#Review: Love Letters at the Borrow a Bookshop by Kiley Dunbar @HeraBooks #publicationday #TheBorrowABookshop #romance #romcom #RespectRomFic

Apologies for being a bit late in the day with this one (a small diary malfunction…!), but I am rather proud of myself today – it’s the second time this week I’ll be reviewing a book without being asked to for a blog tour! I’m delighted to share my publication day review of Love Letters at the Borrow a Bookshop by Kiley Dunbar: the fourth book in this lovely series, it’s published today (25th April) by Hera Books, and is now available on all major ebook platforms and in paperback. My thanks to the publishers for my advance reading e-copy, provided via netgalley.

Kiley, for me, is one of those really special authors whose books I always know I’m going to love. My first was a Christmas one – August 2019, in the middle of a heatwave, and she took me off to Lapland for a full-on Christmas experience, with roaring fires, reindeer and huskies, snow and ice, and a delicious man in a Santa suit with Christmas at Frozen Falls (one of my Books of the Year for 2019, and you’ll find my review here). I’ve since so enjoyed the time I spent at Port Willow and Stratford-Upon-Avon, and the wonderful never-too-late story of The Gingerbread Christmas Village was something really special (pop her name into my search box, you’ll find all the reviews) – but I must say I’ve been totally enchanted by Clove Lore and the Borrow a Bookshop.

The Borrow a Bookshop Holiday came out in May 2021, and I entirely loved it – can there be any reader who hasn’t harboured the dream of being able to run a bookshop for a fortnight, especially in such a beautiful location, and in the heart of that lovely community? (You’ll find my review of that one here – and it was, of course, one of my 2021 Books of the Year.) Christmas at the Borrow a Bookshop was even better – everything you could possibly want of a Christmas read, and yes, one of my 2022 Books of the Year too (you’ll find my review of that one here). I’m mortified that I missed Something New at the Borrow a Bookshop, so hadn’t met Joy and Radia until now – I’m not sure how that happened, and I really must catch up (and I notice it’s just 99p at the moment too!). But I’m delighted to be back – to spend time with my friends again, and to meet Austen, the latest “borrower”…

Can she write her perfect love story?

 

Austen Archer is on her dream solo bookselling holiday, the new ‘borrower’ at the Borrow-A-Bookshop in Devon’s Clove Lore. While she has always loved poetry, her words have dried up since being fired by her last boss, bestselling author, Callista Flyte, a year ago.

 

Austen distracts herself with the Borrow-A-Bookshop, as well as her flirty online exchanges with an anonymous Parisian bookseller. Hiding from the world, Austen doesn’t notice that wedding planner, Patti, is falling for her – and is too afraid to admit that she feels the chemistry too.

 

But as Patti and Austen grow closer, culminating in a magical day at the wildflower meadow, can Clove Lore work its customary magic and bring the two together? And will Austen find the confidence to risk her heart and write again?

It’s not the best start for poet Austen when she arrives at the Borrow-A-Bookshop to find a prominent display of the books of Callista Flyte – and discovers they’re going to be discussing her latest book at the next meeting of the book club. Her time there was meant to be an escape – instead it makes her remember why she’s there alone, to relive her time as the author’s assistant, and the (perhaps) misjudged moment that saw her lose her job. And that was something that damaged her self-esteem so badly that she’s since been unable to put pen to paper.

But her days at the bookshop, along with the many willing helpers who visit in support, see her through – and there’s also a lovely distraction through her flirty online correspondence with a Parisian bookseller she’s long admired. But there’s a potential love interest far closer to home – she’s particularly attracted to Patti, but neither of them is sure whether they might be misreading the signs. Until a particularly magical evening in the wild cornflower meadow at the Big House – and although there are slips and misunderstandings along the way, it begins to look as if there might be a possibility of a happy ending.

As always, there’s a multiplicity of storylines involving others – some of them very familiar – in the quite wonderfully drawn “Most Instagrammable Village in Devon” (and, what’s more, a three time winner!). One of them even competes as the main story – Sam, helping out with her mother’s laundry business, and her sparky relationship with posh boy Jasper, who’s just moved into an apartment at the Big House with his ailing (and rather mysterious) mother. It was a lovely counterpoint to Austen and Patti’s sometimes rather more emotional story – perhaps an unlikely romance, but one I rather enjoyed as the characters involved gradually became infinitely more likeable, although there are equally a few false starts before it begins to head towards its own happy ending.

The whole community, as always, plays a large part in the story – individuals we’ve met before when they became “clingers-on”, spending time at the bookshop and deciding they’d rather not leave, and the gloriously quirky villagers adding colour and humour and providing the warmest of welcomes for their newest arrival. It’s a book filled with special moments – the scene in the cornflower meadow is really beautiful (and brought a tear to my eye…), but I also particularly enjoyed the children’s book night with the contentious hat, bossy little Radia (the loveliest child – and that’s not something I say very often!) and the wonderful author of “Panda in a Puddle”. And I certainly very much enjoyed every step of Austen’s personal journey – opening up to others, learning to love herself again, and slowly blossoming.

The author is the most wonderful storyteller – and the whole book is so perfectly paced, with the moments of angst or poignancy beautifully balanced by others that bring laughter. If I was ever lucky enough to be a borrower, I don’t think I’d ever want to leave either – and I certainly felt a sense of loss when I turned the final page and our time together was over. But, I’m delighted to see, there will be more – and that’s something I’ll really be looking forward to. The loveliest read, everything I wanted it to be, and a book I’m happy to recommend without reservation.

About the author

Kiley Dunbar is a Scot living over the border in Northern England where she teaches English and creative writing, devours romance novels, fusses over Amos the Bedlington Terrier, and loves two little Dunbars. She thinks making imaginary people find happiness and fall in hopelessly in love has to be the best job in the world.

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