Book Review: I’ll Paint You a Sunset Someday by Bex Alexander

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Rating: ★★★
Audience: Dystopian/Contemporary Romance
Length: 396 pages
Author: Bex Alexander
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: January 27th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

There’s nothing worse than being alone, in Hallee’s humble opinion. Extremely ironic, considering The Gift of Forgetting forces a fresh start every New Year’s Day, rendering it nearly impossible to get attached to anyone. Surely the promised “wild and free” life wasn’t supposed to include Hallee’s obsessive hyperfixation on questioning her purpose—right? After all…what purpose would that serve?

Unfortunately, drowning herself in copious amounts of vanilla lattes doesn’t medicate her growing anxiety. (What a surprise!) So when Dean, a true gentleman with galaxy eyes and a kind heart, offers an escape from her ever-present intrusive thoughts, getting attached doesn’t seem like such a challenge.

Hallee and Dean are better together. They’re a cup of coffee while watching the sunrise, the first flower after a long winter, and a desperate wish on a shooting star. But as New Year’s Day quickly approaches, they’re forced to face the ultimate question…are people permanently marked by the experiences of their lives? Can the great love of Hallee and Dean prove that hearts remember—even if minds do not?

In the end, love conquers all…doesn’t it?

CONFUSED & BORED.

The cover does not match the book and that left me befuddled. The summary does give you a hint at what’s coming and the more I read the more it felt dystopian more than anything else. Especially since the two years used were 2046 & 2095.

While I totally see what theme the author was going for and the message she was trying to convey (and I do think it was a good message) the execution lacked. I just kept waiting for more? More plot? Definitely needed less insta-love (though I guess it made sense? But something felt off about it). I mean, as you can see, this book left me going up and down on my thoughts.

I don’t think I’ll read another book by this author unless it doesn’t have a dystopian-esque element to it.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary/Dystopian Romance
  • Language: mild
  • Romance: make-outs

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Book Review: Release me (Shatter Me: The New Republic #2) by Tahereh Mafi

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: NA Dystopian Fantasy Romance
Length: 384 pages
Author: Tahereh Mafi
Publisher: Storytide
Release Date: April 7th, 2026
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

The searing second volume in a new series set in the #1 global bestselling Shatter Me universe ten years after the fall of The Reestablishment.

Rosabelle Wolff had a plan. Now she wants revenge. To save her sister she needs to get back home and destroy the system that created her. Rosabelle’s greatest strength is her ability to deaden her mind and body; it’s the only way to survive the surveillance state of Ark Island. But lately her heart has been beating harder; her thoughts are spiraling; her defenses are coming undone.

And there’s only one person to blame.

James Anderson had a plan. Now he has nothing but problems. Rosabelle might be the ally they need in a fight against The Reestablishment, but no one wants to trust an enemy assassin. It doesn’t help that Rosabelle’s not much of a talker, doesn’t work well in groups, and kills people on instinct. Taking her side has cost James nearly everything—but keeping her alive might help save his world.

If only he could convince his older brother.

Aaron Warner Anderson has a headache. Something dark is coming, and Rosabelle’s arrival is just a prelude. In her, he sees shades of himself he can’t trust, and he can no longer get a read on the girl. She’s a dead battery, emanating no emotional feedback. At least not until James walks into a room…

Volcanic tension, breathless reveals, breakneck action—and a dystopian world that never stops raising the

Welcome back to The New Republic.

STILL OBSESSED.

This spin off series has me in an absolute chokehold and this is exactly where I want to be. AND the fact we got THE AARON WARNER’S POV??? We have been blessed.

I love the audiobooks too. They have fantastic narrators where I genuinely feel like I’m listening to everyone converse in real time. It’s awesome production and made this book an even quicker read. It’s fast paced, intense and the angst in the romance will send you into the stratosphere. I love that this feels different from the originals but still has enough of the same vibes that it brings a nostalgic quality too. Dystopian romances are back and apparently I am INTO IT.

James and Rosabelle are my favorite kind of golden retriever x black cat dynamic. I loved the banter and heat and chomping at the bit to find out what happens next. I am upset I’ll have to wait for book three but IT’S FINE. EVERYTHING IS FINE.

Overall audience notes:

  • NA Dystopian Fantasy Romance
  • Language: mild
  • Romance: heated kisses
  • Violence: high
  • Content warnings: loss of life, attempted murder, imprisonment, mentions of past torture and abuse

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Book Review: It’s a Love Story by Annabel Monaghan

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Rating: ★★★.5
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 368 pages
Author: Annabel Monaghan
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s
Release Date: May 27th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

From the USA Today bestselling author of Nora Goes Off Script, a novel about a former adolescent TV punchline who has left her awkwardness in the rearview mirror thanks to a fake-it-till-you-make-it mantra that has her on the cusp of success, until she tells a lie that sets her on a crash-course with her past, spending a week in Long Island with the last man she thinks might make her believe in love.

Rules for a love story: There are none. It’s all a lie.

Jane Jackson knows that true love is a lie. Laughter is the only truth—you can’t fake a belly laugh. Jane should know, she spent her adolescence as “Poor Janey Jakes,” the barbecue-sauce-in-her-braces punchline on America’s fifth-favorite sitcom. Now she’s a Creative Executive at Clearwater Studios and she’s living by a new mantra: Fake it till you make it.

Except, she might have faked it too far. Desperate to get her first project greenlit and riled up by pompous cinematographer and one-time crush Dan Finnegan, she opened her mouth and a big fat fib fell out. She claimed that Jack Quinlan, hottest popstar of the moment, has promised to write an original song for the soundtrack. Jack may have been her first kiss—and greatest source of shame—but she hasn’t spoken to him in twenty years.

Now, Jane must turn to the last man she’d ever want to owe: Dan Finnegan. Because Jack is playing a festival in Dan’s hometown on Long Island, and Dan has an in. A week in close quarters with Dan while facing down her past is Jane’s idea of hell, but Dan just might surprise her. While covering up her lie, can they find something true?

I AM TIRED.

I don’t know if it’s been a bad string of romances lately or if they have become repetitive to me. At least the third act moments. It’s been the same dang thing every dang time and I am exhausted of seeing the FMC repeat herself.

Besides my issues with how the third act felt everything was honestly good. This is a SUMMER romance and I loved all of the beach moments, biking around a small town and strong family dynamics. It’s humorous and heart felt and I enjoyed the audiobook a bunch too.

I did like 90% of the romantic plot line. It’s a slow burn with unlikely friends who FALL IN LOVE. I loved how much I could feel those emotions. It’s really tender and I loved the focus. There were a few small things that felt unfinished with the main plot line? But it’s alright. I still plan to keep reading books from AM!

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: mild
  • Romance: low explicit open door
  • Violence: low

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ARC/ALC Book Review: All’s Fae in Love and War by Lee Nichols

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Rating: ★★★
Audience: Urban Fantasy Romance
Length: 371 pages
Author: Lee Nichols
Publisher: Second Sky
Release Date: May 28th, 2026
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Pandora Voss has one last summer to unlock her powers—or lose all memory of magic forever.

No pressure.

Pandora returns to her enchanted hometown in Maine to nurture the magic she knows must be inside her. Time is running out, and the last thing she needs is a distraction…

Which makes the return of her high-school heartbreak, Leo Carter, deeply inconvenient.

The handsome antiquarian bookseller has come back to the island in search of a rare book. Leo still has that warm, devastating smile that sets pulses racing wherever he goes… Not that Pandora has noticed because she is absolutely, completely over him.

But when an unexpected encounter at Leo’s family boathouse ends in a wildly sexy kiss, Pandora’s plans are blown apart. Andwhen she’s “volunteered” to work with him at the library the next day, the tension between them unleashes a spell that goes spectacularly wrong.

As enchantments wreak havoc across the island, Pandora and Leo team up to save the town. Racing to contain fairytale creatures and dodging unresolved feelings, Pandora must decide what’s more untamed magic… or falling for Leo all over again.

With magical mayhem, spicy romance, and laugh-out-loud humor, All’s Fae in Love and War is the first book in a trilogy that’s perfect for fans of fantasy rom-coms like The Ex Hex and Rewitched.

Thank you to the publisher for a gifted copy.

DID NOT WORK.

On soooo many levels. And honestly I am convinced these two don’t even make it past the last page. That’s how this romance felt.

🎧: One of the few positives was that the audiobook was good and easy to listen to. There’s two narrators for the two POV’s and they do a good job.

I didn’t love that it was written from the perspective of a diary for only Pen’s POV? It came across as breaking the fourth wall rather than an epistolary style story. The romance was just Pen and Carter finding and making up over and over again. And over the same thing. The spice between them was cringey and just didn’t fit the tone of the novel.

There were some things that felt whimsical? Though none of the humor felt humorous. Overall the book felt stale and lackluster. I won’t be continuing the series.

Overall audience notes:

  • Urban Fantasy Romance
  • Language: moderate
  • Romance: 2ish open door
  • Violence: moderate

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