This book has a very exciting premise for bookworms. Finding someone who has the same reading taste and style as you is a dream. The idea of a meet cute with a little free library was beautiful. A relationship building based on exchanging thoughts on books via notes in the margins is unique.

If you are looking for a quick, cute romance, this is not it. This book touches on some very heavy topics. Grief and loss from the beginning for both main characters. The struggles of mental health are a huge part of the story. The traumatic bullying flashbacks with a lack of adult interference is heartbreaking.

Erin is not a super loveable character. She has some definite flaws, and it is interesting to see her work through them. James was the more loveable character. His relationship with his friend Joel growing was one of the best parts of the book. When men get the opportunity for emotional growth and sharing, it is touching. It needs to be normalized in society.

This book is a reminder that everyone is going through something they don't share with the world. Sometimes, we need to slow down and really communicate to understand others' behaviors.

I’m so thankful at the chance to get this arc!

This one was an extremely slow paced book that I really struggled to connect with the fmc, however I was more invested in the mmc.

The hallucination of her dead best friend just absolutely threw me off, and while I understand the theme of grief, it just felt incredibly forced.

Thank you to Netgalley and Graydon House for this ARC!

I love Little Free Libraries, in fact, it's where I get the majority of my books, so when I saw the concept fo this book, I immediately fell in love. I loved the idea of the swapping books, but the pace felt a bit off for me. Also, I didn't expect the heavy topics, not that there's any problem with it, but when I read romance, I often try to escape. It was a slow read, but not a terrible one :)

I really liked the idea of this story. It started off entertaining and then it just got dull and a chore to finish the book. Erin has so much anger and just cannot move on. I felt so bad for James never getting to explain himself.

I enjoyed this book, but it definitely packs in some deeper topics than I was expecting. The book touches on cancer, mental health, and bullying in pretty in depth ways. I liked James more than I liked Erin, but her character arc was satisfying by the end. If you’re looking for a fun, breezy romance, this isn’t it. But I really enjoyed it!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

This book came to me at the perfect time. Nice story to start, but when the heavy stuff hit me it was incredible! May be just where I am in life right now, but this one will stick with me for a while.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I am giving this book a solid 3.5 stars because even though it was not my favorite I still did have a good time in certain parts of this book. I like the premise of the book with swapping the books out and really getting to know each other through what was being said in the books but also between them. I wish the book would have had a faster pace because the slow pace made it really hard to get through. By 60% of the book I felt it should have been wrapped up. Overall, it was a good book but not a favorite.

Reviewed for NetGalley:

I wanted to like this one, I did. The book swap idea, very meet cute.

But, unfortunately, I found it slow and a little boring for my taste. Never really got into it.

2.5 stars.

Part of the disappointment for me with this novel was the expectation I had going in. Based on the cover and synopsis, I thought this would be a cute, lightheaded romance. Be warned, it definitely was not. It is more about trauma, growth and resilience than about romance. It covers death, bullying, grief, mental health, illness. As for the romance, it was definitely a slow, very very slow burn.

Thank you to Harlequin and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Torn between 3&4 stars. 4 stars because I was obsessed with the plot of anonymously passing books back and forth through a little free library while falling in love through underlined quotes and notations in the margins. You couldn’t make a more perfect romance plot for me. A man who will read, reflect upon and love Jane Austen? Sold.

3 stars because my emotional response to any traumatic situation is to ignore all feelings, bury it and just move on. Build a bridge, walk over said bridge, and blow up bridge so you can forget what happened on the other side. These characters were emotional. And complex. And honestly just rolling around in their sadness and indecision for too long for me. So I personally needed it to be shorter.

I was rooting very hard for James. But Erin needed some tough love way earlier in the book.

I’m excited to read more by Tessa Bickers!

A fun sweet read! Highly recommend.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for my ARC.

Some of my favorite books are books about book lovers! I knew I wanted to read this book based on the title and cover alone and it did not disappoint! Both Erin and her mystery man struggle with large emotions and they both use their love of books to get them through tough situations. I was expecting a light hearted romantic comedy but I got so much more from this book! I cannot wait for September 3rd because I will be going straight to the bookstore to get the physical copy of this book!

Thank you so much NetGalley and Graydon House publishing for letting me read an ARC of this wonderful book!!

I love a book about books. These high school sweethearts get a second chance at romance when they anonymously start swapping class books at a local little library. It’s cute and sweet but there’s lots of emotion and drama with grief and history.

What a cute story!! I love books and this title screamed- "lil romantic story with a bit of comedy and books." I will definitely recommend it to anyone interested in a cute romantic love story.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Going into this book, I had really high hopes. Romance, second-chance love, classical books, a combination of all the things I love! But this book fell a bit flat for me...

My first issue was it was hard for me to get into. It is a dual POV novel, from the view of James and Erin (main love story) who were best friends but had a falling out. They are later brought back together through an anonymous book swap where they write thoughts to each other in their favourite classic literature (this is the first time I've ever heard of someone reading Dickens for fun LOL). The story jumped between POVs of these characters, but also jumped back in time to their school days and to memories of a mutual friend they had who had passed away. The point of views were clear but I found the time jumping to be difficult to follow at times.

My second issue is the ending was sweet but a bit too sweet. It seemed unrealistic and pulled me out of the story. Everything seemed to be tied into a neat bow; James and Erin's love story, Joel and Cassie finding someone, both main characters forgiving their parents, both main characters coming to terms with their internal mental health struggles, quitting their jobs to follow their dreams, getting over the grief of their lost friend, etc. I felt that this book tried to solve too many of these problems the characters were dealing with, if they were still going through the grieving process or working on themselves, I think it would have been a more well-rounded ending.

I liked some things about the novel, too. I thought the conversation about mental health and the ripple effect was very well done. I appreciated how this overlapped with the large theme of grief and loss in the book. Sometimes, mental health and grief can be written in a way that is overwhelming in emotion but I thought the author did a good job of keeping a balance.
The side characters made this book worth it. I love Cassie and Georgia with all my heart, Georgia should have her own spinoff.

All in all, it was okay, not a favourite of mine but was a light fun romance to read.

Going in I thought this would be more about books and romance, but it ended up being quite different than my expectations. Incredibly heartfelt and devastatingly sad at times, my biggest gripe is how much I disliked Erin at first (but hey! Room for character development).

I definitely would not recommend going in thinking this is a romance since doing so made this a challenging read for me at times, but overall a good read for those who want more of a book centered around loss and mental health, with a dash of romance.

I really wanted to like this book more! It sadly felt sooo slow for me. I couldn’t get over Erin’s self-centered behavior. Even when you think she’s learned some awareness and admits it, she repeats the same behavior and lets another 6 months go by! It was so frustrating. I loved James and his growth throughout this book, especially through his friendships with Elliott and Joel. His POV chapters were really the only thing that kept getting me through this book.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book.
DNF about 20%
Life is too short to read books that don't grab your attention. Honestly, Erin's behavior in the first chapter annoyed me, and I couldn't see myself enjoying her journey.

3-star rating because it made me give one, but I think this book just isn't for me right now.

I tried to start this, but I got a bit interested in reading reviews first and realized this is not only a slow burn which isn't really for me, but that it's more contemporary fiction focused on subjects like loss and I'm not in that headspace when I want a romance so for me this will be a unfortunate Dnf. Whoever is reading this review don't let this suede you away from trying this one out! It's just not for me!

I was expecting a cozy book about books with romance, but it's not really that. More than romance, this book focuses more on themes like loss, dealing with the past, and growing as a person. The thing is, I didn't connect with these characters at all, which is a bummer. I see a lot of people enjoying it, which is great, I wish I liked it more.