Unfortunately, this was not my cup of tea. I thought this was going to be a supernatural mystery romcom book and I get that nothing explicitly said that this was going to be the genre, but I feel like the title (Nevermore Bookstore just gives magic vibes) and cover (idk it's purple I guess?? that feels magic-y) gave me that impression.

I'll just leave a list of things that I did not enjoy:
- Main love interest is like a caveman who lives in the woods but is also a borderline stalker when it comes to the main character
- The villain(s) in this story were just... like comic book villains. I won't go into it, but it felt so ridiculous by the end.
- There are SO many characters that seem kind of irrelevant. I get that this is the first of a series, but I feel like we didn't get enough intro into a lot of the characters so I was constantly checking to make sure that there wasn't a previous book that I was supposed to have read. I honestly cannot remember the name of any of the side characters still.
- The writing felt weirdly modern and made so many contemporary references. It kind of threw me off and felt like it was trying to hard to be funny.

(Mild spoilers)
Nevermore Bookstore was a great read for me. The characters in this story made me want to move to the small PNW town just so I could be in their company. Not to mention the humor in this book was incredible without felt cheesy.

Cady is an incredible woman who, despite struggling with chronic illness and the death of her aunt, continued to run her own business and fight for her right to the building.

Fox was a man who continuously made me swoon when he spoke. The fact that he was actually stalking her by looking through her window with binoculars really threatened to turn me off of him, but learning about his PTSD and his fear of hurting her if he got too close did make it feel morally not AS bad.

Cady and Fox’s relationship was beautiful through so many of the struggles they had so early in their story. He absolutely adored every part of her that she had any insecurity about and continuously reassured her that she was the most beautiful entity he had ever experienced. Also her insistence that she was not afraid of him or his sketchy military past was so sweet. She was willing to compromise and accommodate him in any way she could to make him feel comfortable even though he couldn’t even stand inside of a building without the doors and windows being open. He also never made her feel bad about her chronic pain and was more than willing to help her with anything (whether that be peeing in the woods or sex related ;) )

This book was quite steamy overall but it was incredibly sexy without crossing the line into being gross or raunchy which is a very thin margin. Fox’s perspective of these moments focused on how much he appreciated every part of Cady and how close he longed to be to her.

Overall 4.5 stars
Not 5 solely because the beginning dragged for a while before it actually picked up

ARC from NetGalley and Oliver Heber Books

I've gone back and forth with giving this book a 3 stars or 3.5 stars. I enjoyed the concept of this book but just had a few issues with the execution of it. First what I liked
- Awesome chronic pain (AS) rep
- Good PTSD rep
- Banter and humor
- The bookshop setting

What I wasn't a fan of
- The secret identity plot went on too long for me
- The 3rd act conflict
- The conflict with the sherif

Overall I did enjoy the writing and will absolutely checking out Kerrigan Byrnes historical!

I really enjoys this book, I devoured it in a day. I grew attached to each characters. And in this little town, there's a lot of characters with just the right craziness in them.
Through the book, I wanted to be Cady's friend. Apart living with an immune chronic disease like her, she is compassionate, loves books and she is funny. I really like her character.
Fox was an amazing character who grow on me. I love how secretive he is and how possessive and protective but in the same time respectful. The tension in is POV was perfection, we could really feel the desire he has for Cady.

The only thing that I had difficulty, it's that sometimes it's like the scene is written too fast. Like I didn't understand how Bob was almost fighting with the Sheriff and than He felt because of Cady who fall on him. It's like the reader hasn't much time to processed whats happening. But other than that, I really enjoy it. I will recommend it.
.

At first I thought the book was great, I loved Cady and her cute bookstore and how bravely she faced her medical issues. Unfortunatley, the more I read the less I liked it. Fox seemed creepy and he made me uncomfortable. She would have been better off with Ethan. This one just was not for me.

I loved this book. Their tension was off the charts, you feel their desire to be together and the longing of not being. Cady had been through a lot in her young life but she still was a warrior, I loved her attitude and personality. Fox didn't think he deserved happiness after what he had to do in the army, that poor man. He pushed her away because he thought he wasn't good enough for her and that couldn't further from the truth. The perfect person for her was him because he would do anything to protect her and would be there for her no matter what. And that's what you do when you love someone. They fit together so perfectly, I loved them together, they were so much better with each other than apart

I always like to see authors stretching their range or trying new genres, but this wasn’t it for me. I’ve personally never read any of Byrne’s other novels, so I went into this blindly.

This felt more cringey than cozy, as the cover would suggest. I wasn’t a fan of the MMC, as he seemed condescending and sometimes slightly misogynistic. Overall, this felt like the writers were trying a little too hard and, while it had some potential, it was not executed in a way that made me want to continue reading.

DNF @ 35%

Oh I have no words for how truly incredible this book was, the amount of spice it had! Cady takes you on a wirlwind journey from the very start with moral support from her best friend Gemma. This book grips you from the very start I never wanted it to end! It a definite must read! I can’t wait to see more of Cady after the cliff hanger from this book!🌟🌟🌟

thank you for this wonderful book!

i'll admit i was abit skepitcal when i first began reading because i thought it was slightly immature and i was unsure what direction the book was going in— but as the chapters went on and we got to learn more about who they were and their personalities, i really learned to like them. i think the authors did a good job at representing grief and ptsd throughout this book and i thought, overall, it was just an enjoyable read!

This book didn't hit it for me. I've liked Kerrigan Byrne's work in the past (her VICTORIAN REBELS series is so good!), but this book consistently went for the quippy joke in a way that hinted at having a political stance without ever fully realizing one, and without giving a consistent or developed view of the characters. It kept getting almost there and then falling apart. This is a skip, from me.

3.75 stars
So Kerrigan Byrne wrote a contemporary novel! I love her historical romances and was thrilled to see her and Cynthia St. Aubin striking out to conquer this genre. Once again she has given us a strong heroine, Cady Bloomquist, who is trying to hold onto the slightly crumbling bookstore and building that her recently deceased aunt has left her. The only problem is that Cady can’t seem to find proof that the building belongs to her, and the Townsends (whom the building is named after), are desperate to get the building back in their hands. Cady suffers from ankylosing spondylitis (painful inflammatory arthritis), but doesn’t let it alter her sweet natured personality. I loved having a FMC with disability representation because we see how Cady lives her life joyfully in spite of her back pain. Her one weekly pleasure is receiving a Thursday call from “Fox” who places rare book orders, keeping her store afloat. If it’s possible to fall in love with someone for their voice alone, Cady is enamored with Fox’s conversations, even when he pulls the plug and ends calls abruptly.

We never know exactly why or how Fox and Cady start talking, and I wished I knew why Fox chose Cady’s bookstore (Did he see her and want to talk to her? Was it random and they just had phone chemistry?). It’s clear these two are drawn to each other, and I liked the premise of just liking someone for their conversation/voice rather than their looks first. The first chapter from Fox’s perspective threw me, and seemed so different from the one before it, that I wondered if the authors separately wrote the MCs POVs? But once I understood a little bit more of who Fox was and what drove him, the more I liked him. The stranger in the bookstore also happened so quickly that I didn’t realize it was going to be a main plot point. Granted the incident happens while Cady and Fox are on the phone, but I would’ve liked to see it lengthened just a little. I should mention that there is a little bit of secret identity here; no one lies to the other per se, but a reader sensitive to catfishing might not enjoy this story. To their credit, I thought the authors did a fabulous job of building chemistry with Cady and Fox and I liked that Fox was slowly revealed to us throughout the book. These two are so horny for each other and I couldn’t wait for them to connect. This “will they/won’t they” vibe had me excited to keep flipping pages and I loved the steamy scenes.
There are also side characters that are hilarious and the dialogue is so witty between them (at Bookclub, at the festival, in the town hall meeting). This book is very sharp and has the best banter. It’s also great if you’re looking for a MMC that is just GONE for the heroine. Fox falls for Cady so hard that it makes him unbelievably attractive, despite his flaws. I enjoyed seeing how the building ownership played out and enjoyed the town drama. It’ll be so much fun to see what the authors have planned for us next as this is Townsend Harbor #1. A big thanks to NetGalley and Oliver Heber Books for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I’m not too sure how to review this book I liked it but I also found it a little weird and creep at times. I love cady’s character she was funny cute and totally relatable. Fox’s character left me feel a little weird but also I liked him it was a strange feeling. I loved the side characters they were well written and funny I can’t wait to read Gem’s story. I loved the little bookstore and the cat he was adorable.

If I highlighted every made up word, unnecessary italicization, cringey turn of phrase, terribly structured sentence, hyperbolic nightmare of a paragraph, my kindle would be visible from outer space. This book was aggressively cliché. It’s the literary equivalent of “not like other girls.”

For some reason I expected a cozy sexy paranormal small town romance (hello cover!!). What I got was an ex-military man in a cave who liked to watch the heroine with binoculars and call her on the phone like he’s in Scream.

Did it make sense that there was a cave that close to her bookstore? No absolutely not. None of this godforsaken book made sense. Books and bookstores were actually so irrelevant past like chapter 3. Yeah she owned a bookstore but none of those cozy vibes were present.

Fox was not the hero for me. We were hit over the head with the fact that he was a manly masculine man. He called her woman all the time. Or baby. Which actually makes sense because he described her like she was some innocent child. “Sweet, naïve Cady” to quote him directly. Her eyes were always filled with innocent wonder. Also why was “tummy” in this man’s vocabulary? He was fucking creepy.

Cady was a rather weak character and her forgiveness of the enemy at the end angered me. She was constantly making up words, using texting shorthand in conversations, and over the top quirky. She seemed so much younger than Fox and that doesn’t do it for me. When described from his POV, she simply didn’t seem real.

Overall, the sentences were paragraphs long, the writing was incredibly heavy handed, and the book tried so desperately to be relatable.

The only well written part of this book was the representation of her chronic illness (ankylosing spondylitis) and his PTSD. While I can’t know for sure, those at least felt genuine.


⭐️/5 🌶️🌶️🌶️.25*/5

*he talked like an ancient vampire during sex


WTF Notes:

I’ll admit I paid less than full attention but I searched all words relating to safe sex and nothing came up. He came inside her with no contraception, talk of condoms, sexual health or anything.


I also think she compared her pubes to Colin Kaepernick’s hair? What would possess someone to make this correlation??

Quote: Squirming uncomfortably, she covered her eyes. “How can you like it? It’s like I have Colin Kaepernick in a leg lock down there.”

*it = her pubic hair


Thanks to the publisher for an eARC via NetGalley. All opinions are honest and my own.

I loved everything about this book. It offers romance, mystery and adventure all of which plays out inside a gorgeous world. I especially enjoyed the connection the characters had to the land and the living palace. Gread read!

First of all, I want to live in Nevermore Bookstore and hang out with all of the people who frequent it. I never pass on a chance to read a contemporary romance set in a bookstore, and Nevermore Bookstore sounds charming. I also loved Cady. She’s such a great protagonist. She’s so upbeat and positive even though she’s going through so much. She’s mourning the loss of her beloved aunt, and she suffers from a chronic illness and chronic pain. She’s also fighting to keep a floundering bookstore afloat. Cady has a lot on her plate, but she is kind, generous, and selfless, and she never gives up fighting for the people and things she cares about. She’s pretty remarkable, and her introspection is admirable.

Then there’s Fox, Cady’s love interest. I so rooted for Fox, even though I didn’t love how he watched Cady from afar. It was a little strange and stalkery but totally understandable considering his PTSD and how debilitating it was for him. And his backstory is dark and made it almost impossible for him to be indoors. Throughout the whole book, I kept hoping he would get the help he needed because he was struggling on his own.

Cady and Fox have great chemistry, and though they both have a lot to work through and figure out, I was hopeful that they’d find a way to be together. I feel like they really understood each other, and I love that their relationship began with phone calls and book talks. I also loved when Cady called Fox out for pushing her away. She makes him face some hard truths, and, in turn, she faces her own. Their relationship has major grumpy/sunshine dynamics, and their romance is pretty steamy. That phone sex scene fogged up my kindle! lol

The story is not as light and fluffy as the cover suggests. it deals with some heavier topics like PTSD, chronic illness, small-town politics and greed, and financial stresses. However, these topics are balanced well with the comical banter, small-town charm, interesting secondary characters (especially Kevin Costner, the cat!), and the romance. And the ending is fantastic – so swoon-worthy and sweet, and Fox and Cady show how deeply they care for each other.

Thanks to NetGalley and Xpresso Books for providing me with a copy of the book. All thoughts are my own.

**3.5 STARS**

Content Warning: PTSD, torture scenes in a memory

What caught my eye for this book was the cover and title. I’d say this is one of those instances where the cover made me think this would be a rom-com. Here’s what I thought:

+ Yes there are fun, light-hearted moments in this book but that’s mostly with Cady. She has ankylosing spondylitis and suffers from the pain of it but despite that she’s a sunshine girl. Cady is positive and living life. Whereas her romantic interest, Fox, is the opposite. Grumpy? YES. But with so much baggage, trauma, and suffers from major PTSD. His character threw me off in the beginning and I was wondering if this was a paranormal romance and he was a werewolf or something! Boy, was I wrong, but Fox is almost feral in this book. But opposites attract in this one and there is no shortage of chemistry between them.

+ I love the small town and how Cady runs a bookstore. She and Fox actually bond because of their love of books. But I love Cady’s friends Gemma, Myrtle, and Vee, they were all so funny together.

+ The romance between Cady and Fox was really heart melting after all the kinks they had to iron out. And it was a lot – it’s heavy, because of Fox’s PTSD. But I like that Cady fought to keep this guy, there is something beautiful about fighting for love. I like that these two people, strangers over the phone really, are each fighting their own battles and in the end decide they want to fight together. Also their sex scenes are steamy and hot!

~ This is a dark romance because Fox goes through some bad stuff and he dreams about it. I really couldn’t figure him out in the first part of the book, I couldn’t understand what the deal was with him. He’s a hermit in the woods, he seems like he’s on the verge of going out of his head – hence why I thought maybe he was a werewolf and this was a paranormal romance! There isn’t anything wrong with him dealing with PTSD, I just wasn’t expecting how hard he would deal with it. I really felt for him.

~ Because of the way they meet, and Fox is basically some guy in the woods – when he does come to be around Cady to protect her, it comes off a little suspect, like he’s stalking her. He doesn’t disclose who he is because he’s not good for her, but he sticks around a few days to make sure she is okay. He even watches her through binoculars so if that bothers you then this story isn’t for you.

~ The mystery part in this book I think didn’t flow as well for me? I was invested in Cady and Fox and the mystery of who HE is. But some things were happening at the bookstore that I felt like wasn’t something pushed to the forefront of the story. So by the time it’s dealt with at the end, it’s just some loose end that needs to be tied up and it is taken care of nicely.

Tropes: small town, sunshine girl/grumpy broken guy

Why you should read it:
*set in a small town, at a bookstore owned by a sunshine girl with an autoimmune disease
*fun secondary characters – Cady’s best friends
*Cady and Fox’s romance – and how they try to help themselves and one another by the end of the book

Why you might not want to read it:
*it’s darker than the cartoonish cover lets on! I liked the spotlight on Fox’s PTSD but it’s not a light-hearted read – I think it was trying to toe the line between light-hearted and dark. It worked for me but may not work for everyone.

My Thoughts:

After the initial rocky start of the book (mostly because Fox), I think I fell in love with Cady and Fox – especially when the truth comes out. Cady’s life in her small town, her book store and her close knit friends was perfect for her and her personality. Fox fit his surroundings also, because he really was on the edge of giving up, and he was going to give up in the woods but I didn’t know that until later. So like Cady, I didn’t understand him, until he let his guard down. But I loved the two of them together and glad they have a happy ending. The story is like a balance between light-hearted and dark romance and I enjoyed it. It looks like this is going to be a series so I hope the next love story is Gemma’s or Ethan’s? I look forward to reading more from this duo.

Whew. This one was a bit heavier than I was anticipating.

I appreciate the honest and transparent look at chronic and mental illness and they way they are just intertwined with life and the every day. Cady is stronger because of her chronic illness and doesn’t let it define her.

Cady and Fox are both very flawed protagonists and seeing how their flaws ultimately complement each other was really lovely by the end of the story.

I wished that the story moved a bit quicker, I found it to drag at some points and was slightly confusing at others. I don’t know whether that was due to changes in writing style or the way the plot was building or a combination of both.

But the end of the story really picked up and I was rooting for Cady and Nevermore Bookstore right along with the rest of the town!

Thank you to XPresso Books and NetGalley for this ARC!

I'm a big fan of Kerrigan Byrne's writing and appreciate that she wanted to try something a bit different than her usual stories. I had not read anything by Cynthia St. Aubin prior to this, but had heard positive things about her Love Bites series. It took me a few chapters into Nevermore Bookstore to get used to their combined writing style -- the flow was a bit off at times and made it difficult to follow. Either I got used to it eventually or it started coming together more so after about Chapters 9/10.

As some other reviewers noted, I initially thought this would be lighter than it turned out, partly based on the synopsis and partly based on the whimsical cover illustration. The final product veers more towards women's fiction at times than contemporary romance. Although Cady's friends and the other townspeople provide some funny moments, the story explores a lot of heavy issues. The main character, Cady, is dealing with grief over the death of her aunt -- who took over as her guardian when Cady was a teenager due to complicated family issues -- while also living with a chronic illness. Cady is at risk of losing her aunt's bookstore due to unpaid taxes and probate issues that put her ownership of the building in question. Fox, on the other hand, has extreme PTSD from being held as a military prisoner and tortured for information and has been refusing therapy or medications. He has been living in a tent out in the mountains with only a weekly phone call to Cady's bookstore as his sole connection to the outside world.

My main issue with the story was that Fox's actions throughout the story often cross the line from being overprotective of Cady into being problematic (watching her in her apartment through binoculars, pretending to be a homeless person to spend time around her, etc.). I loved the chemistry between Fox and Cady during their phone calls, which escalate from flirtatious book discussions to dirty talk to phone sex. However, I struggled to buy into a real relationship between them after Fox lied to Cady and took advantage of her trust. Although by the end Fox was taking steps to get help and address his issues, it felt too late to salvage the HEA. I fully recognize the double-standard of my views on this given that some of my favorite Kerrigan Byrne historical romances involve heroes who do some seriously terrible things, and I've enjoyed other dark contemporary romance heroes with questionable morals. It could be that this storyline is more rooted in reality that makes it harder to overlook these issues.

Putting aside the above, I am interested to see where this series goes. I'm guessing Gemma will get her own book next, which should be entertaining.

Thank you to Oliver Heber Books and Netgalley for providing an ARC for review!

I LOVED this book. At first, I was a little unsure of what was happening in the story, but it was pretty easy to pick it up in the first few chapters. It also would have helped if I had fully read the synopsis of the story again before reading the book. This story focuses on Cady and Fox. Cady is chronically ill bookstore owner and Fox is basically a hermit living in the woods. They are both avid readers and that is how they meet.

Things I liked most about this book:
- Cady has a collection of weird taxidermied animals. I do not own any of these myself, but I have definitely spent hours looking at them on Ebay just because they are so weird.
- Fox is protective, but not overbearing, he still left things up to Cady and just supported her.
- I love reading and I love when a book focuses on one of my favorite things to do
- The side characters were all great. Kevin Costner, Myrtle, Viv, and Gemma were such wonderful additions to the story. I am interested to see if the next book will focus on Gemma.
- There were so many moments that made me laugh.

There really wasn't anything that I did not like about this book. I started reading it and had it finished within 24 hours, that is always a good sign of how much I am enjoying something. I can't wait to read other books from these authors to try and chase the joy I got from this one.

Thank you to NetGalley, Kerrigan Byrne & Cynthia St. Aubin, and Oliver Heber Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

In my opinion, this book has just one good thing, it portrays and shows chronic illness and disabilities, such as AS, PTSD, ADHD, and that will always be a plus for me.
But other than that, it was a big no.

I'm sorry to say it, but I didn't enjoy the story, the FMC was getting on my nerves most of the time, and the MMC was a living red flag.
I usually like an overprotective hero, but here he overstepped some boundaries that are too important for me.

I usually read both rom-com and dark romances, but this one was not one nor the other, I don't know how to categorize it, and that’s not always a good thing.