Jenn
This was a super cute Christmas story that follows 3 siblings and their partners gathering at their childhood home for the holiday. Each of the siblings has a big secret they have been keeping from their normally close-knit family, and Mom Jenny is anxious to have one last perfect Christmas before everything changes. It had all of the feels of a cozy Hallmark-style movie. I enjoyed the multiple POVs and how each character was genuinely interested in the feelings of their family members and in resolving conflict in a respectful and peaceful manner. We don't often get to see healthy conflict resolution in the media we consume. Each of these secrets had the potential to cause some serious emotional damage, but the characters approached the revelations seeking to understand and heal instead of blame and reject.
There were several different twists in the story. One, I predicted pretty early on, but then was led to reject my prediction - a pretty clever redirect by the author! The main point of the story was that keeping feelings bottled up, swept under a rug, or creating little white lies to “protect” others is never going to lead to anything but isolation and hurt feelings. Being open, honest, and emotionally mature is always the best way to go.
This felt very authentic - coming from someone who is used to having large, chaotic family holiday get-togethers with plenty of drama. And of course, all of the adult sibling squabbling, which always seems to crop up, no matter how old you get.
I would enthusiastically recommend this to my friends, especially as the nights get colder and longer and the holiday season approaches. Bake some cookies, make some hot chocolate, and settle in for a enjoyable night!
This was such a cute story! I really grew to love both Skylar and Robbie. Even though the timeline of their romance is really short, it doesn't feel like rushed or fake. Robbie starts off as the consummate playboy - truly appalling behavior. But his heart isn't as callous as his activities make it seem. Skylar should have all the self-confidence in the world - she's a Division I athlete, gorgeous, and has her life (literally) planned out. But she is still the girl striving for her family's approval despite her successes. I love how they help each other grow throughout the book. The banter between them is a bunch of digs and zings, and I am here for it!
This was a cute, fluffy, mostly-closed-door romance. The premise was very sweet and I found the characters likeable. What knocked my rating down a bit was ... how the story was told. The author told the reader things in the third-person narration instead of demonstrating it in dialogue or character actions, and I felt that this took me out of the story too much. Background or insider information is sometimes good, but this felt like it was breaking the fourth wall too often and in a way that prevented me from immersing myself in the world and the characters.
There is a sequel and plans for a third book in the series. At this point, I'm on the fence as to whether I will continue the series. The next book is about Saphira's friend, Lavinia, and her cafe's baker, Theo. It's no spoiler to let you know that it will be a friends-to-lovers troupe, since it's made clear from the moment that the character was introduced on page 40 that both he and Lavinia are into each other.
There is some South Asian representation in this book with Saphira, but other representation is left a bit undefined and vague - not a criticism, just an observation. The world-building is a bit unique as well - it has the feel of a D&D magical village setting, but perhaps lies more in the realm of magical realism, as the characters have cell phones, cars, and listen to podcasts, when they aren't tending to gardens and riding on dragons.
Sparky was super adorable and of course, I now want a baby dragon for a pet.
I liked this story a lot more than I thought I would. I found both Jane and Beast to be interesting characters and liked how they interacted with each other. Jane had several potential love interests throughout the story, and I couldn't quite determine if she was going to favor one over the others, or if she was going to stay single and just flirt sometimes. It's a contemporary tale, but with some history and fantasy elements woven in - somehow, it all works pretty well.
I gave it 3.25 stars because while I liked it well enough, I'm not sure I will be continuing to the second book in the series. I was given a preview of it at the end of this book's Audible narration and it felt more like an extended epilogue, rather than bringing you into Jane's next adventure. I'm not sure even now what the second book is supposed to be about.
This was such a cute book! I was initially drawn to it because it uses a National Park as the setting, and my fiancé and I love traveling to National Parks! It reads like a Hallmark movie, but not as formulaic or cheesy as those have a tendency of being. Meemaw... she's trouble! This is a great choice when you are looking for a book that is light and sweet and makes you feel good. It is not filled with tension, spicy scenes, or major arguments. Having just read a 1.5 star book, I really appreciated this one. It is a quick read - I think my Kindle said that at my reading speed it would take about 3.5 hours to complete, but I found myself at 70% and wanting to speed through the rest of it because I was enjoying it so much and wanted to know what happened next. So, I did the illogical thing and put the book down for the evening, so that I could pick it back up again in the morning and savor the story a little longer.
There are mentions of faith and religion in the book, but they are not done in a heavy-handed way and really felt like it was just a part of who the characters were, instead of subtle evangelization. I think that part was dealt with very well.
There were three POVs used in this story: Brooke's, Beck's, and a third-person narrator who told the reader what Meemaw was up to. It is a unique storytelling choice, but I feel that it added a layer of humorous-ominous suspense to the book. “Uh-oh! What is Meemaw going to do now?!”
The events of this book occur in the same world as Olivia McCarthy's other book, Superior Hearts, and the main characters of that story, Paige and Connor, make an appearance in this story. I don't think it is necessary to read Superior Hearts first, but I would probably recommend it because it will give a lot more context to the scenes they are in.
I was given the opportunity to read an ARC of this book by the author. It is due to be published September 5, 2025. I wasn't paid for my review, but I do highly recommend that everyone give this book a read! I will be encouraging all of my book club friends to pick it up!
Also, now I need to go white water rafting.... Thanks, Olivia!
I really did not like this one. I didn't connect with either main character. There were a lot of “ick” moments. For example, when the characters first meet, she is delivering a singing telegram song to his penis on behalf of his one-night stand, and he starts hitting on her, as she says, “before you washed off the previous girl.” Gross. The rest of the book really feels like each scene is just a flimsy way of getting you from one intimate scene to another. And they are “so hot for each other” that apparently they have no self-control and cannot wait long enough to get home or appropriate location and end up having a bunch of explicit scenes in public places. Gross, not hot. I was pretty disappointed, because I truly enjoyed other Tessa Bailey stories.
I remember reading and liking this book well enough, probably during my middle school years. It was in there with some other books like “Julie of the Wolves” and “My Side of the Mountain.” Reading it again as an adult, it's almost like a new book. I was drawn to it because I have come to love to watch airplane disaster videos on TV and YouTube - not for the destruction, but for the analytic investigation into why the accident occurred and how the industry uses these tragedies to become safer and more resilient. This story is told well, and is more on the survival aspect of the incident.
Book ratings are a hard thing sometimes. I always evaluate my books based on how much I enjoyed it, if I would read it over and over, and if I would recommend it to others. There are some books, however, that I feel torn about, and this is one of those. To me, 3 stars means that I liked it well enough, but I wouldn't say that I really liked it (4 stars). I gave it an extra half star because I think the work is valuable as a slice-of-life, a way for people to get a glimpse into a different culture, a different time period, and a different location. I think this is one of those books that people should read to get a sense of how other people live and what their experiences are. So, an important book, if not a purely entertaining book.
The tone of the book is a bit poetic and nostalgic. I love that it is a series of unrelated vignettes - just random scenes offered - sometimes having the same characters, sometimes introducing new ones. The author notes that it's intentional that each story is short (sometimes only a paragraph), so that people who do not have a lot of time can pick up the book and take in one scene at a time into their busy days and not feel that they have to know what happened in the last vignette to understand the current one.
This was a quick, fun read. There was an 8 year age gap (23M, 31F) between the main characters, which was briefly explored as a topic between them. I appreciated that it was a closed-door romance, and while their circumstances were rather dire, it was pretty light-hearted and enjoyable. TBH, I was looking for a reappearance of Eugene, but liked the nod to Eugene at the end. There were a couple surprise revelations at the end, to keep the reader on their toes. Both main characters had family issues/trauma that they had to deal with emotionally, and I felt that these read realistically.
This is nearly the perfect book. It has a wild plot that moves quickly and cleverly, main characters that are complex and compelling, and a vocabulary that had me searching for internet dictionaries. You could tell that all the different locations and time periods were researched meticulously by the author and could feel the flavor and feel of them rising from the pages. The humanity, heart, and poetry of this story, I hope, will linger with me for a long time. Highly recommend.
