ARC/ALC Book Review: Falling Like Leaves (Bramble Falls #1) by Misty Wilson

September 2, 2025August 22, 2025 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: YA Contemporary Romance
Length: 352 pages
Author: Misty Wilson
Publisher: Simon Teen
Release Date: September 2nd, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Gilmore Girls meets Jenny Han in this autumnal teen rom-com about a city girl stuck in a quaint small town who must confront her future and her old flame while the town prepares for an annual fall festival.

Ellis has a lot of expectations for her senior year, but moving from Manhattan to Bramble Falls, Connecticut is not one of them. Yet in the wake of her parents’ separation, that’s exactly where she and her mother are headed.

Bramble Falls might be charming, but it’s also full of distractions. Like local barista Cooper Barnett, Ellis’s one-time best friend—and first kiss—who has not only majorly glowed up but wants nothing to do with Ellis.

Then there’s the Falling Leaves Festival, a month-long tourist attraction run by Ellis’s aunt—celebrating everything autumn. The festival seems nice and all, but Ellis doesn’t have time to be roped into her aunt’s enthusiastic planning. Dragged to each event, she can’t stop bumping into Cooper, the one person she’s hoping to avoid.

But the longer she stays in Bramble Falls, the harder it is to pretend she’s not falling for this town and the people in it. As her return to Manhattan gets pushed further and further out, Ellis is forced to confront exactly what she wants for her future—and what that means for her present.

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

JUST RIGHT.

I haven’t read a young adult contemporary romance in a hot minute because I often feel like I’ve just aged out of enjoying these stories but then I get sucked in by a super cute cover that screams FALL and I had to read it. And I genuinely enjoyed it!!

I liked that this was a true YA book. The language was low and it stayed at kisses only. And as I mentioned earlier, there were so many fall things and I loved them all. The small town atmosphere surrounded by apple picking, horse carriages, pumpkins and more, set such a beautiful scene. I could not get enough.

The romance was great. Relatable and full of growth and learning after mistakes. Ellis has been sitting in a blind spot for so long it took her a bit to come to terms about the box she’d been sitting in. I appreciated her willingness to apologize and try to do better next time attitude. It gave Ellis a sense of realism that I think is what’s needed for a younger audience too. Cooper was just super cute too which made their interactions very endearing.

I would absolutely read another book from Misty Wilson.

Overall audience notes:

Young adult contemporary romance
Language: mild
Romance: kisses
Violence: none
Content warnings: parents who are separating (with infidelity as part of the reason)

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ARC Book Review: Soulmatch by Rebecca Danzenbaker

July 28, 2025 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★
Audience: YA Dystopian Romance
Length: 496 pages
Author: Rebecca Danzenbaker
Publisher: Simon Teen
Release Date: July 29th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Two-hundred years after World War III, the world is at peace, all thanks to the soul-identification system. Every 18-year-old must report to the government to learn about their past lives, a terrifying process known as kirling. Good souls leave the institute with their inheritance, a career path, and if they’re lucky, a soulmate. Bad souls leave in handcuffs.

It’s a nerve-wracking ordeal for Sivon, who, given her uncanny ability to win every chess match, already suspects her soul isn’t normal. Turns out, she was right to worry. Sivon’s results stun not only her, but the entire world, making her the object of public scrutiny and anonymous threats.

Saddled with an infuriating and off-limits bodyguard, Sivon is thrust into a high-stakes game where souls are pawns and rules don’t exist. As deaths mount, Sivon must decipher friend from foe while protecting her heart against impossible odds. One wrong move could destroy the future lives of everyone Sivon loves, and she can’t let that happen, even if they’ll never love her back.

Thank you Simon Audio for the audiobook and Simon Teen for the ARC (gifted).

IT WAS OKAY?

I don’t know quite what to do with this one. I think if young adult dystopian is your jam then you should definitely try this. That’s a genre I’ve always been mixed on so this was leaned towards a miss for me. It wasn’t all bad, just missed a few marks.

There were many hallmark moments of the nostalgic dystopian favorites throughout. Competition and power checks and a romance woven in too. The audiobook was solid and I do recommend that format as well. I liked the growth for Sivon and how she started to learn who she was and stand up for herself as the plot kept mounting with intensity.

I wish I had felt more entranced by this book, but I think I would try another by this author.

Overall audience notes:

YA Dystopian Romance
Language: mild
Romance: kisses
Violence: moderate
Content warnings: death, loss of loved ones, su!icide, grief

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Book Review: Let’s Make a Scene (Theo & Cynthie #2) by Laura Wood

July 27, 2025July 7, 2025 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★.25
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 352 pages
Author: Laura Wood
Publisher: Atria Books
Release Date: July 1st, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

The companion novel to Laura Wood’s Under Your Spell follows Theo Eliott’s best friend Cynthie Taylor as she’s pulled back into a fake PR relationship with Jack Turner-Jones, the one costar she swore she’d never work with again.

When Cynthie Taylor gets her first real acting job, starring in a small British movie, she is over the moon. There is only one problem…Cynthie’s arrogant and annoyingly handsome costar Jack hates her, and the feeling is definitely mutual. While they may be at war behind the scenes, their on-screen chemistry is palpable, and the studio sees an opportunity—have the two young stars fake a romance that will charm fans and draw crowds.

Thirteen years later, Cynthie and Jack have successfully kept their promise to stay far away from one another, until a surprising offer comes to make a sequel to the cult classic that launched their careers. But there’s a catch: they must also rekindle their pretend relationship…and this time there’s a documentary crew following their every move.

Cynthie and Jack both desperately need this film to work, but can two ex-rivals ever really trust each other? And what happens when the roles they’re playing start to feel all too real?

Thank you to Simon Audio for the gifted audiobook.

HOT DANG.

I’m officially a Laura Wood fan now. Two books in and I adore the way she crafts romances. And I don’t even like celebrity romances?! Which just goes to show that the right author can change your view,

This was a hot and angsty second chance romance and I looooved all of the forced proximity filming content that brought Cynthie and Jack together again and again. The banter, pranks, tender moments, we got them all. And I didn’t mind most of the flashback chapters either because it did truly help set the scene more and understand what created the initial fallout.

I was swooning, smiling, laughing throughout. The audiobook is stellar and this book is a gem. I liked it even more than Under Your Spell.

Overall audience notes:

Contemporary Romance
Language: strong
Romance: 2-3 open door
Violence: low
Content warnings: cheating (not the main characters), strained parent relationships

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ARC/ALC Book Review: Steel & Spellfire by Laura E. Weymouth

July 22, 2025July 19, 2025 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★
Audience: YA Fantasy Romance
Length: 368 pages
Author: Laura E. Weymouth
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Release Date: July 22nd, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A devastatingly gifted mage with clandestine romantic connections to a Royal Guard joins the court social season in an attempt to undo past wrongs, only to fall under suspicion when a creature with powers shockingly like her own begins slaughtering her fellow debutantes.

Pandora Small has two ruling objectives: first, to keep the prodigious extent of her power secret, in a world where mages are feared and governed by suffocating laws. Second, to find her wealthy and noble-born patron, a shadowy figure bound to Pandora by magic, who stole her childhood and grew her power until she became a weapon rather than a girl. To that end, she’s posing as an Ingenue, a privileged and petted young woman of strictly limited abilities, who is allowed access to the royal court’s social season in order to find a husband and patron to control her magic.

But on Pandora’s arrival at court, Kit Beacon, one of the most promising members of the Royal Guard, inadvertently learns the true scope of her power. Privately sympathetic towards mages and the difficulties they face, Beacon decides to keep Pandora’s secret. But when someone or something with powers terribly like Pandora’s own begins slaughtering her fellow Ingenues, Beacon’s resolve to keep what he knows about her private is put to the test.

Tasked with protecting all the girls in the palace, not just one, Beacon will have to decide whether Pandora is a suspect or an ally, while to win his trust, Pandora will have to let him know more of her still—the worst of who she is and what she’s done. Because only unity between them during the social whirlwind to come will enable Pan to find her patron and Beacon the killer, and ensure they both see justice meted out.

Thank you Simon Audio for the audiobook and Simon Teen for the ARC (gifted).

WELL.

I think this was trying to do too much in a standalone. Maybe spread out across a duology would have been better? The ideas and framework were interesting and I don’t think there was anything inherently wrong with the writing style. I just kept waiting for everything to truly come together or for me to feel invested, and I never got to that stage.

I liked the characters. It is young adult appropriate which I know can be hard to find, but with kisses only and no excess language I think a younger audience would like this.

And I did enjoy the regency-esque world. I love fantasy books with that dynamic. There’s some good scenes and I don’t think it was a BAD book, just not for me.

Overall audience notes: