Tag: berkley romance

Book Review: Problematic Summer Romance (Not in Love #2) by Ali Hazelwood

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 416 pages
Author: Ali Hazelwood
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: May 27th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

What is wrong meets what feels right in this romance set in Italy by the New York Times bestselling author of Deep End.

Maya Killgore is twenty-three and still in the process of figuring out her life.

Conor Harkness is thirty-eight, and Maya cannot stop thinking about him.

It’s such a cliché, it almost makes her heart implode: older man and younger woman; successful biotech guy and struggling grad student; brother’s best friend and the girl he never even knew existed. As Conor loves to remind her, the power dynamic is too imbalanced. Any relationship between them would be problematic in too many ways to count, and Maya should just get over him. After all, he has made it clear that he wants her gone from his life.

But not everything is as it seems—and clichés sometimes become plot twists.

When Maya’s brother decides to get married in Taormina, she and Conor end up stuck together in a romantic Sicilian villa for over a week. There, on the beautiful Ionian coast, between ancient ruins, delicious foods, and natural caves, Maya realizes that Conor might be hiding something from her. And as the destination wedding begins to erupt out of control, she decides that a summer fling might be just what she needs—even if it’s a problematic one.

OKAY THIS WAS FUN.

This really did whisk my away to wanting a summer holiday. The set up and setting were fantastic and brought me all of the poolside reading vibes that I could want.

I forgot how much I love Ali Hazelwood’s quirky FMC’s. They are so funny and relatable to me. I loved Maya and her ability to say whatever she was thinking and going after what she wanted. Two fools in love worked so well here. I thought Conor was amazing too. They truly had great chemistry and made the age gap make sense. Though I will say that was beaten over my head one too many times. I get it, they are 15 years apart. I GET IT OKAY.

Anyways, it’s swoony and hot and I loved all of the side characters, wedding shenanigans and cute moments. The whole book was a delight.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: moderate
  • Romance: 5+ open door
  • Violence: mild
  • Content warnings: loss of parents (recounted)

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Book Review: Sounds Like Love by Ashley Poston

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 384 pages
Author: Ashley Poston
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: June 17th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A hitmaking songwriter and a bitter musician share a startling and inexplicable connection that they’ll do anything to shake, in the next sparkling, magical book from Ashley Poston.

Joni Lark is living the dream. She’s one of the most coveted songwriters in LA…and she can’t seem to write. There’s an emptiness inside her, and nothing seems to fill it.

When she returns to her hometown of Vienna Shores, North Carolina, she hopes that the sand, the surf, and the concerts at The Revelry, her family’s music venue, will spark her inspiration. But when she gets there, nothing is how she left it. Her best friend is avoiding her, her mother’s memories are fading fast, and The Revelry is closing.

How can she think about writing her next song when everything is changing without her?

Until she hears it. A melody in her head, lyric-less and half-formed, and an alluring and addictive voice to go with it—belonging, apparently, to a wry musician with hangups of his own.

Surely, he’s a figment of her overworked imagination.

But then the very real man attached to the voice shows up in Vienna Shores. He’s aggravating and gruff on the outside—nothing like the sweet, funny voice in Joni’s head—and he has a plan:

They’ll finish the song haunting them both, break their connection, and hope they don’t risk their hearts in the process.

Because that song stuck in their heads? Maybe it’s there for a reason.

WELL I LIKED IT!

After not totally loving AP’s previous book I was a bit hesitant to pick this one up, but YAY, it delivered. I even read it in a day because I kept wanting to pick it up.

The magical realism aspects totally worked. I feel like it didn’t overwhelm the plot and truly added to the story. I loved that they could communicate mind to mind. All of those little subtle moments and conversations became so sweet and memorable. And that man fell first and fell hard. MY FAVORITE.

I really enjoyed the overall story and themes too. It’s got charm while tackling some heavier subjects and sub plots. A few things here and there bugged me but overall this endeared me back to Poston’s books and I’m looking forward to the next release.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance + Magical Realism
  • Language: mild
  • Romance: 1 open door; mild details
  • Content warnings: a loved one with early dementia, loss of a parent (recounted)

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Book Review: Seeing Other People by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Paranormal Romance
Length: 352 pages
Author: Emily Wibberley & Austin Siegemund-Broka
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: December 9th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Two people haunted by their exes find that love isn’t dead in this heartfelt romance from the beloved authors of The Roughest Draft.

Morgan is being ghosted by her ex. No, really. It’s sad Zach died and became a ghost. But Morgan and Zach only ever went on the one date, and now she’s being haunted by him. Zach has no desire to spend eternity with Morgan, but he can’t recall his past and doesn’t know how to move on.

At a support group for humans and their haunters, Morgan and Zach run into Sawyer, whose fiancée-turned-ghost has started to fade. Unlike Morgan, Sawyer isn’t ready to part ways with his ghost. Although they face opposite issues, Morgan and Sawyer decide to work together to solve their problems.

As Morgan and Sawyer try to solve their paranormal conundrums together, they find something even more surprising—a tender, growing affection between them that threatens any unfinished business they’re seeking to close. The ghosts of their past might be there in spirit, but the connection between Morgan and Sawyer is as alive as anything they’ve ever felt.

SURPRISED IN THE BEST WAY.

I don’t usually read contemporary books that center around loss of a partner/spouse because my anxiety kicks into overdrive, but as someone who’s continually loved Emily & Austin’s books I wanted to give it a go. Y’ALL. This one gutted me in so many ways and was incredible. I loved it. You must read it too!!!!

I loved both of the MC’s. Struggling through their respective paths and coming together over the most unlikely of circumstances. There’s raw emotion and anger and grief and woven in-between those heavier moments are laughter, love, and the hope of the next day being just a little bit easier. Everything just worked for me in this book and I had the best time reading it.

The journey for the paranormal characters worked for me too. There’s this awful understanding that sometimes you’re not going to have all of the answers and sometimes you won’t have the closure you’re after but that things can still be okay. The loads of impactful moments here would take too long to write down.

It’s a beautiful story. Go read it!

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Paranormal Romance
  • Language: moderate
  • Romance: 2ish brief open
  • Violence: mild
  • Content warnings: depictions of grief and depression, loss of a loved one

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Book Review: Swept Away by Beth O’Leary

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Rating: ★★☆
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 384 pages
Author: Beth O’Leary
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: April 1st, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Two strangers find themselves stranded at sea together in this epic new love story by bestselling author Beth O’Leary.

What if you were lost at sea…with your one-night stand?

Zeke and Lexi thought it would just be a night of fun. They had no intentions of seeing each other again. Zeke is only in town for the weekend to buy back his late father’s houseboat. Lexi has no time for dating when she needs to help take care of her best friend’s daughter.

Going back home with a stranger seems like a perfect escape from their problems. But a miscommunication in the dark, foggy night means no one tied the houseboat to the dock. The next morning, Zeke and Lexi realize all they can see is miles and miles of water.

With just a few provisions on the idle boat, Zeke and Lexi must figure out how to get back home. But aside from their survival, they’re facing another challenge. Because when you’re stuck together for days on end, it gives you a lot of time to get to know someone—and to fall in love with them.

WOW THIS WENT DOWNHILL.

I was fully in the 3.5-4 star camp for the first 60% of this book. I loved the idea of this romance. Being stuck out at sea is definitely not a contemporary romance plot I’ve read before and I love unique romance/settings. But after starting off with a one night stand, I was a little bereft. It held strong though with all of the open sea drama (and even though I have MANY questions about the sexual encounters + hygiene, I digress).

Then we got to the back on land drama and good heavens, WHYYYYYYY. The first twist tackled me like a blindside and about sent me over the edge, and then upon finding out a little more about the situation I absolutely fell off the edge. It soured the whole story for me and didn’t do anything for the characters.

This just didn’t feel like Beth O’Leary. I’ll cross my fingers for the next one.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: mild
  • Romance: fade to black
  • Violence: moderate
  • Content warnings: minor blood (cleaning + stitching of wounds), being lost at sea, loss of loved ones (recounted)

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