The Second Story Bookshop by Denise Hunter Review

 Good Morning Sweet Friends :)

I pray today finds you all doing well, and I'm so thankful you've taken the time to drop on by The Preppy Book Princess today for another book review.

I'm Kirby, and I always enjoy getting to welcome you to my little bookish corner of the internet.

Today's review is for an upcoming sweet romance release by one of my all time favorite authors.

I hope you'll all keep reading down below, and join me for today's full review.

The Second Story Bookshop by Denise Hunter:

Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Publisher: Thomas Nelson

Publication Date:  October 7th, 2025

Genre: Christian Fiction/Clean Romance/Contemporary

Synopsis:

She inherits the bookshop of her dreams . . . But she has to run it with the ex she vowed never to speak with again.

Shelby Thatcher adores working in the charming small-town bookshop her grandmother opened years ago. Since high school she's helped Gram turn the shop into a community hub for book lovers in the lakeside town of Granville, NC. When her beloved grandma passes away, Shelby inherits the bookstore. But to her shock, Gram leaves half ownership to Gray Briggs, the man who broke Shelby's heart years ago.

Granville residents have been vilifying Gray as long as he can remember. After graduating high school he couldn't skip town fast enough, even though it meant leaving the girl he'd fallen deeply in love with and alienating her family once and for all. Now he's back, the beneficiary of his elderly friend's will. Facing the town's animosity is difficult, but seeing Shelby again is sheer torture. No one could ever stir his heart the way she did.

As the adversaries are forced to work together, Gram's beyond-the-grave scheme is working--Shelby's old feelings for Gray begin to resurface. But the problems that destroyed their relationship before still remain, and a new one surfaces--one that threatens Gram's beloved bookshop. Is their love doomed to fail again, or will they find a way to make it work this time around?

(synopsis from goodreads)

My Review:

Denise Hunter has been one of my favorite authors for quite sometime, and I always look forward to her new book releases. After how much I loved her last release (The Summer of You and Me), and knowing this one had a bookshop as its setting, I couldn't wait to dive right in. However, I will say that while I did honestly enjoy this story overall, it's not my personal favorite by this author, and there were a few things that kept it from being a five star read for me.

The Second Story Bookshop is a second chance romance where protagonists Shelby and Gray are brought together under a strange bequest from her late grandmother's will. Gram always wanted the two to reconcile, and what she couldn't accomplish on earth, she'll do her best to accomplish after she's gone. Shelby and Gray are paired together to try and save Gram's beloved bookstore, but many obstacles are stacked in their way. They're both holding on to old hurts, the town has long held a grudge against Gray, Shelby's family can't forgive him for how he's hurt her in the past, and the bookstore is barely keeping it's doors open at this point.

A lovely clean and heartwarming romance that illustrates the beauty of first loves and healing from past hurts, this was honestly a lovely story that I did highly end up enjoying. I would recommend it for anyone looking for a clean, contemporary romance with a bookstore setting.

However, I did feel certain parts of the plot were highly implausible (particularly some of the issues surrounding the town's bullying of Gray), I didn't enjoy the fact that it has a somewhat cheating subplot, and I did find the first half of it was extremely slow moving. I personally think I would have enjoyed it more without the flashbacks, as I didn't think they added that much to the actual story, but that could just be me. Overall though, my major complaint was that the faith element was basically non existent. With everything these characters were going through, it just felt like a missed mark to have neither of them turn to the Lord for His help in navigating the treacherous waters they were treading. As a novel marketed as Christian fiction, I just wish this had actually been the case.

Final Rating: 3.5/5

Still a lovely read, just not as good as some of this author's previous releases.

Thanks so much to Thomas Nelson for allowing me to advance read and review this title!

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary advance reader copy of this novel from the publisher (Thomas Nelson) via NetGalley. I was not required to give a positive review. All thoughts and opinions are my own, and this is my honest review.

Thanks so much for reading guys! Have a great rest of your day :)