Publisher: Penguin Group

Recent Reads | In Case I Go Missing and This Weekend Doesn’t End Well for Anyone

Posted May 14, 2026 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

Young adult mysteries are harder to win me over these days, but there was something about the premise here that got stuck in my head. I don’t like to request books on Netgalley by unfamiliar authors in genres I’m unsure of. I’m so glad I did because this book really impressed me! Fenny and her friend Sam were best friends with Sarah. When she suddenly went missing after acting weird for a while, and the two begin to unravel that Sarah was working on a new case baked into the history of the town. I liked that it was a mystery within a mystery and that the missing girl’s friends had to follow in her footsteps/investigation in order to also figure out what happened to her. I loved watching them come to realizations in the same way Sarah likely did by talking to people around town and learning what Sarah was up to, while also figuring out how her investigation made her a target. Candidly the actual characters were fine and not memorable, but they really didn’t need to be. This was exactly what I hoped it would be when I read the premise. The mystery was layered and not predictable. I liked seeing how the two mysteries (past and present) intertwined. I would definitely read more books by this author because as of now, Maureen Johnson is my only remaining YA mystery author. I’d recommend this if the premise interests you, since it delivered for me! I’ve really enjoyed this […]

Recent Reads | Mockingbird Court and If It Makes You Happy

Posted November 27, 2025 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

As always, I enjoyed this installment! There’s nothing cozier than mystery books featuring woodland creatures as the main characters. I was wondering if and when this series would suffer from the “small town cozy mystery problem” where I start to wonder how it’s possible so many deaths occur right in this cute, picturesque small town. This book – like many do – remedied this by moving Vera into the city and having the death occur while she was there, and then the rest of the action happened in Shady Hollow. The resolution was fairly obvious but I liked the ride. The ending didn’t offer a ton of closure for a final book; I would have wanted a little more circling up of everything/everyone for a last hurrah. I’m sad that this is the final installment in this series because it seems like one that could arguably go on forever, especially with such a unique premise. I wonder what this author duo will write next. I saw this book all over all of my feeds this fall, as it seems to be a recent trend where we all want autumn-specific romances like we get with Christmas/holiday ones (thanks to The Pumpkin Spice Cafe lol). I was sold on the premise in pretty much every way: a girl temporarily heads to her parents’ new small town after her mom dies to run their B&B temporarily until her sister graduates and takes over. She quickly falls in with the hot baker and his […]

Blog Tour: Love at First Sighting

Posted August 18, 2025 / Book Reviews / 1 Comment

Excerpt About the Author Mallory Marlowe is an author and video game writer living in Los Angeles, California. Seriously right-brained since childhood, her love of telling stories began with highly elaborate plots for her Barbie dolls and taking elementary school writing projects too seriously. She studied Writing for Film and TV at Emerson College. When she isn’t writing, she’s likely reading, stuck in LA traffic, or has fallen down a weird internet rabbit hole. Review I was a huge fan of Marlowe’s debut, LOVE AND OTHER CONSPIRACIES, and gave it five stars, so I was really looking forward to her sophomore novel! I love that she writes unique concepts into her novels – her first book involved cryptids and conspiracies, this one had aliens, and her upcoming book features ghosts! El is an influencer in Los Angeles who ends up getting lowkey chased by something that looks like a little UFO. She goes live on Instagram and her followers are baffled by her change in content direction. Of course her video catches the eye of Carter, local PIS agent (think Men in Black lol), and he has to track her down to make sure she doesn’t speak to anyone about what she saw. He has to wear a goofy outfit, including a fedora-like hat, so it was a little hard to picture him and think he was attractive! lol I liked the adventure that these two went on and the fact that there wasn’t a big breakup moment and miscommunication at any point. […]

Recent Reads | It’s a Love Story and Sounds Like Love

Posted August 7, 2025 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 1 Comment

I’ve become a huge fan of Annabel Monaghan based on her previous two releases, and I’ve been saving her adult debut for a rainy day. This book is technically my least favorite but honestly it was quite enjoyable regardless! Annabel Monaghan’s books have a way of growing on me as I read. I consider her an auto-buy author but I never get addicted right away. It’s like a slow burn (with the plot, not the romance) where I’m halfway through and realize I’ve fallen in love with everything finally. That moment happened a little later than usual which is why I wasn’t as invested in the characters as I could have been. I didn’t love the MC here but she’s as imperfect as all of Monaghan’s others, so nothing unexpected. Jane and Dan had a lot of logical reasons for why they behaved the way they did, and also why their romance worked; it felt very realistic. I just didn’t connect to them as strongly as expected or as I prefer in a romance. I love that they were visiting his childhood home away from Hollywood – more on that later – for his parents anniversary party. They started the trip as colleagues and ended it as something a little more. The premise was enjoyable and quiet but also had some fun Hollywood stuff that I tend to enjoy. Jane was a former child star known for goofy antics and Dan is a not-super-successful cinematographer. He’s interested in the script […]

Recent Reads | The Fury and What Happens in Amsterdam

Posted May 22, 2025 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

Unlike everyone else on the planet, I actually haven’t read THE SILENT PATIENT yet. It didn’t stop me from grabbing THE FURY in my BOTM over a year ago though – classic Lauren. I thought the premise sounded pretty good without carrying all the hype of his other book. The story is narrated by one of the characters – Elliot – and breaks the fourth wall a lot, along with a stream of consciousness kind of narrative voice. He and his famous friends (Lana and her husband Jason and son Leo, plus their friend Kate) head to Lana’s private Greek island for a little R&R. The story kind of “unravels” from there when one of them is murdered. The setup and format of the storytelling was interesting, but the idea was better than the execution. I think the structure of the book was meant to create tension but really it ended up being boring. I don’t feel like I can say more about how he narrated it without directly spoiling, but it was basically like “oh I told you all this now let’s go back in time to talk more about what happened first” or “I actually left a few things out that you may find important now, so here’s more details.” I can understand why the format was like this – it’s almost like the author knew he wanted to make a very basic mystery more interested by using this kind of storytelling and then figured out what the […]

Recent Reads | A Proposal to Die For and The Missing Half

Posted May 16, 2025 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

I requested this book on a whim to try to get into other mystery authors – it seemed cozy and I loved the premise of a proposal planner going to a fancy spa/resort. Unfortunately this book didn’t really work for me! Jess used to be a wedding planner but after some drama and burnout, she decides to create a new venture in the proposal planning space. She links up with rich dudes who want to spend money on an over-the-top proposal and Jess handles all the logistics. When a frenemy from high school wants to redo her fiance’s proposal, she insists Jess help them and he’ll pay anything to make it happen. Jess needs the money and agrees – they head to a resort to work on the planning… and a dead body or two make an appearance. My biggest issue with this book is that it felt very disjointed – the way the characters interacted with each other and the scenes progressed felt so weird and underdeveloped. It’s very hard to explain but I was glad to see from other reviews that I wasn’t alone in feeling this way. The plot wasn’t the issue but the way the author wrote the dialogue, character relationships, and overall scene structure was just very hard to read and sometimes confusing. The romance was the most underdeveloped part; I didn’t believe any of it or see any progression for them throughout the book. All of a sudden they were kissing after a few […]

Recent Reads | The Maid’s Secret and Great Big Beautiful Life

Posted April 29, 2025 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

This series is a really fun time. Molly the Maid has solved now 3.5 mysteries around the Regency Grand Hotel and I thinkkk this may be her final one? Not sure if other books have been announced but this really feels like a last book. This was another generally enjoyable installment in this series, but definitely my least favorite. The story alternates between Molly’s daily life/the overall mystery and her gran’s diary entries. Unfortunately I wasn’t super invested in either timeline, but I especially didn’t enjoy the diary entries. I thought they were so boring. Yes, it helps move the story along in some ways, but I wasn’t at all invested. I think the main mystery was a little lame as well. I never felt like the stakes were really high and the story was just kind of plodding along. I think the series has run its course from a plot perspective but I have to be honest – I would read additional books if they were to come out. As I’ve said a hundred times before, there are a few authors where I am ANXIOUSLY awaiting their next release and can guarantee I’ll read them during pub week (or early enough if I get an egalley). These days that includes Emily Henry, Christina Lauren, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Carley Fortune, and Abby Jimenez. Typically these authors (for the most part) get fairly rave reviews but Henry and Jimenez always do…especially for me. 2025 has been weirdly polarizing for those two […]

Blog Tour Review: Temple of Swoon

Posted January 6, 2025 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

When I first saw RAIDERS OF THE LOST HEART, it immediately became one of my most anticipated books of the year. There’s something about a romance with a super unique, adventure-filled premise that intrigues me. I enjoyed the general concept of SOMETHING WILDER by Christina Lauren for example – yes that one got a little far-fetched at times but this kind of ~adventure~ story mixed with rom-com elements has me written all over it for some reason. I ended up enjoying RAIDERS quite a bit, and seeing TEMPLE OF SWOON announced soonafter was a dream come true. Another rom-com with archeologists and Indiana Jones vibes? Yes, keep them coming, Jo Segura! TEMPLE OF SWOON follows Miri (mentee of the MC from the first book) and Rafael (a journalist with an overbearing father who forced him on this mission even though he tried to quit). Miri is looking for the lost City of the Moon and leading her first expedition without any help. Rafael’s mother and her ancestors had been protecting the lost city for years; his real reason for being there is to sabotage the mission on her behalf (and his father’s) to ensure its legacy remains intact. He didn’t expect to start falling for Miri and her tenacity though! This book was even better than Segura’s debut – the same Indiana Jones adventure vibes were prevalent without being too unrealistic. The romance was excellent. Yes, the two had a little bit of instalove, but I enjoyed it a lot. […]