Tag: audiobook

Book Review: The Backtrack by Erin La Rosa

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Rating: ★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance + Magical Realism
Length: 304 pages
Author: Erin La Rosa
Publisher: Canary Street Press
Release Date: July 16th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Life, rewound …

Nearly twenty years ago, Sam Leto left her small hometown of Tybee Island, Georgia, to pursue her dreams of becoming a pilot. While she’d prefer to keep flying away from her painful childhood memories, her beloved grandmother Pearl decides it’s time to sell the family home. Reluctantly, Sam is summoned back to pack up the house.

The 2000s nostalgia from Sam’s old bedroom hits Fall Out Boy posters, drawers of roll-on body glitter and even her favorite CD player with a mixtape from her best friend, Damon Rocha. Damon was always a safe place and Sam often wonders what if her teenage self admitted her feelings for him back then…

Mysteriously, the CD player still works all these years later. And somehow it has the power to show Sam an alternate version of her life.

Song by song, Sam receives flashbacks from her past—senior prom, graduation, leaving home. But the memories aren’t as she remembers them; they show what could have been. Suddenly, Sam knows exactly what would have happened if she’d taken a chance with Damon—and she can’t help feeling she made a terrible mistake leaving Tybee all those years ago.

I TRIED.

I really wanted to enjoy this one, but it felt very lackluster in the romance department. I thought the idea was clever and wasn’t bugged by the magical realism aspects (like I am known to be at times). I loved the nostalgic vibes this gave me and how seeing the flashbacks of what could have been didn’t show a “better” path, just a different one. I loved that message and theme throughout.

The romance was missing something. I didn’t feel that swoon and chemistry between Sam and Damon. They had this chance for reconnection, and did take it and I thought that would create some more heat.

The audiobook production was good and I liked that it was a quick listen. I also enjoyed that this was less spicy than the author’s previous books (personal preference). But I do find myself on the fence now about reading whatever’s next. I’m starting to have more misses than hits.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance + Magical Realism
  • Language: moderate
  • Romance: 1 open door
  • Content Warnings: brief mention of miscarriage, depression, parental abandonment

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ALC/ARC Book Review: For the Record by Emma Lord

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Rating: ★★★.75ish
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 336 pages
Author: Emma Lord
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Release Date: August 12th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

An electrifying rom com of rivalry and redemption, perfect for fans of Emily Henry and Daisy Jones and the Six, from New York Times bestselling author Emma Lord.

Once the most notorious rivals in the music scene, pop princess Mackenzie Waters and punk rockstar Sam Blaze electrified audiences as their bands clashed on stage. But behind the scenes, their simmering tension grew into something more — until suddenly both bands fell apart, and the idea of Mackenzie and Sam did, too.

Two years later, Sam has traded the rockstar lifestyle for a quiet life raising the son he didn’t know about. Meanwhile, Mackenzie is dealing with a postoperative change in her voice by only singing under a pseudonym. The only way to revive their public careers? A joint comeback album.

With fans over the moon and their futures on the line, Sam and Mackenzie face their biggest challenge yet: giving up the old rivalry and learning to work together. But as old sparks fly and new secrets emerge, they set off a chain reaction neither of them could have anticipated — one that proves that sometimes, the greatest hits are the ones yet to be written.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the gifted audiobook and SMP Romance for the eARC.

I THINK I LIKED IT?

Here we are with the second adult romance from Emma Lord and I still enjoy her YA/NA books more. This wasn’t bad, but there’s some kind of imbalance still between the plot and romance that bugged me.

What I will say is the banter and flirting was TOP NOTCH between Sam and Mackenzie. It was perfectly heated and the audiobook narrator nailed it. I was in love from the get go with Sam’s persona. WE LOVE A MAN DOWN BAD FOR YEARS.

And I also loved the blended family, co-parent situation. It was wholesome and for the good of the child and I appreciated seeing a healthy dynamic like this in a book.

One of the sub-plots kind of overtook Mackenzie and Sam’s story in the last quarter of the book. And while it was great to see Mackenzie reconnect with her friend and finally get some details that had been withheld the entire book I thought it could have been a lesser plot point (alongside that third act, booooooooo).

I am still a fan of Emma Lord and will continue reading her books. Definitely try the audiobook if you plan to read this one!! It’s dual POV so there are two narrators!!

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: moderate
  • Romance: 3+ open door
  • Violence: mild
  • Content notes: parental abandonment, life-threatening illness

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Book Review: A Novel Love Story by Ashley Poston

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Rating: ★★★☆
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 384 pages
Author: Ashley Poston
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: June 25th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A professor of literature finds herself caught up in a work of fiction… literally.

Eileen Merriweather loves to get lost in a good happily-ever-after. The fictional kind, anyway. Because at least imaginary men don’t leave you at the altar. She feels safe in a book. At home. Which might be why she’s so set on going to her annual book club retreat this year—she needs good friends, cheap wine, and grand romantic gestures—no matter what.

But when her car unexpectedly breaks down on the way, she finds herself stranded in a quaint town that feels like it’s right out of a novel…

Because it is.

This place can’t be real, and yet… she’s here, in Eloraton, the town of her favorite romance series, where the candy store’s honey taffy is always sweet, the local bar’s burgers are always a little burnt, and rain always comes in the afternoon. It feels like home. It’s perfect—and perfectly frozen, trapped in the late author’s last unfinished story.

Elsy is sure that’s why she must be here: to help bring the town to its storybook ending.

Except there is a character in Eloraton that she can’t place—a grumpy bookstore owner with mint-green eyes, an irritatingly sexy mouth and impeccable taste in novels. And he does not want her finishing this book.

Which is a problem because Elsy is beginning to think the town’s happily-ever-after might just be intertwined with her own.

NOT MY FAVORITE.

Well, this is officially my least favorite of Ashley Poston’s books. I’ll definitely be reading the next one, this one just fell into the miss category.

I think there was too heavy of a focus on the fictional town. I don’t mind that these books have magical realism, but a whole town that was derived from the FMC’s favorite book series, while charming, was the only thing Eileen could focus on. She felt like a side character in her own book. I will say that Eileen did have some decent character growth overall and she had a good journey.

And THEN, there was this twist involving the romance towards the end that had me fully stop in my tracks while listening. Like why???? It took the romantic aspects out of this book even more. While there were sweet moments and I kind of thought they had some chemistry, I am meh about this book.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: moderate
  • Romance: 1-2 open door
  • Content Warnings: loss of a loved one (car crash)

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Book Review: Daisy Haites (Magnolia Parks Universe #2) by Jessa Hastings

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Toxic Contemporary Romance
Length: 494 pages
Author: Jessa Hastings
Publisher: Dutton
Release Date: August 8th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

All twenty-year-old Daisy Haites has ever wanted is a normal life, but as the heiress to London’s most notorious criminal empire, it’s just not in the cards for her.

Raised by her older brother, Julian , after their parents were murdered, Daisy has never been able to escape the watchful gaze of her gang-lord brother. But Julian’s line of work means that Daisy’s life is . . . complicated.

And things don’t become any easier when she falls hard for the beautiful and emotionally unavailable Christian Hemmes , who happens to be one of the few men in London who doesn’t answer to Julian.

Christian’s life is no walk in the park either, since he’s in love with his best friend’s girlfriend, Magnolia Parks .

He’s happy enough to use Daisy to throw off the scent of his true affections—until she starts to infiltrate those, too.

As their romance blossoms into something neither was anticipating, Daisy and Christian must come to terms with the fact that in this life everything comes at a price. Relationships intersect and tangle, and Daisy, Christian, and Julian will learn that sometimes life’s most worthwhile pursuits can only be paid in blood.

DAISY REALLY PMO.

I think I liked Magnolia Parks better than this one????

The first bit, was (once again), wildly confusing as you’re thrown into the chaos of all of these people’s lives and missing the context of many things. Once that started feeling settled, I could finally understand what was happening and all the intricacies of they dynamic between Daisy and the boys.

I actually enjoyed the organized crime plot line with Julian. I am deeply curious about his story and where it will go and why everyone is obsessed with him (yes, I already put book three on hold).

Daisy just really made me mad (IYKYK). Those last few chapters made me want to throw my phone through a wall. The self sabotaging dynamic is not one for me and I swear if that doesn’t change soon I might rip a part book three (though I think that’s Magnolia’s book so??? I don’t know, it’s all complicated).

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: strong
  • Romance: brief open
  • Violence: moderate
  • Content warnings: kidnapping, attempted murder, gun violence, murder (recounted), loss of loved ones, substance use

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