Book Review - The Love Department by Ally Bunbury

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Title: The Love Department

Author: Ally Bunbury

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Hachette Books Ireland

Publication Date: 2nd November 2023

Rating: 5 Stars

The countdown to Christmas is on at Shillington's luxury department store in Dublin city ...

Immy Brooks has just been put in charge of personal shopping and seems to have a gift for knowing exactly what people want. The one person whose mind she can't read is her best friend (and soon-to-be boss), Lando Shillington. The night before he leaves for Paris, the two share a drunken night of passion - but Immy hasn't seen or heard from him since ...

Lando can't get Immy out of his head but he is under pressure to save the family business and he's in Paris to learn the ropes from the retail magnate, Charles de Croix. Radical changes are needed if Shillington's is to return to its former glory. But Lando hadn't banked on getting on quite so well with Charles' daughter, the glamorous and eminently dateable Celine.

Christmas is in the air when Lando returns to Dublin with Celine and de Croix, both determined to give Shillington's a Parisian makeover, but does their arrival spell the end for Immy and Lando, before they even get started?

What an enjoyable story.  I love big department stores, and am sorry to see so many of the big chain ones having disappeared from the high street, so I was instantly enchanted by Shillington's, a struggling Irish department store that has lost its way a bit and basically needs a great Christmas season in order to stand a chance of surviving.

I loved everything to do with both Shillington's but also the French store we are first introduced to.  And the way de Croix and daughter Celine have come over to help godson Lando be able to take over the store from his mother, is fabulous to see. 

Of course it's not just about the magnificently and vividly described building, but also about the employees within. 

The story is told focusing on Lando and also Immy, but we get to know a whole bunch of other people and I get really invested in all of the subplots. 

I was really invested in the story and was enjoying every last word of it. This was my first introduction to Ally Bunbury's books and I will certainly be keeping an eye out for more in the future, 

This combined my love of shops, Christmas, sales, a sexy French accent, romance, an eccentric but surprising and well meaning relative all into one deliciously wrapped parcel of book.  With some fabulous comic scenes, and a very good reason as to just why this book is called The Love Department, this is one highly enjoyable and entertaining book. 

Thank you to Hachette Books Ireland and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.