Review: The Christmas Bookshop

It’s been a long time since I’ve read a Jenny Colgan novel and now that I’ve finished her latest, The Christmas Bookshop, I’m wondering why on earth I haven’t been reading each of her new books as they've released. I was entertained the entire time I was reading this one and absolutely adored the setting.

Here’s the book’s description:

When the department store she works in closes for good, Carmen has perilously little cash and few options. She doesn’t want to move in with her perfect sister Sofia, in Sofia’s perfect house with her perfect children and her perfectly ordered Edinburgh life.
Frankly, Sofia doesn’t exactly want Carmen there either. Her sister has always been sarcastic and difficult. But Sofia has yet another baby on the way, a mother desperate to see her daughters get along, and a client who needs a retail assistant for his ailing bookshop, so welcoming Carmen might still have some benefits for everyone.
At Sofia’s behest, Carmen is thrown into the daily workings of old Mr. McCredie’s ancient bookshop on the streets of the old dark city. Can she use her design skills to revamp the store and bring it back to popularity in time to benefit from Christmas shopping traffic? Can she choose between bad boy literary rock star Blair and quiet Quaker student Oke? And will she heal the rift with the most important people of all: her family?

Right off the bat I was in absolute heaven with the setting of this book. Not only is it all about a bookshop (swoon) but it’s a bookshop in Scotland! Edinburgh, to be specific. I’ve always had a soft spot for Scotland but after being in Edinburgh for a week back in early March 2020 (yep, squeaked that trip in just in time), I was even more enthralled with the book’s location. I could picture so many of the streets and areas Colgan described and I loved it. Armchair travel has been a saviour over the last almost two years so it was particularly delightful to read a book set in the last place I travelled to.

And the bookshop! Mr. McCredie was the sweetest old man and it was such a delight to see him open up to Carmen and, well, to life. He and his bookshop really came alive with her help. And they, in turn, really helped Carmen. It was so fun to read as they added Christmas touch after Christmas touch to the store and kept themselves (and their customers) entertained with toy mice and trains. I didn’t just want to visit Scotland again. I wanted to find this exact bookshop (crazy twisty aisles and rooms and all) and spend all day there.

What stopped me from LOVING this book wasn’t anything super specific - just a sort of feeling I got (or didn’t get) when I was reading it. Sometimes I felt scenes were told out of order but not so much so that it seemed like it was an editing mistake in my advanced egalley. And I also just really didn’t like the Blair storyline and couldn’t quite understand how self-absorbed Carmen was at some points. Was all that a dealbreaker? Definitely not. It’s still worth a read.

The final thing I absolutely loved about this book was the focus on relationships between sisters. I liked that the story was both Carmen’s and Sofia’s (though Carmen is definitely the main focus) and the pair working out their relationship was just as important as Carmen’s love life. If not more so. I found myself giggling at some points when the sisters (as well as Sofia’s two girls) were interacting because Colgan completely nailed what it’s like between sisters. I’d love to have another book about the pair so I could visit with them some more.

The Christmas Bookshop was a delightful wintery read (you don’t have to read it at Christmas) that I really enjoyed. I’m going to make a point of reading more of Jenny Colgan’s backlist and will definitely be paying attention to when her next book comes out!

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, HarperCollins Canada, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: All Stirred Up

I've been getting more into audiobooks this year so NetGalley's advanced listening copies have been great. I happened to stumble upon Brianne Moore's debut novel All Stirred Up and was immediately intrigued because it's an updated version of Persuasion, my favourite of Jane Austen's novels, and it was set in Edinburgh - a place I had visited just in time at the beginning of March this year. I was sold. And when I was done? Thoroughly delighted.

Here's the synopsis:

Susan Napier's family once lived on the success of the high-end restaurants founded by her late grandfather. But bad luck and worse management has brought the business to the edge of financial ruin. Now it's up to Susan to save the last remaining restaurant: Elliot's, the flagship in Edinburgh. But what awaits Susan in the charming city of Auld Reekie is more than she bargained for. Chris Baker, her grandfather's former protégé - and her ex-boyfriend - is also heading to the Scottish capital.

After finding fame in New York as a chef and judge of a popular TV cooking competition, Chris is returning to his native Scotland to open his own restaurant. Although the storms have cleared after their intense and rocky breakup, Susan and Chris are redrawn into each other's orbit - and their simmering attraction inevitably boils over. As Chris's restaurant opens to great acclaim and Susan tries to haul Elliot's back from the brink, the future brims with new promise.

But darkness looms as they find themselves in the crosshairs of a gossip blogger eager for a juicy story - and willing to do anything to get it. Can Susan and Chris reclaim their lost love, or will the tangled past ruin their last hope for happiness?

It's been a few years since I've read Persuasion (I just checked Goodreads...I read it last in 2013) so the particulars of the novel are a bit fuzzy. I do recall some of the main plot points so I could see where Moore was honouring the story in certain parts. I don't think you have to know Austen's work to appreciate this story and I also think diehard Austen fans can enjoy the way Moore updated the story for her novel. Though I will say I would have much rather had a letter from Chris instead of a text message. If you know, you know.

The reason I love Persuasion so much is because it's a second chance romance, just like All Stirred Up, and that's one of my favourite tropes. It's been years since Chris and Susan have seen each other and you know right from the get-go that there's unfinished business between them. There were so many contributing factors to their break up that neither of them had the full story. They both felt hurt (Chris was justified to feel as such and Susan knew that her hurt was self-inflicted) and that kept them from communicating with each other. I got ever so slightly annoyed when they just refused to talk things through but that's the nature of rom coms, my friends. They're going to do frustrating things! I was rooting for them the whole time because I couldn't wait for them to get over the bullshit in their past and finally get back together. I needed that Happily Ever After!

As I alluded to at the top, I listened to this one as an audiobook. The narrator, Mary Jane Wells, did a pretty good job switching characters and her male Scottish accent didn't annoy me (which is what happened with another audiobook I listened to earlier this year). Since I pretty much only listen to audiobooks on my commute, I found myself looking for ways to get more reading time in. A walk after work when my partner had to work late? Done. (That was before the time change of course. Now it's dark before I even get home. *sobs*) Doing the dishes? Perfect time to listen. Playing mindless games on my phone? More listening time! I didn't want to stop!

This novel was a love letter to Edinburgh. Moore wasn't born there but you can tell in her descriptions that she absolutely, totally, completely loves the city. I had goosebumps as I listened to the description of Susan flying into the city then again as she walked around her new neighbourhood and mentioned streets and monuments I had seen myself back in March. There's a scene where she climbs to the top of Calton Hill that had me swooning because I could completely picture where she was (so much so that I shared my pictures from my trip on Instagram after finishing the novel). 

There were many reasons that may have made me love All Stirred Up more than the average reader but I was so completely thrilled with Brianne Moore's novel that I don't even care. I loved it and it made me feel so happy. That is what I look for in almost every read, even more so this year, and I'm so pleased I had a chance to read this novel.

*An advanced listening copy was provided by the publisher, Dreamscape Media, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*