What if bookshops were alive? In this book, you can see the shelves shifting with the current of a magical river, their books whispering to be read, and every page written in ink that could quite literally change your life.
The Bookshop Below by Georgia Summers publishes on 20th November 2025.
Cassandra Fairfax is no ordinary bookseller. Once a thief, now the reluctant owner of a very special bookshop, she’s inherited more than just dusty tomes and eccentric regulars. Her shop is one of the tributary bookshops on a magical river. When her former mentor dies under mysterious circumstances, Cass finds herself pulled into a web of secrets, rival booksellers, and dangerous bargains, all while trying to keep her shop (and herself) afloat.
Read more: Most Anticipated Fantasy & Romantasy Books Coming in 2026
This isn’t a fast-paced, twist-a-minute fantasy, though it certainly has its moments! Instead, The Bookshop Below is the kind of story that takes it time to weave a story for you that’s atmospheric, gently mysterious, and full of inky magic.
The romance was particularly lovely. It was a believable and slow-burn enemies-to-lovers arc that adds warmth and tension in just the right places. Cass’s prickly independence plays perfectly against Lowell’s grumpy-by-nature composure, and watching their relationship thaw works so well.
Cassandra herself was a brilliant character, full of life. I loved getting to know her past and present personalities.
The magic system, based around ink and the act of reading, is wonderfully inventive and unique, it feels tailor-made for book lovers! The idea that words themselves can hold power, that reading can literally shape the world, is so cleverly imagined. It gives the story a rich, bookish texture that makes it easy to lose yourself in its atmosphere. What reader doesn’t enjoy a somewhat meta book about books?!
And of course, we can’t forget the real star: Errata, the cat who is also technically a book. (It makes sense in context, I promise!).
Read more of my fantasy book reviews:
- Knight Romantasy Book Review: The Second Death of Locke by V. L. Bovalino
- Romantasy Book Review: Arcana Academy by Elise Kova
- Book Review: Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher
If I had one complaint, it’s simply that I wanted more of this world! I really enjoyed falling into the world where magical tributary bookshops channel the current of a magical river.
The Bookshop Below isn’t a story that races; it meanders like the river it’s built upon, slow, magical, and quietly powerful. For readers who love stories about stories, magical bookshops, and characters who find redemption between the pages, this is one to curl up with on a chilly evening and savour.
It sort of combined the idea behind The Lost Bookshop and the feeling of Modern Divination. It was a little bit dark academia and suitable for young adults too.
Read more: Top Ten Atmospheric Books To Read in Autumn
I am a little biased on this book as I know the author from my school days! She was one of my sister’s best friends at school. But genuinely, I had her pegged as “the one most likely to be an author” from the day I read an early draft of a novel she was writing at 14 or 15! Her first book, The City of Stardust, is also an excellent standalone fantasy that really stands out on bookshelves!
Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publishers for an ARC of this book.
