The Rainy Day Bookshop

A warmhearted multigenerational romance centered on a grief-stricken mother and daughter juggling family demands, love interests, and a local bookshop. 

Four generations of woman reside at the center of The Rainy Day Bookshop by RaeAnne Thayne, a moving multigenerational romance about how the past can influence the future.

 

Widowed Rosie Lucas has her hands full. Her 72-year-old mother, Sylvia--who established and maintained The Rainy Day Bookshop in the small town of Wood Briar on the Oregon coast--is slow to convalesce from an ice-skating accident. And her estranged daughter, Emma, returns to town with Olivia, her three-old-old, Rosie’s granddaughter, in tow. The timing seems providential, as Emma can now help out at the store. However, Emma’s return forces Rosie and Emma to deal with a secret that drove a wedge between their relationship years before. In the midst of them revisiting the past, a quirky, loner writer and single dad becomes a loyal confidante for Rosie, and Emma crosses paths with an old flame from middle school.  Can the two women, riddled with grief, reconcile their mother-daughter relationship? And are they willing to open their hearts to romance again? 

 

Small town life and the complexities of women’s issues are Thayne’s (Snow Kissed, The Lost Book of First Loves) specialties—and they shine in this tender-hearted novel of family dynamics and blossoming love.

 

The Rainy Day Bookshop by RaeAnne Thayne

MIRA Books (HarperCollins), $29.00 hardcover, paperback, 9780778307433, 384 pages

Publishing Date: June 2, 2026

To order this book on Bookshop.org, link HERE

 

Learn more about RaeAnne Thayne HERE

 

Love on the Shelf

 

A fast-paced rom-com that offers a thought-provoking cultural commentary on love—most notably, the virtues of romance novels.

With 60 books under her belt, Sheila Roberts (The Man Next Door) once again tackles the genre she knows best--romantic comedy. Love on the Shelf is a wry send-up that cleverly pits a hopefully romantic bookseller against a jaded, romance-averse, radio shock-jock.

Shy, single, bookish Alice Willoughby believes in love and happy endings. She and her mother own and operate HEA Books, a fun, “haven and happy place” bookstore in Seattle, Washington. Since Alice graduated college and became a local merchant, she has taken pride in promoting romance titles--even successfully serving as a ‘book matchmaker’ for readers hungry to find the perfect literary love story escapes.

Enter Parker Black, who is bitter from a soured, broken relationship with a romance writer who later poison-penned their story, casting him as a villain. Parker uses his popular radio platform and machismo to take-down all things romance—including ‘evil’ romance novels. His outspokenness ultimately stirs up trouble for Alice and HEA until an on-air debate sends sparks flying between the two that not only incite a public protest about the nature of love and happy endings but suddenly shifts the perspectives of the two disparate souls.

Nobody does the charm of witty romance better than Sheila Roberts!  Love on the Shelf is a thought-provoking cultural commentary on the romance book industry, offering well-defined characters in whom readers will root to fall in love.

The Man Next Door by Sheila Roberts

MIRA Books (HarperCollins, Harlequin), 18.99 paperback, 9780778305828, 336 pages

Publishing Date: May 26,2026

To order this book on Bookshop.org, link HERE

Learn more about Sheila Roberts HERE

The Booklover's Library

An authentic, tender--at times harrowing--story about how a book-loving British mother and daughter navigate the perils of WWII.

The imprint of WWII on a British mother and daughter are thoughtfully explored in The Booklover’s Library, a deeply moving, meticulously researched novel of historical fiction by Madeline Martin.

Set in England from 1931 to 1946, the story follows Emma Taylor, whose mother died after she was born. Her beloved bookshop-owner father raised her, passing on his passion for books. Eight years after he perishes in a fire that also claimed his store, Emma marries a solicitor who is struck and killed by a car after the birth of their daughter, Olivia.

As WWII looms larger, Emma struggles to find work, as being widowed with a child is construed as an employment liability. When she finally encounters a woman familiar with her father and his bookshop--who is impressed by Emma’s book knowledge--Emma is offered a position at a subscription-style lending library with conditions: Emma must claim she is unmarried--referred to as “Miss Taylor”--and her daughter must be referred to as her “sister.”

As war escalates, a multitude of challenges grow, and Emma is forced, for safety’s sake, to send Olivia away to the English countryside. Separated mother and daughter become entrenched in an uncertain world. But the power of friendship, community, and the comfort of books sustains them.

Martin (The Last Bookshop in London) authentically depicts how the terror of WWII--and the many sacrifices made therein--inspired great resilience of the human spirit.

The Booklover’s Library by Madeline Martin

Hanover Square Press (Harlequin/HarperCollins), $18.99 paperback, 9781335000392, 432 pages

Publication Date: September 10, 2024

To order this book on INDIEBOUND/Bookshop.Org, link HERE

 

NOTE: This review is a reprint and is being posted with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review as originally published on Shelf Awareness (September 13, 2024), link HERE 

 

Not all books require batteries

Opinion: 

Not all books require batteries

How has your local indie bookshop changed YOUR life? 

Read how 
Shaw's Book Shop 

has influenced mine.

Thank you Tom Downs at Shaw's Book Shop in Westwood, NJ!

(Shaw's will celebrate 40 years in business in 2017)

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Opinion/Editorial: "Other Views/ Guest Columnist" (Section A-7)

BY KATHLEEN GERARD

To read the article in its entirety, click on the highlighted title above

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