How to Find Romance in a Bookshop | The perfect meet-cute!
It seems that How to Find Romance in a Bookshop by Poppy Alexander is part of an interconnected universe (a very popular device in contemporary romance); however, it reads easily as a standalone, as the two central characters, Ross and Petra, are incomers rather than locals in Penreath (which sounds like the perfect place to live).
After a work disaster caused by an easy-to-make typo (seriously, I make them all the time and then laugh about them), Petra feels that her career in the publishing industry is over; really, I think she's a little burnt out! But calling a prize-winning author and one of the agency’s biggest clients a very specific and actually criminal thing (begins with ‘p’ and has to do with children) is a mistake she is struggling to live with…it’s also lost her a few clients very quickly.
Alistair, her boss, who is far more understanding than many I have encountered in my cough three decades plus cough in various industries, tells her about a temporary job that he has heard about in the picturesque town of Penreath, far, far away from London.
Almost instantly, Petra is enamoured of the idea and packs her stuff to go and look after this little bookshop (wish we had one like it with all the things set up for this small community, including writers' groups, book clubs and so much more). Though she can no longer find passion in reading (I guess making it your day job can have that effect), the idea of escaping the hustle and bustle of London, and the shame of her error, is enticing.
When she gets there, she immediately falls into the path of the town grump, Ross...who she mistakenly believes to be a pirate (he's dressed eccentrically)...and thus starts their love/hate relationship…in that they seemingly love to loathe each other (but we’ve all been here before so we know what this means in the world of romance!).
She soon settles in, and I fell in love with Penreath while she was doing the same. What bliss, a bookstore with new and old books, a regular market, a proper community that is rarely seen anymore, and genuinely nice people who help her out at every opportunity (though it feels unusual for this young woman who has been living in something resembling work-inflicted isolation in London for years).
Flo, Freya, Finn and the other locals were welcoming, fun and a great foil for the initially more abrasive Ross, who has been hiding from a rather traumatic past (primarily an extremely negative and abusive situation he experienced as a newcomer to publishing).
I do love how these coastal towns/villages seem to have so many things that make them the perfect place to live. Yes, I know it’s fiction, but if I could find somewhere like this, I would probably pack up and move quicker than you could say ‘gin rummy’…I live in a coastal town, and it’s nothing but coffee shops, charity shops and vape shops!
The romance was important, but with so many other things going on, including organising a brand new literature festival in the coastal town, it was not the only thing to enjoy, or relish. Petra and Ross have the best of meet-cutes...her falling off the train and him being seen as a pirate! Definitely made me chuckle! Book clubs, writing groups, the most incredible-sounding bookshop- yes, this is my type of beach read for certain.
