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 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Julia Song is Undateable by. Susan Lee | ALC Review | Audiobook

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️

Title: Julia Song is Undateable

Author: Susan Lee

Narrator(s): Michelle H. Lee

Format: audiobook (NetGalley)

Pages: 336 Listening Time: Approximately 10 hours 8 min

Publication Date: 10/28/25

Publisher: Harlequin Audio

Categories: Romance, Contemporary

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

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

CEO seeks dating coach

Critically acclaimed and reader-favorite author Susan Lee’s hilarious adult debut is a shimmering and joyful look at the magnificent—and sometimes suffocating—weight of family, the ways we limit ourselves, and the irresistible power of love.

Julia Song, CEO of Starlight Cosmetics, is at the height of her career. Then why does she feel like such a failure? Maybe because she’s thirty and single, with a terrible track record at dating. And in the eyes of her Korean family, that is just unacceptable. It never really bothered her—that is until her beloved grandmother drops the bomb that she is sick and her dying wish is for Julia to get married. Impossible. So in a moment of weakness, Julia asks her family for help. Set her up on three dates to help her find The One. But it will never work—Julia is undateable. If only there was a coach for that…

Tae Kim knows about the weight of familial expectation. He’s currently unemployed, living in his parents’ basement to care for his ill father. Sure, he’s become somewhat of a fix-it man for the Korean community around town, but that’s not a real job. And the pressure to get his life together is getting to be too much. So when the Julia Song—his childhood crush—asks for his help, it may be just the distraction he needs. He’ll do whatever it takes, even coach her for these three dates. Problem is, the more time they spend together and the closer they get, the more Tae wonders if anyone is good enough for Julia…including him.

Content Warning: cultural ad familial pressures

+ The lone narrator for this book really did a great job doing the voices for all the characters!

+ Julia is a CEO but single. Her Korean family want to set her up on dates because they want her to get married. Tae Kim, the boy across the street that she used to babysit, says he’ll help her find dates because according to Julia’s ex, she’s undateable. I like how this story had a little bit of everything, friendship, lots of family themes, and a sweet romance.

+ It’s not often I come across a romance with the female being older than the love interest. I think there is a 5 year age gap between Julia and Tae but I thought it was cute since they used to be neighbors and their families know each other so well. And I really appreciated that Julia was the rich CEO and Tae was the one who was finding his way but he was a good guy, helping all the neighbors with anything they needed plus he was a caretaker for his parents! Talk about a traditionally “good son”. But this is very much a friends to lovers kind of situation.

+ There are a lot of themes about family and cultural pressures. Julia and Tae are Korean and their families have high expectations on what they expect out of their children. It gets to be a lot, especially for Tae but I felt like it was so relatable even though as a reader, I’m not Korean. I found their situations to be very relatable.

~ I thought the romance was cute but I wanted more from them, more chemistry.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, this was a cute read especially if you like friends to lovers. There are a lot of good family and friendship themes in this story. The narrator did a great job also.

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Other Books I’ve Read From This Author:

The Name Drop by. Susan Lee | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Seoulmates by. Susan Lee | ARC 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 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Game On by. Ki Stephens | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️

Title: Game On

Author: Ki Stephens

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 336

Publication Date: 9/8/25

Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin

Categories: Contemporary Romance, New Adult, Sports 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 Griffin for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Ella Davies didn’t trade her life in England for a year in Nashville to let anything—or anyone—throw her off her game. She only has one to prove herself on her new school’s elite cheer squad.

What she hadn’t planned for was meeting a gorgeous stranger on her first evening in America.

Hudson Fox is Whitland’s prized possession, a star quarterback who’s never lacked admirers. But this year, he’s sworn off temptation—especially the new English cheerleader who’s proving impossible to ignore.

When Ella and Hudson are forced to spend more time together, their “just one night” pact soon shatters.

Until tumbling from the pyramid becomes the least of Ella’s worries. Because instead of hitting the mat, she’s falling hard for the quarterback. . .

Content Warning:

+ Ella is a cheerleader from England who goes to Whitland in Nashville, Tennessee. Along with the culture shock, which hasn’t really fazed her, he boyfriend of a few years dumped her and then she has a one-night stand with the star quarterback at Whitland. I thought Ella was a cool character, typical college girl going through the growing pains of relationships and school.

+~ The romance is a one-night stand to friends to lovers. There is a lot of back and forth between Ella and Hudson, which was not my favorite of the romance. I do think their relationship is relatable because it’s set in college and young love can start and end so fast. There is spice but because these two kept things mostly casual throughout the book I didn’t quite connect to their romance.

+ I enjoyed the cheer parts of the book and it gave me flashbacks to Netflix’s show Cheer (where the star cheerleader was a girl named Gabi haha – there is a Gabi in this book also, coincidentally). I thought Ash was an intriguing character.

~ The conflict that comes at the end of the book was minor and it didn’t feel like the big deal, Ella made it out to be. It was resolved with communication.

Final Thoughts:

This was a light, sports romance and a very quick read. I don’t feel like I connected much to the characters, because of the back and forth and miscommunication but I did enjoy all the cheer aspects to the story – I thought that was interesting and fun! Overall, this was not for me but if you like sports romance, you might enjoy this one.

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

The Dating Prohibition by. Taj McCoy | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️

Title: The Dating Prohibition

Author: Taj McCoy

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 315

Publication Date: 9/2/25

Publisher: MIRA

Categories: Contemporary, Romance, Rom-Com

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

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

In this spicy new rom-com, an ambitious entrepreneur working to get her speakeasy supper club off the ground is pushed off balance when her childhood crush turns up, hotter than ever––then tells her she’s off-limits.

Now that Kendra’s returned home, she can’t help feeling like a kid again—back in her big brother’s shadow, trying to get her restaurant off the ground while his new venture is flying high right out the gate. It doesn’t help that everyone refuses to stop calling her Keke, the childhood nickname she loathes.

The only bright spot is her longtime crush BJ. He’s been her big brother’s best friend for most of her life, and he’s always been that cool, chill guy who was easy to talk to and made her laugh. Now he’s looking at her like she’s all grown up, and there’s nothing childish about the chemistry brewing between them. Even better, he takes her dreams seriously, and he’s ready to help her make her supper club a reality.

But then BJ extinguishes the sparks flying between them, insisting nothing romantic can ever happen because she’s “off limits.” As her investors fall through and her best chance at fulfilling her professional dreams points toward leaving home again for a fresh start, will BJ be ready for love before Kendra moves on? Or will he sweep her off her feet when she least expects it?

Content Warning: misogyny

+ There are a lot of things I enjoyed about this rom-com. One of them being the strong theme of family. Kendra is back home in Washington, D.C. and staying with her older brother and his wife while she gets her feet back under her. She’s helping at his new restaurant but she has dreams of opening a speakeasy of her own. I love how her cousin is almost like a sister – I totally relate to that! I love that her family is tight-knit and though at times critical, there is always support somewhere in the family. When she is with her cousin, Lani and her sister-in-law, Shonda, they are so funny together – I loved their family friendship.

+ I love the different ethnicities being represented. Kendra is half Black on her mom’s side and Filipino and Thai on her dad’s side which was cool! I loved hearing about filipino food dishes in the book.

+ The romance is a brother’s best-friend kind of romance, and there are a few spicy scenes. There are some challenges between Kendra and BJ/Ben though but it is resolved in the end.

~ Now as much as I love her tight-knit family, there was definitely favoritism. She got criticism which is again totally relatable but I felt bad for Kendra. She was putting in the work and had all her plans laid out. Her brother was supportive but also a little bit overprotective. Kind of wished there a moment with her parents at the end where they work things out.

~ Speaking of overprotective – BJ is her brother’s best friend so yes her brother would have thoughts about that. But the way BJ kind of strung her along, saying no they can’t act on their desire and then acted on it, then pushed her away? I did not like that and started not to like him. Also, he had no personality – he was definitely there for a booty call, but he didn’t open up to Kendra at all.

Final Thoughts:

There were a lot of things I liked about this story – the family themes, the food, the girlfriend group, and Kendra trying to make her dreams come true. I didn’t love the romance, even though the spice was good. I just didn’t like how BJ was going back and forth – keeping her at a distance, then pulling her in, then pushing away again. So I didn’t love the romance but I think everything else, at least for me, made up for it, plus it was a quick read.

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Other Books I’ve Read by This Author:

Savvy Sheldon Feels Good as Hell by. Taj McCoy | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Witch You Would by. Lia Amador | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️

Title: Witch You Would

Author: Lia Amador

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 368

Publication Date: 9/2/25

Publisher: Avon

Categories: Romance, Contemporary, Witches, Rom-Com

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

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

When a young witch gets a life-changing chance to compete in a magical reality show, sparks fly as she’s partnered with a man she can’t stand.

In a Miami where enchantment is just another college major, the magic of television could change two lives.

Penelope Delmar, a broke salesgirl, has been chosen to compete on Cast Judgment, a spellcasting reality show. The winner gets a big cash prize, and for extra hype, this season is the Spellebrity every contestant will be paired with a celebrity teammate. Unfortunately, her partner, Leandro Presto, is best known for his goofy viral spell videos, not his skills.

Gil Contreras, alias Leandro Presto, has been crushing on his pen pal Penelope for months. Now they’re working together to win a contest that could save his grandfather’s charity—except he has to stay in character the whole time, so his dream girl thinks he’s a total loser.

Can they beat snobby rivals, fix spells gone wrong, and survive increasingly dangerous sabotage attempts to win the grand prize—and each other’s hearts? Or will Gil’s secret make both their magic and romance fizzle out?

Content Warning:

This contemporary rom-com is a world where witches exist and thrive among us. Penelope is a spell-caster and she needs money quick because she got fired. She gets casted on a t.v. show Cast Judgment and is paired up with a social media star known for crazy videos named Leandro Presto.

At first when meeting these characters, especially Leandro/Gil, this story felt like a young adult story because he acts wild, and immature for his audience. Actually he’s 28 years old but I couldn’t tell from the first part of this story.

I think I started to look at them as older when the flirting started. There are a lot of puns being used in the story which was funny, if you are into that. There is also a fake-dating, or fake-flirting storyline between them because the studio wants it but I feel like that helped their romance take off. I was okay about their chemistry – I just couldn’t take Leandro/Gil seriously sometimes but hey they seemed to have fun with one another! A tiny bit of miscommunication almost comes between them but it is quickly resolved. I’d say it’s a cozy kind of romance with some spice.

The ending was a little abrupt and hinted at another book coming about Penelope’s sister, so I think this is a series.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, I think this was a cute romance. It’s a quick read and a book that would be perfect for in the fall because of the witches and spells.

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

For the Record by. Emma Lord | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice Rating: 🌶️

Title: For the Record

Author: Emma Lord

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 336

Publication Date: 8/12/25

Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin

Categories: Romance, Contemporary, Musician Celebrity 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 Griffin for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

An electrifying rom com of rivalry and redemption, perfect for fans of Emily Henry and Daisy Jones and the Six, from New York Times bestselling author Emma Lord.

Once the most notorious rivals in the music scene, pop princess Mackenzie Waters and punk rockstar Sam Blaze electrified audiences as their bands clashed on stage. But behind the scenes, their simmering tension grew into something more — until suddenly both bands fell apart, and the idea of Mackenzie and Sam did, too.

Two years later, Sam has traded the rockstar lifestyle for a quiet life raising the son he didn’t know about. Meanwhile, Mackenzie is dealing with a postoperative change in her voice by only singing under a pseudonym. The only way to revive their public careers? A joint comeback album.

With fans over the moon and their futures on the line, Sam and Mackenzie face their biggest challenge yet: giving up the old rivalry and learning to work together. But as old sparks fly and new secrets emerge, they set off a chain reaction neither of them could have anticipated — one that proves that sometimes, the greatest hits are the ones yet to be written.

Content Warning:

+ This is such a fun, quick read especially if you like musician celebrity romance which I do! Mackenzie used to be the front-woman for a pop girl band, and Sam used to be in a punk rock band. When they were blowing it up big in the past their agents made them put on a show for fans – give them a teaser of maybe them being in a relationship, even if they weren’t. Now the band days are behind them but they still want to put out their own music.

+ I loved all the characters in this book from Mackenzie and Sam to his son, Ben, and Mackenzie’s old bandmates who are like sisters to her. There is a big found family and family vibes to this story which I adored. Even if Mackenzie was in a rocky relationship with her friend, Serena, I love that this story explored friendships going through tough times.

+ This is a “what-if”, “bad timing” kind of romance which actually took me on an emotional rollercoaster. It’s a second chance romance and this time Sam doesn’t want to lose her. Because Mack and Sam were pushed together for the media and fans, their chemistry was normal but behind the scenes they never dated. Secretly though, they both yearned for one another. Sam is crazy for Mack. I really did love both of them together. I loved their moments together and I was rooting for them hard because they both deserved a happy ending!

~ So Taylor Swift is mentioned in this book, and yes the cover totally looks like her. I kind of wish that wasn’t the case because I felt like Mackenzie is her own character without needing that comparison. And also, why was Sam’s punk rock band called Candy Shard? It sounds so awkward.

Final Thoughts:

This one is a light-hearted second chance romance with some emotional moments. It’s also a quick read. I loved the characters. I also liked how the story explored friendship and a love relationship that maybe was bad timing in the past. It left me with all the happy feelings!