Story for the Week
I have always been drawn to bookstores. (Shocking, I know. 🤣)
Decades ago, before Amazon existed—even before the Internet—once I started earning my own money, I spent a lot of that money in bookstores. I didn’t know many independent bookstores back then, so I frequented Borders, Waldenbooks, and Barnes & Noble.
With the advent of Amazon, the market changed, and a lot of brick-and-mortar stores have gone out of business. Of the three I went to all the time, only Barnes & Noble still exists. These days, I read everything on a Kindle and probably half of the books I read are advance copies, but I still purchase hard copies of books from my favorite authors. More recently, I’ve started to seek out events at some local independent bookstores. Last month, one of my favorite author duos—Alison Hammer and Bradeigh Godfrey, friends and co-authors under the name Ali Brady—held a launch party of their new release at Volumes Bookcafe in Chicago.
I discovered Alison Hammer when I received an advance copy of her debut novel You and Me and Us, which also happened to be the first review I posted here on Books Under the Blanket (In Honor of Mother’s Day, a Bittersweet Mother/Daughter Story). I mentioned to her at the launch that I don’t know what possessed me to request it. At the time, my husband had been going through chemo for a little less than a year. I knew it would be a tough read. It’s the story of a man who wants to spend his last summer at the beach, helping his partner and teenage daughter forge a stronger relationship since they will only have each other after he dies.
I loved the book…so much that I sent it to my mom who sobbed through the whole thing. Hammer became an immediate follow and must-read for me, so when I discovered she had a writing partner and a pen name…. Let’s just say that you can find reviews for all of the Ali Brady books here, and Hammer and Godfrey’s other individual books are scheduled for review later this year.
Both authors are huge supporters of independent bookstores, and Hammer hails from Chicago. With an earlier release, they offered a signed bookplate and custom bookmark for anyone who pre-ordered their book from Volumes. Even though I had already pre-ordered that e-book, I also ordered the hard copy.
I wasn’t able to attend their launch parties in the past, but I was available this time. I also don’t go into the city very often. Anyone who knows me knows I’m a homebody. But I really wanted to go to this. So I grabbed a friend (I would never attend something like this alone), and we found ourselves in an amazing bookstore with a great neighborhood vibe. I was totally fan-girling 🤩, so I didn’t have a chance to look around the store too much, but it’s one that I want to make a point of visiting again.
For me, there’s just something welcoming, almost comforting, about bookstores. I love the smell of the books and the rainbow of colors on the shelves. If I can find a comfortable chair to settle in and watch people, I’ll totally take advantage. I adore the book “stuff” you can find—the stationery, the bookmarks, the notebooks. I consider it the adult equivalent of the tchotchkes Corinne used to bring home from the Scholastic Book Fair in grade school.
When Corinne went to Liverpool for a semester abroad, I flew out with her the week before her classes started. We spent a few days doing touristy things, and after she got settled in her flat, I had a day to myself before I headed home. I didn’t go sightseeing or souvenir shopping. I didn’t take any tours. What does a book person do when they have free time? I went to Waterstones. I bought a cup of peppermint tea and a pastry, and I watched people reading and shopping. I texted Corinne and told her that Waterstones had the paperback of Wicked, which she had been wanting to read. It was the absolute best part of my day.
You will never lose my interest by suggesting we go to a bookstore. I can always find something to look at, something to buy, somewhere to sit and watch the other book people. Volumes will see me again because I didn’t have nearly enough time to look around last month. And bookstores will always be my happy place. 🥰
Book Review
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
5 Stars for Battle of the Bookstores by Ali Brady
432 pages
Publisher: Berkley
Publication Date: June 3, 2025
Purchased on Amazon.
Publisher’s Description
Despite managing bookstores on the same Boston street, Josie Klein and Ryan Lawson have never interacted much—Josie’s store focuses on serious literature, and Ryan’s sells romance only. But when the new owner of both stores decides to combine them, the two are thrust into direct competition. Only one manager will be left standing, decided by who turns the most profit over the summer.
Efficient and detail-oriented Josie instantly clashes with easygoing and disorganized Ryan. Their competing events and contrasting styles lead to more than just frustration—the sparks between them might just set the whole store on fire. Their only solace during this chaos is the friendship they’ve each struck up with an anonymous friend in an online book forum. Little do they know they’re actually chatting with each other.
As their rivalry heats up in real life, their online relationship grows, and when the walls between their stores come tumbling down, Josie and Ryan realize not all’s fair in love and war. And maybe, if they’re lucky, happily ever afters aren’t just for the books.
************
Main Characters:
- Josie Klein – manages Tabula Inscripta bookstore focused on literary fiction, dropped out of college to take care of her sister, doesn’t believe in love because of how much her mom has dropped in and out of relationships
- Ryan Lawson – manages Happy Endings bookstore focused on romance, has worked at the store since he was 15 and the former owner caught him shoplifting
- Georgia Klein – Josie’s younger sister, studying for her graduate degree in psychology, was hit by a car as a child and still walks with a cane as a result
- Cinderella, Nora, Eliza, Indira – the staff at Happy Endings ranging in age from high school to late 70s
- Xander – owns the strip of buildings that house both bookstores and the coffee shop in between, has decided to knock down the walls and create one large bookstore with the coffee shop but only one manager
I just knew that Ali Brady’s first foray into true romance would be amazing. Their previous books had elements of love stories but focused more on family and friendship. When I heard that this book was an homage to Nora Ephron’s movie You’ve Got Mail, I knew I would not be disappointed.
In the movie, Joe Fox played by Tom Hanks helps his family run Fox Books, a behemoth bookstore that doesn’t really care about putting small booksellers out of business. Meg Ryan plays Kathleen Kelly, the owner of a children’s bookstore she inherited from her mother. Joe and Kathleen are rivals in real life, but online, they are friends dabbling in flirtation. It’s a sweet enemies to friends to lovers story that I have rewatched multiple times.
Battle of the Bookstores tells the story of Josie and Ryan, each the manager of a bookstore with a completely different vibe and clientele. Josie’s tastes are strictly literary fiction, and she thrives on organization and order. Ryan embraces romance and creating an inclusive environment where everyone can find a love story that appeals to them. Neither of them really appreciates the tastes of the other, so it’s a good thing their bookstores don’t attract the same type of customer. They only interact occasionally at the coffee shop between the two stores.
Enter Xander, the owner of both bookstores and the coffee shop, who decides that he wants to renovate. He plans to knock down the walls, open up the space and create one large bookstore. And whichever manager is the most profitable by the time the renovations are complete will be the sole manager of the entire bookstore. Xander is manipulative and deceitful, pitting Josie and Ryan against each other. Both have their strengths and weaknesses as managers, and both hate the idea of losing their own store.
When they’re not working, Josie and Ryan have each befriended a member of an online forum for booksellers. What they don’t know is that their online friendship and budding attraction is with their real-life nemesis. Online, they share just enough information to not give away their true identities, but we all know the truth will come out eventually. We also know that this is a love story, so Josie and Ryan will get their happily ever after. The question is how will they get there.
Hammer and Godfrey are amazing writers on their own. Together as Ali Brady, they make a powerful duo. Their books include dual points of view, giving their main characters unique voices. They provide a solid back story for each of their leads and even many of the secondary characters—Josie’s sister and mom as well as Ryan’s bookstore staff. Their decision to cast Ryan as the lover of romance and Josie as the one who looks down her nose at romance works particularly well, especially in regard to the events in their lives that brought them to this place. As a lover of books myself, I couldn’t get enough of all the book references they wove into the story. And their dialog always manages to put a smile on my face.
“Why don’t people write about messy, complicated love affairs that end in tragedy or devastation?”
He narrows his eyes, but there’s laughter hiding there, too. “You’re kidding right? There are plenty of books like that—Anna Karenina? The Song of Achilles? Call Me by Your Name? I could go on…”
“Okay, okay.”
“By definition, a romance novel is about lovers falling in love. Kind of like how mystery novels are about solving a mystery. Fantasy novels take place in a fantastical world; historical fiction is set in the past; literary fiction features purple prose and depressing endings—”
“Come on,” I say, rolling my eyes as an unexpected grin pulls at my lips. “If you think that’s true, you haven’t read much literary fiction.”
“And you haven’t read much romance.”
I read lots of different genres, including romance and literary fiction. What I want from a romance is the happily ever after. I go into it knowing that the two main characters will end up together. I have often said that readers all know the formula for romance. The enjoyment of one book over the other is in the execution of the story.
And Ali Brady’s execution is perfection. 🥰
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