THE TRUE LOVE BOOKSHOP by Annie Rains

 

Publisher: Forever
Date Published: July 5, 2022
ISBN#    ‎ 978-1538710067
Contemporary Romance
Reviewed by Gina (myreviewbooks@aol.com)
Obtained via publisher
3-1/2 Hearts

Tess Lane lost the love of her life when her husband, Jared, died in a suspicious car accident three years ago. With her husband’s former best friend, River Harrison, back in town old wounds surface mainly because of how River almost ruined her wedding.  When an injured River shows up in her book store, Tess soon finds her feelings toward him changing. When she learns he is looking into Jared’s death she insists on joining him in his investigation.

River Harrison is a former Marine – although ask a Marine and they will tell you once a Marine, always a Marine. He is a man of is word and a strong sense of right and wrong. When he caught his friend, Jared, sleeping with another woman days before his marriage to Tess, River insisted Jared to the right thing and come clean to Tess. Jared refused to and River decided it was on him to expose his cheating. Now he’s looking into some suspicious activity around Jared’s death and more than one secret is about to be unveiled. When Tess insists she be part of the investigation, despite is personal feelings for Tess, he agrees.

I probably should have taken a break between reading Annie Rains’s THE CHRISTMAS VILLAGE and THE TRUE LOVE BOOKSTORE because she is her own tough act to follow.  THE CHRISTMAS VILLAGE was just such a perfect story. Ideal for when you just want a good romance and great for introducing teens to reading romance. With TRUE LOVE BOOKSTORE I loved the idea of Tess’s book club and how she tries to have something for everyone in town to read. Her story, having her husband die in a suspicious car accident was a sad one and how she picked herself up after was well done. Where the story bogged down for me was the repetition of how she has “brown” skin and that she was mixed race. But sometimes she was, and sometimes she wasn’t.  I got it after the first ten times. I didn’t need to be reminded in virtually every chapter.

I got it that River was a Marine. Ask a Marine, as I said above, they will tell you once a Marine, always a Marine so the constant referring to him as a former Marine was like nails on a blackboard to me.

THE TRUE LOVE BOOKSTORE, like the other books in this series, is a standalone story. You don’t need to read them in order – although you should if you want some good reads – to enjoy them. Rains does add some passages that bring readers up to date on the characters from earlier books and it’s good reading to see how their relationships have progressed. I have a feeling Lara, Tess’s assistant at the bookstore has her own story to tell and I look forward to the next read in this series.

 

This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book.