This is a modern take on Romeo and Juliet. It’s very on the nose from the get-go with the names and such. I found this book very hard to get into. I usually read books in less than a day, and it took me weeks to get through this one. It just couldn’t hold my attention. I think my main issue is this was very detailed, but in the wrong places. We have lots of detail on the mundane ins and outs of the day (waking up, food eaten, etc) but missed details serving major plot points. For example, Roman admits he’s in love with Jules halfway through the book. How did he get there? The building of the romance was lackluster. The story got a little more interesting about 2/3’s in, but again glossed over things. I think this is a pass.

Thank you Avon and Harper Voyager for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

*Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and Avon and Harper Voyager | Avon for the arc, all opinions are my own.

A bookish Romeo and Juliet-esq premise, I thought this was going to pull me in quickly. However, this one just never grabbed me.

Jules (Juliet) is set on helping bring her great-aunt's bookshop back to its former glory. As a FMC, Jules never really grabbed me and the animosity between her and our MMC Roman (Romeo) just seemed so silly. He of course owns the bookshop across the street from Jules'.

They team up when Jules finds some letters in her shop, and they team up to figure out who they are from. I thought this was a great chance for the author to get them into some shenanigans, but there just wasn't enough skin in the game to help it matter.

Overall, I wasn't able to connect with the characters, the conflict was silly, and the storyline was not compelling enough for me to recommend to others.

The Battle of the Bookshops by Poppy Alexander.

Jules is determined to save her great aunts bookshop. Roman is the owner of the property. Of course the families have been feuding for years. But Jules and Roman go from enemies to lovers. This was such a nice and quick cozy read. I loved the ending. I’m also happy when there is a fairy tale ending.

I could see myself reading this again, especially in the summer at the beach. I really enjoy poppy’s writing. I’m looking forward to reading more of her books!

Thank you so much NetGalley, Poppy and Avon and Harper Voyager for the ARC!

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Publication Date: August 19th 2025

#NetGalley #TheBattleoftheBookshops

This was a decent story that was very likened to a Romeo and Juliet retelling. It was a bit predictable and I didn’t really feel a lot of the chemistry between the two main characters. I liked the premise of the story—two family owned, warring bookshops. Would be an easy beach read for sure.

The Battle of the Bookshops by Poppy Alexander is a charming literary-themed novel set in the quaint seaside town of Portneath. The story follows Jules Capelthorne, who returns from her junior publishing job in London to help her great-aunt Florence run Capelthorne's Books—a family-owned bookshop nearing its hundredth anniversary. Upon arrival, Jules discovers the shop is on the brink of bankruptcy, with the lease up for renewal and a substantial sum needed to save it.
GOODREADS

Complicating matters, Roman Montbeau—heir to a wealthy local family and a childhood rival—opens a modern, upscale bookshop directly across the street, intensifying the longstanding feud between their families. Despite limited resources, Jules employs creativity and determination to revitalize her shop and compete with Roman's venture. As the rivalry unfolds, unexpected feelings emerge, leading to a heartwarming exploration of love, community, and the preservation of cherished traditions.

"The Battle of the Bookshops" by Poppy Alexander is set in quaint seaside town which makes me yearn for warmer weather and summer. This lighthearted story of rival bookstores makes for a cozy, quick read. While the storyline is predictable and the characters could have been more fully developed, it remains an enjoyable experience. Fans of West Side Story or Romeo and Juliet will find this to be an engaging read. Thank you to NetGallery and Avon and Harper Voyager for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Jules returns home to help run her Great-Aunt Flo’s bookstore. However, competition is steep when the neighboring bookstore is being run by her childhood crush, now nemesis.

Overall, fun, quick read.

Woah!!!
What a book!
Thank you for the ARC of this book, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. Very cute and very fun read

The pace of this book was frustratingly slow. It took me about 60% of the book to start enjoying it. I loved the concept: two rivaling families with rival bookshops, enemies to lovers, but the pace threw the whole book off for me. Outside of that, the writing was beautiful and I really enjoyed the scenery of the small England town it’s based in.

Quick and easy romance read.

I liked the story. It didn't have too much depth but it was enjoyable to read. I think the pacing, for the most part, is quick.

I'd love to see more depth in the characters to really connect to them. They're likeable but not ground-breaking. I'd also love a bit more in the plot to make it less predictable. Aunt Flo is my favorite and it would be cool to have more of her in the story.

Concept is interesting but I would like more!

Thanks to Netgalley and Avon for the copy of this book!

I received a free copy of, The Battle of the Bookshops, by Poppy Alexander, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This was a fun romeo and juliet style retelling involving two warring families who own bookshops on the same street. I really did enjoy the book, and had a great time reading about the comings and goings of bookshop life, and how the family rivalry all pieced together in the end. I do feel that the love story is not fully flushed out, as I had a hard time following the jump from rivals to lovers, but overall loved the cozy feel this book provided. If there was just a bit more meat to how the "falling in love" came to be, it would be the perfect little rom-com!

As an avid reader, I’m always a fan of books that take place in libraries or bookshops. They generally tend to have a magical undertone, even the ones that are cloaked in mystery; unfortunately, this one fell a little bit flat for me. It reminded me of the movie You’ve Got Mail twisted up with Romeo & Juliet, only the MCs don’t die at the end. While both the movie & the play are quite good, when combined into a book it just didn’t work as well. I also couldn’t get past how many times the MCs last names were used throughout the book, I know it was for the Romeo & Juliet tie in but it really didn’t need to be redundant. The story had a lot of potential but overall it just wasn’t something that I could fully get into.

**Thank you NetGalley and Avon publishers for providing me with an ARC for my honest review**

A modern retelling of Romeo and Juliet with a happy ending.

Capelthorne's has been selling books in Portneath for over 100 years. Jules has come back home from London to help her great aunt Flo through a difficult time and runs right into the son of her family's sworn enemy, Roman Montbeau. Roman is back from America and has decided to open a new bookshop, right across the tiny street from Capelthorne's books. This means war.

Poppy Alexander writers an adorable romance of two characters who should hate each other, but find that there is a flame that keeps igniting when they are together. This will be a great beach read for summer!

A charming setting and some cute moments. However, this didn't work as a whole. It's apparently a romance, but there really isn't much interaction between the two leads at all - I don't know what they like about each other, and I didn't witness them falling in love, which I think is supposed to be the point. Also the dual POV was like 97% hers, 3% his, so why include his at all? And their huge source of friction (his dad owns the property that her great aunt lives and sells books on, and has decided to kick her out so she is homeless and unemployed?) was apparently irrelevant because they just decided to get over it and everything was fine. And I did not like that they made a huge profit off of this random guy's free labor, who just walked in off the street and offered to work for free...what?

I was so hopeful for this book, but unfortunately it all just fell flat for me. It felt very dated while still being set in modern day. There were lengthy passages of narrative that were either redundant or needless. Additionally, I think one of its faults was how hard it committed to the Romeo and Juliet retelling, particularly where things didn’t make sense.

Most critically, the romance was completely jostling — as it almost comes out of nowhere, and fails to develop on page. Too much time was devoted to side characters, without much rhyme or reason to their side plots inclusion.

I really wanted to enjoy this, unfortunately it just fell flat.

The idea of the book was cute and what intrigued me, however it just didn’t hit the mark for me.
Another retelling of Romeo and Juliet, however we get very very little background of this family feud. We’re also never told why exactly Jules and Roman don’t get along, yet he was transfixed with her in a green silk dress in high school?
The book didn’t seem like it could decide on a plot point — the family feud, something about losing the bookshop, and then some off the wall story of a witches grimoire? I felt jerked in every direction and there’s points in chapters where it jumps from one thing to another and just didn’t flow.
I was also taken aback by Jules calling Roman her best friend? Where and when did that happen because they had just broken up shortly before?
Also… as a 32 year old woman, I can count exactly zero things in my closet from *high school* that I’d be able to fit in. I’m hard pressed to believe Jules miraculously fit in her high school wardrobe.

This will likely be a cute read for others, but it just wasn’t it for me and dragged terribly while losing the plot at points.

Imagine one of your loved ones, who raised you and fostered your love of reading, owned a bookstore and a member of the family that has been feuding with yours opened a bookstore across the street. What would you be willing to do to save the bookstore you were raised in? That is the question posed to our protagonist, Jules.

This novel was such a fun cozy read! I enjoyed the wide cast of characters, in fact I wish we got to see more of them for longer. Sign me up for the next open cottage in Portneath! The romance in this was very sweet! If you enjoy enemies to lovers or second chance romances, this could be right up your alley!

Thank you NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the ARC and the chance to read and review this book early!

Goodreads review link: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7202040406

StoryGraph Review Link: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/87b08ba3-4da9-4480-9372-30fe7335b592

DNF @ 70%. I just couldn’t anymore.
Romeo & Juliet theme.

The Capelthornes and Montbeau’s have had a family rivalry for years. The Capelthorne’s have owned a small bookstore in town forever. But they’re having money troubles (and the owner - Flo- has fallen and is having some trouble getting around), so the granddaughter (Jules) comes home to help. Their troubles aren’t helped by the fact that the Montbeau’s open a huge, fancy new bookstore right up the street and plan to put them out of business.

Jules Capelthorne and Roman Montbeau have a history. Well, sort of. He was part of the cool crowd in school. She wasn’t. She had a crush on him. He apparently secretly liked her. Nothing ever happened. Fast forward a decade or so, and they are enemies because of this family rivalry.

But suddenly (or at least to me) they’re in love. Now, I’m all about an enemies to lovers. Favorite trope. But I feel like there were a few chapters missing that showed that transition. Maybe it was just me, but I wasn’t feeling it. I wasn’t at all invested in their relationship. Overall, I think she should have nix’d the romantic relationship and made this a grandmother/granddaughter story. Just my 2 cents, all free.

loved this rivals to lovers and both working and owning a book store. Great to see the friends and their romances. loved her friend freya . Loved that they finally found their way to each other despite the family feud.

Thanks to Net Galley for this eARC. This is my honest review his book was a decent read for me.. I’ve never read one of Poppy Alexander’s books but I will definitely be reading her others. I loved the main premise of the story being about the bookshops but I do wish the romance wasn’t as backstage as it was. And I do wise it had more male POV chapters