Face In A Book

This is a wonderful place to hang out, bring the kids, read a book, and relax. Extremely kid friendly and great service. The book selection is perfect and the layout feels very open/​inviting. We never feel pressured or rushed. A great place to visit after lunch/​dinner or just to escape from everything.

Face in a Book is my favorite store in El Dorado Hills. The owner, Tina is very friendly, as are all of the employees. They have a great selection of books, as well as gifts. If they don’t have the book you’re looking for, they will gladly order it. Tina is alway happy to make a recommendation, too. She has never steered me wrong. I am happy to have this store in our town!

Very Sweet Bookstore In El Dorado Hills
SITREP
The first time I was here was just a random pop-​in while waiting for a friend to join me for a meet-​up at the nearby Starbucks. But today was actually a special occasion since it was an opportunity meet rising star & author Anna-​Marie McLemore at her book signing for «The Weight of Feathers».
THE SETUP
Anna-​Marie was a special guest on a recent episode of National Public Radio (NPR) where she was sharing some excerpts from her book. It really is very gripping, dramatic, and yet still infused with a sense of the whimsical (ie. Mermaids!).
So Anna-​Marie was given a great reception here at Face In A Book, and the bookstore went all out to make sure the physical plant & reception were executed well. Even with a large group of people, there were even more than sufficient books to sell to patrons.
«SUCH A SMART IDEA!»
What struck me was the creative way in which the bookstore helped to prepare Anna-​Marie with the book-​signing process. Maybe it’s just me since I don’t ACTUALLY buy a whole lot of hard cover books (this was, in fact, my FIRST purchase in about 3 – 4 years), but I thought it was clever for the bookstore employee to provide everyone in the line a post-​it note with a writing implement for them to spell their name and a general idea of what they would like Anna-​Marie to write in the book for each patron.
This certainly saved time — and reduced the questions on how to spell one’s name. Only, like a ditz, I forgot to write my NAME. This is how legit Anna-​Marie was though, she knew how to spell my name as «Michelangelo», instead of incorrectly as «Michaelangelo» (with 2 «a“s).
THE LOWDOWN
I love the bookstore, and I loved the event today, so I plan to keep checking their calendar and see if I can get back this way again!

I love this place. The staff is always nice and helpful. They have a great selection of books. There’s a lost art in the neighborhood bookstore that these guys have truly mastered.

It’s so convenient to have this great little book store in town center! They always seem to have what I’m looking for, even though it isn’t huge. They are very friendly and give great advice. Sure, it costs a bit more than Amazon, but it’s worth it for the convenience and service.

Really nice place and great staff but sadly its not competitively priced. Everything is at least $ 7 above amazon. Its not the owners fault. Im sure town center has absurd rent prices

I’m so glad to see an independent bookstore! This is a beautiful place, medium sized and thoughtfully stocked. They have a wonderful collection and I got some great suggestions. Employees were perfectly helpful but allowed me to wander without hovering, which I love. They were also very knowledgeable about stock. They have some beautiful gifts as well. I wished I lived closer so I could stop by more! I will make it a point to give this store my business.

I have a somewhat fierce love for independent book stores and independent toy stores. Face in a Book is no exception. Their staff was kind, knowledgeable, and warm. And it’s such a lovely space. I could have easily spent four hours wandering the shelves – almost every book I picked up looked really good – made it seem like a very carefully and thoughtfully stocked shop.

Cozy, locally owned bookstore with fantastic customer service. Good selection of kids books, cookbooks, and recently published items.

It’s great to see a locally-​owned bookstore succeed, and this place seems to be doing well.
Great selection and fast special orders. Friendly staff, places to sit, excellent young reader area, and a wide selection of gifts.

This store is so cool. I got a bug book for my three year old brother and he memorized all of the insects. They are so great with kids and have reading time. Yesterday I went and got a book for me space and places book so I can teach him more things and places. The worker was super sweet and helpful and she gave me a globe she had extra from her lying around in her garage so I could teach him more. above and beyond my expectations def caring and passionate staff. I will keep coming back!

This book store is so great! It is exactly what we need in El Dorado Hills/​Folsom. I have been here many times, the owner is great! She clearly has a passion for what she does which makes it so easy to spend hours in this store. I highly recommend visiting this store!

My kids love this book store. It is their favorite place to go in El Dorado Hills. The books are well organized and they have a fun selection.
We always seem to supervising our kids when we go and preventing our 3 year old from taking every single book off the shelves, so I don’t think I have even shopped for books outside the kid section. I’m sure I’d love that on a date night in the future.
The people who work there are friendly and helpful. The bathroom is clean and cute with the book pages as wallpaper. And with kids, you know I know bathrooms!
I only have two things i wish for the store. More selection, but I know thst they just expanded the space and I am sure more is coming for this cute store. And, comfy chairs or something soft to sit on. That’s probably coming too. I’ll update later.

Such a charming old fashioned book store. It’s nice to see a small, family owned place making a go.

Cute layout that is engaging and is exactly what a bookstore should be… comfortable. The staff knows their way around the pages and is very helpful. Also if you need something they special order it and it is there quickly.
Support your local bookstore and keep the good guys around…

As we all know the Independent Book Store is a rare find among the mass market shops and Internet super sellers. That’s why I love to support these kinds of stores, because I believe they hold value to the fabric of a community. It’s refreshing to talk to someone behind the sales counter who has a real passion for the products they are selling. That seems to be the case at Face in a Book. I «special ordered» a book (yes they will do that too, just try getting one of those «big box» retailers to «special order» something). This store is wonderful find and great place to get a book.

Unfortunately, the older lady working behind the counter couldn’t be bothered to say one word to us the entire time we were in there and we were the only customers! I thought the book t-​shirts were cute and they had some books that I’d normally buy for gifts, but I won’t be back.

Very cute little book store with a good cross section of books.
This kind of place would have normally warranted a 5-​star review, but the lady in the store did not even acknowledge us while we were in there, and then seemed to fuss around the areas we had just been looking as though we had messed it up. We were the only people in the store, and we both walked out thinking that she was pretty rude.

All my life, I have lived near bookstores. Or it has seemed like it, because I come from a family of avid readers, frequenting bookstores since I was a child in India. I have an almost atavistic response to books: I use nearly all of my senses in experiencing them (except for taste. I’ve yet to lick a book. Give me time.) The feel of the cover, the rustle of the pages as they are turned, the snap of flipping a page for the first time, the roughness of the edges if they are the torn style, the smooth edges if they are gold-​tipped, the smell when you stick your nose right up into the binding, the beauty of the cover and binding… it’s almost spiritual.
When Borders closed up shop a few years ago, I was devastated. That was my local refuge from the home, from the demanding needs of my then infants, my escape into new worlds and experiences. Yes, there were books at Target, but that didn’t really count. There was no sense of the almost-​holy when you walked through the aisles.
So when I heard that Face in a Book was opening up in Town Center (El Dorado Hills), a couple miles from my home, I was thrilled. And I’ve been a frequent visitor ever since. My children and I go there almost every weekend, and relish the calm, almost sanctuary-​like feel of the space. It is tiny, very tiny, but it still imparts that hallowed feel you get when you are in the presence of so much knowledge just waiting to be ingested.
The owner has done a fantastic job of incorporating herself into the community, hosting local authors for book signings and readings, book clubs, and kid-​friendly events. She also has a frequent buyer program (which I just cashed in) where you get ten dollars off after your tenth book purchase.
Prices are not discounted, so if you know what you want, and are willing to wait for it, I’m sure you will Amazon your purchases. And I do that, definitely. I also buy books for my Kindle on Amazon.
But I also buy books for my kids here, since I want them to experience what I did, growing up. The tangible pleasure of walking into a bookstore, seeing the visual beauty of all the possibilities in front of you, selecting, touching, feeling the weight of a book in your hands, then the joy that comes from purchasing and walking away with something that will give you hours of escape into your imagination.
Amazon can’t do that.

Every once in a while I discover a wonderful spot through Unilocal that I have to then share with the world. Face In A Book is obviously built around the owner’s passion for literature in general. It’s small, accessible and easy to get lost in.
I stopped in while walking the otherwise antiseptic El Dorado Hills plaza before a movie. Right away, I noticed all the beautiful editions of books on the shelves. This isn’t you standard used bookstore with decaying, disorganized shelves of ancient editions and a general musky smell. Most of what you find here is new and beautifully displayed.
I ended up buying two books and seriously considering the purchase of a third. It was only my wallet that held me back, because while the books here are all intriguing, the cost is high. Hey, I’m willing to pay more for quality any day of the week.