Casey Maitland has always found comfort in math and numbers, despite being the daughter of two musicians. As a finance expert working for a magazine powerhouse in Manhattan, Casey wonders if there is more to life than numbers, and decides to apply for an opening as a project manager at her company. Her dreams, however, are thwarted when the board chairman’s son Alex Harrison is selected for the role instead. Alex is handsome and charismatic, and everyone loves him—everyone except Casey, that is. The two are forced to work on the same project together and each has something to prove. Work meetings turn into lunch, which turn into after hours, and Casey and Alex are drawn to each other. But neither can avoid the messy secrets and corporate intrigue threatening to tear them apart. What they discover about their workplace might change everything—including the dreams each of them is chasing. 

 

Thank you to @netgalley, @stmartinspress, and @momentofclarety for the ARC! This was such a fun read and I really enjoyed it. Casey’s character felt super relatable with her driven career aspirations and her yearning for more for herself. The adversaries/enemies to lovers plot line was so well developed. The banter between Alex and Casey was perfect, and I loved how their relationship unfolded. Casey’s relationship with her friends and coworkers were a nice added treat to a great character-driven narrative. I also really appreciated the diverse representation in Casey’s friend group. And I loved the FiDi setting in NYC so much, I’ve been to some of the places that Casey and Alex went to around their office and it was so fun to recognize locations. Love Interest hits shelves October 10! 

Receptionist Pam Beesly and accountant Angela Martin had very little in common when they toiled together at Dunder Mifflin. But in reality, the two bonded in their very first days on set and, over the nine seasons of the series’ run, built a friendship that continues to this day. Sharing everything from what it was like in the early days as the show struggled to gain traction to being now knows as stars of an acclaimed series that maintains international admiration and resonance, The Office BFFs is full of wonderful stories and insights from two best friends who lived it all.

If y’all don’t know that I love The Office by now…this is me telling you that I love The Office. The show is my comfort show; I’ve watched the show with friends since it first aired and I continue to rewatch it. I can quote almost the entire Drug Testing episode. A lot of my inside jokes are related to quotes from the show. The series always makes me laugh and brings me joy. I love Jenna and Angela’s podcast, so I was super excited to get their book! It was written in a really friendly and approachable manner, and I feel like each of their individual voices were so perfectly captured in their writing styles. It was so fun to learn about more background moments and their friendship over the years, as well as their journeys as women and mothers in their careers. I especially loved all of the personal photos that they shared! This is a great read for lovers of The Office.

A tale of gods, kings, immortal fame, and the human heart, The Song of Achilles is a brilliantly reimagining of Homer’s The Iliad. An action-packed adventure and an epic love story, the novel focuses on the myth of Achilles, retelling his tale from childhood through the Trojan War from the voice of his closest companion turned lover Patroclus, an exiled mortal.

This book was so tragically and heartbreakingly beautiful. I wasn’t too familiar with they mythology of Achilles before reading this book, so I found it super interesting and informative. The ending also wasn’t what I was expecting; you think you know how the story will end because of the prophecy revealing Achilles’s fate, but how we get to that moment took me by surprise and I loved that. The plot was exciting and fast-paced, and the star-crossed forbidden romance between Achilles and Patroclus was tenderly and tragically written. The ending provided hope and resolution, which I really appreciated. Such a great story that I highly recommend!

Fritzi is a witch. As the lone survivor of a brutal attack on her coven, she's determined to find her captured cousin and bring the hexenjägers―zealot witch hunters―to justice. To do this, she will need to take down their leader, the merciless Kommandant Dieter Kirch. Otto is a hexenjäger―but that's just his cover. Years ago, the hexenjägers burned his innocent mother alive, and he has been plotting his revenge ever since. When Fritzi and Otto are unexpectedly thrown together, neither is sure they can trust the other. The reluctant truce fueled by their common enemy takes them from the city at the heart of the hexenjägers' power to the wild and mysterious Black Forest. As old truths come to light and new dangers are revealed, Fritzi and Otto uncover a horrifying magical plot at the center of the hexenjäger attacks that leads back to Kommandant Kirch…but their own growing feelings for each other may be the most powerful magic of all.

Thank you so much to @netgalley, @sourcebooksfire, @bethrevis, and @sara_raasch for the ARC! This was such a great witchy fantasy novel that is the perfect fall read. I loved the dual point of view of Otto and Fritzi. The writing was great and suspenseful, and kept me turning the pages to see what would happen next! There were a lot of small twists and reveals that really made the story engaging The magical elements were really cool and unique, and I appreciate how well developed they were. All of the characters were so well written. The book flowed so well. Can’t wait for the second book already! Night of the Witch releases October 3rd!

Among the ashes of a dying world, Red finds a letter. It reads: burn before reading. Thus begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents in a war that spans time and space. Red belongs to the Agency, a technotopia. Blue belongs to Garden, a vast consciousness embedded in all organic matter. What began as a taunt, a battlefield boast between them, becomes something more. Something epic. Something romantic. Something that could change the past and the future. Except the discovery of their bond would mean the death of each of them. There’s still a war going on, after all. And someone has to win.

I’m not much of a sci-fi girly, but this book was very unique and incredibly well written. The writing was lyrical and beautiful, and the book read like poetry. It’s a shorter book but a bit dense. Initially it took me a minute to figure out what was going on as it felt like the reader is thrust into the narrative without much background laying. For that reason some of the concepts and settings felt a little out of reach for me, especially as someone who rarely reads sci-if. The beautiful prose compensated this for me to an extent, but I think I would have enjoyed this more if there was a more basic world building or history of the war between the two. Overall this was interesting and for lovers of sci-fi I would definitely recommend it!

When life delivered blow after devastating blow, Yasmen and Josiah Wade found that love alone couldn’t solve or save everything. Yasmen wasn’t prepared for how her life fell apart, but she’s is finally starting to find joy again post-divorce. She and Josiah have found a new rhythm, co-parenting their two kids and running a thriving business together. Yet they’re always drawn back to each other, and now they’re beginning to wonder if they’re truly ready to let go of everything they once had. Soon, one stolen kiss leads to another…and then more. It's good—until old wounds reopen. But is it too late for them to find forever?

This was a great book that had me all up in my feels. If you want a lighthearted romance this definitely isn’t it, but it is so worth the read. The book doesn’t shy away from heavy subjects such as grief, depression, and pregnancy loss and really tackles them in an honest and beautiful way. I really appreciated how healthily therapy was treated throughout the book and how all of the characters were able to benefit from it and have open discussions about the benefits of therapy. Yasmen and Josiah were both really well developed characters and I loved the dual point of view. Their love story was so beautiful and heartbreaking, and had me rooting for them the whole time. Great book!

Marion and Shiva are twin brothers born of a secret union between a beautiful Indian nun and a brash British surgeon. Orphaned by their mother’s death and their father’s disappearance, bound together by a preternatural connection and a shared fascination with medicine, the twins come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of revolution. Moving from Addis Ababa to New York City and back again, the novel explores love and betrayal, medicine and ordinary miracles—and two brothers whose fates are forever intertwined.

This book made me cry…TWICE. What a unique and beautiful story! It was both heartbreaking but uplifting and has a beautifully poignant ending. Verghese’s medical prowess shines through the narrative, but what astounded me beyond his medical knowledge was his beautiful writing ability. The prose was incredibly elegant. At times the plot was slow, but the novel was so rich with detail that I didn’t mind. Each character was incredibly well developed. I am curious how much is the author’s history was written into this novel, as he shares a lot on common with Marion. This was my book club book for the month and I’m excited for our discussion! 

Molly Gray is not like anyone else. With her flair for cleaning, detail, and proper etiquette, she has risen through the ranks of the esteemed five-star Regency Grand Hotel to become the esteemed Head Maid. But just as her life reaches perfection, her world is turned upside down when J. D. Grimthorpe, a world-renowned mystery author, drops dead on the hotel’s tearoom floor. As the high-profile death threatens the hotel’s reputation, Molly knows she alone holds the key to unlocking the killer’s identity. But that key is buried deep in her past, as long ago, she knew J. D. Grimthorpe. Molly begins to comb her memory for clues, revisiting her childhood and the mysterious Grimthorpe mansion where she and her dearly departed Gran once worked. With the entire hotel under investigation, Molly must solve the mystery. Because if there’s one thing she knows for sure, it’s that secrets don’t stay buried forever.

Thank you @netgalley, @randomhouse, and @nitaprose for the ARC! Fall is the perfect time for cozy mysteries, and Molly the Maid is back again with an other whodunnit. I liked this book better than The Maid. Molly’s character had a lot more confidence in this book, and we got to know more of her backstory, so I feel overall her character was better developed than it was in The Maid. The dual timeline was wonderful and helped give a lot of context to the plot. I loved how Molly banded together with friends and coworkers, much like she did in the first book, to solve the case. This book didn’t have the shocking twists of the first, at least to me, but I really enjoyed how to story unfolded and piecing together the clues as they came along. The Mystery Guest comes out November 28!

Jillian Nejat is the only dating and relationship expert on the planet who is incapable of speaking to men. With her bank account at zero, her career a dumpster fire, and her dating life in a ten-year slump, she moves into a tiny, dirt-cheap NYC apartment. Unfortunately, the apartment is already occupied by Daniel, a sexy, shirtless, heartthrob who is also…dead. He’s a ghost. He’s also the only man on the planet who Jillian can talk to. Soon, Daniel’s convinced that it’s his afterlife mission to resurrect Jillian’s love life. He knows, if he helps her fall in love then he can move on. Jillian agrees. The last thing she needs is a Lothario ghost haunting her living room. But then, one practice date leads to another, one confession leads to more, and suddenly Jillian fears she’s falling for the one man she can never have.

The first half of this book really bothered me. I tried really hard to like this but a girl falls in love with a ghost? 🥴 And it was like instalove, not like the let-me-get-to-know you kind of love. This girl is incapable of talking to men, like AT ALL, and then a shirtless handsome ghost man comes around and she can talk to him just fine? It REALLY bothered me that Jillian was so incapable of saying even one word to a man. And the reason behind her not talking to men was mediocre at best. Then the second half felt like an entirely different book—suddenly Jillian was able to talk to men no problems and her character gained confidence seemingly out of no where. I found the second half of the book more enjoyable, but not enough to compensate the cringe of the first half. The audiobook performance was great. Thank you @netgalley for the ARC. 

Reeling from the death of her father, Hollywood darling Emmy Harper is ready to reenter the movie scene when her romcom script No Reservations is picked up for production. Emmy begrudgingly allows her best friend and the film’s director Liz to cast her in the leading role. Emmy hasn’t acted since she was fifteen; she’s nervous, yet excited, to give performing another shot. That is, until a last-minute injury benches her trusted co-star and there’s only one other actor available on such short notice: Grayson West. Grayson is anyone’s dream of a romantic lead, anyone except Emmy’s, who still blames him for her disastrous first movie and the early end to her acting career. As filming begins, the friction between Emmy and Grayson is palpable. The two are pushed to get their acts together, or they risk tanking the entire movie. But if working things out leads to sizzling chemistry on screen, what might happen when the cameras stop rolling?

Thank you to @netgalley, @falonballard, and @putnambooks for the ARC! Falon Ballard is quickly becoming an automatic author for me so I was delighted when my request for this ARC was approved. This was by far and away the best celebrity romance I have read. Sometimes celebrity romances tend to fall into the same plot schemes but this book definitely did not! Emmy and Grayson were such well written characters and I love how the book delved into their feelings and internal personal struggles. The enemies to lovers development was so well executed and the tension and banter was next level. Grayson and Emmy’s chemistry truly sizzled! I also really loved all of the supporting characters and their dynamic with Emmy. Such a fun romcom, I highly recommend adding this to your TBR! Right on Cue will be released February 27, 2024!