2 stars

I absolutely hate to say it, but I didn’t really enjoy this one. The premise is super cool: Kate and Sebastian each own bookstores located opposite of each other in a small town. Sebastian’s store is legacy, while Kate only came to town recently. For reasons unbeknownst to her, he seems to despise her… because he’s super attracted to her. Yes, you read that right. He also said, “I never dip my pen in the company ink – or the village ink, to be precise.” Let that sink in. Pen means exactly what you think it means. It’s giving high school, sorry.

So, the plot is great, Sebastian maybe not so much, but I could relate to both his and Kate’s love for books and reading (I have a feeling most of us readers will), but then why didn’t I like this? Well, it was quite insta-lovey and the communication on Sebastian’s end was really bad. They also went from 0 to 100% after one kiss and despite repeatedly saying they ‘shouldn’t do this’, they still went ahead—and I personally didn’t like how they went about it. In combination with sometimes ick-inducing writing, the book unfortunately didn’t work out for me as much as I’d hoped it would.

I enjoyed this book even more than I expected to! From the start, you can be fairly sure how it will end, but this is not about the destination but the journey. The chemistry between Kate and Sebastian sizzles and I felt my heart strings being pulled more often than I had anticipated - I felt deeply for both characters and really cared about their back story and the relationship which develops between them.

This is a love story to books and bookshops and their significance in the community and to each and every individual. The cover suggests frilly chick-lit, but this was more about passion and life and how, as humans, we interact - for good and back.

There is an secret love story which weaves around Kate and Bas' story. Again, I felt it was slightly predictable, but it was still important and I was impatient for each detail to be revealed.

Wonderful, thought-provoking read, which entertained and amused and moved simultaneously. Don't miss this one!

This book was easy to read and i really enjoyed the subplot of the romance between their great grandparents. Sebastian was kind of rude and whiny but he did grow on me.

Thank you to Headline and Netgalley for giving me this chance to read an Arc of this book. I absolutely LOVED! Such a unique love story. Loved the banter between Kate and Sebastian. This was perfect.

DNF @ 40%

This book is just tangible proof that the enemies-to-lovers trope is significantly difficult to pull off in romance books. I wanted to give it some grace, which is why I read so far into it, but the thing is- they were never enemies (shocker). Yes, they have rivalry due to them both owning bookstores right across the street from one another, but they are not enemies by any means. The MMC tells the reader in his first or second chapter that he wants the FMC. Please say it with me: they are NOT enemies!

I also just couldn't get past how childishly they treated each other at the beginning. I'm not quite sure how old these characters are supposed to be, but they are definitely a few years into their adult years and yet they're acting like high schoolers. If I had to endure him calling her "Miss Jones" one more time, I think I would've gone nuts. Maybe I have gone nuts after reading so much of this book.

Now, this is not to say that this book is bad! I just personally did not enjoy it but I can definitely see the charm that it has. If I liked the characters a tad more I probably would have continued with the book. I just truly wish the enemies-to-lovers trope wasn't so hard to execute.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange of an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and Headline for providing me with this e-ARC in exchange for honest review

Stories about books, bookshops, readers in a small village intrigue me so much that I know I definitely want to read them immediately.
Same with this one, from the title, the cute cover, and the summary caught my attention immediately.

But this time, it just failed me. Main characters caught up in their 'not-so-secret' fling like almost immediately. They've been in contra for 6 months, and the next day, they're in the same bed.
This book is just not for me, I guess. I like my romance to slowly build up, fukk of yearning, which in this book try so hard to portray the yearning and fail.
Sebastian is such a no for me. I hate Sebastian so much. Bye.

Book People is an enemies-to-lovers rom-com that’s perfect for fans of bookish romances! 📚💘 Kate, a spirited bookseller, and Sebastian, her grumpy, highbrow rival, clash over their literary tastes while navigating a small-town literary festival. The grumpy-sunshine dynamic is done especially well, with their chemistry crackling through witty banter and heartfelt moments, making their transition from rivals to lovers utterly satisfying. ✨🔥

The romance is steamy and engaging, though some secondary plotlines, like the literary festival, could have been more developed. Still, this charming, trope-filled story delivers plenty of laughs, sparks, and heart. 💕 A solid four-star read! ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I received an ARC copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a review.

I wanted to like this book - the synopsis sounded fun and the beginning seemed to hold promise. Unfortunately, I DNF’d this book at 35%. I tried for a month very hard to get through it, but, in the end, I just couldn’t.

I found the writing style to be boring on top of a plot that dragged. Nothing of substance happened until about 30% in, but by that point the author had lost my attention and I couldn’t find the spark to keep going. The characters are both irritating - they are pretentious in different ways that make them unrelatable, and together they seem incompatible.

Overall, this just wasn’t the book for me.

Book People is a cozy romance for fans of The Book Swap or Better than Fiction by Alexa Martin. This book grew on me. It was a but slow to start and took a minute to like the characters but I ended up really pulling for them. They say this is enemies to lovers but I didn't really see Sebastian and Kate as enemies. Even the characters admitt it was more that they hated their attraction, not each other. This book is like if Mr. Darcy had grief/daddy issues and didn't want to fall for Jessica Day. It sounds weird but really worked. The central postcard mystery was romantic. I appreciated these characters acted like adults and talked things through.

I appreciated Kate's sentiment when she said she something like, 'I don't need a man to save me, but it's lovely when one steps in to help shoulder the burden.' (Not a direct quote.) Loved the small town vibes. Love that she rescues him. Loved their close friends. Would make the cutest Hulu miniseries. 4 stars Thanks to Net Galley and Headline Eternal for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book had a plethora of my favourite tropes so it was an easy one to love for me. Enemies to lovers, grumpy sunshine, a bit of mystery and a bit of spice. Oh and it's entire plot is based on book shop owners so it's a win win win!

I loved the build up with Sebastian and Kate, and I loved the little snippets of the past letters, and the storyline between two secret lovers from many years ago. It was a sweet book and handled the serious topics that were the undercurrent of character trauma with the respect and care it deserved.

I flew through the book, whilst with most romances they can be a bit predictable - this one revealed information to you as you were reading so it let you - the reader- have information just before it dawns on the Characters.

A great read, thank you Netgalley!

3.5 Stars rounded up to 4

This story follows Kate and Sebastian, two "competing" booksellers who reluctantly work together on a book festival to bring people into their small village and boost their businesses. Our characters unlock family secrets along the way, and parts of themselves with it. The story does bring its own quality in how the characters navigate their family histories and their own pasts.

I will admit, the beginning was a little difficult to get through as our MMC Sebastian is completely insufferable and standoffish, it's almost painful; it seems like this pairing would never work, but Kate's insistence and patience with the situation carries the story along. As the story develops we get to know Sebastian at the same time as Kate and he character does become more authentic as it develops.

It was an overall refreshing read and I'm glad I stuck with it. The pacing was good, the characters were consistent, there were some points that felt thrown in towards the end and there were a few unanswered questions towards that I wish we had a little more time to delve into. This book might've been the first one I've finished this year wishing there was a novella or something more at the end. Seeing them figure out their relationship whilst the whole village is gossiping about them sounds rather amusing!

Thank you netgalley and headline eternal for an arc in exchange for an honest review

Lots to love about this book - grumpy versus sunshine, small town setting and two lovely bookshops. However, I felt that apart from the grumpy versus sunshine (which is very obvious from the off) the small town setting and the bookshops weren't really given the opportunity to shine. I'm also a fan of good secondary characters in my romances and sadly these were overlooked as well. It was a good read though, lots of romantic tension between the characters, just the right amount of spice and the backstory of the main characters was interesting and sensitively told. I would definitely pick up this author again.

I really enjoyed this book. It kept me engaged and it only took a few days to read. I think this is going to be a good book club option for several clubs. I plan recommending to my book friends and I look forward to reading more by this author.

I believe my resistance with third person narratives is to blame for the way I felt about this book.
Over all it was just hard for me to connect to the story and the characters, so my experience wasn’t the best!
I can still objectively say that the writing was good, and the story was well paced!

THE PINING!!! Oh how I loved this book and the story of Sebastian and Kate and their great-grandparents. I was not expecting to fall in love with these characters as much as I did nor was I expecting to cry from heartbreak or cry while having my heart stitched back together. A true story of overcoming one’s own fears and obstacles within life and relationships. Beautifully written! Hats off to you Jackie Ashenden you’ve become a favorite author with just one book.


*I received a free ARC from NetGalley*

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.
This book had great premise but fell a little flat for me. Not a lot of relationship building it was just kind of there all of a sudden.

received a ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Short version:
I struggled to get into this one, almost exclusively because of Sebastian’s attitude for the first 100+ pages. I was expecting more of a falling in love story.

Long version:
The premises of this book sounded super promising, two bookstore owners getting together over the course of putting together a book festival? Yes please! Unfortunately, for me personally, I found Sebastian very off putting. Sebastian basically walks around putting up a front that he is better than the Kate and a lot of other people. He doesn’t want to share ‘his’ book festival at all. Not until Kate dangles the potential of getting an award-winning author to ‘his’ book festival after the one he lined up bails. You know, the one he was convinced the success of the event would hinge on? Yeah, that one. That feels like the majority of the reason why he tolerates “Miss Jones.”

At first you think he’s just a wanker, but it turns out he’s behaving that badly because A) he’s deep in debt and hates Kate for stealing some his clients and B) he is physically attracted to her, so he sort of takes it out on her in an arguably passive aggressive way. But back to the clients of point A who would rather buy a book and read it now rather than go to him and have to wait while he orders it in because he would never dirty his shelves with frivolous reading material. He maintains he’s not against people’s reading preferences yet holds the double standard of never buying ‘fluff’ reads for stocking his shop. I’m sorry, but if you refuse to stock what people want to read, they are going to go elsewhere rather than dealing with you, Seb. You ARE being a book snob.

So when Sebastian gives in to his desire and kisses Kate, I wasn’t on board. The author did too good of a job making me dislike Sebastian and it didn’t matter in the slightest to me how nerd hot he appeared or how he suddenly was blowing hot for Kate after spending nearly 100 pages blowing cold at her. His poor elitist attitude just killed it for me. I also struggled with how fast their physical relationship seemed to build in comparison to their actual relationship status. The relationship felt like it was built on lust rather than the building up to a relationship built on love. The conflict ending, as a result, wasn’t a surprise. I do wish the author spent a little more time on the ending. Everything resolved and boom, the end.

Tropes: Rival bookshop owners, Enemies-to-lovers, Small-town setting, Grumpy-sunshine (though it feels more like A-hole-sunshine), Forced proximity (sorta).
Spice: There is spice. 0-50 level spice if you can make it though the first 100-ish pages.

I absolutely adored this book, the pining the longing eberything was the perfect romances story! I haven’t read any of this authors work before but I will definitely be looking out for her on the shops shelf’s!

this book just provided me with everything i wanted out of it. the angst between characters and seeing the enemies to lovers unfold was just the sweetest thing ever. first novel by this author and definitely hope it is not my last!

Wow, I love this book so much. It's the story of Kate, recently single and still mourning the loss of her month makes a change in her life and moves to a small town and opens a bookshop in the property she inherited. The one problem is Sebastian and his bookshop across the street. She sells romance and fantasy, he sells more literary titles and reference books. She can't figure out why he hates her. He can't figure out why he can only think about her all the time.

This grumpy/sunshine was a pure delight on all levels. I highly recommend it if you enjoy that sort of book. I definitely will re-read again down the line.