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3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
Mallery brings us a story of love and found family in The Boardwalk Bookshop. Mikki, Ashley, and Bree, despite being complete.strangers, have pooled their interests in order to open a book slash gift slash muffin shop. Mikki, the gift shop owner, has been divorced for three years, but has a great friendship with her ex as they still parent their two almost grown kids. Lately, she's felt the urge to get back out there in the dating world. Ashley, the muffin shop owner, has been dating her boyfriend for almost a year now and is completely in love. She just wonders when he's going to propose. And Bree, the bookshop owner, has moved own from two emotionally abusive parents, followed by a husband who did the same. She doesn't date, but uses men, always letting them know the score ahead of time. Together, their shops are doing very well. It's their personal lives they need to work on.
I feel like I'm over Mallery. Her books just all feel the same. It's always 3 women. Their problems usually have an easier solution than is presented and usually that's therapy. There's usually some problematic behavior, mostly from the men. This one's no different. Mallery doesn't set up the individual characters well in the beginning here, preferring to throw them all at you at once. I actually had to think of a pneumonic to remember who was who at the beginning. (Bree = books, Mikki doesn't = muffins was the best I could do.) It felt like Bree should have known she had issues to deal with from the beginning. She recognized how horrible her parents and husband were, so it's only logical that she should have known she needed to deal with that. Ashley and whatshisname should have seen a couples counselor to try and figure out their problem. Mikki's boyfriend was over-reactive considering the situation. And for all her husband's growth, he was still a giant man-baby when he didn't get what he wanted.
I think I really am going to have to read less rom-com/contemporary romance for a while. I might be getting bored of it. (She says as she cracks open the next ARC, a rom-com...)
I feel like I'm over Mallery. Her books just all feel the same. It's always 3 women. Their problems usually have an easier solution than is presented and usually that's therapy. There's usually some problematic behavior, mostly from the men. This one's no different. Mallery doesn't set up the individual characters well in the beginning here, preferring to throw them all at you at once. I actually had to think of a pneumonic to remember who was who at the beginning. (Bree = books, Mikki doesn't = muffins was the best I could do.) It felt like Bree should have known she had issues to deal with from the beginning. She recognized how horrible her parents and husband were, so it's only logical that she should have known she needed to deal with that. Ashley and whatshisname should have seen a couples counselor to try and figure out their problem. Mikki's boyfriend was over-reactive considering the situation. And for all her husband's growth, he was still a giant man-baby when he didn't get what he wanted.
I think I really am going to have to read less rom-com/contemporary romance for a while. I might be getting bored of it. (She says as she cracks open the next ARC, a rom-com...)
I really enjoyed this read, more layers than I initially thought. I liked the emotional depth the book takes you on. It’s very relatable true to life which I enjoyed.
Three women all want to rent a retail space on the boardwalk in Los Angeles. But it's too big and expensive for any one of them, so moments after meeting each other, they agree to rent it together for a bookshop, a bakery, and a gift shop. This is a story of their found family and friendship.
I loved reading about each of them. It only took one chapter for me to be able to tell Bree, Mikki, and Ashley apart and know their relationships. They are all in different life stages and different stages of romance. The chapters seamlessly integrated the stories of all of them, using the store and shared Friday night champagne sunsets to bring them together.
This was a sweet summer read with beautiful California beach vibes. The narration was well done, though voices didn't change much between characters.
Thank you to Harper Audio for the advanced listener copy. These opinions are my own.
I loved reading about each of them. It only took one chapter for me to be able to tell Bree, Mikki, and Ashley apart and know their relationships. They are all in different life stages and different stages of romance. The chapters seamlessly integrated the stories of all of them, using the store and shared Friday night champagne sunsets to bring them together.
This was a sweet summer read with beautiful California beach vibes. The narration was well done, though voices didn't change much between characters.
Thank you to Harper Audio for the advanced listener copy. These opinions are my own.
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
sad
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I related a lot to two of these couples stories. I truly loved the story of how the bookstore came into being along with their friendship. I value books with strong friendships even if there were moments in this book where I wanted to shake all the characters.
This book was somewhere between a 3 and a 4. I did like it, but it took some time for me to care about the characters and feel invested
I enjoyed this book for the most part, it is nothing groundbreaking but it does what it says on the tin and from my previous experience with a Susan Mallery, it seems quite text book so I imagine if you like her you'll like it. But one of the relationships I just didn't care about; Bree and Harding I just had absolutely no investment in and whenever it switched to them I didn't care. I enjoyed Ashley and Mikki's storylines and them as characters, but Bree seemed inconsistent and Harding just seemed like such a flat and unrealistic character.
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
I loved this book!! Cute story!! The girls had a lot of problems!! Glad that everything worked out for everyone!! Love this author’s books!!
This, sadly, was a terrible book. The characters were all unlikeable, and all they did was either argue or discuss sex. Just as a scene would start to become interesting, either a massive fight or a massive erec**** would interrupt the whole thing. It was ridiculous. Not a fan at all, of the plot, the characters, or, after this, the author any longer. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.