Ali Brady's piquantly tender fourth rom-com, Battle of the Bookstores, features two rival Boston-area booksellers forced into professional competition that's complicated by their highly inconvenient mutual attraction.
Buttoned-up Josie loves literary fiction, and she's proud to be managing Tabula Inscripta in Somerville's Davis Square, even if customers are scarce most days. Meanwhile, easygoing Ryan, who manages the romance bookstore Happy Endings, loves his chaotic store with its two cats and quirky staff. When the smarmy landlord who owns both bookstores decides to combine them--and hire only one manager--Ryan and Josie must compete for the job. As their literary tastes and management styles clash, neither realizes that they've already become friends by chatting on an online forum for booksellers.
Brady (Until Next Summer; The Beach Trap) mixes classic romance tropes (enemies to lovers, slow burn, forced proximity, only one bed) with deeper insights into both protagonists' backgrounds and their hang-ups regarding romantic relationships. Josie, who dropped out of college to care for her younger sister, who was struck by a car, is efficient and organized but terrified to show weakness. Ryan struggles to measure up to his three successful older brothers and open himself to love again after heartbreak. They're prepared to fight each other on behalf of their stores but soon realize that a little cooperation--during and after work hours--may sweeten the deal for them both.
Bursting with witty banter, charming secondary characters, and nods to a slew of great love stories, Battle of the Bookstores will have no problem winning readers' hearts. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams