Genre: Contemporary

Ready or Not by Cara Bastone | ARC Review

Posted June 3, 2024 in ARCs, Books, Reviews / 0 Comments

Ready or Not by Cara Bastone is truly a slice of life novel. Following protagonist Eve, I found the story to be a beautiful exploration of identity and the transitional space between pre-parenthood and motherhood. The story takes a unique take on a pregnancy story. Eve becomes pregnant via a one night stand with a cute and charismatic guy she meets during a night out on the town. It’s a shock to her perfectly curated, if perhaps a bit too safe, life in New York, with her freedom and perfectly curated apartment and total devotion to her best friend. To […]

Mini ARC Reviews | Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle & A British Girl’s Guide to Hurricanes and Heartbreak by Laura Taylor Namey

Posted May 27, 2024 in Books, Reviews / 0 Comments

I was super intrigued by the premise of this one- I love a touch of magical realism in contemporaries, and Rebecca Serle usually integrates magical realism so well into her romances. This protagonist in this story receives a slip of paper with an amount of time whenever she begins dating someone, which will determine how long the relationship lasts. This inevitably leads to questions about what is fate vs what is a self-fulfilling prophecy, etc. I was interested in settling into the flashes of Daphne’s past and seeing the snippets of her past relationships and how they ended juxtaposed against […]

Love, Me by Jessica Saunders | ARC Review

Posted January 15, 2024 in Books, Reviews / 0 Comments

*Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for providing an ARC for review!* While admittedly (in my opinion) more “women’s fiction” than romance, I was fully captivated by this debut novel by Jessica Saunders that explores the forbidden “what if” you ran into your high school ex fantasy. However, the twist here is what if your high school ex was now a highly popular celebrity? I live for this kind of drama in my stories so this one was RIGHT up my alley. The story follows Rachel, a successful lawyer, mother of two, seemingly happily married woman who is leading […]

Reign | American Royals #4 by Katharine McGee | ARC Review

Posted August 28, 2023 in Books, Reviews / 0 Comments

I’ve probably said this in every review I’ve written about the American Royals series, but I’m just fascinated by the premise. An AU where America became a monarchy and the Washingtons are in the royal family, still to this day? Fascinating. It’s what keeps pulling me back to this series, and makes me sad to see it end since there’s still SO much I want to know about how an American monarchy would function. Therefore, Reign being the last novel is bittersweet, for as much as I’d love to continue learning about this AU, it feels right that the story […]

The Epic Story of Every Living Thing by Deb Caletti | Review

Posted February 20, 2023 in Books, Reviews / 0 Comments

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again- there’s something about Deb Caletti’s books that feel so profound. She takes the teenage/early adult experience and makes it so raw and real and universal, that even a 30-something like me can find it relatable. The Epic Story of Every Living Thing is no exception, as Caletti explores what family and DNA really mean, and how our identities are tangled up in elements that we might not even be aware of. The story follows Harper, who’s always grown up believing her mom used a sperm donor to conceive her, but doesn’t […]

Seven Percent of Ro Devereux by Ellen O’Clover | ARC Review

Posted February 13, 2023 in Books, Reviews / 1 Comment

I love a good YA novel that features girls in tech, and Seven Percent of Ro Devereux is one of the best I’ve read so far! The story follows Ro, a high schooler who created an app (with the help of a good family friend who happens to be a behavioral scientist) based on the popular children’s game MASH (honestly, this took me back!! I didn’t know the kids were still playing MASH these days LOL). The app has a 93% accuracy rate (hence the 7% reference in the title) and hits all of the main points of the original […]

Rivals by Katharine McGee | American Royals #3

Posted January 9, 2023 in Books, Reviews / 2 Comments

It’s a rare treat when a series gets better with each installment, but that is exactly the case for me when reading the American Royals series. While I was always drawn in by the premise of what it would be like had America become a monarchy, with each book I also become more and more invested in the characters, more impressed by the plot twists, and more engaged with the story. Majesty, the second book in the series, ended with Beatrice taking more control in her role as Queen rather than be bullied by her advisors, and I was happy […]

Mini Reviews: The Matzah Ball and God Spare the Girls

Posted July 7, 2022 in Books, Reviews / 0 Comments

This was fun! I don’t think I’ve ever read a Jewish holiday romance before, and it’s a bit Meta because the protagonist is tasked with writing one (even though she’s built a secret career on writing Christmas romance novels and is obsessed with all things Christmas despite being Jewish). I’m always intrigued by books that focus on religion or religious elements (former Religious Studies major here) and it was fascinating reading about Rachel’s struggle with her Jewish identity- from being a dutiful rabbi’s daughter in some elements of her life, but having this closet fascination with Christmas in others. This […]

Tokyo Dreaming by Emiko Jean (Tokyo Ever After #2) | ARC Review

Posted May 23, 2022 in ARCs, Books, Reviews / 2 Comments

If you’ve been reading my reviews over the years, you know that one of my absolute favorite series in the whole wide world is The Princess Diaries, and that I am a sucker for the normal-girl-finds-out-she’s royalty trope. Naturally, Izumi’s story of finding out she’s the illegitimate daughter of Japan in the Tokyo Ever After series is right up my alley! I actually found that I enjoyed the second book in this series quite a bit more than the first, because as a reader I adored getting to see how Izumi has adjusted to royal life and what her life […]

Mini Reviews | Never Saw You Coming (ARC) and The Jasmine Project

Posted January 24, 2022 in Books, Reviews / 0 Comments

As a former Religious Studies major during my undergrad years, I am always intrigued by YA novels that tackle the topic of religion, though many popular titles in the past few years have seemed to focus more on the extreme side (Devoted, The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly, The Project, etc.). I was intrigued to read a novel where the religious aspects seemed more naturally woven in with the contemporary elements, which is definitely the case in Never Saw You Coming, which follows 18 year old protagonist Meg as she strikes out on her own for the first time in […]