romance

Review: Dolly All the Time by Annabel Monaghan

4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Dolly Brick is a single mom who has moved back to her hometown for the summer to help her family. The wealthy, well-known Stewart Whitfield needs a fake girlfriend after his very public breakup, and strikes a deal with Dolly. Of course, this fake dating turns into something more.

Fake dating isn’t my most favorite trope of all, but it was cute in this story. Dolly had a lot of baggage, and that made her somewhat relatable.   The story felt a little slow in parts, and I wasn’t invested by the third-act breakup. It didn’t feel very resolved in the end, and I wasn’t rooting for Stewart.

Overall, it’s a sweet, charming, and readable summer romance!

Thank you Putnam and Netgalley for the eARC! Dolly All the Time will be out May 26.

03.20.26 | leave a comment

Review: And Now, Back to You by B.K. Borison

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Jackson and Delilah have to figure out how to work together. Having only run into each other a few times, they are now sharing an assignment to cover a huge snowstorm.
The two couldn’t be more different. After becoming a parent figure at a young age, Jackson is careful, diligent, and hates cameras. Delilah loves the spotlight and chaos, is bold, and spontaneous. Still, they have some deep things in common, and the chemistry heats up between them seemingly in no time. These (nearly but not quite enemy) colleagues become friends, and then much more.

“I can love you in the mountains and I can love you back home. Watch and see how good I’m going to be at it.”

🛏️ there’s only one bed
🧍‍♀️🧍‍♂️ forced proximity
☁️ ☀️ grumpy/sunshine
🧲 opposites attract

I really didn’t think I’d love this as much as the first in the series, but I was WRONG.
I love it just as much.  I love Jackson and I’d love for him to talk more about weather… and anything, really.

“Be too much with me.”

03.12.26 | leave a comment

Review: People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry

“I still have a lot to figure out, but the one thing I know is, wherever you are, that’s where I belong. I’ll never belong anywhere like I belong with you.”

5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Poppy and Alex, total opposites, are best friends and take a trip together every summer. After some distance, Poppy asks Alex to go on one more vacation, hoping to fix their friendship. It’s a friends-to-lovers story built on years of memories, buried feelings, and a whole lot of tension.

I had read two Emily Henry books previously, years ago: Beach Read and Book Lovers. Neither were my favorite, and so I assumed I was not much of an Emily Henry fan. But, I want to watch PWMOV the movie, and I always try to read the book first.

“And that’s how it is in real life too. You can love someone and still know the future you’d have with them wouldn’t work for you, or for them, or maybe even for both of you.”

I am a big fan of friends-to-lovers. The chemistry between Poppy and Alex felt strong from the start, but their history over the years and knowing each other so well made their mutual pining top-tier.

Emily Henry’s writing is charming, witty, and easy to fly through. The dual timeline gave the story more depth without dragging, and it was easy to fly through.

I read this via audiobook, which I highly recommend if you didn’t like it in print as much. I cannot wait to watch the movie!!

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