Love & Romance

Love is a War Song

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by Danica Nava
First sentence: “Three nearly naked men drenched in oil gyrated around me, their things barely covered in short tan-hide loincloths that dangled between their thighs.”
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Review copy provided by the publisher.
Content: There is swearing, including multiple f-bombs, and a couple of on-page sex scenes. It’s in the Contemporary Romance section of the bookstore.

Avery has spent her whole life in LA – first as a child actor, and now trying to break into the music business. Sure, she just wants to write her own songs, but her mom (who is also her manager) keeps telling her that she has to pay her dues. So, she listens when the record label gives her a “Native-inspired” song (since her mother says they’re Muscogee) and films a video for it. Plus there’s a Rolling Stone cover. But when they come out, there is a huge backlash: what they thought was “taking back stereotypes” ended up just being deeply racist. So, to get away from death threats, her mother sends Avery to her estranged grandmother’s house in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, to hide. And maybe to learn a bit about this heritage she has claimed but knows nothing about.

Once there – on her grandmother’s working ranch – she meets Lucas, a Muscogee ranch hand who has a chip on his shoulder, especially when it comes to her and her music. Except, he’s hot. And while she is often annoyed at him, she also kind of likes being around him. And she comes to respect him. And maybe there’s more to Broken Arrow than she thinks.

I’m not sure I liked this one as much as I liked The Truth According to Ember, but I did like it. I like that Nava looked at how being a Native person in Hollywood/the music industry isn’t an easy thing. I liked the juxtaposition of city girl/country boy. Nava is good at writing banter, and I liked how she wove in Native culture and mannerisms throughout the book. Additionally, both Avery and Lucas grew as people, which was satisfying to see.

In short: I really liked this one.

Slipstream

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by Madge Maril
First sentence: “Stories sell.”
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Review copy pilfered from the ARC stacks at work.
Content: There is swearing, including multiple f-bombs, and a couple on-page, but not super graphic sex scenes. It’s in the Contemporary Romance section of the bookstore.

Lilah just wants to be a serious documentary filmmaker. So, when her boyfriend and business partner decides to take on a documentary about an F1 racing team as their next project, Lilah feels betrayed. Even more so, when he tells her he’s been sleeping with he team’s marketing manager and breaks their relationship off. Newly dumped and betrayed, she turns to the team’s backup driver, Arthur Bianco, who only wants to get back on the grid, preferably on his old team, and not one where his overbearing uncle is the team principal. Of course, this means they go in together to try to sabotage the documentary. Of course, this means they will fall in love. And of course, things will work out happily ever after.

All that said, this one was a lot of fun. I think I liked it partly because Lilah wasn’t really part of the racing team – she was adjacent to, and while she was working for it, it’s not like she was part of the racing team. I liked it, too, because you got to see Lilah fall in love with F1 as well as with Arthur, and I thought Maril did that well.

Yes, it was corny and unbelievable, really, but hey, it’s a romance book. It’s not supposed to be. It was fun, and honestly, that’s all I expect. And this one absolutely delivered.

Audiobook: Problematic Summer Romance

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by Ali Hazelwood
Read by Elizabeth Lamont & Eric Nolan
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Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is a lot of swearing, including multiple f-bombs, as well as some pretty detailed on-page sex. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Maya’s brother Eli and his fiance Rue are getting married in Italy, and everything about this is perfect. Except that Eli’s best friend, Connor, is going to be there. The Connor that Maya has been in love with for three years, and who Connor has very gently, but very firmly, discouraged. See: Connor is 38, and Maya is 23. Connor can’t get over the age difference, so even though they spent years talking daily, and they’re pretty perfectly matched, he won’t give in. Much to Maya’s dismay. She wants nothing more than to be with Connor, his imperfections and all.

First off: the book is, in fact, problematic. I’ve been thinking about it since I finished, and I’m not sure why I couldn’t get over the age gap. It’s the same as in Emma, why is that 21-to-37 age gap okay (I mean, Mr. Knightly literally saw Emma grow up!) and this one is not okay? I was talking to another friend about it, and she pointed out that if we switched the roles – Maya was older, and Connor was the younger one pining and not letting her “no” be final – then it would be really problematic. I don’t know. It could just be the way Hazelwood wrote Maya and Connor – she’s very flirty and aggressive and he is very reserved and protective. Maybe I’m not comfortable with that? (Which, yes, says more about me than the book. Maybe all of this says more about me than the book.)

That said, I adored the narrators on this one. Lamont was fantastic as Maya/the general narrator and though I don’t usually like a duet narration, I liked the way Nolan did the men. Maybe I’m just a sucker for an Irish brogue. So, even with the whole problematic part of it, I did end up enjoying the book. If only because the narrators were just amazing.

Witchkiller

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by Ashlee Latimer
First sentence: “Hansel Henoth had not thought much or often about his death, but he was determined it not happen at the hands of a witch.”
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Release date: October 7, 2025
Review copy provided by the publisher
Content: There is domestic violence – both Gretel’s father and brother abuse her. It will be in the YA Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore.

The world for Gretel after the witch died (did she kill her?) is not a good one. Sure, it’s a grand one: her brother, Hansel, stole the witch’s treasure, and he and their father bought a title so they have clothes and a home and servants. But Gretel lives in fear of the tempers of the men in her life. The best way out, she determines, is a good marriage. So, when Prince Wilfried offers his hand in marriage, she takes it. Except it doesn’t feel right. And then, one night, she stumbles on the witches in the woods, and suddenly feels… home. Will she have the courage to defy her family and follow her heart?

I was excited to read this one – I love a good feminist retelling of a fairy tale, one in which the main character finds her way to something new, something outside of the box. And this one seemed to have all the elements: gaslighting by the men, witches who lived outside of the patriarchial norm, a main character who slowly gains confidence in herself. And while this one had all those elements, it still didn’t quite land for me. Maybe it’s because I didn’t believe the Wilfried really fell in love with Gretel? Maybe I wasn’t convinced by Gretel’s decision in the end? Maybe it was too much Ansel and Hansel being cruel and not enough of Gretel standing up (she snuck around, more like)? I think, in the end, it just wasn’t enough of what I wanted. It’s not that it’s a bad book – it’s not! It’s a very good “what happens after” tale.

It’s just that I wanted more.

Audiobook: Lady’s Knight

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by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
Read by Helen Keeley & Barbara Rosenblat
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is some violence – jousting and dragon-killing and the like; and two f-bombs. It’s in the YA Fantasy section of the bookstore.

Gwen has dreams. She is the blacksmith’s daughter, and is running the forge herself pretty much these days, but she has designed her own armor, and wants to try her hand at jousting. And one day, she earns enough money and enters the qualifying rounds of the tournament… and wins. She thinks it’s a one-off, but then Lady Isobelle finds her and convinces her to continue. It seems that Lady Isobelle is the prize for winning the tournament, and she doesn’t really want to marry any of the other knights. She convinces Gwen to be her champion in the tournament.

Gwen reluctantly agrees, follows Isobelle to the castle, where she pretends to be “Sir Gawain’s” sister, and… well, falls in love with Isobelle. There’s more to the plot – including terribly chauvinistic knights and a lady’s maid who might be an assassin – but that’s the basic premise.

Oh, this one was a delight. The back blurb (do audiobooks have a back blurb?) mentioned The Knight’s Tale as a comp, and I think that’s spot on. It’s Knight’s Tale but with lesbian girls, and I couldn’t have enjoyed myself more. It’s laugh-aloud funny at parts (LOVE the narrator who breaks the fourth wall), and yet had me ugly crying and the show of unity among women at the end. It’s fierce, it’s sweet, it’s a joy to read (and to listen to!). I can’t recommend this silly, sweet, fun book enough.

Audiobook: Wild and Wrangled

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by Lyla Sage
Read by Connor Crais, Savannah Peachwood, and Stella Hunter
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Others in the series: Done and Dusted, Swift and Saddled, Lost and Lassoed
Content: There’s a lot of swearing, including multiple f-bombs, and (while it takes a while to get there) a lot of on-page sexytimes. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

All Camille has wanted to do is get married to get her (rich) parents off her back and to secure the future for her daughter. Except things don’t go according to plan: her fiancé never shows up for their wedding, sending a note calling it off. And, to make things worse, as Cam tries to rebuild her life, her first love, her high school boyfriend, Dusty Tucker, shows up back in her life. It didn’t work out – though they tried – the first time around, and Cam’s not sure if she wants to see if it can work out a second time. But Dusty is persistent, and being in a relationship with him feels… right. Can she buck her parents and her expectations and her fears, and make it work with him again?

I liked this one better than I have the past couple Rebel Blue books, though I still think I might be over cowboy romances. That said, I really enjoyed Cam and Dusty together, and I liked the hopefulness of two people who fell in love young, finding their way back to each other. Sage does know how to write characters, and maybe I liked this one more because they were just adoptive members of the Rider family, which meant no overbearing brothers to get in the way. This one had a weight to it – with the class issues and the tension of lost loves – that I think the others missed.

I still like Done and Dusted best (the first time is always the best, no?) but this one is a solid read.

Audiobook: The Knight and the Moth

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by Rachel Gillig
Read by Samantha Hydeson
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There’s violence, including violence towards women; swearing, including multiple f-bombs; and some on-page sex scenes. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Six is a diviner for the Abbess of Ashling in the country of Traum. Which means, people come to her, paying her in blood and the Abbess in money, and she drowns in the spring water and divines their futures for them. It’s all she’s ever known, and while she doesn’t love doing it (um, I would wonder if she did), she is very good. What she and her sister diviners (creatively: one through five) really want is for their ten year term to be up and for them to move on with their lives.

Except, over the course of a few nights, Six’s sister diviners go missing. Thankfully, the king and his knights are passing through, and Six escapes with them (well, with the one devilishly handsome, and yet not very nice – the use of the word “ignoble” happened more than once) to go visit each of the omens and to find out what happened to the only things (okay, they’re not “things”) she cared about.

I wanted to like this one much more than I actually did. I had issues with the world (why would you get six diviners at once, and have them all leave at the same time? Why would you NOT stagger their times of service?) and eventually, with the romance. Sure, the knight was all considerate and whatever, but when I finally got to the first sex scene, it was kind of… silly. There was absolutely no chemistry there, and I kept rolling my eyes at it all. And then the twist at the end? I’m not sure it made me mad because it was out of left field (there were clues, but not great ones), or because it was just stupid.

I finished the book (it was a book group book), but I didn’t love it, and I have no intention of reading the sequel.

Sounds Like Love

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by Ashley Poston
First sentence: “Most summer nights in the small beach town of Vienna Shores, North Carolina, there was music at the Revelry.”
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Content: There is swearing, including multiple f-bombs, and some off-page sex. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Joni grew up surrounded by two things: the ocean and music. Her parents owned the Revelry, a music hall in a town in the Outer Banks. She was happy, but she had big dreams: she wanted to be a songwriter, so after college (and a heartbreak), she headed west. She worked, and finally hit it (relatively) big, but over the past year, she’s had writer’s block. Mostly because her mother has been diagnosed with early-onset dementia, and Joni is afraid she’s going to miss, well, everything.

Then, as she heads back to Vienna Shores for a month-long break, she starts hearing voices in her head. It turns out that it’s Sebastian Fellows, a former boyband member, and who is trying to resurrect his career. Can the two of them work together long enough to get out of each other’s heads? (And do they even want to?)

After the mediocre reaction of Novel Love story (I think I’m one of the few who liked it), I didn’t know what to expect with Poston’s next one. But, she’s back on her game. This was fun, full of music and heart, with enough conflict and tension to keep the book interesting. I liked all the characters and the setting of a beach town in the summer. I liked the relationship between Joni and her parents, and the heartache of her mother’s memory fading. It not as good as Seven Year Slip, but it’s up there.

And it’s a perfect summer novel.

Overdue

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by Stephanie Perkins
First sentence: “I had already made one catastrophic decision earlier that week.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: October 7, 2025
Review copy provided by the publisher.
Content: There is a lot of swearing, including multiple f-bombs, and some fade-to-black sex. It will be in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Ingrid has been in a long-term relationship with Cory since she was 18. Eleven years later, they’ve not made any moves toward marriage, and when Ingrid’s younger sister announces her engagement, they have a panic attack. And decide to “take a break” for a month to date other people. Ingrid’s first choice: her co-worker from the library, Macon. Except that doesn’t go well. And as one month turns into two, into three, Ingrid realizes that maybe more than just her relationship needs an overhaul. Over the next year, she does just that, finding out more about herself, her wants and desires, and making her life into one she wants to live.

This one had a rough start. It’s divided up by months, and January was painful. Ingrid isn’t likable, the whole situation with Cory is awkward, and it’s just, well, hard to read. But, I pushed through it because I adored Stephanie Perkins back in the day, and I was rewarded: the book got immensely better. It’s a slow-burn romance, which I don’t usually care for, but I did like the way Macon and Ingrid’s romance developed. I liked that the book was as much about Ingrid finding herself as it was about falling in love. I liked the town that Perkins invented, and the people she surrounded Ingrid with. It was all very homey and sweet and, in the end, quite enjoyable. If it had a less rough start, I’d probably like it more, but it’s a worthy adult debut for a YA author I really like.

A Harvest of Hearts

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by Andrea Eames
First sentence: “They said that magic, real magic, not the shite that hedgewitches peddled with all their little bags of powders and herbs, could only be performed in exchange for a human heart.”
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Content: There is some swearing (including one or two f-bombs), pretty gruesome deaths, and an off-page sex scene. It’s in the Romance section but it’s more of a fantasy.

The kingdom that Foss has grown up in has had no war, no disease, the plants and animals are always healthy. The cost: the king and his 12 sorcerers — 11 women and one man — harvest hearts from the citizens to keep the magic going. Foss wants nothing to do with it – she is just an awkward butcher’s daughter – but one time, her heart got snagged by the male. He didn’t actually take her, but it was painful to be away from him, so she followed him to the city and to his house, where she volunteered to be his housekeeper. She resented herself for this, even though she knew it was magic. But once there, she set about looking for her heart to make it whole again and discovered the rotten underbelly of the kingdom and the magic.

I didn’t know what to expect going in, but I was pleasantly charmed by this one. I adored Foss, she was very pragmatic, often funny, and headstrong enough to make me want to root for her. Eams has created a very unique magic system, something dark and grisly – I mean, cruelly taking people’s hearts to fuel magic! – but the book isn’t dark or creepy. It gave off strong Kingfisher vibes – a bit of humor and heart underneath something terrible and daunting. I thoroughly enjoyed this one.