Katykah

This book, this book, this book!I listened to it on audio and it gave me allllll of the feels!First off? The way they met? That is EXACTLY how me and my man met. To. A. T. Minus the one night stand part. He told me shortly after we got together that the moment he saw me he knew we would be together.The angst and the fear of dying at any moment was such a real element to the story. I have never been in that situation myself but it really put things in perspective from someone who has been in situations and is living with a potentially fatal disease like Jesse has. I love when I read books that give you all of the feels and take on an emotional roller coaster. Kayla knocked it out of the park with this one!

Meghan Quinn is truly the queen of rom coms. I listened to the audiobook with my man and we laughed so hard at this 🤣 The group chat between the siblings was top tier. We are gonna continue the series by going back to listen to Book #1 aka Griffin's story 🙌🏾

I normally don't go for the friends-to-lovers troupé but Meghan Quinn is the Queen of Rom Com and I ate this story up. It was a recommended title in my bookish FB group and I think for the themes of the guy bff is slowly falling for his female bff and loses his mind or maybe for the baseball romance vibes? I can't remember lol 🤣 Either way I loved this story. The dynamic between Corey, Jason, Maddox, Kinsley, Natalie, and Dottie was ADHD chaos perfection!!! Oh!!! and that spice was delicious. Especially the way Kinsley milks Maddox's prostate 🥵 In a lot of ways I saw a lot of myself in Kinsley: not wearing a bra, wanting to save the planet, eco-friendly/conscious, very unfiltered in my speech 🤣 and having an overbearing mother. Maddox is my type of MMC: a brooding artistic bad boy with a motorcycle, 🍆 piercing and fully tatted upper body and a troubled childhood? I eat it up! 🙌🏾I also love that there was some sibling betrayal and the sibling was unapologetic about it. It really sells the story for me since a lot of times people do deal with siblings who see nothing wrong with their betrayal and are vindictive. Very rarely are they apologetic for their choices. I also suddenly have a burning desire to volunteer at an animal shelter 👀👀

Corey x Natalie are a whole vibe 🥰I'm 33 almost 34, and the age gap of Natalie being 26 and Corey being 35 really helped me to see a lot of myself in her. When I was 26 I was married with a baby and by the time I was 30? I was divorced. My ex husband unfortunately gave me a lot of insecurities like Natalie's ex husband Ansel did. But coincidentally when Natalie and Corey had their fight that led to their breakup? It highlighted one of the many key elements that I struggled with in my marriage to my ex (9 yr age gap as well): he knew best and I was too young to offer any insight or value to issues.One of the other key elements that I appreciated and could relate to with Natalie was how worried she was in regards to soon she fell in love with Corey post-divorce. Her breakdown in Corey's apartment hallway about being afraid to love again and be open to being loved was so validating. I had a similar fear shortly after my break-up from a 6-month relationship I fell into after breaking up with my boyfriend of 2-years. I hadn't even been broken up 1 month after the 6-month relationship before I found my now fiancé (who also hasn't seen The Office btw) at an EDM event in the city. We both knew the performing DJ 😅 It just goes to show that despite where we are in certain points of our life? Age doesn't matter when it comes to your experiences. One of the many things I love and appreciate about Meghan Quinn's writing.I also truly wish I had a brother as amazing as Jason 🤣

Holy maple bacon and pear pizza. My queens Julie and Sierra outdid themselves again! When it comes to rom-coms? These two reign supreme!! I once again found myself laughing out loud at this book. I was cheering and fist bumping through this entire read! Winnie growing up in purity culture and religious trauma really hit home for me and helped me to connect with Winnie. Even Kallum wanting to be taken seriously as a husband and father and not just a “good time before you find the one” hit home for me too. Love when a fuck boy wants to settle down. It's my favorite MMC arc 😍

The angssssssttttttt in this book! Gah! chef's kiss

I absolutely loved Lincoln's moms 🤣🤣

A plot heavy story with a sprinkle of spice and I ate it uppppp! I absolutely loved this book. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time and I absolutely love how Lauren Biel writes 🙌🏾

Also? Love, love, love the plot twist!

This may have been “DIET” Lauren Biel but holy cow was this more spicy than “Sinners Retreat” and funnier 🤣I am not ashamed to admit that I'm not turned off at all by Bennett's food fetish. I am also not ashamed to admit that the turkey leg scene was way more palpable and wayyyy hotter than I thought it would be 😅Now I'm just like Cat (more interested in the psychology behind serial killers than the actual act of killing) and have a deep fascination for the psychology behind people with a foot fetish 👀I'm also obsessed with Cat's call sign: The Confessor. It's very boogeyman-esque and I'm so here for it  🙌🏾

I just wanna give a shout out to Evelyn Leigh for PROPER 👏🏾 BLACK 👏🏾 WOMAN 👏🏾 NEURODIVERGENT 👏🏾 REPRESENTATION 👏🏾

This book was everything. I could really relate to Sélah on a personal level as a black woman with anxiety, dealt with low self-esteem after leaving a toxic relationship (marriage) and truly believing that I was too damaged to be loved and that love wasn't safe for me. Oh and not to mention every tattoo I have has meaning to me, just like Sélah 🥰 Cherry on top? Grey having a Playlist of every song she ever sent him? My now fiancé did the same for me when we first starting conversing! Every song we ever sent to each other he has as a Playlist 🥹🥹

I just wanna give a shout out to Evelyn Leigh for PROPER 👏🏾 BLACK 👏🏾 WOMAN 👏🏾 NEURODIVERGENT 👏🏾 REPRESENTATION 👏🏾

This book was everything. I could really relate to Sélah on a personal level as a black woman with anxiety, dealt with low self-esteem after leaving a toxic relationship (marriage) and truly believing that I was too damaged to be loved and that love wasn't safe for me. Oh and not to mention every tattoo I have has meaning to me, just like Sélah 🥰 Cherry on top? Grey having a Playlist of every song she ever sent him? My now fiancé did the same for me when we first starting conversing! Every song we ever sent to each other he has as a Playlist 🥹🥹

Holy maple bacon and pear pizza. My queens Julie and Sierra outdid themselves again! When it comes to rom-coms? These two reign supreme!! I once again found myself laughing out loud at this book. I was cheering and fist bumping through this entire read! Winnie growing up in purity culture and religious trauma really hit home for me and helped me to connect with Winnie. Even Kallum wanting to be taken seriously as a husband and father and not just a “good time before you find the one” hit home for me too. Love when a fuck boy wants to settle down. It's my favorite MMC arc 😍

I just wanna give a shout out to Evelyn Leigh for PROPER 👏🏾 BLACK 👏🏾 WOMAN 👏🏾 NEURODIVERGENT 👏🏾 REPRESENTATION 👏🏾

This book was everything. I could really relate to Sélah on a personal level as a black woman with anxiety, dealt with low self-esteem after leaving a toxic relationship (marriage) and truly believing that I was too damaged to be loved and that love wasn't safe for me. Oh and not to mention every tattoo I have has meaning to me, just like Sélah 🥰 Cherry on top? Grey having a Playlist of every song she ever sent him? My now fiancé did the same for me when we first starting conversing! Every song we ever sent to each other he has as a Playlist 🥹🥹

This was a love letter to all of us first born children who are always growing up wayy too soon. I feel like anyone who doesn't care for this book isn't an eldest child. It is a very unique experience that changes you, especially when you are raised as a mini adult from an early age. I could relate to the riff between Kade and Gavin as I have dealt with a lot in regards to my younger sister. The only difference is that Kade and Gavin are on the mend to the happy and healthy sibling relationship. I will never have that with my sister, so I'm living vicariously through their healed relationship. 

I'm just gonna call it. Kade Montgomery  is a Scorpio Sun, Pisces Moon with a Virgo Rising like me lol 🤣 I did NOT think I would relate to his big emotions, struggles with depression, panic attacks, and unhealthy coping mechanisms. Or his addiction struggles for that matter (mine are codependency and trying to save everyone all the time but thankfully I'm in recovery for both).I loved how Kayla wrote and tackled these very serious themes in this book. I was so invested in the story and the characters. Presley was so relatable as well with her self esteem issues (and intrusive thoughts and social anxiety... something I can relate to as an overthinking neurodivergent with Imposter Syndrome lol) but some of it did stem from having a terrible partner. I loved seeing the way she slowly grew into a strong, confident, amazing woman just from having the right person support her and believe in her.Kade's shibari expertise definitely inspired me to pull the trigger on getting into shibari with my fiancé 😏

I'm gonna have to have some words with Amy Daws. 😅 As a Scorpio woman myself (like Trista) with: family issues, trust issues and body image issues (despite not being curvy) and used to push people away once they got too close because I'm “a hot mess”? Oh and sprinkle in the hyperindependence because I learned early on you can't trust anyone, including family? I felt so called out the whole time listening to this book. 😅

Amy Daws.....Scorpio women are tough darnit. Whyyyy did you expose our ooey-gooey centers to the entire world?! We have a reputation to uphold 🤣

Wyatt said it best though: She's the strongest most breakable person I know 🫠

I legit laugh screamed throughout this entire book. Trista's inner monolouges are literally my inner monolouges and I felt so seen 🤗

Teddy Hamilton was the right choice for the audio 🙌🏾

Ms. Holly. June. Smith. Do you know a Kayla?! As a Kayla myself, I feel completely called out in this book! 😅 This is the first time an FMC has had my name and I feel so seen!Chapter 46 had me in tears because boy have I been where Kayla has been emotionally a time or two in my adult life.I also cried again when Ryan proposed to her with her grandmother's ring 😭I am so wrecked! I think this is going in my Top 3 Reads of 2025 🙌🏾

Okay so like, this book was absolutely everything!! Holly x Jackson are very much me and my fiancé. When we met? He had been celibate for 6 years and I very much was in my h0e phase. As a single mom society kept telling me that I was undesirable and with my poor dating track record and my failed marriage? I was starting to believe it. So I was resolved to just have hookups because it was easier to give someone my body than it was to give someone my heart again.I met my fiancé the same way Holly met Jackson: by pure chance, we were at the right place at the right time. Only difference is we didn't wait a year to fall for each other. And everything has worked perfectly for us since we have given ourselves to each other fully. No one is perfect but we are perfect for each other 🥰

Holyyyy 🥵🥵🥵🥵Listening to this stirred up some old fantasies/desires that I thought I had long since buried 👀I may not be in my 20s anymore but I definitely found that I had a voyeuristic side early on. I found out about my exhibitionist side in my late 20s. I'm now early 30s and my fiancé has some voyeuristic/exhibitionist in him too. Maybe one day we can explore it more together. Only with each other of course, with an audience. We don't share 😉

This audiobook was absolutely sinful and had all my favorites: exhibitionism, role play, pain play, sensory play, BDSM, toys, you name it🥵 The first few chapters are rough (the editing isn't great) but it eventually clears up and oh my Gods. This was the perfect balance of plot, scandal and spice. I could NOT put it down! Definitely would listen to it again!!