Tag: romance

December 2025–Part Two:

January 1, 2026

Book #93:

The Compound by Aisling Rawle (304 pages).  This dystopian novel is a lot of fun, with a unique premise. It’s about a reality TV show (a cross between Survivor and Love Island) set in the future post a traumatic event (think nuclear war), and 19 contestants are sent to live in a house in the middle of a compound. The contestants have to earn their rewards and prizes by completing certain tasks and they also have to couple up together to survive another day. The plot is incredibly propulsive, the writing is very descriptive, and parts are of the plot are very disturbing. Told from the point of view of one of the contestants, Lily, we learn what happens through her lens which is a bit problematic as Lily is vapid, depressed and not very likable. (We still root for her though). The writing is decent here, but the plot is what you want to pick this up for. The dystopian element is not front and center as we never really learn what exactly happened in the outside world. The novelty alone of this novel’s premise is what makes it a 5-star read for me.

Book #94:

How to Read a Book by Monica Wood (Length: 288 pages). I hugged this book when I was done as this is quite possibly my favorite book of 2025. The cutesy cover does not convey what a beautifully written novel this is. A young woman (21 years old) fresh out of prison leaves behind a prison book club which made her stay tolerable, along with the volunteer who leads that book club, Harriet. Another character in this novel is Frank, a recent widower and retired machinist who gets a part-time job in a bookstore. Finally, we meet some adorable parrots who reside in an observational lab on a university campus in Maine. Everyone comes together in an exquisite novel with crisp dialogue, fully drawn characters and an interesting plot. Perfection! The ending is delightful too. 5 full stars.

Book #95:

The Christmas Tree Farm by Laurie Gilmore (Length: 368 pages).  This is book 3 in the Dream Harbor series, a feel-good, cozy rom-com series that is very open door. The premise here is that Kira hates Christmas but just bought a Christmas tree farm which needs a lot of work and of course Kira has no idea how to fix everything but is determined to do so. Bennett is in Dream Harbor on vacation visiting his sister (a previous DH character), and Bennett’s toxic trait is that he likes to help women because that’s what he’s always done, even though they take advantage of him. This open-door romance is cute, and the writing is decent. I’m drawn to this series due to the cozy settings and the small-town residents make it a fun world to return to. The vibe is very Gilmore Girls. 3.5 stars.

Book #96:

The Strawberry Patch Pancake House by Laurie Gilmore (Length: 384 pages). Book #4 in the Dream Harbor series, this romance features Iris, a yoga teacher turned nanny to a sweet young Olive, the 5 year old daughter a hot, world-renowned chef just discovered he has. Archer arrives in Dream Harbor after Olive’s mom Cate passes away, to care for Olive. But as Archer has to work (in the town diner of course), he hires Iris, who has zero nanny experience, to care for Olive. Sparks fly, etc. I enjoyed reading about the previous couples from the previous books here, and it’s fun to see how all of them interact. (It reminds me of the Rome, Kentucky series by Sarah Adams, which I love). I will say there’s a trope here which I’m not a fan of (it’s spoiler territory so I’m not mentioning it) and the romance is a bit too earnest for me. I still adore the world in which this is set so I’m glad I read it. 3 stars.

Book #97:

Awake by Jen Hatmaker (320 pages).  This memoir has been everywhere this year, so I was excited to finally pick it up. This is a memoir written after the author discovered her husband’s infidelity after 26 years of marriage. Jen was a pastor’s wife, and she has been very visible in the Christian community on social media. She’s an excellent writer and while some of what she’s known for is a bit problematic, none of that colored my reading of this excellent memoir. It reads as several essays woven together, and features Jen’s wit and charm. You’ll either love this or you won’t–there’s no in between. I enjoyed this very much. 4 stars.

Book #98:

A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar (Length: 224 pages). This slim debut novel was nominated for the National Book Award which is a huge honor. In this dystopian climate fiction novel set in the future in India, we meet a shelter manager who has been stealing food here and there from the shelter to feed her 2-year-old daughter and her father to take back to their home. The manager has climate passports for the three of them in her possession, but they are stolen a mere week before they are to fly to America to join her husband there. The thief, Boomba, has his own story which weaves in and out of the shelter manager’s story. This novel packs a punch in relatively few pages with its propulsive plot and gorgeous writing. The ending is A LOT and is a bit of a gut punch after you’ve been so emotionally invested with the characters, so proceed with caution. 4.5 stars from me.

Book #99:

Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green (Length: 206 pages).   I’ve had this non-fiction book in my Kindle for awhile and I was so excited to finally pick it up. I adore Green’s previous book, The Anthropocene Reviewed and had read this one is even better, and while I’m not sure about that assessment, I do agree this book is fantastic! Green explores the history of tuberculosis, interspersed with the specific story of Henry, a young man in Lesotho Africa, who has lived with TB most of his young life. This narrative non-fiction book is part call to action, part optimism about the future and part scorn with Big Pharma and the wealthier “white” nations and with racism and colonialism in general. This is an absolutely fantastic book and a must read. I do wish I would have listened to this one instead as that’s how I read his previous work. 5 solid stars.

Book #100:

The Gingerbread Bakery by Laurie Gilmore (Length: 385 pages). Book 5 (of 6) in the Dream Harbor series. This open-door romance features Annie, the owner of the local gingerbread bakery and Mac, the owner of the local pub. He’s grumpy and she’s over him, having known him since they were 5 years old. They had a brief entanglement post high school graduation, and she’s been angry with him since. This is probably the best in the series and is a great example of enemies to lovers done right. The author does a great job of developing the readers’ understanding of the protagonists’ shared history and the chemistry is a slow burn here. 4 solid stars from me.

August 2025–Part Two

September 1, 2025

Book #55:

Practice Makes Perfect by Sarah Adams (Length: 338 pages).  This is the second novel in the When in Rome romance series. Will, the bodyguard to pop star Amelia from Book 1, and Anne, flower shop owner and soon-to-be sister-in-law to Amelia, take part in the fake dating trope here. It’s cheesy, but there’s a reason it’s used so often in romances–because it works. I loved the townspeople and the fun banter here. (The scene at the Little League game had me laughing out loud). There are some annoying edits that were missed which are so distracting (ie, pumping the “breaks”) but those aside, I really enjoyed this fun read. Four stars.

Book #56:

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion-Volume 1 by Beth Brower (Length: 127 pages). What a fun read! I heard about this series on a few different book podcasts, so I decided to give the first volume a try, and I’m SO glad I did. These are the delightful “journals” of a young woman living in 1883 London. Emma is a feisty and likeable protagonist with a quirky sense of humor. This one is a VERY quick read, but apparently the volumes get longer as the series develops which is a great thing. You will not be able to stop at volume 1 if you’re anything like me. My local library doesn’t have this series yet, which is a downer, but the entire series is available on Kindle Unlimited if you have access that way. A solid five stars from me.

Book #57:

You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith (Length: 336 pages).  This is a memoir written by the award-winning poet, Maggie Smith. The focus here is the author discovering her husband’s infidelity, and her recovery from that. Told in essays or vignettes, the author looks back at how they started and tries to discover what went wrong. The writing is (obviously) gorgeous here, with no sentence wasted. The entire memoir is about divorce, however, so it may not be for every reader. However, there is so much to ponder and learn about oneself, even if you’re not going through a divorce yourself. (Also, this would make an excellent gift for someone you care about who is going through one, if you think they’d benefit from it). 4 stars.

Book #58:

The Irresistible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy by Brigitte Knightley (Length: 383 pages).  This book is so much FUN! It’s a romantasy, heavier on the fantasy, world-building, and quite chaste when it comes to the romance part. (Although in no universe is the writing PG or even PG-13). Two sworn enemies are forced to work together to overcome their own obstacles. For her, it’s to find funding for a vaccine for a pox killing children, and for him, to save his magic and by extension, his life. She’s a scientist and he’s an assassin for hire, and their chemistry is fantastic, if extremely slow building. The writing is so strong here, with witty banter and lushly drawn worlds. There are so many laugh out loud lines and clever wordplay (various pubs serve as way stones for travel between places and their names are fantastic). This does end on a bit of a cliffhanger as it’s a duology. Five stars from me!

June 2025–Part Two

June 30, 2025

Book #40:

Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman (Length: 446 pages).  I’m not sure how to categorize this read other than action-packed, dystopian, FUNNY video-game fantasy with tons of action. Carl is a Coast Guard veteran who is watching his ex-girlfriend’s cat Princess Donut when the world essentially is taken over by aliens and those who survive and make it into a multi-level dungeon must now compete in a reality action video game/show watched by the aforementioned aliens. The dialogue is LOL witty, the plot is fast-paced, and I found myself smiling throughout.

A sample from the book: Bad Llama. Level 3. It’s a llama, but it’s bad. If he were human, he’d be covered in prison tattoos and would be hanging out in front of the Circle K hitting on 14-year-old girls. They might be willing to sell you something if you have good stuff to trade. . . This definitely is a FUN series and not to be taken too seriously. I can’t wait to keep reading. (Available on Kindle Unlimited too!)

Book #41:

One-Star Romance by Laura Hankin (Length: 400 pages). This has been on my TBR for awhile. A budding novelist is the maid of honor in her best friend’s wedding, and she finds out the best man had given her first novel one star on GoodReads, right before walking down the aisle. Hijinks ensue, of course, but there are a few more serious topics woven through, lightened by plenty of witty dialogue as the parties are brought back together with each subsequent event in their friends’ marriage and relationship. This has a fun When Harry Met Sally feel that I adored. 5 solid stars from me.

Book #42:

The Road Trip by Beth O’Leary (Length: 398 pages).  This is a dual-timeline rom-com featuring two Brits: Addie and Dylan, then and now. Present time finds the pair on a spur of the moment road trip in a Mini Cooper with 3 other people en route to a wedding in Scotland, after Addie and Dylan haven’t seen one another for almost 2 years. The flashback scenes involve how the pair met, when Addie was a caretaker for the summer for a friend’s villa in France and Dylan was staying at the villa. This is well-written, propulsive and made me smile. I adored The Flatshare by this author and this has a similar vibe. Deeper than most rom coms (check the trigger warnings if you’re concerned) and I really enjoyed this memorable novel. 4 stars from me.

Book #43:

What in the World? by Leanne Morgan (Length: 288 pages).  I was introduced to this Southern comedienne by a girlfriend, and I’ve enjoyed watching her specials on Netflix. This memoir has many of the same stories as she features in her sets, but I really enjoyed her written “voice” here, and this fun memoir flew by for me. A quick, fun read that probably is great on audio!

Book #44:

First-Time Caller by B.K. Borison (Length: 446 pages).  THIS BOOK! I love this book! This fun take on Sleepless in Seattle made me smile the entire time I was reading it. Single mom auto mechanic Lucie meets Heartstrings radio host Aiden when Lucie’s daughter Maya calls in to the show, saying she wants her mom to find love. Set in Baltimore, this lovely rom com has a strong sense of place, and I adored reading about Lucie’s relationship with both Maya’s dad (and his husband Mateo) and her auto mechanic coworkers as well as Aiden’s relationship with his radio station coworkers (including one who is featured in Book 2 of this 2-book series). The banter is witty, the chemistry is believable, and the love scenes are VERY open door. A solid 5 stars from me. Please read this!!

June 2025–Part One

June 17, 2025

Book #36:

Elizabeth of East Hampton by Audrey Bellezza and Emily Harding (Length: 384 pages).  I don’t remember how this book came onto my radar but it’s a fun Pride and Prejudice retelling set in East Hampton. Lizzy has paused her career dreams (to be a journalist) to run her family’s bakery, Bennet Bakery, after her father’s stroke. Her four sisters are side characters here. This is a cute novel with witty dialogue, great chemistry between Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet and a believable plot to move events along. This is the second in a series, and the characters from the first series (an Emma retelling) appear here. 3.5 stars from me.

Book #37:

Heartwood by Amity Gaige (Length: 316 pages). This literary thriller set on the Appalachian Trail ticks all the boxes for me. It also happens to be a Read with Jenna pick, and I tend to enjoy most of the books she picks. A woman goes missing on the A.T. and the wardens and community come together to try to find her. This is SO well-written with a propulsive plot. The author skillfully brings multiple character arcs together; I read this in print, and I’m wondering if the audio version would be confusing given these multiple characters. I adore non-fiction accounts of hiking this trail (as my multiple reviews of these books attest to) so this novel was a fantastic read for me. The setting, however, is not the focus here, the characters are. 5 solid stars from me and this absolutely will be in my top 10 books of this year for me.

Book #38:

Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty (Length: 505 pages).  I listened to this one. The premise is an older lady walks down the aisle of a flight in Australia telling each passenger when and how they are going to die. When the first few passengers do, in fact, die in the manner and in the timeframe of when the lady predicted, this mystery gets interesting. I loved the audio narrator but given there are so many characters here, it did get a bit confusing to keep track of each. So, I’d recommend print for this fun read. The resolution of the mystery is a bit obvious and renders this less a mystery than general fiction, but given I enjoy Moriarty’s writing style and her portrayal of characters, I really enjoyed this beach read. 4 stars.

Book #39:

The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern by Lynda Cohen Loigman (Length: 320 pages).  I really enjoyed this novel. It’s very sweet without being cloying, mainly due to the straightforward writing style. The premise here is the protagonist, Augusta Stern, works in her father’s pharmacy in 1920s Brooklyn, when her mother dies. Her great aunt Esther moves in to help care for Augusta and her sister Bess. Esther happens to possess the gift of homeopathic healing (using herbs) and runs a side business helping those in the neighborhood who aren’t being healed by the traditional medicines Augusta’s father dispenses. The novel alternates between this timeline and 1987, when Augusta at the age of 80 moves into an assisted living community in Florida, where she runs into her teenage love, Irving Rivkin, the pharmacy delivery boy. I really enjoyed the alternating timelines here as they propelled the plot forward. This is one novel I found myself thinking about when I wasn’t reading it, which is the sign of a good read to me! 5 stars.

May 2025–Part One

May 14, 2025

Book #29:

American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld(Length: 573 pages).  I’ve had this book on my shelves for almost 15 years and I just now have picked it up. I shouldn’t have waited as long as I did because I love it! Loosely based on Laura Bush, this isn’t gossipy, but it is a literary, fictionalized telling of what the author thinks Laura and her life were like. This book touches on only a handful of real-life events that actually happened, one of which is the tragedy that occurred when she was in high school. The writing here is wonderful (no surprise given the author), and I enjoyed all of the details of the character’s life. This is one of the rare novels where I was thinking about it when I wasn’t reading it, and I couldn’t wait to pick it up. While it’s lengthy, it didn’t feel long. A full 5 stars from me!

Book #30:

Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear (Length: 321 pages). This is yet another novel that’s been stuck on my TBR list, and this backlist gem is book 1 (published in 2003!) in a 18-book series featuring a plucky female investigator working in London, post-World War I. This was a bit slow to start for me (and I actually set it aside twice) but I’m so glad I picked it back up. Maisie takes on a case involving potential marital infidelity and something about the case occurs that leads her (and the last third of the novel) in a different direction. The author then starts with Maisie’s early years as a child, and this is where the story really picked up for me and I loved learning about what makes Maisie tick. World War I plays a part as does the aftermath of the soldiers’ (and others who served in the war) lives. I really enjoyed this and I’m planning on reading further into the series very soon. A solid 4 stars from me.

Book #31:

Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry (Length: 427 pages).  This novel is vastly different than Henry’s previous novels which are standard rom-coms and beach reads. Here, Hayden and Alice “compete” for the right to write the memoir of Margaret Ives, an icon born into a media empire family, who married a rock star (known as the poor man’s Elvis); Margaret disappeared from public view for decades, so this memoir will make Alice’s career and will cement Hayden (a Pulitzer-prize winning memoirist) as one of the best of his generation. So, the enemies-to-lovers trope competes with a historical fiction book within a book of sorts here, and I think it really works. I also enjoyed the Georgia island setting, and Emily Henry’s fantastic writing (dialogue, chemistry, character development) is on display to great effect. A solid five-star winner for me!