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.
Save You
Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the digital review copy in advance. This book, now translated into English, hits shelves today, September 2nd.
As I did with my review for Save Me, let me preface this by saying, I have not watched the television series on Amazon Prime and went into this completely blind. It’s my understanding that the first season of the show roughly follows the first book. This is book two in the trilogy and after the cliffhanger of Save Me’s ending, I was ready for it!
Wild Reverence
Thank you to NetGalley and Saturday Book for the digital review copy of this book in advance. It hits shelves on September 2.
Set in the same world as Divine Rivals and Ruthless Vows, this is another stunning novel from Rebecca Ross. This one can be read without reading the other duology as it shares a few characters but actually serves as a prequel with events occurring far before those of the other books.
The Once and Future Me
This was twisty and genre-bending and I had so much fun with it.
We open with a woman awakening in a bus. She’s disoriented. She doesn’t know who she is, where she is, or when she is.
Save Me
I ate this up. It was most definitely a teen drama with all kinds of eye-rolling moments. It was angsty and a bit toxic. I hated the ending. The author even apologizes for it in her acknowledgements—not enough, Mona Kasten. These characters better get redemption! It’s a good thing I have book 2 on deck.
The Locked Ward
Georgia is in a psychiatric ward of the hospital after being accused of killing her younger sister. She was adopted into a wealthy family as a newborn and has always been at odds with the family’s biological daughter. The twist? The person Georgia seeks out for help is her biological twin, separated at birth, Amanda. Mandy didn’t know she had a sister, let alone a twin, just a couple of hours away. Is Georgia a master manipulator and killer or the sister Mandy never knew she had or needed?
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.
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.
A Rebellion of Care
I've been following David Gate's work for several years on Instagram. His poetry is sparse and simple while profound. He explores everyday life, justice, home, and care for our fellow humans. I'm a fan. So when Convergent Books reached out with a digital review copy of this, of course I rushed to NetGalley to download it. Thank you!
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.
The Poppy Fields
I wanted to love this more than I did. The concept was intriguing, and I’d heard so many good things about The Measure by the same author. I figured this would be an easy win for me.
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.
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 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.
The Memory Collectors
Four strangers get the chance to go back in time for one hour and revisit a moment at random with Aeon Expeditions, or so they think. Once their sixty minutes begin, they realize they’re revisiting the week each of their lives changed forever. When the hour is up and they find themselves stuck in the past, they start to interact in the past and see their paths have been intertwined in more ways than one all along.
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.