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A review by allison_jo
The Bookshop of Second Chances by Jackie Fraser
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
2.75
biggest takeaway: disappointment.
the blurb promised a cute little bookshop romance, but the middle of this book dragged for me. cutting 100 pages of stilted dialogue and ellipses wouldn’t have changed the plot at all. the story was set up to be a bit of a grumpy/sunshine who both had problems to work through but became more of an asshole/inferiority complex than anything. i found it difficult to connect with either character.
and the last fifty pages included an incredibly distasteful (to put it lightly) situation intended to set up a Big Talk that felt forced and rushed. i don’t know how it could feel rushed when it was in the last fifty pages of an already over-long, four-hundred-plus page book, but it did.
the blurb promised a cute little bookshop romance, but the middle of this book dragged for me. cutting 100 pages of stilted dialogue and ellipses wouldn’t have changed the plot at all. the story was set up to be a bit of a grumpy/sunshine who both had problems to work through but became more of an asshole/inferiority complex than anything. i found it difficult to connect with either character.
and the last fifty pages included an incredibly distasteful (to put it lightly) situation intended to set up a Big Talk that felt forced and rushed. i don’t know how it could feel rushed when it was in the last fifty pages of an already over-long, four-hundred-plus page book, but it did.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny and Infidelity
Moderate: Infertility
Minor: Sexual assault