I was expecting a cute bookstore romance and it was definitely not what I got. I found the stalking and deception from Fox to be creepy and didn’t enjoy their relationship. I also feel as though I didn’t connect with or care for the characters as so much of the book was just sex and I feel like I didn’t get to know them.

A love story perfect for literature fanatics and fans of Emily Henry's "Book Lovers" and Anna Todd's "After" series. It really doesn't get better than the love interests fall for each other in an actual bookstore. Not only is the male love interest perfectly swoon-worthy (his name is Roman Fawkes like ohmygosh it's one of the best character names I've come across!) but seeing him totally besotted by Cady made my day. Reading about their growing relationship and all its epic highs and lows had me entranced. This is a book that you will never want to put down!

I'm truly scared I won't do this book justice in my review. Bear with me during my rambling.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an early copy in exchange for my honest review! Full review can be found on Goodreads. Please do, it's great.

📞 The story 📞
Cady owns the Nevermore Bookstore in Townsend Harbor. Her life is pretty average, besides the fact that a hot – or at least, seemingly hot – customer calls at exactly the same time every Thursday night. Although Fox cannot meet her, he is definitely interested. When he hears a break-in during one of their phone calls, he goes undercover to find the culprit. However, he finds more than he bargained for.

First of all, I need to apologize. I've had this ARC since March, and I've only now read it. I know, I know, I'm terrible. I only have myself to blame. Anyway, I immediately loved it. There was already some mystery, such as the nature of Cady's condition, the situation with her mother, who Fox was, etc. And then came the break-in. Although I had a feeling I understood the reason why, I did enjoy figuring out the true nature of it all.

I laughed out loud a lot during the story. For this reason, I could not freaking put the book down. I'm serious, I read until 3:30 am. I didn't regret a thing, until I had to wake up early this morning. I might regret a few things now.

The sexy scenes were honestly the best. I loved the ending of the book as well. The story wasn't greatly surprising, that is, until the end. Although most of the twists were obvious to me, I was still screaming into my pillow over the suspense.

Although the end reveals had me screaming, I was also a little disappointed by the way it all wrapped up. But yeah, besides that, it was amazing. I mean, their progress and journey were amazing, and I loved every second of it.

📞 The characters 📞
I truly loved Cady and the representation of her condition. I always love it when conditions that are not well-known are represented in books. She struggled, a lot, but stayed optimistic through it all. I adored her, especially her store and smut books.

I wasn't sure how to feel about Fox at first. He was definitely intense from the first second onward. However, I loved learning more and more about him. He was so freaking mysterious, and although I'd already guessed most of his past, it was still heartbreaking to learn more. The representation of his PTSD was amazing, and I loved that. The representation overall was so freaking great in this book. I could honestly cry over their journey together.

The side characters were great as well, such as Ethan, Myrtle and Vee. Honestly, I loved Ethan. He wasn't the golden retriever I thought he'd be, and he was freaking hot. Myrtle and Vee were so bloody weird, but I loved them. Gemma was also truly the best, when is her story coming? Totally shipping her and Ethan.


📞 The writing 📞
There were quite some mistakes in the ARC, that were hopefully caught before the book was published. If not, please authors, do contact me if you want to receive the mistakes that stood out to me! :)


📞 Overall conclusion 📞
Sigh, I hate that it is over. I cannot emphasize enough how much I loved the representation in this book. Mental illness, physical illness; it was all there. The representation was great and refreshing, the characters had the full-on 'I would kill for you' vibe (yes, I'd kill for Fox too) and everyone was just bloody great. The added little sprinkle of mystery was perfect, and the ending had me yearning for more. Well, onwards to recommend this book to everyone in the YA Buddy Readers' Corner and to all of my friends. Loved it.

This was just an average rom com, it was a bit spicy, I did like the banter between fox and Cady but I didn’t like the writing at times.
Thank you to netgalley for providing me with an advanced reader copy and all thoughts are my own.

I was so excited to read this. The premise was there. Unfortunately it seemed like the authors were trying too hard, and things often came off as cringy. I couldn't finish it.

I want to give this book 3 stars at least but most of my three stars weren't as cringy as this was. There were SO many modern phrases and statements that it seemed like they were just trying to fit in as much as they could to what. make this super unrelatable book relatable? Regardless still finished this book in a day once got it from Netgalley and all can think about was how STRONG Fox was introduced. With no context we were all of a sudden pushed into the mind of some super aggressive tent/cave man in the woods. To summarize this book l'd probably just say "a curvy disabled sort of bookstore owner who stereotypically eats a lot meets a bruly man with PTSD with a sexy phone voice and they dance around each other aggressively until he caves"
wouldn't recommend this book but I'm also not mad read it so take that as you will.

As a huge fan of Kerrigan Byrne's historical romance and a booknerd, I thought that this one could do no wrong. Unfortunately, I liked Kerrigan's historical romance better than the Nevermore Bookstore.

The story isn't bad per se, but it is a bit boring. I liked the Fox, but after the Goode Girls and the Devil's You Know I had to take a deep breath. With the Nevermore Bookstore, life just goes on.

So, would I recommend it? Well, sure. But if you want more spice than sugar, I would highly recommend Kerrigan's other series before this one.

In all, three out of five stars from me and a special thank you to Netgalley for providing the arc.

DNF. I got duped again by a cartoony cover! I have only read about 25% of this book, but I am just not feeling it. I don't love where the plot is going. I am not enjoying the way this book is written. am having a difficult time staying invested in these characters (I *love* grumpy/sunshine, so this is very difficult for me!). My mind keeps wandering. And I LOVE KOOKY! But not this kind of cringe-kooky. It's giving try-hard, not naturally funny! I love that the main female character, the adorable Cady, is plus sized. I just wish we got a book worthy of her inclusion! Sad about this one, I was so looking forward to it.

Thank you to NetGalley, by Kerrigan Byrne & Cynthia St. Aubin, and Oliver Heber Books for the ARC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for my review.

I think the idea of this book was really interesting and had a lot of promise, unfortunately for me it did not work. I felt it was cliché and cringy and so I did not end up enjoying this one. The rep in it, from what I understand, was really well done though for PTSD and chronic pain I just wish the rest of the story matched that rep.

When picking up this book I was first intrigued by the cover, then I read the blurb and felt like it could be something for me. I liked some parts of it, but overall I think it could be better, but something was off in my opinion.
Fox, a male MC, is a character that at first did not get me to like him, it can be probably due to not being able to understand him, or rather pinpoint him at all. Which did not serve him right as I could not build a proper connection with him besides the bits that were given here and there to give us teases and no proper insight into him. And to be honest I do not exactly understand how their connection bloomed.
I liked Cady, she was an open and intriguing character - she could be the one that readers liked the most and what lifted the story along in the overall conclusion. She is also a representation of acceptance and inclusivity which is important to me.
Generally, it was not a read that kept a lot of my attention as I felt like it was lacking a proper spark that would glue me into the pages which is a shame as I saw potential in it.

I wanted to love this book, really i did. I received the ARC from
Netgalley and was so excited to jump in.
I feel like the characters were underdeveloped and packed full of cliches and not in the fun way, normally pop culture mentions dont give me the ick but they really did here.
I loved the idea of nevermore but it just fell flat for me.

This book was just okay. The cover of this book was somewhat deceptive- while I thought it would be a fun witchy romance, it turned out to be more of a book about some adults who just really need therapy. Fun read but overall disappointing.

Let’s start with what I enjoyed; I really loved the representation in this book in regards to both of the characters. They both struggled with a lot, one with their mental health and the other physically. I loved the support that Cady had with all her friends. The book club she has set up is 😘🤌🏻 they discussed my favorite blue aliens & their spurs 😏 hehe. I also thought the grand gesture at the end from both of them was amazing.

However these things just helped balance out the book for me. I was truly confused for the first few chapters, I thought I was reading a paranormal spooky rom com but I obviously wasn’t. I don’t want to say much without giving spoilers but somethings were just too weird for me. I got some creeper vibes and not in a sexy way. I also felt very disconnected from the story. I think there was a little sub plot of a mystery but to me it was whatever.

Would I recommend this book? I don’t know, however one of my book besties did request the ARC to read it thanks to all my chatting about it while I was reading it! It definitely was an amusing read.

This book had so much potential but the over the top survivalist was just too much. I could not get over the descriptions of his feelings.

I love Kerrigan Byrne, so I didn't think twice about picking this book. I was only familiar with her historical romances, and I couldn't wait to see how she'd do with a modern story. First of all, the driving drama in Townsend Harbor will speak to anyone familiar with historical properties, fussy HOAs, and small town humor. I loved every bit of it. The morally grey aspects are very upfront, and I did cringe through some if it, but it is carefully handled which I appreciated. The over-the-top protective Fox and the cheerfully kink-positive Cady were fabulous to follow, and I love to see a chronic illness written so well on page. And the lust and sex scenes are hot, hot, hot!

I was gifted an e-book and will provide my own honest opinion. Overall I found it To be quite good. I could of been Gemma and Cady’s best friend. However I do notwagain like the overall theme containing approval of the stalking and voyeurism that is a central part of the romance. Never understood why the sheriff allowed the transients to continue to camp there and . not make them move on. Anyway Cady was gifted the bookstore upon her Aunt’s death. Cady has sto deal with the passing of her Aunt Fern and the city council and historical society, letters expecting Cady to prove she is the rightful owner. A good light suspense, however I found it slow in the middle so much so I put it down to read others. Even when I picked it back up and continued the story became very interesting... on with the story. I would recommend for adult readers. Available now! Go out and get your copy. Even with my reservations they on some subject matter and graphic sex. I would recommend for adult readers. Thanks to the following for allowing me to review early #NetGalley, #, #OliverHeberBooks, #KerriganByrne & #CynthiaSt.Aubin, #NevermoreBookstore

Thank you for my gifted copy!

I sadly couldn’t get into this one and DNF’d. Will hopefully try again in the future!

When a significant number of reviews cite all the same issues, you can be fairly certain they're truly problematic. In the case of Nevermore Bookstore, the primary culprit is stalking (not cute! and definitely not a heroic trait!), immature prose (unfair to label it as "YA," since plenty of Young Adult writing is quite sophisticated), and an overall sense of idiocy in relation to the FMC. Not a good effort from a single author, let along the power of two brains combined.

The start was promising, with the cutest cover and innuendos: but delving deeper into the book I was disappointed.

Things I liked:
The dedication
The way he describes her & thinks of her was cute, "she was adorable on a regular day. Inebriated? He'd met certain sociopaths who would be charmed by her"
And the representation of PTSD and ankylosing spondylitis

Things I did not like
1. The smut vocab was poor and cringy as hell
2. Unnecessarily descriptive vocab
3. "It wouldn't be his first bare-handed kill, but it would be the first with his dick swinging in the breeze"

Plot:
Cady receives weekly phone call orders for her bookshop from a mysterious man. After her bookstore is broken into, a new mysterious man comes into town. Oddly enough she was on the phone with Fox as the break in was occurring. Could they be the same man?

Characters:

Cady: main character; runs a bookstore; has a chronic illness
Fox: former major in the army; has PTSD; doesn't like being around people
Gemma: Cady's best friend; is on the council
Ethan: sheriff; is romantically interested in Cady; doesn't like Fox
Caryn: councilwoman; Ethan's mom; illegal surveillance; part of the bookclub
Myrtle: friend of Cady's; funny; member of the bookclub
Vee: owns a spicy shop; funny; member of the bookclub


Overall:
I personally liked the amount of representation for people with chronic illness, PTSD, and people who are not petite. I also thought that the setting of the town was really fun and I wish there was also more of an exploration of it. With that being said this book still fell a bit short for me. I thought that the dialogue was somewhat immature for both of the main characters. There were many moments where I had to stop and remember how old the characters were supposed to be.

In terms of romance I was confused. I felt that they had not known enough about each other to warrant how passionate Cady was about him. She literally did not know his name for 94% of the book. He continually ran away because he felt he was getting too close, which I, personally, would absolutely hate because if you like someone would you not want to be with them??? The reason he didn't want to be with her is because he didn't want to ruin her perception of him. He did have some redeeming qualities. He was compassionate, kind and helpful. Parts of her would lock up and he would know exactly what to do to help soothe her. Those moments were great and I wish there had been more like them. I also wished that they spoke more about themselves so that they got to know each other better. At about the 90% mark we get an info dump of both of their lives, which could have been delivered throughout the book.

One large bone I would like to pick is the stalking. I cannot call it anything else. Dude was really on the mountain with binoculars staring through her window. He was also creeping around town to watch her. The only reason they met was because she walked up to him and asked him for help moving things around. If she hadn't he would still be watching.
In fact if she had not literally chased him up a mountain and said I'm not leaving until you come with me, they would not be together.