3.5 - This was a very cute story. I enjoy a grumpy guy main character paired with a happy female main character. I know this was translated from French, and you could definitely tell. I don’t know if it was the original versions the translation, but the writing felt pretty stilted. It was a fun enough story to get past that. I liked the main characters were both complex and that they weren’t (completely) magically fixed in the end just because of their relationship. I do wish there had been a bit more evolution of their relationship shown between Maxime being so grumpy towards the beginning to him suddenly wanting to be with Sarah.
I do have to say I don’t feel like the cover image fits the story and characters at all (aside from the large stack of books). It seemed like they were both described as having dark hair, hers is supposedly curly and he tends to dress in black. The illustration of the two people n the cover don’t fit that at all, in my opinion.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book and would potentially check out something else written by this author.
Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for allowing me access to this eARC for my honest opinion!

I enjoyed this book. The story was good. The characters were interesting and well developed. I think my favorite part was the setting. I loved what went on in the small town.

Ever since Sarah was a young girl and her grandmother took her in she has been a bookworm. Finding comfort in the words and stories in which she devours. Taking over the bookshop her grandmother ran has been challenging but one that she couldn't see herself walking away from. Until a flood happens due to old pipework and she is left questioning how she will pay for the repairs that the insurance company won't cover, not to mention the fact that the company will no longer offer her cover.

Max left his hometown in France to become a film star after being discovered in a bar fight. Fighting is something that has followed him, whilst it is great in his movies, it causes no end of issues off the set too. With his latest fight potentially sending him to prison unless he agrees to community service back home at Sarah's bookshop. Something organised by his childhood friend Damien, hoping to help both Max and Sarah too.

A naturally nice and pleasing nature Sarah struggles to understand Max when he arrives to help fix her bookshop and work off his community service. Slowly he warms to her, realising that she is possibly one of the only people in his life that doesn't want anything from him except his friendship - and possibly love? But with two very different personalities and temperaments, this can only ever be a short term thing - right?

This was a cute take on ‘good girl meets bad boy’
Max, the over the top, aggressive MMC, with a need for fighting and a very clear anger problem, meets Sarah, our quiet, shy, awkward bookseller and things spiral from there.
I love to see growth in characters. Everyone removed from their comfort zones and truly challenged to be better people. And while some growth did occur, I don’t know how much of it was genuine. If you removed them from the situation, would they still? I’m unsure.
And some of their characteristics were skewed in a way that was slightly unbelievable.
But other than that, this was pretty good. Nicely paced.

Sarah is an extremely shy bookshop owner who is much more comfortable in the pages of her book and spending time with a very few select friends. Maxime is an actor, a bad boy and forever trying to escape his previous life. However Maxime’s anger and penchant for fighting lands him a two month community service sentence living and working at Sarah’s bookshop. There is no way he can get out of it and is determined to get through it as easily as possible however he did not count on Sarah slowly becoming an important part of her life and making him see that there are people around him that love him and want to help him with no expectations other than wanting the best for him.
Although there are no real surprises in the story of bad boy turned good with the help of a shy good girl there was something that kept me turning the page and wanting to know what happens next. The story flowed and I really enjoyed the book from start to finish.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for a copy of this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Bad boy meets bookworm - every bookworms dream right?

This story was the perfect mix of cute and sweet with a bit of sass. Max is a tatted “bad boy” while Sarah lives between the covers of books in a small town. Set in a bookstore this book is a readers dream. The story was slow to start and I felt that there could have been more focus on emotional growth and healing of our main characters - emotions were rushed almost making it predictable. That being said, the ending does make up for the pace issues and gives you a perfect cozy, heartwarming read.

(please look up trigger warnings)

TW for violence and suicide.

This book gave me very much adult contemporary Beauty and the Beast vibes. Set in France - check, bad boy who's depicted as bit of a 'monster' - check, book loving girl who sees the good in people being romanced by a slightly self involved smarmy man - check.

A book that book lovers will enjoy for Sarah's commitment to books. However there is a slight romanticism surrounding Maxime's violent tendencies, so this may not suit readers who are triggered by violent outbursts.