Thank you to HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Bookshop of Forgotten Dreams by Emily Blaine is a delightful rom-com that will appeal to anyone who has ever dreamed about falling in love in a bookshop. (As a sidenote, I believe this book was translated from French into English, but the translation is perfect and in natural English. If it weren't for the names and location, I wouldn't know that it takes place in France.) The story revolves around Sarah, the shy owner of a bookshop that has suffered a recent flood, and Max, a bad-boy actor who has to help Sarah around the shop as part of his community service. As they get to know each other, will sparks fly? Will opposites attract? And can Sarah reform a "bad boy" into a decent boyfriend?

Here is an excerpt from Chapter 2, which is from Sarah's point of view:
"Buying second-hand books in bulk was cheaper, and I felt like I was doing a good deed by saving them from the bin. I would sort them, repair them, display them in the shop window, and sometimes include them in theme nights for the book club.
But my favorite part was this one: the moment of discovery, when the books and I made our acquaintance and I tried to imagine whose hands they’d passed through. I’d breathe their scent, stroke the paper, and get lost looking at the covers.
I’d never had the opportunity to travel. But I read, and it was almost the same – minus the jet-lag, plus the comfort of my sofa."

Overall, The Bookshop of Forgotten Dreams is a light summer read that is perfect for anyone who loves book-based romances like Beach Read or Plot Twist. It was both funny and romantic, which is all that I want from a rom-com. If I had to complain about one thing, I would say that I didn't enjoy the early chapters from Max's perspective. He is a "bad boy" who has no qualms with acting misogynistic with women and violent with their boyfriends. While some people might be into that, I was not a fan of his character in the beginning of the book. In addition, there was a lot more spice than I was expecting. Let's just say the "shy bookworm" doesn't stay shy for long. If you're intrigued by the excerpt above or if you're a fan of rom-coms in general, I highly recommend that you check out this book when it comes out in June!

This novel is one of those cute romances that go straight onto my list of "cozy reads". Quick and fun but it still manages to cover some important topics, such as self-growth.

While we have a story that has been told many times before, there is a uniqueness in this story that I appreciate. It wasn't just a "bad boy meets good girl and she changes him", it was both of them realizing their lives needed a change and growing on their own with the help of each other's influence. But they did it for themselves, not for anyone else.

As a shy bookworm, I could relate to Sarah in many instances, which is always nice when reading a book. In general, the way books were included in this novel was very cute and funny at times.

Overall, this book is a pageturner with really nice writing, interesting nuanced characters and quite a good ending. Romance endings are very hit or miss for me, but this one I'm happy with. I could have done without the epilogue, which usually happens to me, but I didn't mind it too much.

The Bookshop of Forgotten Dreams is an adorable and steamy enemies to lovers story about Sarah and Maxime. Sarah is a bookshop owner in a small town struggling to make ends meet after an untimely flood. Maxime is the quintessential bad boy actor who always seems to find trouble. His troubles have finally caught up to him and the only way to lessen the damage is community service helping Sarah repair her bookshop. In true enemies to lovers form, Sarah and Maxime have a really rough start but eventually both their walls come down until the inevitable happens and threatens the progress they’ve made.

There’s so much more to people then what meets the eye and finding the right person to break down those walls and truly see you is a remarkable thing. Can Sarah be that person for Maxime? And can Sarah finally learn to actually live her life and not live vicariously through her books?

Thank you Netgalley and publishers for this eARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

Sweet, fairly enjoyable book about a shy bookshop owner and an actor. I liked the premise and the characters. The chemistry between the two leads Sarah and Max was sweet once the story got going, although at times the relationship did feel a bit rushed. Overall 3.5 stars.

I liked Sarah, her love of books, the bookshop and the supporting characters but I did not warm to Max very much. I also felt the relationship was a little bit rushed and they seemed to go from 0 to 60 with not enough buildup especially from his end. Worth a look if you’re after a quick and easy read. (3 ⭐️)

Another book checks every boxes of my irresistible romance cravings :
Sunshine meets the grump troupe ✅
Enemies to lovers or let’s rephrase sweet guardians to grumpy prisoners premise ✅
Opposite attract✅
Undeniable blasting chemistry ✅
Burning desire flames around the couple drag them into like magnets ✅
Dysfunctional families and traumatic pasts of MCs are the common thing which help them understand each other✅

Maxime is aspiring, rising star of French film industry, always suffer from anger issues, causing trouble any time he goes out and drinks with his best friend/ colleague/ good guy who always stays out of trouble Simon.

But when he flirts a guy’s fiancée and beat him till he turns into pulp, he finally finds out, this time he’s truly out of line and he’ll pay for his mistakes.

His agent Mathilde, his childhood Damien and lawyer come with plan: a community service in his small hometown where he sweared to never go back because of his traumatic childhood and abusive father.

But his friend Damien pushes hard to take him some responsibility in his life. Damien also wants to help Sarah who is about to lose her bookstore because of her financial crisis. If Maxime donates enough money to pay her debt and works free for the reparations, Sarah can save the place she’s worked so hard since her childhood.

Damien’s plan works and reluctant, ultra unhappy, brooding Maxime moves to spare room of Sarah which is located above the bookshop. At first he insists they never be friends so he barely talks with her a few words. But shy, golden hearted, bookworm Sarah has her ways to steal this bad boy’s heart with her innocent charms.

Shy bookish falls for bad boy actor and bad boy cannot resist to fall for her, too. But this community service will last only for two months. What will happen those love birds? They’re coming from different lives, pursuing different dreams. Could they find a way to meet in the middle?

So sweet, easy to read, extremely feel good and perfectly translated, lovely reading I truly recommend.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK, One More Chapter for providing me this digital reviewer copy in exchange my honest opinions.

A different romance. When a bad boy actor needs to get out of Paris, he is put up with the owner of a used bookstore by an old friend. I enjoyed this quick read and the unique storyline.

The Bookshop of Forgotten Dreams was a fairly quick, and easy read. It involves our main character Sarah who is a bookworm and is living her dream by having her own bookshop but is struggling financially. Here comes our bad-boy actor Maxime who has crossed all limits and has to do community service at Sarah's bookshop or prison times to make up for it. A deal has stricken that benefits both individuals and eventually brings both closer to each other.

I loved Sarah's character as she is the perfect representation of me as a reader who prefers to be among books rather than around reality and the rest of the world. Max on the other hand is riddled with cliches, whether it's his bad-boy attitude, pushing people away, or his anger issues. I, unfortunately, did not think his redemption arc measured up. There were only two instances where it showed his improvement and a lot more could have been done to make his character growth more visible and believable.

The relationship change between Sarah and Max felt too quick because of the length of the book. I think if there was more build-up between the characters along with more character growth on Max's side, I would have enjoyed the book even more. The plot twist that took them to Paris was definitely unexpected but at the same time, to me, it didn't fit in as well with the rest of the events of the book.

Overall this was a quick, easy, and enjoyable read which allowed me to live my dream of owning a bookshop one day!

Max and Sarah couldn’t be more different. He is a bad boy movie star living in Paris, and she is a shy bookworm from a little village in the French countryside. Fate throws them together in Sarah’s bookshop when Max is required to do community service instead of going to jail.

This was an enjoyable easy read which I feel would be really suited to a holiday read.

This book was not what I was expecting and I’m not sure if that was a good or a bad thing. The book itself is a short and easy read, which made me happy because I’ve been in slump the past few days and haven’t been able to get through anything.

I thought the book was going to be British because it’s a Harper Collins UK book, but it is actually French. I didn’t catch that the book itself was originally written in French and translated to English when I picked it up until I started noticing a few instances of odd phrasing. But as a whole the translation was very good and some readers may not even notice.

I absolutely adored Sarah. As a fellow lover of books she really spoke to me. I really felt her when she said, “I’m happy here, among the books and far away from reality,” because it perfectly captures my love of books. Max on the other hand is a walking talking red flag. He’s a “bad boy” loner with rage issues and a secret that could ruin his acting career if it comes out. I get that he is a romance hero but he is painfully cliche (and I say that as someone with a very very deep love for the romance genre). Also other than admitting his feelings and buying people flowers I never saw him grow and develop into a more mature / better person.

I struggled with the pacing of the book. Where the book was short I felt like Sarah and Max’s relationship was very fast and didn’t have a lot of build. I know that it was technically over an entire summer but because the book wasn’t enough of their growing attraction on page for me. I also thought that the twist that takes them to Paris came way out of left field and felt out of place in the book as a whole.

Overall I did enjoy my time reading the book and because it was short I’m not overly mad upset about the things that didn’t work for me. If I had the opportunity to read another one of Emily’s books I would.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.