Thea’s been having a rough time: first she’s laid off from her job, and then she discovers her husband of 20 years has been sleeping with her friend. Just when things are feeling all too much, she learns she’s inherited her great-uncle’s cottage in Scotland. Thea jumps at the chance to escape her drama-filled life, and heads to Scotland to get things organized for selling, including her late uncle’s rare book collection. Thea finds herself working with Edward Maltravers, local bookshop owner, neighborhood grump, and estranged brother to the local lord. But as Thea’s stay in in Baldochrie continues to extend, what began as a quick escape from her past may turn into a new adventure. and a liberating future.

This was such a soothing read. Perfect for book lovers and believers in fresh starts. Ideally paired with a rainy day and a nice cup of tea.

First of all, I just wanted to give Thea a hug -- in a matter of a month, her husband leaves her for one of her friends and she gets fired from her job. She is quite amicable with her husband despite the fact that he cheated on her, and while she spends a good portion of the first few chapters crying she is still relatively put together considering she doesn't throw everything in their house at his face when she goes to pack up her stuff. Heck, even her best friend has to remind her to get his promise to pay her in writing because Thea's all, "Sure, okay, sounds good." So, when Thea gets a solicitor's letter that a distant great-uncle has left her his home in Scotland, all of its contents, and a small inheritance she sees an opportunity to get out of town and leave her problems behind for a while. And who could blame her when she decides to stay there for a while? Thea ends up enjoying the "small town" life in Scotland and even makes a few friends, including the elusive and eccentric bookstore owner, Edward. With her laid-back and sensible demeanor, Thea is almost a breath of fresh air for this small town where everyone knows everyone else. I found Thea's journey to self-discovery in her "new normal" to be so cozy and enjoyable, and this is the perfect book for realistic fiction fans to read by a fire, under a blanket, with some hot cocoa or tea.

A nice light read that provides perspective during divorce and how new scene and keeping busy can help you heal. A bookshop in Scotland named Fortescue is the backdrop for this new novel by Jackie Fraser. Owner Edward Maltravers is tall, dark, and handsome and has a Mr. Darcy vibe. Despite the fact that grumpy Edward does not welcome Thea to the community with open arms, she still offers to fill in at the bookshop. It is a surprisingly good fit for Thea and the two find their skills complement each other and the shop flourishes. Although the Maltravers are in a posh set, the language in this book is rather coarse. Thea and her sense of humor and her willingness to tell people what she thinks rather than trying to beat around the bush. Her husband just left her for after 19 years for someone she thought was her friend (rude) and she’s suddenly inherited a house in the middle of nowhere Scotland. Charming setting, friendly people and women who can bounce from the items they face..

Thanks to Ballantine and NetGalley for this eARC!

I enjoyed this one. Do I want to go to the Scottish village where Thea lands after her life implodes and she inherits a house from a little-known great uncle? You bet. I especially would like to go to the beach shed. I read this (mostly) on one rainy day and loved thinking about Scotland.

3.5 stars

It took me a while to connect with these characters. Thea recently left her husband of almost 20 years after discovering that he was having an affair with a friend of hers. That same week she got laid off. In the meantime, she found out that she had inherited some property on the Scottish coast. She goes to Scotland to check it out and get a little respite from her harried personal life and discovers she quite likes the small town and the people.

She starts working part-time at a local bookstore run by a grumpy misanthrope, Edward. Edward and his brother Charles are the local aristocrats -- Edward declined the title, so his brother chose to be the lord. They are notorious for not getting along. Oddly and offputtingly, Edward has a mean habit of sleeping with his brother's wives and girlfriends.

Thea is very honest, mostly in reaction to the lies she has been fed by her husband. Sometimes her candor is refreshing, sometimes funny, and sometimes a bit startling. She and her boss Edward get along pretty well and she is not too bothered by his general grouchiness.

This is the story of how they find their way to each other, improbably, and fairly slowly. Edward does undergo quite the personality change during the book, almost unbelievably so. An unconventional romance. Thanks to the publisher and to Net Galley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thea's husband has just told her that he is involved with her best friend and wants Thea to move out. Thea is devastated as she has no clue this affair has been going on. At the same time Thea receives a letter from the solicitor that she has inherited Great Uncle Andrew's house in Scotland. Thea decides this is a good time to head there. After seeing the place, she decides to stay, find a job, do some renovating.
This is when her life changes. Thea is outspoken and honest. She gets a job with Edward, bookstore owner, who is grumpy and doesn't want a woman employee. How the two of them deal with this is part of the story. Then there is Edward's brother, Charles, who haven't spoken to each other for over 20 years.
Read this to discover how people change or don't. Is there a second chance for the three of them?

Enjoyable read! So sad for Edward to have never been in love by his late 40's. Loved Thea and Edward. Thea always spoke her truth which I would have like to know if this is how she always was or if this happened after having her husband cheat and leave her. Thanks for the opportunity to read this, Netgalley.

Meh. I love a good book shop story but the story didn't keep me intrigued enough. It dragged on in several parts & could've been a little quicker. Cute enough but not a fav.

My Review:⭐️⭐⭐ / 5 stars

Thea Moltram is having the worst month - she was laid off from her job and her husband of 20 years is leaving her for her friend Susanna. In her 40s, she is at a loss of where she needs to be in her life. Feeling hurt, betrayed, and lonely, she finds her escape in a small town in Scotland. Her uncle Andrew had sadly passed away and she conveniently inherited his home and collection of first edition books. After meeting the local bookseller Edward (to sell off her uncle’s books) , she also gets a job there as a sales clerk while she is living in town. Also learning that Edward used to be a Lord until he gave it all up to his younger brother, Charles, Lord Hollinshaw. The two brothers have famously not gotten along since their teens, each going after other’s wives/ex gfs as a way to hurt the other’s feelings.

The story was cute and I wish this town really existed! I loved that story was about a middle aged couple trying to find love again - and having more complex problems in their relationship. However, I found the dialogue could have been more witty. Sometimes, Thea’s inner dialogue was annoying and she was probably the most oblivious one in the book. I also found it hard to see how she could fully trust Edward after knowing he readily steals his brother’s gfs/wives because he simply could. I wanted to like Edward more, but he had so many red flags.

Thank you to Ballantine Books and Netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

US Pub Date: May 4, 2021 on paperback!

I loved this book!! I am usually not a romance book reader, but what I loved about this one was that the people in the relationship were in their 40's!!! Then you add in the Bookshop in Scotland and it had me hooked.

This book starts with Thea moving out of her house after she finds out about her husband's affair. While she and her best friend, Xanthe, are packing up her stuff her husband hands her a letter that had come for her in the mail. She finds out that her Uncle Andrew had left her his house and some money. So since she really has no where else to go, she decides to go to Scotland and see the house that has been left to her. Once there, she meets many people including Charles who owns some of the property around her and his brother Edward, a grumpy man who owns the bookshop in the village. Thea stays well past the two weeks that she plans to...she falls in love with the village too.

If you want an easy book to read, one filled with magnificent descriptions, wonderful people and even a grumpy man, pick this book. Such an enjoyable read! It truly was The Bookshop of Second Chances!

Thank you to Netgalley, Random House Publishing, Ballantine Books and Jackie Fraser for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thea inherits her late uncle's cottage in Scotland at the perfect time to get away from her crumbled marriage. She doesn't expect to love the home or the area as much as she does. The book covers approximately the first year she spends there, the friendships she make and the job she gets at a bookshop. The writing was nice, felt like a recounting of her year more than anything extremely exciting happening. All the male characters in the book are deeply flawed, in my opinion almost unforgivable, especially based on things a couple of them do near the end of the book. I might have enjoyed this more if I were more familiar with Scotland, but it felt long and kind of anticlimactic.

Thank you, NetGalley and Ballantine, for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I think my subconscious dream must be to run away from my life and work in a bookstore because The Bookshop of Second Chances is the second book I’ve read this year where the main character does just that (Much Ado About You being the first). The book follows Thea, a forty-something-year-old woman whose life is turned upside-down when she finds out her husband of twenty years has been cheating on her with a friend of hers. Also recently fired from her job, she’s unsure of what to do, but then she receives notice that her great uncle, who passed away the year before, left her his home in Scotland and extensive book collection.

It turns out that a move to Scotland is exactly what she needed. She starts making friends with the locals, finds joy in restoring her great uncle’s house, and even convinces Edward, the grumpy owner of the local bookshop, to give her a job. Although he hides his feelings for quite a while under a prickly exterior, from the beginning, it’s easy to see that Thea has an effect on Edward that no one else has. He hires her at the bookshop, despite never hiring women, he takes her to his little beach shed, and he buys her little presents whenever he goes out of town to buy or sell books. Despite how banter-filled and sassy most of their interactions are, it’s obvious how smitten he is with her—at least to everyone except Thea.

In terms of characters, I liked Thea, but I can’t quite decide how I feel about Edward. There were moments that I liked him, but there are some pretty significant red flags that are kind of hard to ignore and made it a little difficult to fully buy him and Thea as a couple. But overall, I liked the story. The plot is slow, but after reading a few fast-paced books, I enjoyed the change of pace. There are also several plot lines to follow besides the developing relationship between Thea and Edward—like Edward’s feud with his brother and Thea’s healing process dealing with the aftermath of her messy breakup—which made the book feel fully developed.

This was a cute read set in a cute location. Who doesn't want to live in rural Scotland and work in a secondhand bookshop?

I enjoyed Thea as a character. I thought she was realistic, funny, and optimistic.. My problem with this book was Edward. He was terrible! He was rude, mean, and childish. The entire plotline of him sleeping with his brother's exes to get revenger for a petty childhood prank was ridiculous. As if this wasn't bad enough we saw him treat women he was seeing terribly over and over again. Then we're just supposed to believe that he wakes up one morning, suddenly has morals, and is going to be a good guy. We're also supposed to believe that despite never being in a normal healthy relationship, he is ready to fall in love, move in with someone, and get married. Not a chance! It was also unbelievable that someone as amazing as Thea who was dealing with trust issues could just blindly look past all of Edward's faults.

Overall, their romance was hard to believe, ridiculous, and definitely unhealthy. The plot and writing were decent but Edward's background and personality really ruined this for me.

Thank you NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the ARC.

After splitting up with her husband and losing her job, Thea heads to Scotland to stay at the home she's inherited from a relative. New in town, she ends up getting a job at the local bookshop, owned by grumpy Edward Maltravers. Thea finds Edward hard to read but fun to bicker with, and begins to wonder what her life would look like if she chose not to return home.

There's just something about a bookshop. Why does it seem like the most idyllic place to work? I wouldn't hate it, that's for sure.

I loved the conversational tone of the book and would have thought it would make it a pretty quick read but unfortunately, this one felt very slow-paced. It wasn't until about the last five chapters that I felt properly invested in the developing relationship. Thea as a narrator talks constantly about how uncomfortable she feels which put me off of her and Edward together. Overall this was just a pretty bland read.

Thank you to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review!

What a wonderful book! Jackie Fraser’s debut novel, The Bookshop of Second Chances, calls out to anyone that’s ever had their heart broken or found themselves questioning everything about their lives. Witty back and forth banter, a grumpy bookstore owner, the setting of the Scottish Highlands, and a heroine that is funny and insightful made The Bookshop of Second Chances a fantastic read and one I didn’t want to end. There’s lots of laugh out loud moments and a bit of heartbreak, but through it all Thea Mottram pushes through as she learns to love who she is, something that anyone of us can relate to. There’s also the bookshop, which brings together Thea and the insufferable Edward Maltravers who challenge each other to be better people and be true to themselves. I absolutely loved The Bookshop of Second Chances!

As much as I loved the setting and general plot of this book I couldn’t get past some of the annoying details. I found Edward to be unlikeable from the beginning. Pouty and possessive and revenge sex with his brother’s girlfriends/wife - seriously?! The characters were said to be in their 40s but came across as extremely immature. Also there were so many Scottish jokes/lines that I couldn’t understand the meaning of and distracted me from the story. It just wasn’t for me!

I really enjoyed this book -- such a feel good book in a delightful Scottish setting! I immediately connected to Thea and adored reading about her new life working in a bookshop in a small Scottish town. I will say this was a bit longer than most other books in this genre but it wasn't wasted on me. If you are looking for a book to make you feel good with some romance, reinvention and 💓, this is the book for you!!

The Bookshop of Second Chances comes out next week on May 4, 2021, you can purchase HERE! I really loved this one and definitely recommend it!

Yesterday was Valentine's Day. Three weeks since I lost my job--made redundant and turned out of my office with no notice--and ten days since my husband Chris, henceforth known as "that bastard," left me.

This book read like a movie script and not in a good way. I do think that it would make a lovely movie and I would watch it, but it just wasn't that great to read. I liked the characters and the setting.

I expected this book to be a typical summer read and it was. And it wasn't . Once Thea was in Scotland and working in a book shop, I knew the two main characters and how the story line would go. It did and it didn't follow as I expected, which made The Bookshop of Second Chances a rollicking read. The first section of the book did a good job of setting up the story line and characters; but, as many books are these days, the last few chapters seemed rushed. Do I reccomend this book? Absolutely! It's an enjoyable read from start to finish.

3.5. Looking to escape from Pandemic Life by immersing yourself into a rural Scottish village with a misanthropic love interest and some quirky side characters? This one's for you.

Oddly enough, the positive attributes of this book were also the most negative for me. The slow-burn romance is decadent, but it bogged down the narrative at times. I love a grumpy hero, but Edward seems like...well, like a bad person at times. I'm all about featuring more mature folks in romance, but the book focused a LOT on Thea's age--it was like she was in her sixties instead of her forties.

Overall, though, it's a cozy read that I'd recommend if you're okay with some coarse language/vulgarity (which, let's be real, I am!).