Jennifer Probst fans, we’re back in Outer Banks, a small idyllic beach town perfect for falling in love. Book of the Month is the first title in this series, my review of which can be found here, but you don’t need to read it before enjoying The Reluctant Flirt.
Sierra runs her own boutique in a new town away from her old life and ex-husband. Outer Banks is her fresh start, and she’s determined to succeed, but when the best hookup of her life shows up in town, apparently the best friend of her sister’s fiancee, things get complicated.
This book has all the ingredients of an indulgent weekend romance read. A sexy start, a crisis meet-cute-take-two, and characters both smitten and too stubborn for their own good. I loved the secret and unique history between these two characters, and their story of falling in love is very sexy (with lots of spice!). My favorite moment was probably when the significance of Sierra’s shop’s name was revealed. However, it didn’t blow me away. By the time I neared the end there were some problems I had with the communication between the characters (or lack of) that is one of my pet peeves, and some of the pacing made it hard to stay really locked in at times. By the end I was reading mostly just to finish.
Outer Banks is a cozy and romantic setting to indulge in, and if you’re looking for some ‘candy’ to read, this may be exactly what you’re looking if. It just wasn’t for me.
Note:: I received an early copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Details
Title:: The Reluctant Flirt (Outer Banks #2) Author:: Jennifer Probst Genre:: Contemporary Romance Publisher:: Blue Box Press Length::246 pages Published:: July 15th, 2025 The Litertarian Rating:: 2.5-Stars
An ancient prophecy, a school for magicians, a brutal war – written by popular author Julie Soto – Rose in Chains is a highly anticipated summer romantasy release. But for me, there wasn’t enough to justify a high rating. Like, literally not enough substance to hold onto. There are some spoilers included in my review, but looks like most of it is included in the promotional materials so do with that warning what you will. Continue at your own risk!
So there is a war between these two factions of people, but only kind of? There is a big battle in which the main character’s brother, who was prophesied to save them, is lost. Then everyone from that kingdom is captured and essentially sold to be sex slaves to boost the magic of the new regime who is this evil lady with vicious mind reading capabilities.
I just…don’t get it. Almost nothing actually happens in the book. There seems to be a lot of angst, and well earned, but it’s also largely just a bunch of orgy parties where some potentially useful information is traded…sometimes? Everything is shrouded in secrecy, which makes sense because of the mind reading…but still. We have almost no context of the war once Briony is in her new placement of what the war is, where it is, or why it is.
Instead we have flashbacks back to days at school where there were some interactions between the two lead characters, but still…seemed largely unnecessary? It was kind of a lot of flailing around by Briony while she tries to figure out why she is being treated differently than the other sex/magic drain slaves and what happened to her friends. The main concerns seem to be retaining Briony’s virginity and ability to sire children in some unknown future while everyone else seems to be ultra-focused on Toven’s de-flowering her and pulling in her magic.
There is heart magic and mind magic and they’re totally separate, but also, pretty much all the characters can dip into each of them? Eh. Interesting, but kind of muddly in the execution.
But seriously, why is every single review of this book 5 stars with exuberant praise? To me everything it tried to do was mediocre at best. Is the idea of this seriously brooding unknown guy being halfway decent and protective that much of a draw that it can make up for having almost no plot to speak of? Really? I thought we could do better than that at this point in the romantasy novel timeline. Guess it’s just me though.
I do like the cover, and the audiobook narrator did a great job, but this one just wasn’t for me.
Note:: I received an early copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Details
Title:: Rose in Chains (The Evermore Trilogy #1) Author:: Julie Soto Genre:: Romantasy Publisher:: Forever Length::464 pages Audio Length::16h 1m Audiobook Narrator:: Ella Lynch Published:: July 8th, 2025 The Litertarian Rating:: 2.5-Stars (generously)
Another Formula 1 sports romance! It opens with a spicy scene, which is pretty indicative of what to expect in a romance. If it was a pepper, it’d be a habanero!
Natalia starts work as an F1 journalist, but after a hot one-night stand in a foreign city, she realizes she just slept with the billionaire owner of one of the biggest teams in the sport. He’s older, and widowed, and not ready to be serious with anyone. Natalia just wants to do her job well. But time passes, and their chemistry becomes undeniable.
I didn’t connect well with this book. It felt quite scattered as large swaths of time were skipped again and again to coincide with races, but it felt like we were always playing catch-up. There’s some journalistic drama that is playing out beside the romance that didn’t really interest me. I don’t know, I just didn’t feel all that connected to any part of the story. I thought it had a very strong opening, and I was honestly so excited to see how it all played out, but for me, it mostly fell flat, and the ending wasn’t my favorite (I won’t spoil it here).
Note:: I received an early copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Details
Title:: Coming in Hot (Frontrunners #2) Author:: Josie Juniper Genre:: Sports Romance (F1) Publisher:: Forever Length::336 pages Audio Length::10h 30m Audiobook Narrator:: Max Rauch & Cecily Foster Published:: June 17th, 2025 The Litertarian Rating:: 2-Stars
Well well well, if it isn’t a battle between the battle-of-the-book-selling-establishment books this year. As soon as I noticed both Berkley and Avon were coming out with books with a similar title in 2025, I knew I had to read them both – especially because those titles include the word Battle. I mean, come on! They’re asking for it, right?
Berkley is up first, with Battle of the Bookstores by Ali Brady releasing June 3rd. The Battle of the Bookshops by Poppy Alexander (Avon) will be coming out August 19th. Keep your eyes peeled for that one too if you like a bookish romance!
Battle of the Bookstores seems to be loosely based around the plot of the Nora Ephron classic 90s film You’ve Got Mail. Josie and Ryan are both running bookstores right next to one another (with a coffee bar just between). The big corporate a**hole isn’t our male romantic lead though, it’s the guy who owns the whole strip of shops, and he’s consolidating. Who needs two bookstores when one, with a coffee bar inside, makes way more sense? One bookstore only needs one general manager, so Josie and Ryan are pitted against one another, competing for the job as construction begins and their two stores become one. There is also an online relationship element to the story reminiscent of the movie.
You may wonder how in the world two bookstores ended up literally next door to one another. I wonder the same thing. Both have long histories, though, and they are focused on different clientele. Ryan’s bookshop is focused on romance, while Josie’s is more literary fiction/high-brow literature. I guess that’s enough explanation for how this situation is possible at all? Maybe I’m forgetting a passage that explained that to a more satisfying degree, but I was left with the feeling that the whole premise was a bit of a stretch, and I hate that feeling.
Unfortunately, I have more gripes than just that, and maybe it was timing and the books I read before and after this (though I don’t think so), but this ended up as a two-point-five-star read for me. I’m just tired of the convenient set-up, instant inexplicable attraction, misunderstandings that take far too long to clear up for the sake of pacing and conflict…I could just see right through to the mechanics of this one, and I didn’t like it. I have one more spoiler-y but major complaint I will leave at the end of the review for those interested.
Now, the things I did like.
The characters. I thought Ali Brady did a great job with the two lead characters. Both of them have great backstories about how and why reading is so important to them and how they ended up where they are, and why they want to keep their jobs so badly. Besides the insta-attraction that bugged me, they have a lot of interactions that become meaningful and build a genuine connection between them, even though they’re rivals. They honestly didn’t need the hot and steamy thoughts while they actually didn’t like each other. There was plenty of opportunity for those to develop naturally. Sigh.
The writing itself was clear, enjoyable, and engaging. I’d love to read more books from Ali Brady, this one just felt too by-the-book and convenient. If you have a rec for me, please leave a comment so I know where (or if) I should start!
Now for the spoiler::
The last thing that rubbed me the wrong way was the online thing. At first, neither Ryan or Josie knows it is the other behind their bookish online friendship, but Ryan figures it out pretty quickly. Then he uses the online platform to find out more about Josie and…I don’t know…lead her on? Either way they’re forging this special emotional bond and she thinks it’s a whole ass other person but he knows it’s not. It was just wrong, and kind of creepy. If their roles were reversed and Josie was the one who knew and Ryan was basically pursuing a relationship with both Josie in-real-life and some online friend who had a genuine emotional connection – for the whole book – I think we’d all be uncomfortable.
Note:: I received an early copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Details
Title:: Battle of the Bookstores Author:: Ali Brady Genre:: Contemporary Romance Publisher:: Berkley Length::432 pages Audio Length::12h Audiobook Narrator:: Karissa Vacker & Bandon Francis Published:: June 3rd, 2025 The Litertarian Rating:: 2-Stars
Love and Other Paradoxes is just another run-of-the-mill woman-comes-from-the-future-to-change-the-past-and-boy-gets-caught-up-in-the-crossfire situation.
Joseph Greene wants to be the next great poet, so much so that he’s had poet’s-block (like writer’s-block for poets, get it?) since he started at Cambridge. Now in his third year, it’s time to shit-or-get-off-the-pot, poetically. Suddenly he starts noticing people looking at him strangely in the streets, and a chance encounter with a girl who claims she’s from the future changes everything he thought he knew and the course of his future at the same time.
It’s a book about time travel, the choices we make, questioning the things we thought were important, and second chances. It’s an interesting concept, but for me, this book really struggled to accomplish its goals.
I’m not an expert on time travel, but these characters are the opposite of experts on time travel when they really should know something about it since the entire plot hinges on the facts. The whole concept is a little messy…as in I had a lot of questions as I read, and not the good kind. The kind that should have been answered far earlier than they were. I didn’t feel grounded enough. I realize it kind of had to be that way for the plot, but that fatal flaw is why I’ve only rated this book two stars.
Note:: I received an early copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Details
Title:: Love and Other Paradoxes Author:: Catriona Silvey Genre:: Sci-Fi Romance Publisher:: William Morrow Length::320 pages Audio Length::9h Audiobook Narrator:: Nicholas Ralph Audiobook Publisher:: Harper Audio Published:: March 11th, 2025 The Litertarian Rating:: 2-Stars
Looking for a book that hits on every hyper-zennial political and culture topic there is without actually giving any substance to any of it?
Man, I hate writing negative reviews, but this one was just.not.it. I will give the two major trigger warnings for the book here so you don’t have to read through the rest: miscarriage & extra-marital affairs.
The premise of When We Grow Up is a group of friends from childhood go on a vacation together just before turning thirty.
I was expecting it to be an exploration of deep humanity and how we grow and change and how things in our lives that seemed so foundational just don’t make sense anymore. Instead we have a whiny narrator, Clare, who has major self-esteem issues and a group of friends who don’t even like each other all that much (past or present).
Clare is floundering. She doesn’t seem confident in any of the choices she’s made in her life. She also doesn’t seem close to any of these friends. It’s a paradox that they know one another more deeply than anyone because of how much shame and humiliation they witnessed in each other growing up (inevitable in middle school), but they also know hardly anything about each other as an adult. They claim they’re so close, but they almost never talk about anything personal. Everything is so damn surface level. Then when they finally do, it’s like they could be talking about literally anyone.
I only know Clare by the choices she makes in the novel, and how self-critical she is. I don’t really know a damn thing about her character. That’s a problem.
I didn’t like Jessie, the only other girl in the group (why are there so many girls on the cover?), and the boys didn’t have enough personality to even tell who is who until far too late in the novel. There was a black one and a gay one, and I thought they were the same person for most of the book. We knew who Liam was because Clare is having an affair with him, which also irks me because she didn’t seem to even know why, beginning, middle, or end. (I’m not even counting this as a spoiler since it is alluded to in the blurb).
The biggest problem was I didn’t care. There was nothing interesting about the book except the first chapter. Their vacation in Hawai’i happens to coincide with the false missile alert that went out to everyone on-island in 2018. That happens on page one, and kind of explains the whole book. The characters are completely apathetic, even when they’re warned they’re about to die. This absolutely should have been a short story. It actually would have been an excellent short story.
I wanted to like a book like this. As I read I was hoping that things would shift and the insights would start bringing everything together in some profound way. Nope. Never happened. The only insight here is that Clare is unhappy and kind of judgy. In some ways it kind of felt disparaging toward the whole generation, which, for context, I am the same age as these characters. In 2018 I was turning 30.
(spoiler) Near the end, Jessie kind of confronts Clare by telling her being a boy’s girl is essentially a fucked-up thing to be.
Ahem.
Like I said, this book was not for me.
Note:: I received an early copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Details
Title:: When We Grow Up Author:: Angelica Baker Genre:: Contemporary Fiction Publisher:: Flatiron Books Length::288 pages Audio Length::9h 53m Audiobook Narrator:: Imani Jade Powers Audiobook Publisher:: Macmillan Audio Published:: February 25th, 2025 The Litertarian Rating:: 2-Stars
Our lives are made up of one moment to the next – moments that are mostly logical and organic as they happen. If we’re not careful, those moments that make so much sense up close may lead us down a path we never wanted for ourselves. Sometimes we have to zoom out to make sure we’re on the right track. You can do it yourself as part of your planning, goal-setting, or self-care regimens…
*OR*
you might be forced into an alternate dimension by a magic waitress that forces you to examine your life in new ways.
That’s what happened to Campbell and the blind date her grandmother set her up with. She was out on another obligatory date, which she had no time for and blatantly blew off, even still at dinner with him, without having had any attempt at conversation with him. Then she wakes up in Heart Springs, a tiny warped town she’s stuck in like a waking dream until she fulfills all the right criteria. She must find work she loves, participate in the community, and experience true love. Oh, and the blind date is there too, with his own mission.
Sigh.
If you’re looking for a straight up Hallmark movie in a novel, you’ve found it. Exaggerated, but fun if you don’t look too closely and syrupy sweet.
We start with a character who is straight up unlikeable, and by the end she learns important lessons ‘the hard way’ before her inevitable happily ever after.
I had a few problems with it.
The love interest didn’t make any sense. He was pretty much only in Hope Springs as an accessory. He was far underdeveloped and a huge wasted opportunity.
Campbell was just too unlikeable. She doesn’t really redeem herself. Her motivation is purely to do whatever she has to to get back home to her shitty New York existence. She changes, but I’m not convinced she’s really learned anything long-term. It ends too quickly for someone so flawed, in my opinion.
I didn’t care enough. Due to the first two problems, I just didn’t really care what happened. There would obviously be a happy ending, and the details didn’t interest me much.
Now, this isn’t Falon Ballard’s first book. In fact, I have two others on my bookshelf right now that I haven’t read yet and have been looking forward to. I’m still going to read them and I’m hoping she’ll blow away my expectations with those, because this one…didn’t.
I can see how this book might appeal to younger romance readers, or ones with a penchant for whimsy. It just didn’t work for me.
Onwards and upwards, my friends.
Note:: I received an early copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Details
Title:: Change of Heart Author:: Falon Ballard Genre:: Romance Publisher:: G.P. Putnam’s Sons Length::336 pages Audio Length::10h Audiobook Narrator:: Carly Robins Audiobook Publisher:: Penguin Audio Published:: February 11th, 2025 The Litertarian Rating:: 2-Stars
Some books are hits, and some are just misses, and unfortunately, this one was the latter for me.
When Rachel’s sister is going away with her new husband on a 3-week vacation, she asks her to come to their English manor to dog-sit their misbehaved dog Humphrey. Her family insists she takes her aging grandfather to care for while she’s there. She’s been struggling to cope with the death of her best friend and roommate, and her love life has been in shambles as well. This may just be the holiday season that will change everything.
I may have been in the wrong space to read this one, but it felt like a pretty bad Hallmark movie. A lot of the conflict was incredibly high drama, some of which was recycled several times, which bothered me (how many times are we supposed to be interested with the dog running away? Like, maybe two? Not four, five, six…I lost count). I was really looking forward to the romance, but that storyline might have been my least favorite of them all. I didn’t feel like there was a lot of support there to justify a lot of what happened. Ben seemed to do a 180 personality-wise, and why? Just so he could be the ‘grumpy’ half of grumpy/sunshine? That’s how it seemed to me. Her family was pretty wretched, except her grandfather. Also, the audiobook narrator didn’t help with the over-the-top drama. Some of the voices were exaggerated to the point of silliness in some cases (Fiona comes to mind).
I did like the grief plotlines. It integrated a lot of the characters together in a common feeling and tangle the relationships up a little bit. That was the part of this book that shined the brightest for me.
If you really like goofy high-drama stories, you might enjoy it. In my opinion, there are far better holiday stories to invest your time into.
I did get an advanced listening copy from netgalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.
Details
Title:: The Christmas Dog Sitters Author:: Lucy Mitchell Genre:: Holiday Romance Publisher:: Bloodhound Books Length::292 pages Audio Length::9h 3m Audiobook Narrator:: Charlie Albers Audiobook Publisher:: Dreamscape Media Published:: September 19th, 2024 The Litertarian Rating:: 2-Stars
I’ve read a few Ali Hazelwood books. Love, Theoretically, Love on the Brain, The Love Hypothesis, Check & Mate — I was expecting Not in Love to be in a similar vein, but unlike the others, which are all romances and usually contain a pretty awkward sex scene or two, this book needs to come with a disclaimer:: This Book is Pure Porn. That being said, the underlying story between the orgasms is a decent story of revenge, personal growth, and lots of obsession.
Rue Seibert works in food security science for a pioneer woman in the field who founded her own company, Kline, so the university she worked for wouldn’t own her patent. Now Rue is on the cusp of needing her own patent, just when a finance company swoops in a buys up Kline’s loan. Rue’s hero believes they’ve come in to destroy everything she’s ever worked for, so they are enemy number one. But when Rue recognizes one of the finance guys from a recent hookup, and she learns more about her boss’ history with them, the lines of her allegiance start to blur.
So let’s just jump into it and talk about the sex. This is by far the sexiest (as in literally so much sex) Hazelwood story I’ve read so far – but I haven’t read them all, so can’t say for certain it has the most. Please, enlighten me in the comments. There’s a lot of it. I know I already said that like eight different ways, but really, you need to prepare yourself. If you took away the explicit sex scenes, there may be nothing more than a novella length story in front of you. This is erotica territory.
I couldn’t help but feel bad for the two main characters, who pretty much treat sex as a biological urge and nothing more. They use a sex app (not a dating app) to find others who just want to use each other’s bodies for pleasure. They are both so detached from their feelings that that’s all they think they want or can offer someone else. I guess it did leave room for them to grow, but it was an ick for me. Sex is more than just a physical connection. Or maybe I should say sex should be more than just a physical connection. But maybe that’s my age showing? It was uncomfortable to read so much of it, and the way Eli was obsessed with Rue kind of gave me creepy-sex guy vibes. Sorry, not sorry.
One of the things Rue and Eli exchanged (other than copious amounts of bodily fluids) were all the dark pieces of themselves. Truths they’ve never told anyone before because of the shame it brings them. Similar to Hate Mail by Donna Marchetti (solid 5-Star book), I loved it. They spoke, and the other listened, and there was acceptance. The acknowledgement of their regrets and flaws and imperfect choices – it makes the connection they forge feel genuine. They’re not falling for an image of the other person they’ve built up in their own mind – they’re falling for the whole person. The real person. In that way, I found it very romantic. Then again, the same could happen in a platonic friendship, but since they’re fucking, like, all the time, let’s call it romance.
There are also storylines with themes of food scarcity, complicated family relationships, social struggles, and strong friendships. There’s some good stuff in there, you just have to wade through a lot of fornication to get there, because I’m not sure if you’ve heard yet, but there’s a lot of it.
Overall, it was a decent story. Everything that was promised had a satisfying payoff, and we get a happily ever after. If you like Hazelwood’s science-y style, you still get a bit of that, but the main course is real raunchy. It just wasn’t the one for me.
Details
Title::Not in Love Author::Ali Hazelwood Genre:: Erotic Romance Publisher::Berkley Length::384 pages Audio Length::11h 55m Audiobook Narrator::Callie Dalton & Jason Clarke Audiobook Publisher::Penguin Audio Published:: June 11th, 2024 The Litertarian Rating:: 2-Stars
