REVIEW: The Battle Of The Bookshops by Poppy Alexander

The Battle Of The Bookshops by Poppy Alexander: Jules has a rather low level job in publishing in London. When she gets a call that her beloved great-aunt Florence has been injured and can’t run her bookshop, Jules believes she can get things sorted over a long weekend. Her boss has threatened firing her if she doesn’t return by Monday.

Jules has wonderful childhood memories of Capelthorne Books which has been in the family for almost 100 years. When she arrives in Portneath, she sees things are worse than she imagined. The store is rather dusty and run down. On top of that it’s almost bankrupt and the huge lease on the building is due. Jules decides she has to leave her London job behind and take care of her great-aunt and the future of the bookshop.

Just about the time Jules starts to make plans to turn things around, Roman Montbeau return s home from New York and opens a shiny new bookshop right across from Capelthorne’s. The Montbeau family has been in a feud with the Capelthornes for many years. They own a huge portion of Portneath.

Jules is determined not to give in and lose the bookshop. Will she and Roman be able to settle their differences and move on?
Jules and Roman come from very different backgrounds, but both are strong-willed and determined. Their characters are fully fleshed out and seem authentic.

Aunt Florence was my favorite. She had worked hard and even mostly raised Jules since her mother wasn’t really up to the task.

I love books about books and bookshops. The small town English setting was charming. The romance is vital, but family is perhaps a more important theme.

The Battle of the Bookshops is a love letter to community, resilience, and the messy, magical ways books bring us together—a story that proves some rivalries are worth the fight, especially when the heart is on the line.

Book Info:

Publication: August 19, 2025 | Avon and Harper Voyager |

A charming literary-themed novel about a young woman determined to save her great-aunt’s beloved bookshop from extinction by the shiny new competition—which also happens to be run by the handsome son of her family’s rivals.

The cute, seaside town of Portneath has been the home of Capelthorne’s Books for nearly a hundred years…

The shop, in the heart of a high street that stretches crookedly down the hill from the castle to the sea, may be a tad run-down these days, but to Jules Capelthorne, the wonky, dusty world of literary treasures is full of precious childhood memories. When her great-aunt Florence gets too frail to run it alone, Jules ditches her junior publishing job in London and comes home to make the bookshop’s hundredth birthday a celebration to remember.

Jules quickly discovers things are worse than she ever imagined: The bookshop is close to bankruptcy, unlikely to make it to its own centenary celebration, and the lease on the building is up for renewal. With a six-figure sum needed, the future looks bleak.

To make matters worse, the owner of the property is the insufferable Roman Montbeau, from the posh, local family who owns half of Portneath. The Montbeaus and Capelthornes have feuded for years, and Roman has clearly not improved since he tormented Jules as a child. Fresh from a high-flying career in New York, he is on a mission to shake things up, and—unforgivably—proves his point about Capelthorne’s being a relic of the past by opening a new bookshop directly opposite—a shiny, plate-glass-windowed emporium of books.

Jules may not be able to splash the cash on promotions and marketing like the Montbeaus, but she’s got some ideas of her own, plus she has a tenacity that may just win the hardest of hearts and the most hopeless of conflicts.

Let the battle of the bookshops commence…