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sierraseawitch's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Loved:
- Character conversation was front and center in this book. There are scenes where you feel you are reading the actual full conversation had over hours, rather than just significant snippets. That made the relationships bloom more naturally and, in my opinion, the humor felt far more natural.
- The audiobook narration by Ell Potter was incredible! She gets the character's emotion and voice so spot on that I felt I was listening to a true performance. I think this was a novel I enjoyed even more for the incredible narrator, who really made this story come alive for me.
- The main characters are mid-forties, and more prone to consideration and reflection before action, which made them both more realistic to read and their choices more relatable. It also made the moments where they react on instinct more shocking in a good way.
- I appreciate a true slow burn. The attraction doesn't really play a significant role int he story until halfway through, and even then, the "pay off" comes later.
- The main characters laugh and joke and actually enjoy each other's company! Don't know why that is so hard to find in a romance sometimes.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Infidelity
Minor: Miscarriage
geekaroo's review
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Infidelity and Miscarriage
amandalovefull's review
hopeful
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Woman leaves behind ex-husband who had an affair with her friend and meets a morally grey pair of brothers with their own relationship issues in a small town.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Infidelity
Minor: Infertility and Miscarriage
jessversteeg's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
A woman in her early 40s finds out her husband of 15 years has been cheating on her with her friend, just after losing her job. Serendipitously, she inherits an estate in Scotland from her great uncle. She goes to see what the estate (that she’s never seen before) is like, and ends up spending more time than she expects in this quaint Scottish town.
The book is thoughtful, sad, both snarky and funny and crass at times. I think they say “Jesus” more times than the New Testament and not in a religious way 😅. The book spoke directly to my insecurities of being married for a long time and feeling unattractive etc.
The characters are super unconventional and include a Lord and his brother who had abdicated his title. I stayed up way too late listening to it and I think I might prefer the audiobook version.
The book is thoughtful, sad, both snarky and funny and crass at times. I think they say “Jesus” more times than the New Testament and not in a religious way 😅. The book spoke directly to my insecurities of being married for a long time and feeling unattractive etc.
The characters are super unconventional and include a Lord and his brother who had abdicated his title. I stayed up way too late listening to it and I think I might prefer the audiobook version.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity
Minor: Infertility
cozycritiques's review against another edition
lighthearted
slow-paced
”But on the drive back the sun comes out and I’m feeling quite… positive. I wonder if I could live up here. Not forever, that doesn’t seem realistic. But I could definitely stay up for the summer, couldn’t I?”
- The Bookshop of Second Chances
Thank you, NetGalley and Ballantine, for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Tropes: Love After Divorce, Small Town, Vacation, Book Shop
Spice Scale: 🌶
CW: Infidelity, Miscarriage, Mentions of Death
After a divorce and losing her job, a move to Scotland is exactly what Thea needed. She starts making friends with the locals, finds joy in restoring her great uncle’s house, and even convinces Edward, the grumpy owner of the local bookshop, to give her a job. Although he hides his feelings for quite a while under a prickly exterior, from the beginning, it’s easy to see that Thea has an effect on Edward that no one else has. He hires her at the bookshop, despite never hiring women, he takes her to his little beach shed, and he buys her little presents whenever he goes out of town to buy or sell books. Despite how banter-filled and sassy most of their interactions are, it’s obvious how smitten he is with her—at least to everyone except Thea.
In terms of characters, I liked Thea, but I can’t quite decide how I feel about Edward. There were moments that I liked him, but there are some pretty significant red flags that are kind of hard to ignore and made it a little difficult to fully buy him and Thea as a couple. But overall, I liked to story. The plot is slow, but after reading a few fast-paced books, I enjoyed the change of pace. There are also several plot lines to follow besides the developing relationship between Thea and Edward—like Edward’s feud with his brother and Thea’s healing process dealing with the aftermath of her messy breakup—which made the book feel fully developed.
- The Bookshop of Second Chances
Thank you, NetGalley and Ballantine, for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Tropes: Love After Divorce, Small Town, Vacation, Book Shop
Spice Scale: 🌶
CW: Infidelity, Miscarriage, Mentions of Death
After a divorce and losing her job, a move to Scotland is exactly what Thea needed. She starts making friends with the locals, finds joy in restoring her great uncle’s house, and even convinces Edward, the grumpy owner of the local bookshop, to give her a job. Although he hides his feelings for quite a while under a prickly exterior, from the beginning, it’s easy to see that Thea has an effect on Edward that no one else has. He hires her at the bookshop, despite never hiring women, he takes her to his little beach shed, and he buys her little presents whenever he goes out of town to buy or sell books. Despite how banter-filled and sassy most of their interactions are, it’s obvious how smitten he is with her—at least to everyone except Thea.
In terms of characters, I liked Thea, but I can’t quite decide how I feel about Edward. There were moments that I liked him, but there are some pretty significant red flags that are kind of hard to ignore and made it a little difficult to fully buy him and Thea as a couple. But overall, I liked to story. The plot is slow, but after reading a few fast-paced books, I enjoyed the change of pace. There are also several plot lines to follow besides the developing relationship between Thea and Edward—like Edward’s feud with his brother and Thea’s healing process dealing with the aftermath of her messy breakup—which made the book feel fully developed.
Content Warnings
Minor: Infidelity, Miscarriage, and Grief
jenn_reads's review
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
This book was recommended to me as enemies to lovers, but it is *definitely* not. Perhaps you could call it grumpy/sunshine, although more like grumpy/reasonable person having a bit of a hard time.
It was ok. I know I complain about romance novels doing that thing I hate with a stupid misunderstanding almost at the end, which this one didn't have, but it also kind of... petered out I guess. Like what are we still doing here for a few dozen pages with this closed door romance after the leads are happily ever after?
Anyway, it was fine. Just fine.
It was ok. I know I complain about romance novels doing that thing I hate with a stupid misunderstanding almost at the end, which this one didn't have, but it also kind of... petered out I guess. Like what are we still doing here for a few dozen pages with this closed door romance after the leads are happily ever after?
Anyway, it was fine. Just fine.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity
Moderate: Alcohol
Minor: Infertility, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy
Toxic sibling relationshipeyredactyl's review
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity
Moderate: Miscarriage
Minor: Sexual assault
stacy837's review
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Grief, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism
Moderate: Sexual content and Toxic relationship
Minor: Infertility, Miscarriage, and Blood
bzliz's review
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
I suspect that I’m too American and/or too young to truly enjoy this book. Maybe I got the wrong impression from the blurb on the back but I was expecting a somewhat cutesy grumpy/sunshine bookshop romance with Thea learning a lot about herself as she navigates her sudden independence and that’s really not what this is.
The book is very dialogue heavy so we have to make a lot of inferences about how characters are feeling which was frustrating at times. To me, Thea comes across as a very passive person. She’s way too chill about discovering her husband’s infidelity. I was expecting some feminine rage about it but she really gave us nothing. It would be way too dramatic for this setting to see the cheating husband get some comeuppance for his rotten behavior but it would have been nice. It’s also super weird to me how Thea’s friends stay friends with the cheater and the other woman. I would have felt betrayed if I was her but she didn’t really have any feelings about it and if I was one of the friends, I couldn’t have excused their behavior. Infidelity and disloyalty is a wild trait to be okay with, especially when it means you’re going to dinner parties at the house he used to share with Thea that the other woman has moved into.
Edward is also pretty unlikeable. Not moving on at all from a humiliating experience and then spending several decades on a revenge quest to sleep with every woman his brother had slept with is super weird and more than a little unhinged. That’s a pretty big red flag.
Maybe I’ll revisit this in a decade or so when I’m closer to Thea’s age and see if my feelings have changed but for now I’ll settle with declaring that it’s just not my cup of tea.
The book is very dialogue heavy so we have to make a lot of inferences about how characters are feeling which was frustrating at times. To me, Thea comes across as a very passive person. She’s way too chill about discovering her husband’s infidelity. I was expecting some feminine rage about it but she really gave us nothing. It would be way too dramatic for this setting to see the cheating husband get some comeuppance for his rotten behavior but it would have been nice. It’s also super weird to me how Thea’s friends stay friends with the cheater and the other woman. I would have felt betrayed if I was her but she didn’t really have any feelings about it and if I was one of the friends, I couldn’t have excused their behavior. Infidelity and disloyalty is a wild trait to be okay with, especially when it means you’re going to dinner parties at the house he used to share with Thea that the other woman has moved into.
Edward is also pretty unlikeable. Not moving on at all from a humiliating experience and then spending several decades on a revenge quest to sleep with every woman his brother had slept with is super weird and more than a little unhinged. That’s a pretty big red flag.
Maybe I’ll revisit this in a decade or so when I’m closer to Thea’s age and see if my feelings have changed but for now I’ll settle with declaring that it’s just not my cup of tea.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity
Moderate: Miscarriage and Pregnancy
allison_jo's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
2.75
biggest takeaway: disappointment.
the blurb promised a cute little bookshop romance, but the middle of this book dragged for me. cutting 100 pages of stilted dialogue and ellipses wouldn’t have changed the plot at all. the story was set up to be a bit of a grumpy/sunshine who both had problems to work through but became more of an asshole/inferiority complex than anything. i found it difficult to connect with either character.
and the last fifty pages included an incredibly distasteful (to put it lightly) situation intended to set up a Big Talk that felt forced and rushed. i don’t know how it could feel rushed when it was in the last fifty pages of an already over-long, four-hundred-plus page book, but it did.
the blurb promised a cute little bookshop romance, but the middle of this book dragged for me. cutting 100 pages of stilted dialogue and ellipses wouldn’t have changed the plot at all. the story was set up to be a bit of a grumpy/sunshine who both had problems to work through but became more of an asshole/inferiority complex than anything. i found it difficult to connect with either character.
and the last fifty pages included an incredibly distasteful (to put it lightly) situation intended to set up a Big Talk that felt forced and rushed. i don’t know how it could feel rushed when it was in the last fifty pages of an already over-long, four-hundred-plus page book, but it did.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity and Misogyny
Moderate: Infertility
Minor: Sexual assault