What is the title of your latest release?
HOW TO FIND A ROMANCE IN A BOOKSHOP
What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
Failed novelist meets failed literary agent, in a bookshop.
How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
That was easy! In my head I live in Portneath ALL the time. Plus, when I created Capelthorne’s bookshop for my previous novel I just couldn’t bear it to be the setting for just one book. It was too good to waste! Capelthorne’s is a PROPER bookshop, with wonky beams inside and one of those curved bay windows, with lots of individual panes of glass, and “Capelthorne’s” picked out in gold on the sign above. Oh, and that smell! The smell of books, new and old. Your readers totally know what I mean.
Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?
Yes, poor Petra, I really feel for her. I think we can all imagine making one of those social media gaffes, the very thought of which makes us wake up sweating in the wee small hours. Well, with Petra, she wakes up in the wee small hours and remembers that she ACTUALLY DID DO IT! She pays a heavy price for her mistake, but – although she doesn’t know it at first – she has books in her soul, and she was never going to give them up. It took Ross to show her that though, because sometimes we just can’t see what everyone else knows we need.
What are three words that describe your hero?
Talented, kind, reclusive, devastatingly handsome (oops, sorry, five not three, but I can’t decide which ones I can cut!)
What’s something you learned while writing this book?
I think this story has reminded me that it’s okay to have doubts, but you can’t let them cripple you. Poor Ross is a supremely talented writer, but he just can’t see it. We writers do an awful lot of our work completely alone, without anyone else to tell us how we are doing.
Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
That’s such a good question! A little bit of both, I think. Sometimes I ease myself back into the story by starting my day re-reading the previous day’s work, and of course I want to change everything. Mostly though, I make notes for myself as I go so – when I have the full first draft – I can go back and edit with a list of issues I know I need to address.
What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
You can’t live in the UK and not love a cream tea. For the uninitiated, it is a large, fluffy scone with sultanas in (the sultanas are non-negotiable). You split it and put butter, raspberry jam and clotted cream on top IN THAT ORDER. If anyone suggests that you don’t need the butter or the jam goes on top of the cream they must be forcibly evicted from wherever they happen to be and banned for life. Arguments about how to eat a cream tea are what make us British.
Describe your writing space/office!
I have a tiny, light laptop with a long battery life. I love it and have now written several books on it. I carry it around with me and pop it on my lap whenever I get the chance, although the most constructive part of my day for writing is the morning. Once I get to about a thousand words, I consider myself done for the day, although I can go well beyond that figure if the ideas are flowing.
Who is an author you admire?
So many! Katie Fforde is one of many I admire. She writes gorgeous uplifting, heartwarming books set in the UK and has been doing it quite a bit longer than me. Katie is also inspiring because she is so kind and generous to other writers, and has done a huge amount for romance writing via a UK organization called the Romantic Novelists’ Association.
Is there a book that changed your life?
JANE EYRE might even be the book that made me decide to be a writer. I have re-read it many times over the years from the age of ten when my mother first gave me a copy. Every time I re-read it I find something different to enjoy and admire.
Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published). Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
My pivotal moment was when I received a call from Jo Finney who is book editor at Good Housekeeping Magazine. She told me my book had been shortlisted from 3,500 entries in their annual novel writing competition. Although in the end I came joint second, getting picked out of the slush pile once was a gamechanger and I quickly received a publishing deal and an agent after that.
What’s your favorite genre to read?
I have a secret liking (don’t tell anyone) for true crime! I also tend to read whatever is hot in publishing that year. Previous standout titles for me were books like YELLOWFACE or THE OTHER BLACK GIRL. This month, I have just finished reading YESTERYEAR, and loved it.
What’s your favorite movie?
Any and all of the 90s romcoms. I am a complete sucker for Love Actually and also watch The Holiday every Christmas without fail.
What is your favorite season?
Winter, especially Christmas. See above.
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
A cup of tea in bed, a walk on the beautiful beach near me with my dog, lunch with some of my closest friends and supper with my husband and grown-up children. That is how I would also like to spend my last day on earth.
What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
There is a great podcast on ghosts in the UK. It is called Uncanny and I love it.
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
I adore food, so this is hard: I would probably have to say Thai, because I still remember the mangoes and sticky rice we would eat as teenagers when I was living in Bangkok because my father was working there. I was at a convent boarding school in the UK and would go out there for the holidays.
What do you do when you have free time?
Coffee with friends. Walks with my dog. Finding ways to stop my beautiful but old house from crumbling around me.
What can readers expect from you next?
My next Poppy Alexander is a story that is really close to my heart. It is the first in a whole new series called Haven Bay and opens with three women who are grandmother, mother and daughter. They are sitting on the beach in the snow after their first sea swim of the year, making a pledge to change each of their lives for the better over the coming twelve months.
HOW TO FIND A ROMANCE IN A BOOKSHOP by Poppy Alexander
A Novel – A Slow Burn Romance about Books, Friendship, and Finding Love by the Sea
After a social media post gone wrong, a literary agent runs away to look after a seaside bookshop for the summer—and forms an unlikely friendship with a charming novelist struggling with his latest idea.
Petra doesn’t like books anymore—not since her career as a literary agent imploded after a social media typo went viral. Now she is stuck for six months, babysitting a little bookshop by the sea—surrounded by books that just remind her of her failure.
Ross McCloud’s award-winning debut novel blew the minds of the world’s literati, but that was five years ago. Now Ross and his keenly awaited second work have vanished. Something has gone wrong—horribly wrong—and Ross doesn’t want to talk about it.
Marooned in Capelthorne’s Bookshop miles from London, Petra can’t stop thinking about all the ways she has let people down. Then she discovers Ross lurking, incognito, in the second-hand books section. Misery loves company it seems, and a kinship tentatively forms.
In the meantime, the magic of the bookshop slowly begins to enchant Petra. Soon, her book recommendations assume legendary status; she is chairing the newly formed Beach Reads Book Club; leading a weekly writing group and hosting a series of popular talks and signings by local authors. She is even starting to read again.
Petra is also finding time to help her new best friend Jess—owner of a local telephone box library—to launch the inaugural Portneath Literary Festival. What better opportunity to put the Festival on the map—says Ross—than for Petra to unveil his second novel to the world there, before re-launching her career representing him at the Frankfurt book fair? What a comeback! But can Petra find the courage to help the man she loves?
Their love of books may be re-ignited, but is that enough to save them both from their own worst enemy—themselves?
Tropes:
- Friends to lovers
- Grumpy x Grumpy
- Small-town romance
- Slow burn
Romance [ Avon, On Sale: August 18, 2026, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9780063497092 / eISBN: 9780063463431 ]
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About Poppy Alexander
Poppy’s first published book – the bestselling 25 Days ‘Til Christmas – has been translated into several languages and optioned for TV.Poppy Alexander wrote her first book when she was five. There was a long gap in her writing career while she was at school, and after studying classical music at university, she decided the world of music was better off without her and returned to writing instead. She takes an anthropological interest in family, friends and life in her West Sussex village (think, The Archers crossed with Twin Peaks) where she lives with her husband, children and various other pets.
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