The Holiday Bookshop - Lucy Dickens

Description

Are you looking to start a new chapter?

Role: Bookseller wanted! (3-month fixed-term contract)
Location: A luxury resort on the tropical island of Bounty Cove Cay.
Skills required: The ideal candidate will have experience in a retail environment, preferably within the book industry.
Desired qualities: This role will appeal to a book lover with an adventurous streak who is looking for an escape from their everyday life.
What to expect: Sun, sea, and a bookshop that is far from thriving. No one said it would be smooth sailing!
Please note: You may fall in love with more than just our island along the way...

Looking for your next beach read? Look no further! Escape with The Holiday Bookshop, perfect for fans of Jo Thomas, Phillipa Ashley and Jenny Colgan...

Review

A lovely escapist read for the summer.

I did mostly enjoy this book, what's not to love? A book about running a bookshop and on an island in the Maldives.

In fact there are two bookshops in this book. Marianne and Jen run a bookshop in Cornwall - so far so good. Marianne thinks that Jen needs to lighten up a little and do something different with her life rather than concentrating on the bookshop 24/7. So when Jen sees an advert to set up a bookshop in a luxury resort in the Maldives, she dreams of applying and fills in the form for fun. In a rash moment she sends off the form never thinking she will get the job.

Meanwhile Marianne the free spirit of the partnership finds a new love and decides to do a USA road trip with him. Unfortunately it coincides with Jen actually getting the job in the Maldives and surprising her best friend with the unusual news. But if they both go on their trips who will run the Cornish bookshop?

I enjoyed the route Marianne took in the USA as I had done a similar one previously and knew the cities she described. The Maldives sounded so dreamy but I was less impressed with the time Jen spent there. The plot felt a little laboured to me. I also didn't really warm to either character, they both seemed very immature.

I'm giving this book 3 out of 5 stars. My thanks to netgalley for the ARC to review.

Comments

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