<strong>For what it’s worth… the ending is cute</strong>

The last 40ish percent of this book saved it. Honestly, we could throw out the first 30% and it would be fine.

I almost DNF this one. Idk what I was expecting but most of the beginning of this book seemed like word vomit that didn’t fit together. I am a sucker for grumpy-sunshine books and this one just did not do it for me.

Aside from sentences that just didn’t make sense to me, it seemed like over explaining parts when it wasn’t necessary, details seemed missing in conversations, and parts of the story just did not flow.

The saving grace is the ending. It ramped up, characters developed, writing was pieced together well, and we get the HEA we want. For that I’m glad I stuck with it.

3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Being an avid reader and lover of Kerrigan Byrne's historical romances, I was definitely interested and curious to see what she would offer in a modern small town setting. This novel weaves together the interesting and quirky qualities of a small town mystery romance with the layering of more difficult topics. Knowing Byrne's writing style that delves carefully into deeper moments, I was not overall shocked by this direction in the story and writing, even with a sweet and simple cover design that gives off "Cozy Small Town Mystery Romance". I have never read anything from Cynthia St. Aubin, so I don't have much context to go draw fully informed conclusions on Byrne and St. Aubin's contributions to this story. Overall, they both seemed to blend well together and I found this start to a new series to be interesting and left with curious about the continued building and exploration of this world. I definitely think if you are a fan of one or both of these authors this is a read well worth your time.

This one was a bit tough for me. I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting, but I found it very difficult to pick up a good plotline in the story. There are so many hilariously funny quips and phrases which kept me reading, but I found that ~60% of the way through the book, I was still not sure where it was going or what it was all about. The character development was clear, just felt a bit lost for direction, and found this to be more spice than substance. The authors did a great job with all the witty repartee, and I found myself laughing out loud numerous times, especially at the introduction of a Maine Coon cat named Kevin Costner. I think this had a lot of potential to be fabulous, but unfortunately missed the mark for me. Thank you to Kerrigan Byrne, Cynthia St. Aubin, the publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this e-arc!

Such a quick, easy read!

SPOLERS AHEAD!!!

I fell in love with the gruff MMC immediately. He was a mountain man teddy bear, and the gradual progression to clean cut military man was my favorite. The mental health representation was comforting, and the way the two main characters cared about each other's health and tried to take care of each other was incredible.

I love that the FMC was able to admit that things that felt true to her at the time could be hurtful to others. A lesson I'm sure we could all stand to learn.

This book had a little bit of everything and was a super fun read. A little cringy at times, with some questionable choices, but it was entertaining and a quick read.
Would recommend.

2.5 stars, maybe?

This is a tough review to write. I really wanted to enjoy this book, but there were so many factors that made it very difficult for me.

To start, I can’t count how many times (more than a few) where I felt myself cringing and/or laughing at the (lack of) quality in the writing. I’m not an expert by any means, but I read a lot, and while some of it might have been a style choice, I felt like two writers plus their editors and teams should have been able to do better. The descriptions. The adjectives. The attempts at humour…yikes.

Much as I was hoping to get on board with the main romantic relationship, there was just too much toxic masculinity/possessiveness/stalker-ish behaviour that was reminiscent of a certain vampire series from my youth. Back then, we romanticized that type of intense and overwhelming affection because we thought it was the definition of love, but now, we should know better.

On that note…the sex? Yikes again. Some of it was written okay, but the lack of any discussion about contraception, protection, etc. felt like a gap, and something about the treatment of consent just felt a bit wrong. I don’t know if I can pinpoint exactly what it was, but it didn’t all sit well with me.

Also…based on the descriptions, the protagonist is clearly supposed to be plus sized, but that was not at all evident in the cover design/art. I understand that the authors may have little to no control over that piece, but although it was a beautiful cover, it felt like a miscalculation. Like others, something about the title/cover/blurb also had me expecting more of a paranormal romance, but it wasn’t that at all.

Mmm, okay. Then there’s the racism. I’ve been accused of being overly sensitive about depictions of race and racism on more than one occasion, so I sometimes find myself second-guessing my interpretations of various words, phrases, descriptions, etc. That being said, the line about Kaepernick as well as one of the male protagonist’s flashback scenes did not sit well with me at all. I understand that the writers were probably trying for humour and realism, respectively, but I don’t think that’s what they achieved. I could break down the word choices and descriptions into much smaller bits and talk about what I noticed, the bigger implications, the links to ongoing social inequities, etc. for quite a while, but I’ll leave it at saying that I think the writers did more harm than good with those moments.

And then add on the glorification of small-town cops, and I just can’t. Honestly, I almost DNFed this one a couple different times.

Some pieces of the story were interesting, I didn’t dislike everything about the two protagonists, and I appreciated the attempts at some different types of representation (body diversity, chronic pain/physical disability, PTSD, etc.)…but all of that, unfortunately, just wasn’t enough to make up for the rest of the book. This one really didn’t work for me, and although I was initially looking forward to one of the other books in this series, I probably won’t bother with it now.

I just couldn't get past the characters. I mean, apparently, she is plus-sized, but the cover shows (at most) a mid-sized at most. Also, she's obsessed with this weird (almost stalker) man that basically just kidnaps her for the library. Ya no. Also, the weird obsession with pube hair is a big HELL NOPE

Not going to lie I loved this one despite it being more on the steamy side of a rom com. I.E. on the page steamy scenes. But I loved the banter between Cady and the Fox. As well as having a wounded warrior hero. And a heroine with a chronic illness quite frankly we need more of that in rom coms. Just a warning there is miscommunication and I know that that's a troupe lots of readers don't like but for this story it works. And there is language as well that some readers will not like.

This book is like a cute and cozy romance with a hint of mystery that keeps you hooked! Cady is such a sweetheart, and I totally vibed with her feisty attitude. She goes after what she wants, and her kindness shines through. But let me tell you, Fox stole the show for me. His point of view was a blast to read, and peeling back the layers of his character as the story unfolded was pure gold. Learning about his past and dealing with PTSD made him such an intriguing and enjoyable character. And the chemistry between Cady and Fox? It's off the charts!

I thought this was a paranormal book.
I was disappointed.
The plot was boring and there was just nothing to this book.

I really wanted to love this book, but unfortunately I just could not get into it. As a book lover I love anything to do with bookshops and fellow book lovers, so knowing that this was about a girl who inherited a bookstore I was excited to start. However, I think I was expecting a bit more of a cozy romcom than what it was and as someone who enjoys the tension and flirting stage of a new romance, I was thrown off to realize that the book started with the characters having already been flirtatiously interacting for months so it felt like we kinda just jumped in right away. It just made it feel weird to me, that when we first really meet his pov and are getting to know him, he was already so obsessed with her and got off on just the idea of her and I just couldn’t really move past the stalkerish vibes. I’ve seen some good reviews so I think I might try to read again when I’m more in the mood for a romance/mystery but for now I am going to have to DNF it.

Honestly, I am SO disappointed in this book.

I cringed at the spicy scenes, the plot needed to be elaborated, Cady was awful.

The only redeeming quality for me was Myrtle and the book club.

This wasnt it for me.

this was so cute!! i loved fox and cady and their dynamic so so much. love the action and romance mix.

This book wasn't what I expected going in at all. I thought this would be a cozy, maybe even slightly fantastical romance, but this was more of a sexy, military romance which is not my usual go-to. Most of the characters were over-the-top and unlikeable imo, I think the main character Cody being the only exception. It dragged on quite a bit and was a bit on the nose for many social activist issues. For such an innuendo heavy book it took too long for the characters to get together, not enough sexual tension for me. Though that phone sex scene was niceeeeee. :)

I love a little spookiness tied with a small-town romance PLUS BOOKISH! Cute, easy to read, and a little cheesy.

This book is unfortunately a perfect example of why you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Because if you were like me, you saw the cute little illustration on the cover, got ready for a cozy bookstore romance, and was smacked in the face instead with sexual innuendo after sexual innuendo.

Nevermore Bookstore follows Cody Bloomquist, who runs her little bookshop and spends her days stocking shelves. The highlight of her week, though, are the late night phone calls she gets from a customer who she only knows as “Fox.”

Fox’s real name is Roman Fawkes, and he hasn’t left his mountain hideaway in years. The highlight of his weeks are those same late night phone calls. One night, however, someone breaks into the bookstore and Fox realizes that there’s nothing he can do for Cady, miles away on the other end of the line. This is when he realizes…maybe it’s time to come down from the mountain.

When I ran into a sentence in the first few pages about Cady’s “vital organs [turning] to melted butter” after all Fox did was utter two syllables, I realized that this wasn’t my type of book. And I was right; every page is littered with lines about how Cady and Fox were each getting turned on by the other’s presence, but their relationship is not at all interesting beyond that. I found a lot of the phrasing (“the way her lady bits stole her heartbeat when he so much as breathed”) and dialogue (“Why don’t you ever, like — I don’t know — send me pictures of your dick?”) just extremely cringe and hard to take seriously.

I think I might’ve been more receptive to this kind of writing had the book eased into it and developed their relationship from strangers to call buddies, but the book jumped right into Cady and Fox already being extremely attracted to each other and I never felt like I understood why beyond the physical aspect.

Just generally, I was not a huge fan of the romance and I wasn’t able to connect to any of the characters or understand their motivations. It was very cliche with a male lead that was dark and broody (and a little creepy) who was very rude and toxic to the female lead, who still couldn’t stay away. If you’re into those types of romances you might enjoy this, but I personally just found the relationship between them very frustrating.

Plot-wise, it was just okay. I wasn’t really invested in any of it in large part due to the previous reasons, but also just because I did not find the story that interesting. There was very little reason it had to take place in a bookstore; the story seemed to revolve more around the romance and fighting over the bookstore as a general entity and it all just got very soapy at the end.

In conclusion…yeah this was not my thing. But if you like those romance novels with the photo of someone’s rock-hard abs on the cover, you might enjoy it...maybe?

THIS BOOK!!!!!!!
Chef's kiss✨✨💗💗❤️❤️❤️



"Thank you so much netgalley, the author and the publisher for the advanced review copy if this book💗
"I voluntarily read and reviewed the book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

Nevermore Bookstore by Kerrigan Byrne & Cynthia St. Aubin wasn't quite my cup of tea. While I usually enjoy the dynamic between grumpy and sunshine characters, I found the abundance of sunshine in this book to be a bit overwhelming for my taste.

I really wanted to enjoy this book. The cover immediately grabbed my attention as a cutesy romance that would be a fun and easy read. However I struggled to enjoy/follow the plot and didn’t feel much connection to the characters as a whole.

I think for this one it would need to be one I reread carefully, and sometimes when reading I prefer for it to be effortless and fun especially with this genre.

I had a love-hate relationship with this book. I really disliked the MMC. He seemed like a problematic manly dude, basically a peeping tom who called her “woman”. We didn’t really see their connection build up, it was already there from the beginning, and it was hard to see why they liked each other so much. I also didn’t love the writing style, felt quite over the top. Some of the aspects I had trouble with might be appreciated by dark romance readers (to be clear, there’s no noncon). But I likely would have DNF’d this if it wasn’t an ARC.

On the other hand I appreciated a lot of what it was doing. Bringing together two people who think they’re broken, one with chronic pain, the other who has PTSD. The book gave them the space to figure out the strength within themselves and heal themselves, finding strength within one another.

Beyond the romance, there’s also some mystery aspects going on, break ins, things moving around, a missing deed… I enjoyed this aspect though it was mostly in the background, and I kind of figured out what was going on

The setting is a bookstore, and there’s plenty of love of books in this one. I liked how they cared about each other. I liked the small town setting and most of its occupants. I especially loved the elder lady couple.

The book is set in the kind of fictional Townsend Harbor in Washington. I say kind of because I’m 99% sure it’s based on Port Townsend, WA which is a real place. I’ve been to it and I basically set the whole book there in my mind.

Overall rating: 2.5 ⭐

Thank you to Oliver Heber Books, Xpresso Book Tour and Netgalley for the eARC!