Aria's Travelling Book Shop is the second book in a series by Rebecca Raisin. While it certainly can be read as a standalone, I think many readers would find it more enjoyable to know a little of the backstory. I must say that I struggled to get into the story initially but happily found it to be a very fine read in the long run.
Aria and her fellow van lifers are sweet and sometimes quirky characters. The setting is simply lovely. The culinary offerings are luscious! You can feel the camaraderie of the group and perhaps even picture yourself sitting around the campfire sharing simple treats.
The plot seems relatively predictable but that's ok. It feels good. And you will too if you read Aria's Travelling Book Shop.
Thank you NetGalley and Harper 360 for this ARC of Aria's Travelling Book Shop.

I greatly enjoyed this sequel to Rosie’s Travelling Tea Shop by Rebecca Raisin. I don’t want to accidentally give away any spoilers, so I encourage readers to start with the first book.

Aria’s Traveling Tea Shop picks up where Rosie’s left off, continuing their nomad adventures. The plot primarily revolves around Aria’s personal life, as she continues to grieve her husband’s early death. Aria has to face reality as well as her past, in order to move forward. After hitting some bumps and detours, Aria begins to let others in and start really living again. I also appreciated that Rosie’s story continued as well, and we got to learn more about her relationship with Max. A good, satisfying sequel.

I did not realize that this was the second book in the series, but it did not stop me from enjoying it. I really like the MC and her love of books is very relatable.
I definitely think the widow troupe is not one of my favorites, but it was still ok. The romance was very much too perfect but it was good for the time I was in. I needed something light and easy to escape my daily life;.

When I originally picked up this book based on the cover, I didn't know it was a sequel. That does explain why I was confused. A cute read about moving on from loss, and a must for any book lovers.

Aria's Traveling Book Shop was a delightful book. Aria had married the love of her life and was devastated when he was diagnosed with late stage cancer. He wanted to spend his last days at a gorgeous lake location with Aria. They bought a camper to take to the lake and he spent his last few weeks looking out of the camper to the gorgeous scenery. When he died, Aria turned the camper into a traveling book store. She joined up with a group of other people that traveled in a group to the various fairs and festivals to sell their products. Her best friend Rosie traveled with her with her mobile business. Rosie was in a relationship with another vendor, Max. Rosie encouraged Aria to open up herself to meet other men as she was too young to give up on love. At an event, Aria had met a man that she had been attracted to for the first time since her husband died. They talked for hours but then the group moved on and Aria thought that she would never see Jonathan again. Months later he appeared and the attraction between the two was still strong. She went back to her camper at the end of the night without making any future plans with Jonathon. The traveling vendors headed to France to do a circuit of fairs and festivals there. Once again, she ran into Jonathon a number of times. This is a good book that I enjoyed reading.

A light and heartwarming story of Aria's journey through grief, loss and finding herself again as well as giving herself permission to love again. This is my first book by this author. After losing her husband, TJ, to cancer three years ago, Aria had been living a nomadic life as a ‘Van Lifer’ and selling books is her trade. Now, she and her best friend, Rosie, are heading to France! Aria lives a nomadic lifestyle driving a traveling book shop, focusing on romantic novels. She decides, along with best friend Rose, and her partner Max, to spend the summer in France, traveling to the festivals to sell her books with all her van-life friends. Aria is recently widowed by the love of her life TJ, and she deals with the grief by living vicariously through her romance novels, as she knows no real man could ever live up to the expectations of her first and final love. Handsome, witty, charming oh and he just happens to be a best selling author Jonathon he seems to be the bread to her butter. All of this is set to a backdrop of a summer travelling around France, taking in Rouen, Bordeaux and the French Riviera to name a few of the spots, and they sound idyllic. There is plenty of French food to make your mouth water, and there are some surprises along the way too, as well as a beautiful way of Aria discovering she may just be ready to allow a new special person into her life. I am completely entranced by this story, loving every word of it, and at the same time I'm really hoping this isn't the last we have seen of the van lifers - we need more, I need to know how their stories continue!!

Thanks to Harper 360 / HQ Digital through Netgalley for an advance copy.

2.5 stars

In Rosie's Travelling Tea Shop, we got the seeds of Aria's romance with a brief interaction between her and a fellow book worm named Jonathan. The promise of that relationship developing, combined with the glorious setting of the French countryside, made it seem like this book would be a knockout.

Alas.

The romance fell immensely flat in this book for a variety of reasons. We are introduced to this couple who already have established feelings for each other, but we never actually get to see their meet cute. Furthermore, it seemed like the author decided that establishing that they had feelings for each other right off the bat meant that our couple didn't really have to spend that much time together throughout the book in order for us to believe the relationship.

That didn't work for me at all. Having the characters spend so little time actually growing their relationship gave me no reason to root for them to get together. Their individual characterizations (or lack thereof) also did not help matters. Aria, who was wonderfully vibrant in the first book, had no personality outside of being a widow while her love interest Jonathan was basically only characterized as loving books and being an author.

The beautiful descriptions of the French countryside were frankly the only thing that saved this book from being a complete dud for me. I really loved the first book in this series and it really saddened me that this book didn't hit the mark.

Thank you to NetGalley and HQ Digital for an ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review!

Aria is determined to remain true to her late husband, TJ. She travels Europe in her mobile bookshop, enjoying the company of caravanners. But it seems that suddenly everyone is paired up and happy, while she isn't. At the same time, she is drawn to Jonathan, with whom she can talk for hours and she learns is a successful novelist.

As she attempts to heal relations with her mother-in-law, Aria also begins to question her vow to remain single, especially as she reads TJ's diary, which makes it clear he wanted nothing more than for her to find happiness again.

I loved being drawn into life on the road with Aria and Rosie. I would recommend reading the first book in the series (as I had not done) before reading this one. I'll do that as soon as I complete the purchase of my new trailer. #AriasTravellingBookShop #NetGalley

I was given the pleasure of reading this ARC from NetGalley for my honest review.

This book is about good friends, travel and romance mixed in, but it is so much more than that.
This book is focused on Aria and her nomadic life as a “Van lifer” traveling around Europe in her Book Van. She is also accompanied by her friend Rosie who has a traveling Tea Shop among a cast of others.

Aria is trying to continue her life after her first love dies at an early age. Can she,,will she being able to love again? Through her travels and with the help from friends and her beloved books, she realizes that a happy future is possible, it may not be what you originally imagined but you can have a new beginning without forgetting your past.

A feel good book at its best.

I thoroughly enjoyed Aria’s Traveling Book Shop and didn’t even realize that it was the 2nd book in a series until after I was swept up by the lives of the travelers.
The idea of the “Van Life” is a new one for me, and I enjoyed reading about Aria’s adventures while embracing it. Watching as she maneuvers through loss and the prospect of new love was totally endearing..
I received an Advanced Readers Copy of Aria’s Travelling Book Shop from Netgalley.

Aria’s Travelling Book Shop, by Rebecca Raisin, is a fun summer read. The characters were loveable and the storyline, while light, was interesting and kept me reading into the night. I want to own a travelling book shop and be friends with Rosie!

Summary: Aria Summers is a van-lifer, a woman on the road, living a nomadic life as a ‘Van Lifer’ and selling books. Having lost her husband and love of her life TJ 3 years ago, Aria has sworn to never love again but, as often happens, life had other plans. Having met Jonathan last year at the final festival of the season, Aria pushed him out of her mind. Now he has shown up in her path once again and, despite the feelings he stirs up, Aria is determined to stay true to her oath. Along her journey through France, Aria finds that she can't ignore her feelings forever and that maybe she doesn't have to swear off the possibility of love for good.

Review: I will say right off the bat that I didn't realize this book was the 2nd in a series. However, I don't think this hindered me in any way. The book was very complete when read as a standalone. This is a touching story about love and loss and overcoming grief. Aria starts off determined to reject love because she had already found and lost the love of her life. But life is more complicated than that. and human beings thrive on love and connection. Her journey towards accepting her feelings for Jonathan and making peace with TJ's death was an emotional one. I think this book was well written and very sweet. It was a great read.

Aria’s Travelling Book Shop by Rebecca Raisin
Book #2: The Travelling Shops Series
Source: NetGalley and HQ Digital
Rating: 4/5 stars

The Bottom Line: Aria was introduced in the first book in the series and proved to be a great support to Rosie as Rosie began her life as a traveling tea shop owner. From the beginning, it is clear Aria is a true-blue friend, but also a friend hiding a lot of her own pain. Through this book, Aria is forced to deal with her loss, her sadness, and the possibility of letting go of her own guilt and moving forward with her life.

With a long, winding trip through France with Rosie and company, Aria finds herself constantly and most unexpectedly in the presence of the one man who can help her overcome all she has carried for three long, trying years. An unexpected gift also arrives that takes Aria and the reader on an emotional journey meant to help her sort her feelings and make solid decisions about her future.

Once again, I was charmed by all aspects of Raisin’s writing and fictional world. The long winding journey through France very much mimicked Aria’s own emotional journey and I quite liked the parallels. The descriptions of the landscape, the food, the sites, and the community of van lifers is such a wonderful form of escapist reading. While I appreciate this is a series, I can’t quite see at this stage where the series is going to go next. The first two books have focused almost exclusively on a very small circle of friends and there doesn’t seem to be much wiggle room to move forward. Of course, there is also a reason I am a reader and not a writer 😊

Aria’s Travelling Book Shop by Rebecca Raisin is the perfect sequel to Rosie’s Traveling Tea Shop. This is modern romcom full of adventure, laugh out loud moments, and characters you will want to be your friends. After losing the love of her life to cancer, Aria hits the road in her traveling book shop living out her life through the pages of her favorite romance novels.

While she loves her nomadic lifestyle and her quirky friends, Aria still feels alone in a world that seems so paired up. But she can’t be untrue to her husband and even think about a new relationship. After all, there can’t be more than one soulmate for a person - can there?

This book was a fresh take on romcoms, full of quirky characters, and interesting locations. While not my usual genre, I love this series and can’t wait for the next installment. (I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy and all opinions are my own.)

A beautifully written journey about becoming who you’ve always wanted to be, and opening yourself up to love after withstanding the worst sort of loss.

Aria knows what she wants in life, and that is to live the life of a nomad in her traveling book shop/van. She has everything she could want with her van full of romance books, and her dear friends who travel with her, but watching the people she cares for finding and enjoying loving relationships makes her feel all the more lonely.

Aria was married to an amazing man who dies much too soon, and she made a promise to him that she would never fall in love again. Then she meets an author named Jonathon, and fate seems to be placing him into her path more than she is comfortable with,

What a wonderful story about loving someone, and being loved. The intensely emotional struggles that Aria faces tug at our heartstrings, and caused me to shed more than a few tears throughout the book. We feel her pain and share in her suffering, but also rejoice in her triumphs.

I enjoyed everything about this book, and while this book was perfect,y suitable as a stand alone novel, I cannot wait to read the first book in this series about her best friend, Rosie, so that I can immerse myself again in the wonderful world of these nomadic folk.

Thank you so much to HQ Digital and Netgalley for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

A fun book where you travel from one European country to another. Friendship, love, vagabonds. A way of life most of us have never thought of....maybe dreamed of.

This is a book that is easy to read. Although not as exciting, it is filled with the wonder of amazing food and views! Don't forget the wine.

Have fun as you travel with a group of people you meet on the road.

Aria has a van that she lives in but she goes to festivals and has a bookstore in the van. Her and the other van owners are heading to France to go to various festivals through out the country. Aria still misses here husband that has passed away. She doesn't think she should date anyone because that would be cheating on her husband.
This is a book that makes you feel warm all over. The characters are all so lovable.

This novel is a mix of cute romance versus grief and loss. I found the grief and loss part of the story more interesting, particularly the relationship between Aria and her former mother-in-law. In all, I found the book to be a little slow, I didn't really feel very invested in the main character until about half-way through, and I never felt invested in the other characters. Even so, it was a good read for when I didn't want to work too hard, and a book about book-lovers is always fun.

Traveling around England and France with others in vans is an adventure for Aria and her friends.
Definitely a light, humorous read with sweet characters.
Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest opinion. All opinions expressed are my own.

Aria's Traveling Bookshop is the perfect read for fans of Jenny Colgan's The Bookshop Around the Corner. Following the titular bibliophile after the loss of her husband, this book is heartwarming and features a second-chance romance, tons of literary references, and family connections that will keep you returning to Aria's Book Van long after this book's stunning conclusion. Aria defies all conventions as a widow, and her spunk and tender heart captivated my attention from page one.