REVIEW: Love Walked In by Sarah Chamberlain

Love Walked In by Sarah Chamberlain: When Leo inherits his family’s Bloomsbury bookshop after his grandfather’s death, he feels the weight of grief and expectation pressing down on him. Ross & Co. isn’t just a store, it is a legacy, it is his family’s legacy, but keeping it alive seems impossible while he’s still reeling from a failed marriage and the private struggles that follow him.

Enter Mari Cole. Bright, free spirited and known for her gift of turning failing bookshops into thriving spaces. Mari is the book whisperer that Leo so desperately needs in his life, if he has any hope of saving his beloved bookstore and family legacy. While Mari might have a way with the book, she too is dealing with ghosts from her past and a fear of being left behind… What starts as two complete opposites getting lost in piles of books, soon begins to turn into something so much deeper as they heal old woulds and discover a love that is worthy of being in a book in the romance section.

Love Walked In was just beautiful, this book is filled with hope, raw emotions and just a sweet story that will warm your heart. Also I absolutely loved the fact that it centred around a bookstore! While there were a few parts that I felt were a bit rushed, I really cant find to much fault with this book as a whole. The vivid bookstore setting and the contrast between our two leads, with one guarded and weighed down by loss and the other bright and full of hope, it was pretty easy to get lost in this book.

I love a good grumpy hero and in a way this is sort of what we get with Leo, but instead of a broody and moody guy, we have a hero that is dealing with the weight of his grief and trying to figure out his life post divorce. Leo has walls and they are high and double bricked, but the more we get to know him the easier it is to understand why he is so nervous to allow himself to feel love again. One of the things that I liked about Leo was the fact that we got to see how his struggles effected him, beyond a romantic sense. Whereas Mari on the other hand was full of life and warmth. She had so much to give everyone and most of the time ended up putting herself last. I think there was an element to Mari that felt so relatable in the sense she wanted to do everything for the people around her so that she wouldn’t feel left out or forgotten.

While for intents Leo and Mari were totally opposite of each other, there was just something about their connection that just made sense. And I loved getting to see it unfold between the banter filled moments and the more sweet tender ones. Together they balance each other, with Leo teaching Mari the value of slowing down and being honest with herself, while Mari helps Leo open up and see beyond the walls he’s built. There was a very comforting element to their connection that just worked for me in the setting of this book.

Overall I really found myself loving getting to follow Leo and Mari as they found themselves as they gave Ross & Co a second life. This book is filled with heartfelt moments that will pull at your heart strings in the most beautiful way. Definitely a book to read!

Book Info:

Publication: September 2, 2025 | St. Martin’s Griffin |

He has a struggling bookshop. She has a knack for bringing bookstores back to life. As soon as she walks into his store, all bets are off…

Mari Cole’s whole life is her dream rescuing and revitalizing indie bookstores. Friendship? Love? No thanks. After a hard childhood, she doesn’t want to get too close to anyone. Besides, books have never let Mari down the way people have.Then she gets the offer of a rescuing Ross & Co. Once the most prestigious independent booksellers in London, the store is a shadow of its former self and needs an expert outsider to turn things around. But the offer turns out to be a double-edged Leo Ross, the store’s new owner, is as cold and hostile as the British winter.

For as long as he can remember, Leo Ross has known his future is becoming the next generation to run Ross and Co. He’s sacrificed almost everything he cares about, but the bookshop is still failing on his watch, and now there’s an obnoxiously cheerful American woman convinced that she’s going to magically make everything better. Leo’s life is difficult and messy enough as it is, and he doesn’t want her help.

When Mari and Leo are forced to work closely together to bring the store back to life, Leo’s icy surface thaws to reveal the passionate man underneath. As the cold winter gives way to the possibility of new beginnings, Mari begins to see that true love could be even better in real life than in the pages of a book. Can they put their pasts aside and learn to let love in?