REVIEW: The Bookshop of Second Chances by Jackie Fraser drew me in with the first paragraph and made me chuckle. From there, I gradually fell in love. When ancestry updated, I found out I was actually 30% Scottish. I’m more Scottish than anything else! I didn’t know this book took place in Scotland when I chose it to read. Can I just tell you how much I want to visit Scotland? Oh my.

I hope her characters were a good representation of the folks I might find during my visit. There were people with royal titles and the commoners. I like most of the folks I met on this journey. I kept thinking to myself that I would give anything to live in a home like Thea. A home that was once part of an estate. A nice garden and peace and quiet.  Oh! There was even a library of valuable books. Yup. I could live there! I immersed myself in this book. 

If you like a book that has a love story with a few complications and a chance to get to know another country, then The Bookshop of Second Chances might be a book for you to check out. This was Jackie Fraser’s first novel. I predict she will go far. I know I will be anxiously waiting for her next book. 

I received a copy of this book from the author/publisher and #Netgalley for a fair and honest review. Thank you! 

SYNOPSIS: A woman desperate to turn a new page heads to the Scottish coast and finds herself locked in a battle of wills with an infuriatingly aloof bookseller in this utterly heartwarming debut, perfect for readers of Evvie Drake Starts Over.

Thea Mottram is having a bad month. She’s been let go from her office job with no notice—and to make matters even worse, her husband of nearly twenty years has decided to leave her for one of her friends. Bewildered and completely lost, Thea doesn’t know what to do. But when she learns that a distant great uncle in Scotland has passed away, leaving her his home and a hefty antique book collection, she decides to leave Sussex for a few weeks. Escaping to a small coastal town where no one knows her seems to be exactly what she needs.

Almost instantly, Thea becomes enamored with the quaint cottage, comforted by its cozy rooms and lovely but neglected garden. The locals in nearby Baldochrie are just as warm, quirky, and inviting. The only person she can’t seem to win over is bookshop owner Edward Maltravers, to whom she hopes to sell her uncle’s book collection. His gruff attitude—fueled by an infamous, long-standing feud with his brother, a local lord—tests Thea’s patience. But bickering with Edward proves oddly refreshing and exciting, leading Thea to develop feelings she hasn’t experienced in a long time. As she follows a thrilling yet terrifying impulse to stay in Scotland indefinitely, Thea realizes that her new life may quickly become just as complicated as the one she was running from.