Love & Romance

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.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
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.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
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.

The Enchanted Greenhouse

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by Sarah Beth Durst
First sentence: “The plant was innocent.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy provided by the publisher.
Release date: July 15, 2025
Others in the series: The Spellshop
Content: There are some tense moments, and talk of death and loss. It will be in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Terlu was the librarian who made Caz in The Spellshop, and was punished for it, spending six years as a wooden statue. When she finds herself awakened, on a snowy island, she has no idea how long she’s been gone, or why she’s finally back to herself. What she discovers is Yarrow, a lone, grumpy gardener keeping care of dying enchanted greenhouses, and he wants and expects her to fix him. It’s not that simple: Terlu is a librarian, not a sorcerer, but she finds herself charmed (especially when she wakes up Lotti, a sentient rose plant) and is determined to help. She’s afraid of being punished again, but she figures that maybe it’s worth it, especially if she can get Yarrow to smile.

Much like The Spellshop this one is all about the cozy vibes. There isn’t much conflict – Terlu is afraid of working magic against the law, which is understandable given that she was punished once already, and there is an increasing need to fix the magic with the greenhouses, as they are failing faster and faster. There’s a small falling out in the third act, but nothing drastic. This is all about sweetness and coziness and just being charming and lovely. Which means, of course, that I adored it.

It’s not for the people who want spice or tension, but it will definitely appeal to those who loved The Spellshop, and who want to just feel, well, smiley.

Audiobook: Great Big Beautiful Life

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by Emily Henry
Read by Julia Whelan
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is some swearing, including multiple f-bombs, and some fade-to-black sex. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Alice desperately wants the job writing the biography of one of the last, and most reclusive, members of the influential Ives family, Margaret. She’s taken the time to find her, hunt her down, and desperately wants to tell her story. The problem: Margaret has also invited Pulitzer Prize-winning author Hayden Anderson, and is making them compete for the job.

It’s all fine and good when Alice thinks Hayden is stuck up and mean, but the more she gets to know him, the more she is attracted to him, and this job – this competition – is standing between them. How can she get the job of her dreams if the man of her dreams is standing in the way?

First: I’ve known Whelan is an incredible narrator for a while, but every time I listen to a book she reads, it hits me fresh. She’s one of the best in the business, and she made this book POP. I’m sure I would have liked it had I read it, but I loved listening to the way Whelan interpreted the text. She is so good at not just voices but also capturing the nuances of each character.

As for the book, it’s not my favorite Henry – that’s still Book Lovers, though I should reread it and see if it holds up – but it’s a solid book. There’s a romance in there, though I think (much like Funny Story), it’s taking a back seat to Margaret’s story. That one, of regret and bad choices, and lost loves, is really the heart of the book. The rest is just filler and fluff. And you know what, I didn’t mind one bit. Henry writes less good books, but never an outright bad one. And I’m here for everything she writes.

Though maybe I need to start listening to them, instead?

DNF: Say You’ll Remember Me

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by Abby Jimenz
Read by: Christine Lakin & Matt Lanter
Content: There is some swearing, including a few f-bombs, and some fade-to-black sex. It’s in the Romance Section of the bookstore.

I do not have a good track record with Abby Jimenez. Of the three I’ve started, I’ve only finished one, and I did like that one. But, the other two, not so much.

My problems with this one were the plot: Samantha and Xavier had a first date that was to-die-for (instalove anyone?) but it turns out that Samantha is moving out of Minnesota and back to California to help with her mom who is fading due to early-onset dimensia. “Forget me” she tells him. Of course he doesn’t. And they spend the rest of the book pushing and pulling: wanting to be together, but it’s “impossible”. *eye roll* So, have a long-distance relationship? But no, Samantha only wants in-person relationships. They can’t afford to keep flying back and forth. They want to be together and just can’t. Round and round we go. After about 40% of this (I was listening to audio), I jacked it up to 1.4x speed, hoping it would help with the boring round and round, but after another 40%, I got sick of it and just stopped. I don’t even care how it ends. I don’t care that Samantha’s grandmother dies, that Xavier’s parents are complete assholes… I just don’t care.

I’m a little miffed that I made it through 80% before bailing (I should have bailed at 40%), but the narrators were good enough to keep me somewhat interested. Though – and this must be the director’s decision – whenever one of them was narrating (say she was), the other narrator would read the dialogue that their character said (so every time Xavier spoke, Latner would say his words). It was weird, and I’m not sure I liked it. It may have contributed to my dislike of this one overall.

I’m sure there’s going to be some Jimenez stans out there who love it, but I am not one of them.

Audiobook: That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon

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by Kimberly Lemming
Read by Hazel Addison
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Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: This is a spicy book! Lots of on-page sex, lots of swearing. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

All Cinnamon wants to do is grow her spice (guess which one) and live a quiet life with her family and friends. But then, she accidentally saves the demon Fallon, and gets caught in his quest to defeat the evil witch that is enslaving demons. Cin goes along reluctantly at first, but as they spend more time together, sparks start to fly (among other things).

This was so so silly. Incredibly silly. Like I felt myself getting less intelligent reading this silly. That said, Addison was a good narrator, and I had a grand time listening to it. I’m sure there are internal inconsistencies and that the world-building wasn’t that great, but honestly, I didn’t care. I was here for a good time, and Lemming gave me one.

I’m not sure I care enough to read the rest of the series, but this one was a lot of silly fun.

Finders Keepers

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by Sarah Adler
First sentence: “Given all the change I’ve had foisted upon me recently, it’s nice to find that Mr. FArina’s naked torso is pretty much the same as I remember.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: June 24, 2025
Review copy provided by the publisher.
Content: There is swearing, including multiple f-bombs, and two on-page sex scenes. It will be in the romance section of the bookstore.

Nina is not in a good place: she lost her adjunct professor job up in Boston the same time she broke up with her boyfriend (for Reasons, mostly to do with they weren’t compatible anymore), and has arrived at her parents’ house jobless and relationshipless. So, the last person she wants to see is Quentin Blake, aka her ex-best friend who broke her heart when he left town at age 15, soon after they were arrested for trespassing trying to find the hidden treasure of a local eccentric (and long-dead) soda magnate.

So when Quentin suggests they resume their search for the treasure, Nina is reluctant: what if he leaves again? What if he breaks her heart again? But, she has nothing better to do, and the job search is a bit fruitless, and what else is she going to do? So, they pick up where they left off, and find that while there are similarities to their younger selves, they’ve both grown and changed, and maybe what she’s really needed has been at home all along.

While I don’t think this has the same magic that Mrs. Nash’s Ashes does, I think Adler has a gift for weaving historical elements and contemporary romance. I do love how she writes about long-lost love and the joy of finding your soulmate. This is a sweet book, one that has some genuine humor, and I loved the way she wrote both Nina and Quentin. They had good chemistry together, and I loved the way Adler balanced their relationship when they were teens with the adults they are in the book. It’s a charming, lovely story, one that I found absolutely delightful to read.

The Bridge Kingdom

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by Danielle L. Jensen
First sentence: “Lara rested her elbows on the low sandstone wall, her eyes fixed on the glowing sun descending over the distant mountain peaks, nothing between here and there but scorching sand dunes, scorpions, and the occasional lizard.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There is violence (lots- the body count is high in this one), on-page sex, and swearing including multiple f-bombs. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Lara – along with 19 of her half-sisters – has been trained by her father, the king of Maridrina – with one goal in mind: marry King Aren, the king of the Bridge Kingdom, gain his trust, infiltrate his country, and help her father bring the country to its knees. At first, Lara is all-in on this plan: she has come to believe that Aren and his country are responsible for the starvation and plagues in her own. But, as she comes to know Aren and his people, she’s not so sure. Perhaps, just maybe, things are not quite as they seem.

I had kind of low expectations going into this one, and I was pleasantly surprised. It was a solid fantasy – I liked the world-building that Jensen did, which never felt overly expository, and I liked the characters she developed. I didn’t get much of a sense of many of the minor characters (there were so many!), but Lara and Aren were really fully developed, which I liked. I did think the sex was a little bit… performative? If that’s the right word; it just didn’t feel as connected as I feel it could have been. My biggest complaint though was the twist with 40 pages left in the book. I don’t mind reading a sequel, but I do get a bit annoyed when the story is left unfinished and I feel I have to read the sequel to finish it out. That said, though, Jensen is a decent writer, and this was a solid book