Reviewed by Wendy Lipke
This young adult contemporary romance is a debut novel in a two-book series based on The Wildest Dreams Bookshop. The second book, Snowed in at the Wildest Dreams Bookshop is also due to be published in 2025. The author, Gracie Page, lives in London but daydreams about leaving her office job to open a bookshop by the sea. She has lived this dream through the books in this series.
Anna has just finished her final exams and believes that she has ruined her chances of obtaining the job she had mapped out for her life. To make matters worse, her boyfriend had broken up with her as he was heading for Europe to find himself. With the summer break ahead of her she did not know how she was going to fill in her time. When her aunt invited her to visit and work in her bookstore by the sea, Anna reluctantly agrees.
This location couldn’t be more different from what she was used to in London. Here everyone knew each other, the sea breeze frizzed her hair, and conversations might include tide timetables and porpoise sightings. Her aunt was adamant that she should get out in the sun and even try surfing. The instructor was the same guy who had collected her at the station on her arrival. Since then, he kept crossing her path and she was well aware of this handsome bad boy as some kept telling her.
This location soon begins to weave its magic and when her aunt has a fall and breaks her leg Anna is left in charge of the bookstore. She soon learns how the people in this place all pull together to help those in need. On discovering the drastic financial situation of the business, she decides to use her skills, with help from others, to try to save the bookshop.
This story explores young love, the growth from an almost egocentric life to the more mature working with others and for others. Anna discovers that sometimes the best laid plans have a way of going awry then showing us where we were meant to be all along. It also shows how gossip can affect reputations and how we all need to listen more carefully to others and not jump to conclusions too quickly.
Although written for young adult readers, this is an interesting read which has lessons for all.
The Wildest Dreams Bookshop
(2025)
by Gracie Page
Harper Collins Publishers
ISBN:978-0-00-876279-7
$19.99;286pp