Book Review: The Blonde Who Came in Form the Cold (Blonde Identity #2) by Ally Carter

September 20, 2025August 27, 2025 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 336 pages
Author: Ally Carter
Publisher: Avon Books
Release Date: August 5th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Ten years ago, they joined the CIA.

Six years ago, he left the game.

Five years ago, they fell in love.

One year ago, she ran out into the cold with absolutely no intention of ever coming back.

And two minutes ago, they woke up, bloody and bruised and handcuffed together in the dark.

They don’t know where they are. They don’t know how they got there. And they have absolutely no idea who is after them or what this nameless, faceless villain wants.

The only thing that’s clear is that, after ten years of covers and chemistry, secrets and lies, these two rival spies have been sucked into their greatest mission yet, and now they’re going to have to team up to stay alive. (If they don’t kill each other first.)

Thank you to Avon Books for the ARC and LibroFM for the gifted audiobook.

OH I WAS OBSESSED.

OH MY GOSH THIS BOOK WAS SO GOOD. Frankly that’s all you need. ALL THE DANG STARS GO PICK IT UP.

I am such a puddle for a man SO DOWN BAD. The MMC (who gets his own narration!!!!) was incredible. I love him. I love him. I love him. I could give you a list of scenes that had me swooning non-stop and obsessing over his every move. And I adored the FMC too. The banter was off the charts and you could feel their chemistry from the first moment. These flashbacks were AMAZING. I’m not a flashback chapter fan and appreciated that these only added and shaped the story.

It’s fast paced, full of action, heat, romance and allllll the things. I loved the audiobook. I loved the book. I LOVED IT ALL.

Overall audience notes:

Contemporary Romance Mystery
Language: low
Romance: closed door
Violence: moderate

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Book Review: Brynn and Sebastian Hate Each Other by Bethany Turner

September 19, 2025August 30, 2024 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 352 pages
Author: Bethany Turner
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Release Date: September 5th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

She’s a sunny morning-show host. He’s a cynical ex-reporter. They’re destined to hate each other . . . Aren’t they?

Brynn Cornell has to be stuck in a nightmare. Just last week, she was riding high as cohost of the popular morning show Sunup. She’s America’s Ray of Sunshine—the girl-next-door beauty who drives up TV ratings while never exuding anything but her trademark positivity and poise. All it took was one huge on-air mistake to expose her snarky side to the world and make it all come crumbling down. Now she’s back in her hometown of Adelaide Springs, Colorado, in a last-ditch attempt to convince viewers she’s not the mean girl they think she is. All she has to do is apologize and capture some feel-good footage reminding everyone she’s just a girl from humble beginnings who’s grateful for her big break, and she might manage to preserve both her career and her image. But this town holds painful memories that she’s not ready to face.

Sebastian Sudworth was on the fast track to the journalist hall of fame. A superstar reporter with a reputation for being in the center of the action, his fearless, relentless coverage of major events around the globe was winning him awards and accolades—until something snapped inside him and he vanished from the scene under mysterious circumstances. Sebastian sought refuge in tiny Adelaide Springs, working odd jobs and trying to blend in as a scruffy mountain town citizen.

When Sebastian is assigned to chauffeur Brynn around town, Brynn is sure he can see right through her carefully cultivated, sunny persona. But she’s determined to do what it takes to maintain her image and save her career—so she’ll just have to charm the socks off Sebastian the same way she charmed her viewers. Easier said than done. It’s no picnic to play nice around someone you hate . . . especially when you might be crazy about them.

Author’s Note: This slow-burn, low-spice/clean enemies-to-lovers rom-com is set in a small town full of quirky citizens and is packed with pop culture, witty banter, and a guaranteed Happily Ever After–provided they can resist the urge to throw each other off a Colorado mountainside first. After all, Brynn (you probably won’t like her at first) is desperately trying to save her career and Sebastian (who’s hiding from his own demons) really just wants to be left alone to sing karaoke in peace.

Thank you to Bibliolifestyle and Thomas Nelson for the gifted copy.

I LIKED IT?

This book has pretty low ratings on Goodreads (3.5) but since this was a part of a tour I read it anyways, y’all I liked it? I did struggle with the FMC. She was a bit uppity and the name dropping was annoying, BUT I did like the general growth over the book.

And I also liked the romance. I wish it had more romance because the pieces that were there were nice. I thought Sebastian and Brynn had a good connection and even when they started off on the wrong foot, found a way to communicate and move forward rather than holding on to grievances.

I thought the audiobook was a great way to read this book and it has definitely inclined me to pick up another by this author!

Overall audience notes:

Contemporary Romance
Language: none
Romance: kisses
Violence: low

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Book Review: Wandering Wild by Lynette Noni

September 18, 2025July 29, 2025 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★☆
Audience: YA Contemporary Romance
Length: 304 pages
Author: Lynette Noni
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Release Date: May 20th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

She hates him. He needs her. Can they survive when all they have is each other?

Zander Rune was the darling of Hollywood until he fell from glory and was labelled a problematic bad boy. His public image needs fixing—fast—or he’ll lose the role of a lifetime, and all his dreams with it.

Charlie Hart is a regular teenage girl who despises everything Zander represents. But thanks to her scheming best friend and an ill-timed social media competition, Charlie finds herself pretending to be Zander’s biggest fan on a four-day reality TV adventure led by renowned survivalist Rykon Hawke.

When their trip goes horribly wrong, Charlie and Zander are left stranded in the wilderness. No Rykon, no film crew, no rescue. The only way they’ll survive is if they trust each other. But in order to do so, both will have to let go of the ghosts of their pasts, and just maybe find themselves—and one another—in the process.

SURPRISINGLY A HIT.

I’ve seen some mixed reviews from friends on this one, but I’m happy to report that waiting for the audiobook was the way to go and I am happy to report I thought that this was a gem. It has some heavier themes that I thought were handled well and I felt all the emotions during those closing scenes after the full truth was explained and friendships were reunited.

I don’t quite know how I feel about the reveal for the wilderness trip. It seemed a bit shady (which I guess reality shows kind of are??), but rubbed me wrong on a few levels.

Otherwise though, I don’t have any major complaints. It was dual POV (with two narrators!!) so I felt really engaged in the story. The romance isn’t at the forefront, but it is there and had a genuinely sweet quality to it. There were a lot of little nuanced moments that struck home for me and I had a good time with this one.

Overall audience notes:

YA Contemporary Romance
Language: low
Romance: kisses
Violence: mild
Content warnings: wilderness excursions that result in life threatening situations, mentions of suicide, driving under the influence of drugs

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ALC Book Review: We Met Like This by Kasie West

September 16, 2025September 7, 2025 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 363 pages
Author: Kasie West
Publisher: Saturday Books
Release Date: September 16th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Beloved author Kasie West’s sparkling adult rom-com debut about a hopeless romantic falling for the one man she never expected

Can a swipe right turn into swept away?

Margot Hart is a hopeless romantic. That’s why she wants to be a literary agent—to help bring romance books to the world. It’s also why she hates dating apps with all her romance loving soul. She wants her own love story to be just as much fun as the books she reads—a mixed up coffee order, a mistaken identity. She’s not going to tell the story that she swiped right on future husband’s shirtless pic for the rest of her life.

The problem is that her most consistent relationship over the last several years is with Oliver, a guy she keeps rematching with on the apps. They’ve only been on one date and it was a disaster…well, until the make out session in the car before parting ways. But, she keeps reminding herself, a make out session does not a relationship make. And so there will not be a date two regardless of how witty their app banter is.

When Margot gets fired from her job on the same day she meets Oliver again, her life becomes a veritable shit show. Her dream career is dying right before her eyes, and Oliver thinks she’s interested in only one a repeat of the hot make out session they had three years ago so she can get him out of her system. And maybe that is all she wants from him, because she and Oliver are definitely not compatible—he doesn’t hit the snooze button, he runs five miles every morning, he reads nonfiction, and worst of all, she didn’t meet him in cute way! But in her scramble to keep her dream career alive, by opening her own agency, Oliver is there with his golden retriever energy, more steady and helpful than any man she’s ever dated. Just when she thinks she’s overcome her app bias, she realizes that maybe it’s not her who’s holding back, but him. And his reasons are more than she bargained for.

Kasie West’s romantic and sexy adult debut is full of witty banter, meet cutes gone awry and, ultimately, true love.

IT GOT BETTER.

I stand firm on the fact that this book could have (and should have) been started in different manner. I think it was unnecessary, but I digress. I’m grateful the rest of the book went much better.

There were a handful of nuanced things I didn’t like in this [adult] debut but I think the bones were there and I’d read another KW romance. I’ve loved her young adult books for years and this was a decent jump into another category.

I liked Oliver the most and thought he was charming with some good golden retriever energy. He kept showing up (in a good way) and proved to Margot a lot of things she was missing out on. And I loved the family dynamics too. They were complicated and had plenty of squabbling but I think it felt realistic and I enjoyed seeing that side of the story too.

Margot was fine. Occasionally frustrating, but in the end, she had a good arc and got to where she deserved to be. I did like her inner dialogue and the banter between her and Oliver.

Overall audience notes: