The True Love Bookshop

by Annie Rains

With themes of forgiveness and second chances, The True Love Bookshop invites you into the small town of Somerset Lake. The setting is predominantly Tess’ dream come true: her bookshop which she is trying to put her own stamp on by expanding the collection of books on offer and inviting authors for book signings. Unfortunately, she is still dealing with grief three years after her husband passed away.

The drama in Tess’ life ratchets up when River Harrison stumbles into the bookshop having suffered a knife wound. He is the man who ruined her wedding day nine years prior. Although she has never forgiven him for trying to break up the event, she agrees to take care of his dog Buddy while he is in the hospital. This simple act of kindness results in Tess and River teaming up to find out what her deceased husband Jared was doing in the neighboring town of Morrisville when he had the fatal car accident.

This romance has its share of ups and downs. Tess and River both deal with pains from the past. River was adopted as a two year old, but has done little to search for his birth parents. He is viewed as a loner, but he enjoys nature and is happy. There are devastating revelations in store for Tess. Both characters learn to redefine family and friendship.

I liked Tess and River; watching them reach out and grow emotionally and relationally was a pleasurable benefit of this romance. There were plot complications both for the couple and for the town whose festival had been ruined for the last two years by mischief. As a PI, River was hired to discover who was behind the problems.

This was my introduction to author Annie Rains, and I would definitely like to read more of her books. I appreciated that the author included multi-cultural friends and marriages and treated them as the norm.

I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Rating: 4/5

Category: Romance, Women’s Fiction

Notes: 1. #3 in the Somerset Lake Series, but it worked fine for me as a standalone.
2. Includes excellent discussion questions.

Publication: July 7, 2022—Forever (Grand Central Publishing)

Memorable Lines:

…the point of Tess’s book club…was friendship, food, and fiction. The best three f-words in the dictionary, if you asked Tess.

River believed in loyalty and honor, not just in the military, but in everything. And Jared believed in loyalty and honor only when someone else was watching.

…River had never believed in luck. He believed in right and wrong, in keeping your word, and helping others as much as possible. He couldn’t imagine ever falling into a pattern where he did the wrong thing and needed to search out lawyers to hide his secrets.