The Battle of the Bookshops by Poppy Alexander

The Battle of the Bookshops

 by Poppy Alexander

The Battle of the Bookshops by Poppy Alexander was published on 25th September 2025 by Avon.

My thanks to the author and publisher for sending me a copy to review and to

Random Things Tours for inviting me on the tour.

Synopsis

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. Let the battle of the bookshops commence…

My Thoughts

This is the third of Poppy's books that I have read and she really is becoming one of those authors you turn to when you want a nice comforting, cosy read on one of those days when you just need to escape.

As to be expected with the names of the main characters, Jules Capelthorne and Roman Montbeau, there is a tongue in cheek approach to two feuding families, though thankfully without Shakespeare’s tragic ending. 

The narrative is that of an easy reader and the length of the book, just over 320 pages means that you can , like me, read it in one day . The chapters are relatively short and move backwards and forwards between characters with ease allowing your knowledge and understanding of them to progress at a steady pace without forgetting what you have already learnt about them.

There are many times when you will feel sorry for Jules and Roman and others when you want to shake them up , overall though you will  love them and will be rooting for them to get their act together.

As a huge bonus at the end of the book there is a sneaky peak of Poppie’s next book  “ How to find Romance in a Bookshop”. I really do love how Poppie centers her novels around lots of books to appeal to those of us who cannot imagine a world without books.

About Poppy 

Poppy Alexander is the author of The Littlest Library, Storybook Ending, and 25 Days ’Til Christmas. She wrote her first book when she was five. There was a long gap in her writing career while she was at school, and after studying classical music at university, she decided the world of music was better off without her and took up public relations, campaigning, political lobbying, and a bit of journalism instead. She takes an anthropological interest in family, friends, and life in her West Sussex village (think The Archers crossed with Twin Peaks), where she lives with her husband, children, and various other pets