About the Book
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Author:
- Ali Brady
First Impressions: 2 Books(tores) 2 Furious
What’s Your Type? Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Grumpy/Sunshine, Uptight Woman Meets Relaxed Man (And Hates Him For It), He’s Really Tall, I Mean REALLY Tall, Workplace Rivals, You’ve Got Mail
Meet Cute: At the Coffee Shop
The Lean: Well, Duh
Dirty Talk: You’ve Got DMs
We Need to Talk: Not all Romance Partners Need to Be Giants
Was it Good For You? Good Book Lovin’
First Impressions: 2 Books(tores) 2 Furious
Although it looks like both of the people on this cover are having a wonderful time reading, there’s an animosity simmering under the surface that’s primed to erupt. Also, the two stores right next to each other reminds me of Bookseller’s Row in London. (#subtleflex)
What’s Your Type?
- Enemies to Friends to Lovers
- Grumpy/Sunshine
- Uptight Woman Meets Relaxed Man (And Hates Him For It)
- He’s Really Tall
- I Mean REALLY Tall
- Workplace Rivals
- You’ve Got Mail
Dating Profile
Josie Klein loves her job at Tabula Inscripta, one of Boston’s finest literary bookstores. The store was a safe haven for her after having to drop out of college to care for her younger sister, and the prestige of being amongst the literary elite (both literally and figuratively) makes her feel like she has her life together. Even if just on the surface. And especially if that surface is organized and clean to an almost austere level.
Ryan Lawson, too, loves his job—he’s the manager of Happy Endings, Boston’s only all-romance bookstore. It’s a second home to him, filled with cozy comforts and fond memories. It’s an escape from his overachieving family, and a way to showcase that there’s no one (or right) way to love. He loves love, but is skeptical that it’ll ever actually happen for him.
Meet Cute: At the Coffee Shop
Tabula Inscripta and Happy Endlings are one store apart from each other, and that one store is a coffee shop called Beans. All three are owned by the same douchey bro named Xander Laing, who cares nothing for books or coffee, just how much each store can make in profit. Neither Josie nor Ryan care much for each other’s stores, and when Xander announces that both bookstores and Beans will soon become one, they’re eager to beat each other to earning the job of managing the new, larger store. What started as a casual ambivalence to each other quickly escalates into a full-out battle.
The Lean: Well, Duh
While Josie and Ryan are busy causing each other grief in their scramble to keep their jobs, the other people in their lives are watching a love story unfold. Even when the two start becoming friendly, and decide to work together hoping that they can prove to Xander that two managers are way better than one, in this instance, they are oblivious to the fact that they’re MFEO. This is, in part, exacerbated by the fact that they are more than friends; neither of them know at first that they’re BookshopGirl and RJ.Reads from BookFriends, a forum where booksellers from across the country chat, anonymously, about their jobs and the industry at large. And where BookshopGirl and RJ.Reads have a longstanding, ongoing, more than just online friends even if we’ve never met in real life relationship.
Dirty Talk: You’ve Got DMs
If the plot of this story sounds a bit familiar, it’s not a coincidence—the book has definite You’ve Got Mail vibes. Thankfully, the similarities are different enough to make it stand on its own two feet. And, as one might expect from the different time and different form of media, it gets a whole lot spicier than the relationship between Shopgirl and NY152.
I hold his head and grind against him and he’s right there with me, allowing me to ride his face with wanton abandon. My vision goes hazy, and for a second I think I might actually die of pleasure, and wouldn’t that be a terrible shame when I still have my panties on?
Ed. note: I pulled this quote from a review copy. The final text might be different.
Ms. Perky’s Prize for Purplest Prose
In a romance book about a romance bookseller in a(n eventual) romance with another book lover, you’d assume there would be quite a bit of, well, romance. And there is, don’t get me wrong. But one of the reasons I enjoyed this book the most is the meta moments, in which Josie and Ryan are acting like people, rather than characters in a romance book. In one such moment, they swap books and read out loud to each other. Josie can barely make it through a sentence before the embarrassment gets to be too much:
Josie’s eyes spark—she doesn’t like to back down from a challenge. Clearing her throat, she starts reading, her voice low. “A beam of moonlight through the window casts silvery shadows on his torso—shoulders, chest, abs—and the trail of darker hair that disappears into his waistband. Lust pools in my belly.”
She looks up, wide eyed. “This is ridiculous. Why can’t these authors just imply that sex happened and skip to the next scene?”
“Because it’s not just ‘insert tab A into slot B.’ Sex reveals things about a person that can’t be shown in any other way. It’s not just about the mechanics. And if you believe sex can be implied, as if it’s always the same and the details have no impact on the relationship … that might say something about how you think about sex.”
Ed. note: I pulled this quote from a review copy. The final text might be different.
We Need to Talk: Not all Romance Partners Need to Be Giants
In the book, Ryan is 6’7″. As a romance fan and bookseller, he’s very familiar with the “big man” trope. And he feels about it much the same way I do.
“I’ve got two,” I say, pushing my hair out of my face. “First is the whole tall-man fetish—what’s the big deal about a few extra inches?” The women on my staff make eyes at each other. “Don’t answer that.”
Looking at you, Hazelwood.
Ed. note: I pulled this quote from a review copy. The final text might be different.
Was it Good For You? Good Book Lovin’
I might not be as much of a You’ve Got Mail fan as Sarah is, but I do supremely appreciate the movie for both the romance between the characters and their respective romances with books. I can’t say you’ll enjoy Battle of the Bookstores if you’re a true stan, but I think anyone who loves books will find a fun time in this novel. Even if you’re like Josie at the start of the book and look down your nose at anything other than highbrow literary fiction.
FTC Full Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from Berkley, but got neither a private dance party with Tom Hiddleston nor money in exchange for this review. Battle of the Bookstores is available now.
