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A modern twist on You’ve Got Mail starring an indie bookstore owner looking for true love and a cynical CEO who may ruin everything, from New York Times bestselling author Marina Adair.Summer Russo believes in the power of destiny and true love . . . which might be why she sank her entire life savings into reviving a nearly-bankrupt independent bookstore that specializes in romance novels and beach reads. But just as she starts to get the hang of the new business, a big-box bookstore moves in next door, run by the grumpy and arrogant Kingston, who seems determined to ruin her day (and her livelihood).Wes Kingston is a cut-throat CEO who doesn’t believe in love — or failure. He runs his business the way he runs his alone. And he isn’t going to let a fiery femme fatale take him down. Especially when she is dead set on stopping the opening of his new bookstore.At least Summer has her family's annual vacation in Mystic, CT to look forward to as a break from the standoff. But when she arrives at the beachside cabin, she realizes that her usual summer respite may not be so carefree after all. Her sister has brought along not only her boyfriend but his brother, who just happens to be the very same surly-but-infuriatingly-sexy bookstore mogul Summer thought she was getting away from.The bookstore war is still on, and neither Summer nor Kingston will go down without a fight. But when one thing leads to another and fighting turns to foreplay, both find themselves stuck in a battle for the bookstore — and for their hearts.
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Don’t worry, the solution to the big-box bookstore moving in next door to the small town romance bookstore is not the big-box bookstore absorbing the small bookstore. The solution, in order for Summer and Wes to get their HEA, is a tad bit more palatable than that. This story was much more emotional than I had anticipated. By all accounts, Summer has a fantastic family and is very close with them. It doesn’t take long to see the cracks in Summer’s relationship with her twin sister, though. And once Summer is stuffed into a cabin with her whole family as well as her arch nemesis, it becomes clear that Summer is the pushover. She does what needs to be done to make everyone else happy and keep the peace, never sticking up for herself. Not that most of her family is bad. They just don’t realize how they hurt her with some of their teasing and meddling since she never voices her discomfort. Wes notices this dynamic immediately and finds himself stepping in time and again to soften the blow to Summer. He may be single-minded and come across as pompous, but Wes is a good egg and turns out to be a swoony hero. I was trying to figure out my problem with this book, because I did have some issues with not staying fully engaged. I love the characters, there is fantastic chemistry, Summer’s woes are gut-wrenching and were giving me all the feels, so what was the problem? Having sat with this for a few days, I think it’s the intensity of the rivals part of the rivals-to-lovers. Sometimes, Wes and Summer were cruel to each other. While I’m sure some readers eat that up with a spoon, it was a bit too much for my belly…it felt hollowed out at times. So that’s going to be a preference thing for sure. For me, I loved seeing Wes and Summer lifting each other up…even before they became friends. That means the beginning, before they made it to the cabin, was a rough start for me. Also, I hated Summer’s sister so much and didn’t even forgive her at the end with her groveling. **I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely.**
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