Movie Magic at the Wildest Dreams Bookshop (The Wildest Dreams Bookshop, Book 3)

By Gracie Page

Harper Fire Books 2026

Reviewed by Zewlan Moor 

It is summer after final exams, and Mia is excited about starting a film course in the autumn. In the meantime, filming of the bestselling romance book, Ocean Deep, is about to start in her hometown of Fox Bay. Romance writer Kathleen Lee, director Dani Liu, and producer Brooke Wakefield descend on the town, along with hot young actors and the film crew. 

Mia has her heart set, not just on getting a job as a runner on set, but on seizing the opportunity to wow her bosses with her work ethic and common sense, enough to help launch her career in romcom film production. Meanwhile, her house floods and, while her family is forced to move to another town, Mia is able to stay upstairs at the Wildest Dreams Bookshop. Can she convince the producer that she needs a runner with local know-how? And what happens when the other runner, Freddie, is charming, easygoing and also seems to have local knowledge? 

Readers will delight in the numerous literary and filmic romcom allusions. This includes a meet-cute scene involving a burglar and a deluxe hardback edition of a Jilly Cooper book. “Rivals wasn’t exactly the lethal weapon she would have wanted in this situation, but it was heavy. Thanks goodness for Jilly and her elaborate plots, she thought.” 

For YA or new adult readers who like sweet romance, intertextuality and a frenetic rivals to lovers plot, there is much magic to be had in this third instalment in the Wildest Dreams Bookshop series by Gracie Page. While there is a narrative arc in the series, which includes The Wildest Dreams Bookshop and Snowed in at the Wildest Dreams Bookshop, it would be fine to drop into the series at any point.

Zewlan Moor is the author of Nothing Alike, The Bill Dup and Our World: Philippines. Her next book, Say Hello Like an Armadillo is out in the US/UK in June 2026 and Australia in Summer 2026-7. Pre-order or add it to your Goodreads Want To Read shelf now!