3.5 ⭐️

Thanks to St. Martin’s Griffin for the copy of this ARC.

I love this book series - I can always count on Trish Doller for a solid read and was really in the mood for a travel romance. This time, the story centers around Anna’s best friend Carla and Keane’s brother Eamon. While Carla wasn’t my favorite, I’m glad she finally came around to her senses in the middle of the book. Eamon, on the other hand, is just perfection and I could live in the Irish setting of this book with him and his family. The insta-love storyline was very different from Trish’s last books, but it worked well in this scenario. There is also a dementia storyline and lots of presence from our favorite characters from this series, so that was fun. I definitely could’ve used a few extra chapters!

Thank you Bookouture for the gifted copy of this book!

Hellooooo perfect holiday romance. This book is SO STINKIN CUTE and focuses on a friends-to-lovers trope between Molly and Andrew. For ten years, they’ve been catching flights back home from Chicago to Dublin for Christmas… but this year, a storm throws everything into a tizzy. The alternating timelines between past flights and the present is perfection and totally had me on the edge of my seat waiting to see what would happen in the present timeline. The tension is built perfectly. The families, gift-giving, and declarations of love in this book are just amazing, and I loved that the main conflicts were super reasonable and made a ton of sense with the storyline. This is literally the perfect holiday read.

Thanks to Forever for the gifted ARC.

Before I Let Go is a wonderful picture of the realities of marriage and loss, and a beautiful promotion for going to therapy. Yasmen and Josiah experience two big losses in a row, causing their marriage to fall apart. They're clearly still meant for each other, and as they process and work through their grief, their storyline is beautiful. The picture of intimacy - of really knowing the depths of someone - is so well done in this book. Life isn't always pleasant and positive, and marriage and intimacy are also made for experiencing the depths of grief together.

My one drawback to this book was the level/frequency of open-door scenes, which is a personal preference that I don't love, so I did skip over quite a few of those. But, I love the cast of characters in Before I Let Go, and am excited to see that it's listed as the first in a series.

4.5 stars

Thank you to Dell for the copy of this ARC!

The Man I Never Met finally broke my romance slump! I absolutely devoured this book - it was just so bingeable and pleasant to read. Yes, there were heavy moments and characters I wanted to just GET OUT OF THE PICTURE ALREADY, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. Our main character Hannah was so loveable and I really appreciated her friends (and neighbor!) as well. It was easy to cheer Hannah on and want the best for her. If you’re looking for a good book to just devour in a weekend, The Man I Never Met is a perfect closed door romance candidate.

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Dell for the copy of this ARC.

Emily Stone is the queen of ripping your heart out around Christmas, and I'm here for it. It was beautiful and crushing, with sibling relationships, friendships, some romance, and lots of grief and hope. While there's one main storyline, the minor storylines add to the story really well and had me very invested in this book. I think the less you know going in, the better, but definitely recommend this book!