The Book Lady is a bookshop in Church Bay on Waiheke Island, with a perfect 5.0 Google rating.
A small bookshop lives or dies by its choosing: with no room for everything, whoever runs it picks each title by hand, and the shelves read like one person's taste rather than a chain's buying list. That makes the owner's advice worth asking for — regulars want to know what the bookseller has been reading lately, and often leave with something no algorithm would have suggested. Expect an unhurried browse, and mention a book you have loved; naming it at the counter is the quickest way to the right next read. In beach-and-vineyard country, island shops also carry plenty of holiday reading, chosen for an afternoon rather than a month.
For a bay better known for its beach and its vines than for its shops, The Book Lady gives Church Bay a good reason to step indoors.