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Book Review: The Best Worst Thing by Lauren Okie

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Rating: ★★★★.5
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 416 pages
Author: Lauren Okie
Publisher: Avon
Release Date: October 14th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

From a stunning new voice in romance, Lauren Okie’s The Best Worst Thing is an intimate story about starting over, second chances, and two people who cannot help falling into each other’s orbit once again.

All things considered, Nicole Speyer has a pretty amazing life. At least that’s what she tells herself. She’s got a beautiful house, a relatively successful fertility podcast, and a perfect husband, Gabe. The only thing that’s less than ideal is her years-long struggle with infertility—and how, with every passing day, she and Gabe seem to drift a little further apart.

But then, mere hours after a Hail Mary embryo transfer to her gestational carrier, Nicole discovers Gabe’s been sleeping with their dog walker, and her world turns upside down. Suddenly, a jobless, childless, and now-husbandless Nicole finds herself at the doorstep of somebody she tried to say goodbye to a long time ago.

Logan Milgram: a former colleague with serious golden retriever energy who happens to be laugh-out-loud funny, a colossal nerd, and legitimately kind of hot. When Logan opens his door that night, it’s like no time has passed. And as they fall back into each other’s lives, Nicole starts recognizing herself in the mirror again. She even begins to like what she sees. And then, like a cruel joke, she gets the news she’s spent a lifetime waiting for: her surrogate is finally pregnant. 

As her relationship with Logan develops from a blast-from-the-past fling into something much deeper, Nicole struggles to balance her past, present, and future. Racing against the clock, she must learn to forgive her body for falling short and recognize that sometimes, it’s the biggest betrayals in life that set us free. With everything on the line, can Nicole accept love from the greatest man she’s ever known . . . even if it’s nothing like the story she’d written for herself?

Thank you Avon Books for the gifted copy.

WHAT A MESS.

That I honestly could not put down. This wasn’t on my radar as it truthfully didn’t seem like a romance I’d love BUT HERE WE ARE FOLKS. Lauren Okie has done it and I will be seeking information on her next book because this one had me in a chokehold.

It also made me feel every. single. emotion. I was all over the place in my righteous anger over all the things and also just wanting to sit and cry with Nicole too.

The romance is SWOOOONY. It worked for me on so many levels. I adored Logan, gosh he was a vibrant green flag. I will say there was one too many “break-ups” that Nicole instigated to where I did get frustrated. Otherwise though, this was a genuinely amazing book. it covered some very difficult topics (please read content warnings first) and I thought handled them well. It felt raw and an uphill battle that I loved seeing resolved into a new kind of hope and peace for the days ahead.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: strong
  • Romance: 3-4ish open door
  • Violence: mild
  • Content warnings major themes of infertility, miscarriage, surrogacy, infidelity, grief/depression depiction, drug use

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Book Review: Class Clown (The Thornback Society #4) by Aspen Hadley

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Rating: ★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 345 pages
Author: Aspen Hadley
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: November 1st, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Ruby Jenkins is obsessed with two romance novels, and making life into an adventure. She’s always up for anything, especially flirting her way to Mr. Right.

When her latest conquest ends abruptly, she finds herself in need of a summer job. In desperation, she agrees to be the on-site nurse at a sleepaway summer camp for kids, where her younger brother will be her boss.

Ruby immediately begins picturing the romantic moments she’ll create in the mountains, but none of her daydreams included bunking with her brother and his best friend – the robot.

Nico Crawford is ex-military, and while he may look like he stepped off the cover of a magazine, to Ruby he’s always been a machine with less personality than a rock, a real side character with nothing to add to the plot.

As the weeks roll by, however, Ruby’s assumptions are put to the test. And when plot twists threaten her way of thinking, only she can decide if she’s truly ready to turn the next page.

TRYING A LITTLE TOO HARD.

I have really enjoyed this series and was looking forward to this book a lot. And I feel a bit disappointed in the story as a whole. I did enjoy many of the romance aspects. It’s really sweet and I loved how reserved and kind Nico was to Ruby. He’s a gentle giant type I could easily get behind and the little soft touches and kisses absolutely melted me.

What wasn’t working for me was the humor. While I found some funny, I found most odd? I think that’s the word I’m looking for. It just wasn’t my type of humor and thus I kind of cringed at the jokes or scenes. Ruby was trying too hard with the matchmaker aspects too and I tried to hustle past those scenes.

I think the ending came together well and I did like the extended epilogue and getting to see all of the couples again. Ultimately it’s a good series even if this was my least favorite of the bunch.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: none
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: low

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ALC Book Review: Lights Out by Jenni Fletcher

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Rating: ★★★
Audience: NA Sports Romance
Length: 346 pages
Author: Jenni Fletcher
Publisher: Simon Audio
Release Date: February 3rd, 2026
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A sizzling Formula One romance perfect for fans of BookTok faves Hannah Grace, Lauren Asher, and Kat Ransom.

He’s a future F1 champion, but she’s making it hard to stay on track…

F1’s resident bad boy Giovanni Bauer isn’t used to losing, but when his non-stop partying leaves his position on the team at risk, he needs to turn his reputation around – fast.

Maisie Evans is a dedicated psychology student, desperate to break into Gio’s competitive world and reignite her dreams of a glittering sports career, but with no clue how to do it.

When Gio and Maisie’s worlds collide, the answer to their problems seems a fake relationship. She gets to travel the world and brush shoulders with sports royalty, and he gets to fix his image by settling down.

But as sparks fly on and off the track, will their ‘relationship’ see them cross the line together, or crash and burn?

Thank you Simon Audio for the gifted audiobook.

I’M NOT FEELING IT.

I’m 0/2 on F1 romances right now and that sucks. I did like the F1 content in this book. It felt present but not overwhelming and the behind the scenes stuff and such worked well for the plot. I also did enjoy the audiobook narrator and had no issues listening.

Both of the main characters caused me to be annoyed one too many times. It was as if this book was marketed/labeled as young adult, but actually had adult content with characters who acted 15. It was not a good look and the drama wasn’t drama-ing well.

Some of the romance was sweet/swoony and other times it went right back to the trying to hard to be dramatic issue. I did like both of their families and the kindness and love in those scenes.

I’m not really vibing with idea of picking up another book by this author, we’ll see.

Overall audience notes:

  • NA Sports Romance
  • Language: moderate
  • Romance: 2 open door
  • Violence: mild
  • Content warnings: car crashes and resulting injuries, mentions of loss of a parent

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ALC Book Review: Love Me Tomorrow by Emiko Jean

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: YA Contemporary Romance
Length: 352 pages
Author: Emiko Jean
Publisher: Simon Teen
Release Date: February 3rd, 2026
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

From the New York Times bestselling author of Tokyo Ever After comes a laugh-out-loud funny and deeply moving rom-com about a girl who starts receiving letters from the love of her life—writing to her from years in the future.

What if your true love could write to you from the future?

Seventeen-year-old Emma Nakamura-Thatcher doesn’t believe in love, not after her parents’ bitter divorce. So when she attends the festival of Tanabata, her wish is simple: proof that love is real and can last.

Emma thinks little of her wish…until she finds a note from someone claiming to be her greatest love writing to her from the future. It has to be a prank, right? But as the notes pour in, each revealing secrets only she knows, Emma is forced to accept the impossible: This is really happening. Someone is actually reaching out to her from across time.

But who? Ezra, the musical prodigy who makes her pulse race? Theo, the literal boy next door who’s known her since childhood? Or Colin, the overly confident, overly handsome, overly rich kid she meets while cleaning his mega-mansion?

As Emma races to uncover the identity of the letter writer, she’ll discover that love is more than real—it’s the most powerful force in the universe. And it’s been waiting for her all along.

Thank you Simon Teen for the eARC and Simon Audio for the gifted audiobook.

A SWEET READ.

I will say I loved that this felt truly YA and a book I could hand to that audience as well. It’s content appropriate with relatable characters and a storyline that works for the age group. As a fellow child of divorce I thought the rep here was on point too.

The one thing I’m still tilting my head at was the *letters from the future*. I was intrigued by the idea initially and based off of how I thought it would end I was excited to see everything come together. BUT BUT BUT then, when the ending did come up I felt like the letters didn’t even matter anymore and it took away from the overall story for me.

I adored the soft romance for Emma. And I just liked Emma. She’s likeable and endearing and making mistakes while also trying to do the right thing and was someone I wanted to cheer on. I liked seeing her relationship with her parents and those around her and how Emma tried to navigate many different situations.

I’ll definitely continue to read Emiko Jean’s books!!

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Contemporary Romance
  • Language: low
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: low
  • Content warnings: divorce