i didnt enjoy miss bev’s writing in this one as much as i have in other books i’ve read by her, but it was interesting. i wish the ending wouldve wrapped up a bit quicker

clare gilmore is a charming writer, but i did not enjoy the third act conflict 

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an arc!!!

this is my first public review of an SMP title since the boycott ended, which is pretty exciting! I didn't love this, but it was a solid read, and it was my first from andie burke. I personally think this works well as a standalone. you can read her other book, but you do not have to. the characters had a lot of depth and are very flawed. there were times I thought each of them were in the wrong, and there were also times when I thought other characters were in the wrong. it was satisfyingly spicy, especially for a traditionally published book. some of the writing did have millennial cringe, though. the book as a whole was not poorly written. the exploration of grief was interesting. it did sometimes feel like too much was going on, which happens in real life, but in a book with a limited number of pages, it did not feel like every single thread was completed.

this was shaping up to be 5 stars but then it was slightly too insta-lovey, and i didnt like how finn handled the conflict. 

ruby dixon actually did it!!! she made me like tia!!! she is a magician fr!!! i cant wait to see what she comes up with next. i do wish we would have heard a lil more abt tia’s backstory though 

i thought this was an objectively good book, but i wasnt as emotionally attached to it as i think i could have been

i enjoyed this, but i would say that it was a more “intimate portrait” of natasha than of natalie. this briefly touches on natalie wood’s childhood, but if it’s an intimate portrait of anything about natalie wood, it’s her as a mother, rather than her complete life. if it was marketed as natasha’s autobiography, i would understand, but since it wasn’t, i would have liked to hear a bit more about natalie and a bit less about natasha

i cannot WAIT to see where grace reilly goes after this. i have loved the callahans dearly!!! this one was my favorite. its so emotional and the characters are so well developed and its HOT!!!!! nik did bug me a few times and some of the volleyball jargon was cringe, but it was overall fantastic 

thanks to netgalley and the publisher for an arc!!!

this is definitely one of my favorites from Amalie Howard. I always find her books to be at least pretty good, but I often do not remember them very well months after I read them. Evangeline having an animal shelter was definitely memorable, so I do not think I will forget too much about this one. I did notice that the writing seemed slightly more contemporary than Amalie Howard's other historicals. The circumstances were historical, but the writing was fairly modern. The spice was fun. The fact that it was a retelling made it soooo predictable, but the slight changes that Howard did make were quite enjoyable. I think she could have changed the conflict a bit so it wasn't so much like the movie. also, the secondary romance in this was really sweet.