~ Book Review: Something New at the Borrow a Bookshop (Borrow a Bookshop #3) (ARC) ~

Author: Kiley Dunbar

A fairytale ending isn’t just for fiction…

The Borrow-a-Bookshop is recovering, seven months on from the winter flood that destroyed all its stock, and the latest temporary bookseller, Joy Foley, arrives in Clove Lore with her daughter, five-year-old Radia Pearl. As a tech expert, she’ll be working on dragging the Bookshop into the twenty-first century.

But what no one knows is that Joy is running from Radia Pearl’s father. She can’t settle down here or anywhere … moving on is how she stays safe. So when Radia befriends Monty Bickleigh, ex-fisherman and the new cook at The Siren’s Tail pub, despite herself, Joy finds herself growing closer to him, and the quirky community of Clove Lore.

While Joy settles in to the bookshop, Araminta Clove-Congreve, local lady of the Manor, is finding running her new wedding business harder than anticipated. She needs to hire a chief wedding planner, and fast – and Joy’s family may have the answer.

As Joy finds her heart softening by the magic of Clove Lore, can her new friends – and Monty – be enough to convince Joy to stop running and find a new life?

Something New at the Borrow a Bookshop is the third novel in the Borrow a Bookshop series. The story itself can be read as a standalone, which is how I read it, but I do look forward to going back and finishing the rest of the series. The Borrow a Bookshop is a place where people can rent the space temporarily and run it in its quaint village setting. Joy Foley arrives in Clove Lore with her five-year-old daughter, Radia Pearl, where she will be bringing her tech expert background to the bookshop. Using her expertise, she will bring the bookstore into the 21^st century with a website, digital stock system, and other higher tech elements.

Radia eventually befriends ex-fisherman and current cook at the local pub, The Siren’s Tail, Montague (Monty) David Bickleigh. Joy is hiding from ghosts from her past and Monty adds a new complex layer to her life. Joy and Radia have an incredible mother-daughter dynamic and I love how this is explored in the story. Each character was very enjoyable. While there were moments where Radia did not quite read her age, she was still a fun catalyst in the story. As Joy wants to be the best mother possible, a lot of her decisions are driven by Radia. This was a great dynamic as it gives the novel an extra layer aside from only focusing on Joy’s past. Now the romance that begins to develop between Monty and Joy is not as well-developed as I prefer, but I did enjoy their chemistry and the bond they form with each other.

Since I read this as a standalone, there were some pieces of the background missing, but I was still able to connect to the characters and story. As the three novels, and potentially more, all take place with the same bookshop and small town, it seems that each is unique. I can’t fully verify it since I haven’t read them, but the synopsis of each does it make it seem like it. In this novel, there is a great community of side characters and a nice setting, which gives an enjoyable element to reading. Dunbar’s writing is very easy yet still enjoyable. This is my third by the author, so I love how her style carries through each novel. Overall, this was a great read and I look forward to reading more from Dunbar in the future.

**I give a special thank you to Netgalley and the publisher, Hera, for the opportunity to read this entertaining novel. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.**