From the cover:
"Rosie Thorne is feeling stuck - on her college application essays, in her small town, and on that mysterious General Sond cosplayer she met at ExcelsiCon. Most of all, she's stuck in her grief over her mother's death. Her only solace was her late mother's library of rare Starfield novels, but even that disappeared when they sold it to pay off hospital bills.
On the other hand, Vance Reigns has been Hollywood royalty for as long as he can remember - with all the privilege and scrutiny that entails. When a tabloid scandal catches up to him, he's forced to hide out somewhere the paparazzi would never expect to find him: Small Town USA. At least there's a library in the house. Too bad he doesn't read.
When Rosie and Vance's paths collide and a rare book is accidentally destroyed, Rosie finds herself working to repay the debt. And while most Starfield superfans would jump at the chance to work in close proximity to the Vance Raines, Rosie has discovered something about Vance: he's a jerk, and she can't stand him. The feeling is mutual.
But as Vance and Rosie begrudgingly get to know each other, their careful masks come off - and they may just find that there's more risk in shutting each other out than in opening their hearts."
💬 💬 💬
Sooooooooo story time. Way back in March (March 16th to be exact) my colleagues and I reported to work and learned that we were temporarily closing due to COVID. Being the library nerds we are, a lot of our staff (me included, obvi) took the opportunity to stock up on books before we headed home. Of course, as has been well-documented on this blog, I wound up having a difficult time focusing on books after this closure, and most of those books have sat unread for months, waiting for me to be able to concentrate.
Recently, my focus has been getting better, so I've started working my way through this mountain of books. Of course, one mountain isn't enough, so I also requested some advanced reader copies. The stars aligned, and I decided to read Geekerella, one of the books I randomly chose off our shelves because it sounded interesting, followed by Bookish and the Beast, one of the ARCs I requested because I'm a sucker for Beauty and the Beast.
Y'ALL. This is an effin series! And there's a book in between! WHICH I HAVE NOT READ. So...weird coincidence that I happened to read two books in the same series one right after the other without realizing it, and also now I have to read The Princess and the Fangirl. Another book to add to the mountain.
Anyway, about the book itself. The description does a pretty thorough job of breaking down what to expect, and there aren't a whole lot of surprises in the plot, but its beauty is in its simplicity. There are ups and downs, but it's a light read, and it'll probably make you happy. Honestly, particularly right now, what more could you ask for?
Oh, what was that? If you said great characters, I agree 100%, and Bookish and the Beast has them in spades. Vance was ok - he didn't have me wowed, but he was a serviceable MC. Rosie, on the other hand...can I get a hell yes? She is feisty, outspoken, and assertive, and I. LOVE. HER. There's a moment where she punches the Gaston character in the face, and I just...
Also, huge shout out to Space Dad, her silver-haired, hella rad children's librarian father. 😍 Authors, do you want me to immediately fall in love with your book? Include an awesome librarian character. Impossible for me to resist. Then, of course, rounding out the fantastic character list, we have Quinn and Annie, Rosie's best friends. We should all be so lucky as to have a pair of BFFs as loving and supportive as they are. (I mean, I am so lucky, not to rub it in or anything. 😉)
But back to the book. Whether you're a Beauty and the Beast fan, a sucker for retellings, or just a fan of pleasant reads, this is a good book to add to your shelf. Give it a shot!
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