ALC Book Review: Moms of Mayhem (Mayhem Hockey Club #1) by Aimee Vance

November 25, 2025November 23, 2025 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Hockey Romance
Length: 428 pages
Author: Aimee Vance
Publisher: Revel Books
Release Date: September 5th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Starting over was never part of the playbook.

Fresh off a failed marriage and years of putting everyone else first, Emmy Hudson returns to her small hometown determined to rebuild a life for her and her teenage son, Jace. With her brother close by and Jace joining the once-elite Mayhem Hockey Club, it seems like the perfect second chance.

Beckett Conway is back in Linwood for the worst a blown-out hip, a tanked NHL season, and a mom whose health is declining too fast for his liking. Coaching the local youth hockey team wasn’t on his rehab checklist, but watching Jace sneak onto his backyard pond to practice brings back everything he loved about this little mountain town.

Too bad Jace’s mom is sarcastic, stubborn, and somehow the most attractive woman he’s ever bantered with. As if that wasn’t enough, Emmy is his best friend’s sister and in charge of clearing him to play again.

Sparks fly, lines blur, and before long, Emmy discovers that maybe finding herself means letting someone else in, even if that someone was the last person she expected to fall for.

Thank you to Aimee Vance for a gifted ALC.

HOW I LOVED THIS.

I legit gobbled this book up. I’ve been a big fan of Aimee Vance for awhile and was so excited to get my hands on her latest romance. I’m back in my hockey era and I love it.

While I think this book can be loved on many levels, it was super relatable to motherhood and watching your child grow up, protecting them, and finding yourself too. Many of those sentiments and themes hit me in the chest full force.

I loved the dynamic between Emmy and Beckett. Sparks were flying from the first time they met each other [again] and I loved the way Beckett showed up Emmy AND Jace. It was important and memorable and made this book so dang good.

The spice is spicy but I did find it easy to skip over. And I loved all of the different types of relationships this book presented too. From friendships, family relations, romance, teammates, etc. They all held weight and they all pushed the book forward in amazing ways.

I am sat for the rest of this series.

Overall audience notes:

Hockey Romance
Language: strong
Romance: 4-5ish open door
Violence: low
Content warnings: divorce (cheating mentioned), a parent with Parkinson’s

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ARC Book Review: The Wild Card (Sheet Cake #4) by Emma St. Clair

November 25, 2025November 7, 2025 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 353 pages
Author: Emma St. Clair
Publisher: Self Publishing
Release Date: November 6th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Is twenty-three too old for running away? I sure hope not. Because, right now, that’s my current and only life plan.

Desperate to escape the dome of control my father has dropped over my life, I visit my brother in Texas–with no plans to use my return ticket home.

But after spending every cent of my savings to pay off my student loans, I need a job. Stat. Otherwise, I’ll be forced to ask my brother for help and admit how bad things have gotten at home.

So, when the production company I’m interviewing with in Sheet Cake, Texas wants proof that I’ve got long-term roots here, I invent a fake local boyfriend.

Which would have been fine had they not asked to meet him. Today.

I do what any woman in a desperate situation would I grab a man who’s giving off boyfriend vibes and ask to borrow him for an hour.

Too bad I didn’t recognize that man as Collin Graham, who just so happens to be the brother of my brother’s wife. (Confusing, I know–but the important part is that we are NOT related.)

When I finally realize who he is, two things are very he knew it was me the whole time, and this fake boyfriend thing is going to be a lot more complicated now that I actually got the job.

On the plus side, fake dating serves Collin’s purposes as well. We’re both a little lost, both deep in life transition–and apparently both struggling with the fake part of the relationship.

I hadn’t planned on coming to Texas and falling in love, especially not when the name of the game is playing pretend. But would dating Collin for real be such a bad thing?

That depends–on how long it takes the reasons we started faking to begin with finally catch up to us both.

The Wild Card is a fake dating (and fake fake dating) closed door romantic comedy with all the sizzle but none of the spice. Set in the fictional town of Sheet Cake, Texas, this rom-comcan be read as a standalone but pairs best with the other books in the series.

Thank you to the author for a gifted copy.

GOOD TO BE BACK.

I’ve been waiting for this book for a long time and it was worth the wait y’all. I loved being back in Sheet Cake, and I loved seeing all of my favorite characters again. This is easily one of my favorite fictional small towns and I will come back again and again.

I loved this book was soft. It’s low angst but high in the tender and loving moments. Feeling seen and learning to trust and being open to communicate. I love the realistic and romantic nature of Collin and Molly’s relationship.

There’s the usual small town shenanigans and chaos. I love the text threads and family interactions, all of the fake dating schemes and how you know from the start nothing is fake. I’m so happy Collin got his love story!!

Overall audience notes:

Contemporary Romance
Language: none
Romance: kisses
Violence: low

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Book Review: Wreck My Plans by Jillian Meadows

November 24, 2025November 20, 2024 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★☆
Audience: Holiday Romance
Length: 301 pages
Author: Jillian Meadows
Publisher: Avon
Release Date: October 8th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A sweet and spicy holiday romance between a spirited artist who returns to her small town for Christmas, and her older brother’s best friend, a serious architect who pushes all her buttons—but whom she can’t seem to stay away from.

Lena’s plans are simple. Surprise her family for Christmas, don’t tell them she lost her job, and most importantly, spend the week relaxing with the people she cares about.

But when she arrives in Juniper, she discovers she’s not the only unexpected guest this year. Her older brother’s best friend, Gavin, is back after disappearing three years ago without a word. He has the kind of charm Lena has always been drawn to, but she knows he’s also the kind of temptation she needs to stay far away from.

Gavin has built his architecture career out of planning strategies for dealing with the unexpected—but he didn’t have a strategy for the possibility of seeing Lena again. Though he’s been dreaming of her since the day he left, he can’t risk giving in to his feelings when they could upend the only family and home he has ever known.

New try to be friends again. Just friends.

But as the pieces fall into place about why Gavin left, staying friends is the last thing on his mind…and on Lena’s. All the plans they’ve made might end up completely wrecked. And for once, maybe they want it that way.

Thank you LibroFM for the gifted audiobook.

EHHHHH.

I feel very mixed about this book. There’s plenty of holiday cheer and it definitely fits that vibe. I loved the rambunctious family dynamics and how much I wanted to be apart of Lena’s family too.

Gavin brought some swoon. I love a man obsessed and from the first chapter you could tell he was gone. And while I loved that, I do also think that angst was trying too hard. I wanted a bit more burn in those aspects and not feeling like I was playing catch-up.

And, as a personal preference, four chapters in a row (+ more later in the book) just really isn’t my jam. Add that in to the lets get it out of our system plot and I struggled with the physical intimacy throughout. Lastly adding in a third act that made me want to shake Lena a bit and it brought this book down for me.

So not all bad, but not all good either. I’m not upset I picked it up, but now I’m hesitant to read more from this author.

Overall audience notes:

Christmas romance
Language: moderate
Romance: open door
Violence: low
Content Warnings: mentions and recounts of being in the foster system, a car wreck (no one is injured)

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Book Review: For No Mortal Creature by Keshe Chow

November 23, 2025October 27, 2025 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: YA Fantasy Romance
Length: 480 pages
Author: Keshe Chow
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Release Date: October 7th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A teen girl with the power of resurrection must venture into the afterlife, but to survive the death realm, she’ll need the help of her two mortal enemies–both of whom she is inexplicably drawn to–in this romantic, gothic fantasy inspired by Wuthering Heights.

When Jia Yi suddenly finds herself alive again after being stabbed through the heart by an enemy’s sword, she realizes she possesses a rare power: the ability to move between the living realm and the shrouded world of ghosts. Ghosts including Lin, her ex-best friend and former love, whose betrayal she still hasn’t recovered from.

At first, Jia wants nothing to do with Lin, or any ghosts–metaphorical or otherwise. But when her beloved grandmother abruptly passes away, Jia is forced to travel into the afterlife to save her.

To survive the treacherous death realm, Jia will need to rely on both Lin and her longtime enemy, the cold and enigmatic Prince Essien Lancaster. Only, she isn’t sure whether she can trust either of them. With tensions high and new and old connections blooming, Jia must confront the ghosts of her past…or risk becoming one herself.

Thank you GetUnderlined for the gifted finished copy.

OH ALL THE THOUGHTS.

I will start with this though, I loved this much more than The Girl with No Reflection. If you’ve been interested in this author, start here instead!! I was way more engaged and wrapped up in the story telling. The plot was extremely interested with moving through different realms of the afterlife and how the power of resurrection was used to further move the story along.

I also really liked the complexity of the love triangle. It didn’t bug me, EXCEPT for the ending. Without spoiling I will say it ends well, there’s a HEA. But I think I ended up on the wrong side of the triangle??? And I don’t hate the other guy I just had a very specific idea about the ending. I don’t know.

Anyways, solidly good book. I’m so glad I gave this one a chance and I look forward to future books from Keshe Chow. I appreciate that they are standalones too so everything gets wrapped up in one story.

Overall audience notes: