I loved this book! This is the kind of romance I don't feel weird recommending to my mother, or reading where someone could look over my shoulder.

My outward facing review is here (GR: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6487762796). I tagged this one as: would-read-again, and great-covers.

The actual grammatical English is perfect and I appreciate it. No copyedit notes or confusion regarding the mechanics of the writing itself.

My only note/request to the publisher is to put the book in the e-reader format next time, please, as opposed to PDF? That way we can read in night node, adjusting formatting, etc.

Can't wait to read more from Tessa Bickers.

Thanks for the ARC!

ARC Review:

When I applied for The Book Swap, I was going into it thinking it would be a simple romance novel, but I was so wrong. Not only is it a romance but it also touches on subjects like grief, bullying, and mental health. We follow Erin and her journey of self-discovery and her struggle to overcome her grief. When the death of her best friend tilts her world off its axis, she finds herself bumping into their old best friend James. As Erin goes through the struggle of starting from scratch after quitting her toxic workplace, she finds comfort in a "stranger" by passing notes through books in her local library. Only her stranger is from her past... While James is at a loss after losing both his best friends, he finds himself taking comfort in writing to his mystery person. As words are swaps between pages of a book, Erin and James work their way back to each other and figure out how to heal their broken hearts.
This was a well told story of how we can find acceptance and love with a complete stranger or your best friends.
Thank you so much Netgally and Harlequin Publishing for my arc of The Book Swap!

An annotated book left in a community library—like a Little Free Library—leads two people stuck in limbo to connect through the pages. The margin notes become questions, and soon the two are having full conversations nestled among the passages of literary classics.

When their identities are revealed and they discover their shared past, will they be able to reconnect or will their blossoming relationship be confined to the notes in the novels they’ve already traded?

In turns heartwarming and heartbreaking, The Book Swap put me in my feels and put the characters through the emotional wringer along the way. Thankfully, this one has a happy ending for the couple that made me feel cozy and like I was wrapped in a warm hug.

I received an advance copy from Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley. All review opinions are my own.

TW: grief, death of a friend by cancer, manic depressive swings (secondary character), bullying, abusive language, cheating (secondary characters), divorce (parents)

I was given an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
I am a sucker for flawed characters that actually show growth by the end of the story and Tessa delivers that in her debut novel. The Book Swap tells a story of grief, love, forgiveness, and self growth all wrapped up in this sweet and quick read. I love how the clever usage of annotation and classic literature adds a unique flare to the book. I found myself just as eager as the characters were for them to swap books and see what the other had written, and I sped through reading this! The Book Swap is available for pre-order now and releases on September 3rd, 2024.

I could not love this book more! This book had my laughing and sobbing. The ending was perfection! If a book can make me cry, it will get high rating. The characters were great. The story was great. I cannot wait to be able to have a physical copy of “The Book Swap” for my shelves!

First, thank you to NetGalley and Harlequinn Trade Publishing for the ARC copy of this book.

This was not what I anticipated. At all. But in the best possible way. Our two leads, Erin and James, deal with the loss of a best friend to cancer, mental illness in their family, infidelity, bullying, and jobs that make them miserable.

James and Erin connect as teenagers when Erin and Bonnie defend James from the torment of bullies at school. After several years, James betrays Erin’s trust (even though he is madly in love with her) and Erin and Bonnie make a pact to hate him forever.

When Erin leaves some old books in her local free little library, she begins passing notes and swapping books with a stranger. And they begin falling in love.

Erin is very flawed. She has some super selfish tendencies, but she has a lot of trauma and anger from losing Bonnie to cancer. As someone who just lost their father and experienced those last few days of hospice and who has a best friend currently battling, this hit me hard. Tears were shed. We have to learn, sometimes the hard way, that we have enough room in our hearts for love and grief and anger all at once. We have room in our hearts to love someone else while still grieving loss and processing anger. Tessa Bickers does such a stunning job of showing how 2 people process loss and anger and resentment and pain differently, but also in a way that brings them back together. This is not a lighthearted book. It has some really heavy themes with moments of lightness spread within. But it still tells a beautiful story that touches the heart.

4/5
This book took a few chapters before I got hooked. But the story was so moving. It's about finding yourself and recognizing that the mistakes you made in the past don't define your future. It's about being there for your friends and knowing that other people's problems aren't your fault. I would recommend not reading this book if you are going through a tough time in your life, as there is a lot of soul searching and sadness throughout. The ending was very beautiful.

This one gets a 4 star rating from me (1 star docked for pacing, it was kind of slow and dragged on in some parts) but I had a good time reading this.
I loved the premise of this story with the little free library acting as the connector between the fmc and the mmc. It's super relevant and I think that this is a meet-cute that many of us wish could happen to us in real life!
For a standalone book it was definitely a bit more slow-burn than I would like, but once it burned I enjoyed the romance aspect of the book much more!
This was an easy to read albeit kind of slow book, and I would definitely recommend it to my friends.

This book was a surprising highlight of my year so far! I was swept up in all the emotions Erin was facing from the first page. This was more than just a typical rom-com, and I found myself delving into themes of grief and the human experience. It was a heartwarming read overall. I loved the inclusion of annotated books as a means of communication between the two characters. It was rewarding to see their dynamic unfold in such an authentic way. The easter eggs to beloved classics was a nice touch as well. My only issue with this book was the ending. I felt as if there needed to be more closure to the story beyond just a happy ending for Erin and James, which is why I gave this book four stars.

3.5 stars!
While I enjoyed this book, I was not expecting the amount of tragedy and serious topics this book would address. I wish the premise was worded in a way that would prepare people for a deeper read. (The cover is also a bit deceiving)
As for the actual story, I did enjoy our characters and I thought they were all fleshed out quite well.
I would recommend but just with a warning!

I tried, but just could not get into the book. It was sadly a DNF. The writing is not great and the plot is slow. I am going to give the book another try when it is published and available as an ebook from my local library.

Erin Connolly, grieving her best friend, has no idea what’s next in life.. until she accidentally donates her favorite book, a heavily annotated copy of How To K*ll A Mockingbird to a little local library… & a week later is returned with fresh highlights.. Creating a pen pal

But what her and her pen pal don’t know is they have a shared history with each other. A painful one. But giving each other the excitement and encouragement to start living.

Shoutout to Netgalley for a copy !! I first assumed it was going to be a rom com but this was far from it.

This book told from 2 different povs, Erin & James. There were topics about mental health and how family + friends were SO important. When they started talking about how men don’t really talk about their mental health, it broke me. Sometimes it takes someone losing their life for others to start talking.

This book did focus on grief, as our main character Erin was grieving her best friend who passed away from cancer. But our mmc, James was also grieving in a way. His mother had bpd and it was hard to see how she would be towards him, blaming him for it, but him still being there always.

While at times I wasn’t a huge fan of Erin, I also had to take a step back and understand why she was that way. So i’m proud of how she was able to realize “ okay maybe i do need to get my shit together “. I absolutely loved James, homeboy went through a lot but he was still trying. His friendship with his best friend was probably one of my favorite things ever.

Lastly, my favorite thing about the book. It reminded me of why I love reading so much. Why I love annotating and how now I want to annotate every single book and talk about them. How reading is different for everyone and how much it helps. They read a lot of classics that I recognized but haven’t read yet.

This book is heavy so I would recommend looking a bit more into it when the time comes to read❤️

I went in expecting a cute little romance book - but it ending up having heavier themes than I was expecting - which I really do appreciate as I feel it adds more texture to a book!

I loved the growth of both the FMC and the MMC as they both reevaluate their chosen professions, as well as their personal struggles (Erin with her grief and James with taking care of his mother who has Bipolar).
The idea of them finding each other in the margins of a book is such a fresh idea a well!

I did feel like the pacing of this book was a little slow at times - but if you go in knowing that it can still be quite enjoyable.

A quick read! Cute characters and a feel-good story.

Thank you, Netgalley for letting me read this ARC!

If you are a literary lover, this book is for you. The characters and the plot were heartwarming l, didn’t want the story to end.

Tessa Bickers has accomplished something truly remarkable with her debut novel, THE BOOK SWAP. Not only does she tell a compelling story that made me keep turning the pages, dying to know what happens next -- I lost SO MUCH SLEEP because I refused to put the book down --she taught me something about reading and writing that made me nostalgic for the books of my youth. At one point, Bickers writes, "That's the great thing about books. They're there to teach you whatever you want to learn. They're for all of us." I truly hope this quote is used in promotional materials for THE BOOK SWAP, because even though some may claim the message is cliche, it's a vital lesson that readers and would be readers need reminding of now and then.

This novel is a romance, and that is not a bad word. Bickers appears to know that genre is not a bad label. Yet, the novel transcends many of the tropes associated with the 21st century romance, making it something more. And I have been yearning for something more, so thank you, Ms. Bickers. This novel is about love . . . for a potential partner, for a sibling, for a friend, for a parent, for a mentor. And it is a book about wanting the most out of life without sacrificing those things that are most important to live. This is a book about women, and this is a book about men; it is a reflection about the past in order to better appreciate the present; it is a book about home and whether or not it truly is possible to escape from it; finally, it is a book about the distinction between being healthy for oneself versus growing healthy for others.

The story opens with some serious THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA vibes as Erin Connolly, one of Bickers' protagonists, quits her job rather than endure any more of her boss' emotional torment, returns to her flat, and then proceeds to Kondo her living space, determined to restart her life. It's clear within the first 3 chapters that Erin is suffering from serious depression. She sees and speaks with her best friend, Bonnie who died three years prior to the story due to cancer. She also has a lot of anger inside of her and refuses to deal with it.

The reader meets James when he has returned to the town where he grew up, Frome, to visit with his parents and to attend a 'B' party, a memorial to a school friend -- yup, you guessed it, Bonnie! We learn that James is thriving in his career, but when it comes to his personal life . . . his mother has bipolar disorder, his dad is a former rockstar who is a one-hit wonder, and his brother Elliot lives in the US with his husband and son. We also learn that while the family is devoted to each other, none of them really talk about issues that need to be discussed. This will be a prominent theme throughout the book. James is also angry and dealing with mild depression. He is angry at his mom for being bipolar and how she makes him feel when she has her episodes. He is angry at his brother for not helping out with the family more. He is angry at his dad for just giving up on his dream of being a rockstar. James is also angry with himself — he gave up his dream of being a writer.

Returning to Erin, when she cleaned out her apartment, she took a suitcase filled with books to donate to a community library. But what she didn't realize until much later was that one of the books was her treasured copy of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD - the last thing Bonnie ever gave her. After wallowing in despair for a few days, she ventures out of her flat, has a coffee, and decides to live her life the way Bonnie lived. She asks for a job application at a shop, walks by the community library, and her book has been returned. And she finds new red annotations under her own. These new notes bring a smile to her face. And when she sees the mystery person has suggested they read GREAT EXPECTATIONS together - he left his copy in the community library - Erin decides to do it. Next thing you know, they are annotating and exchanging information about each other in WUTHERING HEIGHTS, MANSFIELD PARK, THE GREAT GATSBY, and MIDDLEMARCH, to name a few titles.
 
When you read the book, you can just sense that Tessa Bickers had everything meticulously outlined. She knew what was going to happen and when and where and why and how. This book has so many moving parts, plot wise and when it comes to character development. But then, halfway through the book, there is "the bus scene." And the prose alters, ever so slightly. This scene, this moment, happened organically. And you get the sense that just like you are reading to see what happens, the author was writing just to see what would happen. This is one scene that had to happen naturally and not feel contrived. And the book is all the better for it. 

Bickers’ novel is a revelation. I enjoyed every page, and I am going to take pride in promoting this book to every customer who comes through the door, because this book is for everyone who reads. But it is especially for fans of FLEABAG and TOMORROW AND TOMORROW AND TOMORROW and BEACH READ and MEET ME IN THE MARGINS and YOU'VE GOT MAIL.

Brava, Ms. Bickers.

I was not expecting such a heavy book. I was expecting more of a rom com vibes from the cover and the descriptions. It wasn’t a bad book at all and it was quite interesting. It of course had the romance elements in it but it isn’t a book I necessarily would have gone for if I knew how deep it would have been.

This is for someone looking for the deeper emotional romance and trauma. Going beyond the standard romances or rom com stories.

I loved the overall premise of this and the characters interactions. It’s very well written and worth a read. Just be prepared that it is a darker and deeper book compared to other romances. I think if I knew thag ahead of this I wouldn’t have been so taken back with some surprise.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade for the ARC!

The Book Swap surprised me in a good way! I expected a cutesy Rom-Com and what I got was a deeper look into grief, mental illness, and forgiveness. Tessa Bickers weaves classic literature in a way that is not imposing, but necessary to the plot and the main characters growth as the novel progresses. I fell in love with both Erin and James, but also got SO frustrated at each of them at different times throughout the book as they navigated their family issues and attempted to be functioning adults. I felt like the resolution was not too wrapped up and was perfect for each of the characters. I'm excited to see more out of Bickers and hope they are all as surprising as this gem.

I was not expecting such a heavy book going in. Based on the synopsis I thought this was going to be more of a fun, romcom sort of read. I still enjoyed it overall, even though it was not exactly what I thought I was getting going in. Not my favorite book in this genre, but I felt it was worth sticking with it to the end.

I actually read this in one sitting, but I finished after midnight, so I’ll leave the dates read as is. 🤪

I loved this book. I didn’t expect to when I started it. I really didn’t think it would grab me, as they kept choosing books I’ve not read (yep, I’m that librarian who hasn’t read most of the classics). But, as it turns out, just as it became for the book’s main characters, the comments/questions were more life-focused than book-focused. So, I just dug it. Like, so much. And it was great for reasons that had so little/nothing to do with books. Grief and bullying and parent-child relationships and sibling dynamics and small town vs city and all of the joy of this book. Sigh. So lovely. 💜💜📚