Battle of the Bookstores by Ali Brady is literally all about the battle of two bookstores who are located on the exact same block in Boston, Massachusetts, with nothing but a coffee shop standing between the two. When the new owner of all three buildings decides that he wants to combine all three buildings into one, massive bookshop with a coffee shop in between, he pits the two owners of the separate bookshops against one another, telling them only one can survive to manage the whole kit and caboodle. Whoever makes the most profit after three months will take over the new shop.
Now, neither of our protagonists is really thrilled about this prospect. They each run incredibly different bookstores, catering to different clientele. Josie is a buttoned-up, straight-laced lover of all things Literary Fiction, whereas Ryan is a disorganized mess with a knack for finding the perfect romance for each of his customers open hearts. They are openly hostile to one another through plenty a barbed or witty phrase turned sharp. But what neither of them realizes is that. . . they are also really good friends. Only online. On an anonymous book platform.
I was so super excited about digging in to this story. From the back cover alone, you are immediately reminded of the classic, You've Got Mail, brought in to the modern world. I only recently watched You've Got Mail for the first time in 2024 (I know, super late to the game, here), and I immediately fell in love with the cozy, fall feels and bookshop vibes. I think I watched it twice in the same week, that's how enthralled with the story I was, and that is wild considering this *hot take*: I don't really love Meg Ryan or Tom Hanks all that much. BUT, that just goes to show how cozy the story was and how they really nailed the all the bookish, fall vibes.
So of course, heading into the book version of said movie, I was ecstatic! I thought I had found the perfect book for curling up next to a roaring fire, sipping hot chocolate, and cuddling my cats.
Unfortunately, the book didn't quite live up to the hype I had built inside my head.
Let's start with the positives:
The You've Got Mail premise was pretty strong throughout, so that was great. There were a few times where I was a little suspicious and wondering how the two of them hadn't put things together sooner (the hints were all right there and very obvious), but there was enough plausibility for me to buy into the character's ignorance of the situation.
I also really loved how the author's intentionally turned the gender norms of the two characters on their head, having Josie be the Lit Fic know-it-all who loves her coffee black, while Ryan was always decked out in a pink lanyard with punny pins that read things like In my Smut Era and Spread Those Pages while sipping the most sugar-laden coffee drink on the menu. Josie is also the one unable to access her feelings whereas Ryan is super in touch with his own, and who doesn't love that?
And did I mention that one of the characters has dyslexia? I absolutely loved that representation as well as how the character navigates their difficulty with words while working in a heavy book environment. Team audiobooks ARE reading for life!
Also, I know this is a bit shallow, but I really, really loved the cover of this novel. It was bright and cheery and drew me right in.
Now let's go on to some of the things I wasn't as fond of:
I wasn't a big fan of the abbreviated words appearing inside the actual text of the story rather than in text message form. I don't know, but reading AF or LOL as internal dialogue just wasn't for me.
I also wasn't a huge fan of how so much internal dialogue for bothof the main character's during their "enemies" stage was so sexualized. They were constantly checking out the other person, even when they were supposedly mad at one another or when having serious conversations with other characters. Maybe this is a real thing that happens to real people, but for me, personally, when I am upset with someone, the last thing on my mind is how strong their shoulders look or how perky their butt. And I am definitely not imagining them pushing me up against a bookshelf to make hot, passionate love to when I want to punch them in the face. But perhaps that is just me?
And finally, I really just wanted more from Ryan's backstory and a bit less from Josie's. There were too few mentions of everything that made Ryan who he was or explained how he operated whereas with Josie, I was reminded almost every time we were in her perspective about all the ways in which her own mother failed and damaged her sense of safety and ability to relate to her own emotions. (Don't get me wrong, I remember crying at one point because something about Josie and her mom's relationship reminded me of my own relationship with my mother, so the emotion was definitely there). I just wished the balance had been more. . . balanced between the two. Leave a little more for the reader to decipher with Josie and a little less ambiguity with regards to Ryan.
All-in-all, this book wasn't necessarily a bad read. It was lighthearted and quick (I read it over the course of one Sunday) and could be really fun for readers who are very in tune with the current reading community, especially online. There were plenty of references that went over my head but I saw mentioned in other reviews online. It didn't make the book any less enjoyable, I just happen to be missing that extra layer of recognition. And in the end, I suppose I just wanted a bit more from this story. Something that made it pop, or zing, or simply stick with me after the final page.
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Interested in checking out this title for yourself? You can snag a copy here!