Review: The Page Turner by Viola Shipman

 

The Page Turner by Viola Shipman

Publication Date: March 4th 2025 by Graydon House & Harlequin Audio

Pages: 336

Audio Book Length: 9hrs 49mins

Narrators: Katharine Chin

Source: Publishers

Rating: ★★★½

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Libro.fm | Audible | Goodreads

My Thoughts:

Emma Page and her family’s lives center around books, however in very different ways. Emma’s parents own The Mighty Page, a publishing house dedicated to elevated “literary” books, while Emma loves the feel-good romances introduced by her late grandmother. Her sister, Jenna, is a powerful book influencer paid to push books she hardly even reads anymore.

 

Emma has written a book, but it’s the kind of mainstream, women’s fiction her parents wouldn’t consider publishing. When her parents announce a business collaboration with a best-selling author Emma despises, she’s threatened by him and put in a tough position.

 

I really enjoyed seeing Emma reconnect with her sister while uncovering some of their family secrets. I loved how they banded together to take down a vile man! Emma’s parents weren’t very likeable in the beginning, mostly her mother, but I understood her better by the end with some backstory revealed.  

 

The Page Turner took a little to get into, with a lot of commentary on the publishing world and some of the narrow views on what constitutes quality reading, but it shaped up to be a feel-good story!  I was also moved by the author’s note on what inspired his story.

 

I enjoyed Katharine Chin’s narration, and I thought she did well with both male and female voices. I listened at 1.75x normal speed.

3.5 Stars

Book Description:

A young romance writer makes a discovery that throws her elitist family into chaos.

Emma Page grew up the black sheep in a bookish household, raised to believe fine literature is the only worthy type of fiction. Her parents, self-proclaimed “serious” authors who run their own vanity press, The Mighty Pages, mingle in highbrow social circles that look down on anything too popular or mainstream, while her sister, Jess, is a powerful social-media influencer whose stylish reviews can make or break a novel.

Hiding her own romance manuscript from her disapproving parents, Emma finds inspiration at the family cottage among the “fluff” they despise: the juicy summer romances that belonged to her late grandmother. But a chance discovery unearthed from her Gigi’s belongings reveals a secret that has the power to ruin her parents’ business and destroy their reputation in the industry—a secret that has already fallen into the hands of an unscrupulous publishing insider with a grudge to settle. Now Emma must decide: As much as she’s dreamed of the day her parents are forced to confront their own egos, can she really just sit back and watch The Mighty Pages be exposed and their legacy destroyed?