This book was a cotton handy sweet mostly fluffy read. I love books about bakeries and bookstores, and so I jumped right on this one.

Joelle put her dreams on hold to help her family after a crisis, and Max is a super cute loner who owns the bookstore next door.

I struggled with Max and his hot and cold attitude towards Joelle. I understand he was under a lot of stress and not dealing well with family stuff, but I just wasn’t sold on him or the chemistry between him and Joelle.

Overall though this was a cute easy read.

Thank you Netgalley for this eARC.

A hot guy with a bookstore? Yes please. But there were too many issues with this story and these characters for me to get behind their HEA.

Joelle Prima  and Max Boyson have neighboring stores. Max often starts his day at Joelle's coffee shop and Joelle and her family frequent Max's bookstore.  In the last year and a half, there has been a bit of subtle flirting going on and one kiss leads to quite the heavy petting session. Joelle is hoping that this is the beginning of the relationship of her dreams but it all comes crashing down when her landlord announces renovations to their building.

The landlord moves Joelle and Max's businesses into a smaller garage area around back of the building. Both businesses need to scale back in order to fit together in this smaller area and while neither are happy with the situation, Max seems to be taking out his frustrations on Joelle.

I had a lot of issues with this story right away. Where to start...okay, let's start with the fact that Joelle put her post-graduation plans of culinary school on hold. This is because a money manager stole all her parent's, Aunt's and Grandmother's savings so Joelle gave the money set aside for culinary school so that her family had a nest egg. Everyone in the family has been working overtime for the last few years to rebuild their family funds. First, good for them working together towards their collective future. Getting their money stolen sucks. But here's my issues, Joelle's family doesn't need her to work to support them.  Her parents are abled-bodied (and probably my age) and still have time to work for their own retirement.  So why doesn't Joelle get a student loan and go to Culinary School?   I am certain that culinary school is cheaper than a Yale degree.  Many people have to finance their own way through post-high school education.  Getting a student loan is actually quite common so why does it seem outside the realm in this story?   I have read many stories where a character needed to give up their dreams in order to support their family due to a death or some other health issue.   Joelle didn't need to walk away from her dreams.  Her parents, aunt and even grandma were still working.  Maybe she couldn't afford to go to Paris after finishing, but was it really Joelle's responsibility to help rebuild her parent's retirement fund while they were still working and abled bodied? Shouldn't she be working towards her own retirement once she begins working full-time?  Her family constantly thanking her for her sacrifices seems over the top especially since Joelle already owned her own business--a coffee shop--was was making food.  Wouldn't that have been her plan after culinary school anyway?

I was feeling a little prudish over Max and Joelle's first kiss. Joelle was trying to work up the nerve to ask Max to go for drinks. Suddenly she kisses him, and their make out session ends with Joelle in his lap and a lot of grinding.  An ill-timed phone call stops this from going further.  Would have had sex in Max's tiny office with customer's outside?   It seemed awfully fast when Joelle was just wondering if she was misreading his flirting as Joelle didn't look like the women he usually dated. She was questioning his attraction but never thought to pull back and put on some brakes when he starts rubbing her intimate areas.  Maybe he's the kind of guy who takes up any woman's offer from free sex.   She hasn't seen Max with any one woman for more than a few dates.   She doesn't seem to know Max very well.  He is just flirty, hot guy with a bookstore who talks about his pets.  Is he husband material or a psychopath?

Most importantly here, I have big issues with Max's attituded. I understand that Max didn't have a great childhood. His parents suck and Max has a hard time with relationships. Max tells us he doesn't really have any friends. His parents are trying to get in touch with him at the same time that this move takes place. So Max is overwhelmed first by the unwanted contact from his parents and then being forced into a smaller area. Max seems to be taking out his frustrations on Joelle.  We kind of accept this since we did have a chapter from Max's point of view where we see that Max is very attracted to Joelle and can't understand why he was being such a jerk to her.   But does this really excuse his behavior?

Some of their issues with misunderstandings but some were definitely generated by Max. Looking at this potential relationship from the outside, all I am feeling is do you want to get in a relationship with someone who is going to take out all their outside frustrations on you?

I am almost surprised over the fact that Max, who had a horrible family, didn't latch onto Joelle when he was welcomed so warmly by her family. Ever since Max opened his store next to Joelle's, her family has been kind to him and supportive. If he wasn't the hero of this story, I could see him jumping into a relationship with Joelle, whether or not she was his type, just to be included into this giving family unit.

Hell, even the idea of a landlord making thousands of dollars of improvement into a building with two thriving businesses who aren't complaining of the conditions seems bizarre, and neither one questions this.  The landlord doesn't even consult with them on these renovations.  Shouldn't Joelle have a say in what her new space will look like?   And while Max is bitchy about having to squeeze his business into the shared space, the landlord could have simply shut him down for the duration of the renovations.  Again, it's all negative with Max.  Also, what goes better together than books and coffee?  Well, books and anything, but two stores that are perfect for joining are books and coffee.  That why B&N added coffee and snacks to some of their stores.   This shared space should have been beneficial to both businesses.

Unfortunately, this story hit too many negative boxes for me to get beyond our introduction of sweet Joelle and sexy, hot Max to overlook their collective issues.

The Boy With The Bookstore by Sarah Echavarre Smith
Publication Date: 09/06/2022
Date Read: 07/10/2022 - 07/14/2022
Format: eBook (NetGalley)
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: NA
Characters: Max Boyson and Joelle Prima
CW: discussion of childhood trauma & parental neglect.
Rating (❤️/👍/🤷‍♀️:👎/❌): 👍
Spice: open door
Would I Recommend?: yes

I’m happy to have gotten to read this, it was really cute and was easy to read. It’s dual POV. The spicy scenes were good. It was very insta-love, they’ve both had crushes on each other for ages. The story definitely sucked me in right away. It does get a little angsty at times with Max’s past and his relationship with his mother. It was a good balance.

My only complaint was that sometimes Max I was a little too much of a hot head. He made up for it but it was a lot at times. Otherwise it was a good romance. How can you go wrong with a bakery / bookstore combo?j

This was such a fun romcom type read! I cannot wait for it to come out because it is perfect for a winter day, a cup of hot chocolate in hand.

I love a good enemies to lovers story, books & bakeries - so I was very excited for this one! In the long run I would say the story is more of a grump and sunshine trope, but equally as fun to read.

I found The Boy With the Bookstore to be a quick, easy read. I really liked that I did not have to wait a long time for the romance side of the book to start (which can sometimes be an issue). The one thing I had an issue was Max's attitude/reactions to things. He was quite rude on multiple occasions and it rubbed me the wrong way. Other than that I really enjoyed the book and would recommend.

I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review The Boy With the Bookstore and give my honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
The book plot is super cute and I think it had a lot of potential. The cover really drew me in. I also really loved the Philippine representation in the book. However, I didn’t like Max‘s attitude and temper towards Joelle even if he had stuff happen to him, she didn’t deserve to constantly take that from him. I really wanted to love it but the constant fighting and hatred kind of drew me out of it, The ending was cute though and there are some smexy scene.

Joelle’s character was relatable and likable. I couldn’t connect or empathize with Max’s character. The back and forth from friends to enemies became redundant and lacking. Hoped for more but felt less.

This was a cute, light read about a bibliophile's dream! The cafe owner starts crushing on the Bookstore owner next door. When an upheaval occurs in the building and slams them together, they find themselves spending more time together than anticipated! But is that......a good thing? They certainly have some things to figure out and awkwardly get to know each other in the difficult situation.

Echavarre Smith does a great job bringing a unique twist to the romance trope of business owners falling for each other. She also managed to refresh the bad boy/good girl trope felt baked just today! I really enjoyed the addition of generational/cultural influence into the bakery and the threads of how the main characters dealt with family challenges and past trauma. There was an unusual disconnect though as they handled those situations in beautiful, mature ways and then behaved like immature, hapless children in others. Joelle was fully capable of running her own bakery but didn't seem to know how to handle any other situation. I did, however, find Max pretty unlikeable. He's the super hot guy that you're ready to hit up, but his off-putting personality makes you 100% CHANGE YOUR MIND. For some reason he didn't read like a book person either. If his job had been that he owned the hardware store or bicycle shop or pet store? I would have believed it. But books? What could have made him human, relatable and a character to empathize and sympathize with, felt like it made him sharp, rude and downright abusive. Much of it felt unrealistic an pulled me right out of the story! If you're a bookstore owner and book collector and you are stupid enough to store your priceless books in a sketchy warehouse WITH ovens from a bakery, unprotected where there could be general rodents....not to mention to rodent you KNOW is there every day? You deserve to get your prize inventory gobbled up. No need to passive aggressively attack your temporary partner, particularly when you know you're covered. YUCK! Also, who allows someone to just throw a bakery in the back of a warehouse? Do they not have food safety codes? Or contracts?

I really wanted to love it. it has all the right ingredients to make the perfect, fluffy croissant! I literally drove to 3 bakeries in town to get the perfect croissants to have with my family one Saturday morning while reading this book! The elements were so good, the writing was almost there, but the characters needed help and the physics of the story itself cold have used some tweaking. Regardless, Sarah Echavarre Smith is added to my list of authors to continue keeping an eye out for. The vibe is there!

I was provided with an electronic copy of The Boy with the Bookstore in return for an honest review. I appreciate the opportunity to read and review this title.

A baker falls for the bookshop owner next door, he’s everything she could ever want... except looks can be deceiving and he soon turns into her own personal nemesis as they navigate the lines between romance and business. Joelle Prima is a baker, she owns a small successful bakery right next door to the bookshop owned by Max Boyson. Joelle has had a crush on Max since the moment he moved in, he’s beautiful, full of tattoos, and has a wolfish grin and is charming and sweet. After years of crushing on him she finally gets the courage to finally ask him out and they share a steamy kiss... except the next day when their building owner tells them he needs to renovate the building and they have to share a space while he works on renovation, Max becomes a completely different person.Gone is the charming and sweet guy and here comes a guy who snaps at her, is cold, angry, and even takes her sweets without asking. But the more time they spend together and actually get to know each other the more Joelle soon discovers that there’s more to Max than just her fantasy. Max has always had issues with his family and a rough childhood, so when he falls for Joelle and her super close family he can’t but be reminded of something he’s never had. Max has a habit of getting angry and snapping and unfortunately for Joelle, her perky and positive attitude is not doing him any favors. Reading this was like watching a friend you know constantly get back with her partner who is always angry or snapping with them and they constantly forgive them. Max treats Joelle not so great and though he instantly regrets it, it keeps happening, he doesn’t really manage his anger well and it tends to be taken out on Joelle and Joelle in turn blames herself and takes the blame for situations and I just kept telling myself “girl you could do better, GET OUT”. I loved how supportive and close Joelle was with her family, that was definitely the shining aspect of this book for me, on the other hand the relationship with Max really soured for me by the end of the book. So while this one unfortunately did not work out for me, definitely give it a go if you like sweet romances and friends to enemies to lovers.

*Thanks Netgalley and Berkley Publishing Group, Berkley for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

A bookseller and a baker that are next-door and fall in love…. what could go wrong? First and foremost, I did like this book and I liked the authors writing. I loved Joelle’s family dynamic and overall I loved her as a character. Max though… I struggled with him. I understood he had a lot of family issues and I was sympathetic to that but he wasn’t the kindest more than once.

I love a good friends to lovers and I love a good enemies to lovers, but this one gave me whiplash. Friends to enemies to friends to enemies to friends and finally- lovers. I can see so many people loving this book and it did have a lot of high points, but it fell in the middle for me.

This book is from the highly acclaimed author of novel SIMMER DOWN. Honestly, I haven’t read this novel 😅 but I’ve always heard amazing things about it.

I requested this title because of it’s cover as I always judge a book by its cover. But it turned out more wonderful from inside. My only reason for the 4 star rate is just because of it’s starting chapters which seemed kind of boring and predictable to me. But after a few chapters the story seemed more engaging.

This novel contain many interesting things. As you can see the male character own a bookstore so you will find many bookish related things like book club reading and many other. Joelle, a baker was an amazing female character. She making croissant and talking about french toast and cream puffs just couldn’t help but raised my appetite. I have literally no interest in baking but now I want to make these bakery items like Joelle.

This novel was also filled with family dynamics. It was great to see such a caring and supportive family. This novel was more focused on building trust and having some supportive members of family and friends. I absolutely also like Joelle friend. She was an amazing friend to her and sometimes I found her really a strange woman but in a positive sense.😂

Lastly, it was a kind of rom-com plot. Some may see this novel as enemies to lover romance but I think they were not enemies in real sense. I didn’t like their relationship in start but as I have said above it turned out compelling after few chapters. The epilogue in the end was so adorable.

The Boy With The Bookstore

Handsome bookstore owner and sweet, family centric bake shop owner forced to share space during a renovation of their respective spaces? Sounds like an excellent set up for a romance.

I loved the cover art and premise of this book. I’m a sucker for a cute, bright illustrated romcom cover and a fan of many of the tropes / elements this book promised.

To start off, I really enjoyed Joelle and her family. I also loved the delicious sounding food descriptions and would love to have a chance to go to a bakery like this one. Joelle and her family seemed sweet, and I liked the connection they shared. I love seeing representation in books of different experiences, cultures, etc - so it was wonderful to have some Filipino rep woven into the story.

I liked the initial idea of Joelle and Max, but for me the romance didn’t quite work. The knowing one another in passing, sweet interactions in shops and crushes was good. The kind of abrupt initial hook up was a bit jarring, as was the rapid about face in their take on one another.

I enjoy enemies to lovers, but this was more about poor personal management and accountability (temperament), and communication issues / misunderstandings. That’s not really my trope in books, and in this case did not work for me in how it all unfolded.

I wished there was a bit more to grab me about Joelle and Max, individually and together, but their interactions together did not have me rooting for them or a romance.

It was cute and okay, and one I’m sure others will enjoy. I would try more from this author. Thank you to NetGalley and Berkeley for the ARC.

I can't sugarcoat it... this story frustrated me and there were a couple times that I thought I'd just end up putting it aside.

I really liked Joelle but I felt like she took so much ownership over some of the issues (unnecessarily) between her and Max and honestly, no matter how hot the guy is... I'd have said see you later about midway through this book.

The writing itself was not pulling me into this story and with the added frustration of Max's attitude I just found this wasn't for me.

The one shining light here was Joelle's family. I really loved them!

thanks for the early copy.

A bookstore owner + bakery owner in a forced proximity romance!

You have Max, the 'bad' boy with a soft heart and Joelle, the good girl with a great family who dreams of what could have been. Both are crushing on each other and when they must share space due to a renovation, all kinds of sparks fly. The two share some intense and hot scenes.

But Max's temper is off-putting at times. Though I get why he behaves the way he does, it was still tough to see how he treated Joelle. Not that Joelle was a pushover, yet I don't know how many women today, or their friends, would encourage them to remain with someone who was so nasty when they are mad.

Nevertheless, I feel that Max did evolve and I just loved Joelle's relationship with her family. Her good-heartedness really shined and it was so good to see the rewards of her caring nature.

I think many will enjoy this read. I do think some will be a bit put off by Max's lashing out. I would read more from the author. Thank you, Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a very sweet, very easy read. I really enjoyed it. I loved how the MC developed her inner strength and went after what she's always wanted. Her backstory unveils her love for her family and putting them first was very valid description of Heroes that are never fully recognized.

This book was absolutely adorable. I feel like we don’t get as much forced proximity and it can work really well, like here. I appreciated that both Max and Joelle had very different issues that they actually dealt with. The setting was super fun and I loved the cast of characters that was Joelle’s family.

This was a very cute, easy read. I enjoyed the characters and plot. I would recommend to fans of romantic comedies and modern romance. Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This is just barely a 3 stars. The premise was really cute and I thought the chemistry between the 2 main characters was good, but it felt a bit contrived. I liked it, but didn't love it. My main issue was that there didn't seem to be a big difference in the voices of the two main characters. Max, especially, didn't seem believable. He didn't seem like a realistic male, if that makes any sense.

This one was meh for me. I skimmed the last few chapters because I just wanted to be done. The characters are fine, but the story is just kind of dull.

Joelle and Max were really down on themselves which was exhausting to read. Max is a bookworm with a perfect gym body and “bad boy” tattoos, which feels like it’s feeding stereotypes. The story felt too contrived. The pacing was off and the ending didn’t feel right for the characters after what they went through. Everything was overly convenient.

Thanks to NetGalley and Berkeley for the ARC.