even though the correct usage is used later in the novel (that, in particular, is annoying). Otherwise the writing was fine, the novel is just over 300 pages and I flew through it in an evening.

I would definitely read a sequel - to see them flourish with the gin joint, to see it progress since we didn’t really see that here. I like Lizzie Lovell’s storytelling, she writes characters you really like, inoffensive and I’ve learned so much about gins I could open my OWN distillery. The Juniper Gin Joint was a lovely read, and I would definitely read a sequel.