[Review] Last Chance Books - Kelsey Rodkey

Summary: A girl determined to save her family’s bookstore is waylaid by an unexpected romance in this You’ve Got Mail for the next generation, perfect for fans of Jenny Han and Morgan Matson.

Don’t you just love the smell of old books in the morning?

Madeline Moore does. Books & Moore, the musty bookstore her family has owned for generations, is where she feels most herself. Nothing is going to stop her from coming back after college to take over the store from her beloved aunt.

Nothing, that is—until a chain bookstore called Prologue opens across the street and threatens to shut them down.

Madeline sets out to demolish the competition, but Jasper, the guy who works over at Prologue, seems intent on ruining her life. Not only is he taking her customers, he has the unbelievable audacity to be . . . extremely cute.

But that doesn’t matter. Jasper is the enemy and he will be destroyed. After all—all’s fair in love and (book) wars. (Pub Date: May 18, 2021)

They're rivals, but the attraction is also mutual.

When Madeline finds out the boy she'd been crushing on is actually the "heir" to the bookstore on the other side of the street causing her family's to close doors, she decides the game is on. But at a point she notices they may be flirting more than trying to destroy one another. 

2.5, rounded-up. 

Maybe this book had gripped me more if it had stuck to the cliched romance, but also maybe that was also its weakness, because it reminded me a lot of You've Got Mail, minus the email exchange. I like that the rivalry is eventually solved for the better side of the plot, but I also thought that despite that the book still dragged. Madeline's family isn't conventional, and right at this moment of crisis her weird mother decides to move in with her and aunt, and this was supposed to be the interesting part. Only it wasn't. 

I can't deny Jasper is a great book boyfriend, the romance is cute, too. The discussion it raises about the importance of family and especially about the struggle small bookshops need to deal with lately, they're all good food for thought. 

I'd say this book has content, but not enough thrill to keep you interested. It's well written, it's cute, and it'll probably be more interesting to those who haven't watched You've Got Mail. 

Honest review based on an ARC provided by Edelweiss. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.

Rating: 3 out of 5.