It's Me They Follow - by Jeannine A Cook (Hardcover)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

An allegorical love story -- a modern day Alchemist meets The Never Ending Story --set in a world where a book shopkeeper becomes a reluctant matchmaker, bringing soulmates together through books.

It's Me They Follow is an allegorical love story set in a not so distant past. It follows The Shopkeeper, a bookseller and reluctant matchmaker. Helping others find love through books comes easily for The Shopkeeper, until it is time for her to find love for herself.

She secretly yearns for her first customer, ME, who took both her most prized book and a piece of her heart when he left. But just when she begins to lose hope, she discovers that she may hold the key to her own happily ever after as well.

Real life Shopkeeper and author Jeannine A. Cook has conjured a magical story that is a book within a book within a book. Soon, readers will find themselves falling under the same love spell as her customers and characters. In this magical bookshop where the line between fiction and reality blurs, stories and real life intertwine in an enchanting and moving narrative about human connection, the power of storytelling, and the spirit of love.

Review Quotes

I would follow Jeannine Cook anywhere after reading her first novel. Tender and funny, she creates a magical world in her bookshop where love and longing exist and expand in her beloved Philadelphia. -- Maria Bello, Writer, Actor, Producer

""There's something in your book that touches people," one character tells another in Jeannine A. Cook's debut novel, It's Me They Follow. And it's true, on Cook's pages, words touch, sometimes tenderly, always urgently, even when ordinary touch is impossible. The main character, the Shopkeeper, molds her story out of her own blood, memory and bones. The reader is gifted with shelves full of lives to fall in love with. Turning these pages is as delightful as it is necessary. Cook's is a story and a voice to remember." -- Nomi Eve, author of Henna House and The Family Orchard. Director, Drexel MFA in Creative Writing.

Real life bookshop owner/author Jeannine A. Cook's soul satisfying novel It's Me They Follow is a rich, magical, compelling tale about levels of love, ancestral bonds, self-discovery, resilience and the actualization of childhood goals. With affectionate cultural references to Sonia Sanchez, Jill Scott, Jazmine Sullivan, Will Smith and more, this is a bibliophile's delight and an irresistible Philly Jawn!
-- Dyana Williams, Broadcaster

Romance is only part of the payoff in this quirky yet humane story of a lonely shopkeeper conquering her fears. -- Kirkus Reviews

It's Me They Follow is an intoxicating story about the unfolding of a woman and how she found herself and love. The gift of journeying into the Shopkeeper's world gives us, the readers, permission to dream, explore and find our own community, our own joy. -- Sannii Crespina-Flores, author of Machetes are Forged in Soft Rivers.

"It's ME They Follow bursts the boundaries of the romance genre even as it seduces. Rocky uses boxing, It's ME They Follow uses literature, to depict unforgettable love and ambition in underdog, indelible Philadelphia." -- Lorene Cary, Author, Educator and Activist