Tag: Magical Realism

Book Review:: The Spirit of Love | Lauren Kate

A vacation fling, a workplace rival, two very different love connections. The Spirit of Love is a new novel by Lauren Kate that will have you leaning forward in your seat as the tale unfolds.

The Spirit of Love by Lauren Kate Book Cover

After a whirlwind weekend fling before beginning work as director for the first time on the show she loves, Fenny is blindsided when she returns to real life. Turns out the director gig was given to a stranger with a flawless reputation at the last minute instead. As much as she tries to dislike him, they start to connect on a deeper level, but she can’t forget about the man she met in the forest.

This is a perfect example of why I do not read book summaries before I begin. With this one? The entire plot would have been ruined if I had, so if you haven’t done that yet, save yourself the great feeling of discovering a story for yourself and don’t read it. Whyyy do publishers do that?

Beyond that gripe, I really enjoyed the story. I had fun piecing things together for myself, though I had another theory bumping around in my brain for a big chunk of it so (if you didn’t read the back) I wouldn’t say the ending isn’t very predictable.

The romance between Fenny and Sam at the beginning of the book was interesting and refreshing and just enough swoony without being too much. The development of the new relationship with Jude (not dating, but you get what I mean) felt genuine and not forced, which is important for the integrity of a story like this with two love interests.

Magical Realism tends to usually stretch a thread too far for me, and that was honestly the case with this story. It all makes sense and was set up incredibly well, but I wasn’t filled with a feeling of 100% satisfaction by the time it was all said and done. Honestly I think that’s just a me thing though. If you’re a fan of magical realism in general, this is probably an ideal romance for you!

As always I am honored when I am able to read a book early, and The Spirit of Love was a really nice escape with an interesting story.

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 Spirit of Love
Author:: Lauren Kate
Genre:: Contemporary Romance
Publisher:: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Length:: 336 pages
Published:: July 1st, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 4-Stars

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If you liked this book, check out…

The Perfect Rom-Com | Melissa Ferguson
Slow Burn Summer | Josie Silver
The Love Haters | Katherine Center

Book Review:: Sounds Like Love | Ashley Poston

The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston was one of the most surprising delights when I was first getting heavy into romance. The voice, the concept, the execution – 10/10. I was recently provided an early copy of her latest novel, Sounds Like Love, and at first I was just as delighted. In fact, I immediately wrote down “Da**it Ashley Poston, your prose is impeccable”. I still stand by that, but the story this time didn’t hold up as well.

Sounds Like Love by Ashley Poston Book Review

Joni Lark is a songwriter in a rut. She’s had some hit songs, but the creative well is all dried up and it terrifies her. She’s hoping her annual summer trip back home to North Carolina will rejuvenate her and she’ll get back on track, but her mother is sick, her best friend is hiding something from her, her ex-lover happens to be in town, and there’s this new melody she just can’t get out of her head.

This book has a heavy dose of magical realism. Turns out the tune in her head is actually attached to a voice. Of a man. They literally read each other’s minds.

For me, this element could have maybe been okay if executed a little better. But the communication felt very heavily one-sided. Joni wasn’t reading much of Sasha’s intimate thoughts, only ones that made him more mysterious and wounded. I didn’t like that. It felt unrealistic for her own parameters of her story. Apply a rule and apply it to all.

There are certainly some sweet and swoony moments in this book, but for me there just wasn’t a strong enough foundation to make this work. I don’t think the ever-sacred logic was actually broken at any point, but my believeability was stretched to the point of buckling a few times.

It’s not a complete dumpster fire though. Joni’s family owns a music hall/dive bar, and that holds a lot of significance to her too. There is plenty of personal development for the characters (mostly Joni), and it does feel like a pretty full little world. It’s a nice atmospheric book to read, especially if you’re a music aficionado.

I’m honestly surprised by myself for dropping two stars on this, usually great prose trumps all for me (looking at you Carley Fortune), but part of the magic was just lost on me this time, and the writing wasn’t enough to save it for me.

Now, should you read this book? Yes! But if you’ve never read Ashley Poston before, I’d be remiss if I didn’t recommend The Dead Romantics first!

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:: Sounds Like Love
Author:: Ashley Poston
Genre:: Contemporary Romance
Publisher:: Berkley
Length:: 384 pages
Audio Length:: 11h 25m
Audiobook Narrator:: Patti Murin & Ashlley Poston
Published:: June 17th, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 3-Stars

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Wish I Were Here | Melissa Wiesner
If I Were You | Cesca Major
Songs of Summer | Jane L. Rosen

Book Review:: All the Perfect Days | Michael Thompson

Every choice we make effects innumerable other choices in our lives. Some of them can change our trajectories entirely. It might not even feel like a big decision at the time – looking back it is sometimes the smallest things that trigger the biggest changes. For Charlie, a small-town doctor, it’s a lesson learned the hard way in All the Perfect Days, a new novel by Michael Thompson.

All the Perfect Days by Michael Thompson Book Cover

See, one day Charlie has an episode when he’s helping a patient. There’s nothing medically wrong with him, but it keeps happening. When one of his patients dies unexpectedly, he realizes what is happening to him. Though he isn’t sure yet if it is a blessing or a curse, he sees how many days a person has left to live.

It is one of the age-old questions, isn’t it? If you could find out when you were to die, would you want to know? The same idea is explored in another book I read this year by another Australian author, Here One Moment, by Liane Moriarty. As you can imagine, it’s not a straightforward answer. As Charlie struggles with this new ability, he’s forced to confront questions of morality, chance, trust, and honesty. When you know when it ends, will it change the decisions you make along the way?

I absolutely loved this novel. It is thoughtful and well-executed, showing all the sides of the cube. There are many implications and permutations of this phenomenon, each of them interesting and meaningful not just to the characters, but the way we think about our lives, all in a highly readable story.

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:: All the Perfect Days
Author:: Michael Thompson
Genre:: Contemporary Fiction
Publisher:: SOURCEBOOKS Landmark
Length:: 352 pages
Audio Length:: 9h 48m
Audiobook Narrator:: Ryan Ennis
Published:: May 21st, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars

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If you liked this book, check out…

The Last Love Note | Emma Grey
Wished | Sarah Ready
If I Were You | Cesca Major

Book Review:: Summer in a Bottle | Annie Rains

Summer in a Bottle is a novel that reminds us to face our fears.

Summer in a Bottle by Annie Rains Book Cover

Lyla returns home for what she hopes is the last time, helping her parents sell their property. She left Echo Cove with dreams of being a writer and returns on the edge of losing the meager writing job she has as an opinion columnist. She also finds an unexpected presence from her past, her best friend Travis whom she ghosted on her way out of town twelve years ago.

Now, is this a cute story that many people will find entertaining and maybe even sweet? Sure. But would I drop everything to read it again? I can’t say I would.

While the concepts are intriguing to me by default (small town second chance romance), I didn’t feel very emotionally connected to the story. Annie’s summer starts to repeat itself after opening the time capsule from her past, and she’s forced to face the fears she ran away from back then, giving her a second chance. Great. It just felt like it lacked some deep roots to make me care or even understand the significance of so many elements of the story. Things just sort of happened, and it was fine.

But, if you’re a big fan of magical realism and second chance friends to lovers romance, this one right be right up your alley.

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:: Summer in a Bottle
Author:: Annie Rains
Genre:: Contemporary Romance
Publisher:: Kensington
Length:: 320 pages
Published:: April 29th, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 3-Stars

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Hate Mail | Donna Marchetti

Book Review:: Change of Heart | Falon Ballard

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.

Change of Heart by Falon Ballard Book Cover

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.

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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

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If you liked this book, check out…

Wished | Sarah Ready
If I Were You | Cesca Major
Wish I Were Here | Melissa Wiesner

Book Review:: After Life | Gayle Forman

There are a lot of lessons we learn the hard way in our youth. but what if we got a second chance to change things?

After Life by Gayle Forman Book Cover

Seventeen-year-old Amber rides home on her bicycle one day, but when her family sees her, they’re terrified. Amber was killed in a hit and run seven years before. But somehow, she’s there. Alive?

Between the mystery of her spontaneous reappearance is a story about losing faith, finding faith, forgiveness, family, and priorities. It’s about enduring love. It’s about making mistakes and learning from them.

Death has a way of instantly reprioritizing your life – especially, as it happens in this book, when it is your own. Families break apart. Other relationships strengthen. Our lives are constantly evolving, and it isn’t always until we’re not part of something anymore that we realize how much.

I really enjoyed this poignant young adult story that demonstrates that mistakes don’t make or break our lives. It’s a good message.

I was lucky to receive a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review from netgalley and the publisher. All thoughts are mine.

Details

Title:: After Life
Author:: Gayle Forman
Genre:: YA Contemporary
Publisher:: Quill Tree Books
Length:: 272 pages
Audio Length:: 6h 36m
Audiobook Narrator:: Gail Shalan, Jade Wheeler, & Andrew J. Andersen
Audiobook Publisher:: Harper Audio
Published:: January 7th, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 4-Stars

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If you liked this book, check out…

The Last Love Note | Emma Grey
Ghosted | Sarah Ready

Book Review:: Ghosted | Sarah Ready

Sarah Ready does it again! This is the second book of hers I’ve read and I think I liked it even more than Wished. I especially recommend her if you’re a fan of magical realism at all. If you ever watched the movie Just Like Heaven with Mark Ruffalo and Reese Witherspoon, this story has similar vibes (but the twist isn’t what you think). It’s heartbreaking and oh so romantic.

Ghosted by Sarah Ready Book Cover

When Jillian moves into a new apartment in NYC, it seems to be already occupied…by the spirit of a man named Daniel. Her best friend (who works at CERN) seems to believe he could be the real deal, and he seems friendly enough. When he finds out she has trouble communicated with anyone of the opposite sex due to a past trauma, he wonders if this is the key to unlocking his passing into the great beyond and vows to help her. Because he’s not ‘real’, Jillian can communicate with him freely. Through a series of ‘practice’ dates Daniel coaches her though, Jillian realizes what she wants, and what she doesn’t.

It is a story about healing, and family, and fate. It’s about optimism and faith and trust. It’s an unconventional tale in a layered story I just couldn’t put down.

It’s a longer book for a romance. It could almost be two different books, but instead we get one big romantic epic with a midpoint that really does change everything.

Jillian’s story is one of self-discovery, compassion, and healing trauma. She works as a columnist with a floundering audience. The office staff is a quirky cast that is bonded through the company’s harder years. Every facet of the book was entertaining, and I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed it. Absolute yes, read this one!

Details

Title:: Ghosted (Ghosted #1)
Author:: Sarah Ready
Genre:: Contemporary Romance/Magical Realism
Publisher:: Swift & Lewis Publishing LLC
Length:: 457 pages
Audio Length:: 14h 3m
Audiobook Narrator:: Sarah Naughton & Rob Brinkmann
Audiobook Publisher:: Swift & Lewis Publishing LLC
Published:: September 26th, 2023
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars
Spice Rating:: 2

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If you liked this book, check out…

Wished | Sarah Ready
If I Were You | Cesca Major

Book Review:: Maybe Next Time | Cesca Major

There is something magical about finding the right book at the right time. When something about the state of your life at the moment resonates deeply with the book you’ve chosen to read at that time. It might not be something that blows everyone away with its grandeur, but it touches on some deep-rooted truth in you.

Maybe Next Time Cesca Major Book Cover

Emma is so focused on her career as an underappreciated literary agent that she’s been skimming past many other aspects of her life: her kids, her friends, her dog, and her husband. It’s their anniversary, and for the first time ever, she’s forgotten to write him their traditional anniversary letter. It turns out to be a pretty typical day for her, rushing past everything and everyone, until a catastrophic event happens just before bed and changes everything. The next day she wakes up and lives it again. And again. Maybe she has the opportunity to change things – to avert the catastrophe. If only she can find the way.

As a thirty-something working mama who’s been married 10+ years, this book hit me hard. It’s about seeing what’s right in front of you. Not taking anything for granted. Slowing down. We get so caught up in the things we have to do (make money), that we neglect the things that are actually the most important to us. Why is it so easy to get our priorities mixed up?

I think the part that connected so deeply is how realistic it seemed. Yeah, obviously she hasn’t connected to her friends in awhile. Yeah, her kid’s problems are probably going to be old news by the weekend at the latest. Yeah, she has important shit to do at work she needs to concentrate on and that take priority. Yeah, her husband is always there to help pick up any slack.

Ooof.

I cried like a little baby. A sobbing, inconsolable baby.

I will read this book many times in the future, but I’m really not sure if it will have the same effect on me when I read it again. I hope it does. And I hope you read it too. This is one of my favorites of the year!

Details

Title:: Maybe Next Time
Author:: Cesca Major
Genre:: Magical Realism
Publisher:: William Morrow
Length:: 384 pages
Audio Length:: 8h 38m
Audiobook Narrator:: Clare Corbett
Audiobook Publisher:: Harper Audio
Published:: March 7th, 2023
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars

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If you liked this book, check out…

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Amazing Grace Adams | Fran Littlewood
The Most Fun We Ever Had | Claire Lombardo

Book Review:: Wish I Were Here | Melissa Wiesner

I looooooooved this book. In Wish I Were Here there is adventure, humor, drama, a heist, heart, community and the smidgiest smidge of magical realism that made it an experience I won’t soon forget.

Wish I Were Here by Melissa Miesner Book Cover

Catherine has it all. The life she’s dreamed of her entire childhood. A place of her own, every aspect of her life within her control, and she’s about to start the career of her dreams: a tenure track role in the mathematics department of the university. But when she shows up for orientation, she’s told there was a problem with her paperwork. Turns out, none of her forms of ID are valid. She’s not in the system & will lose everything she clings to so desperately for if she can’t get it fixed, and fast. With the help of her disorganized but compassionate doorman with connections all around the city, it’s a race against time to save her job.

Catherine and Luca are a perfect match for a romance novel. She craves organization almost to a point of pathology and that ranks low on Luca’s priority list. His actions shout at her to stay away, but there is something about him that she can’t deny she’s drawn to. He’s an excellent problem solver and Catherine happens to have a lot of problems that need solving at the moment!

Let’s talk about Luca Morelli. Oh my. Dream boat. This guy is Catherine’s nightmare, having so much in common with her literal clown of a father, but folks, he takes the time to dance with old ladies in the lobby, run them on their errands, listen to their stories, shows up every week to family dinners, and goes out of his way to help everyone every time. He’s a tatted-up teddy bear. He’s a keeper.

Kitty Cat (as the real ones call her) has quite the journey to traverse over the course of the novel. She’s got an identity crisis (literally), her father’s lost (another) job, and she learns about her mother for the first time in her 30 years of life, who might just be the answer to unlock everything else.

Not to mention the cast of side characters in this book are all fun, endearing, and incredibly special. The community aspect of this book is truly aspirational.

The romance in this book felt so…pure. It’s completely organic and hopeful and sweet and gah I just loved every bit of it. The personal journey Catherine goes on reminds me of the best Katherine Center books. This one blew me away. I got an arc copy from netgalley and the publisher, but before I was even halfway through I knew I was going to need a copy for myself to keep on my shelves. Absolutely wonderful. What are you waiting for?!

Details

Title:: Wish I Were Here
Author:: Melissa Wiesner
Genre:: Romance
Publisher:: Forever
Length:: 368 pages
Audio Length:: 9h 23m
Audiobook Narrator:: Helen Laser
Audiobook Publisher:: Forever
Published:: October 15th, 2024
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars

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If you liked this book, check out…

Hello Stranger | Katherine Center
PS I Hate You | Lauren Connolly

Book Review:: Wished | Sarah Ready

Do you believe in love at first sight? Anna does. She felt it the moment she laid eyes on her stupidly rich client, Max Barone. She is one of the cleaners for the jewelry magnate’s mega-mansion and might as well be invisible for as much as he notices her. But she notices him, and for three years she pines after him from afar.

Wished by Sarah Ready Book Cover

One day while cleaning, she finds a necklace with a note – it makes wishes come true. So she closes her eyes and whispers her most secret wish – that the two of them would be married. Realizing how silly that is, she takes it back, but before she can put the necklace back, he catches her with it, and fires her. Not exactly the way she was hoping to be noticed by him. But when she wakes up the next morning…she finds her dream came true.

Though there is plenty of humor and silly rom-com antics sprinkled throughout, this book is much deeper than the high-concept plot might appear. I found myself contemplating much bigger philosophical questions as I listened to the advanced listening copy I was provided access to by netgalley & the publisher (the narration was great, by the way). Questions of free will, honesty, self-sacrifice, what love is (or what it can be), and how we hold ourselves back because of mistakes we’ve seen modeled for us as we grow.

Max is lonely in that big ol’ mansion, and adamant that he will not repeat the mistakes of his father. Anna sees him in the way he keeps his house: the books he reads, the food he eats, the glimpses she gets of him when he works from home. Her life in a small Geneva apartment she shares with her mother and young sister is difficult, and dreaming of Max helps her cope. But will she feel the same when she gets to know him face to face?

This story is another instance of the age-old lesson: be careful what you wish for. Do valuable things have value if you don’t have to work hard to get them? And when she realizes the consequences of her mistakes, can Anna undo the phenomenon she set into motion?

I can tell how much thought and craft went into this novel, and I’m intrigued to read more from this series by Sarah Ready. If you’re a fan of magical realism, you’re really going to enjoy this novel!

Details

Title:: Wished (Ghosted #4)
Author:: Sarah Ready
Genre:: Romance
Publisher:: Swift & Lewis Publishing LLC
Length:: 313 pages
Audio Length:: 9h 36m
Audiobook Narrator:: Amanda Ronconi & Will Watt
Audiobook Publisher:: Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members’ Audiobooks
Published:: October 1st, 2024
The Litertarian Rating:: 4.5-Stars
Spice Rating:: 3.5

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If you liked this book, check out…

Haunted Ever After | Jen DeLuca
Hello Stranger | Katherine Center