Nevermore Bookstore

I had a love-hate relationship with this book. I really disliked the MMC. He seemed like a problematic manly dude, basically a peeping tom who called her “woman”. We didn't really see their connection build up, it was already there from the beginning, and it was hard to see why they liked each other so much. I also didn't love the writing style, felt quite over the top. Some of the aspects I had trouble with might be appreciated by dark romance readers (to be clear, there's no noncon). But I likely would have DNF'd this if it wasn't an ARC.

On the other hand I appreciated a lot of what it was doing. Bringing together two people who think they're broken, one with chronic pain, the other who has PTSD. The book gave them the space to figure out the strength within themselves and heal themselves, finding strength within one another.

Beyond the romance, there's also some mystery aspects going on, break ins, things moving around, a missing deed... I enjoyed this aspect though it was mostly in the background, and I kind of figured out what was going on

The setting is a bookstore, and there's plenty of love of books in this one. I liked how they cared about each other. I liked the small town setting and most of its occupants. I especially loved the elder lady couple.

The book is set in the kind of fictional Townsend Harbor in Washington. I say kind of because I'm 99% sure it's based on Port Townsend, WA which is a real place. I've been to it and I basically set the whole book there in my mind.

Overall rating: 2.5 ⭐

Thank you to Oliver Heber Books, Xpresso Book Tour and @netgalley for the eARC!