3.5 stars

This was an easy and fun read. I was struggling at the beginning to get into the story, but then it started being more interesting and by the ending, we had so many surprises.
I loved the small town setting and Meggie's secret book club. It was really fun reading about the secret meetings and events.
I could connect with Meggie from the beginning, she was lost and was trying to find her perfect job, which she finally did. I just found her relationship with Malcom a bit basic, for me there was no chemistry.
Still, it ended up being a cute heart warming story.

Thank you HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter for the free ARC!

Maggie decides to start an underground book club, when she is not able to sell the books she wants to because of the literary society in town. This is a good read, a lot of good books have been banned. Books should not be banned.

Thank you to Netgalley, publisher and the author for providing a free copy jn exchange for an honest review #thesecretbookclub

Maggie is at a dead end. Living with her parents and never holding down a job which doesn't make her find distractions to create fun. Her best friend Rochelle offers for Maggie to cover her maternity leave he her bookshop the only downside.... Maggie is not a reader. Can Maggie make this work? Can she inject the fun needed into her new venture ?

I was offered to be part of the readalong with OMC Publisher.

This book is a great read that really draws on multiple societial topics such as; Black women authors, marginalised members of society and how your job defines you as a person. Some may find these emotional subjects but I do think the author has subtly Included them to make you think but not detract from the plot of the book. This vook really provides food for thought and some life lessons along the way.

Furthermore the community spirit in this book is very special. It shows that your attitude to life can bring people together even against all odds. It is spectacular it just shows how everyone only wants the best for you and how it takes a village to pull any event off. Something you can only hope is replicated in your own community.

I did find that the romance included was a bit 2dimensional at times. It either needed elaborating on their thoughts, feelings and emotions or leaving out altogether. One minute they didn't really talk and the next they had sex!

the secret book club by shauna robinson (which i learned has also been published as the banned bookshop of maggie banks)
pub date: 18 jan

4.5 ⭐

a light and fun read one can easily sit through in just a couple hours. a book about books with a protagonist who starts off as a non-reader then goes on to build a community that celebrates the love for all books! that's the dream right there.

as a mid-20s serial job hopper whose Dream Job is to Do Nothing, i vibed so hard with maggie. i totally believe she'd go from zero interest in books to a self-proclaimed bookworm within months by the way she "floats through life" as her best friend says. (what i couldn't believe was how she could fake her sales report for weeks?) anyway she was so fun to read about and likely more fun to be around. the supporting characters had their own charm to them as well.

my only issue would be the romance, i.e. the lack of its development. i do like that there's generally less romance in "women's fiction" than in actual romance books, but i thought maggie and the love interest could have been just very good platonic friends and it wouldn't have made a huge difference to the story.

though overall this book was thoroughly enjoyable and well-written. i would love to read more from the author!

thank you to netgalley, the publisher, and the author for the copy!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the free copy of The Secret Book Club! This was such a CUTE story. It gave me a story that I could relate to as well as feeling cozy in the midst of reading it. I hope that one day my dream of having a small bookshop will come true...just like's Maggie's!!

I really enjoyed reading this book. It sounded like an intriguing plot, with Maggie running an underground book club, and it instantly intrigued me. It lived up to this intrigue and I was hooked!

I loved the community that Maggie developed through her secret book club. There were so many interesting characters that created a fun dynamic. The events also sounded great too!

The mystery of Edward Bell and the town also kept me interested. I did find that as the book went on it got a bit predictable, but I did enjoy how everything was revealed.

Malcolm was a nice character and I did find the relationship between him and Maggie sweet, but I also felt like there wasn't really any chemistry between them and they mostly just seemed like friends.

I loved this book!! Maggie was instantly an interesting and sympathetic character - even if her decisions stressed me out constantly. I found I was quite on edge waiting for the inevitable blow up of her secrets to come, but thankfully it wasn’t too painful when it happened. The premise of this book was so fun - a restrictive bookshop and a secret club, reimagining classics. Seeing Maggie fall in love with the joy of reading in real time and also find what drives her was great, and I loved the messages woven through it - especially that you don’t have to be defined by your career. I loved the writing and every single character, except Ralph of course. Plus the romance!!! My favourite scenes were when Maggie & Malcolm were together. I will definitely be reading more of Shauna Robinsons works. Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins for the ARC.

You know, I like books like this one. I like books where the main character is just not knowing what she wants to do with her life and someone found her home. Maybe I'm still hopeful I'll find mine.

I liked Maggie, sometimes I was like "girl what are you doing". Maggie is helping out her friends during her maternity leave by running the bookstore in this small town. The small town is a shrine to a white man that wrote a book once. I loved how she questioned things, and tried to make things her own.

I liked the romance, it was small but it was there. I liked seeing Malcom and her getting to know each other after bumping heads.

I just thought it was cute. It was fluffy. I liked it.

I got an e-arc of this book on NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks to NetGalley for the arc!
This was a cute and quick read. Very lighthearted with a couple “mystery” type things thrown in. Very easy to follow and likeable characters. This wasn’t a home run for me, but it was not in any way bad. An easier read.

I typically enjoy books where the storyline involves a bookish setting, such as a bookshop or library, which was why I chose this.

I thought it was very charming. I took an immediate liking to the protagonist. My love of books is something that those close to me see as a big part of my personality, so this book spoke to me, as I hoped it would. I think it would speak to many other book lovers too, and I enjoyed all the bookish references throughout.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a free copy to review.

A compelling small town story about forbidden books, romance, and how literature feeds our souls. Recommended.

There's a very important topic in this story: the forbidden books. Books are forbidden when someone wants to suppress different ideas and impose a unique one.
Even if there's a serious background this is a light and entertaining story. I liked Maggie and the well plotted story
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

4.25🌟
I actually quite enjoyed this book. The feeling of small town village vibe where there's a strong sense of community always makes me happy and makes it feel quite homely which is always nice.
Maggie is a bit lost in life, she's not sure where to go, what to do or who she really is. She soon visits Bell River to support her friend in running the book store. Slight problem there though, she hasn't picked up a book in a long long time and she needs to know all about the history of the famous author related to the town.

With a love interest on the horizon, a nemesis out to get her and watching her every mistake and a whole town relying on her to make things better, there's a lot that Maggie has to answer for.

I had high hopes for this book, sadly they didn’t transpire.

The main character, Maggie, aims to help a friends bookstore improve its sales by starting an underground book club and selling banned books there, passing them off as legitimate sales from the store.

She discovers every has secrets, and that no one likes the way the town is being run. She accidentally causes the town’s secrets to be revealed and then needs to save not only her friend, but the town as well.

I didn't find any of the characters particularly interesting or likeable and didn’t connect with any of them, or most of the plot. This one was a struggle to finish.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this ARC in return for my honest review.

I'm a simple person; I see a book about books and I'm in.

This was enjoyable enough. I enjoyed all the book references and everything book related. I would absolutely love to attend events like the ones Maggie hosted in the book.

I really liked the progression of Maggie and Malcolm's relationship but was disappointed that it didn't progress far enough that I would have liked.

I understand that the book is from a black author, which I absolutely have not read enough by, but I found it a bit jarring that race was constantly brought up; I mean I understand why it was but in my opinion it wasn't necessary but obviously I'm not a person of colour so I'm not the best person to judge this.

Having said that I would read something else by the author as this was overall a fun and enjoyable read.

*Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Collins UK and Shauna Robinson for the copy of this book. All views are my own.*

I had a hunch I would dig this book. What I didn't know that I would absolutely love it! After struggling find her place, Maggie is running her friend's bookstore. The store is unique in that it only sells books that were published when the town's favorite author was alive. So, nothing new. When the store needs revenue. Maggie decides to start an underground book club where authors offer their spin on classics. She also starts selling new books on the side. And she unexpectedly finds this incredible community. But how can she keep this all going? She's determined to find a way, and that is so much of the story. Y'all, this was just a delight. I wanted more - I was so drawn into Maggie's world - her events, her relationships, everything - I want/need to know what's next because it was just that wonderful. Thanks to NetGalley for the look at this January 2024 release - one y'all definitely need to check out!

Rated - 3 / 5 ✨

When a book has Book Club in the title, I couldn’t not request it.

This was a really easy, light hearted read about a woman called Maggie, she’s unhappy with the path her life is on and is struggling to find her purpose. Her best friend Rochelle asks her if she can cover the book shop she works in whilst she’s on maternity leave, here is where the story really begins. There is mystery, fun, romance and adventure.

I liked Maggie, she was fun, but I found her frustrating at times, it was so obvious what she would be doing by the end of the story. Malcom the love interest was great, a quiet, serious, sweet book lover. I really enjoyed how they pulled each other out of their comfort zones.

However, I found their feelings for each other a little dull. There was no actual chemistry or spark shared in the story, there was the opportunity so many times, but it felt overlooked We didn’t actually get any really passion from either of them, I found it so frustrating.

The relationships with the towns people were really lovely, I loved getting to know them and seeing the whole town grow as the story progressed.

Overall, this was a lovely read, with some laughter and happiness.

Thanks NetGalley, One More Chapter and Shauna Robinson for the eARC.

Maggie is having a rough time so when her friend offers her the opportunity to run her bookstore while she goes on maternity leave, she decides to take her up on it. The problem is, the bookstore isn’t too profitable because it only sells books from a certain time period because the town historical society owns and runs most of the town puts restrictions on what can be done and sold in the town. After attending a booksellers event, she gets inspired to make the store more profitable for her friend by forming a back door book club and sells books that would otherwise be banned from the store and starts to host author events that have members of the town excited to come to now that they can buy something other than books from 1838. The connections she makes with the townspeople, and in particular her grumpy upstairs neighbor Vernor, are what really make the story.
This was an heartwarming and enjoyable story sprinkled in with bits of humor.
Thanks to One More Chapter and NetGalley for this eArc in exchange for my review.

So I feel silly… I didn’t realize that The Secret Book Club is actually the same book as The Banned Bookshop of Maggie Banks. There are just two different titles (one for the US and on for the UK). I have no idea why this book required a title change, but I am happy to report I read the book in February of 2023 and LOVED it. Anyone one who is a fan of books about books or romcoms should give it a go in whichever title you prefer!

What could be more perfect than a book taking place in a bookstore. I find it hard to believe one selling only classics would stay open very long.
I applaud Maggie’s desire to make more money. It’s rather resourceful on her part. I can’t say this was my favorite book but I’m sure some others will enjoy it