I found this book absolutely delightful! Although I used to somewhat stick my nose up at romances, I've found recent enjoyment from books like Beach Read and Red, White & Royal Blue. In a pandemic, where days can often feel bleak, I found the Bookshop of Second Chances to be an uplifting, heartfelt read. One thing I admired was the fact that this book dealt with very unromantic themes - aging, class, divorce, cheating, dicrtionless, and middle age - in charming and comforting ways. The previous books I mentioned usually focus on young adults in their 20s or early 30s, so it was a bit refreshing to read a book so focused on middle-aged people. Although I myself am 26, I didn't find the older characters to be distracting or unappealing - much less, it was a heartening read to learn that, even in your 40s, you can always find love, hope, and a bit of magic in bookshops.

What a delightful read this is if you're a fan of women's fiction. Thea and Edward, the main characters, feel so real I could almost book a train ticket to Baldochrie to make a purchase in Fortescue's Books and have afternoon tea in the Old Mill afterwards.

I loved Thea's humor and the roller-coaster of emotion she shares with us as she gets over a relationship break up and finds the courage to love again. As a creative writing tutor, I find Fraser's use of setting is inspirational, and I shall certainly quote passages to my students when I talk about the importance of showing locations through the character's eyes. The writing is rich in sumptuous detail, but everything is viewed from Thea's point of view so we get to know Thea better, and her voice always comes through in a way that makes us root for her.

The dialogue whips along, making us laugh - often - as Thea and Edward spar with each other, but also cry when they are less kind. I can't wait to read more by this author.

I made it to the 33% mark and decided it's just not the novel for me. I'm fairly certain younger readers (than I am) are the intended audience. These days I need to look forward to picking up my book and that wasn't happening. Sorry.
DNF

This book is an absolute delight! We begin by meeting Thea, who is a delightful character and whom I thoroughly enjoyed. Her husband of almost 20 years has left her for one of her friends, much to our dismay. She is fired. On Valentine's Day. Go figure! Additionally, she learns that a relative in Scotland has passed away and left her his home and antique book collection. Thea adventurously travels to Scotland to deal with the aftermath. It is here that she falls in love with her Uncle's home and she adores the books he has left. She meets a host of characters, one of which is Edward Maltravers. Her connection with Ed is unique and they slowly develop a relationship that has hurdles and is a bit misguided along the way.


This book is told in a heartfelt manner that is heartwarming and delightful. I enjoyed every plotline and bit of banter and interaction. It is not to be missed and I am excited to recommend it to many! Thank you for the opportunity to read this!

The Bookshop of Second Chances, was a very entertaining story..
I absolutely loved Thea, she is who I would want to friends be with in any situation. She took all the drastic changes in her life with such grace and positivity.

I’m looking forward to reading her next novel.

Thank you netgalley for letting me read this book in exchange for an honest review.
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What a fun read! I stayed up past my bedtime last night finishing this one. It’s similar in style to Jenny Colgan, Veronica Henry, and Katherine Reay and was a warm, cozy, feel-good read.

I cannot state strongly enough how much I adored Edward’s character. He was so interesting and nuanced and I could picture him so well. I liked Thea, as well, but the lawyer in me was frustrated that she didn’t advocate for herself or protect herself financially or legally after her separation.

This was thoughtful and intelligently written, and was exactly what I was in the mood for.

I also loved that Thea and Edward were a little older than the characters we see in similar books. I personally want more female characters in their 40s and 50s in this genre.

This book was basically perfect for its genre to me except I did feel an extra round of editing, specifically to trim down the words at places and make the writing tighter, would have taken it from four stars to five.

Thank you so much to the publisher and Netgalley for my complimentary copy of this one. She’s an author I will definitely be following to see when her next book comes out!

The book starts with Thea Mottram's husband of nearly twenty years leaving her for one of her friends, and she is let go from her office job--on Valentine's Day, of all days. She soon learns that a distant great uncle in Scotland has passed away, leaving her his home and a hefty antique book collection, and she heads up to a small town of Baldochrie in Scotland to deal with it.

Thea falls in love with the beautiful home, and loves the books. She meets Edward and Charles Maltravers, who are feuding brothers, and begins to work for Ed in his bookshop. Their relationship slowly develops with some bumps along the way.

I really enjoyed this book. It was refreshing to have a 40-something heroine, and not to have the ultimate goal be marriage and baby. The emotions seemed written very honestly and the story unfolded nicely. The author describes the countryside so beautifully that it makes one want to head to Scotland for a relaxing vacation. I also especially liked the setting of the bookshop.
I would reccomend this book it reminded me of Jenny Colgan's books.

Thanks to NetGalley for a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was totally down for the bookshop and home renovation, not so much for the awkward romance. I guess I should have known from that pastel colored book cover that that's where this story would end up, but was hoping the bookshop aspect would get me through it- it just barely did.

Jackie Fraser has written an entertaining, witty, wise, and unconventional love story. Thea has been blindsided by her husband’s infidelity and being made redundant. An unexpected legacy from an uncle she barely knew makes a trip to Scotland a necessity that slowly but surely turns into the next best step Thea can take to put her life back on track. Her relationship with the curmudgeonly Edward has its ups and downs as Edward is grappling, not always maturely, with demons of his own. Readers will no doubt enjoy the atmospheric descriptions of life in a small Scottish town, and Thea’s strong, clearly voiced opinion of that life. Bibliophiles will love the literary details and references (Edward owns an antiquarian bookshop). Americans will also no doubt get a kick out of the British vernacular. Although, beware, there is swearing.

I received a free advance copy of this book in return for an honest review.

I liked the premise of this book because when I first read the description, it reminded me of the movie "You've Got Mail." It was a quick read; I didn't want to put it down, so I read it in about a day. It's light, and I got the ending I wanted. I enjoy the humor in this book, and I also like the strong female character in Thea. I don't read a lot of books with middle-aged women, but I loved her independence and her willingness to express her feelings and worries. I would highly recommend this book.

What happens when Evvie Drake lands in a Jenny Colgan novel? This book. A recently divorced middle-aged woman finds herself in a tiny Scotland town where she has inherited a house and starts working in a bookshop. It was a cozy read I devoured in a few days. I love sinking in to a small town British setting like this book has. On paper it has everything I like in a book!

But I had a couple of fairly major issues with it that ultimately bring down the rating. First, everything happens far too fast in the first chapter. The pacing was off. Come to find out, the first chapter was submitted to publishers as part of a contest, and once I knew that it made perfect sense. That uneven feeling carried through the book. I wanted more emotion and background about the main character's relationship with her ex-husband, more about her sorting through her feelings rather than brushing them off. Her response to his cheating and suddenly dumping her after decades largely comes across as 'Eh, I wasn't happy about it but I didn't want to be a jerk to him.' ?!?! And then, finally, and the reason I can't give this more than three stars even though there was a lot of it I enjoyed, is that the reader is asked to not only overlook abusive and discriminatory behavior from a character who literally forbids women working for him, but to ultimately somehow find it charming and fall in love with him a little. I am very over giving hateful men a pass. We can understand the reasons for this behavior without condoning it or needing it in our life. And the thing is, at times he was very charming and I did like him! So this aspect of his character just seemed like an unnecessary plot device.

All of which is to say, I read fast because I like the setting and the concept and I couldn’t figure out how I felt about the book. Ultimately, the character development was uneven and at times frustrating, and I ended the book with a lot of questions and some irritation. I think with sharper editing, tightened pacing, and cutting out some of the unnecessary extreme behavior, this book could be great.

Thank you, NetGalley and Random House Ballantine for the ARC!

Thea Mottram is going through a rough spell. Her husband is having an affair and they are divorcing. At this time she inherits a house in Scotland filled with a large antique book collection. She retreats to Scotland and likes the cottage and learns to appreciate this small town. She decides to sell the books to the local antiquarian bookseller, Edward Maltravers. Edward is feuding with his brother, Thea’s neighbor. Thea can’t decide whether to stay in Scotland or return back to her home in Sussex. Of course, as you might imagine, the quirky and difficult Edward and Thea fall for each other., and Scotland is her new home. Sweet story, but predictable. You are rooting for Thea and Edward throughout the story.

First of all... SCOTLAND! I’ve always loved Scotland, I’ve always wanted to go there but have never had the chance... until this book anyway! It was so easy to get into this read and the main character is funny and easy to like. And what romantic book nerd doesn’t want to read a love story that takes place in a book store? I think the author did an amazing job with this story and I’d definitely recommend it.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for my copy of this book. This review is my own opinion.

This book turned out to be just ok for me. It started out fantastic!
Setting in a bookstore- yes please!
However, there turned out to be soo much dialogue and a lot of characters.

It was still a very cute, quick and charming read but I didn't connect to the story the way I was hoping.
Thanks to Netgalley for my advanced ebook copy.

Well, what book lover wouldn’t like a book about a bookstore and it’s quirky inhabitants? I absolutely adore this one. This is the kind of book that when you finish it you have a book hangover which to me means a kind of depression where you know it will be hard to start another book because nothing will come close to how amazing this one was. My husband noticed my crankiness and I told him how I just finished an awesome book and it’s left me empty because what do I do now??? I’ve started four new ones but nothing is grabbing me like Thea’s story did. Ugh, I will keep trying.... anyway, this is a lovely read.

Thank you net galley for a copy of this book to review.

So first of all how can you really dislike a book set in Scotland and in a bookstore. Talk about day dream fuel! The location of this story added to it's charm and had me wishing I could book a ticket right now.

The story itself was such a feel good and uplifting tale. I liked the romance without it being too overbearing. I love that the main character was so relatable and how badly I wanted her to find all she was looking for. I also loved watching the growth of the relationships around her. Overall a great cozy read!!

This book was everything I needed at the moment. I have to admit I was not expecting to like it as much as I did. Such a light and easy read and the characters... I love them. Definitely recommend this one.

This is a marvelous and amusing story chock full of humorous dialog and quirky characters.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

First I want to thank NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for allowing me the pleasure to read this book and give an honest opinion. I have to say other than this book being about 100 pages too long, I absolutely LOVED the book. This book is centered around Thea, a recently separated woman from her husband who had an affair with one of my friends. Thea is emptying her stuff from her former house and her soon to be ex gives her a letter from an attorney. Apparently her Great Uncle Andrew has passed away and left her his house and the contents (and some money). She decides to go to the house to see if she can sell the house or what she wants to do. She gets there and meets Allistar who is the attorney/solicitor who tells her about Andrew's extensive book collection. In walks Edward, a broody and clueless man who owns a book shop in town. Thea decides to stay in town since she doesn't have anything to go back to (lost her job the day after her husband). Thea applies at the book shop and Edward begrudgingly hires her. Edward's brother, a lord (interesting story there), Charles, becomes friendly with Thea which infuriates Edward. A lovely story on opening doors that were closed and love follows. I would highly recommend this book!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read an E-Arc for a review!

My Review:
Scotland, a bookstore, coping with changes life and finding romance slowly is a great combination in this story. I loved the story. It took me a while to read it because once again life has been throwing me some curveballs. The writing for me was a bit different but not in a bad way, it was amusing.

Thea is the main character in this book who I could identify with a bit. She finds out her husband leaves her for another woman which all the emotions hit her. While she is dealing with this, she finds out she has to deal with her Great Uncle cottage in Scotland. Off she goes! I love how she adjusts to the life there. How she tries to figure things out for herself.

While being up there she meets Edward who is such a grumpy character that owns a bookstore. He has his own baggage that he is dealing with too. You'll learn more of that as the time goes on. Anyways, Thea's interaction with Edward is hilarious. They throw comments to each other and yet they do talk to each other. I could see a communication between them. It was totally different and strange at the same time but they click. It was like a slow connection to each other, that's how I saw it.

It is an up and down story but at a slow pace which was really nice. There was tons of drama, detail of landscapes and even some swears from the characters which made it enjoyable too. Just when I think I knew what was going to happen next, I was wrong. That kept me interested in the story. You should definitely give this book a read if you wan to try for something different!