Portobello Book Blog

Bookshops seem to be featuring rather a lot just now either in my reviews or guest posts! Today, I have my review of the latest book in the Borrow a Bookshop series by Kiley Dunbar. I reviewed the first book in the series last month and you can read my review here. Kiley also shared #TenThings about herself on the blog recently and you can read that post here.

About the book

A fairytale ending isn’t just for fiction…

The Borrow-a-Bookshop is recovering, seven months on from the winter flood that destroyed all its stock, and the latest temporary bookseller, Joy Foley, arrives in Clove Lore with her daughter, five-year-old Radia Pearl. As a tech expert, she’ll be working on dragging the Bookshop into the twenty-first century.

But what no one knows is that Joy is running from Radia Pearl’s father. She can’t settle down here or anywhere … moving on is how she stays safe. So when Radia befriends Monty Bickleigh, ex-fisherman and the new cook at The Siren’s Tail pub, despite herself, Joy finds herself growing closer to him, and the quirky community of Clove Lore.

While Joy settles in to the bookshop, Araminta Clove-Congreve, local lady of the Manor, is finding running her new wedding business harder than anticipated. She needs to hire a chief wedding planner, and fast – and Joy’s family may have the answer.

As Joy finds her heart softening by the magic of Clove Lore, can her new friends – and Monty – be enough to convince Joy to stop running and find a new life?

My Thoughts

The first thing to say is that you don’t need to have read either of the previous books in the series to enjoy this one. The wonderful setting of the community of Clove Lore and the bookshop is the same and if you’ve read previous books, you’ll enjoy spotting familiar characters. However, this book focuses on a new set of characters and can be read as a standalone novel. This time, the bookshop borrowers are Joy and her young daughter Radia. The bookshop has been closed for some months following a flood and Joy’s job is to get a new IT system up and running so it can open again.

Joy was perhaps not as immediately likeable as some of the other characters. She’s rather prickly and closed off, keeps people at arms length and shuts herself off from the possibility of friendships let alone romantic relationship. Despite herself, she becomes attracted to lovely, kind Monty, the overworked and disillusioned chef at the local pub. As I started to find out more about why Joy was the way she was though, I had a lot of sympathy for her even if I wouldn’t necessarily have reacted the way she did closing herself off from even her family. However, as a previous borrower Jude says, there’s no such thing as secrets at Clove Lore and gradually Joy’s secrets come to light.

Radia was a lovely character to read about. She’s a friendly wee girl and has travelled extensively with her mother all over the world. She’s had some amazing experiences for such a young child and has a sharp mind. With her mother being so protective of her though, for reasons which I did come to understand, she hasn’t had the chance just to be a little girl, to make friends, spend time with her family, even to go to school. She is desperate to have these kind of experiences and live a more normal life even if she doesn’t really understand what a normal life is. I felt so sorry for her but loved watching how she quickly settled into Clove Lore and craftily yet innocently made such a difference in her mother’s life.

There’s the added fun of Minty trying to get her wedding planning business up and running and using an upcoming local wedding to try to showcase what she could offer. It was so funny reading about all the ideas she had whether the happy couple wanted them of not. Never mind Bridezilla, I’m sure all her wedding suppliers dreaded seeing Minty’s name popping up on their phone screens! And in the end, all that mattered was that the happy couple were able to share their day with their friends and family.

I really enjoyed this return visit to the Borrow a Bookshop and Clove Lore. It was definitely something new and a bit different for the bookshop. There are a few characters I’d love to read more about such as Monty’s twin Tom and the inimitable Mrs C! Perhaps they will feature again in future books. With drama, laughter and romance, Something New at the Borrow a Bookshop is another delightful read from Kiley Dunbar. It’s a heart-warming, uplifting read perfect for booklovers.

Thanks to publishers Hera for my digital review copy from Netgalley.
Something New at the Borrow a Bookshop is available
now in digital and paperback formats.
You’ll find buying links for various retailers on the Hera website:
Something New at the Borrow a Bookshop

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.