This was a delightful read. The story follows Erin who, is still grieving the loss of her best friend, accidentally donates her cherished and annotated copy of To Kill A Mockingbird to a community library. To her surprise the book returns with new notes in the margins, sparking an anonymous exchange between her and a mysterious reader. As their connection deepens, Erin discovers that her pen pal is someone from her past she never expected. This is a touching narrative about love, loss and the healing power of literature. The dual perspectives offer a rich exploration of the character's emotions and growth.

I went into The Book Swap expecting a light-hearted romantic comedy, which was what the cover art seemed to promise, but the romance is only a small part of the narrative. This debut novel deals with some fairly heavy topics including grief, bullying and mental health issues. The story is told from both their points of view and at times it was overwhelming to read about the struggles they were facing. Erin is not an easy character to like, and could really benefit from the help of a therapist. Both she and James have complicated relationships with their families, and need to open up and communicate with them honestly, and not just jump to conclusions, in order to move forward.
At the moment there are a lot of novels out there with a bookish theme, featuring bookshops, libraries and people working in the publishing industry. I have read a fair few and it is why I chose this one, and the part of the book that I enjoyed best was reading about the books they lent each other through the Little Free Library. It starts when Erin accidentally donates her much-loved copy of To Kill a Mockingbird with annotations in the margins and a postcard given to her by her friend Bonnie not long before she died. Believing it lost forever, she is pleasantly surprised when it reappears along with a copy of Great Expectations. As Margins Girl and Mystery Man pass favourite books back and forth between them, not knowing who they are corresponding with enables them to open up to each other and try to work out how they want to spend the rest of their lives. I was familiar with all the classic novels they passed between them, but I’m not sure how much sense that part of the narrative would make if you hadn’t.
The characters are well drawn with a memorable supporting cast particularly Joel, Cassie, and Erin’s sister Georgia. Set between London and Frome, we see how they live now and also where they grew up and were friends in college until something happened which they never recovered from. It is quite a way into the story before we actually find out what it was. Erin and James are flawed, complicated characters, but over the course of the novel they develop and change, and come to realise what is really important to them. Thanks to Hodder and NetGalley for a digital copy to review.

I’ll admit I see a book with the words ‘book’ or ‘book shop’ and I want to read it so this was getting read. I wanted to love this more but it didn’t quite fit into the romcom category that I personally love. Enjoyable but not quite my read.

Genuinely one of the best books of the year. A gorgeous, moving love-story with fantastic characters who feel fully alive. The storyline does that wonderful thing where it surprises you, but also feels utterly inevitable in the best way. A must-read, especially for book-lovers.

I enjoyed this book. I liked the alternating chapters between Erin and James. The use of book swapping and a little free library to tell the story was original. Difficult themes in the book were covered with sensitivity (unfulfilling jobs, not finding a life partner, life not turning out as expected, and comparison anxiety). This was a book I wanted to curl up cozy with and enjoy reading. I hope there are more books by Tessa Bickers.

I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This was a lovely book. I will read anything when it has “book” in the title. It was such an easy read and I loved the way the characters were developed throughout. It was a “will they won’t they” book and I was rooting for them to be happy and together finally. The idea of finding love in real life inside a book swap was a genius idea.

an interesting romance - altogether a great read and I loved the characters and the storyline, I felt for both the main characters and was rooting for them to end up together

I picked this up expected a cute rom com, boy was I wrong (in a good way), while it had rom com elements and definitely made me laugh, it also had me crying and feeling all the feels. It was so much deeper than I expected but I loved how the whole story unfolded, such a great read!

Having visited Hay-on-Wye recently and witnessed many Community Libraries it was so easy to imagine Erin donating books to help her find comfort in coming to terms with the loss of her friend. Having realised she had donated a treasured book she rushes back only to find it gone, what she didn't expect was for a mystery reader to return it with messages in the margins.
For her debut novel Tessa has delivered not only a slow-burn dual POV romance but sensitively covers themes of grief, bullying and mental health.
Thank you NetGalley, Tessa Bickers and Hadder & Staughton for this ARC, all opinions expressed are my own.

A great read, the story of James and Erin, who were once friends and now enemies. Will a book swap bring them together or drive them further apart? I liked how it was told from both points of view.

Erin is an awful person. She's self centred and blames all her problems on everyone else, never stopping to ask why the person did what they did, she was only concerned with how it effects her. When something goes wrong she links herself in her room and refuses to do anything except wallow in her own self pity.

She's lucky her sister Georgia is there for her because she sounds like an exhausting person to be around. I can see why her best friend, Bonnie, didn't want her around when she was going through chemo, she couldn't face Erin making it all about herself while she was fighting for her life.

I like James but at the same time, why would he still want to be with someone so many years later after they've consistently hated you for a perceived wrong? He's had a tough childhood with his mum being bipolar and being horrifically bullied constantly through school yet he only blames himself, not everyone else. If I were him, I'd have given up on Erin many years ago, she doesn't deserve him.

The story was quite disjointed as well and at times it felt like I'd missed a whole section because it skips from one thing to the next without any warning. Its also hard to tell how long this book is set over but it turns out its a year though I was only able to tell when the next memorial for Bonnie came around.

I thought it was weird Erin was seeing and talking to a memory of Bonnie. Of course, she's in her head so everything Bonnie says is somewhat in agreement with her own ideas and opinions because she doesn't actually know what Bonnie would say.
I did like the fact both James and Erin realised they were working in jobs that didn't make them happy and instead they both found the thing they wanted to do that would make them happy.

Thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

Erin is having a tough time finding herself again after her best friend, Bonnie, died of cancer. Her job is awful, she has trust issues after her mum slept with her favourite teacher but she’s decided enough is enough. One day she has a clear out of her room to start the process of really living again and accidentally donates a book that she meant to keep to the local book swap library box.

James is constantly having a tough time. His mum has bipolar, his brother has left the country to make his own life and his dad is a one hit wonder pop star. His school life was a mess of being badly bullied because of his dad’s hit song, and he lost his only true friends, Erin and Bonnie due to a silly mistake. When James spots an annotated book in the book swap library and decides to update the book with his own thoughts, he starts a journey that he didn’t realise he needed to make.

This one is a long lost love story with a gritty undercurrent. I went into it expecting fluffy romcom and it quickly became apparent that we had a mentally ill parent, both leads are dealing with grief and there’s some bullying and infidelity in there too. It’s 2 POVs which I think works really well as we can see both sides of the book swap happening alongside their other issues. Are the characters likeable? Maybe not, but they are realistically flawed people. James just wants his mum to be better, his dad to follow his own dreams and beyond that he is lost. Erin just wants her best friend to not have died and to be happy again.

It’s a fab story, well written and has made me want to go back and read some classics that the 2 characters swap! It’s very You’ve Got Mail in some respects, which is always a plus in my book!

Thanks to NetGalley for a free ARC in return for an honest review.

Once I started reading this, I raced through it in 3 sittings. The characters' growth is something I enjoyed, even though for at least half the book I wasn't sure if they would grow at all. But I think lots of it was very true to life (or at least some of the experience of life that I've had), and I appreciated its exploration of multiple difficulties - I feel like life isn't one dimensional and so this was good at portraying that. 4.75 stars from me, rounded up to 5

At first I wasn't sure what to make of The Book Swap when I first started reading.
However I am SO glad I stuck with it.

It was heartwarming, through provoking and not your typical romance.

I am sure it will be very popular once released to the world!

Thanks NetGally for the ARC :)

Thank you to NetGalley for seThank you to NetGalley for sending me an ARC of The Book Swap by Tessa Bickers.

This was a fantastic book a 5* for me. A sad but lovely story of a group of friends Erin, Bonnie, and James who fall out while in school and don't make up until they are adults. Bonnie has unfortunately passed away and Erin is struggling to deal with her grief and why she fell out with James, Bonnie being her best friend took her side. Erin's love of books and a local community library helps her find herself, she starts passing notes inside the books with a mystery man. She starts to fall in love with someone she hasn't met ... or has she?

This story has similar vibes to The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams which is also sad but lovely.

*"The Book Swap" by Tessa Bickers is a delightful and heartwarming novel that celebrates the magic of books and unexpected friendships. Bickers crafts a charming story where a simple book exchange leads to life-changing discoveries for its characters. The narrative is filled with warmth, humor, and touching moments, as the protagonists navigate love, loss, and personal growth through their shared love of reading. With relatable characters and a cozy, feel-good atmosphere, *The Book Swap* is perfect for anyone who believes in the power of stories to connect us and transform our lives. A must-read for book lovers!*

i really loved this concept and was so excited to get into this. i’m happy to say it really didn’t disappoint!

one of my best friends is really big on books about grief and through them i’ve been getting more into it as a topic, and this handled it in such a beautiful and gentle way. i will definitely be recommending this to them.

i also really did enjoy the romance aspects here too, i was just more blown away by the grief throughout the book.

thank you so much to netgalley, the publisher and the author for the arc 🫶🏻

I don't know what i was expecting when i started this book but what i got was way more than i anticipated.. This is not a fluffy light read and deals with a lot of heavier topics such a grief and does so very well.

An amazing book and well worth the read!

The Book Swap by Tessa Bickers

Erin is grieving the death of her best friend Bonnie and struggling with life generally. When she starts a conversation with a stranger by swapping books left in a community free library and writing notes in the margins of them, things begin to look up. But what if the stranger is someone from her past that she swore she'd never forgive or speak to again...

This was book number 72 of 2024 for me and wow, it's definitely one of my absolute favourites! I loved everything about it - the characters, the issues it deals with, the books... everything. I couldn't put it down and can't wait to read whatever the author writes next. Very VERY highly recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

I was quite interested with the sound of this book to begin with, however I don’t think this book was for me unfortunately. I can definitely see how some readers would resinate and enjoy this book, and it’s a book I could recommend to a few friends too. Personally, I think a story with such heavy topics of grief came at a bit if a wrong time for me at this particular time, which was unexpected and could not be helped. The time of me reading this was just not right, although at another point in my life I may have enjoyed / enjoy this story more.