Booked For Summer by Kathryn Freeman

Book Review May 01, 2025

My review

3/5 stars

Jade is stuck in some unhealthy patterns in her life and decides to take a 3 month trip to Nantucket to run a bookstore in an attempt to turn things around. Within a day, she ends up in bed with a local, only to find out that he's the very rich owner of the resort that her bookstore is being bought out by. What results is a fight over the future of the bookstore, and the potential future of their relationship.

The blurb for this book made it sound like something I was really going to love, and while elements of it did really work, overall it just didn't hit the right mark for me and ended up being a bit of a disappointment.

It started pretty early on, within the first 10% of the book to be exact, when a detailed sex scene between two characters I barely knew practically kicked off the story. I'm no prude, but it felt too much too soon and was fairly unnecessary for the plot of the story. It became clear that the emphasis was on the sexual chemistry between the two main characters, and while it was very well-written chemistry, the emotional connection between them felt like it suffered as a result.

This was further emphasised by the sheer number of miscommunications and misunderstandings that happened between Jade and Liam. The frequency with which they happened, and the fact that they were almost always over the same thing, made it feel really implausible that the two of them (with all of their respective baggage and trauma) would have been able to have a healthy relationship, let alone put the effort into chasing one.

There were parts of the book that I did enjoy - the sub-plot around saving the bookstore was fun and creative (I want to try a book speed dating experience). I also took great pleasure from reading Jeremy's character and that of Grandma Haven. They both served to provide some of the emotional depth that felt misconstrued between Liam and Jade, as well as some light relief and comic ingenuity in a story that was littered with personal trauma.

It was an easy enough story to read, and there was nothing inherently wrong with it - the romance just didn't connect for me in the way I'd hoped it would; it felt overshadowed by unnecessary plot drivers and spice.

*I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Book blurb

A love story she didn't see coming…

When book lover Jade Taylor applies to manage the Little Bay Book Shack on Nantucket Island over the summer, the last thing she needs is the distraction of billionaire resort owner, Liam Haven.

But things take an unexpected turn when Liam becomes Jade’s boss – a man who reads nothing but contracts for pleasure…

In a bid to save the bookshop from being absorbed into the Haven resort, Jade is determined to teach Liam that there’s more to life than acquiring real estate. And if she can make him realise happily ever afters do exist, might she be able to save the island’s bookshop in the process?