Category: Book Review

ARC Book Review: Rebel Season (Hockey Boys of Loft 3B #3) by Katie Bailey and Leah Brunner

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Sports Romance
Length: 324 pages
Author: Katie Bailey & Leah Brunner
Publisher: Self published
Release Date: August 27th, 2026
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

He wants to prove he’s more than a pretty face with a trust fund…

NHL rookie Archibald Fisher is wealthy, handsome, and appears to live a charmed life without a care in the world.

But behind closed doors, Fisher’s pretentious family treats him like a liability. A problem to fix rather than a person. And when his granddad passes away, he’s given an ultimatum: Get married, or say goodbye to every penny of his inheritance.

His family thinks it’s a foolproof plan to control their rebellious youngest son…but they clearly don’t know him very well.

…She’s fighting to save everything she loves

Lila Chen practically grew up in San Francisco’s historic firehouse turned art collective. Her fellow artists are like family to her, especially since her mom passed away.

So when she discovers the firehouse is going to be destroyed by Fisher Group, Lila is desperate to save the only home she has left. But after multiple dead-end attempts, she’s running out of hope.

Until Archibald Fisher shows up with a proposal she can’t refuse…

Their marriage was meant to be on paper only, until real feelings creep in. But new love is fragile, and between Lila’s secrets and threats from the Fisher family, there might be no way to stop it from shattering…

(This is a new adult hockey romance with moderate language, frequent innuendo, and references to sex. Though the romance fades to black, there are themes of grief and emotional/verbal abuse. If you are sensitive to these subjects, please use this content warning to make an informed decision before reading this book.)

Thank you Leah Brunner for the eARC.

Y’ALL KNOW I LOVED THIS.

Marriage of convenience is my kryptonite and I am down bad. JUST LIKE FISHER. I was obsessed with this book from the get go and it did not let up on the swoon and banter and chemistry and all the things.

I loved the way Fisher and Lila met. I loved every single interaction. I loved them on their own. I just ate up all of the moments together. What really makes for my favorite romances are when I feel like every scene serves the romance. AND SERVE IT DID. And Fisher and Lila stood strongly on their own which only made me love their arcs too.

And of course I loved seeing the previous couples too. This mish-mashed found family and how well they take care of each other in endearing and HILARIOUS and New Girl coded in all the best ways.

There’s plenty of hockey content, a lot of good conversations about privilege and grief, beautiful paintings that I wish I could see in real life and more. It is so hard to pick a favorite from this series because I love them all but this might have squeaked out on top.

Overall audience notes:

  • NA Sports romance
  • Language: mild
  • Romance: fade to black
  • Violence: mild
  • Content warnings: loss of a parent (recounted but brought up throughout), toxic family relationships, emotional abuse

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Book Review: The Silversmith (The Selvaren #1) by LJ Claren

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Rating: ★★★.5
Audience: Fantasy Romance
Length: 480 pages
Author: LJ Claren
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: July 13th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Power is awakening. Love is a liability.

And the fate of the world rests in the hands of a grieving girl who never asked to be chosen.

Still reeling from the deaths of her father and brother, Ary Gold survives only by sheer will in the icy wilds of the North. But when friends arrive with stories of long-lost magic and a power buried in her newly discovered royal blood, Ary is thrust into a fate far larger than her sorrow.

The realm of Nyrida is under threat. An ancient shadow wielder is determined to claim Ary’s power and plunge the world into corrupted darkness. To stop him, Ary must marry the commander she’s been promised to—a man whose army could help them win the war—and train to fight alongside him.

But her fiercest challenge may not be on the battlefield.

Assigned to shape her into a warrior is a man cloaked in violence and secrets. Cold, commanding, and maddeningly unreadable, he isn’t her betrothed… but he may be her undoing. As sparks fly and loyalties are tested, Ary must decide whether to follow the path laid out for her—or risk everything for a love as wild and dangerous as the power awakening inside her.

WELL THAT WAS…SOMETHING.

I read this with a group of friends and I’m glad I did because this felt like pure chaos that I had to dissect with multiple people at once.

There were more good than bad moments. I liked the concept and bones and the reveals were handled [mostly] well. I felt like I kept learning more and more at just the right moments that did keep me wanting to read.

And while I looove a possessive grumpy alphahole type of love interest, the MMC was a bit…much? I don’t know. The way he was written came across as trying too hard and some of it honestly felt a little icky too. There were great moments woven in, but that was my overall impression.

A crucial moment was created by an idiotic decision from the FMC that made me want to throw my kindle across the room. Which left me feeling in the middle about most of this book. I don’t know if I’ll read book two? I’ll wait to see some reviews.

Overall audience notes:

  • Fantasy Romance
  • Language: moderate
  • Romance: 1-2ish open door
  • Violence: high
  • Content warnings: attempted sexual assault, animal death

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ARC Book Review: Miss Beresford and the Beast (Daughters of Somerset #1) by Mimi Matthews

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Historical Romance
Length: 294 pages
Author: Mimi Matthews
Publisher: Perfectly Proper Press
Release Date: August 25th, 2026
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A spirited Victorian beauty with a fondness for fairytales unwittingly falls under the power of a beastly, scandal-plagued nobleman in the first book in USA Today bestselling author Mimi Matthews’s new Daughters of Somerset series.

Charlotte Beresford has spent far too long under the iron rule of strict governesses and unflinching finishing school teachers. When she’s offered a brief window of freedom—an invitation to spend the summer with a recent acquaintance in a remote corner of Yorkshire, far from societal expectations—she jumps at the chance. Never mind that her new friend is odd, their chaperone questionable, and the village rumored to be cursed. Charlotte knows how to look after herself. All she must do is show a friendly face, keep her wits about her, and—above all—avoid the derelict manor house that stands on the edge of the moors…

Battle-scarred and bad tempered, Magnus Sterling never intended to return to England, let alone Yorkshire. But now he’s inherited the title, it’s his responsibility to settle his late father’s affairs. It should be simple enough to do without riling up the superstitious locals. Indeed, they don’t even need to know that the infamous son of the equally infamous Earl of Eversleigh is back on British soil. Magnus will keep to himself, and to the crumbling manor house, and for once in his miserable life avoid any cloud of scandal. A straightforward enough plan, or so he believes, until he catches sight of the bold, auburn-haired intruder infiltrating the grounds of his estate…

Thank you to Mimi Matthews for a gifted eARC.

SWEET RETELLING.

I liked the Beauty & the Beast nods and the interpretation Mimi Matthews went with this historical. One of the more unique opening *meet cute [disasters]* I’ve read and I thought a good use of an amnesia moment.

I really enjoyed Charlotte and Marcus together. I loved the sunshine x grump dynamics and the soft banter between them. You can easily see Magnus falling and YAYYY for having dual POV because I desperately needed his thoughts and feelings too. Things do move quickly (and I do wish they had been slower) but I thought MM kept the focus on Charlotte and Magnus so you got to see their relationship develop through plenty of proximity.

The mystery kept me curious and I loved the derelict home and crumbling walls. I loved how well Charlotte saw every layer of Magnus and did not shy away. It made my heart burst seeing Magnus receive the love in return he’s been after his whole life.

I adored getting to see past characters and the epilogue where even more of them showed up. There’s something magical about having read so many books by an author that you see the evolution of characters + children over series and how they come back into play at times. I’m looking forward to the next book in this series.

Overall audience notes:

  • Historical romance
  • Language: none
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: mild
  • Content warnings: head injuries, gun violence (recounted), loss of life (recounted)

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Book Review: Mistress of Bones (Mistress of Bones #1) by Maria Z. Medina

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Rating: ★★
Audience: YA Fantasy
Length: 336 pages
Author: Maria Z. Medina
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Release Date: August 5th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

An epic, multi-POV debut fantasy perfect for fans of The Bone Shard Daughter and Six of Crows, where a necromancer trying to resurrect her sister gets embroiled in bigger, world-ending plans instead.

Necromancer Azul del Arroyo only wants one thing: to steal her sister back from Death by reclaiming her sister’s bones. But the Emissary of the Lord Death will do anything to stop her, no matter how alluring he finds her . . .

As their paths collide, they’re drawn into a deadly game of pawns and power with a count who begrudgingly works for a child king, a faceless witch who transforms the bones of gods into dreams she can peddle, and a long-lost half-brother with a secret of his own—and soon realize the fate of the lands is hanging in the balance.

For long ago the gods raised the continents, binding them with their own bones to keep humanity alive. But in an era when the gods’ sacrifice has been forgotten, Death might not be the only resentful god Azul must defy.

Swashbuckling, grand, and tragically romantic, Mistress of Bones is a can’t-miss start to a duology about love, loss, and, of course, death.

Thank you Wednesday Books for the gifted copy.

THIS DIDN’T WORK.

I think I understand what this book was trying to accomplish but you won’t see me picking up book two.

This was incredibly scattered. There were random flashback chapters and odd time intervals from multiple different side characters (see how confusing that is???). I’m not quite sure that any of them actually added to the plot or benefited to my understanding of the story line.

I was hesitant when I saw the Goodreads average and unfortunately it held up. This won’t be a book I remember.

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Fantasy
  • Language: mild
  • Romance: flirting
  • Violence: moderate

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