Lighthearted story perfect for summer days and beaches. Good characters and plot points, interesting dialogue. Typical of the author, perfect for fans.

This was a feel-good beach read about three middle aged women who work together at a bookstore/giftshop/bakery and spend the year taking a second chance at love. Each of the characters has their own unique challenges and baggage to overcome but I loved how three dimensional they were and how relatable their problems felt. Full of some steamy open door scenes, this was a great summer read perfect for fans of Sarah Morgan or Debbie Macomber. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my advance review copy!

Bree Larton, Mikki Bartholomew and Ashley Burton were strangers, all wanting to open a business in the same building. Meeting over a coffee, they came up with a solution - they would share the space as their businesses would compliment each other. The Boardwalk Bookshop made up of Driftaway Books, The Gift Shop and Muffins to the Max, was born, located on the beach in LA. It also begins a beautiful friendship. If only they could sort out their personal lives as well. Bree is adamant that she is not going to get hurt again. Between her parents and deceased husband, she has never been truly loved. Mikki is divorced and content with her life. She and her ex are friends, happily co-parenting and her mother-in-law even works with her, but what happens when a new man begins to show interest? Ashely is happily in love, but it seems he has no intention of marrying her. Can she stay with him without marriage, or should she move on? Three women, three friends, three different problems. Can they help each other find happiness?

Two of the things I love about Susan Mallery's books are the relationships and the character development. I loved seeing how the friends supported each other. Even the secondary characters played important roles in the lives of one or more of the main characters. The development of their personalities and character was excellent. It was revealed throughout the book letting us gradually get to know them, just like in real life. These were three ladies I would love to be friends with, have a coffee with and share conversations with. The men in their lives, relatives and romantic interests were also interesting characters, with their own past situations that effected their decisions. I enjoy seeing everyday, relatable situations that are central to the story. They are problems that anyone could encounter which immerses me in their story. There were times in this story where I laughed, got angry, felt sad and also was filled with happiness, all what I have come to expect when reading a Susan Mallery story.

This is a perfect beach read. The love stories don't turn out exactly how you'd expect. Once you pick up this book you must know how everyone's story plays out.

Susan Mallory’s newest novel, The Boardwalk Bookshop, pulls you right in with the weekly Friday sunset beach parties and champagne. The three protagonists, Bree, Ashley and Mikki share store space to provide customers with a bookstore, bakery and gift shop. Brought together by their businesses, these three become fast friends by sharing their personal and romantic lives with each other.

The strong female characters and their friendship drew me into this book from the beginning. Susan Mallory is so good at painting the setting with her words and creating believable characters. The book’s hopeful tone provide a great recommendation for someone looking for an escape read making it perfect for summer reading while at the beach.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade for the opportunity to review this book before its release.

Those Friday night beach parties with champagne had me wanting to be there. I so loved the friendships between these 3!

In depth relationship of three women who come together as business owners. There is Bree who owns the bookstore, Ashley, the baker of muffins and Mikki who owns the gift shop. These three are learning how to share space, deal with love, and understanding their desires. A lush tale of relationships, love, and friends.
Susan Mallery delves deeply into personal emotions and the way people handle them.

Bree, Mikki, and Ashley share a beachfront retail space that is part bookstore, part gift shop, and part bakery. Their businesses may be thriving but their personal lives are another story. Bree is healing from a lifetime of personal trauma when Ashley's brother turns her world upside down. Never before has someone been able to see her true self through the walls that she spent decades building around herself...and it is absolutely terrifying. Meanwhile, while Ashley is fearing for both her brother & Bree's hearts, she discovers the love of her life has no intention of marrying her. Mikki is also bitten by the love-bug, finally putting herself back into the dating game, three years after her divorce.

When I first discovered this book, I basically forced myself to speed read the book I was in the middle of because I absolutely could not wait to start this one. I haven't been one for chick-lit as a of late, but it's summer AND it has the word bookshop in the title...I mean, come on. Of course it is right up my alley! Also, I am itching to go back to the beach already so there's that. Anyway, I read this in one sitting. I know authors hate that because it takes them so long to write and we devour it instantly. But I couldn't stop reading it and now I am sad it is over.

This book is for anyone who loved the show Mistresses (or Desperate Housewives, though, significantly less desperate). Bree is an independent woman who is confident and comfortable with her sexuality. Ashley is fearless; changing her entire career path and continually putting herself out there. Mikki is learning to love herself and rediscover her passion (for those other than Earl, her vibrator). I am going to come right out and say it -- Bree was my favorite character. **SPOILER ALERT** (sort of) I love her strength but more than that, I loved when she discovered her strength was her weakness and WENT TO THERAPY. The characters in the book have so much zest for life, even when they don't think they do. They are willing to do anything; to risk it all. Realistic or not, I loved it.

Everything about this book is good. The three main characters each had a different and unique story, and I loved watching them grow and change. The friendships and relationships were real, and though unlikely, beautiful to watch. The hopeful tone of the book was present throughout, no matter how things looked.

If you haven't read it yet, you should today. Seriously.

The Boardwalk Bookshop – The title alone invites a visit. Bree, the owner, shares space with Ashley’s Mad About Muffins shop and Mizzi’s The Gift Shop. Their first Friday evening in business at the new space, they share a bottle of champagne on the beach, and it becomes a Friday evening tradition. The three become the fiercest of friends.

Grown-up issues. Relationships that should work, don’t necessarily work. Bree’s parents are famous authors, who have been and are quite removed from her life. Bree has never felt that she could ever love and be in a relationship. And then, there’s Ashley’s brother, Harding, a popular author, who agreed to do a book signing at The Boardwalk Bookshop. Ashley is in love and wants to marry her boyfriend Seth, but he doesn’t have the same viewpoint on their relationship. Mizzi is divorced and is friends with her ex-husband. After three years, she starts dating again. Her ex-husband’s profession of love throws an unexpected wrench in the works. Through it all, Bree, Ashley and Mizzi fight to support and encourage each other.

I really enjoyed reading The Boardwalk Bookshop and would love another book featuring Bree, Ashley and Mizzi.

I so wanted to love this book as I feel I'm personally slighting the author when I say it just wasn't my cup of tea. I am not connecting with the characters at all and am finding the storyline a little flat and dragged a little - all this to say I'm terribly disappointed that it's not a must recommend this summer. I don't even want to post this review because traditionally, I love the author's works and consider her to be one of my go-tos for a lighthearted escape. Perhaps this was merely a case of wrong book at the wrong time, but this wasn't the beachy, summery read I had hoped for and something just felt "off" about it.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an e ARC of this book.
I liked it at first. Seemed like a good beach read. The further it went, the less interesting it became.
Chick lit with dead end relationships. Women being taken advantage of. I didn't hate it but wouldn't mind having my time back

Three friends own a beachfront business together - bookstore, muffin bakery, and gift shop. Their business is great but their love lives are in shambles. They work together to support each other as they each find their way forward.

I wanted to read this book because I enjoy Susan Mallery's books and this looked like a great beach read. It definitely was! It is an engrossing summer read about three very different women who are friends -- Bree, who fears commitment; Ashley, who wants to marry her commitment phobic boyfriend; and Mikki, a divorcee who finds herself in the middle of a confusing love triangle. The author does a great job at delineating the different characters, and all three stories were compelling. I particularly liked Mikki, who has such a sweet, nurturing personality and really deserves some happiness of her own.

I recommend The Boardwalk Bookshop as a fun read - especially for anyone who loves beach reads, stories of friendship, and beach settings.

This was my first Susan Mallery book. I am a fan of bookshops and boardwalks, so I thought this would be a winner for me. Unfortunately it was not. My biggest issue was probably that I didn't believe these three women's friendship. I didn't buy that they would have been friends, nor was I a fan how how they talked to one another, specifically when one of the women was truly struggling with a mental health issue.
I was frustrated with many of the characters choices, as well as their judgement of each other.
I appreciate getting access to this ARC, and will be able to provide better reader's advisory for patrons who are searching for an easy summer beach read.

ookshop
A Novel
by Susan Mallery
#TheBoardwalkBookshop #NetGalley

The cover really says it all. Here is a novel that is for a relaxing summer day as can be seen in this woman who is relaxing with a beach read. It is the story of three friends and those around them. Readers follow Bree, Mikki and Ashley in their intersecting lives.

The women come together when they rent a common space for their businesses. Bree has a bookstore, Mikki owns a gift shop, and Ashley bakes splendid sounding goods. Each of these women has relationships both past and present that impact them. Bree’s relationship with the older Lewis was complicated and she now does not seem to want to be close to a man. What will happen when she meets Ashley’s brother? Mikki is getting divorced and starting to date again. Ashley seems to have the perfect relationship but is it as good as it seems?

Those who enjoy classic women’s fiction and/or those who have read other novels by Ms. Mallery will want to give this one a look. For myself, I wanted just a bit more from this novel. I am often drawn to books about books but there was not quite as much about the store as I might have hoped for. Also, while I enjoyed spending time with these characters, I never found it hard to put the book down for a while.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin for this title. All opinions are my own.

This is a great beach read! Three women combined forces and decided to come business partners. As their business endeavor strives, their personal lives get complicated. It was fun getting to know all three women and how they make time for each other weekly for a champagne drink walk on the beach. I really love how Susan Mallery emphasizes the importance of women friendships and how they always step up to support and help each other. I really enjoyed reading this and it made both my bookstore loving and beach loving hearts happy.

Thank you to NetGallery and to Harlequin Trade Publishing for giving me a copy for my honest review.

The Boardwalk Bookshop is a fun, "summer read" type of book. Three women rent a huge space, part bookshop, bakery & gift shop. Note that there is not much in the story circling around the stores, not sure that I would have chosen the title, other than they met there & meet on Friday nights to re-group & connect on the beach.
Spoiler allert-each woman has her own "issues" with relationships, per a summer read, it all works out in the end. Shocking, right? (sarcasm here!) An easy read, that does leave you wondering what happens next with the characters. Thanks to NetGalley, Ms Mallery & MIRA for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

This was a really great story about three women that meet while viewing the same beachside storefront that they can’t afford individually but decide to take a chance and combine their businesses together thus The Boardwalk bookshop is born part bookstore, part gift shop and part bakery. So while their business is thriving their private lives aren’t. We have Bree, who runs the bookstore, is determined to never open her heart to love again after growing up with cold neglectful parents and enduring the betrayal of her late husband, Ashley the baker who is in a committed relationship that she finds out won’t end with a proposal of marriage and she has to figure out if she is ok with that and then we have Mikki who runs the gift shop who while divorced is too scared to get out their again. I just really enjoyed how much growth the characters went through and how you were rooting for them and their happy ending which was so satisfying when it appeared. I just really love Susan Mallery and how she writes and her characters are always so great. Also loved the girls Friday night ritual of champagne on the beach and how much they love and depend on each other.

Thanks to Mira and Netgalley for the complimentary copy of this book in e-book form. All opinions in this review are my own.

Three stories in one that all tie together in this story about fate, friendship and love. Perfect beach read….with two of my favorite scenarios, a bookshop and a beach setting.

Three strangers, small business owners, are brought together while looking at a prime retail site. While too pricey on their own, they band together and rent the store, running their business independently and collectively. Bree, Mikki and Ashley all have personal obstacles they are trying to overcome/figure out. The friendship that evolves is heartwarming, especially their Friday night ritual. Characters are endearing, with relatable situations and friends empowering each other.

Thanks to Ms. Mallery, Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC. Opinion is mine alone.

I’m not even sure where to start, this was the cutest most heartwarming story I’ve read in a while. I adored the fact that Ashley, Mikki and Bree all blindly go into business together to achieve their dreams, and end up with so much more. The separate narratives were enjoyable and fairly well structured, but at times too quick to switch. Overall this was an amazing story of women overcoming and sticking up for what they want and deserve. The found family is one to be very jealous of.