Wow, this was disgusting. 

Thank you to SMP Romance for the ARC of Can’t Help Falling in Love by Sophie Sullivan. All opinions are my own. 

This was such a cute book. I loved that it had sweet relationships while also dealing with some heavier topics such as grief. 

Will and Lexi’s relationship was adorable from the very beginning. I loved their meet cute, and I enjoyed watching Will treat Lexi so well through all of their circumstances. 

Lexi was a good protagonist that had some commitment issues, but I overall liked her. Will was the star of the book for me because he was just so charming and thoughtful. 

Besides Will’s parents, I did really like his family as well as his best friend. They welcomed Lexi right into their group, and I would love to read more stories about them. 

Lexi’s mom definitely had her issues, but I understood where they came from. I liked seeing her transform throughout the story. She was definitely struggling with grief, but I thought she handled it as well as she could. Also, she made some much-needed progress in the second half of the story. 

Lexi’s best friend was so amazing and caring towards her and her mom. She was honest with her even when it’s not what Lexi wanted to hear. While Lexi’s high school friends seemed shallow at first, they did end up growing on me. 

Overall, this was an enjoyable romance book that I would recommend! 

 

Thank you to the author for the ALC of Runaway Bride and Prejudice by Emma St. Clair. All opinions are my own. 

I previously read this book as an eBook in 2024 and loved it. My re-read was just as amazing! 

Runaway Bride and Prejudice is such a fun romantic comedy. Van and Amelia had such great chemistry, and I loved reading about them again. 

I loved the audiobook narration for this book! It was so fun to have the dual narrators for the dual POVs. I definitely recommend this format. 

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Thank you to the author for the ARC of Runaway Bride and Prejudice by Emma St. Clair. All opinions are my own. 

Runaway Bride and Prejudice is book five in the Appies Hockey series. While it can be read as a standalone, it is best read in order. 

I absolutely loved this book! Besides all the fun tropes I knew about going into the story, there were some surprise tropes and hilarious moments of drama. 

Van was such a lovable and flirty MMC. I loved how he interacted with his teammates and with Amelia. He was so thoughtful, funny, and protective towards Amelia. 

I loved that Amelia learned to stand up to her dad and that Van seemed to bring out the best of Amelia. 

The group chat with the hockey players was so fun, and I loved getting to know more about each guy through that chat. 

There were so many moments that made me gasp or shriek because they were unexpected or just made me so happy. 

Here is a quote that I loved from Van: "I don't come close to being good enough for Amelia. But if she were mine? I would never let her go. I would spend every waking day and every single breath just hoping I could show her the love she deserves." 

Overall, this book was an absolute delight and I’m sad that I finished it so quickly. 

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for the ARC of Given Our History by Kristyn J. Miller. All opinions are my own. 

Given Our History is a second chance romance with dual timelines. It follows Clara and Teddy as they grow up together, lose touch, and then find themselves together again. 

I usually love second chance romances, especially when they include scenes from the past. 

My favorite part of this book was the chapters set in the past. I especially enjoyed the ones where Clara and Teddy were still teenagers. 

While I thought this book was fine, I was disappointed in a few aspects. 

The present-day storyline was very slow paced. Nothing really happened in it until after the halfway mark. I also don’t feel like Clara had really matured much from her teenage years; she was still making the same mistakes instead of learning from them. 

I really liked Teddy as a character, but I thought that he deserved better than the way Clara treated him. He was patient and forgiving in ways that Clara didn’t deserve. I think in general, Clara was just a really hard character to root for because she seemed so selfish and so focused on a career that she didn’t even love that she threw away her relationships. 

Overall, I would only recommend this book to some people if you like career-minded women and slower paced romances. 

Thank you to Bethany House Publishers for the ARC and finished copy of Shield of the Mighty by Connilyn Cossette. All opinions are my own. 

Last year, I read the first book in this series called Voice of the Ancient. I really enjoyed that book and was excited to be back in that world. Shield of the Mighty far exceeded my expectations. It was just so good that I didn’t want to put it down! 

This biblical fiction story has so many great aspects to it including romance, a surprising plot, a focus on family, and spiritual growth. I loved this book from start to finish, and I was surprised by so much of the plot, and I loved the characters so much that I kept wanting to pick this book back up. I can’t wait to see where this story goes in the future. 

One of my favorite parts about this book was the romance. While the first book in this series had romance, I feel like it was a bit more of the focus in this story. I loved Zevi and Yochana and their many interactions. While Zevi wasn’t justified in his actions early on, I liked that he learned from those mistakes and that Yochana was such a forgiving person. I think that they both suited each other so well and really brought out the best in each other. 

Besides the romance, both main characters grew so much as people. It was beautiful to see how they grew spiritually and how they allowed themselves to learn from their mistakes and not stay set in their old beliefs. They both had past trauma to deal with, and I liked seeing them be vulnerable with each other and the people around them. 

The plot in this story was so exciting and had so many unexpected twists and turns. There was a moment in particular that I gasped out loud because I was so shocked. The unexpectedness of a lot of the plot made this story so exciting, and it kept my interest the whole time. 

Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone (even if you aren’t a Christian) because the story is just so unique and interesting. I can’t wait to see what happens next for these characters!