Reviewed by Larissa
TITLE: Booklover
SERIES: Vino & Veritas Book #6
AUTHOR: J.E. Birk
PUBLISHER: Heart Eyes Press
LENGTH: 265 pages
RELEASE DATE: March 29, 2021
BLURB:
Two guys meet over a stack of romance novels. Soon they’re turning pages late into the night…
Jamie Morin’s college GPA drops every time a cow breaks through a fence, but he’s determined to get his degree and keep his parents’ Vermont dairy farm afloat. He’d rather be reading than milking, but he can’t let his family down…not the way his brother did. So the last thing he needs is distraction in the form of an irresistible bookseller with a mysterious backstory.
Briar Nord has a lifetime of experience proving that happily-ever-afters only happen in his favorite books. But his luck might be changing. He’s got a great job at a bookstore, and he lives in a city that puts maple syrup on everything. But Briar knows not to trust anything or anyone. And that includes a gorgeous farm boy with soulful eyes and too many obligations.
When Jamie joins Briar’s romance novel book club, they both feel an instant connection. Soon they’re turning pages long into the night. But Briar’s past was bound to catch up with him. Sometimes, though, it takes two heroes to write a new ending . . .
REVIEW:
J.E. Birk’s Booklover is a departure from the other books in the Vino & Veritas series so far. Actually, it strikes me as a departure from M/M romance books in general. The book really doesn’t rely on any of the typical M/M romance tropes as part of the premise or drivers of the story. Instead, we just get a straightforward story with emotional complexity, a little action and suspense, and a whole lot of two guys getting to know and trust each other, and falling in love.
Jamie and Briar are two college-aged men who meet at Vino & Veritas, the titular fictional, inclusive bookstore/wine bar located in Burlington, Vermont, set in Sarina Bowen’s True North world. Briar works in the V&V bookstore and has just started a romance book club/discussion group. Jamie, a voracious reader, joins the book club. He and Briar immediately hit it off. Turns out that Jamie and Briar are huge lovers of romance and happen to have the same favorite author.
Jamie and Briar are both out and there’s no gay homophobia at play. There aren’t any machinations or forced circumstances like fake boyfriends. They’re not friends to lovers, nor are they enemies to lovers. There’s no age gap, nor are they opposites or grumpy/sunshine. I could continue down the list of tropes and you’d see that this story just doesn’t fit in any of those “buckets”. There’s a little bit of friends with benefits, but it’s really more in the background rather than a plot driver. Consequently, what we get is an authentic story purely based on developing a relationship between two emotionally complex men who have secrets and burdens they are afraid to put down.
I don’t think I realized the absence of trope until I finished the book. The story just felt so different to me and I couldn’t put my finger on why. I now realize it’s because I experienced the story in an authentic way without any artifice. I found that really refreshing.
Booklover doesn’t present an overly complicated story, but it’s very well-done. Briar is a loner with a checkered past. He’s come to Burlington, Vermont and the V&V bookstore in the hopes of starting over and putting his past behind him. However, he fears that his past will follow him and destroy whatever good he starts to develop. Briar wants to be open and make some friends, put down some roots. As a book aficionado, his bookstore job is a dream, and he’s finally, finally starting to feel like maybe he could call Burlington home. But he’s afraid the truth of his past will take it all away. His past has taught him that he can’t rely on anyone because they always lead you astray, leave you or let you down.
Jamie is buckling under the pressure of his college course load at Moo U, family obligations at his family’s dairy farm, and a job at the library, which is a dream job for him since he loves books and wants to become a librarian. His older brother is in absentia and his parents are getting older. They aren’t able to keep up with the cows and the farm work like they used to. The burden all falls on Jamie to pick up the slack, and Jamie takes up the yoke of that burden. He puts the farm before absolutely everything in his life – school, work, friends, sleep – and he’s miserable and growing resentful.
When Jamie and Briar come together over their mutual love of romance novels, they find a way to escape together. But real life bleeds in, and we get to see how they work their way through it to a strong relationship together. The road is not smooth, nor realistically should it be. I appreciated that the author maintained the integrity of the difficult circumstances posed and really made Jamie and Briar navigate those obstacles rather than making it easy for them in an artificial way.
Booklover really has it all. Engrossing plot, endearing, multi-faceted characters with complex emotions, some hurt/comfort, low level angst, a little bit of suspense, some unexpected twists, and definitely sweet, sexy, swoony scenes between our two leading men. There’s also a found family aspect of this story that’s very heartwarming. It’s particularly poignant vis-a-vis Briar who literally has no one before he improbably lands at V&V and meets Jamie. The owners, staff and other book club members all take Briar under their wing, and Jamie’s circle of friends and family immediately accept Briar into their fold. There are one or two plot points that are resolved a bit too conveniently and hastily in my view, but otherwise, this book hit all the right notes.
Booklover is definitely a one-sitting read, not because it’s particularly short, but because you will become so immersed, you won’t want to put it down. I highly recommend you give it a read. You don’t have to be a booklover to love Booklover, but reading Booklover just may make a booklover out of you.
RATING: 
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