Thank you to NetGalley for seThank you to NetGalley for sending me an ARC of The Book Swap by Tessa Bickers.

This was a fantastic book a 5* for me. A sad but lovely story of a group of friends Erin, Bonnie, and James who fall out while in school and don't make up until they are adults. Bonnie has unfortunately passed away and Erin is struggling to deal with her grief and why she fell out with James, Bonnie being her best friend took her side. Erin's love of books and a local community library helps her find herself, she starts passing notes inside the books with a mystery man. She starts to fall in love with someone she hasn't met ... or has she?

This story has similar vibes to The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams which is also sad but lovely.

*"The Book Swap" by Tessa Bickers is a delightful and heartwarming novel that celebrates the magic of books and unexpected friendships. Bickers crafts a charming story where a simple book exchange leads to life-changing discoveries for its characters. The narrative is filled with warmth, humor, and touching moments, as the protagonists navigate love, loss, and personal growth through their shared love of reading. With relatable characters and a cozy, feel-good atmosphere, *The Book Swap* is perfect for anyone who believes in the power of stories to connect us and transform our lives. A must-read for book lovers!*

i really loved this concept and was so excited to get into this. i’m happy to say it really didn’t disappoint!

one of my best friends is really big on books about grief and through them i’ve been getting more into it as a topic, and this handled it in such a beautiful and gentle way. i will definitely be recommending this to them.

i also really did enjoy the romance aspects here too, i was just more blown away by the grief throughout the book.

thank you so much to netgalley, the publisher and the author for the arc 🫶🏻

I don't know what i was expecting when i started this book but what i got was way more than i anticipated.. This is not a fluffy light read and deals with a lot of heavier topics such a grief and does so very well.

An amazing book and well worth the read!

The Book Swap by Tessa Bickers

Erin is grieving the death of her best friend Bonnie and struggling with life generally. When she starts a conversation with a stranger by swapping books left in a community free library and writing notes in the margins of them, things begin to look up. But what if the stranger is someone from her past that she swore she'd never forgive or speak to again...

This was book number 72 of 2024 for me and wow, it's definitely one of my absolute favourites! I loved everything about it - the characters, the issues it deals with, the books... everything. I couldn't put it down and can't wait to read whatever the author writes next. Very VERY highly recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

I was quite interested with the sound of this book to begin with, however I don’t think this book was for me unfortunately. I can definitely see how some readers would resinate and enjoy this book, and it’s a book I could recommend to a few friends too. Personally, I think a story with such heavy topics of grief came at a bit if a wrong time for me at this particular time, which was unexpected and could not be helped. The time of me reading this was just not right, although at another point in my life I may have enjoyed / enjoy this story more.

Erin is devastated when she accidentally donates her favourite book to the community library. Only a week later it turns back up with fresh notes in the margin and an invitation to read an another classic. Soon friendship, and maybe something more, are brewing between the pages.

I wanted to read this as I really liked the concept of this one. What’s not to love when it comes to a book about books? I found that I enjoyed the majority of the story and although I’m not a massive classic literature fan, I did enjoy all the references thrown in.

Even though this is classed as a romance, it offers a lot more than that. It offers an exploration into family issues, grief and mental heath. I think these themes were written sensitively and evoked a lot of emotions while reading. The story is told in two voices, which worked well in developing an understanding and back story for both the main characters. I found both of the characters stories intriguing, although Erin as a character did frustrate me at times. This was definitely a touching read, although at times the pacing seemed to be slightly off. Overall though this was a great premise and I would read more by this author. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this copy in return for an honest review.

Wow!! Just wow!! I loved this book so much and I wish I could just read it all over again.

Erin, James and Bonnie used to be a tight trio at school, united against the bullies who made James’ life hell, until one day everything changed. Now years later, Erin is struggling with life after losing Bonnie to cancer and is unsure how to start living again. In a flurry of action, she accidentally places a book, which is full of her own notes and also contains a memento she treasures from Bonnie, into the local community library. When by chance, James stumbles upon the book, not knowing it belongs to Erin, he writes his own message back and thus starts an anonymous book exchange between the two of them. Will they ever find out that they already know each other? And if they do, what will happen? Can Erin ever forgive James for what happened all those years ago?

This book is just the loveliest of reads if you fancy a love story that’s also filled with books! It also touches upon so many aspects of life: friendship, love, families and their complexities, the idea that often it is so hard to open up even if we would love some help or support… But it does remind us that there is always love in the world somewhere and as such, we must always have hope that there are better things waiting for us and we should try and live our best lives and follow our dreams!

I will not stop recommending this book and as I only had the digital ARC to review, I will be buying a hard copy of it myself once it is published as it is just so good! I envy those who have yet to have the pleasure of reading it.

Erin has lost her best friend to cancer. She still talks to her. She decides to change her life and she accidently gives her favourite book to a book library. Which is found by someone from her past.
The author handles bereavement, bi-polar and bullying with sensitivity.
There are misunderstandings and it could have been a miserable book but wasn't.
I liked Erin her friend Cassie and her sister as well.
You want James and Erin to make it work. I enjoyed the book.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley.

While Erin is coming to terms with the death of her best friend, she finds comfort in donating some of her old books to the cute little community library nearby. But when she accidentally donates a treasured book, she rushes back, only to find it gone. What she didn't expect was for a mystery reader to return it with messages in the margins!

James has has to return home to help his dad look after his mum as her health deteriorates. Very successful in a job that he hates, being back in his home time gives him the time and space to reasses what he wants from his life, especially when he finds the community library...

Not the cutesy rom-com I was expecting from the cover, but still an enjoyable debut that covers some heavier topics around grief, serious health conditions and bullying without becoming maudlin. With a lovely theme of the power of books literature throughout, this was a great read!

I'm having a bit of a difficult time with this one. I'm not sure if I didn't like it because I expected something else, or simply because it wasn't as good as it could have been. One thing for sure, this wasn't for me.

I expected a cute romance based on the cover and blurb, instead I got to read about several heavy topics like bullying, terminal illness, grief, death. I just didn't expect this when I started reading. I also wouldn't necessarily call this a romance book considering the story was more about a group of people and how they deal with life and the romance was more of a side story.

I also couldn't really relate to the characters, even the side characters were often mean and I just had a difficult time to get through this slow burn story with them.

But I appreciated the classic literature references and I imagine this book could quite possibly be loved by others.

The Book Swap is a touching debut novel about love, loss, and healing through books. The story follows Erin, who is grieving her best friend, and James, who returns home to care for his mother. They reconnect through a community book swap, exchanging notes in the margins of books without knowing each other’s identity.

This novel is perfect for readers who love emotional stories with a mix of romance and personal growth. Fans of the likes of Sarah Morgan, Beth Moran and Beth O'Leary's books, I feel will particularly enjoy this one. It’s a really heartfelt story about the magic of books to heal and how they bring people together.

This book tugged at my heart more than I expected it to and I absolutely love Tessa for it. It handled difficult topics of grief, disappointment and making assumptions about people before you know what’s really going on so so well. It started out as a similar vibe to You’ve Got Mail (which is one of my all time favourites) so I was a little cautious to see how it would go as I recently read another book that did not hit the mark and tried to be too much of a copy of YGM, but this was a whole separate and brilliant story in it’s own right and did not feel like a copied story or vibe at all. The characters and their development were so unique to this story and I was so drawn in by the time I got through the first few chapters that I was hooked for the whole ride. ✨ Thank you so much to Tessa and Hodder & Stoughton for early access to this eARC, I really truly loved it! 💜✨

This was a unique story and a great debut novel. I loved the premise of the book swap and how the story unfolded with the characters going to the book swap exchange point and finding friendship and comfort in the other persons words and in the books themselves. I enjoyed the references to literature and the discussion around the annotations as reminded me of my A level English literature classes.

The story is so much more than a romance as it also covers the themes of grief and love and loss and depression and terminally illness and of finding yourself again after going through a difficult time and how the power of books can help you to heal and be used as therapy during difficult times.

I would be interested to see what this author writes next.

I really enjoyed the concept of this book. Erin is grieving the death of her friend, is stuck in a job she resents.
One day, she discovers a community book swap box and mistakenly leaves a book she doesn't mean to. Desperate to recover the book, she keeps visiting the library to discover her book returned with additional notes. She begins to share notes back and forth and develops feelings towards the stranger, not knowing that the stranger is actually an old friend she fell out with at school.
A predictable but enjoyable read. My only complaint is that the ending felt a bit rushed for me.

Thank you @netgallery the opportunity to read this book.

I totally did not know what to accept from this book, as the cover suggests I thought it could be a cute romanctic story - however it was more much more than that. This is a story of grief, MH, loss, growth and healing.

Duel point-of-view story from Erin and James as they navigate life after the loss of high school friend Bonnie and their own friendship

The first half took me a while to get into the second half was okay but slow pace.

This was a beautiful bookish story with you’ve got mail vibes that I just loved.

There were moments that I felt a little lost in the exchanges and notes but I like to be challenged in a book so the extra thought wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

The themes of loss and grief were a lot more central to the plot than I expected. It wasn’t the light hearted read I thought it was going to be and that did make it difficult to get into. Overall an enjoyable read and one that I’ll recommend to friends.

Ah this was a cosy read, I enjoyed the to and fro between the two main characters and all.of their friends and family - I'll definitely be recommending this to my friends.

An enjoyable, heartfelt slow burn, second chance romance with the characters bonding over their shared love of reading and literature.

Erin, grapples with the profound grief of losing her best friend and the decision to quit her job. In an effort to find solace, she donates old books to a community library, only to realise she accidentally included her cherished copy of To Kill a Mockingbird, a treasured gift from her late friend. When Erin returns to retrieve it, the book is gone, but it soon reappears with notes in the margins from a mystery reader.

James, has returned home from London to care for his mother, who requires constant supervision during her manic episodes. Bullied throughout his school years, James lost touch with Erin and Bonnie, the only two people who were there for him. As he reassesses his life’s priorities, he stumbles upon Erin’s book in the community library.

Through the heartfelt notes left in the margins, Erin and James unknowingly begin to connect, fostering a unique bond over their shared love of literature. As their relationship blossoms through these anonymous annotations, they face the challenge of reconciling their past once their identities are revealed.

This book is a delightful treat for lovers of classic literature, filled with nods to timeless works. It is simultaneously heartwarming and heartbreaking, capturing a wide range of emotions and leaving a lasting impression. A must-read for those who cherish stories about love, loss, and the power of books.

Thank you so much to the author - Tessa Bickers as well as Alainna at Hodder & Stoughton for running this book tour!