THE BOOKBINDER’S GUIDE TO LOVE – Katherine Garbera
WiCKed Sisters, Book 1
Afterglow Books
ISBN: 978-1-335-04156-2
January 23, 2024
Contemporary Romance

Birch Lake, Maine – Present Day

Serafina Conte and the two women who are like sisters to her, Liberty and Poppy, seem almost magical and have a reputation in town for being witches—but they’re not. It’s just that their mannerisms and appearance are unique. They run a bookstore, where Sera creates magic through bookbinding. Her specialty is journals, which is how she became friends with the elderly Ford Stillwell. As THE BOOKBINDER’S GUIDE TO LOVE starts out, Sera learns that Ford has died in his sleep. His family is suspicious of her, thinking that she was conning their father out of money and/or valuables. What she does have from Ford are some old books and she intends to do her bookbinding magic on them and return them to the family. But Ford’s grandson Wes isn’t impressed. He still thinks she is a criminal.

What Wes doesn’t see is the emotional connection between Ford and Sera through the books. She offers him the chance to join him in binding the books. Through this, he will soon learn how special his grandfather was, the man with whom he was estranged from. Wes decides to stay in Birch Lake for an additional six weeks. Is it to get to know his grandfather’s legacy, or is it to get to know Sera? There is certainly an attraction brewing between them. Sera soon has gruff Wes softening. Will it lead to love? Is it magic happening between them? Sera grew up in the foster care system, so trusting someone with her heart means it will have to be someone special. Meanwhile, Wes doesn’t have the best relationship possible with his father and twin brother. Will finding a connection to his grandfather help him find a way to meet them halfway?

While THE BOOKBINDER’S GUIDE TO LOVE is mostly about Sera and Wes, we do get interaction between Liberty and Poppy. They are Sera’s best friends. They alternately don’t trust Wes or think that she should go all out. But at the end of the day, all they want is Sera’s happiness. There are several interactions between our couple and each day, they grow closer. While it starts as a temporary affair, readers will wonder what happens when it’s time for Wes to leave Birch Lake. Will he have found the answers that he’s looking for? A spellbinding romance of a couple who find love when they least expect it, don’t miss THE BOOKBINDER’S GUIDE TO LOVE.

Patti Fischer
Romance Reviews Today

This book is definitely a case of “it’s for someone but not for me.” The premise of the story and the intention journals was interesting and I wish we had more of a plot based around the WiCKed sisters shop. Sera and Wes’ relationship felt so rushed and I had a hard time connecting with them. The conflict at the end felt misplaced and resolved too quickly. I’m not a fan of insta-love so this just didn’t do it for me, but if that’s your thing then this book is for you!

I did not enjoy this book one bit. I found the writing to be lacking, the plot, and the romance. Some of the quotes were straight up cringe-worthy. I had more expectations because I'm a sucker for witchy romantasies, but this book was not it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Katherine Garbera for the opportunity to read an advanced copy.

I will start by saying that I really wanted to like this book. The premise was intriguing, and I love a witchy, spicy, rivals to lovers type vibe. Unfortunately, this book missed the mark for me. It was advertised as witchy, which there are some references, but a large part of the story is that everyone thinks the FMC and her friends are witches but it’s constantly reiterated that they’re not, which just felt odd to me. The spice also wasn’t really working for me, it felt like it was too much and not enough all at the same time. I will admit that this was my first Harlequin romance, so I went in with a little bit of a bias due to the stereotype, but it just didn’t hit the spot for me.

Serafina Conte, co-owner of a quirky new age store with her two best friends, wants to become the leading lady of her life. But when her book mentor and great friend Ford passes away, she’s left with a box of old books and Ford’s suspicious and attractive grandson Wes. When Wes insists the books should belong to him, she agrees to share memories of his grandfather to help him find closure.

The Bookbinder’s Guide to Love by Katherine Garbera is a contemporary romance full of open door smut, grief, and overcoming past trauma. I’m going to be honest, I didn’t love this one. It had a really great plot, but their insta-lust and immediate hookup (hello, Ford has been dead for 24 hours please) didn’t sit well with me.

I really enjoyed the witchy vibes although this isn’t a paranormal book at all, and the friendships Sera has with her friends. I liked how they all had their own lives, although it did start to get a bit extreme. Sera seemed to grow through the six weeks and she really appeared to be a kind person.

I just couldn’t get into this story. It felt very fast paced at first even though barely any time had passed, and I felt like I’d been dropped into the story blind. It felt like the story was started just as a reason to write smut, but halfway through the characters started to develop personality.

In conclusion, I enjoyed the plot and the writing once I passed the midway slump. It had really cool information about book binding too which was fun. I’d recommend to people looking for a fast read that’s smutty but not too deep.

Thank you Harlequin and NetGalley for the e-ARC. ❤️

This was an enjoyable quick read with spice sprinkled throughout. I loved the premise but some word choices throughout the book turned me off. Notably, Wes, the MMC, referring to Sera (FMC) as “woman” numerous times.

The more I read of this, the less I enjoyed it. Sera constantly reminds the reader that she has "main character energy". She does not. This is the shortest end of an enemies to lovers ever. The enemies lasts for a whole of an afternoon, because they are just both so wildly attracted to each other. For character development, both are coming into this story with truly massive amounts of emotional baggage. Because the tension is gone in a second, the bulk of the story is them each working through said baggage. They work through it via internal monologues and very clunky dialogue. This one really wasn't for me.

This was a fast read and the magic was interesting in here even though it was mostly unintentional on Seraphina’s part and they breakup/makeup super-fast right at the end of the story which was a little frustrating for me. It starts out mostly enemies to lovers I guess but that gets resolved pretty quickly and they end up getting into a friends with benefits arrangement that turns into a relationship after the aforementioned break-up/Make-up.

Thanks to Afterglow Books and Netgalley for the complimentary copy of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.

The Bookbinder’s Guide to Love is a quick, sweet romance - but warning - there is miscommunication (and if you’re like me, that can be frustrating).

If you enjoy cozy, small-town, insta-love reads, this may be for you!

Thank you Netgalley and Harlequin for an advanced electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was an easy read, but sadly this book was not for me. It was too slow paced in the beginning and too fast paced towards the end (why did Sera and Wes breakup and makeup SO fast?) and I wasn’t a fan of the pop culture references or references to specific technology (Reddit, Harry Potter, Venmo, etc). The writing also felt immature with its use of texting acronyms (FFS). The spicy scenes were fine, nothing extraordinary or unique.

As a hobbyist book binder, I truly enjoyed the parts about binding, and connections people can form through binding and through books themselves. I might recommend this to other book binders, but not other romance readers.

A new romance in a new series featuring the grumpy vs sunshine trope.

I liked the witchy elements here but overall, the writing felt forced to me. I also didn’t really connect with the characters and thus wasn’t invested as much in their romance.

Normally I am all in on an enemies to lovers romance, but this one just kind of fell a bit flat for me. Essentially, you're taking two characters who feel like they don't deserve and are unworthy of love and affection and are very emotionally repressed. And you're then putting them in to a very rushed romance that of course has a lot of problems.

I did love the very posey which he vibes that you got from this book as well as a lot of literature references which were really fun. This book would have been so much better if the romance itself was just a little bit more developed and not quite as fast-paced.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin for an arc of this book.

The bookbinder’s guide

*I received an advanced copy of this book for review.*

I will be honest that this book was a DNF for me, BUT not in a bad way!

I’m very much a mood reader, and I started this one at an off time for this genre. As such, I’m giving it a 3.5-4 stars, based on what I read. The premise is very cute and sweet, and the book is fine, but it didn’t hit right for me at the right time. There are a handful of spicy scenes, but they’re not super descriptive, so if you’re put off by spice, this might still be okay! Also, I will say that this book reads kind of like a contemporary AU fan fiction, stylistically. Not in a bad way, but the comparison stands.

I may revisit it at a later date, when I’m more in the mood for this sort of read.
Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this arc!

The Bookbinder's Guide to Love by Katherine Garbera was a super fun and quick story.
A very enjoyable, cozy witchy romance. I loved the characterization and the growth these characters had during the story.
The romance was cute and sweet and if you are just looking for a super cute story with witches and magic then totally check this one out.

Thank You NetGalley and Afterglow Books by Harlequin for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

This book had very sweet and tender moments, and a great deal of emotional healing from the two main characters. I was immediately hooked in the first two chapters. The description of the store Sera owns with her two best friends and the immediate conflict of her not being allowed to attend her friend Ford’s funeral was excellent.
What fell short for me was the intimate scenes and the internal dialogue. Given the clear emotional and physical connection Wes and Sera had (even before they realized it) with each other, the intimate scenes seemed rushed and intercourse focused. I wanted to see more of their emotional connection play out in those scenes.
Additionally, I found the internal dialogue of Sera and Wes to be repetitive. I understand they both had childhood traumas and working through those is certainly a central theme to the book. But it felt like they were having the same therapy induced debates inside their own heads over and over.
I enjoyed the plot of this book and the entire cast of characters. I am hoping that Liberty and Poppy get books of their own!

*rated 3.75 stars on StoryGraph*

DNF 72%

This book is FINE. It’s not spectacular, it’s not terrible, it’s just very middle of the road. This may be my own biases against straight white romances, especially contemporary romances, but I’m just kinda bored reading this. And especially having just read Helena Greer’s Carrigans series, the grief element is not hitting my emotions. The premise of this sounded really cute, but with the antagonism being so utterly short lived (especially because they’re just oh-so-attracted to one another) and it kinda hitting my brain like nothing is happening to move the story forward, I’m going to go ahead and say this isn’t a book for me.

I like the premise but I found the execution utterly lacking. These two characters have no chemistry, yet I’m expected to believe they want to sleep together practically just after they meet (less than 30% in)?

Serafina Conte has found solace in her handmaking journal talent, but when the death of her mentor brings one of his grandsons to confront her regarding his will, she never expects to fall for him. Serafina handmakes journals, she loves doing it and has found a way to make a successful business of it with her two best friends. Yet when the death of her mentor, Ford Sitwell, happens, Serafina feels lonelier than ever and the last thing she needs is Ford's suspicious grandson coming into her life demanding that the books Ford left in his will actually belong to him. Wes Sitwell thinks the worst of Serafina and Ford's friendship and thinks she was sleeping with his grandpa, and thinks that Ford made a mistake giving away his books to her rather than to Wes. Wes and Serafina get off on the wrong foot but the more time they spend together the more they begin to fall for one another. But can a relationship work when they both are new to relationships and have their own issues? Unfortunately this one was not for me. It was a short read but it felt like it dragged and I'm going to be honest, I did not like Wes at all. I really did not like the last minute breakup/makeup in the last few pages and honestly, dont think that Wes and Serafina have any chemistry at all. I really did not believe their relationship and did not really feel it. The romance just wasn't there for me unfortunately. If you like unlikely romances give this one a go, maybe it'll work out better for you than it did for me.

*Thanks Netgalley and HARLEQUIN - Romance (U.S. & Canada), Afterglow Books by Harlequin for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

I really enjoyed this book! The premise was really interesting, and I found Serafina’s job really interesting. This was the first time I was reading about a book binder. The found family vibes were chefs kiss. I found Sera to be relatable because all of us sometimes feel we’re just the side character in our own life instead of the main character.
While I’m not a fan of insta-love, it didn’t bother me in this case. Sera and Wesley just had great chemistry and had me giddy.
I loved the small town witchy vibes. It was a quick read and i found myself wishing it was longer. I definitely recommend.

Delightful, romantic, and a book nerd's dream kind of romance. To fall in love across open pages and fixing your heart was a wonder.