Member Reviews

It is 3 years since Aria's beloved husband, TJ ,died . Since then, she has escaped by joining a group of travelling sales people with her book stall. She has vowed never to fall in love again, but then she meets Jonathan. A wonderful,feel good story, hard to put down.

Was this review helpful?

I really struggled with this book. I do not usually read romantic novels but was drawn to this book by the title and the cover. I enjoyed the descriptions of the French places they visited but little else. Not a book for me I am afraid.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

Was this review helpful?

Loved the second book in this series. The first book was mainly about Rosie and her travelling tea shop. This book is about her best friend Aria and her travelling bookshop. Loved the characters and their journey across France. Has to be a bookworm love interest too. Wonder if there will be another book - hope so.

Was this review helpful?

This was a light and enjoyable read. I loved the idea of a bookshop in a camper van but the story didn't dwell all that much on the actual books or customers but about the characters Aria, Rosie and Max who belonged to a Van Life group who travel the country and overseas. I expected, (and would have liked), to read a little bit more about the actual book shop, customers and that side of things but nevertheless I enjoyed reading about the places the group visited in France and found all the characters engaging. Overall a pleasant and easy read. My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a pre-release copy of the book in exchange for my unbiased review.

Was this review helpful?

A lovely romance just right for these stay inside days.
I have a motor home and tour France and loved the descriptions of the places, the friendships made, the hellos and goodbyes. I can even believe I recognised one campsite from the description.
Perfect tonic for this gloomy situation

Was this review helpful?

R E V I E W - ⭐⭐⭐/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Aria owns and runs a pop up bookstore out of a van and follows the festival circuit with her friends Rosie and Max who also own pop up vans. Still grieving the death of her husband, Aria uses her van to live a life on the road, travelling to live out the dream she shared with him.

Whilst on the road, she meets Jonathan. But she made a promise to her dying husband that she will always be his and so she does everything she can to avoid the attraction felt by both of them.

I thought this book to be a very light-hearted and easy read. The characters were realistic, likeable. They could easily be people you know! Their dialogue was very natural and I loved reading their conversations because it felt like I was with friends. Although it was a little too light for me, my favourite part was seeing how the author scattered so many 'reader' words around:
Voracious reader
Bibliophile
Bookish
Bookstores

Someone get Aria a Bookstagram account already.

Was this review helpful?

I enjoy reading romance occasionally, so I jumped at the chance to review this book for netgalley, as I have often seen recommendations for this author.
The story follows Aria and her fellow travellers in France as she deals with her grief over the death of the love if her life and the inevitability of falling in live again.
It is a bit predictable in places, but it is a cosy comfortable read and I will certainly read more by this author.

Was this review helpful?

Well, sometimes sitting in isolation has its good points and one of them is that when a book grabs your attention it means you can just sit and read and that is what I’ve done today. I felt emotionally involved with this book from the start and became totally engrossed in the story and also with the beautifully described characters. Had me laughing in some places and in tears in others. A brilliant read. I’m now going to have to find the previous book, based on Rosie and her story. This was my first read by Rebecca Raisin but certainly won’t be the last.

Was this review helpful?

This is a great continuation of Rosie’s story however told this time with a focus on her friend Aria, a bookworm who loves to absorb herself in a great romance as long as it’s not her own as she closed her heart since the death of her husband three years ago. Aria is a lovely character and I really enjoyed reading about her travels in France with Rosie and Max and her personal turmoil between her feelings for her husband and letting herself have a real future. This is a really cosy read and I thought even better than Rosie’s story.

Was this review helpful?

Aria’s Travelling Book Shop is a lovely, light read, which is much needed in these worrying strange times.
From the very beginning, we learn why Aria on the surface has a blessed easy-going life, but is closed off to love and allowing herself to be happy. Campervan life sounds idyllic, surrounded by friends, travelling through beautiful countryside, living life almost in slow motion.
Subjects of love and friendship, death and grief, and how differently we all cope with grief and it’s guilt are covered.
Aria is a true bookworm, which all fellow book lovers will recognise and appreciate. “Mundane things like life are forgotten when she creaks that’s spine, she loses whole days to other worlds.”
#BookwormProblems

In Aria’s own words. “As long as you can read, you can escape anywhere though. You can travel around the world; all from the comfort of your own home.” I’m sure anyone who reads this book, will be happy to travel in the Little Bookshop of Happy Ever After.

Was this review helpful?

It was lovely to be back with the Van Lifers Aria, Rosie and Max.
This time around we focus on Aria who is very much still grieving for her husband and feels that the travelling lifestyle and her books are all that she needs. Very much wishing to be left with her grief and in now way looking for any romance, her head seems to be turned by a handsome acquaintance who only has eyes for her.
It’s a story I can resonate with as a young widow, I really do see her point of view and understand her feelings. I feel it was written sensitively and the way she move forward wasn’t rushed which thought was good.
It may be a bit predictable in places, but it’s a cosy, comfortable read that is enjoyable with some lovely descriptions of their travels and locations.

Was this review helpful?

I’m not usually a romance fan, but I was drawn in by this book’s cover and description. It sounded like a lovely, light-hearted read. And I would say that it was definitely lovely and light-hearted, though there were a few things I didn’t really enjoy. I couldn’t really sympathize with any of the characters, mainly because I found the dialogue better characters and their own inner monologues very cringey and unrealistic so I was constantly put off by how unauthentic they sounded. The romance was fine, although again a bit too cringey and unrealistic for me. My favorite parts were the discussions about books and living the Van Life. This book did have a familiar romance novel feel, so if you enjoy that, you’ll probably enjoy this book. However, as a non-romance reader, this book did not turn my into a newfound romance fan.

Was this review helpful?

If we are to be stuck at home, then what better than reading about a descriptive road trip through France.

We re-join Aria and her travelling book van and Rosie with her travelling teas van as they start their trip through France.

Aria is still mourning her late husband, but somehow she feels a strange rapport with Jonathan,

This is a novel of friendship, new beginnings and finding yourself.

Was this review helpful?

Aria loves being on the road with her campervan/bookshop. She keeps bumping into Jonathan wherever she goes especially when the vanners travel to France... She then discovers that he's a successful author.

Was this review helpful?

Consisting of all my favourite ingredients - love, friendship, adventure and entrepreneurship - this could've/should've been my perfect book but it just wasn't.

Rather than inspiring this was very repetitive. Main character Aria lost her beloved husband to cancer and now lives and works in a camper van travelling wherever and whenever she pleases selling her books along the way. These were two main themes to the storyline that of opening yourself up to love again after tragedy and van life. Both of which were wonderful themes but we were literally reminded of them every single chapter or paģe which became very tiresome after a while.

There were some funny bits such as Aria's not so inconspicuous appearance at her love interest, Jonathan's, author talk. But, overall this is best described as 'nice - the storyline is fairly unremarkable, the characters fairly ordinary and the romance rather lukewarm, it's also pretty predictable. This is the second in the series, it works as a standalone but maybe had I read the first I would've been more brought into the characters.

It's an easy, light-hearted read with some pleasing aspects but at the same time it's definitely not a must-read in my opinion.

Was this review helpful?

I was excited to read this book as I love books and have a camper van so the two brought together are an irresistible combination for me!
Initially I found the book a bit slow and repetitive and Arias grief for her husband a bit drawn out, however as the book progressed and you found out more about the travelling lifestyle and the other van dwellers it certainly picked up, the descriptions of the french cities, towns, chateaux and libraries made you feel as if you were there too or as if you wanted to pack up the camper and go and explore the places described! This book also maybe rather predictably showed that we all are entitled to a second chance at love and these opportunities should be grabbed as and when! A good book for a holiday read or the enforced corona self isolation!
Thank you net galley for this early read!

Was this review helpful?

With Aria’s Travelling Book Shop we ate back with Aria, Rosie and Max as they continue on their ‘van life’ adventures. I found myself totally immersed in this book from the beginning. It’s such a well written, heart warming and uplifting story that I’m sure everyone will love and I can’t wait for Aria’s next adventure.

Thank you to NetGalley, HQ Digital and the author for the chance to review.

Was this review helpful?

What a lovely read this was. Follow the antics of Aria and Rosie as they travel around in their camper vans selling their wares. Love shoes it head in this beautifully written feel good book. Highly recommend

Was this review helpful?

My full review Will be on my blog soon. I thoroughly enjoyed reading more about Aria. It was an enjoyable read.

Was this review helpful?

I was sent a copy of Aria’s Travelling Book Shop by Rebecca Raisin to read and review by NetGalley.
I was drawn to this novel because the thought of a bookshop in a camper van really pleased me! Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that this little bookshop only stocked Romance novels which underpinned the whole story. This is definitely a book that is deep within the Romance genre and it could even segue into being a self-help book for the bereaved. That’s not to say that it wasn’t an engaging story on the whole but it was a bit repetitive and predictable – and if I heard the phrase ‘his leonine locks’ once more I thought I would scream! The writing is fine and I think that the locations in France are quite well researched but I didn’t really find it ‘hilarious’ or ‘absolutely joyous’ as some of the reviews have claimed. For me it was a rather sugar coated and rose-tinted view of friendship and love, nice in it’s own way but not really compelling enough for me to search out any of the author’s other novels. Sorry!

Was this review helpful?