Review Round-Up | January 2025

To all the readerly ones – I want to wish you the happiest of new years.

2025 has gotten itself off to quite a start! It’s been a busy one in my neck of the woods: school is back in for the little ones, work has been busy with end of the year to-dos, and we had a solid week of illness in our house as one after another of us succumbed like dominoes to a stomach bug that almost took us out! It’s been busy trying to get caught back up with all the essentials since then and we’re only now feeling back into our normal routines.

Even so, I’m feeling a great energy to 2025 so far. There is potential crackling in the air, and I’m going to try and harness as much of it as I can!

One of the things I’ve been using it for is re-imagining what I want this blog to be. Last summer I revived it as an outlet and a coping mechanism for my passion and creativity. And it’s worked! Now I want to broaden the scope of what this place will look like going forward…

We all know things in the digital age change fast, and nothing is as reliable as we might hope. We’ve seen people build up livelihoods reliant on online platforms that can change their rules on a whim, or disappear altogether, shaking the foundations of countless businesses, small and large.

It’s sad to say, but in the end, the only ones we can rely upon, ultimately, is ourselves.

That means I’m going to focus more of my attention here, on this webpage that I have full control over, and use social media to help drive traffic here for those of you who may be interested in what I have here. If you have happened to stumble into this space, I hope you might consider signing up for email updates. I don’t push out each individual review to my subscribers, only posts like these where you can navigate to whatever recent posts might interest you. I would appreciate that support and I hope to really build a valuable community here of like-minded book lovers.


My Month in Reading

I got a lot of reading done this month! I actually really like the balance I struck between reading arc books (obligations) and knocking some books off of my TBR Challenge list.

My copy of Wind & Truth finally came in, and I spent a good chunk of the month buddy reading it with my pal Naomi. That series is so incredible – if you love good, complex story, I really recommend Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive series. It’s a hell of a commitment, but so good it’s almost stupid.

I’ve been doing my best tracking my reading on both goodreads (ol’ faithful) and storygraph (the cool kid on the block). It’s a little difficult balancing all the tracking tools I use (I also use notion for my reading and blog tracking), but it’s been manageable so far. Hopefully it stays top of mind so I can keep it up. I’d really love to have some accurate stats at the end of the year that storygraph provides!

I’ve fallen so far behind on my physical reading journal, I’m considering something drastic to get caught back up with it. I really love the idea of having a place to leave myself some detailed notes about what I read in that format, and I have a wonderful notebook already for it…so I want to make this happen! Hopefully I have some better updates on this front next month!


Book Review Round-Up

5 Stars

Babylonia by Costanza Casati Book Cover
Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney Book Cover
I'll Come To You by Rebecca Kauffman Book Review
Whale Fall by Elizabeth O'Connor Book Cover
Still Beating by Jennifer Harmann Book Cover
Finlay Donovan is Killing It by Elle Cosimano Book Cover
When Alec Met Evie Jenny Proctor

4 Stars

Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez Book Cover
Only in Your Dreams by Ellie Wilde Book Cover
Where the Black Line Ends by Meagan Williamson Book Cover
After Life by Gayle Forman Book Cover
The House in the Pines by Ana Reyes Book Cover
Unloved by Peyton Corinne Book Cover

3 Stars

The Memory Library by Kate Storey Book Cover
All the Water in the World Eiren Caffall
The Lodge Kayla Olson

February TBR

I have most of my reviews written for February already, which means I have a little more freedom in my reading (exactly the place I like to be!). I always have a lot of books I want to read, but lately I’ve been absolutely feral to get some of these knocked off my list. Have you read any of them?

  • The Favorites | Layne Fargo
  • Us Against You | Fredrik Backman
  • Wild Dark Shore | Charlotte McConaghy
  • The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot | Marianne Cronin
  • The DaVinci Code | Dan Brown (reread)
  • The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year | Ally Carter
  • Birding with Benefits | Sarah T. Dubb
  • Hello Beautiful | Ann Napolitano
  • Consider Me | Becka Mack
  • Variation | Rebecca Yarros
  • Famous Last Words | Gillian McAllister
  • Tilda Is Visible | Jane Tara

What About You?

How did January go for your reading life? What do you have on deck?
Start a conversation in the comments!

Book Review:: Unloved | Peyton Corinne

If you were a big fan of Icebreaker, Unloved is another college hockey romance with spice, heart, and finding your place you that will scratch that same itch.

Unloved by Peyton Corinne Book Cover

Matt Fedderic is a hockey star with learning disorders that make it difficult for him to stay eligible for the team. Ro is his new tutor. She has a toxic ex who builds himself up by bringing her down, and though he doesn’t want to date her, he doesn’t want to be rid of her either, since she’s an easy punching bag. Matt has a reputation for getting around, fueled by the gaping hole left by his piece of crap father and his mother’s passing. As Matt and Ro spend more time together, a friendship forms between them, and maybe even something deeper.

For me, this was an enjoyable read, but there were some problems. The fact that most of their early tension and attraction was caused by two different nights they had together that the other couldn’t remember and was formative to the other…that just seemed problematic to me. Especially the prologue – since there is another scene based on that plot device a little later on, I kind of wish it hadn’t been included.

There is some pretty dark stuff insinuated in this book. Matt’s sexual past is…not great. It mentions some action with a high school teacher at one point. …um, what? And then his most recent ex is nothing but bad news as well. And Ro’s ex had zero redeeming qualities or background to back up his actions toward her.

I don’t know. A lot of it was a little too much for me. If there were a volume dial on the drama scale I might have turned it down like two notches.

The relationship between Ro & Matt was sweet though. Having them prioritize friendship between them for so long was absolutely necessary for these two and absolutely refreshing. It was clear they weren’t just horny for one another, but that they really cared about the other in much deeper ways. They are both going through some rough stuff, and they show up for each other every time it counts. That’s the kind of stuff I love in a romance.

Unloved is really what I’m finding to be a ‘typical’ college sports romance novel. It’s long, there are lots of plotlines, family traumas, lessons to be learned, steamy scenes, and a nice happy ending at the end. For me, it felt like I’d read it before honestly. There wasn’t enough there to stand out, but I read A LOT of romance. But this is exactly what you might be looking for if you were a big fan of Icebreaker by Hannah Grace.

Details

Title:: Unloved (The Undone #2)
Author:: Peyton Corinne
Genre:: Sports Romance
Publisher:: Atria Books
Length:: 464 pages
Audio Length:: 14h
Audiobook Narrator:: TBA
Audiobook Publisher:: Simon & Schuster Audio
Published:: February 4th, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 3-Stars
Spice Rating:: 3



If you liked this book, check out…

The Graham Effect | Elle Kennedy
The Cheat Sheet/The Rule Book | Sarah Adams
Catch & Keep | Erin Hahn

Book Review:: When Alec Met Evie | Jenny Proctor

If you’re looking for an utterly romantic story about a single mom and a protective hockey player best-friends-older-brother story to escape into, man, you can’t do better than this one. If I had to guess, I’d say Ms. Jenny Proctor is doing very well for herself because she knows how to write a compelling, romantic-as-hell story that just hits the spot.

When Alec Met Evie by Jenny Proctor Book Cover

Evie is moving to the Appie’s hometown to pursue her dream of becoming a luthier, and her best friend volunteers her older brother Alec to help her move. When the place turns out to be flooded, Alec offers his place for her to stay so she and her 4-month old daughter aren’t stranded at an expensive hotel. It doesn’t take long for them to reconnect, and now that they’re older, they’re seeing each other in entirely new ways.

This book is highly romantic. Highly romantic. From the beginning Alec takes over the role of protector for Evie and her brand new daughter while they get their feet under them. Evie always had a crush on Alec, but now she’s got an ex-husband and her daughter to think of and romance is the last thing on her mind. What she needs is friendship, reliability, stability, and what do you know, those are Alec’s specialties.

He’s going through something of a crisis in his career as the minor-league hockey team the Appies captain. He’s getting older and his body isn’t performing at the level it once was. For a man who has lived, dreamed, and breathed nothing but hockey his whole life, he’s not sure he’s ready to let it go.

These two characters support and lift each other up in every way, and along the way, realize that their feelings aren’t just friendly.

I was lucky enough to receive an arc copy of this book from netgalley and the publisher and I’m telling you, you’re not going to want to miss it!

Details

Title:: When Alex Met Evie (Appies #6)
Author:: Jenny Proctor
Genre:: Sports Romance
Publisher:: Jenny Proctor Creative
Length:: 331 pages
Published:: January 23rd, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars



If you liked this book, check out…

The Graham Effect | Elle Kennedy
Play Along | Liz Tomforde

Book Review:: The House in the Pines | Ana Reyes

One summer can alter the course of everything. One new friend. One lost story. One betrayal. One house in the pines.

The House in the Pines by Ana Reyes Book Cover

Maya is convinced the strange boy keeping her company over her last summer before college killed her best friend Aubrey during a disagreement. The only problem is, he never touched her. Maya knows this because she watched it happen. He and Aubrey were talking, then she fell over. Dead.

Seven years later, she sees a viral video online of the same boy in the very same scenario. Another girl, dead. Not a finger laid upon her.

It can’t be a coincidence.

But ever since that summer, with her insistent conviction of his guilt, she’s been repeatedly told she is mentally ill. Delusional. Crazy. She’s even been medicated. And now, having quit her medication cold turkey, she travels back to find out the truth and get justice for Aubrey and all the other women he might have hurt.

I was surprised to see the Goodreads rating so low on this book. At the time, it was 3.10, which is one of the lowest I’ve seen on a book I’ve actually read. There were no major dealbreaker type flaws in my view. In fact, I was quite captivated.

This checked all the boxes of a psychological thriller. The possibly untrustworthy narrator, a strange and compelling mystery to solve, a setting that toes the incredibly thin line of being either idyllic or incredibly creepy, a suspect that could as easily be a murderer or completely innocent and misunderstood…

The narrative is sprinkled with flashbacks from that pivotal past summer where everything ended up so wrong. I thought the flashbacks were handled very well and felt as compelling as the current events. It is in the past that we get to know our suspect, after all.

It all just felt very well crafted to me. The details kept me doubting my own theories, and while there were plenty of clues to the truth that was ultimately revealed, I was never sure until quite late into the story.

I wasn’t as interested in the part of the story that didn’t have to do with the mystery – her current boyfriend and the conflict she felt with spending time with his parents – but it didn’t take up much time and ultimately didn’t bother me.

Overall, I really enjoyed it. If you’re looking for a compelling psychological thriller to add an extra chill to your dark winter evenings, consider this one!

Details

Title:: The House in the Pines
Author:: Ana Reyes
Genre:: Mystery/Thriller
Publisher:: Dutton
Length:: 321 pages
Audio Length:: 8h 34m
Audiobook Narrator:: Marisol Ramirez
Audiobook Publisher:: Penguin Audio
Published:: January 3rd, 2023
The Litertarian Rating:: 4-Stars



If you liked this book, check out…

The Reappearance of Rachel Price | Holly Jackson
The Truth About the Devlins | Lisa Scottoline
The Haunting of Maddy Clare | Simone St. James

Book Review:: Finlay Donovan is Killing It | Elle Cosimano

What a treat this book is. Perhaps this specific flavor of mystery genre already existed before Finaly Donovan, but I’m having a hard time imagining a better execution than Finlay Donovan is Killing It. Snappy, smart, often unfortunate, but laugh out loud, gripping, and ridiculously layered, this book is a marvel of the contemporary murder mystery genre.

Things aren’t going well. Finlay is under a book deadline for a crappy contract that doesn’t even pay the bills anyway, and can’t summon the muse between dirty diapers, loose scissors (and unexpected haircuts), ailing minivan, and constantly struggling against her douchebag ex-husband who treats her like a sad woman who will be reliant on him forever. Did we mention he’s getting married again? And it’s only been a year.

Anyway, it’s a miracle she makes it to an important meeting with her agent on time, and while discussing some details about a potential murder mystery plot, a nearby voyeur mistakes her for a real life hit-woman and commissions her for a job. Despite trying to explain the misunderstanding, the woman on the other end of the phone calls doesn’t take no for an answer, and $50,000 could really turn things around for Finlay. She isn’t going to actually do anything, but she decides to hit the bar where she knows the target will be, just to see. She needs a night out, anyway. She deserves that much, at least.

From there it’s all a series of implausible but all-too-possible events that lead to a dead body in her garage, a nanny-accomplice, being a person of interest to a mob boss, and two kind-of boyfriends, both of which have the power to ruin everything. Did I mention the crochety old neighbor window-spy who misses nothing?

It’s like a game of cat and mouse except there are cats in every direction and it’s not a mouse, it’s a gerbil that was mistaken for a mouse and now has to pretend to be a mouse because she’s accidentally done a mouse-like thing and also wants to earn the money of a mouse to keep her scumbag ex-husband off her back and she just may be in mortal danger if she doesn’t keep up the mouse ruse at least a little while longer.

In short, it’s a delight, and I think you should read it. Once you start turning pages, I dare you to stop. And the best part? There’s more where that came from. This is just the start of Finlay’s adventures.

Details

Title:: Finlay Donovan Is Killing It (Finlay Donovan #1)
Author:: Elle Cosimano
Genre:: Contemporary Mystery/Thriller
Publisher:: Minotaur Books
Length:: 355 pages
Audio Length:: 9h 59m
Audiobook Narrator:: Angela Dawe
Audiobook Publisher:: Macmillan Audio
Published:: February 2nd, 2021
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars

Linky Links!!

Goodreads
Author Website
Amazon Affiliate Links
[Hardcover] [Paperback] [eBook] [Audible]



If you liked this book, check out…

How to Solve Your Own Murder | Kristen Perrin
I Did Something Bad | Pyae Moe Thet War

The Books That Built Me | Twig, Elizabeth Orton Jones

Welcome to a new series on the blog I’m calling The Books that Built Me. I will be featuring books I’ve found formative in my life as a reader. Each post will explore one book that changed my life. I’ll share my personal history with each book and why I chose it for this series.

It’s actually a really nice exercise to think back to all the books you’ve loved before (heh, that’s not a hint, I’ve never read that series). What are the books that stand out? Which books really had a profound influence on your thinking, for however long it might have been? What was the very first book you remember loving? For me it was Twig, by Elizabeth Orton Jones.


My First Children’s Chapter Book: Twig

Twig by Elizabeth Orton Jones Book Cover

The first thing I loved about this book was the cover. Our original copy of Twig, which I still have somewhere, has a brown packaging tape spine, and a binding tape corner. It might even be from the original printing. It’s a rusty red color, and has a small illustration of the protagonist. I can see it so clearly in my mind’s eye, and it brings me such a warm feeling to recall it.

I remember laying in bed with my mom, turning to the table of contents, and seeing all the chapter names. Because all we’d read before this were story books, I erroneously thought I could pick any chapter to start with. It blew my little child’s mind that we’d have to read them in order! What if we don’t want to read some of them? What if they sound boring!

Twig Table of Contents

It’s a chapter book, as I mentioned, but it is also illustrated, and with the cutest little drawings! The story is about a little girl living in an apartment building. They didn’t have much, so her whole little world was her family, their neighbors, and their little yard. It was written in 1942 so there is an ice-wagon horse in the alley behind the house, and an old cat who sits on the trash can, and a family of sparrows who’ve made the apartment building their home too.

Illustration of the apartment building setting

One day, Twig finds a brightly printed empty tomato can in the yard, and she decides to build a house out of it to attract a fairy next to a robust little dandelion in the yard! She finds other things, too. A thimble, a soda bottle cap, a gum wrapper. These things turn into the furnishings. And it works! Soon a fairy comes along who is learning magic! And it grants her wish to become a fairy, too!

The illustrations are just magic. The story was so clear and bright in my mind’s eye. Twig and her fairy friend became friends with Mrs. Sparrow and even helped to hatch her eggs while she went out searching for that naughty Mr. Sparrow.

Twig sitting beside the fairy house she built, and the tiny fairy who showed up to live there!

I’ll never forget that book. I bought a second hand copy in a panic when I couldn’t find the original (they also have an ebook version you can get here), and I read it to my own children last summer. They loved it too. It’s just a perfect example to me of how books can just be magic. Sometimes they find us at the right time and implant themselves into the fabric of who we’re becoming. Twig was that for me. If it weren’t for her, who knows where I’d be?

What is the very first book you can still remember?
Share with us in the comments…

Stick around…

Here are some of my favorite books from 2024::

In the Likely Event | Rebecca Yarros
The Most Fun We Ever Had | Claire Lombardo
Funny Story | Emily Henry
Amazing Grace Adams | Fran Littlewood
Divine Rivals | Rebecca Ross
Maybe Next Time | Cesca Major
What the River Knows | Isabel Ibanez
Heartless Hunter | Kristin Ciccarelli

Book Review:: I’ll Come To You | Rebecca Kauffman

This book is my cup of tea. Like drinking a strong cup of tea at the exact right temperature, really. It warmed me up from the inside and put a contented smile on my face while I sat back in pure comfort to read. Bliss.

I'll Come to You by Rebecca Kauffman Book Cover

I’ll Come to You is a true family saga, though perhaps a little short for such a label. This novel encapsulates the space of a year for one extended family, beginning with the news of a new baby near Christmas in the mid-nineties. We hear from the mother, the father, grandparents, and siblings as they come at the recent events through their own lenses. Each of them has a history and their own troubles.

The vignettes that make up the book were each a captivating and intriguing piece of the story. Most are only a snapshot in time, perhaps lasting a few hours, but with thoughts and implications that are outside of time, existing mostly within the character’s personal history and reflections upon their own wisdom.

It is one deeply human moment after another, and I’m sad it wasn’t longer. I hope you’ll read it. I know this won’t be the last time I do.

Note:: I received an audiobook copy of this book through the publisher and netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Details

Title:: I’ll Come to You
Author:: Rebecca Kauffman
Genre:: Literary Fiction
Publisher:: Counterpoint LLC
Length:: 224 pages
Audio Length:: 6h 12m
Audiobook Narrator:: Elisabeth Rodgers
Audiobook Publisher:: Recorded Books
Published:: January 7th, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars



If you liked this book, check out…

The Most Fun We Ever Had | Claire Lombardo
Whale Fall | Elizabeth O’Connor

Book Review:: Only in Your Dreams | Ellie K. Wilde

As you may know, timing is everything from love to war, and Melody and Zac never had theirs right.

Only in Your Dreams by Ellie K. Wilde Book Cover

They met in high school, growing close as Zac and Melody’s twin brother Parker were on the same football team. They both held secret crushes on one another, but in one night all hope of potential between the two of them was dashed. Now years later Melody is back in town after a breakup she’s only now realizing was a terrible and manipulative relationship in the first place, and she and Zac face each other for the first time since that night.

He never forgot about her.

This book is what I like to call candy. It’s not hyper realistic, but it is full bodied and compelling. There’s just this layer of escapism required to really sink into. It’s like some kind of bubble gum alter reality that encapsulates the story. That’s not to say there is lots of drama, just that it’s hallmark drama. If there’s an issue, it’s a big ass issue, and he’s not just longing for her, he’s framed his whole life around her. Everything is bigger, so you can’t mistake the message.

Poor Melody was in a relationship with a real douchbag. He slowly but surely tricked her into getting the ‘right’ kind of job and having only the ‘right’ type of friends, dressing in the ‘right’ kind of clothes and eating the ‘right’ kind of foods. And then he dropped her like a hot potato when he wanted to sleep with other ladies on a boys trip.

This is what lands her back in her hometown. Her brother thinks it’s a good idea to throw her directly to the wolves when he sends her on a camping trip with a handful of friends, one of them being Zac, who she hasn’t spoken to since his broken promise all those years ago.

She’s struggling to figure out what she wants to do with her life, and Zac has been pushed into a job he wasn’t ready for as a head coach for a flailing football team. She was always his good luck charm in high school, and now she’s back.

What she finds in Oakwood is a support network surrounding her, helping her to heal from the shitty things she put up with for too long from the ex-boyfriend Cooper. Only then is she able to picture her future.

I really enjoyed this book. It pulls on the romance heartstrings we love. The boys are really protective, the feelings stretch back for years, and the reconnection is fire. It wasn’t perfect for me though. The camping trip rubbed me a bit of the wrong way and it turns out it was the basis for most of the plot in the first half of the book. I couldn’t quite give it five stars for that.

Also, this book is very spicy. Not erotica territory, but I thought I’d mention it. If you’re sensitive to spice, I’d pass on this one.

Note: I received an audiobook copy of this book from the publisher though netgalley. All opinions are honest and my own.

Details

Title:: Only in Your Dreams (Oakwood Bay #1)
Author:: Ellie K. Wilde
Genre:: Romance
Publisher:: Atria Books
Length:: 432 pages
Audio Length:: 14h
Audiobook Narrator:: Teddy Hamilton & Carly Robins
Audiobook Publisher:: Simon & Schuster Audio
Published:: January 21st, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 4-Stars
Spice Rating:: 4.5



If you liked this book, check out…

The Graham Effect | Elle Kennedy
Play Along | Liz Tomforde
Business Casual | BK Borison

Book Review:: Still Beating | Jennifer Hartmann

This is the kind of book trigger warnings are meant for. This one has some brutal stuff in it, and if you can get through the first 40-ish %, you’ll find a love story that sinks into your soul. This is dark romance. Real dark. Kidnapped, locked in a basement and perpetually violated dark. Please know what you’re getting into if you decide to read it.

Still Beating by Jennifer Hartmann Book Cover

Cora couldn’t stand Dean, her sister’s fiancé, who grew up with them. Constant badgering, teasing – a decade of resentment. But he still came to pick her up when she drank too much and lost her wallet. And when they were both abducted together by a psychotic madman, none of it mattered anymore. They were all each other had.

Common trauma forges strong bonds. Bonds that are sometimes hard for other people to comprehend. Bonds that cannot be erased. It changes you, fundamentally, forever.

Surviving a trauma like that derails everything – even the things you thought were the most unchangeable. Having someone who was there, who understands everything you’re processing because they are too is (maybe the worst kind of) luxury. But simply understanding isn’t enough. Healing isn’t something someone can do for you. It’s hard, it takes a long time, and no, nothing will ever be the same again, but that doesn’t mean we don’t keep on living.

This is a hard book to read. It’s horrifying, repulsive, and grotesque, at times. But it’s also a story I’ll probably never forget. The impression it leaves is a deep one, and it didn’t leave me feeling discouraged or morose, but hopeful. It’s a story of human resilience and courage. About lifting yourself up when all you feel like doing is drowning in your own grief and sorrow. It feels important. Beautiful, in its way, and I’m glad I read it.

Details

Title:: Still Beating
Author:: Jennifer Hartmann
Genre:: Dark Romance
Publisher:: Bloom Books
Length:: 448 pages
Audio Length:: 12h 7m
Audiobook Narrator:: Laurie West & Christina Black
Audiobook Publisher:: Tantor Audio
Published:: December 30th, 2020
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars
Spice Rating:: 3



If you liked this book, check out…

Every Moment Since | Marybeth Mayhew Whalen
I Think I Was Murdered | Coleen Coble & Rick Acker
Butcher and Blackbird | Brynne Weaver

Book Review:: Where the Black Line Ends | Meagan Williamson

Where do I start with this one? I went through most of this book expecting it to fall firmly into three-star territory. But then I finished it. The last 15% had me debating five. So let’s begin with basics: is this an indie romance worth your time? Absolutely.

Where the Black Line Ends by Meagan Williamson Book Cover

Reed and Hailey are two people with complicated relationships with their parents. They meet on a plane and don’t realize they’re both going to the same place – literally. They’re both starting new jobs on the Iron Summit Fire crew, Reed as a fireman, Hailey as an EMT. It’s where her father works, and by a strange twist of fate, he’s a man Reed knows from a formative childhood camping trip. Some might say fate has brought them together 🙂

The strength of this book is in the complex character relationships. First, great characters: Reed is a golden retriever puppy, the kind who is always looking for the next exciting thing and shies away from getting scolded. He always means well, but he’s gotten very good at running away when things get hard. Hailey’s past is full of grief and rejection. She’s coming back home as a last-ditch effort to connect to the father who never knew how when she was a kid after her mother died when she was born. It’s a big web of intersecting lives weaving in and amongst one another in a very organic and skillful way. Everyone, by the end, is meaningfully connected on par with one of my favorite romances of all time, The Simple Wild by K.A. Tucker. The emotional impact is undeniable.

The biggest issue for me in this book was the pacing. The beginning felt like it was stretched out far too long and further in the book there are weeks upon weeks that are glossed over. I wanted to sit in more of the conflict, I wanted longer intimate (not spicy, but intimate) scenes between characters. Without giving spoilers, I wanted to see the most emotional scenes, not just the aftermath of them. I wanted to see all the down and dirty details so I could feel it the same way as the characters. I wanted the hurts to hurt more at the time, not sinking in slowly afterwards. Skipping around like that can take a reader out of the story as they try to piece together what they missed, and that was the case for me multiple times with this book. I literally flipped back a few times to see if I missed a chapter.

Despite those flaws, it still made me cry. There were two moments that really got me, and one of them had real tears streaming down my face. The resolution really felt well executed (apart from the time jumping). The characters got the well-justified resolutions they deserved, so much so that in my heart I feel like it should be a five-star book. I just can’t go all the way there with the pacing being such a flaw for me.


Note…

Reading this book in the midst of the L.A. fires (2025) gave the story extra weight. I live in a state that struggles with wildfires anyway, but literally seeing the flames in the news every day as I read enhanced the impact of those scenes in the book. These firefighters are superheroes, and that’s not an exaggeration. They are doing God’s work.

Thank you to all who put their lives on the line every time they go out there to fight such a dangerous element so others of us can stay safe. You are loved and appreciated. Thank you, thank you.


Details

Title:: Where the Black Line Ends (Remember Me)
Author:: Meagan Williamson
Genre:: Romance
Publisher:: Indie
Length:: 332 pages
Published:: October 29th, 2024
The Litertarian Rating:: 4-Stars
Spice Rating:: 2



If you liked this book, check out…

The Simple Wild | K.A. Tucker (Review Forthcoming)
Before We Were Us | Denise Hunter
Haunted Ever After | Jen DeLuca