Battle of the Bookstores

by Ali Brady

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I DIDN'T FINISH!

Summary

Rivalry and romance spark when two bookstore managers who are opposites in every way find themselves competing for the same promotion.

Despite managing bookstores on the same Boston street, Josie Klein and Ryan Lawson have never interacted much—Josie’s store focuses on serious literature, and Ryan’s sells romance only. But when the new owner of both stores decides to combine them, the two are thrust into direct competition. Only one manager will be left standing, decided by who turns the most profit over the summer.

Efficient and detail-oriented Josie instantly clashes with easygoing and disorganized Ryan. Their competing events and contrasting styles lead to more than just frustration—the sparks between them might just set the whole store on fire. Their only solace during this chaos is the friendship they’ve each struck up with an anonymous friend in an online book forum. Little do they know they’re actually chatting with each other.

As their rivalry heats up in real life, their online relationship grows, and when the walls between their stores come tumbling down, Josie and Ryan realize not all’s fair in love and war. And maybe, if they’re lucky, happily ever afters aren’t just for the books.

[summary provided by GoodReads]
Published:
Genre:
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Narration:
GoodReads:3.85
My Score:DNF
Spice:N/A

My Review

Stopped the audiobook around the 10% mark.
1 star based on the portion I read.

I didn’t finish this book because it wasn’t what I was expecting at all. I picked it up hoping for a light, fun romcom, but the story leaned heavily into social and political woke messaging that I wasn’t looking for in this kind of read (Drag Queen Story Time for Teens, what?!). The repeated references to things like drag events, commentary around homophobia, overtly feminist conversations, and frequent digs at the patriarchy felt less like background details and more like a liberal agenda being pushed. It took me out of the story and made it hard to enjoy what was supposed to be a breezy, escapist romance.

On top of that, I really struggled with the characters. The main female character came across as annoying, rude, and deeply unlikeable to me, which made it nearly impossible to root for her. I tried to push through, but the dialogue didn’t help. A lot of it felt awkward and cringey rather than natural or charming.

Overall, this just wasn’t the romcom experience I was hoping for, and between the heavy-handed woke messaging, unlikable characters, and cringeworthy dialogue, it ended up being a DNF for me.