Grumpy vs. Sunshine, enemies to lovers, rival bookstore owners, family mysteries. What is not to love?

Kate opens a bookstore across the street from Sebastian, leading to instant disdain as well as attraction. As Kate weasels her way into planning a local literary festival, they find intriguing letters hinting at a long last romance.

This was a cute read. It's spicy, but not overly so. I loved the way the two main characters' stories mimicked their great grandparents and how their lives intertwined. I also appreciated the love letters at the beginning of each chapter.

This was a solid read overall, hitting many high points. I would have loved an epilogue and more of what happened after the festival. I'd love to see sequels from other village characters, such as Dr. Dan.

Thank you to netgalley and headline eternal for this advance reader copy! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This one was cute! And fun! I think my favorite part was the setting. The mmc is the grumpiest grump which isn’t always my fav but I know I’m in the minority there. I loved our FMC! This is for fans of book lovers by Emily Henry, which is oneof my favs.

If you enjoy the rivals to lovers trope and liked Emily Henry's Book People, I would give this a try.

It's cute, funny and the characters are in a cozy town for a book festival. It's fun and enjoyable, with plenty of humor and heart. The rivalry between the two and them figuring out the family feud was interesting. The characters are fully developed, though get in their own way a lot.

The writing is lovely and flows nicely.

Would recommend.

This was a cute contemporary fictional novel. I liked it because it's a popular thing in the groups to talk about "Book boyfriends". It's very cool to see the idea come alive with this authors book.

3.5 rounded up. There's a little too much back and forthing on the "but what shall we do about actually HAVING FEELINGS????" but otherwise this is very charming. Could see many of the plot twists coming but it was actually fairly reassuring and fun to learn the backstories. Would like to visit small town England, with all its rival bookstores, but that's pretty much a given.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley.

This fun, quirky rom com was a perfect pick me up. I found myself laughing with the characters and the story is beautifully written. I would highly recommend this book for anyone who loves You've Got Mail.

this cover? cute. the romance was good, i do feel the ending was a bit rushed but still good nonetheless. i would definitely read more from this author.

I enjoyed this lovely romance about two people who start off as business rivals, and working through a self discovery journey, they find much more than hate and anger in their hearts.

Because I recieved this as an arc copy there are a lot of formatting issues that should be resolved by the time it's released. I also struggled with some of the UK sayings, being from the US, but nothing terrible.

Overall I recommend for a quick romantic read with some spice. It was extremely cute and the banter was great.

Will propel you to your happy place. A must read!… Feel-good romance… Truly heart-warming… Such a cute read! I started and finished in one day – what can I say?

La mamá de Kate falleció y le heredó un local en su pueblo natal. Como nunca había escuchado nada acerca de la infancia de su madre, decidió mudarse y abrir una librería. El problema fue que, justo enfrente, ya existía una librería, y su dueño, Sebastián, no tomó nada bien la competencia. En cada oportunidad, le demostró que no era bienvenida.

Kate hará lo que sea necesario para que Sebastián la acepte. Cuando se ven obligados a trabajar juntos, ella ve esa situación como su oportunidad para demostrarle que no tiene malas intenciones y que su deseo no es afectar su librería. Sebastián no se lo pondrá fácil, pero pronto se dará cuenta de que ella solo busca echar raíces, enamorarse, vivir plenamente y ser feliz.






Spoilers ⚠️ ⚠️
No me gustó lo que hicieron Sebastián y Kate (los primeros/originales). Decidieron abandonar a sus hijos para estar juntos, lo que les arruinó la vida (a sus hijos), mientras ellos muy felices como si nada.


Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5/5

This was a super cute and quick book about rival bookshop owners! Isn't that premise just so cute? Well, it is. And it was lots of fun.

It reminded me a bit of Book Lovers by Emily Henry, so I would recommend this to you if you've read that and are craving something with a similar vibe and atmosphere.

The two main characters are rivals (to lovers) but they end up having to work together because the cozy little town they're in is having a book festival...and of course, that's what causes the real fun to begin!

This was super fun and enjoyable, but sometimes there were moments of conflict that didn't really feel like they needed to be there. They felt like they were there just for the sake of having a conflict (which I understand is the point of books, but it felt kind of weird sometimes).

Thanks to NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review! My Goodreads review is up and my TikTok (Zoe_Lipman) review will be up at the end of the month with my monthly reading wrap-up.

This is a story about a woman who opens her dream bookstore in her inherited shop, in the town she was born in but has no memory of, across the street from another (four generations) bookshop. The rival bookstore situation sets up an enemies to lovers story with a mystery history.

There was potential in the idea of mystery love letters and unknown family history and the also village charm, but the FMC was so entitled at the beginning, I found it hard to get past. Also, the MMC hated her and then suddenly didn't with no depth whatsoever. The story continuity felt off (has she been there six months or two?), and a lot of the story gets rehashed in each perspective, which I ended up skimming.

If this hadn't been an eARC (thanks NetGalley), I would have put it on my DNF pile.

the concept and setting were promising, but unfortunately, I found it hard to connect with the characters, both fmc and mmc. While there were moments of charm, they personality felt underdeveloped and distant, which made it difficult to empathize with their journey. the no dialogue parts felt like background noise rather than integral parts of the story. Overall, the lack of compelling character development left me feeling detached, and by the end, I struggled to stay invested.

Kate and Sebastian are INCREDIBLY amazing characters! I absolutely loved their chemistry! This was a sweet, extremely well written story that captured me from the first sentence and made me wish it never ended.

Book People by Jackie Ashenden is my ideal rom com. Sebastien is exactly the kind of hero I love - he's grumpy, he's set in his ways, he can be a total a-hole - and he's hot hot hot. Kate is definitely the sunshine to his grump, and it's her cheery personality and persistence which draw Sebastien out of his self imposed emotional exile.

Throw in a historical mystery, tons of sexual tension, and ample bookish references and this book is just....*happy sigh*

I would happily spend the afternoon in Kate or Sebastien's bookstores. Preferably reading a book THIS good.

I absolutely loved the story of Kate and Sebastian… and Kate and Sebastian the first. The concept of history repeating itself and love prevailing is wonderful.

An idyllic setting in a village with rival bookshops run by equally attractive owners who have chemistry off the charts. Sebastian is cautious about being with a woman nearby as he doesn’t want history to repeat itself, Blackwell men are unlucky in love and he wants to avoid attachment at all costs. Kate arrives like a whirlwind, like pure sunshine and blinds Sebastian, he becomes especially frustrated with her when she opens a bookshop just over the road from HIS bookshop which has been in his family for generations. It’s the classic enemies to lovers, they give in to the attraction and agree it will only be one time, an outlet of sorts…. As if! One night leads to more, more leads to “casual”, casual leads to confusion and an ultimate confession of feelings from Kate, and of course Sebastian runs for the hills… but a well timed visit from his father gives him a kick up the bum and Sebastian realises he can have it all, and the happily ever after they deserve comes their way.

It’s a delicious, fun, and very enjoyable read.

I received an ARC from the publisher and NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I have read dozens of Jackie Ashenden’s books across a range of romantic genres and I think this is one of her best. The prose flows so easily and is totally engaging. The hero and heroine - Sebastian and Kate are fully fleshed out characters who really grabbed my interest from the start and maintained it to the very last page.

The theme of books, their importance and their necessity runs through the story beautifully. This is a story by someone who loves books and written for readers who are similarily inclined.

I highly recommend this - a fabulous reading experience with an emotionally satisfying storyline and characters you can care about.

This book was so lovely, the writing is beautiful and I enjoyed it more than I expected to. As a book lover any book that has books in the title or is about book lovers is automatically added to my TBR so when I saw this book I had to request it. The writing in this book was so lovely it felt poetic like I was reading love letters about two characters finding their way to each other despite everything that they’ve been through. The grumpy x sunshine is definitely there, even after everything Kate went through she was bright and friendly. Sebastian on the other hand tried his very best to stay away from her and from any kind of emotion with his family’s history. The inner thoughts of these two characters about each other had a hold on me like nothing I’ve ever experienced and I fell in love with them too. I adored the way Sebastian healed something in Kate that she had lost from her previous relationship and the way he thought about her skyrocketed my expectations for a relationship. The way Sebastian lifted her up and protected her the way that she needed the entire time was so sweet and Kate brought life and sunshine into Sebastian’s life giving him someone to love and care for. One of my favourite things about romance books is characters who swear to never fall in love finding someone who fits so perfectly into their lives and that’s exactly what happened. There was never any doubt that these two would fall in love with each other, they both just needed a little help seeing that they fit together and that falling in love wasn’t a bad thing. The way these characters were in denial about how deeply they felt for each other and pretended that they could be casual when it was clear to everyone there was something more had me impatiently waiting for the big declaration of love and I was not disappointed. The historical mystery in the background of the book was also so beautiful and heartbreaking and had me hooked! I loved the little snippets at the beginning of the chapters and it felt like getting two stories in one. This book wrapped up so beautifully and the way everything came full circle was truly an experience.

Wow!! This book was so well written. I loved the characters and the dialogue between them. It felt like an old early 2000s romcom, in the best way. I will definitely check out more by this author!

Thank you NetGalley for a pre-release of Book People.

I absolutely LOVED this book. If you love You’ve Got Mai - you must read this novel!!