To save a place you love, to discover so much more

Synopsis

Lexie Dunbar is a book lover. And her favourite place in the world is her local bookstore, Book Ends.  So when she hears that it’s going to be sold, Lexie decides she needs to do something to help.

Lexie’s plan to save the ailing shop is fully underway until gorgeous-but-grouchy artist Tobias Black arrives on the scene determined to turn the bookstore into an art gallery. Lexie is horrified; the last thing the quaint town of Bracken Way needs is a pretentious artist, even if he does seem to charm everyone but her.

Tensions continue to rise until Tobias discovers a shocking secret that shows they might have more in common than they realise. As sparks fly, can Lexie and Tobias work together, or will opposing ideas get in the way of them finding their very own happy ever after…

My review

After discovering that the promotion that was practically hers, went to someone else, Lexie Dunbar decides that she needs to start over. Being the booklover that she is, when she learns that her local bookstore is going to be sold, Lexie realizes that she needs to step in and help to keep the place that brought her so much joy and happiness.
But even if her plans are warmly welcomed, she didn’t expect to be fighting over the place with artist Tobias Black, who sees his Uncle’s place the perfect spot to open his own art gallery.
With now a premises to share Lexie and Tobias have to learn to work together, even if that costs them a lot of effort.
Nevertheless, when secrets are being revealed, personal and not, Lexie and Tobias learn that despite their initial dislike, they can count on each other, and perhaps find their own way to happiness.

This could be a very short review by just saying that Julie Shackman did it again, writing a wonderful story, one that kept my interest and attention from the start until the very end. Period.
But that wouldn’t do the story and the author complete justice, because there is so much to it, it would even take me a whole book to write myself to express how it made me feel.

At the start of the book, I could completely understand Lexi’s state of mind. Losing a promotion is something that obviously would bother you. But losing it without an acknowledgement of the work you have done in the past, and seeing it go to someone else, a stranger, well, that for sure has to sting.
Having been not so long ago in a likewise situation myself, I for sure agreed with Lexie that she needed some time away, to clear her head and rethink about her position and where her future would be.

And having Lexie being a booklover, just like me, how could I possibly dislike her? Because Lexie is the kind of character you want to be friends with, as she is genuine, loving, caring and altruistic. Add the fact that she, her mother and her dear grandfather have been the three musketeers most of the time, well, it only made her ever more loveable and even more real.

I liked it how Lexie made it her mission to save the bookstore, Book Ends, as not only is it a place that she loved spending her own time in, but she also truly believes that with a few upgrades, the store would thrive once again like in the past. She fights with her every might to make things work, even if that means that she has to share the space with Tobias Black.

Tobias Black… he didn’t make a great first impression, as I didn’t like his attitude, and his behaviour as he felt that he deserves to turn the bookstore into an own art gallery.
But as often happens, slowly I started to realize that in fact, Tobias isn’t the bad guy as I initially thought. Yes yes, I know that he would turn out to be a great character, but still, even knowing this, I couldn’t truly like him at his first few appearances.

I found it truly funny to see how Lexie and Tobias work together, antagonizing each other all the time. But it was also sweet to see the slow change in them. Especially when there are several secrets revealed, unexpected returns are made, and Lexie and Tobias find each other to rely on.

There happens a lot in this book, but never in a way that I lost track of everything. On the contrary, it was all written so well it was easy to keep up.
There happens a lot in this book, but it never crossed my mind that things could be left out, as all those bits made all their important contribution to the story itself.

Because we see not only many different layers of love, but also many different layers of strength, courage and especially forgiveness.
And it’s with all the above that happiness can be gained.

I will end this review the way I started it, by stating that Julie Shackman wrote once again a wonderful story!