Review - - The Second Story Bookshop

The Second Story Bookshop

by Denise Hunter

Publisher: Thomas Nelson

Release Date: October 7, 2025

Reviewed by PJ

 

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 Grandville, 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.

Grandville 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?

PJ's Thoughts:

I enjoy when characters are given second chances to make different choices. That's the main premise of Denise Hunter's The Second Story Bookshop, a heart-tugging, small-town story that engaged my interest, my emotions, and kept me turning pages right up until the end. 

Shelby and Gray never stood a chance when they were teens. Gray never stood a chance, period. The people of Grandville were against him from the beginning. But now he's back, fulfilling the wishes of one of the only people who was in his corner: Shelby's late grandmother. He only wants to help Shelby save the bookshop that is her grandmother's legacy. She's dating someone else. The town is still against him. There's no future for the feelings for her that he never lost. Or is there? 

I so enjoyed this book. Hunter has crafted a complex, heartwarming story of growth, redemption, and finding one's purpose and person. The characters are beautifully developed with layers that are gradually revealed as the story progresses. The recaptured feelings between Gray and Shelby are organic and true, slowly evolving as they work together to save the bookshop. There's a bit of a love triangle - she's been dating someone for a few months - but I was okay with it as Shelby deals with the situation as soon as she realizes in which direction her feelings are taking her. 

The secondary cast of characters have significant roles in Shelby's and Gray's journeys with individual storylines that dovetail neatly into the main one. And underneath it all, there's the journey of the Grandville community, a collection of citizens who are forced to confront their own biases when their actions hurt one of their own. 

As a fun side note, I was only a couple chapters into the book when the town of Grandville and Shelby's bookshop began to feel familiar. It didn't take long to discover why. During a visit to North Carolina, the author visited an independent bookstore in a small college town that inspired the location - and bookshop - for this book. I know that town...and that bookstore! For ten years, that was my local bookstore, with a cozy vibe and welcoming staff that gives readers the same warm hug feelings as The Second Story Bookshop. Hunter captured it well.