Lexi Austen runs a book shop in Washington DC and has done merrily for a while, until Sam Dickens takes over a local second hand book shop and directly challenges Lexi's business... And her heart along the way.

This is not a straightforward enemies to lovers plot, it's a little contrived at the start but it definitely heats up. The characters are likeable, if a little shallow at points. I really enjoyed the book store setting, even with the business struggles, it's an nice idyllic idea that will appeal to keen readers!

Overall, I enjoyed the book - more so towards the end but the start felt clunky, the middle a little slow and then the end too short! An enjoyable read nonetheless I would look out for more by Mia Page

I didn't enjoy this book as much as I thought I might. It was somewhat predictable, overlong and had a lot of repetition. Set in Washington DC but with more than a nod to the main character's Britishness. I must admit that I didn't take to either of the main characters, Lexi and Sam, both sporting literary names Austen and Dickens respectively and running rival bookshops. I found they rather annoyed me but having said that I think the book would appeal to some hence 3 stars.

2.8/5 ⭐️
2/5 🌶️

Lexi is an adorable owner of bookstore, sorry bookSHOP–she's British and we are gonna hear about the cultural differences of America vs UK–in D.C. who is frustrated (ahem sexually) by a competing bookstore owner, Sam.

I really liked the Austen references, the enemies to lovers concept, and actually her Britishisms (although I will admit, I felt by the end it was kind of annoying. Mostly because it was the same observations about how we make tea.) I love the setting of DC and wish we saw a bit more of her friendship with Erin, her roommate. Looking back, it was very odd to me there wasn't more there. It was like her friend was getting married and Lexi is the maid of honor, but they had VERY little interaction and I forgot she was getting married since there was literally no wedding planning they did together.

I really didn't like how long this was. Maybe it wasn't long, but it certainly FELT long. And I was very confused about Lexi's real feelings. She is like, oh I hate this Sam guy, but there was no reason for us to believe or even understand why she hated him. Maybe hated him being competition I guess.... but there was very little sexual tension for me with them. He seemed very nice–in fact, too nice to be enemy for sure, and too nice in situations where Lexi said or did something rude. (Not including bants.)

But then he DID do some incredibly dickish things like... Idk, steal all her ideas for the shop?! And then she doesn't call him out on it?

There did seem to be a lot going on story wise with her shop, then her piano lessons, then their competing, then their "breaking" up, getting back together for literally 15 min then breaking up again, not to mention her missing London, and her sister oh and then his ex coming back into town...

There were still some spelling errors, which I can forgive, but not "muscles and frites," that seems like there was a lot missed in proofreading. At least in my copy.

**Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books UK sending me this ARC!**

Thank you to netgalley, the author and the publisher for the advance copy.

I really wanted to love this. Books. Enemies to lovers. Romance.

Sadly, I didn't enjoy the style of writing and ending up DNFing it around 20% in.

I got this as an arc from NetGalley and it is literally un unreadable.
There’s a lot of formatting issues. There’s a lot of grammar issues. It is undecipherable at points.
I feel like they really could be something here, but it desperately needs an editor and somebody who does formatting

If you enjoy enemies to lovers, a bookstore setting with a blossoming friendship then you'll enjoy this story!

I loved the idea of it, but being someone who works in a bookstore I found the book spoke too much about the tasks/ work involved in running a bookstore which gave it a less romantic setting. I do realise that was a point made in the book that working in a bookstore isn't as romantic or whimsical as it seems, but personally I still wanted it to feel that way. But overall I still enjoyed the story.

I loved this! A lighthearted enemies-to-lovers story with a bookish theme, what isn't there to love? I did find that it started fairly slow but once I got past that I was hooked!

Lexi is struggling to keep her grand mothers bookshop viable. This get even worse when Sam takes over the old second hand book shop and decided to sell new books in direct competition with her. Lots of twists before the inevitable conclusion. A lovely holiday read

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

This is a really fun enemies to lover rom com and is essentially a book about books which for book lovers like me is a win win situation. It does start off quite slow but does pick up to some extent. The main characters did annoy me at times as they seemed to be immature and made me cringe a little bit.

I did enjoy the book and would recommend for people who enjoy bookish books but I feel that for the authors next novel it needs to have some more depth and character development.

I did enjoy the story, but I did find Lexi and Sam annoying at times and they were really not very nice to each other at various times in the book.
The ending also felt a bit too neatly tied up, but it was still a nice read.

What a beautiful romance story with great storyline and great characters. Really liked the writing style and the cover is beautiful will definitely read more from this author.

Enemies to lovers YES PLEASE. I loved every second of this book I loved wonder when they would just love each other already. I was sucked in to see what the other would do to spite the other. The bookishness of the book at times felt like ALOT but it was still a great read.

3.5 rounded up to 4 stars ⭐️

First person would have easily pushed this to a 4 star read for me, but that's just a personal preference. I thoroughly enjoyed this story, it was fast paced and time flew when reading. I love the enemies to lovers/Friends to lovers trope! I liked the rivalries through the book, kept me completely hooked wanting to know what was going to happen next.

Thank you NetGalley & the publisher for the advanced copy of this book!

This is a cute enemies to lovers book centered around two book shop owners. I loved the idea of bringing Jane Austen into 2024. This took me a bit to get into but I did enjoy it.

An ultimate will they, won’t they book. Lexie isn’t sure and holds back, then she’s in but says something daft, so Sam is out. All of this brouhaha goes on with the backdrop of trying to save Lexie’s bookstore as competition and economic forces conspire against her. Sam and Lexie are cute although there is something Machiavellian about their rivalry and the competition didn’t strike me as very healthy for long term love!

This was…. not great.
first of all the book was waaay too long it could have been 100 pages less, we get a lot of repetition throughout every chapter (we get it you live in DC and you’re from england and you’re running your late grandmothers bookshop) and the internal monologue went on and on for pages at a time and contributed nothing to the story

the main character was so unbelievably annoying and full of self importance that i had to leave the book numerous times and come back to it. the mmc was so bland and has no personality whatsoever to the point where i wasn’t even batting for them to end up together.

there was also some extremely cringe and strange moments like when lexi basically just trauma dumps on sam that he should be glad his dad (who forced him into the business he didn’t want to be in) is alive because hers is dead??? what?? there’s also a weird part where he literally says “hello” to her boobs so.. there’s that.

anways i really didn’t enjoy this book went into it hoping it would make me laugh but i don’t even think i cracked a smile

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books Uk sending me this arc

When I start reading "Bookishly Ever After" I had a high hopes for a wild, enemies-to-lovers adventure, but I ended up feeling pretty underwhelmed.

The story kicks off with Lexi Austen, the owner of a quaint little bookshop, facing a ton of drama. Her dating life's a hot mess, and to top it all off, she's got Sam Dickens, her rival bookshop owner, breathing down her neck, trying to steal all her customers.

At first, I was totally on board for the drama. I mean, who doesn't love a good enemies-to-lovers storyline, right? But as the plot unfolded, things started feeling a bit off. Lexi's plan to win over Sam felt seriously shady. I mean, the poor guy's just come out of a messy breakup, and here she is, playing mind games with him. It just felt kind of wrong.

But hey, I get that not everyone's gonna feel the same way I do. If you're into the whole enemies-to-lovers thing and don't mind a bit of drama, you might actually enjoy this book. Who knows, it might just be the perfect guilty pleasure read for you.

So this book had everything I wanted, book lovers, enemies to lovers and slow burn. What it lacked was a believable chemistry between the two main characters and for a romance book, I just can't in good faith recommend this book. I thought this was going to be like Emily Henry's Book Lovers, but that is definitely a stretch.

I do love the cover though! And I firmly believe there is a right audience for this book, sadly, it just wasn't my cup of tea. I didn't feel the sparks fly.

This is my first book by this author, and I always read at least 2 books before deciding whether or not I want to continue reading books by a particular author.

I will not be posting this review on goodreads as I don't like to bash authors.

Thank you to netgalley, publisher and author for this arc in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Thank you, NetGalley and Avon for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a cute and simple book. Always a fan of books about book people/book lovers and this fits right in. It felt like reading a mix of The Hating Game and Book Lovers which I was a fan of. Some of the chemistry felt rushed/forced but in all, it was very light and fun.

Read if you like:
Enemies to lovers
Slow burn
Book lovers

Lexi and Sam are rival booksellers living in DC. When Sam’s success begins outpacing Lexi’s, she hatches a plan to throw him off his game by making him fall in love with her. I love the enemies to lovers trope and I love books about books but unfortunately this one fell flat for me. The bookish references felt heavy handed and redundant. I didn’t particularly like Lexi but more importantly, the chemistry between her and Sam was underwhelming. This book is written in the third person POV which doesn’t bother me but I know is problematic for readers.

Thank you to Avon Books UK and NetGalley for the ARC provided in exchange for my honest review.