Book Review: Any Trope but You by Victoria Lavine

May 5, 2025April 27, 2025 GoodeyReads1 Comment

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 336 pages
Author: Victoria Lavine
Publisher: Atria Books
Release Date: April 1st, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A bestselling romance author flees to Alaska to reinvent herself and write her first murder mystery, but the rugged resort proprietor soon has her fearing she’s living in a rom-com plot instead in this earnestly spectacular debut by a stunning new voice.

Beloved romance author Margot Bradley has a dark secret: she doesn’t believe in Happily Ever Afters. Not for herself, not for her readers, and not even for her characters, for whom she secretly writes alternate endings that swap weddings and babies for divorce papers and the occasional slashed tire. When her Happily Never After document is hacked and released to the public, she finds herself canceled by her readers and dropped by her publisher.

Desperate to find a way to continue supporting her chronically ill sister, Savannah, Margot decides to trade meet-cutes for murder. The fictional kind. Probably. But when Savannah books Margot a six-week stay in a remote Alaskan resort to pen her first murder mystery, Margot finds herself running from a moose and leaping into the arms of the handsome proprietor, making her fear she’s just landed in a romance novel instead.

The last thing Dr. Forrest Wakefield ever expected was to leave his dream job as a cancer researcher to become a glorified bellhop. What he’s really doing at his family’s resort is caring for his stubborn, ailing father, and his puzzle-loving mind is slowly freezing over—until Margot shows up. But Forrest doesn’t have any room in his life for another person he could lose, especially one with a checkout date.

As long snowy nights and one unlikely trope after another draw Margot and Forrest together, they’ll each have to learn to overcome their fears and set their aside assumptions before Margot leaves—or risk becoming a Happily Never After story themselves.

Thank you to Simon Audio for the gifted audiobook.

WELL I ENJOYED THE HECK OUT OF THIS.

Rather ridiculous to start (and fearing for my star rating) I persevered through the beginning chapters and found a book that had some resemblance to The Simple Wild (not a copycat, promise, just some vibes), and that I was charmed by. The resistance to the romance tropes only brought Margot and Forrest closer together and I am here for it all.

I will say having TWO 20-30 minute chapters that were solely spice was not my favorite (and that wasn’t the only spice here). I could have used less of that but I can’t deny how much of a connection I felt between these two resistant love birds. They were charming, fought hard, and loved harder.

All of that caretaker moments were felt. I loved seeing both Forest and Margot learn to live their OWN lives and still help and care for those most important to them. The side characters truly added to this book and I loved loved loved Margot and her sister’s relationship. There was a lot of goodness woven into this book.

Overall audience notes:

Contemporary Romance
Language: moderate
Romance: 4+ open door
Violence: low
Content warnings: loss of a family member (recounted)

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Book Review: Fearless (The Powerless Trilogy #3) by Lauren Roberts

April 16, 2025April 9, 2025 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: YA Fantasy Romance
Length: 608 pages
Author: Lauren Roberts
Publisher: Simon Teen
Release Date: April 8th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Paedyn and Kai are reunited but face a terrible decision in this thrilling conclusion to the New York Times bestselling romantic fantasy trilogy perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas and The Red Queen.

Paedyn Gray and Kai Azer return to the Kingdom of Ilya…

And Paedyn has a life-altering choice to make. Whatever she decides will determine her fate—and the fate of those around her—forever.

In the ultimate battle of love and loyalty, who wins?

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

FANTASTIC CONCLUSION.

Where do I even begin?! I devoured this audiobook in two days (I had a long excursion one day so admittedly that helped) BUT ANYWAYS. I couldn’t put this book down!!! The audio production is amazing and really brings this book to a new level for me. I love listening to these characters.

I was a little worried about some plot points and different pieces but when I finished the book and realized the necessity of the decisions behind the journey, I felt more at peace with what went down.

The romance is once again a JOURNEY. The banter between Kai and Pae is still absolutely everything to me!!! And I might have to read this physically to highlight all of the moments between them. There’s sweet, and heat, and passion, and anger, and fear, and ALL THE EMOTIONS. I love all the emotions.

And I do think it wrapped up in the ways that made the most sense. I loved having a third POV (you’ll see!!!) because that story made me theorize HARD and when my theories were correct I was pleasantly shocked because I don’t think I’ve read that before and I love new to me things.

This book had a little bit of everything and is truly one of the most solid YA trilogies I’ve read in a hot minute. The conclusion I’ve been hoping for delivered.

Overall audience notes:

YA Fantasy Romance
Language: mild
Romance: one closed door
Violence: moderate – high
Content warnings: loss of loved ones

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Book Review: Know Your Newlywed by Elena Armas

January 30, 2025January 18, 2025 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 4 hours, 54 minutes
Author: Elena Armas
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Release Date: December 10th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Tyler Posey (Teen Wolf) and Mary Mouser (Cobra Kai) star in this swoon-worthy, full-cast rom-com! When two super-fans of a beloved dating gameshow hear that it’s being rebooted, they decide to team up and fake a marriage to compete in the hilarious new audiobook Know Your Newlywed, written by Heather Taylor and Hillary Nussbaum, and executive produced by New York Times bestselling author Elena Armas.

Cleo is a researcher with big dreams of a PhD in anthrozoology, and a guilty pleasure obsession with Know Your Newlywed, a decades-old gameshow where married couples compete by answering obscure questions about each other. She’s more invested in her career than in finding a relationship of her own, though—that is, until she comes across Javi’s dating app profile, which says he’s “looking for someone to win Know Your Newlywed with.”

Sparks fly, and when Cleo and Javi catch wind of a reboot of their beloved show, they apply on a whim, pretending to be newlyweds themselves. Before they know it, they’re cast as contestants, playing the part of smitten married couple better than they could’ve imagined. Their very real chemistry is impossible to ignore, and as the competition heats up, they quickly become America’s sweethearts. But how far can Cleo and Javi take their secret? And as they inch closer and closer to a life-changing cash prize, will the mounting pressure and their individual ambitions get in the way of their blossoming romance? Or is their connection strong enough to last once the cameras stop rolling?

Thank you to Simon Audio for the gifted audiobook.

SHORT & QUIRKY.

There’s nothing SPECIAL about this book but if you’re looking for a good novella to spend an afternoon with, I’d recommend it. I was a big fan of the newlywed game once upon a time and I thought the play on that show was showcased well here. There’s quirky contestants and a little bit of drama and it’s a fun listen with the full cast.

I liked the romance between Cleo and Javi. It’s unconventional and works well. The sparks flew and they were just so sweet on each other. As I am prone to do, the third act bugged me a bit, but it’s fine. I liked how the novella wrapped up and the audio production was fantastic.

Overall audience notes:

Contemporary Romance Novella
Language: mild
Romance: one closed door

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Book Review: The Dagger and the Flame (The City of Fantome #1) by Catherine Doyle

October 29, 2024October 8, 2024 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★.75
Audience: NA Fantasy Romance
Length: 510 pages
Author: Catherine Doyle
Publisher: S&S
Release Date: September 26th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

From the number one bestselling author Catherine Doyle comes the most fiery enemies-to-lovers romantasy of the year. Perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas, Leigh Bardugo and Stephanie Garber.

In the dark underbelly of a beautiful city, two rival assassins are pitted against each other in a deadly game of revenge, where the most dangerous mistake of all is falling in love…

In Fantome, a kingdom of cobbled streets, flickering lamplight, beautiful buildings, and secret catacombs, Shade-magic is a scarce and deadly commodity controlled by two enemy the Cloaks and the Daggers – the thieves and the assassins. On the night of her mother’s murder, 17-year-old Seraphine runs for her life. Seeking sanctuary with the Cloaks, Sera’s heart is set on revenge. But are her secret abilities a match for the dark-haired boy whose quicksilver eyes follow her around the city?

Nothing can prepare Sera for the moment she finally comes face-to-face with Ransom, heir to the Order of Daggers. And Ransom is shocked to discover that this unassuming farmgirl wields a strange and blazing magic he has never seen before… Among rumours of monsters stalking the streets and the rival guilds grappling for control of Fantome’s underworld, Sera and Ransom are drawn together by something more than just magic and must face a deadly choice – forgiveness or vengeance? Kiss or kill? Dagger or Flame?

Thank you to Simon Audio for the gifted audiobook.

I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH THIS ONE.

Ooooo y’all. This review feels tricky. I enjoyed the story and characters in a vibe kind of way. I liked the audiobook and I was never upset at what I was reading, it just didn’t match.

For a “young adult” (it is definitely not YA) there was so much out of pocket language. I’m not generally bothered by language but with the way these characters were written it didn’t sync with the story. The writing felt young YA and the characters were trying to be new adult. I would categorize this as new adult too based off of the spice that felt very out of place and at the wrong times too.

The reveals are easy to guess from the beginning. I wasn’t surprised in any way. And while that’s not always a bad thing, since I wasn’t fully engaged by the time things were coming together I was ready to move on with a new book.

I do plan to read the next one, I’ll definitely keep going because I’m curious enough to see if book two shakes out these intro cobwebs. Once again begging for traditional pubs to make new adult an actual genre.

Overall audience notes: