The Book Swap Review! (ARC)

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 Title - The Book Swap

Author - Tessa Bickers

Release Date - September 3, 2024

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spice 🌶 - 2 (90% closed door)

scare 😱 - 0

plot 📖 - 4

characters 🧍- 4

stars ⭐ - 4 




What a depressingly cute story!

Erin and James, both from the same small town have both relocated a short drive away to London. Their lives have been falling apart since they fell apart. Life works in mysterious ways and they come back into each other's orbit, they just don't know it yet. Will they find out? ... and if they do, is a second chance even an option?

This book was not what I expected, in the best way possible. The beginning is all sad, no love. It got to the point where I didn't know if I could keep reading and as if Bickers knew exactly what I was thinking the plot shifted to a much lighter story. Some heavy elements still appear in the second half of the book but are decreased dramatically.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC of The Book Swap in exchange for an honest review.
For the majority of the book, it was hard to gauge how long Bonnie has been gone, but I think that is a great representation of true grief. Sometimes it feels like someone has been gone a day, the grief still fresh and overwhelming, and the next day you conquer the grief just to be back to square one the next. Bickers does a fantastic job describing the grief process and the guilt that can come with it.

My favorite element of the story (other than the book swap itself) was the light shone on men's mental health. It's no secret that men's mental health is something that is not talked about nearly enough. James's mental health journey throughout the book was fantastic to read about.

The Book Swap is a true second chance enemies to lovers romance. Nothing annoys me more than books marketed as "enemies to lovers" romances where they are enemies for approximately 10 pages. I am happy to report this is not the case. This was a great debut novel from Bickers, I cannot wait to see what she does next!

❤ Les

PS
Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC of The Book Swap in exchange for an honest review!

View my review on Goodreads here.

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