the_cover_contessa's Reviews (1.75k)

Thank you to Macmillan Audio, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for providing me with an audio copy of this book to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
Every book I read by Katherine Center is better than the last. And this one definitely fit that bill. She takes some that may appear ordinary and makes it extraordinary.
Kate Vaughn needs to save her job. So when the opportunity to follow famous coast guard Tom "Hutch" Hutchinson presents itself through her coworker Cole, she takes the leap. Never mind she can't swim and the assignment requires her to learn what coast guard rescue swimmers must endure to become part of, she'll do anything to make sure she keeps her job. Even present just a few lies Hutch and his family/friends. She'll need to face her fears to do well but can she also open her heart to be happy?
I loved Kate's character. She grows so much during this book. She starts out trapping herself in lies to get where she needs to go. But as she progresses she learns the things she needs to learn in order to survive her assignment. She also learns to open up and let her heart feel things she never thought would come up on an assignment with the Coast Guard. She creates relationships with those around her and finds a found family she was never looking for. Her biggest change is the confidence she gains about her body. Eating disorders are no joke. They literally become your entire personality and without therapy can overtake your life and become all you are. Center does really good job of showing how this disorder forms who Kate is. I could feel her anguish over this throughout the book. Often times these things come across as not realistic for me but I could feel just how hard it was for Kate's character to grow and change in this area. Center promotes body positivity in a realistic and relatable way.
Hutch, oof. Definitely a new book boyfriend for me. He's so much more than what he seems on the surface. His sibling rivalry with Cole is just what I would picture happening with two brothers who always seemed to be competing with each other. Though I think the competition was more on Cole's end than Hutch's. I appreciated Hutch's wanting to be out of the spotlight and just do his job. After all, his job is to save lives and that is what made him famous. But why should he be any different than the others who do the same every day?
I always worry about single POV romances. So many times I am wishing I could see what is going on in the other character's mind. But Center does a good job showing all the characters through Kate's POV. And of course Kate's insecurities are so much easier to understand when you're in her mind. The experience of the story through Kate's POV is perfect. I loved the banter Kate showed us with all the characters. Plus we got a great perspective on Hutch's found family and how they care for him.
The romance was a little bit of insta-love for me, thus the drop in my rating from 5 to 4 stars. There was some good organic growth but I feel like it happened too quickly.
As for the side characters, there is nothing like being in the middle of a bunch of older ladies talking about men, love, and so many other things. And Rue, gah, she cares so much for Cole and Hutch despite the circumstances under which they came into her care (won't give spoilers here but it will make you tear up). I low key hated Cole. I still can't forgive him for how he acted and I'm not sure how Kate and Hutch do!
The show stopper was George Bailey, Hutch's Great Dane. This dog is full of personality and fun. I just could not get enough of him and I loved how he formed a relationship with Kate.
But let's talk about Patti Murin. I absolutely adore her and will listen to anything she narrates. I love her inflection, her tone of voice, how she voices all the characters so distinctly, and the pace she sets. She really is perfect for Center's books and I hope she will always be the narrator for them.
As with all of Center's books, I was sad to be done with this one and almost immediately wanted to pick it back up and start again. That is the sign of a good book that burrows itself into your heart and makes a home there. If you are looking for a feel good book that promotes self love, digging into who you are, and learning to accept your perfect imperfections, Center gives it all!

Better on audio the second time around

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with an egalley of this book to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
Julie Soto is a new found author for me. I read Not Another Love Song and liked it so much I immediately requested this title without even reading the blurb! I can say, I was not disappointed at all. It may be my favorite by her so far. Usually YA is hit or miss with me, depending on the topic. This one was a hit. I didn't want to put it down. I wanted to call out sick from work just so I could finish it!
Jodi Dillion is part of The Thrashers, an elite group of teens who everyone would love to be "in" with. She was never meant to be part of their group but since Zack Thrasher is her best childhood friend, she was automatically in with them. But their group has been tainted by the suicide of a Emily Mills, who tried hard to befriend them and become a part of their group. When the group becomes the center of an investigation to see if their actions lead to Emily's death, Jodi begins to find out she may not be as privy to the inner goings of her group as she thinks she is.
I love a good mystery/thriller. Add in some paranormal elements, which I was not expecting, and it makes it even more fun. Soto kept me intrigued the entire time. She slowly leaked snippets of what truly happened and Jodi was collecting those clues to figure it all out. The pacing was fast and the plot was unusual. I loved the idea of there potentially being a ghost or spirit haunting the group and how they dealt with it.
The book is narrated from Jodi's POV. She definitely doesn't fit with her group of friends. She's the outsider who has infiltrated due to her association with their "leader". Her family is broke, she lives on the wrong side of town, and she isn't sophisticated. And she knows it. She's also been in love with her best friend Zack for as long as she can remember. But everyone wants a piece of him, including the two other girls that make up The Thrashers: Lucy and Paige. Plus she doesn't get along with Julian, Zack's best friend. I liked learning about all the characters from Jodi's POV and it was interesting to see how her idea of each of them changed as the story unfolded. There was so much toxicity with the friendships being portrayed, and a look into bullying that will make your head spin. And the romance was unexpected but I loved it. It is not the center of the book but it definitely has it's place and made for more interesting interactions with the characters. It's a slow burn that involves chemistry and banter with small gestures that build on each other.
I will say this, that ending leaves a ton of room for another book! I literally had goosebumps when I read the epilogue! Will there be another book? I cannot see that Julie won't write it. In any case, I really hope so because I need more. I need a conclusion that is satisfying for one particular character's plot line!
If you're looking for a YA mystery with Heather's/Pretty Little Liar's (think high school hierarchy) vibes, tons of secrets, light romance, and a bit of the paranormal (did someone say ghosts/spirits?), do yourself a favor and pick this one up. You will not be disappointed.

This could have been a solid 4 but it needed just a bit more editing to get there. 

If I could give it more than 5 stars, I would!
Addendum for 2nd read: Just as good as the first read but with fabulous narrators. I think I will always go back and re-read this book. Every year. It pulls at MY heartstrings!
Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for providing me with an egalley of this title to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
Did I read this book because it was compared to Sleepless in Seattle? You bet I did. That movie is one of my all time favorite romantic movies and I had to see if the comparison was right. And boy, did this author get it right! This was my first book by Borison, so I was unsure of what I was walking into. Let me just say, this will more than likely come out as one of my top reads for 2025!
Aiden Valentine, despite being the host of a romance radio show, has fallen out of love. Though it's much deeper than him thinking there is no such thing as true love. Borison builds his character on past experiences of grief and the threat of losing someone so that Aiden has not only deemed himself unworthy of a true love but has walled himself off to the possibility because he's too afraid to potentially lose it once he has it. My heart truly hurt for Aiden. His experiences with grief and how he processed them in this book were very relatable. Shielding your heart from hurt is a human defense and Borison really delves into it with Aiden's character development. Despite his walls he's built, he can't seem to keep them intact when he's around Lucie Stone. Somehow, she has broken through his defenses. The small things he remembers and does for her are indicative of the love he is capable of, despite him saying he's not good for her or anyone when it comes down to it. I wanted to grab him and put him in a big squishy hug and make him feel seen and wanted and understood. Grief is such a powerful emotion and Borison does a fabulous job with it through Aiden's character
Lucie Stone has everything she needs: her daughter, a good job, and friends who love her more than anything. She's established herself as a capable and independent woman, despite making choices her family did not agree with. Despite keeping herself at a distance from romance, it comes to find her in the form of her daughter, who calls into Aiden's show to hopefully find something more for her mother. Before Lucie knows it, she's sitting in the booth with Aiden, fielding calls from people who understand her, and trying to find her own romance. Borison built this character with no self doubt. She knows exactly what she wants, even if she's hesitant to go after it because she believes she already has everything she needs. Her connection with Aiden is fairly immediate, though she also has walls up to keep herself from getting hurt. She makes decisions for herself because she wants to create a life she loves and she wants people in it who give her what she needs.
The slow build romance in this book had my heart in a chokehold the entire time. I think one of my favorite things about this book was how Lucie's character didn't depend on her romance with Aiden to give her what she needed. I also love the vulnerability of Aiden's character and how he learns that he needs to communicate his feelings. A book that can keep me so invested and pull on my heartstrings from start to finish is rare but this one did just that. The way she builds the story with the banter between the characters and their friends plus the on air snippets we get at the beginning of each chapter are just phenomenal. I would love to listen to an audio version of this because I think it would heighten the connection between the characters.
The one thing I would have liked to see was the background between Grayson, Lucie's ex and her daughter's father, and Lucie. We get some of it but I feel like there was a piece missing. How is it Lucie and Grayson realized they were not for each other? Was it right away? Did they try a bit first? This part was missing for me. It doesn't change my rating, though. I still loved every single bit of this story.
Giving this book 5 stars was the easiest thing I've ever done. And it makes me want to go read the other books from this author to see if they are just as good. Borison creates real and relatable characters who made me 100% invested in knowing their outcome. I cannot wait to see what the next installment of this series entails! 

Thank you to Atria and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
The blurb from this book sounds so adorable! Noelle Tom eats some dumplings at a night market and suddenly finds herself reliving the same day over and over again and she can't figure out how to escape her own personal Ground Hog's Day. To make matters worse, she meets Cam, who she thinks can help her escape her loop but finds herself falling for him at the same time. She's determined to figure out how to help him remember her as her life resets every day but she's also determined to get herself out of the loop and move on with her life. 
I was excited for the concept of this book. Given the positive reviews I was seeing, I had high hopes I would enjoy the story. I loved the thought of a meet cute that happens over and over again, each time with the FMC tweaking things to try and make them more perfect in the hopes she'll wake up the next day and have moved on. A bit of magical realism amongst a romance story. I really couldn't wait to see how the author built the plot and made the story move forward. Unfortunately, this book ended up not hitting the mark for me at all. 
I'll start with the characters. The pros were their diversity. I loved how Lau wove in the different cultures. Though I myself even found a mistake with one of the things she wove in and that bothered me a bit. And I enjoyed the friendship Noelle built with her new friend Avery. But other than these two things, I wasn't a fan of either main character. They were so flat. Noelle does not strike me as a woman who is close to 30. As a matter of fact, she acted more like a college aged girl. She's whiny, annoying, and unlikable. She claims she is being challenged by the time loop but I didn't see any growth from the challenges she purported to be going through. Cam was harder to understand as we don't get a lot of him during the book. The author chose to use dual POV but not only did we have limited chapters from Cam's POV, those chapters were super short. It was truly hard to get to know him and I'm not sure why his chapters were included at all.
The first 50% of the book focuses on the time loop and literally nothing happens. It's just Noelle living those days over and over again. Yes, I know this is the point of the book, but each day should have brought some growth and it just wasn't there. There is some growth with her friendship with Avery. However, the chemistry the author tried to build between Noelle and Cam seemed forced and I didn't feel their connection at all. And the sex scenes were cringe for me. When the time loop is finally resolved, I had no idea why or how. I thought perhaps I would see that why in the second half of the book but, alas, that didn't really happen. I struggled to push myself through the book in the hopes the relationships would grow and change and we would finally have the conclusion as to why the time loop happened but it never came to fruition.
I contemplated DNFing this book multiple times during my read especially in the first 50%. I was very bored with the 170+ days of reliving the same exact scenario. Even the second half was slow and didn't build the tension I was expecting.
Finally, there was so much telling in this book. And it was like the main characters were just narrating every aspect of what they were doing. Everything just glazed over the surface rather than delving into what could have been some interesting information for the reader to help understand the characters and their struggles.
The best part of the book was the plot twist that happens at the end, like in the last 10%. But getting there was definitely a struggle.
I've not read any other books by this author so I don't have anything to compare this one to but just having read this I'm not really interested in finding out. There was nothing drawing me back to this book when I would put it down. I had to force myself to finish it. The concept was there but the execution fell completely flat and missed the mark of what could have been a fun and entertaining read. I read a lot of romance and have read quite a few with magical realism but this one was just not for me. Not every book is for everyone and given the high ratings, I'm sure I am in the minority and others will enjoy this one much more than I did.

Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this title to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
I cannot express how excited I was when I heard Fortune was going to write Charlie's story. I wasn't a lover of Charlie when I read Every Summer After, but I knew there had to be more to him than I saw in that book. I knew Charlie need his own HEA. And boy was I right! Warning, though, if you have not read the first book, I do not recommend jumping right into this one. The background the first book provides is pretty critical to who Charlie is and also to his relationship with  his brother, Sam, and Percy. You wouldn't be lost, perse, but you would not completely understand the dynamics at work.
This book picks up a few years after Every Summer After. It's summer once again and the lake is bustling. Alice Everly decides she is in need a break from life. Her grandmother, Nan, is recovering from surgery, her photography career is not going as she planned, and she's still struggling to get over her most recent break up. What better place to relax and rejuvenate than Barry's Bay! Alice has fond memories of the place and the photo that launched her photography career was taken there the summer of her 17th birthday. She's expecting to go there and feel what she once felt for her photography, what she's not expecting is Charlie Florek.
Alice is a great character. She's well developed and completely relatable. I really enjoyed watching her find herself at the lake. She arrives with only the thought that she must help her Nan get better but that's not all that happens. Along the way, she realizes many things about herself and grows from that. She takes hold of her life, she finds direction, and she finds love she wasn't expecting (even if it's not what was agreed upon). At first I thought she might be more timid than she was, but she's not at all. She's strong and resilient. She doesn't adapt easily at first but once she realizes she needs to open herself up to new possibilities, she becomes so very strong.
Charlie might just be one of my favorite book boyfriends. he's charming and has so much humor. But He's closed also off when it comes to love and he struggles with his own past and the luggage he seems to carry from his loss. He doesn't believe he's worthy of it from anyone. He believes all he is good for is fun and doesn't want to weigh anyone down with the baggage he has. But he wasn't expecting Alice and how her love language is to take care of others, including him. I won't get into his issues, as they become paramount to the story and I certainly don't want to spoil anything. But Charlie has secrets he holds close to his chest, things he doesn't want others burdened with.
If you're looking for an amazing slow burn romance, look no further. The flirting! The touching! The gazing! Not to mention amazing banter! It's all right here. Carley builds the relationship between Alice and Charlie in little spurts. Each time letting the characters open to each other, though Alice opens more than Charlie does (at least until the end). But don't overlook the other connections that are made in this book. The found family aspect is very strong.
And I would be remiss if I didn't mention this book contains some of our favorite characters, mainly Sam and Percy. While we don't get a ton of them, we get enough to show their HEA continues to shine. And I absolutely love the connection Alice finds with Percy. Being a woman who doesn't have many close friends, I connected with this part of Alice very well. So when she had the opportunity to have a strong, independent, loving woman come into her life and be her friend, I cheered it on!
The lake, oh the lake! So much nostalgia packed into this story. I spent some summers when I was younger going to my friend's bungalow colony in New York. Her father owned two and one was right on a lake. I remember our lazy days of swimming, boating, fishing, and just laying out on the floating dock. It was so much fun and these books never fail to bring back those memories and the feelings that go along with them. Like me, Alice seems much more relaxed and happy at the lake. Days are spent lounging and not worrying about anything from real life. It's its own little bubble world of summer and fun. Fortune paints a great picture of what it looks like. This book made me laugh, cry, smile, swoon, and just downright feel happy. Tears were shed, in a good way, and my heart was full at the end. That, my friends, is the crux of a good story. 
If I say the pacing in this one is fast, I would not be telling a lie. I truly didn't want to put it down. Fortune made me want to turn the pages over and over again so I could continue to bask in Alice and Charlie's story. I didn't want it to end, though. And, as I got closer to finishing it, all I could think to myself is when will Fortune be putting out another book? I love her plot lines. She does a great slow burn build with her characters. 
This book is not only about finding yourself and what makes you happy, but the journey getting there and all those people who stand beside you (friends and family) to lift you up and help you shine. It's about support and generosity and keeping your heart open to new feelings and opportunities. It's also about sticking to your guns and morals and making sure you feel right about where you are and where you're going. If I could give this book infinity stars, I would. It hit all my spots for a great romantic story without being overly dramatic. If you're looking for a hot flirtatious boy who meets an artistic and people pleasing girl who both find, in the end, their lives are so much better when they open their hearts to love, then pick this up, sit down with it, and thank me later!