The Battle of the Bookshops

A Novel

By: Poppy Alexander

Narrated by: Karen Cass

A charming literary-themed novel about a young woman determined to save her great-aunt’s beloved bookshop from extinction by the shiny new competition—which also happens to be run by the handsome son of her family’s rivals.

The cute, seaside town of Portneath has been the home of Capelthorne’s Books for nearly a hundred years…

The shop, in the heart of a high street that stretches crookedly down the hill from the castle to the sea, may be a tad run-down these days, but to Jules Capelthorne, the wonky, dusty world of literary treasures is full of precious childhood memories. When her great-aunt Florence gets too frail to run it alone, Jules ditches her junior publishing job in London and comes home to make the bookshop’s hundredth birthday a celebration to remember.

Jules quickly discovers things are worse than she ever imagined: The bookshop is close to bankruptcy, unlikely to make it to its own centenary celebration, and the lease on the building is up for renewal. With a six-figure sum needed, the future looks bleak.

To make matters worse, the owner of the property is the insufferable Roman Montbeau, from the posh, local family who owns half of Portneath. The Montbeaus and Capelthornes have feuded for years, and Roman has clearly not improved since he tormented Jules as a child. Fresh from a high-flying career in New York, he is on a mission to shake things up, and—unforgivably—proves his point about Capelthorne’s being a relic of the past by opening a new bookshop directly opposite—a shiny, plate-glass-windowed emporium of books.

Jules may not be able to splash the cash on promotions and marketing like the Montbeaus, but she’s got some ideas of her own, plus she has a tenacity that may just win the hardest of hearts and the most hopeless of conflicts.

Let the battle of the bookshops commence…

Sweet love story

Loved the story and the performance. It was a nice love story without all the sex scenes that authors feel they need to include.

Storyline.

Strong sense of place and character. Written with beautiful detail. You leave the story feeling as though you had spent the day in charming England with a good book and delicious coffee. Maybe even felt the warmth of a certain black cat as company.

Great Narrators

The plot was pretty good and I enjoyed reading it, but there were some plot holes and I didn’t really understand the secondary story of their ancestor who was a witch.

Battle of the Bookshops

A love story plagued by competition and generations of tense family relations and how endurance can prevail. 👍👍

You’ve Got Mail meets Romeo & Juliet…

… meets Antique Roadshow. Loved this book and characters! My favorite narrator and author combo! Excitedly made it a Favorite in my large Audible collection and can’t wait to listen again.