Sometimes when I pass two stores that sell the same thing across the street from one another, my first thought is: "Wow. I wonder if those two stores, the actual physical stores, are in love". This book felt like the embodiment of that. An absolute blast of rivals to lovers goodness, would absolutely recommend to friends. Will be on the lookout for more from this author.

I usually love books that have to do with books. But this one fell short for me. I just couldn’t get into it and I found the MMC to be whiny. Unfortunately, I have to DNF @20%.

I loved this story! The bookshop setting was so fun and Kate and Sebastian's banter was great. Sebastian is the perfect grump and Kate his perfect opposite. A really fun read.

I absolutely loved their chemistry. I found myself laughing with the characters and the story. It’s a nice easy read and it moves along quite quickly.
Thank you to NetGalley and Headline​-Headline Eternal​ for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to the publisher, Headline | Headline Eternal, for sending me an e-ARC of this book.

📚Rival bookshop owners
📚Enemies-to-lovers
📚Small-town setting
📚Grumpy-sunshine
📚Forced proximity

Pub Date Jan 28, 2025.

This book is a charming, spicy, enemies-to-lovers rom-com. It was a fun read. However, I didn't love the "grumpy" portrayal of the MMC. He felt more whiny and immature than the typical attractive, morally gray, grumpy MMC we normally pine over. I did love the premise and how the story revolved around books. I would say this is more so average for the genre. It's a cute story but not a favorite. I may revisit, but for now, I am rounding down to 3 stars.

As always, all thoughts are my own. ✨🖤

⭐ 2.5

This one was interesting to me from the moment I saw it, and yes, it was, but it was lacking for me.

The story of Kate and Sebastian being "rivals" was entertaining but that's as far as it went, I feel like Sebastian was very mean and prejudiced from the beginning and that made me not like him very much which led me to even though I was entertained by the story I didn't like it beyond that. I feel that the story about his ancestors hiding was more entertaining than the main story.

The theme of the bookstores and the festival was what took all my attention since they both run bookstores that are completely different from the others (which is why they are rivals) and well, it reads fast, I was entertained but that's as far as it went.

📌 I received an e-arc through netgalley, and this is my honest opinion/review of it.

I love books about books but this one was a miss for me. The main male character just felt whiney and snobby to me. It just fell flat for me even though the premise sounded amazing before I started it.

This was a really fun read. I loved the chemistry between the characters, and the bookshop setting is always a plus! I'm not always a fan of enemies to lovers, but this one was well done.

Thank you to NetGalley and Headline Eternal for providing the ARC.

This book was a really good balance of romance and emotion. Kate was very much sunshine personified and Sebastian was an emotionally stunted man who believed that he couldn't live up to everything Kate saw in him. Their chemistry leapt right off the page, and it was hard to put the book down once I started reading.

I will say that Sebastian displays a shocking lack of emotional maturity and understanding. Almost to the point where it didn't feel great reading about him sometimes. I appreciated Kate's candor and trying to provide him with her truth, but he was so emotionally unavailable that he couldn't even recognize his own feelings. It was somewhat unattractive for a main character.

Overall, the book was good. And I loved all the little parallels to Wuthering Heights. This book was very charming and lovely.

Book People...

They are both book people. One is grumpy, rigid (yes, I did chose that word specifically to describe Sebastian) and owns a literary book store. The other, is Kate, happy, pretty, fun and likes all sorts of popular books. She wants in on the book event Sebastian is putting on and he has to accept her help, whether he likes it or not. They are competitors for the towns' book dollars (or pounds, in this case). Spicy bookstore owners...
Recommend.

Zwei Buchläden, zwei völlig unterschiedliche Menschen – und trotzdem funkt es! Kate liebt cozy Romance, Sebastian schwört auf anspruchsvolle Literatur. Ihre Läden liegen direkt gegenüber, ihre Ansichten könnten nicht gegensätzlicher sein – und doch entwickelt sich eine Liebesgeschichte, die eigentlich nicht funktionieren dürfte.

Das Buch ist eine kleine Liebeserklärung ans Lesen und zeigt, wie unterschiedlich Buchfans sein können. Die Rückblicke in die Vergangenheit der Buchläden geben der Story Tiefe, während die schlagfertigen Dialoge und witzigen Nebenfiguren für Leichtigkeit sorgen.

Manchmal dreht sich die Handlung etwas im Kreis, aber insgesamt eine süße, charmante Romance – perfekt für alle Bücherliebhaber!

Jackie Ashenden has been a long-time favourite author of mine, especially for some of her earlier more erotic romances. Book People is a small-town contemporary romance about two rival booksellers, but there are some interesting family secrets that add some mystery and atmosphere to the story, making it a very enjoyable and entertaining read.

Kate Jones has inherited a property in Wychtree, England, a picture-perfect English Village. As a former book editor, she’s always wanted to own a bookshop so she’s opened one herself, named Portable Magic. She stocks all kinds of popular fiction and rotates her window display regularly to feature a fiction genre. Across the street is another bookshop, Blackwood books, run by Sebastian Blackwood. It’s been passed down through his family and stocks non-fiction and literary novels, more high-brow affairs than what Kate’s got.

Sebastian is not pleased, to say the least, that there is another bookshop in their small town. After all, even when residents wanted some popular fiction, they’d always order it through him. But now they are going to Kate’s store instead, costing him sales. And it’s been a financially stressful time lately, not helped by having a rival bookshop to contend with. Plus Kate is just so annoyingly beautiful and friendly and charming – nothing at all like Sebastian’s reserved character.

But the two bookshop owners can’t keep out of each other’s circles for too long, especially when Kate hears that Sebastian is organizing a literary festival that she wants to be a part of. And when Sebastian’s headliner drops out, he has no choice but to accept Kate’s help with arranging another guest author, regardless of how he feels about her personally. And how he feels is …complicated.
As Kate and Sebastian plan the festival, they also get to know each other and Kate discovers Sebastian isn’t as cold as he looks. In fact, things between them get quite heated. And when they discover some historical letters that contain hints of a forbidden romance, they work at solving the mystery of the love affair together, discovering a window into a shared past. Can these two rivals find a way to help both their bookstores and get their own happy ending?

I was charmed by this story from the outset! Enemies to lovers and opposites attract tropes blend well together and that’s what we have here for Kate and Sebastian. I loved the idea of two bookstores that cater to different customers collaborating together to ensure the survival of both, and the sexy romance between Kate and Sebastian unfolds at a brisk pace once they admit their attraction to each other.

I also really liked the historical mystery that they work on together. Each chapter begins with a quote from one of the letters of the couple involved in the forbidden romance. Learning about the couple who wrote the letters helps Kate and Sebastian come to terms with some of the more tragic events that have shaped their own lives. The overall result is a page-turning, enjoyable story that I’m happy to recommend to bibliophiles and contemporary romance readers who like a little mystery with their romance.

This review will be posted at All About Romance and feedback updated with the link.

I truly love any book written about book lovers/book shops/ author rivalry etc. This was a cute lighthearted read but I kinda wanted to slap Sebastian and felt their hate turned to lust way too fast. But still, and easy read.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Headline Eternal for this eARC; the review is my own.*

I very much want to rate this book a full 4 stars, but I'm going to have to give it 3.5 because of content (see Notes). That said, I really did enjoy reading it. I seem to really love books about people who love books. It's not just a story about rival bookshop owners falling in love (though it most definitely is that); it's about two people helping each other realize that they're worthy of love while learning about the history shared between their ancestors.

Sebastian (32) and Kate (?) are a grumpy/sunshine pairing. They don't seem like they should work, but they do, and they balance each other out quite nicely. It was fun watching the people in the village watch them, and I can 100% imagine everyone gossiping about them and their "secret" non-relationship when they weren't present.

I liked the main and supporting characters, and the dialogue flowed naturally. I could imagine this would make a great movie and can see a lot of the scenes play out in my head (like Sebastian storming into Portable Magic and ordering everyone out). This is the first book I've read by this author, but I'll check out what else she has.

Note: Some swearing, but a lot of f words. A few open-door sex scenes.

What a delight this book was!

I love anything that's based in England - I always get the visual of cozy little towns, and this village was painted in that exact light.

Kate has fled London after ending a long term relationship with her narcissistic ex-boyfriend. She was left behind a property in the village her family grew up in for generations. With a chance to start over, she opens her book store. What could go wrong? Oh, that's right, there's a grumpy bookseller that owns a shop right across the way from her. Sebastian comes from a long line of booksellers and he can't believe bubbly Kate has opened a shop across the way. He's not one for people and quite reserved so when they cross paths and have to work together, how will it pan out?

I adored the difference in their two shops and how moody Sebastian was about Kate's bubbly personality and how she was always peopling.

The added bonus of this book was the history of their families that they discovered together! Honestly, this book could easily be a film, it read that way to me. Great chemistry, great banter, some emotional moments, too. I do wish the last 25% or so didn't move so quickly but I get it, we can't make books last forever.

Thank you Netgalley and Headline Eternal for the free eARC!

Well, I loved the hell out of this book. A true Sunshine to Grumpy trope with the most delicious tension throughout as these two rival bookstore owners in a small English town fall for each other.

Sunshine Kate Jones and Grumpy Sebastian Blackwood own rival bookstores directly across the street from each other. His is highbrow, literary and stuffy; hers is playful, genre and full of life. He can’t stand her. She thinks he’s an arrogant bastard. But his bookstore is in trouble and the book festival he’s planning is in jeopardy when the headliner he planned pulls out. Enter Kate F*ing Jones, who insists she and her bookstore be included in the festival. And, much to Sebastian’s surprise and dismay, she just might save his festival, his bookstore and him.

Read this book. Buy this book. I hope you love it just as much as I did. ❤️

A steamy romance between rival bookstore owners who hate each other? Sign me up!

This books premise is highly marketable and intriguing, unfortunately the story itself fell a little flat for me. I was not a fan of Sebastian which made it hard to root for their relationship which moved really quickly. Overall, the romance just kinda missed the mark for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Headline for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This charming, quirky romcom was the perfect pick-me-up! I found myself laughing along with the characters, completely swept up in their story. Kate and Sebastian were *incredible*-their chemistry crackled on every page, making their enemies to lovers dynamic even more addictive.

The grumpy x sunshine trope mixed with rival bookshop owners in a cozy small-town setting? Absolute perfection. The book festival subplot was a fantastic way to force them together, leading to so many fun, tension-filled moments. Plus, the subtle mystery element added an extra layer of intrigue.

Beyond the romance, the characters were beautifully developed, making their journeys feel real and relatable. Kate’s past relationships brought a deeper emotional weight to the story, handled with just the right touch.

If you love *You’ve Got Mail* or bookish romances in general, I *highly* recommend this one-it’s sweet, well-written, and completely unputdownable!

Thanks to NetGalley and Headline for an Advanced Reader Copy - pub date 1/28/2025. You want enemies to lovers? Here you go. This one is very much that trope with a dressing of books, a quaint English village, and a smattering of family history mystery. Oh, and some serious emotional baggage and work. Because our heroine Kate has retreated to Wychtree to rebuild herself after losing her mother to cancer and realizing that she had also lost herself to a narcissistic douche-bro-boyfriend. Naturally, she has a lot of work to do and she's doing it in the building inherited from her mother, starting her dream genre bookstore Portable Magic. Unfortunately, it is opposite the rather more elitist Blackwood Books and its owner Sebastian who, while hot, is not a friendly person.

Of course, as we expected, one of the reasons of his super grumpy to her super sunshine is because he is crazy attracted to her. What we could not have expected is that he believes in the Blackwood Men's Curse (ie their women always leave them) with his whole chest. Yeah. I know. He's got work to do, too.

Personally, I would have been more upset with Kate strictly from a "are you a dope?" standpoint. Who opens another bookshop directly across from the already long-established one in a small village? I don't care if you do GENRE and think the other store only does high brow. Do a little research, woman! At least she admits that she barely put any effort or thought into location and consequences and research beforehand. Points to her for honesty.

Honesty is a big theme in this book and it is a good one. Especially for a romance novel. Both characters do a pretty good job of being honest with each other EXCEPT for the whole "I've fallen for you thing" but they get points for trying.

All in all, I am torn on this book. Parts of it were wonderful and the sweet family mystery (while I 100% figured it out early) was a nice little extra tidbit. Facing broken families and acknowledging generational trauma and kicking a narcissist to the curb were also excellent points. However, the two main characters are hit or miss. Like I said, I really hold it against Kate for barging in with her bookstore and then being surprised Pikachu over Sebastian being less than welcoming. That said, Sebastian is incredibly rude. Then there's his Alpha Male behavior which is kind of creepy at times (but hilarious when his BFF literally calls him out on it by name). Also if I had to hear one more time about the Blackwood Men's Curse...

So I think your mileage will vary on this one, depending on how you like your tropes. Tall Dark and Grumpy meets Buxom Blonde and Sunshiney. Your Baggage Could Work With Mine. Fate Is A Funny Thing. You see it, right? :) For me, it was a generally fun read but probably won't be a re-read.

Do you love books? Do you love small town vibes? This book might be one to check out! I enjoyed this cute story and small town vibes are my favorite. Two bookstore rivals have some heat!