ARC Book Review: Once, Again, Always by Amanda Gayle

GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 384 pages
Author: Amanda Gayle
Publisher: Avon
Release Date: October 6th, 2026
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A second-chance romance following a young woman who wakes up in the hospital with no memory of the past six years, only to find that she apparently married the one man she can’t stand—her arrogant and infuriating former boarding school rival.

Molly Graham’s day can’t possibly get any worse after she wakes up in a hospital bed with a head injury and amnesia. But then Aster Bishop—the Aster Bishop who made her life hell at boarding school—storms into her room calling her his wife.

To Molly’s shock, in the six years she no longer recalls, she somehow fell in love with a man she once despised. Persuaded by her lifelong friends to give her new reality a chance, she reluctantly returns to the home she and Aster share to try and piece together her life.

So much has changed, not least the considerate and devastatingly handsome man who spends every night sleeping on the sofa to avoid making her uncomfortable. This Aster is nothing like the entitled boy she once knew. Their chemistry is undeniable, but he’s distant with her, infuriatingly so. It’s clear he has secrets, and Molly can’t stand it. Especially knowing that she might never regain her memories.

That she fell in love with Aster Bishop once is hard enough to believe. But to fall in love again? To promise a future, always, when she can’t remember her past? It feels impossible when faced with a man she hardly knows and isn’t sure she can trust.

And yet…

Thank you Avon Books for the eARC.

DOWN BAD.

Oh wow. I miss binging books??! This one had me in a straight chokehold for 24 hours and I regret nothing. I was LOCKED IN. And I’m not even an amnesia girlie?? What kind of magic was sprinkled into this story because I want mooooore.

I’m kind of sort of obsessed with Aster Bishop. I liked that he didn’t call every decision perfectly. He and Molly had to find a lot of new communication routes in an impossible situation. The miscommunication actually made sense and even though it’s pretty easy to assume (as the reader) what the big secret was, I still enjoyed the journey to get there and how I had to keep turning pages to get there.

I LOVED all of the the friendships. Every side character was a gemmmmmm. A GEM. And I liked learning more about them and their relationship to Molly and Aster. The little flashback moments worked well too and added historical context to the romance.

Aster was down bad. As he SHOULD BE. The yearning and longing was evident. THE YEARNING. Off the charts. 10/10.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: mild-moderate
  • Romance: light innuendo; one more emotions based open door
  • Violence: moderate
  • Content warnings: amnesia related to a stroke, miscarriage (briefly recounted)

Instagram || Goodreads || The StoryGraph

ALC Book Review: Falling Like Snow (Bramble Falls #2) by Misty Wilson

GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: YA Contemporary Romance
Length: 352 pages
Author: Misty Wilson
Publisher: Simon Teen
Release Date: October 6th, 2026
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A girl juggles planning her town’s first-ever winter festival and untangling her complicated feelings for both her best friend and the star hockey player in this charming book in the swoony Bramble Falls series that started with the New York Times bestselling Falling Like Leaves.

After Bramble Falls’s wildly successful Falling Leaves Festival, Sloane Sullivan is looking forward to some downtime—especially kicking back and marathoning Nora Ephron movies with her best friend, Asher. But they barely make it through Sleepless in Seattle before Sloane’s mom calls an emergency tourism department meeting; it’s all hands on deck—Bramble Falls is having its first ever Falling Snow Festival!

Sloane may still be recovering from the last seasonal event, but she’s also excited. After all, Christmas is the best time of year! And she’ll have her whole crew by her side, including her cousin Ellis and, of course, Asher. But when irresistible, hockey-playing Micah catches Sloane’s attention, she finds herself a bit distracted. The emotions her unexpected flirtation brings up make Sloane feel confused about Micah…and Asher.

She’s never thought of Asher as more than her best friend, but even if Sloane is seeing Asher in a new light, what does that mean for her and Micah? Uncertain and more than a little overwhelmed, Sloane throws herself into festival preparations, hoping to get a little Christmas magic in return that will help her figure out where her heart lies.

Thank you Simon Teen for the eARC and Simon Audio for the ALC (gifted).

SWEET STORY.

This was much more holiday-esque than I was expecting and I think I would add it to your holiday romance TBR if you’re looking for something short and sweet. I liked being back in Bramble Falls and seeing what our next pair was up to.

I did not like being a part of this friends to lovers trope though. This had some of the hallmarks of things that make me cranky in regards to F2L. I didn’t love that they both tried to date other people and kept butting heads with each other. Granted, it felt genuine to the age bracket so take this opinion with a grain of salt. I do think it’s mostly young adult friendly. Probably older YA. There are some brief underage drinking scenes and language. There’s also a brief assault scene (unwanted touching) that occurs too.

Sloane and Asher were cute though. They had a very strong friendship I liked seeing and I liked all of the moments they had together. The winter activities were just right and had me begging for cooler weather and a cup of hot chocolate. Asher did some super kind things for Sloane and I loved all of those scenes too (because I was kind of bummed Sloane’s Mom guilted her into not going to NYC). I did appreciate the strong friendships woven in at least and seriously how magical the whole book felt for the season.

I think the audiobook was good too and the narrator did a wonderful job.

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Contemporary Holiday Romance
  • Language: mild – moderate
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: mild
  • Content warnings: assault (unwanted touching), loss of a parent (recounted)

Instagram || Goodreads || The StoryGraph

ARC/ALC Book Review: Guard My Heart by Sabrina Fedel

GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: YA Sports Romance
Length: 336 pages
Author: Sabrina Fedel
Publisher: Delacorte Romance
Release Date: October 13th, 2026
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A girl who dreams of being a D1 ice hockey goalie meets a hot hockey player who offers a deal to boost her skills in this young adult hockey romance!

Hit me with your best shot . . .

RYLEIGH VENTO has one goal—literally. She dreams of becoming an all-star goalie on a Division 1 women’s ice hockey team. Senior year is her last shot, and she can’t afford distractions. Not injuries. Not family drama. And definitely not a relationship.

Enter Jett Robitaille, the school’s new hockey god. He wants Ryleigh to be his fake girlfriend to make another girl—Ryleigh’s nemesis—jealous. Ryleigh’s answer? To block his goal. Until Jett ups the stakes: He’ll train her, push her, and use his own skills to help her become the best goalie in the league. As the season heats up, Ryleigh has to decide if letting Jett in will make her stronger—or throw her completely off her game. Because sometimes the hardest save isn’t on the ice . . . it’s guarding your heart.

Thank you to Get Underlined and PRH Audio for the gifted copies.

CUTE YA.

This is one of those books that didn’t quite HIT for me but I can absolutely see the merits for the true young adult audience. The characters felt realistic to their age and regards to thought processes and actions, while also not having excess language or anything more than kisses. It’s a sweet young adult hockey romance with some fake dating.

I did love that the FMC is a player too!! And a goalie. Loved this so much. Having both of the leads be athletes was a good dynamic for the story. I liked the banter and that you could see the friendship turn into more. I liked the themes of never knowing what someone is going through and how being kind is key. Both of the MC’s are carrying things that are hard for an adult, even more so for a teen. There’s a pretty classic third act break up that goes back to my first paragraph about this fitting better for a younger audience and that’s okay haha.

🎧: I liked the narrator for the audiobook. Sometimes Jett’s voice wasn’t great and he sounded younger than 17, but otherwise it was fine! I did about 3/4 as audio and it’s a solid format choice for reading Guard My Heart.

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Sports Romance
  • Language: none
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: low
  • Content warnings: loss of a parent from cancer (recounted), a parent who is in remission from cancer

Instagram || Goodreads || The StoryGraph

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

GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

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

Instagram || Goodreads || The StoryGraph