Ohh I loved this! As a girlie who is frequently at the bookstore I loved the playful banter, enemies to lovers trope (my personal fav), and cozy setting. They both love books and manage a bookstore? Immediate yes. I read this in one setting and didn’t want it to end! Truly great!

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the chance to ARC this book.

I wanted to love this book but sadly just couldn't fall into it as I usually do. The overall vibes just felt repetitive and played out. While this wasn't personally a book that I enjoyed, I'm sure someone else feels different. I wish all positivity for the release.

Thank you for this ARC. This book was cute and an easy summer read. It played really heavy on the Romeo and Juliette vibes which got a little old after a while. Overall not a terrible read.

It took me too long to read this ARC. I wanted to like this so desperately. The summary and premise seem as though it were made for those who adore romance novels--enemies to lovers, the You've Got Mail of it all with the rivalry bookstores--but the characters, their interactions, and their actions in general just felt too corny and cheesy. Romance is my first and favorite genre, but this one just didn't do it for me. I'm sure it's the perfect book for others, though.

Thank you to Netgalley and Avon and Harperr Voyager for this e-arc.

This was a romance following rival bookstore owners with a centuries old feud. Think Montague's and Capulets. A cute little small town read that was charming and quirky, but fell a little short for me. While the book was a fun read it was slow and the constant back and forth of the characters was irritating. Honestly cute premise, but not for me.

The Battle of the Bookshops by Poppy Alexander

⭐️⭐️

Thank you to Net Galley and Avon and Harper Voyager for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) that I was granted permission to read before it gets published in August. I’m so thankful for the opportunity, but I was pretty let down at the content of the book.

On a small seaside town in England, Jules Capelthorne and Roman Montbeau are continuing the family tradition of hating each other (think Romeo and Juliet). Jules joins her great-aunts 100-year-old bookstore business, while Roman opens up a brand new bookshop across the street. Fighting to be the better bookshop, they reignite the family feud. But is their hate for each other really love in disguise?

The prospect of this book seemed promising. Enemies to lovers? Historical family feuds? Bookshops? Cute older aunts? Sign me up! But actually reading it was another story. There were way too many story lines to figure out which was the main one. The timeline of the story was confusing, and the romance storyline went from hate to love way too fast and very unrealistically. We were introduced to so many people who didn’t really end up being important, and the final closure of the book wasn’t satisfying. I wanted to DNF this book quite a few times, but I also wanted to give this ARC an honest effort. In the end, it was just a huge letdown. Here’s to hoping my next ARC will be better!

Thank you netgalley for the ARC of this book! The story follows a young woman who had to return to her small hometown due to a close family member's injury. She is hesitant as she views this as a step back in her life, and it only gets worse once she realizes her high school crush is also back in her hometown after his adventures in America.

This was a sweet and cozy story set in a small coastal town in England. The author did a marvelous job setting the scene for the story. The two main characters were enjoyable together, though we did not get to see a lot of their actual conversations once they got together. That made their relationship seem rather surface-level. Some of the writing was a bit repetitive, in particular when describing the weather and the main character's limited choices for clothing. If you are in search of a cozy, book-loving read, this one's for you!

I had the hardest time reading this. I should have stopped very early on but I rarely dnf books. This honestly was painful to read. There’s so much detail in very small things (meals, the way the street looks, etc) and huge plot holes in the actual story. It was so bizarre!
The characters were just weird too, they went from hating each other to in love very quickly with nothing really happening to help their love story along. Side characters came and went without warning as well!
I am also baffled the thing the MFC has held onto and been embarrassed about for YEARS was having toilet paper stuck to her shoe in high school. There was just so much about this book that made me so annoyed.

I did *NOT* enjoy this book

it felt a little icky at times, the MMC wasn’t my favorite, the romance wasn’t convincing, and overall, I just wasn’t invested at all

Obviously, this is a battle between two bookstores; one around for ages and the other new and shiny. Think Romeo and Juliet meets You’ve Got Mail.

This one wasn’t for me. I couldn’t stand the storyline being too closely written as a modern retelling of Romeo and Juliet. You have Jules Capelthorne (Juliet Capulet??) fighting to keep her great-aunt’s 100 year old bookstore open when along comes Roman Montbeau (Romeo Montague??) who is part of the town’s most elite societal family, opens a multi level fancy pants bookstore right across the street.

Writing is fine. But story is not original in any way.

Also, Aunt Flo needs a different name. There is nothing endearing about visualizing my period. Instead, I forced myself to see the actor Maggie Smith, and it helped some.

I was instantly drawn to Battle of the Bookshops by the name and cover—it felt like the perfect start-of-spring read. The premise reminded me a lot of You’ve Got Mail, which made me love it even more. I really enjoyed the slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers relationship between Jules and Roman, and the Romeo and Juliet/Shakespeare references added such a fun and thoughtful layer to the story. It was a beautiful, cozy read full of heart, humor, and literary charm—perfect for book lovers!

This is the perfect autumn cozy read. It may seem at the beginning of this book your typical enemies to lovers but I would not put it in that box, it is definitely a challenging relationship between Jules and Roman, but what I loved about it was that in-spite of circumstances they were not your typical stubborn characters, in fact I found them very refreshing that way.
Even though I was not convinced with the similarity’s between Romeo and Juliet, I was able to get over that to enjoy the story.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC opportunity!

This really wasnt for me for multiple reasons. The author's writing style just fell flat for me. The pacing was slow, and the story felt predictable in a way that made it not very exciting. I found myself disconnecting from the story, and not wanting to finish.

The chemistry between Jules and Roman felt non-existent. I couldnt buy into them being a couple or anything of the sort.

And lastly, i am all for dark humor. I use it in my life regularly, and it takes alot to jar me. But comparing denying leaving work an hour early to genocide rubbed me the wrong way. Even if its meant as an exaggerated joke, in the current times, it felt insensitive and messy.

I don't think this book is for me. I find myself putting it down and not thinking about it. The writing is sometimes difficult to read. Maybe I'm not in the right headspace right now to read the book, but I don't think I can give good feedback right now if I'm not enjoying the book.

Thank you for giving me the chance to read it, but I don't think this book is for me.

this was a cute, quick read! i think this one didn't fully hit for me was because a lot of the falling in love part happened off page, which is something i typically dislike in my romances. overall, though, this was a fun time.

I absolutely loved this! The characters are perfect, the romance is perfect, the setting…perfect! I think this book is going to be addicting for every book girlie out there. If you like Emily Henry’s writing style, then I think you will also really like this one. Overall, I cannot wait for this to publish so I can add a copy to my collection,

I have never read anything by this author, but I will be looking out for other books they write in the future. I really enjoyed the story as well as the pacing of the story.

Unfortunately, I had to DNF this one. I did not get far into this book, so please take this review with a grain of salt. At the very beginning (I think it’s the first chapter), the main character compares her boss declining her request for leave to genocide. She then goes on to correct herself, saying, “Fine, maybe not genocide […]”. I do get that this is supposed to be a joke, but it didn’t sit well with me, and I wasn’t able to get over it. I’m also not the biggest fan of the author’s writing style, so that just confirmed the DNF for me.

A charming and heartwarming read set in a seaside town, where a family-run bookstore faces off against a flashy new competitor. The predictability of the plot and slower pacing make it an enjoyable, if somewhat unremarkable, story.

2.5 stars

First of all, thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read The Battle of the Bookshops. I came for the seaside charm, the promise of a cozy bookshop rivalry, and just a smidge of enemies-to-lovers romance—but unfortunately, the result didn’t quite live up to the pitch.

Let’s start with the positives: the idea is delightful. A scrappy, slightly chaotic old bookshop with deep family roots facing off against a sleek new literary rival run by the childhood-nemesis-turned-potential-love-interest? Yes, please. I loved the setting of Portneath, with its crooked streets, salty air, and crumbling shopfronts. The aesthetic is “BBC rom-com” meets “cozy lit lover’s daydream,” and that atmosphere definitely carried the book through its slower moments.

That said… there were a lot of slower moments. Jules is a sweet protagonist, but she often felt more reactive than proactive, and her journey never quite built the momentum I wanted. Roman, meanwhile, was more cardboard cutout than compelling foil. The banter that should’ve sizzled fell flat, and the rivalry, which promised to be a deliciously petty war of words and window displays, was surprisingly tepid. I wanted sabotage! Shenanigans! At the very least, a passive-aggressive bake sale! Instead, I got long-winded meetings, internal monologues, and a few too many conveniently resolved plot threads.

The side characters—great-aunt Florence especially—added a nice touch of heart, but they weren’t enough to save the pacing. By the time things finally picked up, I was already emotionally checked out, which made the ending feel a bit like a rom-com credits scene I’d wandered into halfway through.

Still, The Battle of the Bookshops has its charms, and readers who enjoy low-stakes cozy stories with a heavy dose of nostalgia might find it a pleasant escape. For me, though, it needed a bit more spark and a lot more bite.

Would I visit Capelthorne’s Books in real life? Absolutely. Would I reread the novel? Probably not.

Thanks again to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!