Book Review: The Last Tiger by Julia Riew & Brad Riew

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Rating: ★★★.5
Audience: YA Fantasy
Length: 416 pages
Author: Julia Riew & Brad Riew
Publisher: Penguin Teen
Release Date: July 29th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

In a colonized land where tigers are being hunted to extinction and ancient magic stirs, two star-crossed teens from opposite worlds—Lee Seung, a servant yearning for freedom, and Choi Eunji, a noble girl defying tradition—join forces to try and reshape their respective fates.

But their relationship evolves from begrudging accomplices to bitter adversaries as they soon find themselves on opposite sides of a battle over the last tiger, a symbol of their people’s lost freedom and key to the liberation of their country. As the ties between Seung and Eunji are complicated by their conflicting loyalties, tensions rise—especially when a charming princeling of the empire begins to rival for Eunji’s affection.

In this friends-to-enemies-to-lovers story of forbidden romance, antagonists turned allies, oppression and liberation, neither Seung nor Eunji can abandon their mission—or each other. And as they embark on separate quests to find the elusive creature, each must also find the power within themselves to make their own destiny.

Inspired by true stories from the authors’ grandparents’ lives during one of the darkest periods in Korean history, The Last Tiger is a debut young adult fantasy novel about the power of love to give voice to a silenced people.

IT WAS ALRIGHT.

I’m glad I went the audiobook route on this one because it was only okay? I didn’t hate it by any means but I feel like it was a bit misleading to call this a ROMANCE. Initially things got off to a good start and then there was a time jump with a big chunk of telling vs. showing so I missed many key elements in the connection between Seung and Eunji.

I did appreciate that the audiobook had two narrators. That made the story easier to follow. I liked the concept and general bones of the plot. There were important themes and conversations woven in. I just don’t know how this was a standalone? The ending didn’t wrap up things super clearly nor did it feel like the end? Maybe there’s more, I’m not sure. I would read another book if it provided some more expansion on the character front.

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Fantasy
  • Language: low
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: moderate
  • Content warnings: grief, loss of loved ones

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Book Review: How to Write a Love Story by Catherine Walsh

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 352 pages
Author: Catherine Walsh
Publisher: Dutton
Release Date: March 10th, 2026
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

The newest book from bestselling author and Kindle Unlimited sensation Catherine Walsh, in which an ambitious editor travels to Ireland to help the daughter of a fantasy author legend complete her father’s final book, only to fall in love with her in the process.

Ciara Sheridan’s father has left her with three things: a sprawling and distinctly ramshackle estate on the Irish coast, the outline for the finale to his bestselling epic fantasy series that he wanted her to finish—and writer’s block.

Enter Sam Frank Sheridan fanboy and hotshot editor, sent from the New York publishing house direct to Ciara’s doorstep. Ciara was expecting a crusty old-timer, so the handsome young American is a surprise. And for his part, Sam was expecting Ciara to have written something by now. 

Ciara and Sam have two weeks of the hottest Irish summer on record to write this novel together and secure Frank’s legacy—but will their own love story be the plot twist neither of them see coming?

SWEET STORY.

I’ve had a roller coaster of enjoyment of CW’s books and I have found this to be on the upside! I thought it was a sweet romance and gosh do I love the setting and audiobook narrators. It went by fast and I finished this in a day.

I loved the slow burn and genuine way Sam and Ciara learned to be in each other’s lives. I liked the chemistry and the simple nature of the plot. It wasn’t over done with drama and I enjoyed all of the side characters as well.

I don’t really have much else to add? Sometimes reviews are as simple as the book. But if you’ve been wanting to try CW’s books, here would be a good start! (Don’t forget about Holiday Romance though because that is my obsession).

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary romance
  • Language: mild
  • Romance: fade to black
  • Content warnings: anxiety, loss of a parent, grief

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Book Review: Tropesick by Lauren Okie

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Rating: ★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance / Magical Realism
Length: 416 pages
Author: Lauren Okie
Publisher: Avon Books
Release Date: June 16th, 2026
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

In this lush, slow-burning romance, two childhood neighbors, connected by a shared tragedy, unexpectedly reunite to ghostwrite a love story for a reclusive author. Spending the summer at her secluded Hamptons estate, they soon discover that dozens of classic romance tropes, including the ones they’re crafting on page, are mysteriously playing out in real life.

Katie Caruso is a completely normal twenty-five-year-old girl. At least, for the past eight years, she’s tried to be. She likes glitter and sequins and flirting with cute boys at New York City bars. She’s also a ghostwriter for Meredith Bradford, the bestselling romance novelist of all time. But then Tyler McNally walks back into Katie’s life, and that bedazzled facade crumbles at her platform-sneakered feet.

Katie and Tyler haven’t seen or spoken to each other since the overdose death of Katie’s older brother, a standout MLB pitching prospect. Tyler was her brother’s best friend, and Katie—naturally—was the girl next door. But now, Tyler is a sleeve-tattooed, Ivy League-educated aspiring literary fiction novelist, nine years sober . . . and Katie’s writing partner for the summer.

As genre conventions require, Katie and Tyler soon find themselves removed from Manhattan and instead writing their love story in “forced proximity” at Meredith’s isolated Southampton home. As the summer unfolds, the tropes Katie and Tyler have written into their novel begin to play out in their own lives. Call it destiny, fate, or magic It’s clear their love story is unfinished. This time, though, they’ll fight for their happy ending.

Heart-wrenching and tender, Tropesick is a love letter to the romance genre. With a wink and a nod, Okie has packed the novel with listeners’ favorite

Thank you to LibroFM for the gifted audiobook.

I DID NOT LIKE THIS BOOK.

Which sucks because I genuinely enjoyed Lauren Okie’s first book A BUNCH.

The magical realism and I did not bond well. Already a hard sell for my usual reading preferences (and to be fair, I did not know this book even had magical realism until I clocked in halfway through because I don’t usually read summaries).

And I also realized that the audiobook may have played into the downfall? I thought the narrators did a good job but the narrator who voiced the FMC made Katie sound like she always yelling. Or maybe Katie and Tyler were just arguing that often? Either way, nooooope. And the spice was a bit much, especially in the second half.

It was pretty clever to have the tropes pop up in the book as the story went on. And SOME of the angstyness was fine too.

This didn’t turn me off from reading the next book from Okie, but I’ll be eyeing that one more.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary romance/Magical realism
  • Language: moderate
  • Romance: multiple open door
  • Violence: low
  • Content warnings: strained parent relationships, loss of a brother (recounted), side character with a drug addiction (recounted)

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Monthly Reading Wrap-Up: September 2026

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THE BER MONTHS. And what a good reading month for September! Made it through a lot and now I’m drowning in ARCs for October.

  • Ungodly Rich by Katharine McGee
  • Fossil Feud by Maggie North
  • Hawk & Sparrow by Ayana Gray
  • Catching Feelings (Varsity #2) by Emily Charlotte
  • [ALC] Fall Into Me by Juliana Smith
  • [ARC] Trust Fall by Lynn Painter
  • Steelborn (The Steelborn Saga #1) by Taylor J. LaRue
  • The Enigma Challenge by S.C. Godfrey
  • A Flame Among the Seas (Beyond the Tides #2) by Emilia Jae
  • Sea of Charms (Spellshop #3) by Sarah Beth Durst
  • [Graphic Novel] Rebel by Marie Lue
  • Our Strange Duet by Erin A. Craig
  • Further to Fall by Catherine Cowles
  • [Reread] House of Sky and Breath (Crescent City #2) by Sarah J. Maas
  • [Non-fiction] Spooky Lakes: 25 Strange and Mysterious Lakes that Dot Our Planet by Geo Rutherford
  • Runaway Rule (The Fugitive Files #1) by Jenessa Fayeth
  • The Gods Will Sing Our Song by Autumn Krause
  • [ARC/ALC] Empire (Heir Duology #2) by Sabaa Tahir
  • The Theory of Uncertain Things by Madysson David
  • Die for Me by Shirlene Obuobi
  • [Reread] The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
  • I Wish He Would (Sweeter Than Fiction #4) by Amanda Schimmoeller
  • The Winged Game by Sophie Kim
  • Resisting the Fall (Falling for Autumn) by Jess Heileman
  • Chasing the Rush (Football and Feels #2) by Lauren Rowe
  • [Non-fiction] Spooky Rivers (Haunted Hydrology) by Geo Rutherford
  • Alchemy of Souls by Adriana Mather
  • Story of My Life (Story Lake #1) by Lucy Score
  • Kobra (Inked Sap #1) by Cris G. Wells
  • [ARC/ALC] Guard My Heart by Sabrina Fedel
  • [ARC] Once, Again, Always by Amanda Gayle
  • Tempest (The Lyrian Sea #1) by Victoria Aveyard
  • Forget Me Knot (Happy in Honey Hill #1) by B.R. Goodwin
  • Threshing Day (The Empyrean #3.5) by Rebecca Yarros
  • Falling for Keeps (Falling for Autumn) by Kasey Stockton
  • [ARC/ALC] Falling Like Snow (Bramble Falls #2) by Misty Wilson

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