Atmosphere by. Taylor Jenkins Reid | Audiobook

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice Rating: 🌶️

Title: Atmosphere

Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid

Narrator: Kristen DiMercurio, Julia Whelan, Taylor Jenkins Reid

Format: audiobook (Libby)

Pages: 352 Listening Time: approximately 10 hours

Publication Date: 6/2/25

Publisher: Books on Tape

Categories: Women’s Fiction, Contemporary, Romance, Historical Fiction, LGBT+

Joan Goodwin has been obsessed with the stars for as long as she can remember. Thoughtful and reserved, Joan is content with her life as a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University and as aunt to her precocious niece, Frances. That is, until she comes across an advertisement seeking the first women scientists to join NASA’s space shuttle program. Suddenly, Joan burns to be one of the few people to go to space.

Selected from a pool of thousands of applicants in the summer of 1980, Joan begins training at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, alongside an exceptional group of fellow candidates: Top Gun pilot Hank Redmond and scientist John Griffin, who are kind and easygoing even when the stakes are highest; mission specialist Lydia Danes, who has worked too hard to play nice; warmhearted Donna Fitzgerald, who is navigating her own secrets; and Vanessa Ford, the magnetic and mysterious aeronautical engineer, who can fix any engine and fly any plane.

As the new astronauts become unlikely friends and prepare for their first flights, Joan finds a passion and a love she never imagined. In this new light, Joan begins to question everything she thinks she knows about her place in the observable universe.

Then, in December of 1984, on mission STS-LR9, it all changes in an instant.

Fast-paced, thrilling, and emotional, Atmosphere is Taylor Jenkins Reid at her best: transporting readers to iconic times and places, creating complex protagonists, and telling a passionate and soaring story about the transformative power of love—this time among the stars.

Content Warning: death, grief, parental neglect, strained sibling relationship, sexism

+ The narrators for this audiobook were fantastic! The story starts off with a tense moment, then flashes back to the past and ends with the present again. There are many tense moments in the beginning and end, this story is an emotional ride. The relationships in this story is really what made it such a great book.

+ I really enjoyed the storytelling. I love all the historical elements about NASA! I even didn’t mind the science stuff, I was interested in it. Joan’s story of being a professor, then training to be an astronaut and falling in love with another woman, to being an aunt and then the main caregiver – what a story!

+ Joan and Vanessa’s love story is so good, realistic and heartbreaking. It’s so full of love, but so filled with challenges – not being able to love one another in public. UGH – it made me shed a tear. I love how they fight for one another.

+ The found family with the fellow astronauts was so heart-warming. I loved all the training scenes and everyone getting to know one another and you can feel the camaraderie. I also loved the real family challenges that Joan go through with her sister Barbara and her niece Frances. I was so mad at Barbara but Joan is a great aunt who loves her niece.

~ Barbara – I wish hoping she would change, hoping she would make the right choices, but she just ended up making me upset.

Final Thoughts:

This story had everything – drama, romance, history, it is heart-warming, emotional and devastating. It has characters I loved and rooted for. I loved it and it made me cry.

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Other Books I’ve Read From This Author:

Carrie Soto is Back by. Taylor Jenkins Reid | Audiobook Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Malibu Rising by. Taylor Jenkins Reid | Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo | Audiobook Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Sounds Like Love by. Ashley Poston | Audiobook

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice Rating: 🌶️

Title: Sounds Like Love

Author: Ashley Poston

Narrator: Patti Murin, Ashley Poston

Format: audiobook (Libby)

Pages: 384 Listening Time: approximately 11 hours

Publication Date: 6/16/25

Publisher: Books on Tape

Categories: Women’s Fiction, Contemporary, Romance, Magical Realism

A hitmaking songwriter and a bitter musician share a startling and inexplicable connection that they’ll do anything to shake, in the next sparkling, magical book from Ashley Poston.

Joni Lark is living the dream. She’s one of the most coveted songwriters in LA…and she can’t seem to write. There’s an emptiness inside her, and nothing seems to fill it.

When she returns to her hometown of Vienna Shores, North Carolina, she hopes that the sand, the surf, and the concerts at The Revelry, her family’s music venue, will spark her inspiration. But when she gets there, nothing is how she left it. Her best friend is avoiding her, her mother’s memories are fading fast, and The Revelry is closing.

How can she think about writing her next song when everything is changing without her?

Until she hears it. A melody in her head, lyric-less and half-formed, and an alluring and addictive voice to go with it—belonging, apparently, to a wry musician with hangups of his own.

Surely, he’s a figment of her overworked imagination.

But then the very real man attached to the voice shows up in Vienna Shores. He’s aggravating and gruff on the outside—nothing like the sweet, funny voice in Joni’s head—and he has a plan:

They’ll finish the song haunting them both, break their connection, and hope they don’t risk their hearts in the process.

Because that song stuck in their heads? Maybe it’s there for a reason.

Content Warning: dementia, anxiety, grief

+ I really enjoyed the narrator for this audiobook – she did a great job capturing each of the characters.

+ This is a fun, sweet and heartwarming story especially if you are a fan of music and songwriting. Joni is a successful songwriter but she has a mental block right now and can’t write so she goes home to North Carolina. While at home Joni is surrounded by friends, and family. But so much has changed, especially with her mom dealing with dementia.

+ I loved Joni’s personal journal whether it was facing her mom’s deteriorating mental state, growing and having hard conversations with her best friend, trying to figure out why she felt so empty and then falling for Sasha (Sebastian). I also like how she had to figure out her path, where does she belong? In Los Angeles or was it okay to come back home – when she was the one who made the decision to leave and chase her dreams?

+~ There is a magical realism element to this story where where Joni and Sebastian have a connection from a spontaneous meeting. Farfetched? Sure! But I thought it was cute how they were in each other’s head and they start to help one another in a way. Eventually they fall for one another and then try to work on a song together, but Joni is afraid that when the song is gone, he’ll be gone from her head also and leave her to the emptiness again.

~ Since it was the magic allowing them to be in each other’s heads I kept wondering, how this story would play out without the magical realism. Would they have met again? Would they have liked one another?

Final Thoughts:

Overall, I enjoyed this story about music, songwriting, friendship, family, finding where you belong and also falling in love.

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Other Books I’ve Read From This Author:

A Novel Love Story by. Ashley Poston | Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

The Dead Romantics by. Ashley Poston | Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Yours For the Season by. Emily Stone | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice: 🌶️

Title: Yours For the Season

Author: Emily Stone

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 336

Publication Date: 10/7/25

Publisher: Dell

Categories: Holiday Romance, Contemporary, Romance

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to Dell for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Could a fake relationship with your ex over Christmas in Scotland be the perfect opportunity for revenge—or a second chance at love? One woman is about to find out in this charming holiday romance from the author of Always, in December and A Winter Wish.

Melanie has not had a good year. Things are definitely not going as planned in her work life, her best friend has moved to the other side of the world, and her favorite bagel shop is closing down. But the real reason this year has been awful is because Finn, the man who she was sure was the love of her life, dumped her. In front of everyone. At his sister’s engagement party.

So when Finn shows up at her doorstep two weeks before Christmas asking if she’ll help him, her first instinct is to slam the door in his face—or punch him. But he has a proposal for her.

Finn wants Melanie to spend the week of Christmas with him. He has to face the holiday at a vacation cottage in the Scottish Highlands with his two perfect siblings who are happily paired off with their perfect partners. His mother is obsessed with the idea of a perfect Christmas—and to try and help, Finn may have told his mother he and Mel are dating again. All she has to do is come with him and pretend they’re back together.

Melanie may hate Finn, but she loves his mom. And with her own parents on a trip, it looks like the only way to spend the holiday with someone she cares about is to suffer through being around the person she despises most.

So Melanie agrees—on one condition. At the end of the week, Finn will allow Mel to publicly dump him—in front of his family—so she can get her dignity back and he can experience the same humiliation she felt.

As they embark on seven days with Finn’s family, Mel tells herself it’s only a week. She just has to pretend to still be in love with him. Until she starts to lose track of which feelings are fake, and which are for real…

Content Warning: illness

+ A holiday romance set in the Scotland Highlands? Sounds like amazing Christmas season vibes. And this story has it in abundance.

+ Mel and Finn have been broken up for 6 months but he shows up out of the blue asking her if she could pretend to fake date him and attend his family’s Christmas trip with him. She agrees if she can enact a revenge breakup on him in front of his family. The story is told with flashbacks to when Mel and Finn were together and leading up to their first breakup.

+ The romance is a second chance romance and I think it’s obvious that being in forced proximity with one another would revive old memories and feelings. They get to work out the challenges that came between them the first time: Finn thinking he will be like his dad, and Mel trying to please everyone and not knowing if she can come through for everyone.

+ I enjoyed the family vibes along with the Christmas ones.

~ The beginning felt a little slow, maybe because of the flashbacks but it eventually picks up in the second half.

Final Thoughts:

If you like second chance romance and a Christmas story set in Scotland, you will enjoy this one.

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Other Books I’ve Read From This Author:

A Winter Wish by. Emily Stone | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Charlie Quinn Lets Go by. Jamie Varon | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Spice: 🌶️

Title: Charlie Quinn Lets Go

Author: Jamie Varon

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 304

Publication Date: 9/30/25

Publisher: Park Row

Categories: Women’s Fiction, Contemporary, Romance

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to Park Row for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Charlie Quinn has spent her life playing by the rules. But when, on her thirtieth birthday, she is laid off, her boyfriend leaves her because their life is too “predictable” and she spends the night with violent food poisoning, she hits rock bottom at a stunning velocity, and her carefully constructed world unravels.

She has no choice but to return to her childhood home in LA, where her little sister strikes up an Can control freak Charlie go a whole month saying yes to anything her free-spirited sister requests? Charlie agrees, if only to prove that living by one’s whims will result in nothing but disaster and disappointment.

But when a serendipitous encounter with her high school crush leads to a month of steamy no-strings romance, Charlie starts questioning her monotonous existence. Can she learn to loosen her grip, to let go of past heartbreak, to finally say yes to a messy, bold and exciting life?

Content Warning: grief, trauma, parental abandonment

+ Charlie Quinn’s life has turned upside down and for the woman who values control of her life, this is not ideal. Her younger sister, Benny tells her to come home and she does – reluctantly. Home has a different meaning for Charlie who as a kid, didn’t feel safe with her carefree, free-spirited mom who is an actor looking for her big break. Charlie was afraid because her mom didn’t have a stable job and why Charlie worked hard for her job and put her whole self into working. But coming home is something that she needed desperately.

+ While Charlie goes home, she replays nightmares of a moment in her past. She’s in college, meets the man of her dreams and they make plans to travel the world. She’s in love, but it’s clear this story doesn’t have a happy ending and most likely is the trauma that makes Charlie the way she is now. Yes, before meeting him she already felt unlovable – because her dad abandoned the family, but after this time with Noah has made her afraid of love, and wanting joy in her life. I love Charlie’s mom and sister and that their house is a place where people can gather and be themselves (except Charlie I suppose).

+ The romance with Alex, her crush from high school is really cute. I was really rooting for Charlie to embrace their attraction and open up to him. But this is a realistic story and people in trauma don’t open themselves up to happiness that easy, as we see in this story.

+ I really liked the themes that are tackled in this story: family, self-worth, passion versus stability, mental health, and grief. Charlie is not okay, but bottling it up for year was not the right thing to do even though she thought it was. I’m just glad things worked out in the end.

~ Charlie is such a tough nut to crack and she frustrated me with throwing all her anger over everything in her life towards her mom. I wanted to shake her. I understand her fears – her story actually triggered me, and caused me to shed a tear, but wow, was it frustrating to see her take it out on her mom.

~ There is mention about the pandemic and I know some people don’t like that in books. I don’t mind it at all – the pandemic was a change in mindset for a lot of people and it shows it here in this story.

~ There’s a moment that helps Charlie “see the light” so to speak and it feels a bit magical. Not sure that was needed at all and would’ve like it without it.

Final Thoughts:

This was such a quick read, which I appreciated! I loved all the themes about family, self-growth, and love. Charlie really needed to let go, and I hate that she took it out on her mom, but this story was showing a complicated family and that’s realistic. Overall, I enjoyed this one, even though it got a tiny bit triggering for me.

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Other Books I’ve Read From This Author:

BLOG TOUR} Main Character Energy by. Jamie Varon | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Great Big Beautiful Life by. Emily Henry | Audiobook

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️

Title: Great Big Beautiful Life

Author: Emily Henry

Narrator: Julie Whelan

Format: audiobook (Libby)

Pages: 432 Listening Time: approximately 11 hours

Publication Date: 4/21/25

Publisher: Berkley

Categories: Women’s Fiction, Contemporary, Romance

Two writers compete for the chance to tell the larger-than-life story of a woman with more than a couple of plot twists up her sleeve in this dazzling and sweeping new novel from Emily Henry.

Alice Scott is an eternal optimist still dreaming of her big writing break. Hayden Anderson is a Pulitzer-prize winning human thundercloud. And they’re both on balmy Little Crescent Island for the same reason: To write the biography of a woman no one has seen in years–or at least to meet with the octogenarian who claims to be the Margaret Ives. Tragic heiress, former tabloid princess, and daughter of one of the most storied (and scandalous) families of the 20th Century.

When Margaret invites them both for a one-month trial period, after which she’ll choose the person who’ll tell her story, there are three things keeping Alice’s head in the game.

One: Alice genuinely likes people, which means people usually like Alice—and she has a whole month to win the legendary woman over.

Two: She’s ready for this job and the chance to impress her perennially unimpressed family with a Serious Publication

Three: Hayden Anderson, who should have no reason to be concerned about losing this book, is glowering at her in a shaken-to-the core way that suggests he sees her as competition.

But the problem is, Margaret is only giving each of them pieces of her story. Pieces they can’t swap to put together because of an ironclad NDA and an inconvenient yearning pulsing between them every time they’re in the same room.

And it’s becoming abundantly clear that their story—just like the tale Margaret’s spinning—could be a mystery, tragedy, or love ballad…depending on who’s telling it.

Content Warning: parental issues, mental health

+ The narrator did such a good job voicing all the characters! The climactic ending/argument was so well done!

+ Alice and Hayden are fighting for the chance to interview a recluse heiress, Margaret Ives. Alice is miss sunshine, positivity and friendly whereas Hayden is the opposite. They are rivals, and they both want this job so bad but Margaret is testing both of them. They spend time together, mostly because Alice initiates talking to him and the sparks fly, there is desire and it grows into something more.

+ Alice and Hayden are interviewing Margaret Ives for a tell-all book. So we get the story of Margaret’s life, little by little. I do think her story built a little slowly and I was waiting for the big reveal and it did finally come in the end but I had already guessed it by the halfway point.

+ There is a lot of family themes in this story. Margaret and her family, dealing with being famous and rich. Alice and her issues with her mother, and then Hayden mentioning his mom’s challenges.

~ I was a little bit more interested in Alice and Hayden’s relationship rather than Margaret’s past. But they did fall fast for one another, they were only together for a month!

Final Thoughts:

I think this was pretty good but it is definitely more women’s fiction than full on romance. I liked Alice and Hayden’s romance, although it did all happens within one month, but I thought seeing them fall was fun because they are such opposites. It’s big on family themes, which I appreciated and the narrator did an amazing job doing all the voices for this story!

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Other Books I’ve Read From This Author:

Funny Story by. Emily Henry | Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Happy Place by. Emily Henry | Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Beach Read by. Emily Henry| Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Book Lovers by. Emily Henry | Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

People We Meet on Vacation by. Emily Henry | Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Sweet Heat by. Bolu Babalola | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️

Title: Sweet Heat (Honey & Spice, #2)

Author: Bolu Babalola

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 496

Publication Date: 9/2/25

Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks

Categories: Romance, Contemporary, Second Chance

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to William Morrow Paperbacks for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Three years after their break-up, Kiki’s worked hard to forget her first love. But just as she thinks she’s got her life under control—jumping into the distractions of her romance-by-calendar-invite boyfriend, and plans for her best friend, Aminah’s, wedding—Kiki’s career implodes, the family business teeters on collapse, and Malakai returns. As Malakai takes up his role as best man opposite her maid of honour, suddenly Kiki can think of nothing but their simmering chemistry, what went wrong, and why it is now impossible to act normal around each other.

Juggling a new job, the prospect of her parents’ restaurant being sold, and keeping her best friend from going full bridezilla, dealing with The Ex is the last thing she needs. But somehow the spark between them is only getting hotter—and threatening to ruin everything.

Content Warning:

+ Kiki is going through a few things, her career is not where she wants it to be, her family is selling their restaurant, her friend is getting married, she just broke up with a boyfriend and now, her ex, Malakai is back in the picture. And it’s not hard to get away from him when their paths keep crossing, so the memories come up again and they are both remembering their past.

+ My favorite thing about this story is Kiki and her girlfriends and how much fun they seem to be having! They are so funny when they are hanging out together – made me think of me and my girlfriends. Kiki is Nigerian and I love the representation in this book.

+ Yes this is a romance, but on the other end, this story is about Kiki and her career as a podcaster that talks about music. I liked seeing her trying to figure things out about her career and though there is a lot of pop culture references in here like musical artists, I didn’t mind it because I like listen to some of these artists.

+ The second chance romance is full of regrets but the same desire they had for one another in the past. Kiki and Malakai’s relationship is filled with sexual tension.

~ Unfortunately I didn’t know this was book two in a series and so if I had read book one, I’d have met Kiki and Malakai then. I didn’t feel lost reading this book, but I did feel like I had missed something. I might have to go and read the first book.

~ The story comes in just under 500 pages, which I think is too long. And Malakai doesn’t appear right away.

Final Thoughts:

I wish I had known this was book two in a series, because maybe I would have enjoyed it a bit more but even without reading book one I enjoyed this book – especially the banter and fun between Kiki and her girlfriends. I thought the second chance romance had lots of tension, clearly these two never lost their sexual desire for one another, but relationships are more than just sex and I like how they eventually worked through some things and chose one another in the end. Overall, an entertaining story!

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Before I Let Go by. Kennedy Ryan | Audiobook Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️

Title: Before I Let Go (Skyland, #1)

Author: Kennedy Ryan

Narrator: Wesleigh Siobhan (Narrator), Jakobi Diem (Narrator)

Format: audiobook (borrowed)

Pages: 384 / Audio Reading Time (approx.): 13 hours and 45 minutes

Publication Date: 11/15/22

Categories: Women’s Fiction, Contemporary, Second Chance Romance

Their love was supposed to last forever. But when life delivered blow after devastating blow, Yasmen and Josiah Wade found that love alone couldn’t solve or save everything.

It couldn’t save their marriage.

Yasmen wasn’t prepared for how her life fell apart, but she’s finally starting to find joy again. She and Josiah have found a new rhythm, co-parenting their two kids and running a thriving business together. Yet like magnets, they’re always drawn back to each other, and now they’re beginning to wonder if they’re truly ready to let go of everything they once had.

Soon, one stolen kiss leads to another…and then more. It’s hot. It’s illicit. It’s all good—until old wounds reopen. Is it too late for them to find forever? Or could they even be better, the second time around?

Content Warning: still birth, loss, divorce, grief, mental health issues

+ The narrators did such a good job with this audiobook, I was hooked!

+ I love how real this story is: a divorced couple who are still business partners and co-parenting, are around each other and start missing each other. There is a lot of trauma though and issues they have to work through but eventually they do.

+ Loved Yasmen’s friend group! They are relatable and reminded me of my friends.

+ I appreciate how mental health issues are a topic discussed throughout this book. Josiah didn’t look kindly about therapy until their son needs to go to a therapist. Yasmen is someone who couldn’t get out of her grief without therapy so I loved seeing Josiah breaking generational stigma about it.

~ I have a hard time with second chance romances, especially when there is so much trauma between two people. Yes, Yasmen and Josiah has so much desire for each other, sex is the only thing they are really good at together. Outside of that they had so much problems. There were times I was happy Yasmen and Josiah weren’t together and trying to move on. I didn’t like how Josiah looked down on her therapy, but I can see how he was hurt. But she was hurt too…she was grieving, she needed that therapy.

Final Thoughts:

This is a realistic second chance romance story with lots of trauma, problems, issues between two people who’s marriage has broken but they are fighting for a second chance with one another. I love how it explored themes of grief, loss, divorce, relationships, mental health issues and therapy. Overall, this was raw, heavy, but hopeful because I love that both Yasmen and Josiah open their eyes and see all of each other by the end. The main thing is they are willing to work on all their problems together this time around.

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Rose in Chains by. Julie Soto | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice: 🌶️🌶️

Title: Rose in Chains (The Evermore Trilogy, #1)

Author: Julie Soto

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 464

Publication Date: 7/8/25

Publisher: Forever

Categories: Romantasy, Enemies to Lovers, Romance, Fantasy, Dark Romance

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to Forever for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

The war is over, the dark forces have won, and the hero who was supposed to save them is dead.

Captured as her castle is overrun by the enemy, Briony Rosewood knows that the world as she knows it is changed forever. The dark forces of Bomard have won and her people, the Eversuns, face imminent servitude, imprisonment or death. Her brother, fated to be heir twice over and unite the warring kingdoms, is dead.

Stripped of her Mind Magic and her freedom, Briony and the other survivors are quickly auctioned off to the highest bidders in an auction – and as the heir-apparent’s sister, she fetches the highest price.

After a fierce bidding war, she’s sold to none other than Toven a high ranking Bomardsun – and her long-time and ill-fated infatuation. Scion of a family known for their cruel control of Heart Magic, the Hearsts are ruthlessly ambitious, and Briony knows they will use her however they can to further their own interests.

Yet despite the horrors of her new world and the role she must learn to play within it, all is not lost. Help – and hope – may yet arise in the most unlikely of places…

Content Warning: mentions of rape, sexual assault, people being sold, sex slaves, being drugged, death, violence, bullying, misogyny, forced magical tubal ligation

+ I don’t know what I expected from Julie Soto’s debut into dark romance fantasy but I should have expected it to be addicting. This is the second book I’ve read this year from this author, her YA debut and now romantasy so she is working over time! She’s my new must-read author. I had some issues with this one but I also found I couldn’t put it down.

+ Briony is caught in a war. The Eversuns have been defeated despite the prophecy of them winning it all, and now Mallow and the Bomardi’s are the new rulers. The Eversun women are subjugated to rape, sexual assault, violations of their ovaries, sold at auction, drugged, made to perform sexual acts in front of others – this is a dark story and I wasn’t expecting that.

+ I can’t say there is “romance” in this story even if it is a romantasy. Briony and her new “owner” and ex-classmate, Toven, is powerful, rich and acts like a jerk in front of his friends. But while she’s in his house, she’s learning he isn’t all that he seems but maybe more will happen in book two. It’s a very slow burn, but there is lots of tension between them, and for sure some secret pining. There is still some spice in this one, but again, no romance – yet. I was expecting a little more romance because of this author’s contemporary romance books but like I said this one is a slow burn and dark so at times I was hating Toven a lot. I know it’s an act but still, he is playing his part really well.

+ World building was interesting and I liked the magic system. There is heart magic (mostly used by Bomards) and mind magic, which is used by Eversuns and then those who can use both. Mallow is a very evil villain and then there is also a dragon that doesn’t get mentioned much until the end so I can’t wait to see what happens there. Also, I enjoyed the political intrigue and can’t wait to see what happens next.

~ I wasn’t expecting the story to be this dark, so I was thrown off by that! There are a lot of things that happen to the women in this book and at times I wanted Briony to burn harder for revenge. I understand Briony is a softer character and naive at times but obviously she is smart and powerful, so I hope that side of her comes out in book two.

~ This story is told with flashbacks and for me it made the story feel choppy but I did like seeing how Briony and Toven’s relationship began. But because of the flashbacks, all the character names felt challenging to learn – there are a lot of hateful, disgusting male characters who felt like the same person with nothing to tell them apart except for their names. Also when Briony is at Hearst Hall as a captive, not much happens because there is no one in this house except for her, sometimes Toven and his mom. She’s reading and meditating a lot which is building her knowledge and powers but it does slow the story down a little.

Final Thoughts:

I didn’t feel like this flowed as good as her contemporary books mostly because of the flashbacks but I couldn’t stop thinking of this story after I read it. It actually made me want to devour another romantasy, so it definitely has that quality I love about the genre – it’s addicting. I need to know what happens in book two. I think for a first book in a trilogy this was pretty good despite the issues I had. The tension is strong between Briony and Toven, the secrets are slowly unraveling by the end, Mallow and the Bomardi men are evil, the romance hasn’t even taken off yet and there is a dragon who we dont’ know much about. I can’t wait to see what book two brings!

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Other Books I’ve Read From This Author:

Forget Me Not by. Julie Soto | Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Not Another Love Song by. Julie Soto | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

The Thrashers by. Julie Soto | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

These Summer Storms by. Sarah MacLean | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice: 🌶️🌶️

Title: These Summer Storms

Author: Sarah MacLean

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 400

Publication Date: 7/8/25

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Categories: Adult, Contemporary, Women’s Fiction, Romance, Family Drama, LGBT+

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to Ballantine Books for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

New York Times bestselling author Sarah MacLean’s first foray into contemporary fiction, with a sharp, sexy novel about a wealthy New England family’s long-overdue reckoning with hidden desires, destructive secrets…and one week that threatens to tear them apart

Alice isn’t like the other Storm siblings. While the rest stayed to battle for their parents’ approval, attention, and untold billions, she left, building her own life beyond the family’s name and influence. Nothing could induce her to come back, except the shocking death of her larger-than-life father. Now back on the family’s private island off the Rhode Island coast, she plans to keep her head down, pay the last of her respects, and leave the minute the funeral is over.

Unfortunately, her father had other plans. The eccentric, manipulative patriarch left his widow and their grown children a final challenge–an inheritance game designed to humiliate, devastate, and unravel the Storm family in ways both petty and life-altering. The rules of the game are clear: stay on the island for one week, complete the tasks, receive the inheritance.

One week on Storm Island is an impossible task for Alice. Every corner of the sprawling old house is bursting dysfunctional chaos: Her older sister’s secret love affair. Her brother’s incessant mansplaining. Her sister-in-law’s unapologetic greed. Her younger sister’s obsession with “vibes”. Her mother’s penchant for stirring up competition between her children. And all under the stern, watchful gaze of Jack Dean, her father’s enigmatic, unfairly good-looking, second-in-command. It will be a miracle if Alice manages to escape the week unscathed.

A story about the transformative power of grief, love, and family, this luscious novel is at once deliciously clever and surprisingly tender, exploring past secrets, present truths, and futures forged in the wake of wild summer storms.

Content Warning: manipulative parents

+ I’ve only read Sarah MacLean historical romances so I was excited to read a contemporary story from her! This one is filled with rich family drama. Franklin Storm is the richest tech baron (think Steve Jobs or the other tech barons out there) but for all his ambition, and wealth, his family is not perfect and he was part of making it that way. Now that he is gone they have one week to play out his last game for them, with his fixer/enforcer, Jack, there to make sure they comply or not inherit anything. It was interesting to see how money motivated or influence the people in the Storm family and some on the outside of it.

+ This is mostly a family drama, with the romance not being a focus, but it definitely adds to it all. The main person we follow in this book is Alice. Alice is the daughter who walked away from the Storm family wealth but she was exiled for it. We get POVs from all the siblings but I thought Alice was compelling because she was brave and didn’t want to play her father’s games. I like how we get to know each sibling and how they saw their dad, and what their dad and mom took away from them. The sibling relationships are great – tense at first but the more they remember and spend time together, I thought it was fun to see them interact.

+ The romance takes place in a span of one week, so it’s a bit insta-lust, but I enjoyed it because they had tension and a good spicy scene. Jack is stern, a Storm employee, and Alice is carefree but also smart.

~ I kind of wish we got more closure with their mom, Elisabeth Storm, but also I think she stayed true to her character. She is who she is, I just wish (personally) she apologized to her kids but that’s just me.

Final Thoughts:

I have always loved Sarah MacLean books and I’m happy to say I’m glad she is writing contemporary romance because she doesn’t miss a beat! The characters are interesting, the family drama was messy, the romance has good tension and heat and it took me two days to read this book – I didn’t want to put it down.

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Other Books I’ve Read From This Author:

Knockout by. Sarah MacLean | Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Heartbreaker by. Sarah MacLean | Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Bombshell by. Sarah MacLean | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Daring and the Duke | Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Book Review: Brazen and the Beast ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

I’ve read pretty much all her backlist (pre-when I started Goodreads lol)

The Love Haters by. Katherine Center | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Title: The Love Haters

Author: Katherine Center

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 320

Publication Date: 5/20/25

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Categories: Contemporary, Romance

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

It’s a thin line between love and love-hating.

Katie Vaughn has been burned by love in the past—now she may be lighting her career on fire. She has two choices: wait to get laid off from her job as a video producer or, at her coworker Cole’s request, take a career-making gig profiling Tom “Hutch” Hutcheson, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer in Key West.

The catch? Katie’s not exactly qualified. She can’t swim—but fakes it that she can.

Plus: Cole is Hutch’s brother. And they don’t get along. Next stop paradise!

But paradise is messier than it seems. As Katie gets entangled with Hutch (the most scientifically good looking man she has ever seen . . . but also a bit of a love hater), along with his colorful Aunt Rue and his rescue Great Dane, she gets trapped in a lie. Or two.

Swim lessons, helicopter flights, conga lines, drinking contests, hurricanes, and stolen kisses ensue—along with chances to tell the truth, to face old fears, and to be truly brave at last.

Content Warning: negative body image, death of parents, mention of accident, water rescue in a hurricane

+ Katie needs to keep her job so she agrees to go on an assignment she is only half qualified for. But she’ll do anything, even take swim lessons in a bathing suit even though she has major body issues. She meets Hutch, who is her supervisor’s brother, and is the person she needs to make a documentary about. Katie is pushed beyond her comfort zones but it helps her grow a lot.

+ What makes this book so charming and probably are my favorite parts of this bookis the Gals (the bunch of elderly women at the place she is staying at) who is trying to hook her up with Hutch in subtle ways. And then there is George Bailey the sweetest Great Dane ever! He’s scared of thunder (just like my dog!) and loves to hold toads in his mouth – I loved him so much! Also Katie’s best-friend Beanie was a lot of fun, plus their phone calls are very relatable if you have a best-friend like that.

+ I feel like Katie’s body image issues are so relatable. There were so many times she said something and I was like yeah, I’ve thought that of my body before. It’s crazy and sad to know how mean we can be to our own selves. But you could tell Katie’s issues were painful for her and she’s been working on herself.

+ The romance was a very slow burn, there is no spice, there are a few kisses and that’s it. I think I wanted a little more flirting on Hutch’s part though but I think that’s just his personality. I thought the two of them had a nice friendship and banter going throughout the story.

~ Really wanted a little more chemistry between Katie and Hutch but like I said, I think that’s just both their personalities and it worked for them at least. They are both “love haters”.

~ Pacing wise, I think there was a little lull in the middle, probably because Hutch wasn’t the best at flirting haha, and then there was lots of action at the end which I enjoyed.

Final Thoughts:

Katie and Hutch really complimented each other – they had fun banter and he really helped her with accepting herself but she also helped bring his family closer in a way. I did want more chemistry and flirting but that’s just personal preference. Overall, I thought this was an enjoyable read especially with George Bailey, the Gals and Beanie bringing in the charm and the laughs. Definitely a fun read for the summer!