After the death of her grandmother, Drew Young is now the new somewhat proud owner of The Book Nook. While she’s a self-proclaimed ‘book hater’ and non-reader, she adores the shop and sees it as her duty to carry on her grandmother’s dream. The only caveat is that she’s struggling to not only keep the shop out of her father’s hands, but also with her own identity, as she’s had to reprioritize her life to take on the bookshop. Meanwhile, Jasper Williams, famed romance author comes to town. When he asks Drew to help familiarize himself around Denver to help him write his new book. In exchange, Jasper will give Drew a list of books to read, and then take her on an adventure that coordinates. As the two get to know each other more, Drew starts to find it harder and harder to stick to her belief that ‘Happy Endings’ are only in fiction.
I loved this book. It’s sweet, cute, and fast paced. I love books set in bookstore and library settings and having a book-harder turned bookstore owner as our main character, was so fun for me! I adored Jasper and found him to be charming without being cringy. I also adored Drew’s best friend, Elsie, who is a witty and fun mom of four. She complimented Drew’s character perfectly, and add a bit of positivity to Drew’s life. Drew on the other hand, was a little harder to like, as she is definitely a glass half empty kind of person. I found myself getting frustrated with her more than once, and the big ‘Conflict’ between our love interests is basically just her getting mad about something totally ridiculous in my opinion. While heartfelt, her character doesn’t handle conflict or anxiety very well at all. While we saw a bit of growth from her, I felt she created some of her own problems.
Ultimately, this was such a cute book. I didn’t realize till after I read it, that the author was Alexa Martin, who wrote Mom Jeans and Other Mistake, which I LOVED last year. If you’re looking for opposites attract or a sunshine/grump trope, then this book is perfect for you.
Better Than Fiction is out now! Huge thank you to Berkely Books for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion. If you liked this review please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my instagram @speakingof.books.
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