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Book: “The Bookshop Below” by Georgia Summers
Publishing Info: Redhook, November 2025
Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher!
Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound
Book Description: If you want a story that will change your life, Chiron’s bookshop is where you go. For those lucky enough to grace its doors, it’s a glimpse into a world of powerful bargains and deadly ink magic.
For Cassandra Fairfax, it’s a reminder of everything she lost, when Chiron kicked her out and all but shuttered the shop. Since then, she’s used her skills in less ethical ways, trading stolen books and magical readings to wealthy playboys and unscrupulous collectors.
Then Chiron dies under mysterious circumstances. And if Cassandra knows anything, it’s this: the bookshop must always have an owner.
But she’s not the only one interested. There’s Lowell Sharpe, a dark-eyed, regrettably handsome bookseller she can’t seem to stop bumping into; rival owners who threaten Cassandra from the shadows; and, of course, Chiron’s murderer, who is still on the loose.
As Cassandra tries to uncover the secrets her mentor left behind, a sinister force threatens to unravel the world of the magical bookshops entirely…
Review: I really enjoyed The City of Stardust when I read it last year. Though, admittedly, as I was reading and now afterwards looking back at it, it was a very strange book compiled of many unique and interesting pieces that may have been excellent on their own, but never quite lined up the way I hoped. However, like I said, overall, I had a positive experience reading it, so I was excited to see the author was coming out with a new book.
Now, looking at this book description, I think I’d generally be really excited. Who doesn’t like magical bookshops? Add some dashes of sinister secrets and powerful hidden figures, and you have a banger on your hands! However, I was also uniquely concerned because much of this sounded like it could fall into the same trap as the first one. Namely, tons of excellent ideas and pieces of a puzzle, but perhaps a rather middling story when put all together. And ultimately, that’s kind of what we got.
Let’s start with what I did enjoy, and that was everything to do with the magical system and world at the heart of the story. While I have quibbles with the way in which much of this information was conveyed (our main character already knew much of it, so the story was always stumbling over itself with what she would know but the audience might not and how to bridge that gap), the magic itself was whimsical and intriguing. The idea that one could buy books to solve problems in life, and the exorbitant prices that those books would cost (many in the unusual, often unnerving, style of bargains found in fairytales, like firstborn children) was incredibly compelling.
However, much of this worldbuilding and magic system was held together with scotch tape and the fairy dust of magical ideas. Sure, much of it sounded good on paper, but put all together, I had a hard time picturing how any of this worked, from the details regarding the actual process of reading a book and having a wish granted (except when it didn’t) to the various players involved and how anyone was fooled by a main character named Cassandra who had a secret identity as a person named…Cass.
Speaking of Cassandra/Cass, I really struggled to connect to her as a main character. At best, I found her very bland. And at worst, I was often frustrated with her decisions and overall level of incompetence. Of course, some of that is built into the premise of the story, with her taking over a run-down bookshop. But it also felt like a bit too much incompetence for my taste. Even the love interest had something to say about her management (or lack thereof!) of all of this. The love story hit in a similar way: I wasn’t actively offended by any of it, but I also really didn’t care that much about anything that was going on between these two.
So, yes, this was a fairly middling experience. I think the author has a vast wealth of creativity and whimsy. However, after two books, there does seem to be a struggle fitting those aspects into what feels like a fully realized world and story. Instead, both books feel peppered with interesting concepts, but left teetering on a structure that barely holds together. Readers who enjoy cozy fantasy are probably the best audience for this book, so if you enjoy whimsy and are happy to go along with fairly loose worldbuilding, this may still be a book worth checking out for you! However, if you didn’t fully connect with this author’s first book, this one had similar weaknesses as that.
Rating 7: Chock full of creativity, however the worldbuilding is severely lacking, leaving me feeling disconnected from much of the story.
Reader’s Advisory:
“The Bookshop Below” can be found on this Goodreads list: All the New Fantasy Books Arriving in November 2025
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