Fall Archives - The Litertarian

Book Review:: Circle of Days | Ken Follett

Put yourself in the shoes (or lack of them) of our ancestors. Those tribes of people who came before us. Living in rudimentary societies, living off of the land, shaping the most basic of industries we still have at the foundations of our current societies. What were they like? What was important to them? What did they think about and care about and love? We have so few scraps of information about them, and even less context for who they were and how they lived. Stone circles, for example, in the hills of Great Britain.

Circle of Days by Ken Follett Book Cover

In Ken Follett’s newest novel Circle of Days, he explores a possible answer to those questions with several groups of people who lived back then, and left a monument behind that would outlast them, their children, and for many generations beyond. Their most ingenuitive accomplishment that took major feats of persuasion, teamwork, and problem solving the likes their tribes had never before imagined.

What a story.

The world that Follett paints in this novel is colorful and realistic and obviously based in extensive research (considering the plausibility), and also incredibly creative. He uses the vehicle of these ancient times to discuss many attributes of human nature from cruelty, spiritualism, education, control, and love.

The novel follows several casts of characters from different societies: herders, farmers, and forest folk who gathered. In the book they are quite separate, with their own beliefs, cultures, and structures, usually coming together on certain ceremonial days throughout the year. There is a flint miner, a priestess, a herder, a farmer, men and women, powerful and weak. It’s a grand scope of a novel with life and death, sorrow and love, triumph and tragedy.

I loved it, and I’m happy to have so many of Ken Follett’s backlist still to enjoy. If you like historical fiction, you are in for a treat with this one.

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:: Circle of Days
Author:: Ken Follett
Genre:: Historical Fiction
Publisher:: Grand Central Publishing
Length:: 704 pages
Audio Length:: 19h 13m
Published:: September 23rd, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 4-Stars

If you liked this book, check out…

Babylonia | Costanza Casati
Daughter of Ruins | Yvette Manessis Corporon
The Hounding | Xenobe Parvis

Book Review:: We Met Like This | Kasie West

This is the kind of book you have to pause the audio when you have literally anything that takes brain power, because you don’t want to miss a second. Something about this book has you constantly turning pages. The chemistry, the tension, the absolute mess of the FMCs life. So delicious.

We Met Like This by Kasie West Book Cover

Margot and Oliver meet on a dating app. Their first date is a disaster. But then they keep matching…and matching. Eventually three years pass and Margot is still looking for Mr. Right, while making some bad Mr. Right Now choices. Oliver is in the same way, and through the dating app messaging system, they become sort of friends.

Their connection is so sparkly. I mean–sparks everywhere. It’s probably a hazard. But their first date was so bad, it holds them back from pursing more in the present.

Until. They. Do.

This book had me screaming, crying, kicking my feet. Margot made me slightly crazy with some of her over-the-top and highly selective decisions through the middle of the book, and some of the middle was a little but they don’t feel the same way kind of angst which dragged the tiniest bit, but overall, absolute banger of a romance novel.

9/10, Recommend.

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:: We Met Like This
Author:: Kasie West
Genre:: Contemporary Romance
Publisher:: Saturday Books
Length:: 368 pages
Audio Length:: 10h 19m
Audiobook Narrator:: Katie Bloomwood
Published:: September 16th, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars

If you liked this book, check out…

Wes and Addie Had Their Chance | Bethany Turner
The Reluctant Flirt | Jennifer Probst
Hate Mail | Donne Marchetti

Book Review:: People Watching | Hannah Bonam-Young

I’ve heard only good things about Hannah Bonam-Young, so I was curious to experience her writing for the first time with People Watching. Now on the other side of it, I can say I get the hype.

People Watching by Hannah Bonam-Young Book Cover

This book brings together a retired teacher who has Alzheimer’s disease’s caregiver daughter with one of her former art students who is only back in town for an S.O.S. his brother sent out. They are completely different. Milo is a world traveler and so far has loved widely but never deeply. Prue is a responsible small town girl with no worldly experience, who holds onto the relationships in her life with both hands. I found the union of these two characters lovely and surprising and the bond they forged through their small town adventures together was steamy and genuine and lovely.

All elements of the plot were handled well and adequately tangled and inter-woven, which tells me this author has a great handle on her craft. There were plenty of scenes handled with such tenderness, and the unfolding of the two hearts at play was just so swoony and satisfying.

The spice in this book is quite spicy, and there’s plenty of it, so if you’re sensitive to that, this book is probably not for you.

Personally, I look forward to reading the rest of Hannah Bonam-Young’s novels, and I’ll surely be keeping an eye out for her work in the future.

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:: People Watching
Author:: Hannah Bonam-Young
Genre:: Contemporary Romance
Publisher:: Dell
Length:: 352 pages
Audio Length:: 10h 21m
Audiobook Narrator:: Victoria Connolly & Brandon Francis
Published:: September 9th, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 4.5-Stars

If you liked this book, check out…

Book Review:: Ghost Business | Jen DeLuca

Welcome back to Boneyard Key, where the kitchy beach town theme is actually rooted in truth. Boneyard Key is haunted by a wide array of ghosts, and Sophie has dedicated her business to digging up the truth about each of their stories.

Out of nowhere comes a cute newcomer who turns out to be a businessman in the ghost tours business. Sophie’s business. And he’s coming for her market. Trouble is, he doesn’t care if the stories are real or not as long as the customers keep coming. His mentality causes natural clashing between himself and Sophie – a rivalry with an undertone of admiration on his side, and heat on hers. And what happens when Tristan finds out the ghosts in this town are real?

There wasn’t much new or surprising or endearing really about the little town of Boneyard Key that wasn’t already there in Haunted Ever After. I think it certainly fits in the same world, but I was hoping for a stronger story for book two. The romance wasn’t particularly swoony, there wasn’t much new about the ghosts or hauntings of the island that wasn’t in book one…it was okay.

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:: Ghost Business (Boneyard Key #2)
Author:: Jen DeLuca
Genre:: Paranormal Romance
Publisher:: Berkley
Length:: 368 pages
Audio Length:: 11h
Audiobook Narrator:: Jeannie Sheneman
Published:: September 9th, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 3-Stars

If you liked this book, check out…

Haunted Ever After | Jen DeLuca
The Battle of the Bookshops | Poppy Alexander
Battle of the Bookstores | Ali Brady

Book Review:: Buckeye | Patrick Ryan

What can I say about this stunning novel except that it will move you.

It is a story of life, love and war, family and community, marriage, parenthood, independence and dependence, skepticism and mysticism, hope, lies, and truth. It will bring you through lofty highs and the lowest lows as it navigates the intersecting stories of two families drawn together by a moment of celebration, exuberation, and desperation.

It will pull you back into 20th century America with an empathetic eye for those who lived through some of the hardest years of our history.

It will squeeze your heart as you somehow absorb currents of feeling flowing through these characters in such a real and surprising way.

Buckeye is a triumph, and I could not recommend it more highly. What a wonderful, wonderful book.

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:: Buckeye
Author:: Patrick Ryan
Genre:: Historical Fiction
Publisher:: Random House
Length:: 464 pages
Audio Length:: 15h
Audiobook Narrator:: TBA
Published:: September 2nd, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars

If you liked this book, check out…

The Correspondent | Virginia Evans
Whale Fall | Elizabeth O’Connor
I’ll Come to You | Rebecca Kauffman
The Cheesemaker’s Daughter | Kristin Vukovic

Book Review:: At Last | Marisa Silver

At Last is a new slower-paced saga style novel from Marisa Silver that follows the connecting of two families through the marriage of their children. It’s an interesting dynamic, blending two families together. They each come with their own baggage and motivations.

Helene’s son Tom and Evelyn’s daughter Ruth are starting a family together. The novel explores both of their histories, and follows the fate of them through to the sunset of their lives. They don’t have a lot in common, and honestly get quite competitive with one another, especially once grandchildren become involved. This story explores the theme that love isn’t quantifiable. Loving someone doesn’t mean there is any less available for someone else, even when our human instincts fight against that idea.

It’s an interesting story, but I didn’t find it very engaging. It’s not a very happy story, and there wasn’t much active drama either. I felt like maybe a stronger through line could have been helpful. As it is, it felt quite disjointed. I’m not sure I was the ideal reader for this.

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:: At Last
Author:: Marisa Silver
Genre:: Women’s Fiction
Publisher:: Simon & Schuster
Length:: 288 pages
Audio Length:: 8h 4m
Audiobook Narrator:: Mia Barron
Published:: September 2nd, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 3-Stars

If you liked this book, check out…

The Accidental Favorite | Fran Littlewood
The Most Fun We Ever Had | Claire Lombardo

Book Review:: A Winter Wedding Adventure | Leonie Mack

This novel is exactly what it sounds like: an adventure set during wedding festivities in the winter.

A Winter Wedding Adventure by Leonie Mack Book Cover

Neither Kira or Mattia are characters you might expect to be leads in a story like this, he is an Italian opera singer with extreme misophonia (irritation to certain sounds), she, a jaded adventure guide forced to work on weddings despite her long frosted over heart. Part of her job on this wedding is getting Mattia, one of the groomsmen, to the venue, which sounds straight-forward, but this is a rom-com, after all.

Through lots of mishaps and straight up disasters plaguing the pages, Mattia and Kira get to know each other’s true selves, underneath the baggage they carry from their pasts. It’s actually a surprisingly tender story, and I really enjoyed watching these two opposites attract so strongly.

Mattia is unlike maybe any character I’ve ever read. Almost neurotic, but only in certain ways, he’s extremely emotionally intelligent, which is useful skill around Kira, who is so guarded she’s started to think the walls she has up are just part of her personality at this point. They are so well matched and fun to read about, but of course, the shenanigans in the story are a little bit over the top.

For a true-blue rom-com, this novel does a great job. It’s quick, interesting, quirky, and, above all, quite romantic.

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:: A Winter Wedding Adventure (Wedding Adventures #2)
Author:: Leonie Mack
Genre:: Romantic Comedy
Publisher:: Boldwood Books
Length:: 328 pages
Published:: September 2nd, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 4-Stars

If you liked this book, check out…

An Italian Wedding Adventure | Leonie Mack
The Summer You Were Mine | Jill Francis
The Four Engagement Rings of Sybil Rain | Hannah Brown

Book Review:: Pitcher Perfect | Tessa Bailey

Girl meets boy. Girl hates boy for being a sleezy womanizer. Boy is completely lost for her. Girl ‘hires’ him to fake date in order to catch the boy of her dreams and impress her family at their uncivilized annual event. Feelings catch and blaze along the way.

Pitcher Perfect by Tessa Bailey Book Review

It’s a tale as old as time. Or at least, it must be because the amazon marketplace is flooded with them. Another fake dating sexy sports romance novel is here, and folks, you’re actually not going to want to miss it!

Okay so every time it just feels so cheesy for anyone anywhere at anytime agreeing to ‘FAKE DATE’. Like, I really don’t understand this trope at all. That being said, there are good ways to do it, and Tessa Bailey nailed it in Pitcher Perfect. Both characters are highly motivated, and everything clicks together like a snug little puzzle piece that is so satisfying to find.

The process of falling in love in this novel isn’t rushed, but at the same time, we don’t have to wait for it either. There is insecurity there for each of the characters, but their falling together is so inevitable and wonderful it’ll make you giddy. Also, the protectiveness thing is what gets me going, and this book had me feral with it.

Tessa Bailey is clearly a master at her craft, and if you like sexy little books, girl, get over here. The best part? I have SUCH a backlist to devour. *chefs kiss*

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:: Pitcher Perfect (Big Shots #4)
Author:: Tessa Bailey
Genre:: Sports Romance
Publisher:: Avon
Length:: 336 pages
Audio Length:: 12h
Audiobook Narrator:: Callie Dalton & Teddy Hamilton
Published:: September 9th, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars

If you liked this book, check out…

Only Between Us | Ellie K. Wilde
Gloves Off | Stephanie Archer
Slipstream | Madge Maril
A Beginner’s Guide to Forever | Kendall Ryan

Book Review:: Save You | Mona Kasten

Save You is the second book in the popular teenage drama saga Maxton Hall. If you’ve not yet read book one, please start there. My review for Save Me can be found here. (Book one spoilers are present in this review)

Well well well, James has a lot to answer for if he ever wants to get back into broken-hearted Ruby’s good graces. She’s never felt betrayal this deeply, and she still doesn’t know why he was so far gone that night he kissed someone else. That’s not the only secret flying around. His sister Lydia is hiding something life changing from everyone, except ironically, Ruby. And Ruby’s sister Ember is acting more evasive than ever.

Okay, okay, I’m warming ever up to this incredibly dramatic hormone-fueled saga. The characters have worked themselves into some very juicy tangles and everyone has a different motivation informing their erratically impulsive decisions.

I would say this book suffers a little bit in terms of development, but it does a lot to set up for the rest of the character’s stories launching into the third book. There are a lot of very grown up themes being handled in this series, but it feels like they’re being handled well. There are a lot of big emotions that need to be worked through until we get any resolution for the events that transpired in book one, and that takes time.

The two sisters were actually the highlight of this book for me. I liked that Ember is beginning to play a role here. She seems like she’s got a great head on her shoulders and her body-inclusive fashion blog sounds really great. I’ll be interested how her new story line plays out. Lydia’s story is also very compelling, and she’s got so much at stake.

In terms of if I’ll be continuing this series? Absolutely I will. Enthusiastically!

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:: Save You (Maxton Hall #2)
Author:: Mona Kasten
Genre:: Teen Drama/Romance
Publisher:: Berkley
Length:: 352 pages
Published:: September 2nd, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 4-Stars

If you liked this book, check out…

Save Me | Mona K a sten
It’s All Relative | Rachel Magee
Before We Were Us | Denise Hunter

Book Review:: As A Last Resort | Kristin Wollett

Burying your head in the sand is so much easier than facing your past. Or in Samantha’s case, fleeing her home town, severing all ties, and hyper-focusing on her New York career like she doesn’t have a past at all. That is, until her development company starts eyeballing the island she grew up on for a new luxury resort and the only way to reach her professional goals is to try to win the lead on the account.

As A Last Resort by Kritstin Wollett Book Cover

This book has no right being as good as it is. From the classically charming rom-com moments to the character growth, weighty themes, and details that will have you swooning, As A Last Resort had me laughing, crying, clutching my chest, and the only thing I didn’t like is that it’s already over.

Samantha was so wounded by her mother’s bad habits that she abandoned even the good parts of her formative years to escape from it. Her best friend Lexie was really hurt by her abrupt departure and subsequent ghosting, and now she’s on the precipice of her wedding when Sam finally shows her face on the island again. Samantha has to take accountability for her actions, even when she never intended any harm.

Lexie’s older brother Austin, who was badly burned by the relationship he thought would go the distance, is the one who ferries Sam back home, and saves her from confronting her biggest fears too early. His life has become stagnant in his fear of more big changes with unexpected, possibly catastrophic consequences, but Samantha makes him realize just how stuck in his ways he’s become. He’s one heck of a sympathetic hero, and he’ll have you swooning after him too before it’s all said and done.

The balance of Sam’s professional life, personal life, and love life is done impeccably well, and we’re right there with her as she navigates the tangle she finds herself in. She’s a sensible girl, but she’s also wounded, and that isn’t an easy thing to overcome.

As A Last Resort is a debut effort by author Kristin Wollett and I have to say, she knocked it out of the park. My eyes will be fully open for anything she publishes going forward, and I can only hope they all come as close to contemporary romance perfection as this one did. All the thumbs, way, way up!

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:: As A Last Resort
Author:: Kristin Wollett
Genre:: Contemporary Romance
Publisher:: Forever
Length:: 400 pages
Published:: September 2nd, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars