Portobello Book Blog

On Saturday I shared a great guest post featuring Kiley Dunbar in which she shared #TenThings she’d like her readers to know about her. You can read that here. I had just finished the first book in what is soon to be a trilogy set in the Borrow a Bookshop in Devon. I’m delighted to share my review today.

About the book

The Borrow-a-Bookshop Bookshop Café invites literature lovers to run their very own bookshop … for a fortnight.

Spend your days talking books with customers in your own charming bookshop and serving up delicious cream teas in the cosy café.

Bookworms, what are you waiting for? Your holiday is going to be LIT(erary).

Apply to: The Borrow-a-Bookshop Bookshop Café, Down-a-long, Clove Lore, Devon.

Jude Crawley should be on top of the world. She’s just graduated as a mature student, so can finally go public about her relationship with Philosophy professor, Mack.

Until she sees Mack kissing another girl, and her dreams crumble. And worse, their dream holiday – running a tiny bookshop in the harbour village of Clove Lore for two weeks – is non-refundable.

Throwing caution to the winds, Jude heads down to Devon, eager to immerse herself in literature and heal her broken heart.

But there’s one problem – six foot tall, brooding (but gorgeous) Elliot, who’s also reserved the bookshop holiday for two weeks…

As Jude and Elliot put their differences aside to run the bookshop, it seems that Jude might be falling in love with more than just words. Until she discovers what Elliot is running from – and why he’s hiding out in Clove Lore.

Can Jude find her own happy ending in a tiny, tumbledown bookshop? Or is she about to find out that her bookish holiday might have an unexpected twist in the tale…

The perfect cosy, romantic read for any bookworm! Fans of Jenny Colgan, Cressida McLaughlin and Philippa Ashley will love this feelgood romcom.

My Thoughts

I love books set in bookshops, books set in small communities and of course, books with a gorgeous love story so this book was always going to be a winner for me. Borrowing a bookshop seems like such a fun idea to me and is actually something you can do in Wigtown. Have a look at The Open Book if you are interested although I believe it is booked up for a couple of years.

I couldn’t help but feel a bit sorry for Jude. Just when she should have been celebrating graduating from university, everything she knows changes. She had been a carer to her Gran for some years, meaning she has taken a bit longer than most to complete her degree, but now her Gran has decided to move into a retirement complex. I have to say that place sounded brilliant and the kind of place I’d like to retire to myself! At the same time, her relationship falls apart, and her parents sell up the family bakery business which means her home is sold too. The dream bookshop holiday she had planned with her partner now seems to be a bit of a nightmare but I was delighted that she had the courage to go by herself nonetheless. Only it turned out that, due to a bit of a mix-up, she isn’t quite on her own after all as handsome vet Elliott is also booked in. The bookshop came along at just the right time for both Jude and Elliot.

They don’t really get off to the best start which is perhaps understandable given Jude wasn’t expecting anyone else to be sharing the tiny flat above the shop with her. Very soon though, to my delight, attraction grows between the two and their impulsive and passionate love affair is wonderful to read about. As we all know though, the course of true love never did run smooth and there are difficulties between the two especially as it seems that Elliot is hiding quite a big secret and might not be all he appears.

I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the community of Clove Lore which is full of quirky characters such as Jowan, the owner of the book shop, Mrs Crocombe who fancies herself as a bit of a local match-maker, Izaak the estate caretaker who is always looking for books which the shop doesn’t seem to have and not forgetting Aldous, the resident Bedlington terrier who is fond of a cheese sandwich and chicken soup! I also found it quite amusing that one of the couples in the book have the surname Burntisland as my house looks over the Forth estuary and I can see Burntisland from my living room!

I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to the Clove Lore and am already looking forward to my return visit when the next book comes out in March. And the good news is that there are going to be at least another two books in the Borrow a Bookshop series – hooray! The Borrow a Bookshop Holiday is fun, uplifting and heart-warming, a real feel-good treat for booklovers.

The Borrow a Bookshop Holiday is published by Hera and available now in all formats. The third book in the series, Something New at the Borrow a Bookshop will be published on 23rd March and is available to pre-order now.

About the Author

Kiley is Scottish and lives in England with her husband, two kids and Amos the Bedlington Terrier. She writes around her work at a University in the North of England where she lectures in English Literature and creative writing. She is proud to be a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and a graduate of their New Writers’ Scheme.