Happy Publication Day!
This had a loooooot more drama than I was prepared for. I was sort of expecting a sweeter story about girlfriends and, as a mood reader, the amount of drama just wasn't what I was in the mood for. I DNF at 48% this time, but I can definitely see myself going back and starting it from the beginning when that's something I'm in the mood for!
Thank you, NetGalley, Michelle Lindo-Rice and Harlequin Books for the ARC.

3.5 Stars rounded up.

Wow, this book had Real Housewives levels of drama!

Four best friends are on the verge of opening the bookstore of their dreams, a welcoming place for their community to gather and foster friendships. But with their goal finally in reach their personal lives are thrown in upheaval. As each friend struggles with their own disaster they need each other now more than ever if they're going to make it to the store's grand opening.

I will admit, for a book called The Bookshop Sisterhood I thought the bookshop would be featured more. That being said, I did think the book was well written and I enjoyed the exploration of female and familial relationships. This friend group was extremely toxic, and at times I questioned why they even continued to stay in each other's lives, but it was also a little bit addictive in that reality show/train wreck kind of way. If you like to watch trashy tv and you live for the drama, I think you'll like this one!

Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Four friends plan to open a bookshop together. However, life gets in the way and they have to figure it all out. There was a lot more drama than I expected. I love books about bookstores and libraries, but this was too much.

I requested The Bookshop Sisterhood with high hopes for a cozy novel about friendship and a love of books. What I got was unnecessary drama with one-dimensional characters, simplistic and kinda lazy writing that didn't always make sense or was unrealistic, and questionable content like minor fatphobia, the normalization of adult/minor sexual relationship, and weird misogynist elements. I have a laundry list of quotes from this book with comments.

Some of my issues
- saying an audiobook-only reader read 10 books in three days
- a doctor immediately diagnosing someone as infertile with only an ultrasound and a urine test (which btw it never said she took the urine test & was there even enough time to test the sample AND have the doctor interpret the results, also how does a vaginal ultrasound show shrunken ovaries clear enough to diagnose infertility? she had eggs, could she not do IVF or a surrogate? she had enough money for that)
- three incredibly financially privileged women & one working class woman solving her money issues with winning the lottery
- the only woman in an executive position at a law firm being pit against a main character as if she's trying to steal her husband
- completely out of character reactions from said husband, like why did he lie to her?, he said so many terrible things!
- weird commentary on adoption
- positively talking about a sexual relationship between a 20 & 16 year-old (he's a "considerate lover" um no he's a groomer and a rapist)
- first chapter has one character judging one of her best friends for being plus size shading her for a decade of baby weight & allegedly overindulging in sweets--fatphobia much? peoples bodies change after they have children & as they get older. also... why did that have to be said?
- and more

This book is just.... not good--at least what I read. I DNFed at 43%. Kept avoiding the book for two weeks making me avoid reading altogether.

Thank you NetGalley & the publisher for the ARC! Though I didn't like the book, I appreciate the chance to read and review.

Four friends from different walks of life bond over their love of books and strive to open a bookstore together. I was immediately sold.

I was reminded of the black girls must die exhausted series, because I was truly spent by these ladies. While I appreciate each ladies individual journey, their friendship, stressed me out. These ladies were dramatic af and honestly rude. Their reactions were soooo extreme I was shocked. There was way too much here to try to wrap up seamlessly.

The bookstore opening also felt like a back drop to all their drama and I wanted more of that. But I did love the name drops of amazing book recommendations. My TBR definitely grew :)

Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin publishing for this digital Arc

I am all for a book about best friends, books, book clubs and some drama, but this this book takes the DRAMA out the PARK yall. Each and every single one of these women have secrets, and drama on drama. There is more of the drama and everyone has their own issues, which it took away from the bookstore they wanted to open up. The first thing I thought after I read 30% of the book that these women should not get into business together. I was so invested in their drama which was at times so childish, the book should’ve been named something else at this point, but this book falls into the category of the urban books I used to read back in the days. Not that the book was BAD, but change the name of the book and make the synopsis match the story line.

A very good story about the ups and downs of friendship and family, whether by blood or by choice, with true-to-life characters (and a little bit of whimsy!) -- all of whom share a love of books that brings them and keeps them close together!

This surprised me, but not in a good way. I love stories about book stores, book clubs, and books, books, books. It is supposed to be about 4 best friends that were going in together to open a book shop, but the shop itself takes a back seat to the bickering that goes on between the "besties" right from the get go. It got on my nerves, all the snide remarks and innuendoes.

Each female partner in the book shop has their own drama going on, back stories are featured here and the focus was on those not the opening of a cozy book shop.

I really wanted to like this and gave it a good try, but alas, this was just not for me, and a 2-star rating is being generous from my personal point of view.

If you're in the mood for a book that's like a soap opera on steroids, you might have better luck with this one. The story revolves around four best friends—Celeste, Yasmeen, Toni, and Leslie—who are on the verge of opening their dream bookstore. Sounds cozy, right? Well, prepare yourself for loads of drama.

Each friend faces a massive personal crisis. Fifteen months prior, one was hijacked at gunpoint, leading to a marriage ultimatum. Another wins the lottery and makes a series of disastrous choices. A third uncovers shocking family secrets while managing her daughter’s health issues. And the last is grappling with infertility amid threats from a gang member. It’s a lot to take in.

The bookstore opening, which should be the heart of the story, gets overshadowed by these over-the-top subplots. Honestly, I had trouble keeping track of everything. Each woman’s conflicts could have easily filled its own book, so cramming them all into one felt very overwhelming.

Round up to 3.5. Ho hum drama filled novel. I thought it was going to be a book based on books and how a bookstore plays into the ecosystem of books. Nope! It’s a silly book about friends that have an idea to open a bookstore, but their friendship dynamics keep getting in the way in mostly silly ways. Missed the mark for me. Thanks to Netgalley and MIRA books for advanced DRC.

now see, i thought this was going to be a sweet, fun, cozy, and heartwarming story about four best friends opening a bookshop together but from page one you are trauma dumped into their lives and it doesn’t get any better as the book goes on. there was so much devastation and drama that happened to each character, around their relationships with their partners, and each other, that there wasn’t any room for me to take a breath from it all. it was just one thing after the other, to the point where the bookstore was a simple afterthought instead of the main plot and every time something came up i was thinking to myself, they really should NOT be opening up a bookstore lol. they each were going through so much and honestly, they acted immature in every situation. these grown women were acting like high schoolers for a majority of the book. they were dramatic for no reason! no logical thinking. they were self-absorbed and totally unlikeable.

and they were rude to each other. they were always bickering and arguing and half the time i wondered how they were even friends because if i said some of the things they said to each other to my own best friends, there’d be no friendship to fix lol.

the writing wasn’t cohesive and the dialogue was awful. and again everything was just so sad and over the top, there was more sadness than joy in this book. the author tried to do way too much with this. too many plot points, too much drama. and i never thought i’d be the one to say that there is such a thing as TOO much drama in a book. it got exhausting to read.

the ending…lol they didn’t deserve their endings. their endings were too good for them.

overall this was not what i was expecting and i didn’t enjoy a single plot line or character. this was a flop for me.

The Bookshop Sisterhood is a roller-coaster ride of friendship, drama and life's unexpected events. I was not ready for the amount of drama among the four ladies (and their significant others)! It felt like I was watching an episode of "Girlfriends" or "The Real Housewives of..." as I turned each page! I was definitely entertained.

This is written in each of the four ladies' point of view and each has their own unique personality (& issues). It was easy to distinguish who was who. I laughed, shook my head, was annoyed and felt bad throughout the book for all the situations they went through. The book touches on a LOT of topics, such as depression, anxiety, being taken advantage of, etc. and actually felt believable.

The topic of opening the bookshop is not as prominent as I hoped, but was still touched on in the background. Friendship & relationship issues definitely took center stage. There were many author/ book mentions sprinkled throughout (in case you were unsure of your next read).

The words "sniffled" and "flailed" were used TOO much for my liking! 😂 Everyone was doing it almost every other page!!

I did enjoy this book - it reminded me of why I dislike hanging around a bunch of females!

Thank you to NetGalley & Harlequin Trade Publishing for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.❤️

I confess that I almost gave up on this one to put it on my DNF pile as I wasn’t feeling the characters or the plot twists. I stuck with it though and read the whole thing. The characters grew on me and the plot came together in the end. This is actually a 3.5 star read for me.

Thanks to #netgalley, the publisher, and author for this ebook ARC to read. All opinions are my own.

This is the first time I've read something from this author and for some reason I thought this book was going to be a book about books and book loving friends. But while there was the premise of opening a book store I think the book is more about female friendships and how that bond helps them navigate some of the issues they face. I thought the book was cute.

Thank you netgalley and harlequin for the arc. I kinda knew early on i would give it a 3 but at this point a 2. However, since i dnf I’ll just gave y’all my thoughts.

As we know age does not determine how mature one is. Even though you would think in some way, shape or form it should help. Well at 70% into the book i decided to dnf. The only character that didn’t piss me off completely was Leslie. She had a lot going on and a secret that really hurt her feelings. So i totally get it. Toni, Celeste and Yasmeen (especially the last one) really worked my nerves. Those three were dumb and/or desperate in more ways than one. I truly kept thinking “dang we can’t have one friend with brains or something going completely right for them?” Yasmeen i could never be friends with in real life.

I would have rather the book been written as the ladies already having the book store for about 3-5 years now. Then Us as readers get to come in to see how each one is navigating their life, friendships and being part owners. Also how they work with the community and different bookish things for the store to keep growing. Up until i decided to dnf the book the store or anything with books was probably mentioned let’s say around 8-10 times (just a guess). The book store was more so an afterthought to me hence why they probably should have already owned it.

I did not even care for them as a group of friends. They needed to either truly fix their issues or stop bringing the issues up. If you want drama then read this book because nothing up until i dnf it warmed my heart.

This author is new to me so I wasn't entirely sure what to expect when I started reading.

Things I loved:
The overall storyline of friends coming together over a shared love of books.
Diverse character backgrounds
The title
The cover

What I Didn't Love:
The dialogue felt unrealistic at times. Using some phrasing that didn't feel like what actual people would use.
Each character has about 50 things going on at once.

It wasn't a horrible book or anything but I do feel like it lacked depth. Everything felt very surface level and cookie cutter template for these kinds of books. I likened it to a Lifetime or Hallmark movie. And some people really love those movies! If I wasn't reviewing the book I probably would've stopped reading early on. But everyone is different and this book might be right up your alley so check it out for yourself!

Thank you to NetGalley, Michelle Lindo-Rice, and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the opportunity to read The Bookshop Sisterhood. I have written this review voluntarily.

This is a drama about the trials and travails of four best friends. The plot intricately intertwines the lives and stories of the women together. They share their hardships and joys as truths are revealed. The dialogue makes the story easy to read and understand. All four characters are unique in their descriptions and development. Readers will love this poignant story of sisterhood and its emotional outcome.

I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, it was addictive and I couldn’t put it down. On the other hand, it was so full of drama that it felt like a Mexican novela. The characters acted childishly and were too stubborn and it was very predictable.
Nevertheless, I was an enjoyable read and even when there were times that the friendship was toxic, they all came through for each other. It is a nice story about sisterhood, found family, and the love of books. And again, I wasn’t able to stop reading, so it was engaging.

I really enjoyed this book.

The Bookshop Sisterhood is about four bestfriends that love books and have decided to open a bookshop together. As soon as they decide this, all of them fall into major life changes. There is a sick child, an unwanted blast from the past, a lottery winner, and a divorce. Everything gets really crazy bad for all of them. The story is how they all come together to get through it.

Theses women were wonderful friends to each other. Always there in ways that really showed how much they loved each other. I loved all the relationships and even though I knew exactly how the book was going to go - it followed the format of all books like this - it was still a fun read.

Thank you to Harlequin and Netgalley for the ARC!

A good read about four women-Celeste, Yasmeen, Toni and Leslie-on the cusp of achieving their dream who each suddenly find themselves in crisis. Know that the bookshop is the center for their (gotta admit it) personal drama rather than another character. Know also that there's a bit of toxic friendship. But know as well that these women feel very real and are coping with (well, except for that lottery thing), issues that any one of us might have. Lindo-Rice is a good storyteller and she kept me pulling for these women even though I sometimes tsk asked over them. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. A nice for for a lazy day.