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jmbq_reads 's review for:
The Bookbinder's Guide to Love
by Katherine Garbera
Serafina Conte works with her best friends Liberty and Poppy at WiCKed Sisters, a bookshop/tea shop where Sera makes hand-bound journals to sell, and business has been brisk since a famous pop star credited the three women with the "magic" she needed to create her new album. In the midst of all the new business, Sera receives news that both saddens and enrages her: her dear older friend and mentor Ford Sitwell has died, and his grandson Wesley has both banned Sera from the funeral and demanded that she give back the valuable old books Ford left to her.
Wes is suspicious that such a young woman could be good friends with his grandfather without wanting something valuable, and when they meet in her shop, he outright accuses Sera of hooking up with Ford. He realizes immediately that (A) he has hurt Sera, and (B) she doesn't give any appearance of being greedy or manipulative. And since Wes feels a strong attraction to Sera, he makes a quick apology and tries to get to know her instead.
There's a lot about this book that appealed to me: bookbinding as a vocation, three close friends bringing their abilities and "magic" together in business, a grumpy hero who quickly makes amends and gradually deals with his own troubled family relationships. Sera is a likeable character who has her own challenges, chiefly an inability to trust or to believe that someone she cares about will stick around (thanks to growing up in foster homes), and she bounces between being warmly welcoming and retreating into her shell. Wes's trust issues add to the push-pull between the two of them, and he also struggles to recognize and articulate his emotional responses, so the development of their relationship ends up going in cycles of togetherness and hurt separation that got a little frustrating after a while. Because of that, the writing started to feel repetitive at times, and what was actually a relatively short book ended up feeling much longer.
For me, the story had a lot of promise, but the execution felt uneven and not as satisfying as I had hoped. Not a bad read but not a favorite. 2.5 stars rounded up.
Thank you, Harlequin and NetGalley, for providing an eARC of this book. Opinions expressed here are solely my own.
Wes is suspicious that such a young woman could be good friends with his grandfather without wanting something valuable, and when they meet in her shop, he outright accuses Sera of hooking up with Ford. He realizes immediately that (A) he has hurt Sera, and (B) she doesn't give any appearance of being greedy or manipulative. And since Wes feels a strong attraction to Sera, he makes a quick apology and tries to get to know her instead.
There's a lot about this book that appealed to me: bookbinding as a vocation, three close friends bringing their abilities and "magic" together in business, a grumpy hero who quickly makes amends and gradually deals with his own troubled family relationships. Sera is a likeable character who has her own challenges, chiefly an inability to trust or to believe that someone she cares about will stick around (thanks to growing up in foster homes), and she bounces between being warmly welcoming and retreating into her shell. Wes's trust issues add to the push-pull between the two of them, and he also struggles to recognize and articulate his emotional responses, so the development of their relationship ends up going in cycles of togetherness and hurt separation that got a little frustrating after a while. Because of that, the writing started to feel repetitive at times, and what was actually a relatively short book ended up feeling much longer.
For me, the story had a lot of promise, but the execution felt uneven and not as satisfying as I had hoped. Not a bad read but not a favorite. 2.5 stars rounded up.
Thank you, Harlequin and NetGalley, for providing an eARC of this book. Opinions expressed here are solely my own.