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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Book Review: Something Like Fate by Amy Lea

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Rating: ★★★
Audience: NA Contemporary Romance
Length: 352 pages
Author: Amy Lea
Publisher: Skyscape
Release Date: March 1st, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

During a summer in Italy, two best friends discover whether true love is up to destiny or free will in this winning romantic comedy by the international bestselling author of Woke Up Like This.

For generations, the fortune-telling women in Lo Zhao-Jensen’s family have foreseen The One—the great loves of their lives—before ever meeting them. Except for Lo, who has zero psychic abilities. Just memories of old rom-coms and a lot of poor judgment when it comes to love.

Until now.

When Lo finally has the vision she’s been waiting for, her delighted aunties are convinced she’ll meet The One on her backpacking trip in Italy. Vero amore, here she comes.

Along for the summer is Lo’s best friend and confidant, Teller Owens, her opposite in every way. Upon arrival in Venice, Lo is saved from a runaway trolley by Caleb, a fellow backpacker. It’s a meet-cute so swoony, it has to be fate. But with each destination, Lo’s complicated feelings for Teller are becoming harder to ignore. From the cobblestone streets of Rome to the rocky cliffs of Amalfi, Lo begins to wonder if fate has other plans.

THIS DIDN’T WORK FOR ME.

I love a lot of Amy Lea’s book and unfortunately this one is officially lowest on that ranking. I loved the traveling plot and setting, I did like Lo an Teller, I just struggled with the handling of many situations.

This is where the magical realism didn’t work for me, being so beholden to an idea that it ruins what you have in front of you dragging out the story longer than necessary. The miscommunication, as tends to be the highlight of friends to lovers romances, was frustrating too.

There’s some charming moments and I did love a few of the romantic ones too. Teller is a sweetheart and I was grateful when Lo finally decided to stop being oblivious and work things out with him.

It does read very much like a movie and honestly I think would have been better in that format.

Overall audience notes:

  • NA Contemporary Romance
  • Language: moderate
  • Romance: 2ish vague open door
  • Content Warnings: loss of a parent (recounted)

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Book Review: The Determined by Rachel Rueckert

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Historical Fiction
Length: 400 pages
Author: Rachel Rueckert
Publisher: Kensington
Release Date: February 24th, 2026
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A groundbreaking novel of historical fiction based on the real experiences of two of the Golden Age of Pirates’ most infamous women, Anne Bonny and Mary Read, who dared to subvert the rules and gender roles of their time.

1721, Spanish Town, Jamaica. Captured, convicted, and pregnant, twenty-three-year-old Anne Bonny faces the gallows. When writer Captain Charles Johnson enters the garrison, she strikes a deal: she’ll tell this opportunistic fool her story if he sends a doctor to her friend, Mary Read, who’s battling prison fever.

Prior to their arrest, life at sea had offered Anne and Mary freedom that few women knew. Anne, born into scandal in Ireland, seeks home and elusive safety in South Carolina. Discovering the opposite, she makes a bitter bargain for emergency passage to the Bahamas.

Across the Atlantic in England, Mary confronts her own limitations as an illegitimate daughter. She sneaks into a merchant crew, disguised as a cabin boy. But when war sends Mary into the cavalry, she meets a challenge even she might not rival.

When their paths collide in Nassau, a notorious “pirate den,” Anne and Mary find kinship aboard the Revenge, the fastest ship in the Caribbean. With the governor out for blood, every raid brings more risk. From the high seas to the depths of a Jamaican prison, Anne and Mary must navigate impossible choices, each determined to taste freedom again.

Thank you to the author for a gifted ARC.

SOLID HISTORICAL FICTION.

HF that doesn’t involve a romance is not a genre I pick up often anymore, so I’m here to say that The Determined is an exception to the rule and you should absolutely try it out if you’re interested in female pirates. I enjoyed the combination of learning about Anne and Mary’s pasts while flipping to the present timeline and how their stories end. While some of it has to be left up to speculation I liked how the author handled the ending and gave (what I thought) was a good conclusion. I’m a sucker for a thick afterword about the research and commentary surrounding plot decisions and I loved hearing how Rachel Rueckert brought this story to life.

I could have used a little something more? I couldn’t quite put my finger on it but I did have an enjoyable time and it was easy to pick up the audiobook. The narrator is fantastic too. If you enjoy books that explore women in male dominated field I would recommend this! I loved the imaginings of Anne and Mary as these hard to knock down souls who had to constantly battle against the ideas of their time to survive.

Overall audience notes:

  • Historical fiction
  • Language: low
  • Romance: closed door
  • Violence: moderate+
  • Content warnings: loss of life, executions, assault, imprisonment, childbirth

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Book Review: Magnolia Parks (Magnolia Parks Universe #1) by Jessa Hastings

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: A very toxic romance
Length: 448 pages
Author: Jessa Hastings
Publisher: Dutton Books
Release Date: August 8th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

“How many loves do you get in a lifetime?”

She is a beautiful, affluent, self-involved, and mildly neurotic London socialite. He is Britain’s most photographed bad boy who broke her heart.

Magnolia Parks and BJ Ballentine are meant to be, and everyone knows it.

She dates other people to keep him at bay; he sleeps with other girls to get back at her for it. But at the end of every sad endeavor to get over one another, it’s still each other they crawl back to.

But now their dysfunction is catching up with them, pulling at their seams and fraying the world they’ve built; a world where neither has ever let the other go completely.

As the cracks start to show and secrets begin to surface, Magnolia and BJ are finally forced to face the formidable question they’ve been avoiding all their How many loves do you really get in a lifetime?

WELL, I DID IT.

I swore I would never read this book but those were my famous last words because I did read it…and I do want to continue the series. WHO AM I. There’s something hard to explain about how living in someone else’s toxic world makes for a good read for me, but I’ll take it?? It’s wild, there’s cheating in abundance and y’all better be telling the truth about these character arcs because I am a SKEPTIC. A skeptic who needs answers.

I didn’t love the writing style. I don’t know how to put my finger on it though. The style just didn’t click all the way. I did love that it was dual POV and getting both Magnolia and BJ’s sides as the story went along. Good heavens that reveal at the end was the WORST (but in the best way because I was shocked??).

My thoughts are all over the place. There’s enough here for me to put a hold on the next audiobook though and see what Daisy’s story is all about.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary romance
  • Language: strong
  • Romance: a lot of discussion around sex, a few fade to black
  • Violence: moderate
  • Content Warnings: physical altercations, allllllll the infidelity, drug overdose, drug use, alcohol consumption

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