Tag: Fiction

Book Review:: A Lot to Unpack | Portia MacIntosh

Liberty is in need of a fresh start. She just found out her boyfriend, who she works with, has been using dating apps to send pictures of his junk to other ladies. So now she’s job-less and man-less. Her new job allows her to travel the world, affords her plenty of free time for dating, but she can’t seem to catch her stride. That is until she is assigned to spend more time with the company’s founder, who is off limits in more ways than one.

A Lot to Unpack by Portia MacIntosh Book Cover

Parts of this novel were okay, but overall, it was not for me. I was having a hard time following the logic and likelihood of most of the events in this book. I didn’t care at all about these bad dates Liberty ended up on. I was only really interested once Jordan came into the picture, which was later on in the novel.

The main character really makes a fool of herself a few times, and though she’s not really ditzy, she doesn’t really come off well. The decisions she makes aren’t just bad decisions, they’re worse. Like, illegal.

Also, things wrapped up maybe too neatly there at the end. Technically it all tracks, but I just didn’t find it all that believable.

This wasn’t the one for me, unfortunately.

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 Lot to Unpack
Author:: Portia Macintosh
Genre:: Romantic Comedy
Publisher:: Boldwood Books
Length:: 266 pages
Audio Length:: 6h 53m
Audiobook Narrator:: Karen Cass
Published:: October 2nd, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 2-Stars

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Book Review:: Thief of Night | Holly Black

I just learned that this is the second book in a duology, and suddenly that makes a lot of sense. I saw Holly Black’s name on netgalley and clicked so fast. I haven’t read everything she’s written (obviously) but I know she’s a talented writer and couldn’t wait to get started.

Thief of Night by Holly Black Book Cover

This novel is so unique. I loved the politics of it, the built in mystery, the fascinating magic structure. It’s an intense urban fantasy setting. The characters are interesting and complex and this story was compelling all the way through.

I am so intrigued now to go back and read book 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:: Thief of Night (The Charlatan Duology #2)
Author:: Holly Black
Genre:: Urban Fantasy
Publisher:: Penguin
Length:: 288 pages
Audio Length:: 11h 4m
Audiobook Narrator:: Jonathan Davis, Sara Amini, Vikas Adam
Published:: September 23rd, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars

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Burn for Me | Ilona Andrews
Our Infinite Fates | Laura Steven
The Summer War | Naomi Novik

Book Review:: The Irish Goodbye | Heather Aimee O’Neill

I love me a good family drama, and The Irish Goodbye by debut author Heather Aimee O’Neill was no exception.

The Irish Goodbye by Heather Aimee O'Neill Book Cover

When families come together for holidays, it can be…uncomfortable. Awkward. Complicated. The Ryan’s Thanksgiving exemplifies this phenomenon.

Everyone is at a bit of a crux in their own lives, at decision points, or the point of having to face the music. One by one we learn about these rich and complex characters, without ever losing the drive to read forward. Sometimes getting lost in backstories can bog down a narrative, but I was locked in the whole time.

This is the kind of novel that kind of encapsulates the whole of humanity. This is just one family, but it could be anyone’s family. We all have complex webs of relationships and curveball occurrences that throw us completely for a loop. We all have to make difficult decisions and deal with grief and love and longing and hurt.

The writing is excellent. The characters are excellent. Their stories are excellent. I listened to the audio and the narrator is excellent. Five very hearty 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:: The Irish Goodbye
Author:: Heather Aimee O’Neill
Genre:: Fiction / Family Drama
Publisher:: Henry Holt and Co.
Length:: 288 pages
Audio Length:: 8h 35m
Audiobook Narrator:: Kristen Sieh
Published:: September 30th, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars

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The Homemade God | Rachel Joyce
These Summer Storms | Sarah MacLean
The Greatest Possible Good | Ben Brooks
The Accidental Favorite | Fran Littlewood

Book Review:: Say it Out Loud | Ashley Schumacher

If you’re looking for a true-blue fun and meaningful romance novel to snuggle up with this fall, Say It Out Loud by Ashley Schumacher is honestly a great choice.

Say It Out Loud by Ashley Schumacher Book Cover

Starting at the beginning, we live through Juniper Green’s big acting break. Or…what should have been, if Romeo hadn’t completely dismissed her performance as his own support helping her shine. She wasn’t supposed to even be on stage. She was doing him a favor. And that’s how he treats her?

Years later, after building up and selling a successful podcast, Juniper’s next opportunity is to narrate one her mother’s favorite book series. Except it’s a dual narration. And the other narrator is…James.

She’s unsure at first if he even remembers her. For her, their chance meeting that night back stage was a formative experience – the night she always wondered about. If it had gone differently, it might have changed her entire life.

James, of course, went on to become a famous actor, and is the real draw for listeners to tune into the audiobook they’re recording. Juniper has to work through a lot of imposter syndrome, and get over her baggage to make this work.

It’s been a minute since I’ve gotten to enjoy a romance novel like this. It’s clear, it’s structured well, both characters have a lot of heart and heartache they’re contending with. It was just a really good time. I really enjoyed it!

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:: Say It Out Loud
Author:: Ashley Schumacher
Genre:: Contemporary Romance
Publisher:: Del Rey
Length:: 352 pages
Audio Length:: 11h 19m
Audiobook Narrator:: Lauren Ezzo
Published:: September 30th, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars

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We Met Like This | Kasie West
People Watching | Hannah Bonam-Young
Love Walked In | Sarah Chamberlian

Book Review:: Firelight Days | Savannah Pryce

If you are a fan of small-town vibes and yearning romances, you’re going to love Savannah Pryce’s new release, Firelight Days.

Firelight Days by Savannah Pryce Book Cover

Penny is a baker in town who works herself to the bone for a boss who takes her for granted. When a dangerous fire starts ripping through the forest nearby, one of her regular customers and friends, Jack, offers to put her up at his family’s property to wait out the evacuation orders. Things have been changing between them lately, but Penny isn’t sure she wants to cross any lines with him and ruin the good thing they have going.

Firelight Days is well written and captures that small-town vibe so well. It’s cute and full of tension and the characters have to reckon with themselves before they can open themselves up to another. I was very impressed with this one! It’s got everything you want when picking up a new romance novel – this one isn’t risky…you’ll love it!

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:: Firelight Days
Author:: Savannah Pryce
Genre:: Contemporary Romance
Publisher:: Rosmarin Books
Length:: 327 pages
Published:: August 3rd, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars

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Where You’re Planted | Melanie Sweeney
He Falls First | Jill Shalvis
Left of Forever | Tarah Dewitt

Book Review:: The Heartbreak Hotel | Ellen O’Clover

Sometimes you’ve got to roll with the punches. Like when your long-term famous boyfriend breaks up with you in an unbecoming manor, or you fail the test that was supposed to be the start of your dream career…or, both.

The Heartbreak Hotel by Ellen O'Clover Book Cover

Louisa refuses to leave the home she’s kept and cherished for years in Estes Park, Colorado. It’s everything she ever wanted. Except now, without her boyfriend’s income, she can’t afford the rent. With some fancy financial footwork, and pleading with the home-owner slash small town veterinarian and handyman, she arranges to turn it into a bed and breakfast of the most interesting variety: a haven for the broken-hearted to come and heal. She is almost a psychologist, after all.

This is such a layered and charming and lovely story about grief, and gumption, and getting back up again after you’ve been down-on-your-luck. The home-owner, Henry, is a stoic, guarded, handsome hunk of a hero, and Louisa has her heart in the right place, always. There are plenty of swoon-worthy moments, and humor, and a big serving of heart. These characters are not bubbly and naive – they’ve had big hurts and are working hard to heal and repair and perhaps even find their happy endings.

I enjoyed not only the romance, which I thought was done very well, but also the storyline about Louisa’s family. Their dynamic is very specific, but also relatable. We tend to fall into certain roles in our families, and it’s hard to break free from them.

I absolutely recommend this novel. I think it’s a great choice for a long weekend!

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 Heartbreak Hotel
Author:: Ellen O’Clover
Genre:: Contemporary Romance
Publisher:: Berkley
Length:: 352 pages
Audio Length:: 10h 16m
Audiobook Narrator:: Brittany Pressley
Published:: September 23, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars

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Songs of Summer | Jane L. Rosen
The Battle of the Bookshops | Poppy Alexander
As A Last Resort | Kristin Wollett

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

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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

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

Book Review:: Leave Before I Love You | Max Monroe

If you are looking for a bit of a harrowing love story, look no further than author duo Max Monroe’s newest release Leave Before I Love You.

Leave Before I Love You by Max Monroe Book Cover

Avery and Henry get stuck traveling solo on what was supposed to be a big group trip. They’ve known one another forever had have had a few fly-by romantic interactions, but he’s her brother’s best friend, and she’s got every guy she could ever want. Henry, who is an adrenaline junkie who literally founded a company based around it, persuades Avery to go skydiving with him. He promises everything will be fine, but that was before the pilot has a massive heart attack and the plane falls into a dive. Avery and Henry have to jump early and frantically, leaving them far off course, on a deserted island.

I love this kind of incredibly dramatic and tension heavy novel with Big Trauma in act one that leads to a trauma bond that binds the two characters together inexorably. My other two recs in this sub-genre are at the bottom of this post.

However, Henry kind of gets a bad deal, because he is stranded with a carbon copy of Shannon from Lost (if you know, you know). Avery is worse than useless. She’s a plastic barbie Miami girl whose greatest talent is spending daddy’s apparently endless money. There’s a little bit of depth to her eventually, but for me, it was still pretty darn shallow. I wish she wasn’t quite as much of a caricature, but I guess it works for what they were after.

If this book was another hundred or two pages longer, I’d still be happy. There was a lot of backstory with Henry I feel like I could have enjoyed exploring between his two parents and how he got into such a very specific and incredible industry. But the story is complete and pretty wonderful as it is.

This is my second Max Monroe novel, and this was very different than the other title I read (Oops, I’ve Fallen), but it’s clear this writing team is very good at what they do. I’m looking forward to reading more of their stuff!

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:: Leave Before I Love You
Author:: Max Monroe
Genre:: Contemporary Romance
Publisher:: Indie
Length:: 300 pages
Audio Length:: 9h 25m
Audiobook Narrator:: Will Damron & M.K. Blackwood
Published:: July 24th, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 4.5-Stars

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Swept Away | Beth O’Leary
Still Beating | Jennifer Hartmann

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

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If you liked this book, check out…

The Rom-Commers | Katherine Center
It’s A Love Story | Annabel Monaghan
Better Than Friends | Jill Shalvis
Not in My Book | Katie Holt
When Alec Met Evie | Jenny Proctor