Book Review | A Bookshop Christmas | By Rachel Burton

 

 

 

NetGalley E-Arc | Holiday Romance

A Bookshop Christmas
A snowstorm. A stranger. A spark. And it's Christmas! It should be the perfect start to the perfect love story. But real life is far messier and more complicated than in the pages of the books in Megan Taylor's family bookshop – the last few years have left this young widow in no doubt of that. Moving back home to York should have been a fresh start, but all it did was allow her to retreat from the world. When prize-winning author Xander Stone rams his supermarket trolley into her ankles and then trashes her taste in books, Megan is abruptly awoken from her self-imposed hibernation. It's time to start living again, and she's going to start by putting this arrogant, superior – admittedly sexy – stranger in his place. Just as she is beginning to enjoy life again, the worst happens and Megan begins to wonder if she should have stayed hidden away. Because it turns out that falling in love again is about more than just meeting under the mistletoe...       (Goodreads)

 

 

 

 

My thoughts  

 

 

Narrative and Plot  

 

 

 

 

 

A Bookshop Christmas is a book of second chances and moving on, something which people generally think about during the holidays. Memories are tricky and sometimes they attack us right during the happiest moments of the year. This is why holidays are the time when people usually remember and reminisce about those who can’t be there with them today.

If you get my drift, this book talks a lot about grief and moving on. If you’re not into that kind of a holiday read, I would say stay away. But if you’re someone who is still willing to go through it then, this is worth your time. The plot and the entire narrative focuses on the two main characters Megan and Xander. How they both have encountered loss and how they’re trying to get out of it.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Characters and Conflicts   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The book does a serious play on words and is quite self-aware. The characters are too. This makes the reading fun. In a way, for a romance reader, it is almost equivalent to breaking the fourth wall. Megan is an avid reader and Xander is the best selling author. Naturally, one would assume things to go smooth between them. But that is not the case obviously, because they’re more than that. The people behind those labels are complex and have much more in common and yet it takes a lot for them to build that trust and friendship. This somehow makes them real and grounds the story from going on a full-scale romantic holiday fantasy.

However, with Xander it would have been much more interesting if we got to see his point of view. All we get is Megan’s view and judgement of him. That was kind of a flaw for the story as it made him look inadequate at certain situations even if he redeemed himself in the end.

The conflict of the book was pretty much predictable. However, it was dealt with a certain level of maturity. Also, when you have a Bookshop in the title, it is natural to expect the shop to be something more than just a business. It did for a while, but towards the end, the whole bookshop became an expendable theme, which I wasn’t a great fan of.  

 

 

 

 

Conclusion   

 

 

 

 

 

Overall, I enjoyed the book despite it diving deep into getting over grief and the moving on, theme. The bookshop scenes especially the book club and the recommendations the characters gave each other was my favourite part. That is definitely not a surprise but this book does mention a lot of other books which itself can become a reading challenge someday.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Disclaimer : I received an e-Arc of the book from NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an honest review.

 

 

 

 

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