Romeo and Juliet live again in Portneath, a coastal town in Devon, southwest England. First, we meet Jules Capelthorne in London, working for a bossy editor who is channelling the magazine editor from The Devil Wears Prada. THE BATTLE OF THE BOOKSHOPS really begins when Jules learns that her mother needs her help, as great-aunt Florence has been taken seriously ill. She messages the editor and takes the train.
Capelthorne’s Books on Portneath High Street is just ticking over, needing a lot of work that Aunt Florence hasn’t been able to accomplish. The senior lady fell on the steps and has some injuries that will take weeks or months to heal. Jules thinks it’s natural to apply for leave. The editor thinks otherwise. At least Jules can get stuck into putting the bookshop to rights, but with slow sales and online competition, there are no guarantees.
So, the Romeo and Juliet situation is because Jules Capelthorne and Roman Montbeau, from a somewhat better-off family in the area, used to like each other at school, then fell out because of family feuding. This is not at all subtly done, and the characters make a wry allusion to the Shakespearean version at one point. We can’t expect swordfights in a modern tale, but the two are soon in direct opposition as – in a twist from You’ve Got Mail – Roman opens a large new bookshop across the street.
I did find the situations derivative, not saying they could not happen, just that I’ve read or seen them all before. The most interesting new character is a university student, Charlie Adeyemi, who bleaches his hair and pierces his ears while studying for a PhD in antiquarian literature. He offers to check through the old secondhand stock. I had been thinking the ideal way for the small shop to go was secondhand and rare books, which they could sell on site or online. At one point, I was hoping Jules would start a romance with this pleasant guy, who has the same interests as she does, but that didn’t happen in Romeo and Juliet, so obviously, she is fated to fall for her opponent. Maybe author Poppy Alexander is demonstrating how the play can still be relevant today.
Poppy Alexander must love handling books. She previously wrote a romance called The Littlest Library, featuring a red telephone box stocked with books. It’s fair to say that bibliophiles who want a cosy romance set in an English town may have a great time with THE BATTLE OF THE BOOKSHOPS. The tips on modernising and marketing might be taken up by anyone with a small business.
A charming literary-themed novel about a young woman determined to save her great-aunt’s beloved bookshop from extinction by the shiny new competition—which also happens to be run by the handsome son of her family’s rivals.
The cute, seaside town of Portneath has been the home of Capelthorne’s Books for nearly a hundred years…
The shop, in the heart of a high street that stretches crookedly down the hill from the castle to the sea, may be a tad run-down these days, but to Jules Capelthorne, the wonky, dusty world of literary treasures is full of precious childhood memories. When her great-aunt Florence gets too frail to run it alone, Jules ditches her junior publishing job in London and comes home to make the bookshop’s hundredth birthday a celebration to remember.
Jules quickly discovers things are worse than she ever imagined: The bookshop is close to bankruptcy, unlikely to make it to its own centenary celebration, and the lease on the building is up for renewal. With a six-figure sum needed, the future looks bleak.
To make matters worse, the owner of the property is the insufferable Roman Montbeau, from the posh, local family who owns half of Portneath. The Montbeaus and Capelthornes have feuded for years, and Roman has clearly not improved since he tormented Jules as a child. Fresh from a high-flying career in New York, he is on a mission to shake things up, and—unforgivably—proves his point about Capelthorne’s being a relic of the past by opening a new bookshop directly opposite—a shiny, plate-glass-windowed emporium of books.
Jules may not be able to splash the cash on promotions and marketing like the Montbeaus, but she’s got some ideas of her own, plus she has a tenacity that may just win the hardest of hearts and the most hopeless of conflicts.
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