Happy weekend everyone. I didn’t mean to take a bit of a break from the blog but I’ve just been so busy with work and afterwards not very motivated to blog. I thought a nice little catch up Sunday Salon style would be great and then I realized the last time I joined in a Sunday Salon post was back in 2011 and the big news then was that I got a Kindle!

Anyway, it’s nice to join in with everyone posting and I’m going to do a quick update like I’ve seen some others do which I really enjoy.

What I’m watching: As we haven’t traveled due to the pandemic, we have been enjoying travel shows and one of the latest ones we’re watching is, Travels with My Father. It’s hilarious and I love their zany adventures.

What I’m listening: As I said I’ve been dealing with a lot of work stress so I have been turning to Relax Melodies. I miss my yoga nidra classes I used to take but via this app I found several guided meditations which have been quite nice and have helped me relax.

What I’m reading: Focusing on books for #WITmonth (Women in Translation month). I’ve read books translated from Arabic, German and Spanish. More to come on this.

What I’m making: Plans to take a week off from work. No traveling for us but I really need to take a break.

What made me smile this week: Receiving an order from BookOutlet. I’ll tell you more about my book haul in my next post.

Thank you to Deb at Readerbuzz for hosting the Sunday Salon. Hope you are all enjoying your weekend and I look forward to hearing what you’ve been up to as well.

“Borrow-A-Bookshop invites you to live out your dreams of running your very own bookshop in a historic Devonshire harbour village… for a fortnight. Spend your days talking about books with customers in your own charming bookshop and serving delicious cream teas in the cosy cafe nook. Get to know our wonderful volunteers (all locals), always ready to offer a helping hand.”

The Borrow a Bookshop Holiday
By Kiley Dunbar
Source: Advance review copy

Jude Crawley has just graduated and she’s ready to go on a vacation with Mack, her philosophy professor, well now they can actually tell everyone about their relationship. That is until she catches him kissing another student.

Not only is her love life imploding but it seems her whole world is changing. Her parents are about to sell their bakery and her gran, who she’s taken care of for years is thinking of moving into a retirement home. She finally decides, w its the help of her friend, Daniel, that what she needs to do is go ahead and go on the bookshop holiday she had intended to on and take some time to decide what to do next with her life.

When Jude arrives at Clove Lore, the charming coastal town, she finds the type of bookshop all book lovers would love to visit. Teetering stacks of books, a cafe and even a resident mutt (although he doesn’t seem to want any pets). She’s sure that she’s going to enjoy having the upstairs apartment and running the bookshop even if she does have a problem with her math skills. There is one thing though, why does the owner mention another visitor?

As Jude is getting settled she is surprised by the arrival of Elliot, a handsome stranger who also rented the bookshop for a fortnight. Jude figures this is Mack’s payback at her for dumping him but no matter she’s going to enjoy her holiday, even if she’s going to have hard time getting rid of Elliot.

The two end up establishing some rules for how they’ll deal with running the bookshop and try not to get in their way but sometimes fate and, or the local residents, have a way of bringing them together at all times. Maybe it’s time that Jude will start living outside of the book pages and start living her life.

This was such a charming story. Not only did I love the relationship that Jude has with her grandmother, but in general she had a great support system who was just waiting for her to realize what would make her happy. If you a bibliophile and also love a romantic story, then pick this one up.