Book Review: In Her Own League by Liz Tomforde

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Sports Romance
Length: 416 pages
Author: Liz Tomforde
Publisher: Golden Boy Publishing
Release Date: March 3rd, 2026
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

As the first female team owner in Major League Baseball, Reese Remington has spent her entire life preparing for this role. With a sharp mind and years of experience working behind the scenes, she’s more than qualified. But the public only sees a woman in a man’s world — not the person who’s earned their place on the field. Under constant scrutiny and pressure to prove herself, Reese can’t afford distractions.

Especially one that comes in the form of the team’s tempting field manager who questions her every decision.

Emmett Montgomery is a former All-Star turned coach who treats his players like family and the field like home. After years of running the team his way, the last thing he wants is a new boss, let alone one who seems ice-cold and laser-focused on business. But forced to spend long hours – and too many away games – side by side, he begins to see the fire beneath Reese’s control, the heart behind her ambition, and the unwavering determination to prove herself.

When heated banter turns into sizzling chemistry, professional boundaries blur and the spark between them becomes impossible to resist. But Reese is constantly reminded of how many people are waiting for her to fail, and the safest move is to keep Emmett at arm’s length – for the sake of the team, the season, and her career.

But keeping their distance is one game neither of them can seem to win.

ONE OF THE BEST EVERRRRR.

I will be thinking about this book for probably the rest of my life. IT WAS IMMACULATE Y’ALL. I was obsessed and down bad from chapter one. I LOOOOVE the fiery chemistry between Emmett and Reese. The delightful banter and sass was *chef’s kiss*. I loved having both POV’s and watching both of them FALL SO HARD.

Reese is a boss babe who took no crap and I loved the way she handled many situations. Of course it wasn’t always perfect but you could see the resilience and motivation she had to succeed. Adding Emmett into her corner was everythingggg. An elite support system.

And getting to see many of my favorite Windy City characters was exactly what my soul needed. I love the way they all love and take care of each other. The way everyone fiercely believes that family doesn’t have to be blood related. AND I AM HERE FOR IT.

I could ramble on all day about just about every dang dang scene in here. The quiet moments, the hot moments, the angry moments, it was the perfect emotionally balanced story that had me teary eye the last few chapters. What an incredible romance and I’m so happy Emmett got a story y’all!!!

AND THE FACT THAT they kept saying don’t tell me what to do, when that is an often used phrase between my husband and I??? Stop it right now.

Overall audience notes:

  • Sports romance
  • Language: high
  • Romance: 4-5ish open door
  • Violence: mild
  • Content warnings:

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Book Review: The Silent Canary by Angela Bricker

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Rating: ★★★★.5
Audience: Historical Fiction
Length: 354 pages
Author: Angela Bricker
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: June 4th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

1916, England
War pacifist Poppy Pemburton celebrates her twenty-third birthday on the front steps of the Chilwell, England ammunition factory with her favorite anti-war sign and her well-loved marching boots. War tears families apart and Poppy will certainly not allow it anywhere near the only family she has left. But when Poppy’s dearest friend, Luca, answers the Great War’s call to enlist, Poppy is willing to set aside her morals and join forces with the yellow-skinned Chilwell munition workers, known as canary girls, to bring Luca home safe. Because the only thing worse than the possibility of Luca dying in war, is Luca dying without knowing Poppy loves him.

German spy Jakob Kirtchner is sent to England with one chance left to prove himself. Jakob’s assignment: infiltrate the Chilwell ammunition factory by any means necessary. New employee Poppy Pemburton proves the perfect means. Germany will win the Great War. If Poppy falls with England, so be it. He just can’t fall with her. Or for her.

Based on the true story of the Chilwell ammunition factory explosion and inspired by real people, The Silent Canary stretches our understanding of what it means to find bravery in the depths of our darkest moments, and forgiveness despite our deepest fears.

WONDERFUL DEBUT.

I’ve been on the fence about reading this one but I’m grateful I waited for the audiobook and went ahead and took a chance anyways. I had a very hard time putting it down and thought the audiobook production and narrators were awesome.

While this is romance heavy I do think it maintains a fiction focus with strong romantic lines. It’s not a linear journey by any means and I guarantee at some point you’ll feel angry and full of anguish. But there’s hope and light between the pages too.

I won’t speak too much to the romance because it is a love triangle with a lot of moving parts that I think are best read without commentary. I will note I was okay with how things came together in the end and thought it made the most sense (and this was the angle I was hoping for too).

There was one small plot point that I’m iffy on. I don’t know that I feel like it was absolutely necessary to tack on at the end when it could have been left out. But that was my only issue. I will definitely be picking up whatever Angela Bricker decides to write next.

Overall audience notes:

  • Historical Fiction
  • Language: low
  • Romance: closed door
  • Violence: high
  • Content warnings: themes and setting in WW1, loss of life, torture, prisoners of war, mass losses of life

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Book Review: Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales (Emily Wilde #3) by Heather Fawcett

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Rating: ★★★
Audience: Cozy Fantasy
Length: 368 pages
Author: Heather Fawcett
Publisher: Orbit
Release Date: February 11th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Emily Wilde has spent her life studying faeries. A renowned dryadologist, she has documented hundreds of species of Folk in her Encyclopaedia of Faeries. Now she is about to embark on her most dangerous academic project studying the inner workings of a faerie realm-as its queen.

Along with her former academic rival-now fiancé-the dashing and mercurial Wendell Bambleby, Emily is immediately thrust into the deadly intrigues of Faerie as the two of them seize the throne of Wendell’s long-lost kingdom, which Emily finds a beautiful nightmare, filled with scholarly treasures.

Emily has been obsessed with faerie stories her entire life, but at first she feels as ill-suited to Faerie as she did to the mortal world-how could an unassuming scholar like herself pass for a queen? Yet there is little time to settle in-Wendell’s murderous stepmother has placed a deadly curse upon the land before vanishing without a trace. It will take all of Wendell’s magic-and Emily’s knowledge of stories-to unravel the mystery before they lose everything they hold dear.

DON’T COME AT ME.

I wanted to love this conclusion so much, but I don’t know if it was a right book, wrong time scenario or if this book wasn’t going to click for me regardless. I think it’s a great little cozy series and if you are a cozy person, absolutely try them. This sub-genre can go sideways for me sometimes and it did here.

This felt a lot like “how many times can I separate the couple rather than have them work together.” Rinse and repeat. I missed out on so much banter with these *forced* separations that I thought the plot ran dry.

So while not a hit, I still had a good time overall and look forward to whatever is next.

Overall audience notes:

  • Cozy fantasy
  • Language: low
  • Romance: closed door
  • Violence: mild

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Book Review: Jane Stays Dreaming by Britnee Meiser

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: YA Contemporary Romance
Length: 368 pages
Author: Britnee Meiser
Publisher: Aladdin
Release Date: September 30th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Reality and fiction collide when a shy aspiring writer uses her larger-than-life anonymous blog to sabotage a budding relationship between the new girl in school and her childhood friend in this irresistible rom-com that takes notes from Jane Austen’s Emma for the social media age.

Shy, introverted Jane lives out a fantasy life in her online blog, where she writes elaborate posts about a teen girl with a glamorous life and a gorgeous boyfriend—two things Jane definitely doesn’t have. She only has her writing and her BFFs Camila and Leo, who she shares everything with—except the fact that she’s leading a double life online. Jane’s real life and her online life do not mix.

Then a new girl named Brynn, who Jane has had a rough start with, begins cozying up to Leo. Jane knows Brynn’s totally wrong for him, so when she finds out Brynn follows her blog, Jane does something She starts using her blog to get her way in real life. But when the lines between fact and fiction start to blur, what does that mean for Jane’s anonymity, and the real-life relationships at stake?

Thank you Simon Kids for the gifted copy.

A GOOD TEEN READ.

This wasn’t on my radar until it came in a book box and I read it to see if it was okay for my kids to read [eventually]. And I did really appreciate the genuine young adult vibes of this one. While young YA isn’t generally my jam anymore I can acknowledge that this is a book I could hand to that age group and not worry about language or spice in places it doesn’t belong.

There’s a soft friends to lovers romance intermixed with Jane’s character arc. I didn’t love that she had a hidden online life but I liked how thematically that worked out in the end for her. Where realizations and boundaries came into play in regards to online lifestyles. I also liked the parental conflict with Jane and her brother. It’s relatable and I thought well placed for the story too.

The kids in this book are around 15, and like I mentioned, the content is good for that age group too.

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Contemporary + Romance
  • Language: none
  • Romance: kisses

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