The cutest romance I could’ve asked for. Full of witty banter and is very easy to get into.

Classic case of rivals to working together to lovers with a dash of hidden identity 👀. I loved how the whole social media friends bit worked out, but I would’ve loved more for them to find it out earlier.

Overall, a solid 5 star read that I kept thinking about days after finishing. Also, bonus points for dyslexia rep.

STFUATTDLAGG 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️

This was so ridiculously fun and feisty. The banter. The tension. The LOATHING but crackling chemistry. I ate this up and honestly need more.

I loved the You’ve Got Mail vibes and the online messages. It perfectly rode the edge between sweet and intimate but with a definite spicy undercurrent. Ryan and Josie were each really interesting on their own and I loved the role reversal at play with Ryan being the romance bookseller to Josie high brow literary fiction side. And while Ryan is definitely dreamy, I liked that he had an edge to him as well, he has his own hang ups and issues that made him feel more authentic, even if yes he is clearly written by a woman.

I can always use more spice but the intimate scenes we did get were so much more powerful and worked because there was so much emotional lead up and investment that really made it worth the pay off and feel like it advanced the plot and served to strengthen the characters bond rather than just getting your back blown out.

I did want more from Josie and her relationship with Georgia and their mother, but as a side plot, I get it can’t be given all the page time to flesh that out. Still, Georgia could have been a bit of a stronger side character to strengthen Josie’s backstory and overall growth.

Minor critiques aside, I truly found this so endearing, funny, adorably bookish and nerdy, and truly a love letter to the power of books across genres and how they leave their marks on us. Huge thanks to Berkley Romance and Penguin Random House Audio for my galley and ALC respectively in exchange for an honest review!

A love letter to rom com fans everywhere. I loved the rivals to lovers storyline with the You Got Mail retelling. Brian (I mean Ryan) and Josie had great chemistry! I did kind of scoff at the situational fake dating moment (I think there needs to be more in the enemies to FRIENDS to lovers) but really enjoyed the development of the story overall! Would highly suggest for a cute, light read.

For fans of: You’ve got mail, Better than the movies by Lynn Painter, Beach Read by Emily Henry

Thank you to NetGalley, Berkley, and the author for the ARC! 🫶🏾 Ali Brady’s Battle of the Bookstores will be released June 3rd, 2025!

It wouldn’t be summer without a new Ali Brady book, and I’m so grateful to @prhaudio for an ALC and to @berkleypub for an ARC of their newest delight, Battle of the Bookstores. It comes out June 3, so there’s still time to get all the preorder swag! The authors are also amazingly fun in person, so check @alibradybooks to see if they’ll be in a town near you.

Josie Klein manages a literary bookstore while Ryan Lawson manages a romance store next door. But when the new owner decides to merge the stores, he says he will only keep on one manager and he’ll decide who gets the job by who has the most sales during the construction. Josie and Ryan haven’t interacted much—she doesn’t really believe in romance, and he’s not a fan of huge, depressing books—but when the contest forces them to start, saying they don’t like each other would be an understatement. But in a You’ve-Got-Mail-like twist, they’ve actually been talking for months on an anonymous book sellers’ forum where they feel very differently.

This book is an absolute love letter to readers. There are so many mentions of beloved books and book events and book merch throughout the story that the experience of reading this one made me feel like a VIP. I loved all the references and the setting, but it’s the relationship between Josie and Ryan that kept me turning pages. The chemistry sizzled, and I loved seeing it build, both in person and on the forums. I also loved how the implications of the anonymous forum were handled. I will say without a doubt that Ryan has made it to the top of my list of dreamy book boyfriends—which seems absolutely fitting for a book about books. I’m positive romance readers will fall in love with him, but I suspect they’ll love Jose just as much as well as the entire supporting cast at the bookstore!

The audiobook was fabulous. Karissa Vacker, one of my favorites, is flawless as Josie. And new-to-me Brandon Francis brings all the sweetness to Ryan’s point of view. I’d definitely recommend the audiobook, but I also can’t wait to get my signed copy on Tuesday!

This was such a sweet story!! And I LOVEEEEEE the shoutout to indie bookstores & Sellers! 💛💛💛 They definitely deserve all the love. And this was such a good story between Josie and Ryan! You cant help but root for these two to get together!

Josie who has sacrificed so much to literally raise her sister because they had an absentee mom. Josie’s been so kind and giving that all I wanted was for her to have her happily ever after!

Then there’s Ryan who is portrayed as this tall friendly sweet giant. But honestly, even though his character worked in the book, he was a bit too feminine for my personal taste. I mean my hubs is curious about what I read but I doubt he’d be obsessed with romance books as much as me. So Ryan wasn’t as relatable as I wanted him to be… and I guess I’m stereotyping and maybe because Ryan is so different that everyone enjoyed this book so much!

There were tons of great banter and my favourite scene was when Ryan had lunch with his mom. And I wont say too much so I don’t spoil anything, but it was sweet and she gave some really good advice 😁.

I had a great time reading this book and I would recommend it to anyone who loves bookstores and a sweet rom com ❤️.

𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸…
📚Enemies to Friends to Lovers
📚Workplace Romance
📚You got Mail Vibes
📚Secret Identity
📚Slow Burn
📚Dual POV
📚Open door

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

⭐️ 5 | 🌶 2.5

read if you like:
📖 books about books
📖 enemies/rivals to lovers
📖 he falls first
📖 opposites attract

do you like books that feel like a warm, cozy blanket on a cold day? or books that feel like love letters to readers ? how about a more modern retelling of ‘you’ve got mail’ that makes you feel both nostalgic & curious, like you’ve never heard the story before ? do i have you ? okay, good. you need to read this book.

josie & ryan own rival bookstores cater to very different clientele. ryan sells epic love stories to people looking to get lost in a fantasy world, while josie sells literally masterpieces that simultaneously rip out your soul & make you think deeply about the world. both co-exist as peacefully as possible until the building owner decides to tear down the walls that separate them & force them to compete for the sole management role at the “new” store he is creating.

this story was incredible. having just done a re-watch of ‘you’ve got mail’ recently, this was exactly what i needed, when i needed it. the authors were able to weave in the comfort & nostalgia from the classic romcom while still creating a completely unique story that had me hooked from start to finish.

the character development in this book was top notch. it was beautiful to see both characters become the people they were behind their keyboards. being the third party watching them go from enemies during the day to unknowing friends in their evening chats was so fun. the banter was off the charts & i found myself giggling & kicking my feet multiple times. it was just SO sweet.

i had so much fun reading this one & highly recommend it to anyone looking to get lost in a ridiculously sweet romcom this summer.

𝐁𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐲 𝐀𝐥𝐢 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐲
𝗠𝗬 𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚: ★★★★

This is the perfect book for all those book lovers who enjoy sweet and lighthearted romances!

This was a fun story about two main characters who manage bookstores and have to compete for the manager spot when the stores merge. I enjoyed the fun banter, the rivalry and especially all the talk of books, events, running a book store, reading in general etc. The two main characters initially seemed like simple individuals but I enjoyed the depth the story went to with them and I loved their character development throughout the story. The chemistry and friendship that eventually came about was everything!

This book was a bit predictable. It felt like we knew exactly what was going to happen and I was very surprised and grateful that some of my predictions weren’t actually accurate. While some were close the complexity of the characters and their relationship gave us a little extra to the ending and wrap up.

I listened to this book and read the ebook in tandem and I loved how well the audio was narrated. Karissa Vacker and Brandon Francis did a wonderful job bringing these characters and story to life!

I'm an indie bookseller who loves You've Got Mail. Ali Brady might as well have slapped my name on the cover and called it good.

In all seriousness, there are many books out there featuring booksellers as protagonists, but hardly any actually get the details right. I was delighted to see that Battle of the Bookstores aces these day-in, day-out details – I felt so seen, so understood, and I think most other booksellers (and book lovers in general) will too.

We have a compelling plot concept that automatically adds a "ticking clock" to the story, a sense of urgency that keeps readers engaged as Josie and Ryan not only fall in love, but also try to save their store(s). While I admit Josie frustrated me at points, I thought her character development was realistic and defense mechanisms understandable. Ryan is the golden retriever born romantic of many romance readers' fantasies – he acted as a great emotional balance to counter Josie's repressed/stoic affect. I tore through this novel... as soon as I reached 10-15% or so, I was hooked. This would be a great beach read for that reason.

Without spoilers, I liked how the plot resolved and wish all the best for this sweet, book-loving fictional couple. Battle of the Bookstores is a lighthearted, effortlessly fun novel perfect for those who love books to the marrow of their bones, enemies to lovers, golden retriever men, or all of the above.

🌶🌶🌶

Battle of the Bookstores:⁣
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Thank you @prhaudio @berkleyromance for my gifted copies! #PRHAudioPartner #BerkleyPartner ⁣
⁣
“Even when they have painful pasts or have made mistakes. Those ‘silly books’ show me that anyone can be brave and try again. It’s not that love makes everything work out perfectly—but love can create the perfect environment to face our fears.” ⁣
⁣
Listen the enemies in enemies to lovers is strong, ok? What you really need to know: there’s no third act breakup. There’s miscommunication, but the MMC literally says, “words, Josie. I need words” so he understands as the romance reader he is, no one likes a big miscommunication! ⁣
⁣
The audio was wonderful. Karissa Vacker is a favorite, and I think she played Josie well. I am not familiar with Brandon Francis, but I thoroughly enjoyed the audio.⁣
⁣
This was definitely an open love letter to romance readers, and it truly made me smile. I giggle and gasped a few times and I truly enjoyed it.

I absolutely adored everything about this book! I just wanted to binge the whole thing. It is perfect for romance readers, bookstore lovers, and booksellers.

Josie and Ryan own competing bookstores on the same block. Due to their landlord’s stipulations, the bookstores will be combined and only one bookseller will keep their job. As the competition rages on, they each depend on an anonymous friendship on an online book forum. It turns out that they’ve been unknowingly forming a friendship with each other!

I loved that Ryan was the romance lover, with his wonderfully chaotic, community-building romance bookstore. His story about how he found romance was hilarious, and he was just the sweetest person. Josie is a serious literary fiction reader and is pretty icy in person. But with anonymity online, she is able to open up and let her true self show. I really felt for her and loved watching her become less and less prickly toward Ryan. Ryan and Josie start out as true rivals but they start to bring out the best in each other, and I really enjoyed each of their individual growth journeys throughout the story. The romance between them was perfectly built from rivals to friends to lovers, and I loved every minute of it!

An added highlight throughout the book was the plentiful references to romance books and authors. I highly recommend this book to any romance lover!

Thank you to Ali Brady, Berkley, and NetGalley for the e-ARC; all opinions are my own.

Read if you like:
💕 Rivals to lovers
💕 Forced proximity
💕 Opposites attract
💕 Dual POV
💕 Indie bookstores
💕 You’ve Got Mail

CW: misogyny, sexism, car accident (recounted), medical content, parental abandonment (recounted), child neglect (recounted), child death, grief, homophobia, suicide (recounted), panic attacks, ableism, drug overdose

Closed Door Mod: Chapter 25 (some parts), Chapter 27 (some parts), Chapter 30 (some parts)

Thank you to Berkley Romance for providing me with a free e-ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. I received this e-ARC as part of Berkley’s Influencers Hub for Underrepresented Voices and all thoughts and opinions are my own. Thanks so much to @berkleyromance for the free book!

If there was ever a book that can resonate so deeply to the love that comes with being a reader, Battle of the Bookstores would be it.

Sure, the story in this book has been told before, but the fact that Brady chooses to focus on two indie booksellers adds a new level of stakes to this rivals-to-friends-to-lovers dynamic. Josie and Ryan are so easy to like (despite both of them having nearly opposite personalities), and from their first moments on-page you can clearly see the dedication that Josie and Ryan put into their respective stores. Especially when you consider how reading served as a gateway for Josie to escape from her complicated home life, and Ryan (who has dyslexia) was able to discover a passion for reading after working at the romance bookstore he now manages. Their banter was top-notch and this book had just the right amount of slow burn to keep you wanting more until you're swooning over the last few chapters.

Putting it plainly, I don't know what it is with this book, but Brady got me hooked on this story to the very last page and it's definitely a book you need to keep on your radar.

This book is SO fun to read! For all of us book lovers, this story is full of bookish themes, sayings, and tropes that we all love and adore

Josie Klein is hardworking and determined. As the manager of a literary fiction store, she focuses her bookish attention on the big, serious, and often sad books a lot of us may be intimidated by, but always end up emotionally invested once we start

Ryan Lawson manages the bookstore opposite of Josie’s. His store is a romance book lovers dream. He hosts fun events, has a bubbly staff, and easily charms his patrons. Are we sensing an enemies to lovers trope here?

So while they both focus on their own bookstores, they often bump into each other at the coffee shop that sits between the two shops. That is until the owner of the building wants to combine the coffee shop with one the bookstores and let one of the managers go

Eager to be the winner, Josie and Ryan both do what they can to prove their managerial styles and store brand makes more money. Rivals to lovers?

After long days at work, both Josie spend time on a bookish chat forum. And little do they know that they have spent years chatting online to each other without even knowing it

Attractions heat up, both online and in person, in this funny, charming, and bookishly fun novel! I adored both Josie and Ryan. The narrators were perfect for the audiobook and I found myself smiling and giggling a lot

I have a fave when it comes to romances: You've Got Mail. So when a romance has this at its core, I am so gone for it. Really enjoyed this one, and it left all kinds of warm and cozy feelings. It's a tribute to books as well. Books and love, what better combination could you ask for?

Rival bookstore owners pitted against each other. Both single, neither can stand to be in the same room with the other. What could go wrong? OR, what could go right? Ali Brady have done an amazing job with this take on the enemies to lovers trope. It's full of heart and pulls readers in from page 1.

Ryan and Josie are both complex people who are much more than bookstore managers. I love each of these characters and the relationship between them. There's a charming realness to it that allows readers to see that a spectacular love story can happen anywhere to anyone.

I also appreciate the varying representation throughout this book. Strong women. Queer rep. Disability rep. Older characters. Mental health rep. All of these and more are woven seamlessly into this beautiful tale filled with engaging characters.

If you are ready for a love story filled with family, friends, new possibilities, and enemies who do indeed find their HEA, get this book!

Open door spice level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ (4/5)

A true enemies to lovers trope that will satisfy HEA seekers.
It took me awhile to gain affection for either Josie or Ryan because she was super uptight and he was rather foppish.
I never did care for Xander, I wish he had been stuffed behind the drywall during the renovation.
I ,owed all the book talk and banter between Ryan and Josie.
I guffawed at Nora’s Naughties which was hilarious and also the name of the very active book club that met in Ryan’s store.
I also had to sigh at how Josie and Ryan top off their first coupling!! Isn’t that every booklover’s dream??

I gotta admit that sent me back to watch You've Got Mail again because it's a springy update of the classic movie. Josie and Ryan are managers of two very different bookstores which have been bought by a big company and only one will get to keep their job after the sales figures for both are in. Now Josie is the serious one and Ryan the slightly dreamy (he's got the romance book store) and you know that this will be one where each fills the other's empty places. Oh and there's a mysterious email thing. I liked the references to other books (although I hadn't read some of them and might have missed the relevance occasionally). Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. A quick, entertaining, trope-y read that will have you rooting for both of them.

“Of all the books I’ve ever read and all the fantasies I’ve ever had, none of them hold a candle to the reality of being with you.”

Thank you berkley for the gifted eARC and early finished copy!

5 ⭐️!!!

PLZ this book had me absolutely enthralled 🤌 Ali ATE with this one! It has it all- enemies to lovers, bookish MCs, stunning character development, and an addicting storyline 😌

Our MCs are both bookish, but I loved the MMC being into romance and the FMC being into lit fic! It was super unique and refreshing to see a softer MMC and Ryan was just perfection. I loved seeing him open up throughout this book and learn to have some confidence in himself 🫶 Josie has a super hard exterior and comes off super snobby, but her armor slowly falls off and we see her learn to love 🥹

The romantic progression was absolute PERFECTION! It was gradual as the moved from rivals to tentative partners to friends to lovers, and I adored it. We got all the tension as they fought their attraction for each other during heated arguments, yet we also got soft and sweet moments as they learned more about each other. These two were just perfect and they will always live in my heart 🫶

A book I’ll definitely recommend. Maybe I’m just bitter men like Ryan don’t really exist in my experience, but I had a little difficulty fully buying into this. Cons included overly cliched conversations and many name drops. But one could argue the literary name drops made sense in such a literary setting. I give this one MAJOR props for subverting the expectations and having the fmc be the grumpy litfic lover. It gets tiring reading romance novels over and over with women characters who seem to be anti-intellectuals.
It really sets this book apart and I’d push it over the other bookseller romances I’ve encountered! 3.5 stars.

I love the writing duo that is Ali Brady, and I love that they pivoted to adult romance! Battle of the Bookstores is an absolute delight of a book, and I feel like the dedication says it all. "For the book people--the readers, the librarians, the booksellers, and anyone who gets lost in big books, big feelings, and big, beautiful endings. this one's for you." And it ABSOLUTELY WAS.

Two managers of two very different bookstores are thrust into a summer-long competition when the owner of their building announces he's going to be combining the separate stores into one large one. The manager that sells the most will keep their job, managing the larger, expanded store. Let the games begin. They immediately begin competing and complaining about their plight to their anonymous online book besties, never once suspecting that they could be complaining to the competition.

Ryan, who runs the romance only bookstore Happy Endings, is a people person, effortlessly engaging with the people who come into his store. Josie, who focuses on literary fiction at Tabula Inscripta, is more reserved, but she has a head for business and numbers. The rivalry heats up as the summer goes on, but what if that rivalry is really hiding something more--an attraction neither of them expected? I loved this classic rivals to lovers romance, which felt like a refreshed, revamped take on the 90's classic, You've Got Mail. Seriously, this one was so cute and left me with a giant smile on my face. I can only hope and pray they write more romances because this one is pure gold.

I am really loving how Ali Brady’s writing just keeps getting better and better with each novel! I’ve know ½ of this duo since I ventured into the world of Booksta, and it has been a pleasure watching her grow into a published author and a great writer! Thank you @berkley for my early reading copy and @prhaudio for my early listening copy! BATTLE OF THE BOOKSTORES publishes June 3rd!

I love love love the Boston setting, the quirkiness of two bookstores literally being two doors away from each other and they couldn’t be more opposite. You know what they say…opposites attract! And if you love Sleepless in Seattle, you should snag this ASAP.

Josie manages the pretentious Literary shop and Ryan (who has never played basketball, yet apparently should have!) manages the fun, spunky Romance book store full of heart and soul.

The two banter and bicker through the majority of the novel along with giving off MAJOR Sleepless in Seattle vibes with their online personas.

It’s cute, its a great book to grab for the beach or pool this summer.

Have you ever watched Sleepless in Seattle??
Tell me you have!