Review: Battle of the Bookstores

 

Josie and Ryan each manage a bookstore. Josie manages a literary bookstore and Ryan manages a romance bookstore. In between, the two stores, there's a coffee shop. Ther person who owns the stores sits them both down. He shares that they will be merging the three stores under one manager. 

Josie and Ryan will spend the next few months competing to save their jobs. As they talk, both Josie and Ryan bring out the worst in each other. Each believe the other looks down upon their work. Through series of miscommunication, they become each other's enemies. Each time they talk, they become more irritated and frustrated with each other. Could they just need a little flip?

My Thoughts: This book was so much fun, I didn't want to put it down. There's a lot going on here.

1. I loved the bookstore bits. I love that the genres were swapped here with expectations - I would have assumed the romance bookstore would have been managed by a woman. That was opposite here. I loved the conversations about books. The bater between Josie and Ryan was on point. 
2. I loved the You've Got Mail spin on this story - the messages between the two bookstores were charming. 
3. The story between the sisters was sweet

This was my first Ali Brady book, but it won't be my last.

Cover Thoughts: Adorable

Source: My Library

Why I Read: This was on a list of epistolary novels, which it isn't. But there are lots of tests. But bookstores.

Library Recommendation: Highly recommended for your romance section

Middle Grade Review: Confessions from a Group Chat

Virginia has three best friends, but she doesn't always feel that they're friends. Virginia hasn't found her niche yet. Her friends pigeonhole her, making it hard for her to grow. In reality, Virginia hides her hobbies from her friends because she knows they won't "approve" because her hobbies are not cool. After a terrible fight, her friends leak her mean texts from the group chat on a school social media account run by students.

Viriginia knows it was wrong to make those comments. And most of them she didn't even mean. She felt pressured by her friends to be someone she doesn't want to be. Luckily, she has the help of her older sister and a new friend to guide her through this friendship crisis. 

My Thoughts: This one has ALL the friendship drama. I just wanted to give Virginia a hug. She had terrible friends (who were really bullies/mean girls). I loved her relationship with her new friend whom she texts when things go sideways.  They have great chemistry. I love the public librarian and how she tried to steer Virginia in different directions. I love how Virginia started playing around with photography and had conversations with her former friend about pictures. I loved the text messages in this one. This book was hard to read at times, but I also didn't want to put it down. Can't wait to see what Jodi Meadows writes next.

Cover Thoughts: Adorable

Why I Read This: I adored Bye, Forever I Guess by the same author

Source: My Library

Library Recommendation: A must have for school and public library collections