Book Reviews
Below you’ll find reviews for books I’ve read in 2025, sorted by the most recently reviewed. You can also search by genre or visit the index to look for a title or author by name.
Life, and Death, and Giants
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the digital review copy in advance. This book hits shelves today, September 9th.
Within the first couple of chapters, I could tell this book would be something special. The story revolves around a small town in Wisconsin where a boy weights 18 pounds at his birth and only grows more giant over time.
You Between the Lines
I finished this two weeks ago and keep thinking about it.
This took me back to my college English major days. Yes, these two are in an MFA program, but it still put me right back into those classrooms full of writing, creativity, awkwardness, and exposure. Leigh is one of the most relatable characters I’ve ever read. The way she adjusts herself to please the people around her. The way she holds back her comments in class (or isn’t sure she even has anything meaningful to say) were just like me as an undergrad.
The Truth Is in the Detours
There was so much about this I loved. The premise alone? I mean, what a heart-wrenching opening. I felt the grief in my bones and my family saw the evidence in the tears streaming down my face, especially in some of the closing chapters.
Well, Actually
Boy, has this one had some buzz, at least in the circle of Bookstagrammers I follow online. I hadn’t run across any reviews under 5-stars when I started reading, but I don’t think I’ll be completely alone in having some mixed feelings on this one.
The Blonde Who Came In from the Cold
I think I liked this even more than the first one. If you haven’t read The Blonde Identity yet (review here), I’d recommend that one first. It had been on my TBR (to be read) list for a while, but the publisher offering me a digital review copy of this one is what final got me to pick it up. I’m so glad I did.
The Blonde Identity
Pure fun, plain and simple.
A woman wakes up in Paris with armed thugs after her. She seems to be on the run? But she doesn’t really know because she can’t seem to recall anything about herself, not even her first name. When she sees a video clip of a “wanted” woman on TV she realizes she must be a spy.
Falling into Place
Thank you to NetGalley and Montlake for the digital review copy in advance. This one hits shelves on August 19th.
I remember picking up Would You Rather by Allison Ashley back in 2022 and laughing on page one. I also remember how refreshing it was to read a romance that was funny, emotional, and swoon-worthy that managed to keep all the bedroom scenes, well, behind the bedroom door. Falling Into Place is the same.
Problematic Summer Romance
It’s another Ali Hazelwood win in my book. Maybe even a new favorite!
Heart Strings
When I picked up Ivy Fairbanks’s debut novel, Morbidly Yours, late last year, I wasn’t sure what to expect. It did not disappoint.
Not in Love
This book surprised the heck out of me.
After reading Love, Theoretically back in 2023 (and loving it, I should add), I thought Ali Hazelwood had crossed my threshold for steam in her books.
Roommating
You’ve heard of the forbidden love trope. Sometimes it feels a bit tired and overdone, but I’m not sure I’ve ever quite read it like this.
Great Big Beautiful Life
Here’s the deal. I loved this book, but, and it’s a big one, I kind of had to tell myself that I was not reading an Emily Henry title.
Anywhere With You
Ellie Palmer is quickly becoming one of my favorite rom-com authors. Four Weekends and a Funeral was one of my favorite books last year, and I have a feeling Anywhere With You will be one this year.
Finding Grace
This is one of those books that if I share a synopsis, it spoils the whole thing. I’d recommend going in blind, so how to review this book?
The Fall Risk
This is a short and sweet pick-me-up. I really enjoyed it. It was funny and cute.
Sunrise Nights
Florence and Jude spend summers in Michigan at Harbor Arts Camp. Every year on the last night, the "HAC"ers find someone at the bonfire to hang out with until sunrise.
The Other Side of Now
Lana Lord is famous. She’s been acting in Hollywood on a prominent drama that is produced like and often feels like a soap opera. No one even knows her real name is Meg Bryan. No one knows that she and her best friend, Aimee, had planned to study acting in Ireland but ended up staying in Florida. No one really knows Meg at all.
Left of Forever
Ellis and Wren grew up together and had their son, Sam, as teens. A decade later, their marriage fell apart. Now in their 30s, they still can’t keep their minds off each other. A summer road trip to drop Sam at college is an opportunity to see whether forever might still be possible.
A Sea of Unspoken Things
When James’s twin brother Johnny dies, she can feel it. It’s not just twintuition; she sees his final view of dappled light through the trees. She feels the bullet wound to the chest. Not too long after she drives from San Francisco, where she’s made her life for the past two decades, back to her hometown of Six Rivers in the mountains of northern California.
The Love Haters
Katherine Center always brings the most joy-filled, zippy rom-coms that make me grin and swoon a little. This was no exception. Katie is asked to film a promo video for the US Coast Guard with her work superior's brother, rescue swimmer "Hutch" Hutcheson.