a portrait artist who has a brain surgery that leads to her experiencing face blindness?! 😱 of course chaos ensues in this closed-door romance, and a love triangle seemingly develops, but don’t worry, it all ends up resolving quite easily (remember, she doesn’t recognize faces…) 🫣 it had moments of schitt’s creek vibes, and cinderella evil-step family vibes, and was tame in the romance department, too! 

the title really tells you everything you need to know— this one is all about rich people behaving badly on fire island over a summer, and their lives all pretty much falling apart when someone ends up dead. it’s great summer reading, but won’t make you feel good (unless in a weird way you feel better about your own life choices when seeing how foolish theirs are). there’s nobody to really root for, but the tangled web of it all kept me curious enough to read until the end, where i was annoyed at the conclusion. 🙄 

with as many hours of @thepopcast + @faith.adjacent as i’ve listened to, @knoxmccoy and @jamiebgolden (who co-wrote this book, ofc) feel like friends, and this book felt like an extension of all the conversations we (they) have on the podcasts. 

in summary— very good, honest and self-deprecating, funny without trying too hard, thoughtful and insightful, relevant and laden with pop culture references, and genuinely helpful (which many books try and fail to be). 

grateful for the ways knox invites to live with a posture of openness and curiosity to new ways, to reimagining possibilities, to reconsidering… all things. 

(i had to.)

i’m not often one for regency romances (…but i did binge the bridgerton books…) but this one?! with a trans heroine?! i loved it. the premise was so perfect and the story was so tender and raw and beautiful! it did feel a wee bit long and it had some wandering parts but overall, i loved the central love story here so much!! 🥹 the redemption arc! the rekindling of old brotherly friendship turned romance! the freedom of living as your true self! 

@haleyjakobson wrote an absolute GEM with this one. 🤍🥹 truly, this book healed something in me and was so freeing and moving to read— seeing a part of your story (even the hardest, darkest part) reflected in a book and character like this is SUCH a gift. 

i remember all too well the unraveling of my trauma and the questioning of my own role in it and the feelings around learning how to name what had happened to me as r—pe.

and navigating evolving friendships with people who were integral to your life in the years where it all happened? and learning to how to open up to new people, new hope, healing, and love?

it’s all on these pages, so beautifully, so honestly, such a tender and true (and also funny! and delightful! and swoony!) story of self-discovery and community and connection. 

i adored it. i’m grateful for it. i felt seen and known and cared for in reading it. and that is no small thing. 🥰

if you’re in the mood for a you’ve got mail style romance with an author and an editor, this is for you! it was cute and fun and fine but nothing special but that’s okay!