Netgalley ARC Review: Aria's Travelling Bookshop

"Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!"

Book Details:

Author: Rebecca Raisin

Series: Vanlifers series? (I don't know the official series name)

Genres: Romance. Women's Fiction

Page Count: ___

Publisher: HR Digital

To be Published: 8 April, 2020

Blurb:

This summer will change everything!

Aria Summers knows what she wants.

A life on the road with best friend Rosie and her beloved camper-van-cum-book-shop, and definitely, definitely, no romance.

But when Aria finds herself falling – after one too many glasses of wine, from a karaoke stage – into the arms of Jonathan, a part of her comes back to life for the first time in years.

Since her beloved husband died Aria has sworn off love, unless it’s the kind you can find in the pages of a book. One love of her life is quite enough.

And so Aria tries to forget Jonathan and sets off for a summer to remember in France. But could this trip change Aria’s life forever…?

My Review:-

This is my first introduction to Aria and Rosie. I hadn't read Rosie's Traveling Tea Shop, but thankfully, I didn't face any problem in reading this book.

This book was a mixed bag for me. 3/5 stars. There were quite a few instances where I was going to put this book down but I am glad I didn't.

This was a light story with some heavy emotional moments set in beautiful locations with tons of books. The lifestyle of VanLifers was very interesting to read about. The characters were decent although I didn't feel much attachment to the character of Aria. I was more intrigued by the character of Rosie than that of Aria.

“True love doesn’t always last forever. We have to be prepared to open our hearts again, no matter how damaged we might be.”

My fav character in the book was someone who wasn't present in the book at all, atleast actively- TJ. The way he was described and his personality was total goals. Poor soul had to depart so early :/

The parts of the book where Aria reminisces about him and reads his diary are honestly are the greatest highlight of the story. His words really tugged at my heartstrings.

I loved the friendship between Rosie and Aria; in fact, I lived for their interactions. It reminded me of my interactions with my friends. The author has beautifully captured it.

Now unto the greatest issue I had with the story. I felt zero chemistry between Jonathan and Aria and I simply couldn't buy their relationship. It won't have been much of a problem if this was a lesser important sub-plots but this was the MAIN CORE of the story. All of their interactions were plain awkward and I definitely didn't get the feeling that they were made for each other. Yes, I agree that they had spent a day together before the story started and that they felt sparks for each other then. However, from what I saw in the story wasn't enough to convince me that they were in such deep love that Jonathan risked his career and wrote a book for her. I don't ship them!

Final Thoughts?

This book is a good choice for readers looking to read something light-hearted and undemanding. Not a perfect book for the time when you want to get some serious reading done.

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