Book Review: Love Walked In by Sarah Chamberlain

Official Synopsis: He has a struggling bookshop. She has a knack for bringing bookstores back to life. As soon as she walks into his store, all bets are off…

Mari Cole’s whole life is her dream job: rescuing and revitalizing indie bookstores. Friendship? Love? No thanks. After a hard childhood, she doesn’t want to get too close to anyone. Besides, books have never let Mari down the way people have. Then she gets the offer of a lifetime: rescuing Ross & Co. Once the most prestigious independent booksellers in London, the store is a shadow of its former self and needs an expert outsider to turn things around. But the offer turns out to be a double-edged sword: Leo Ross, the store's new owner, is as cold and hostile as the British winter.

For as long as he can remember, Leo Ross has known his future is becoming the next generation to run Ross and Co. He’s sacrificed almost everything he cares about, but the bookshop is still failing on his watch, and now there's an obnoxiously cheerful American woman convinced that she's going to magically make everything better. Leo’s life is difficult and messy enough as it is, and he doesn’t want her help.

When Mari and Leo are forced to work closely together to bring the store back to life, Leo's icy surface thaws to reveal the passionate man underneath. As winter gives way to the possibility of new beginnings, Mari begins to see that true love could be even better in real life than in the pages of a book. Can they put their pasts aside and learn to let love in?

When we first meet Leo, through Mari's point of view we are introduced to someone who seems stuck and closed off. He isn't open to the changes Mari wants to make to the store and has suffered two loses in a year. Mari is determined to break him, or at least get him interested in the changes she can bring to the store.

When Leo sees Mari for the first time he is surprised he feels pulled to her, especially after spending a lot or time closed off from those around him. He is recently divorced and was left part of a bookstore from his Grandfather, who taught him everything he knows about the store. He also is an incredible artist who had no chance to explore that route. He feels stuck between wanting things to be the same and wanting something to change and Mari could be that change for him.

Mari is working to get Leo, and his family, to see how they can make the store brilliant again and become something bigger in the community while suffering with her own issues with family and love. When her and Leo finally cross the boundary from heated stares to kissing to more, Mari is convinced she can live with it being just a fling. She's leaving soon anyway and definitely doesn't want anything too serious. Though Leo agrees to her terms, he isn't sure he can hold up his end of the bargain, for Mari or the store.

This book covers a few different types of loss and how different people cope. We see Leo close himself off from change, whereas Mari wants change and nothing permanent. Having the setting of a small-town bookstore and two characters who love books as much as they love each other was great. I liked the growth of both characters and the ways they came to understand each other throughout the book. There were a handful of side characters, Graham stood out the most for me personally, but the mains are definitely the biggest focus of the store. I think it has been a while since I've read a book that where I enjoy the main characters more than the side characters, I'm usually a big fan of a funny sidekick trying to help out.

I also think having a book where the main male character is the one who is closed off and struggling was refreshing, especially since Mari was the one who didn't want to fall in love. Leo has been through a lot and is trying to do the best he can to be there for Mari. Leo has a lot of love to give and has to get through Mari's fear of that to get close to her. Also, there is a fun subplot line of figuring out who Mari's father is that was fun but slightly forgettable.

This novel is dual POV with a few spicier scenes and moments between the characters. Definitely a good fall vibes romance to read outside while the leaves are changing.

I wanted this book 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Love Walked In came out September 2, 2025!

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