Engaging and entertaining. A recommended purchase for collections where bookish WF and romance is popular.

I received an electronic ARC from Harlequin Trade Publishing through NetGalley.
Bickers tells the story from her two main characters viewpoints. Every other chapter is told from either Erin or James perspective. Readers see how their story unfolds from both sides. So much misunderstanding and refusals to talk in the past have damaged both of them in the present. It's hard to tell their story without including the third member of the old friendship, Bonnie. She passed away too young but is still a factor in both their lives. Erin struggles to face life and retreats from anyone she feels hurt her. Finally, she learns to forgive herself and other important people in her life. James pushes himself toward financial success due to the bullying and loss of support he faced in the past. Finally, he lets himself revisit his passion for writing and balance.
Neither knows they have reconnected in the present as they communicate through books from a Little Library. Erin starts this by accidentally leaving a copy of one of her books with a memento of Bonnie still inside. James happens to stop and take the book. When he reads the notes in the margins, he writes back. Thus begins this exchange/romance as they share books and move to answering personal questions. By accident, James discovers that Erin is the mystery woman and does not know what to do. He is afraid to tell her who he is as she has never forgiven him about an incident that changed her life. She discovers who he is in an accidental meeting at the library and melts down over another "betrayal." I had a difficult time with Erin's character. She was so stuck in the past and refusing to get the help she needed to move on with her life. Kudos to her sister, Georgia, for continuing to love and support her. I recognize the reasons why she did not want to face the past but she was a bit too self focused for my taste. Others will appreciate her more.
I love that the Little Library becomes such an important part of the story and that the person memorialized, Eileen, is someone they value as well.

Thank you netgalley for this arc in exchange for a review. The premise of the story really caught my attention because I’ve always loved reading but I especially loved reading classic literature in high school and many of those books were mentioned so yay! I wouldn’t say this is a true romance book even if it has some romance in it. It’s more of a story of trauma , healing and finding yourself. It was a quick cute read but nothing I was overly excited about.

The Book Swap is charming debut romance novel, centered around our FMC Erin and a mystery man as they build a connection through writing in the margins of books from their local little community library.

While this book is labeled as a romance and it definitely has romance elements, I feel moreso than a traditional romance, this is a love-letter to classic literature, and perhaps that is why it missed a bit for me. While it is no secret that I love to read, classics for the most part have unfortunately never really been my thing, so a lot of the references in here were lost on me. I loved the idea of them building a relationship through writing in the novels of shared books, and still do. The concept is absolutely adorable. Many of these conversations were directly related to the classic they were reading/writing in, however, and I think in order to get full enjoyment from that, you need to understand the context of the classic they're quoting, and I just didn't 90% of the time.

I also unfortunately did not ever really connect with the main characters. That might perhaps be due to missing context in the notes they were writing, but also I felt that there was SO much going on in the character's lives that it got really hard to follow and stay connected at times, especially to Erin. I very much just wanted to get to the book swapping, but then I didn't understand that a lot of the time either due to lack of classic literature knowledge, so I just stayed kind of confused and zoned out.

I have to point out as well, there are some very heavy topics tackled here, so do not go into this thinking you are getting a fluffy rom-com. Personally, I don't mind that in my romances and usually even prefer it if it is done well, so that didn't bother me. But definitely consider trigger warnings before reading! Some topics include: grief, loss of a loved one, mental health issues, bullying, terminal illness, and more.

While this book sadly wasn't my personal jam, if you are a classic lit lover and a romance lover, I think this stands a good chance at being a major hit for you. I can see how, if I had the context needed to fully understand the references, this would be a big win, and if you are that person I absolutely recommend checking it out.

Thank you so much to Harlequin Trade Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

What a roller coaster! This book is so sad and cathartic. I loved the classics sprinkled throughout.


Thanks to the author and publisher for providing me with an ARC via NetGalley for an honest review.


Ok, this book really is very sad, in my opinion. I was surprised every time a happier moment happened, I genuinely thought there wouldn’t be any. That’s not to say that the lighter/happier moments don’t make sense or break the narrative. They don’t. But be warned, this book is heavy. Illness, both mental and physical, is a huge part of the tragic nature of this novel. The perspective of the narration is sad and I got annoyed with them. I liked that the characters really were flawed and Bickers does not shy away from that fact. I thought that the ending, the third act if you will, was strong and carried the rest of the novel. Honestly, even though I struggled a bit with earlier parts, the ending made it worth it because it connected the threads, it loosened the pain just enough. I felt that the ending fit the novel and delivered on all the promises.


However, the timeline was a little hard to keep track of. I would really have no idea how long the action of the novel takes except that it gets cleared up right at the end.


I have not or it’s been a while since I read the novels the characters exchange. But I didn’t feel lost because of too many references or even that I should look up the plot for any, though reading The Perks of Being a Wallflower, if you’re up for it, would probably highlight parts of this book. Also, reading this the day after the One Direction anniversary was such a sweet thing for a reason I won’t spoil, but definitely made me smile.

This is a sad novel that surprised me with some genuine catharsis. A solid book, in my opinion.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy of this book to read and review. All thoughts are my own.

I don’t think this book was bad; I just thin it wasn’t for me. I found a lot wrong with the plot and how the story was going. Stuff should’ve been explained or had more back story because a lot just didn’t make sense. It took me a lot longer than I wanted it to, to finish this.

Some parts were cute and emotional but I think this book could’ve been better with more background info.

3 stars.

I had a harder time getting into this book. The beginning did not hook me the way I wish it did. The overall story was a good idea! I ended up liking it a lot but not loving it.
The conversations with Bonnie felt a little weird to me.

I made it halfway through this novel, and decided not to finish. I just wasn’t enjoying it or looking forward to picking it up. I think it’s sweet, and maybe if I’d read all the books mentioned I’d be more into it— but I’ve only read 1 or 2 and don’t feel overly passionate about them. I almost feel left out of the story a bit.

Totally adored this book. Felt for the characters and connected to their stories. Felt real enough with just enough hopeful, serendipitous energy to keep me feeling good. Thanks for the ARC copy!

I was really excited for the premise of this book. Secret book lovers using a free library almost as pen pals. I was really excited to see the FMC and MMC grow in their personal lives and how their new mystery pal helped them.

I found parts of the story to be very chopping. Flash backs or thoughts that seemed to happen randomly. This took away for me from the major premise of the story. Additionally the FMM really didn’t have a huge growth. She did acknowledge by the end her shortcomings but we didn’t really get to see that.

All in all, liked it. I didn’t want to stop reading it and felt like it was a unique story.

Can a book be your friend?

Erin definitely thinks so.

One day Erin was frantically cleaning off her bookshelves to take to the community library because she wanted a new start.

She hadn't realized that she had given away her copy of To Kill A Mockingbird that she had written in with annotations and comments.

She was devastated and ran to the community library to get it back. It wasn’t there.

She checked every day and finally it was there.

To her surprise someone had written back to her and commented on her comments.

We follow Erin and a mystery man as they go back and forth writing in books and carrying on with something similar to having a pen pal as they write comments to their comments in classics such as To Kill A Mockingbird, Great Expectations, Wuthering Heights, and others.

It was fun, but very confusing and not a book I was anxious to get back to. 3/5

Thank you to the publisher for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

As an English major AND a librarian AND a romance reader, how could I not love The Book Swap by Tessa Bickers?! Watching the relationship unfold between Erin and her Mystery Man over the pages of beloved books is delightful, plus they're each on their own individual journeys of self-discovery. A must read for book lovers everywhere!

This book is advertised as "a love letter to books" and that is exactly how I felt reading it! Erin is a lover of books and begins exchanging notes with a mystery guy by writing notes in the margins (which is so cute and romantic I LOVE). I love when books have a penpal/secret friendship kind of trope! I do think I would have enjoyed it even more if I would have read all of the referenced classics in this though. Overall a feel good, quick read! Would definitely recommend.

recipe as follows:
✔︎ enemies-to-lovers where it's truly just based on misunderstanding and not communicating
✔︎ second-chance romance
✔︎ tragedy-bonding
✔︎ references to [book:perks of being a wallflower] that remind you of how cringe everyone was in high school (realistic)

cute, but a bit trite with the slightly-obvious trope-farming. fun writing and interesting side characters supported well and i still finished it quickly. a light palate cleanser for marginalia enthusiasts and little free library lovers.

many thanks to harlequin trade, graydon house, and netgalley for the advance reader copy.

This book was nice and not at all what I was expecting. I know that romance is romance, but I often enjoy a romance book with a little more than JUST the romance itself. And this had that. I noticed from the start that it would be tackling bigger themes than I had anticipated. And that was okay for me, really! However, at the end of it, it was still a romance, and I just didn't really buy the romance.

I liked that they interacted through the book. That was nice. But that can only go on for so long, and there was just so much going on, it kind of felt like the author may have wanted to add in too much, and with everything, it felt like it should have just been listed as fiction or chick lit or women's fiction.

It was pretty good. Not my favorite, but I liked it enough to read to the end.

Erin’s life is in turmoil when she decides to declutter her apartment. She accidentally donates her favorite book, containing a special memento and her annotations to a community free library. When the book is returned a week later, it is filled with fresh notes in the margins and an invitation to meet her newfound pen pal in the margins of another novel. Erin and her Mystery Man fill the pages of their favorite novels with annotations and questions for each other as their unconventional book exchange continues. Sharing their innermost thoughts with only each other, their friendship blossoms into more until their true identities are revealed and their tumultuous past plays havoc with their future.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC! This was such an easy read, I finished it in a day.

Erin recently lost her best friend, quit her job of 7 years, and is going through it. In an effort to overhaul her life, she purges her room and accidentally donates her beloved copy of To Kill a Mocking Bird to a little free library. After checking day after day, it returns and a mystery man has added his thoughts to the margins along hers. What follows is a story about loss, grief, love, and forgiveness.

Overall, this was an enjoyable story! I liked the premise, falling in love in the margins of the story, the family conflict they processed through, and the grieving process we got to see. Both Erin and James fight through a lot of their personal issues and end up realizing the importance of family and that they can't do it alone.

One thing I didn't love was the lack of background information. I wish that we had more foundation of Erin and Bonnie's relationship, it was hard to buy into the fact that they were BFF's when we didn't have a ton of proof of that. We did find out more about James and Erin's conflicts but it came out disjointed and I wish we had a clear picture from the beginning.

There were some cringy parts that I just didn't love and felt like the love story was rushed. Erin was often extremely rude and stuck in her ways which bothered me as well. It didn't feel like she was willing to move on her opinions and thoughts when she very clearly just needed to listen to others...

But truly, this was easy to read, understand, and I can see why this would appeal to may readers!

The book takes you through the lives of Erin and James old College (HS in America) friends who had a falling out; also through their love of books and the death of their friend Bonnie. It shows that the universe / God will always bring two people back together when they are truly meant to be no matter the odds. I loved the pen pal theme via the Little Community Library. The only thing is that it would probably only work in fiction, even though Erin says the community library is never busy, there would always be a chance that someone else would pick the books before them, lucky the one time it did almost happen God intervened and made it a great meeting for Erin and her future.

I did very much like this book. A great first book for this debut author. Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing- Graydon House for this eARC for my honest review. I’m looking forward to seeing how Tessa Bickers next books are.

Language: R (18+ swears, 12+ "f" + British swears); Mature Content: PG13+; Violence: G+
The beginning was slow, but the reasons I stopped reading were for frequent use of the f-word and for hints that there is probably sexual content later in the book that I don't want to read. It was a preemptive choice and not a reflection on the story itself being good or bad.
The mature content rating is for alcohol use, partial nudity, innuendo, and mentions of sex.

I really enjoyed this book!! I loved the premise and the setting for this book, it felt so fresh and different from anything I’ve read recently. I always enjoy a book that discusses mental health and personal struggles. Erin really was at a low point within herself and trying to process her grief and how to move on with her life after losing her best friend was a journey I enjoyed reading. I also liked James and his journey with overcoming his past and his family struggles.

The little free library and passing books back and forth was perfect. I loved that part so so much.

I’m also a sucker for a happy ending and this ending was amazing. What a fantastic debut book!