Wednesday, 18 June 2025

 

Book review: Book Boyfriend by Lucy Vine [blog tour]

While it may not *officially* be summer yet, it's certainly been feeling like it has been these past few weeks – and nothing quite beats a fun romcom this time of year. Whether reading on the beach, in a park, in the garden, or you just have as many doors and windows open to imagine being outside somewhere instead of reading on your sofa... romance fiction from Books and the City (part of Simon & Schuster in the UK) always hits just the right spot. And with Book Boyfriend by Lucy Vine, they have another winning holiday read on their hands!


About Book Boyfriend by Lucy Vine

Jemma and Clara are twins but they couldn't be more different. Jemma is bookish and seems to have her life in order with a steady job and sharing a flat with her two best friends in London, while Clara ran off to America years ago and lives from temp job to temp job and party to party. 

That is, until she unexpectedly returns to England with no explanation as to why she left her American life behind. But one thing is certain: she needs a place to stay while she's finding her feet. As a room has just opened up in Jemma's flat, the two sisters are thrown together against Jemma's wishes, who immediately feels like she's recessing to being in her fun and more outgoing sister's shadow like she was when they were growing up. 

Jemma, who is pre-occupied sharing notes with a mysterious friend inside a copy of her favourite book at her local library – while Clara is becoming obsessed with the new TV-adaptation of the same book, determined to meet the actor playing the main character. It looks like the sisters have finally found some common ground as they obsess over the same book boyfriend – one in the original novel form, the other on the small screen.

Will their respective "book boyfriends" finally bring the two sisters together despite all their differences? Or will it be the final straw to break the proverbial camel's back (or book's spine, in this particular case)?


My review of Book Boyfriend

I was lucky enough to hear author Lucy Vine read an excerpt from Book Boyfriend at a showcase at the Simon & Schuster offices a few months ago and I was immediately sold. Her reading was absolutely brilliant and the passage she'd chosen so funny that she had the whole audience in stitches. And that's very much a running theme throughout the book. 

There have been very few people that can make me properly laugh out loud while reading – I'm looking at you, Lindsey Kelk – but Lucy has very much established herself as one of these hilarious authors with her latest novel. Book Boyfriend is a hoot a minute, and of top of that it's also a genuinely good story about family and friendship – with some swoon-worthy titular book boyfriends thrown in for good measure. 

I particularly loved the mystery about who Jemma was exchanging notes with – and Lucy really kept readers on their toes, throwing various options into the mix, before the inevitable reveal. I raced through the book in just a few days, desperate to uncover who was on the receiving end of those notes. It made the story an edge-of-your-seat kind of gripping usually only reserved for whodunnits (this time, thankfully, with fewer murders and more romantic escapades).   

And while I was very clearly #TeamJemma throughout (as an avid reader myself, I of course could very much relate to her and her stubborn dismissal of the screen adaptation of her favourite novel) – but I have to say that I also fell in love with Clara towards the end. Yes, the two sisters are incredibly different from one another and I could not remotely relate to Clara's choices or priorities, but she was trying and her heart was in the right place. She certainly isn't quite the villain Jemma imagines her to be at the start of the novel. 

Book Boyfriend has everything you want from an entertaining summer read: great characters, greater romances, and absolute chaos along the way. So grab your favourite tote bag, fill it with snacks and cold drinks (and sunscreen, let's be sensible here) and plump yourself down in your nearest green space to while away some delightful (and slightly bonkers) hours inside of the brain of Lucy Vine. You won't regret it. 
 





Book Boyfriend by Lucy Vine is published by Simon & Schuster tomorrow (19 June 2025) and you can now pre-order your copy from your favourite local book shop!


Blog tour stops for Book Boyfriend by Lucy Vine

This review for Book Boyfriend is part of the blog tour for the launch of the book. Make sure to check out the other stops too!


Disclaimer: This book was gifted to me, but this has not impacted this honest review.



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