This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page
Published by Berkley
Publication date: February 3, 2026
Genres: Book Clubs, Debut, Fiction, Vacation Reading 
Bookshop
Sometimes I have to stop being a critic and simply lean into what I’m reading. Such was the case with This Book Made Me Think of You. A trusted friend recommended it so I decided to give it a try, despite knowing it was a full-on romance. Period. If you don’t know what means: a book classified as true romance must have a happily ever after ending. I often like a bit more ambiguity in my reading and would argue what is the point if you know the main characters are going to get together in the end? Then (because I regularly have conversations with myself) I would argue back with the fact that I still read books about the Titanic and rewatch favorite movies—all despite knowing what is going to happen at the end. It’s the journey, people, and if it’s done well, it’s worth it.
Tilly is a young grieving widow and Alfie the owner of a small London bookshop. She comes into his store because she’s been told she has a book to pick up. When she does Alfie tells her that Joe, her recently deceased husband, came in before his death from cancer and bought a year’s worth of books for her, one for each month. Tilly’s grief is still so raw, so omnipresent that she accepts the package, but has no interest even in opening it. Until she does and then, slowly, month by month, she starts living again.
Alfie’s interactions with Tilly are fraught as he got to spend time with Joe in his final months in a way she never did. He’s been given some insight into her personality through Joe and the books he chose for her. All of this collides uncomfortably with his own grief and guilt around his father’s death which was sudden and unexpected. The bookstore was his dream, something Alfie didn’t feel he could walk away from. Page by page in This Book both process their grief in ways and scenes that acknowledge the many facets of this all-encompassing emotion.
But while the story will tug at even the Grinchiest heart, this is not a sobfest or tearjerker. Author Libby Page surrounds Tilly and Alfie with the kind of friends and family who imbue the story with genuine warmth and humor. It all comes together to make This Book Made Me Think of You one of my favorite reads this summer.
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