The Boy With the Bookstore
Author: Sarah Echavarre Smith
Reviewer: Jennifer
Rating: B+
What I’m Talking About:
Smith does a great job of mixing sweet and smexy and she hit the mark again with The Boy With the Bookstore.
Max and Joelle have worked next door to each other for a year and half and they’ve had crushes on each other without the other knowing. One day their friendly acquaintance turns into hot sexual chemistry when they share a drink after work in Max’s tiny office at the back of his bookstore. But just as things get started on the romance side it gets put on hold by the news their landlord is going to kick them out of their retail spaces to do a renovation.
Joelle and Max are both under stress with the temporary combined and much smaller work space that they take out their stress and frustrations out on each other. Their road to HEA does run hot and cold. When it’s hot, it’s really hot and sweet. When it’s cold it’s due to miscommunication or Max’s habit of going from sweet guy to grumpy guy in the span of zero to sixty in a blink of an eye.
The Boy With the Bookstore is a very enjoyable read featuring a 30 year-old sexy “bad boy” on the outside with a heart of gold (most of the time) on the inside and an always smiling, and a 32 year-old baker who is super close to her family. If you’re looking for a sweet romance with a healthy dose of sexy, funny, and touching moments where the couple really deserve a HEA, then you should give this stand alone romance a read.
My Rating: B+ Liked It A Lot
Jennifer
About the Book:
When a baker meets the bookshop owner of her dreams, and he turns into her nemesis, they’ll both have to read between the lines to avoid a career-ending recipe for disaster.
Max Boyson looks good…from a distance. But up close and personal, the tattooed hottie Joelle Prima has been crushing on for the past year and half has turned into the prime example of why you shouldn’t judge a book by his delectable cove.
When she first learned about the massive renovation to the building they share, Joelle imagined that temporarily combining her Filipino bakery with Max’s neighboring bookstore would be the perfect opening chapter to their happily ever after. In her fantasies they fed each other bibingka and pandesal while discussing Jane Austen and cooing over her pet hamster, Pumpkin. Reality, however…is quite different. Her gallant prince turned out to be a stubborn toad who snaps at her in front of customers, dries his sweaty gym clothes in her oven, and routinely helps himself to the yummy pastries in her display case without asking.
But beneath Max’s grumpy glares, Joelle senses a rising heat—and a softening heart. And when they discover the real reason for the renovation, they’ll have to put both their business senses and their feelings for each other to the test. .
Release Date: September 6, 2022
Publisher: Berkley
Series: Standalone
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Format(s): paperback (352 pages), e-book, audiobook
Book Source: Publisher
Purchase Info:
Amazon (affiliate link)
Books by Author:
Faker by Sarah Smith
Simmer Down by Sarah Smith
On Location by Sarah Smith