3-

Village setting, rival bookshops, old love letters and a mysterious affair that ties our two star-crossed lovers together through fate. Sounds promising.

Alas, this was not really for me. I didn't really buy into the reasoning for why Kate and Sebastian both had reasons not to be with the other - they didn't seem plausible. My great grandparents got divorced, my grandparents got divorced, my parents got divorced, but that doesn't make me think I'm fated to get divorced, or be unlucky in love, because.. well.. divorce is not genetic... So yeah. I know Sebastian's reasoning is slightly different but I still couldn't buy it.

Also, Sebastian kind of gave me the ick. Someone tells him at some point to be less werewolf alpha male, and sadly that's a pretty accurate description. I don't mind romantic heroes who are a bit mercurial, territorial and passionate, but this was just way OTT. For me it felt like Kate had the choice between domineering and manipulative and domineering and short tempered, which honestly both feel like bad options. It didn't help that Sebastian was described as having a hawkish face and super short hair early on, which made me imagine Christopher Eccleston with a buzz cut. No offence to Eccleston - he was delightful on Dr Who and The A Word, but that's not exactly sexy romance hero material.

Looking at this writer's back catalogue I can kinda understand that she isn't my sort of romance writer, but honestly the cover and the blurb make it seem way more like a cute romcom than dark and broody brushing up against shifter/vamp fiction.

It definitely had some cute moments, and the setting was great, but yeah overall not my thing.

SPOILERS BELOW






<spoiler> Even though you could see the surprise twist with Sebastian and Kate the first generation coming from miles away, I also still found their ending kind of weird. Even if their kids were technically adults it feels really cold and harsh to abandon them. Also Sebastian Jr's dad coming in at the end like a deus ex machina was a little uninspired.</spoiler>

This was a sweet, extremely well written story that captured me from the first sentence and made me wish it never ended.

book people is a dual pov following kate and sebastian who own rival book stores across the street from one another.

kate wants to connect with sebastian, but that’s the last thing he wants. to sebastian’s disdain, the pair find themselves having to meet in the middle to host an infamous book festival. what could possibly go wrong?

I really enjoyed the concept of how kate is this happy go lucky character who wants to bring the community together through books, and sebastian seemingly hates everyone and wants to keep himself to himself… until he meets his match.

if you love a dual pov, enemies to lovers story then book people is the one for you!

A really fun enemies to lovers romance read that will make you smile from ear to ear. Highly recommended.

The cover and the title of the book sounded really nice but I found the plot to be boring tbh. And the chapters also seemed really long. This is my first time reading something by the author so it also took me some time to really get into the book. The beginning wasn't very captivating so I was skimming through some parts. And I also didn't feel the connection between the main characters. Their relationship moved too fast and Sebastian's character was all over the place and Jate was annoying, which was not very appealing. The plot definitely had lots of potential but unfortunately I did not like the way the plot was executed.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review

Book People was a decent rom-coms with great potential. Grumpy x sunshine, book lovers, “enemies” to lovers

Some of my favorite tropes. But I will say I found the MMC Sebastian to be just a bit too unlikable. Their romance was a bit rushed especially after how much they actually disliked each other and how annoying they bother were. The plot was lacking.

It just was an okay book. I wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend but was not bad overall

I received a copy of this for my honest review

😍😍 This story had me swooning

Our FMC has left her narcissistic boyfriend of four years after also recently losing her mother. She has left the big city of London for her families small village - that she really only leaned about when she found out that her mother left her a building. When she moves in she knows what it will become - the book store she has always dreamed of owning. She didn't really expect to compete with another bookshop - or be so bothered by our MMC, the owner. He has lived here all his life as well as many other generations. His family has owned the books since the 1930s and after bad management from his grandfather and father, he is trying to save the shop. But now he has to compete with our FMC for sales - even though they sell different books. In his efforts to save the shop he brings back a literature festival - which she finds a way to get him to bring her in on - even though he doesn't want to spend any time near her. Helping with the festival they discover letters from a secret relationship, which leads them to learn more about their pasts.

This book was over in the first 100 pages and then It just was so unnecessary. The book lacked world-building and characterisation which I felt completely let the execution of the book down. So It just didn’t have the wow factor, it felt like a bit of a textbook romance and wasn’t anything special.
2.5

I wanted to love it. Who doesn't love a book about book stores?! But there was something just missing. I could not put my fingers on it but it was missing something.

i am so exited to write a review for this book. for the longest time i was struggling with finding a good romance and here it is!

characters:
i want to emphasize how good kate and sebastian fit together. the grumpy and sunshine, dark and light, fiction and romance. i adored the tension and chemistry between main characters so much; their interactions and feeling never felt heavy or unfitting.

it was interesting to look how they both were getting more confident with their feelings and how they started to open up to each other

plot
i am so happy that the plot of the book was written like it was. the festival and the little competition between bookstores was the perfect fit for those characters. i was so invested in the book, that i finished it in 4 hours.

the only disadvantage of the book was the last chapters/drama. it was so unnecessary and disappointing. i firstly cannot believe that he wanted to confess feelings but as soon as she did he turned around? i can’t really understand the reason behind this. then, them getting together but he didn’t do anything to get her back? i’m just confided and lost. i believe that making this whole situation longer or cutting it out at all would make this book 5 stars.

Book People by Jackie Ashenden is such a heartwarming and passionate romance. The grumpy and sunshine trope is something I am definitely becoming a massive fan of. This story flowed effortlessly and I really enjoyed reading it. This is the ideal romance for any book lovers, two bookshop owners falling for each other is so cute. The dual perspective worked so well for this novel, Sebastian and Kate were very developed characters and it was good to be able to see things from both perspectives.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Headline PG, NetGalley, and Jackie Ashenden for giving me the opportunity to read and review Book People with my honest opinions.

Book People is a love letter to people who love books. We have Kate and Sebastian, rival booksellers whose shops are directly across the street from each other, in a small town that seems too small for two bookshops. It seems like there is a lot of hatred on Sebastian's part, but in reality he holds a flame for Kate and is just too proud to admit it ... for a while.

If you enjoy enemies to lovers / grumpy and sunshine / and obviously, the world of books - this is for you!

I found the book to be quite engaging and the relationship between the two main characters had great chemistry. The love story in the background was a mysterious and unexpected surprise. I thought the author wrote beautifully and I would recommend this lovely story to any romance reader.

Sebastian and Kate. This was a classic case of will they won’t they and I honestly started to wonder if they would. This books had a little of everything: romance, mystery, tension, and more. I think my only downside was we got to 95% and I was still not sure how it would end and Sebastian was just being stubborn and close minded I wanted to strangle him a little… otherwise well done!

I loved this book! The dual point of views, the mystery letters, enemies to lovers, grumpy x sunshine, and a literary festival!! Books about books and bookstores are some of my favorite books!! The spice was soooo good! Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for my digital ARC!!

Loved, loved, loved this book! It has all my favorite things: enemies to lovers, books!, small town, witty banter and spice. This well-written rom com will be at the top of my recommended reads in 2025! Thank you to @headlinebooks and @NetGalley for sharing this ARC - opinions are mine as well as the absolute pleasure in reading this novel.

Book People by Jackie Ashenden (out January 28 from Headline Eternal, a division of Hachette). Here we have two main characters with competing bookshops in a small village somewhere in England. We have the standard FMC who is "new" in town (it's complicated) and all sunshine and positivity (though inside she is something a little different), owning the genre-positive bookshop that is new in town. And we have the standard grumpy MMC who has the stern overly serious "literary" bookshop that has existed in the village for decades. We join them six months after Kate has moved to the village and she is frustrated at the grumpy man and his shop across the street who seems to ignore her. And he is frustrated that her shop even exists. There's also a past story between their families that is telegraphed VERY early in the book and is a constant backdrop, along with a "festival" that is being planned by Sebastian.

Honestly? Little of it works. They're already crushing on each other when we meet them, there's almost no true tension present and it doesn't take long before we're moving to kisses and bedrooms. The financial health of Sebastian's store is more or less forgotten as the book moves along, as is whether or not Kate truly wants to own a store. God's honest truth here...the better story was that of the great-grandparents, which...while I was not shocked by the reveal...held my interest. THAT would have been an interesting read. It might not have caught the crowd this book is aimed at, but that was the story that was emotionally resonant. I wanted more of the Kate/Sebastian of the past. Their outcome had some doubt (even if I didn't doubt how it had ended).

I wanted more of the village. I wanted more antagonism between our main characters before they just start climbing into each other's beds. I wanted more sexual tension between them. I wanted more humor. I (to my amazement!) wanted and epilogue with our present characters instead of the one we got - and I generally don't like epilogues! This isn't a poorly written book...but as I said above...enemies-to-lovers is such a tricky trope to pull off and without any sort of build-up...it just didn't work. There are things about this book I did like. I liked the doubts inside people (even if Sebastian's seemed dumb). I liked the idea that Kate needed to learn to love herself and be more confident in what she wanted (though I could have done without Jasper's reappearance). It is a well written book (even if my ARC was a mess typographically) and the author's prose command is great. Like I said...if this had been a different book, one about the great-grandparents, I would have eaten it up. Here...I was just frustrated. And by the end, I just wanted it to be over. 3 stars is the best I can do.

I could only get so far into this book before I gave up. I've read a few by this author before and it seems that her books are very hit or miss with me. Unfortunately this was a miss, I didn't love the characters and wasn't invested enough in their story

I absolutely loved the characters and plot line in Book People by Jackie Ashenden. However, I did not like the vulgarity in language. I did not read every page so cannot say with certainty whether there were closed-door or open-door scenes. This would have been a 5-star read for me if not for these things.
Releases Jan. 28th. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Thank you Headline Eternal and NetGalley for the ARC!

I loved this sweet book! Enemies to lovers, bookshops, a brooding male lead - what more could one want?

Kate and Sebastian's love story was just what I needed to get out of my book slump.

Thank you again for the ARC!

Book People by Jackie Ashenden is the perfect blend of sweet, spicy, and hilarious in an enemies-to-lovers bookshop rom-com! The story follows two people who can't stand each other but are forced to work together in the charming world of books. As they navigate their heated rivalry, sparks fly, and they discover there’s more to each other than they initially thought. Ashenden’s writing brings humor and chemistry to the forefront, making it easy to root for these characters as they go from enemies to something more. If you’re a fan of witty banter, steamy romance, and bookshop settings, *Book People* is a must-read that will keep you hooked from start to finish!