Katykah
I can't believe I'm done with this series. 😭 I have no regrets reading it out of order, nor do I regret NOT reading Sam & Maggie's story. They just weren't interesting enough for me throughout the other books 🤷🏾♀️
This book does however make me very upset that croinuts aren't an actual thing 😭😭
Dean is a prime example of what happens when our parents screw up our love compass (I used to be just like him) but I'm so glad he got his HEA just like me.
So I started this book back in August of 2025 and just couldn't keep point at some point. I had to put it down and return when the vibes were right. I listened to it after I listened to Green Light and I think I should have listened to this first. Jescie's progression of writing is very noticeable and I love seeing her journey unfold each book at a time.
I am however. So glad I finished this book. I may not be a sibling of someone with autism but I'm a mother to an autistic child. He is considered "high functioning" but he is a heavy sensory seeker it's always falling on me to regulate him. He also has 3 other diagnoses. Dylan's walls she had up because no one could understand how Colin needed to be first in her life is what I wad going through as a single mom for a long time.
But thankfully I found my "Lake" and he is the first one my son opened up to completely. He is his little shadow and was the first of my relationships to openly say: "I love you" to. 🥹
Contains spoilers
The wayyyy I could relate to Max and Cosy needs to be studied. Like. Truly studied. How does Amy Daws do it?! I may not have the same trauma as Max, but the need to focus on work and be successful combined with only having eyes for my child is something I felt deep in my soul.
The way he chastised himself for losing focus of Everly to pursue love? I felt that. Especially when a lot of my relationships did not pan out well until I found my fiancé. I felt so guilty for putting myself first when it should have been my son. I felt like I kept breaking my promise to him over and over again.
Ways I could relate to Cosy was how her love for Max gave her the confidence to dream again. Plus she gets to turn her hobby into a dream job. I envy her so much. I have always wanted to do niche monthly subscription boxes.
With my fiancé by my side I am turning my passion for organizing and coordinating events into a side hustle. Who knows what that will look like for me future wise but I'm excited for the journey. 🤗
I really enjoyed reading Griffin's story. I don't think I have a favorite Knightley brother yet but overall? Their stories are uniquely compelling, overall brotherly antics are downright hysterical and the charm of Port Snow is the cherry on top. I can't wait to dive into Rogan's book. I'm enjoying this series so much because I get to listen along with my fiancé 😍
Contains spoilers
I laughed so stinking hard from this book it's not even funny!
I love how much Sierra and Julie make me feel seen as an ADHDer and as someone who has religious trauma (purity culture is 100% child abuse). I loved how Isaac described her as an ADHD poltergeist of chaos and how her dating profile says Swiss Army Knife of the Porn Industry because I'm 34 myself and I'm 100% a Jill of all Trades 😅
The Christmas Miracle throuole plot twist was NOT on my bingo card and I'm so here for it. I also love that like I truly believed Isaac and Sunny were going to find Bernice Dugan and of course she passed away suddenly. Book trauma! lol
I also liked that I think this book was an accurate showcase of how an ADHDer would process grief. I just dealt with sudden loss back in August of 2025 and I haven't fully processed my grief yet.
Also? That photo booth scene 🥵
Contains spoilers
What a roller coaster ride of a book! I absolutely love the Marriage of Convenience troupé and boy did this book not disappoint. I really like how the theme of the FMCs is not being like their parents and how they lean towards the extreme side of things to prevent it from happening.
My second favorite troupé? Using her panties. Not sure why, it just is 😆
Luke and Addy are a lot like me and my fiancé when we first got together. We had a hard time fully trusting each other due to our past relationship traumas. He fell first. I fell along the way and was too afraid to admit it (just like Addy) because I just didn't want to be vulernable. In my mind it meant before long he would be able to leave me.
But just like Luke and Addy the closer we have gotten (especially since moving in together after our engagement) the more vulnerable and honest we became. So we work through the vulnerability everyday and see the beauty in it. We have healed a lot of our traumas together and we are better for it 🤗
Contains spoilers
I love the whole: I've loved you since the beginning troupé and enemies-to-lovers troupé! Amy Daws has done it again! She is truly top tier when it comes to writing these rom coms and I absolutely love how their niece Everly is shamelessly playing matchmaker.
I could relate to Dakota in regards to having a red flag for an ex-husband breaking down your confidence and how it exasperates insecurities. I may not have gained weight from the stress of being married to a walking red flag the way she did but being thin doesn't mean you don't struggle with self-esteem and body image issues (as someone who has been skinny her whole life and often shamed for it? On top of being accused of having an eating disorder).
So, when it comes to the patriarchy and their ridiculous beauty standards? I'm with Dakota. I try to live my life everyday f*cking the patriarchy 🤗
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 😉
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 🥰
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!!
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 🙌🏾
The Universe really just can't stop teaching me lessons. I just had a situation like Stella had with Luca. When Luca presented her with the truth of his love for her she baulked and ran away to protect herself. I have been doing the same the entirety of my relationship prior to my fiancé proposing to me. It really is amazing to see damaged FMCs grow and choose to not only be accountable? But honest and open to love. I see so much of myself in them. It's rewarding to see that I'm on the same path as they are.I also wanna point out this is my first Friends-to-lovers single POV from just the woman's side where she is absolutely unhinged and feral in her internal monolouges. 😅🤣 Such a lovely change up to my usual Dual POV reads. B.K. Borison is an author I stumbled across by accident on Hoopla but I enjoyed this audiobook immensely and I can't wait to finish the series.
Idk what I enjoyed more. The shibari, the danger element or the marriage of convenience (one of my absolutely favorite troupés of all time)🤭🤭🤭🤭
I tried to savor this book as long as possible because the physical Deluxe Edition for “The Beast” won't be available til next April😭
But I'm a simp for danger in a book and the way it heightens the sexual desire between the FMC and the MMC so here we are🤭🤭
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 🙌🏾
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 😏
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 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 🥹🥹