Audiobook Review: The Romance Revival by Christina Lauren

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Romance Revival
Author: Christina Lauren
Narrators: Julia Whelan & Vas Eli
Publisher: Gallery Books
Publication date: July 14, 2026
Print length: 352 pages
Audiobook length: 9 hours 54 minutes
Genre: Contemporary fiction/romance
Source: ARC courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley; audiobook purchased via Audible
Rating:

New York Times bestselling author Christina Lauren returns with an unforgettable romance in which a fateful accident erases a troubled marriage from memory—and a scientific breakthrough gives love one extraordinary do-over.

Three years ago, scientist Emery Finch did something completely out of character: She got married. To Luca—the impossibly charming landscaper she met on one blistering night in Vegas who made her laugh, made her dance, made her feel.

But now, Emery is consumed by her top-secret research, missing dinners, forgetting anniversaries, and promising herself Luca will understand once her cutting-edge discoveries come to light. Until the unthinkable happens: A tragic accident takes Luca from her.

Desperate not to lose him, Emery breaks every rule, using the classified technology she’s developed to bring him back to life. And Luca would probably thank her for it, if only he could remember her. Their first kiss, their Sunny Sundays at the beach, the life they built together…all of it is gone.

It may be a miracle of science, but for Emery it’s her one shot at a second chance. And this time, she won’t waste it—because true love is always worth reviving.

I always look forward to author duo Christina Lauren’s new releases — but sadly, The Romance Revival doesn’t quite hit the high mark I’ve come to expect from their books.

In The Romance Revival, Emory is a gifted scientist working practically round the clock on her cutting-edge, super-secret project. She’s made astounding breakthroughs, and her husband of three years, Luca, seems to be forgiving when she forgets commitments or once again stays far too late at the office. What Luca doesn’t know is that Emory has been lying to him since she met him: Yes, she’s a doctor and a scientist, but she does not work on surgical laser equipment, as she’s told him. Behind a vast wall of NDAs and classification levels and high tech security systems worthy of a Bond film, Emory is pouring her heart and soul into developing a medical compound and technology to restore life to people who’ve died. So long as her approached is applied within the first hour of death, she’s managed so far to successfully revive cats and dogs, and the future promise of her research is breathtaking.

Things go terribly wrong on the night of Emory and Luca’s anniversary when, once again working late, she misses their celebratory dinner, and pulls into their neighborhood just in time to see Luca get run over by a car. He’s critically injured, with a wound to his femoral artery. There’s no way an ambulance will arrive in time, so in desperation, she injects him with her compound, then rushes him to her lab and into her equipment, breaking dozens of company policies along the way. The procedure is a success — Luca had been truly dead, but he’s restored to life and his wounds are healing rapidly. There’s one hitch — he has no memory of anything prior to waking up in the lab.

Luca’s new circumstances, while challenging, provide him and Emory with an unexpected second chance. Getting to know one another all over again in the most bizarre of realities, Emory has to come clean about her research and how she saved him — and sharing this secret opens the door for the two of them to communicate with honesty in a way they never had before. As they spend time together, they rediscover the spark and passion that drew them to one another in the first place, but now with the opportunity to set new ground rules and actually focus on connecting and sharing.

If that were the full story, I might have enjoyed The Romance Revival much more. However… quite a bit of the story gets bogged down in the corporate manipulations behind the big top-secret project, the powers-that-be controlling the project and the purse strings, the intense security systems in place, and the backstabbing by other researchers. By the last quarter or so of the book, we’re heavily into thriller territory… but it’s jarring in a book that also has hot and sweaty detailed sex scenes and swoonier scenes of falling in love and recreating special moments.

It’s like this book couldn’t quite decided what it wanted to be. If it’s trying to be a thriller, it needs much better plotting when it comes to the science, the corporate elements, the criminal elements and violence, etc. And if it’s a sunny romance, as the title and cover imply, then scenes of kidnappings and blackmail are really out of place. By attempting to do both, The Romance Revival has a tone that’s inconsistent and far too muddled for my taste.

It’s a shame — I really liked the elements focused on the characters and how they rediscover one another. Their chemistry is off the charts, and I appreciated all the little ways in which they show their love for one another. More of that, and less of the other stuff, would have made this a much more enjoyable read/listen for me.

A note on the audiobook: The majority of the chapters, as seen through Emory’s point of view, are narrated by the incomparable Julia Whelan, who (unsurprisingly) makes every moment count. Vas Eli does a great job as well with the Luca-centric chapters — I enjoyed his voice, his accent, and his delivery.

A negative for me were the detailed, graphic sex scenes, which start to feel never-ending via audiobook. (Yes, I found myself fast-forwarding a bit at one point… it was just too much.) I recognize that this is strictly a matter of taste. On a spice meter, I’d give this book a 4 out of 5, which is not what I typically look for in my romance reading.

Overall, there’s plenty to like about The Romance Revival, but more of a focus and less of an attempt to turn this love story into a thriller would have made it even better.

Purchase links: Amazon – Bookshop.org – Libro.fm
Disclaimer: When you make a purchase through one of these affiliate links, I may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you.

7Aug2026

First Lines Friday 8/7/2026

Posted in Fun and Whimsy by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

First Lines Friday is a weekly feature for book lovers created by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines? Here’s how to join in:

Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page.
Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first.
Finally… reveal the book!

Here’s a long-ish opening that I found really amusing… so I didn’t want to cut anything!

LYSSA HEFTED THE bloodstained burlap sack and shoved her way through the door of the Kingmaker, tracking sooty slush on the expensive carpet. She bypassed the line of patrons waiting to be seated, ignoring the ripple of protests that followed in her wake, and made her way to where a pinch-faced headwaiter stood by the entrance to the main dining room. He glanced her way with an automatic, “I’m sorry, miss, you’ll have to…” then faltered, his expression landing somewhere between disgust and horror as the sight of her sank in. The trio of ladies he had been speaking to turned—as well as they could in forty pounds of petticoats, layered skirts, steel-boned corsets, and starched collars, anyway—and glared at her. Their eyes skated right over the bloody bag in Lyssa’s arms, seeming to find her mud-spattered pants and unkempt braids far more objectionable.

It was too bad no one had ever figured out how to feed off the disdain of the rich; the downtrodden would never go hungry again.

So what’s the book?

Kill the Beast by Serra Swift
Published 2025
309 pages

Synopsis:

The night Lyssa Cadogan’s brother was murdered by a faerie-made monster known as the Beast, she made him a promise: she would find a way to destroy the immortal creature and avenge his death. For thirteen years, she has been hunting faeries and the abominations they created. But in all that time, the one Beast she is most desperate to find has never resurfaced.

Until she meets Alderic Casimir de Laurent, a melodramatic dandy with a coin purse bigger than his brain. Somehow, he has found the monster’s lair, and—even more surprising—retrieved one of its claws. A claw Lyssa needs in order to forge a sword that can kill the Beast.

Alderic is ill-equipped for a hunt and almost guaranteed to get himself killed. But as the two of them search for the rest of the materials that will be the Beast’s undoing, Alderic reveals hidden depths: dark secrets that he guards as carefully as Lyssa guards hers. Before long, and against Lyssa’s better judgment, an unlikely friendship begins to bloom—one that will either lead to the culmination of Lyssa’s quest for vengeance, or spell doom for them both.

I picked up a copy of this book earlier this year, but haven’t had a chance to start it yet. Have you read it? And if not, does it sound like something you’d enjoy?

Happy Friday! Wishing everyone a great weekend!

5Aug2026

Book Review: Bromantasy by Máire Roche

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Bromantasy
Author: Máire Roche
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Publication date: May 26, 2026
Length: 352 pages
Genre: Fantasy romance
Source: Purchased
Rating:

Two heroes. One brain cell.

BROMANTASY is a cozy, queer fantasy about the mortifying ordeal of being known by your totally platonic best friend and the epic quest that might force you to confront the truth.

Fellas, is it gay to kiss your bff while on a quest through the forest you’re unqualified for?

Juniper O’Reilly is good at only two things: demolishing a pint of mead and finding the perfect skincare routine. Everything else—taking care of the farm, bartering for goods, any sort of manual labor—falls to Juniper’s best friend, the absurdly capable, endlessly patient Mo Elmthorn.

But when Juniper accidentally volunteers them both for a quest to kill a fearsome monster, he knows he’s finally gotten in over his head. Juniper hates camping, he hates the dark, and there’s no way all these foraged mushrooms are going to sit well in his stomach. One thing he doesn’t hate? How good Mo’s thighs look in his questing pants—he doesn’t have time to think about that, though, with a monster to hunt and their futures on the line.

But monsters come in all shapes and sizes. When Juniper and Mo realize that the terrifying beast they’ve sworn to kill is just a scared little girl torn from her family, they’re off to find not only the true villain of the story, but maybe even a happy ending.

If you’re craving sweet, silly, flirty fun… plus a quest… plus dragons… have I got a book for you!

Bromantasy is the story of two best friends, Juniper and Mo, who’ve lived and worked together on their cozy little farm for ten years. They enjoy their harvests, their sheep and cat, trading and bartering with other local farmers, spending warm evenings by the fire, eating lots of cheese, and drinking delicious mead at the local taverns. They’re also always up for a brawl — such a satisfying way to stretch their muscles and work off any lingering tension at the end of the day!

But Juniper worries that Mo is dissatisfied. Each autumn, he’s afraid that this will be the year when Mo decides he needs more adventure in his life. When an unfortunate mistake (involving drinking and brawling) lands Juniper in trouble with representatives of the king, the consequence is a choice between joining a quest or facing, as Mo puts it, “unalivement”. Mo is not about to let Juniper go off on a quest without him there to look out for him, so with little preparation, the two BFFs find themselves trekking through the land with the goal of capturing and/or eliminating dragons. This is not at all good for Juniper’s skin care routines!

Who knew quests could be so complicated? Until now, Juniper had assumed you just went out and glamped, camped, or cried in the woods, and came home after a brief, mostly uneventful, and slightly depressing vacation.

The quest — full of uncomfortable sleeping arrangements and accidents involving rivers, fires, and trousers — eventually leads Juniper and Mo into confrontation with the non-crown prince, who is both insanely attractive and also quite an arrogant jerk. And soon after meeting the prince, they discover that the fearsome dragon everyone is hunting is actually a little girl (and dragon shifter) who misses her mother and tends to burn villages when she’s feeling scared or threatened.

For the first time in his fool life, though, Juniper forced his body to stay still instead of running headlong into danger. Mo had already done that for the both of them, and they had always had an unspoken pact: When one was in their “running headlong into danger without a second thought” era, the other had to be in their “levelheaded enough not to do that” era.

While Juniper and Mo realize the little dragon girl (named Bear) needs protection, the prince and his followers want to drag her off to the capitol, get a big reward, and then use her to help them hunt down and eradicate any other remaining dragons. Soon, Juniper and Mo find themselves on a heroic quest of their own… while trying to outsmart their enemies, rescue a dragon, and finally — FINALLY — talk about the feelings they’ve spent a decade suppressing.

Prepare for utter adorableness when you pick up Bromantasy! The two lead characters are goofballs with big hearts, competent in different ways, utterly in love, and completely clueless when it comes to one another’s feelings (although the admiring looks, hand-holding, and massages really should have been major hints all along).

Mo’s hand wrapped around Juniper’s bicep. Juniper swallowed hard at the sight, as was common for two men who shared a bond of deep but friendly camaraderie.

The quest itself is entertaining, with a nefarious prince, various henchpeople, a questionably motivated princess, and Juniper’s nemesis (who maybe isn’t actually terrible?) crossing paths and swords, double-crossing one another, and mainly being pretty ridiculous when it comes to actually achieving anything.

Juniper is a total cinnamon roll character, and Mo can be too, although he also leans a bit more toward the strong and silent side of things. Together, they’re a delight, and it positively hurts (except we know it’ll all be fine, so maybe more of a little pinch than actual pain) when they are at odds or (as they do) misconstrue one another’s actions and feelings and end up feeling unloved or abandoned.

But obviously, with a cover and title and premise like this, you just know that Bromantasy promises and delivers a happy ending. This book is oodles of fun, and I’m so glad I picked it up on a whim and read it instantly. What a treat!

*Via Next Chapter Booksellers on Facebook*

A reader’s note: Don’t miss out on how utterly adorable the physical edition is! I love my little paperback…

Purchase links: Amazon – Bookshop.org – Libro.fm
Disclaimer: When you make a purchase through one of these affiliate links, I may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you.

4Aug2026

Top Ten Tuesday: [Cover Freebie] Books with spaceships on the cover

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is a cover freebie, with the prompt: Pick any topic related to book covers. You can make up your own topic or pick one from the list of previous ones!

I decided to go with spaceships… historic, modern, or science fiction! Anything involving space flight counts from where I’m standing!

Here’s my batch of 10:

An Infinite Love Story by Chanel Cleeton
Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey
The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
Spaceman by Mike Massimino
The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe
Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi
Serenity: Those Left Behind (graphic novel)
Space by James A. Michener

What books have you read (or do you have on your TBR) with spaceships on the covers?

If you posted a TTT list this week, please share your link!

Save

3Aug2026

The Monday Check-In ~ 8/3/2026

Posted in The Monday Check-In by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

My Monday tradition, including a look back and a look ahead — what I read last week, what new books came my way, and what books are keeping me busy right now. Plus a smattering of other stuff too.

Life.

Happy August! I love August because it’s my son’s birth month… but I also don’t love it, because I can feel summer slipping away…

My daughter and her husband visited this past week, which was great, but over too soon! She and I managed to find time to go browse and have tea and cake at the new romance bookstore in town. I bought a few books for us both, plus stickers and other goodies — must support our local indie bookstores! So much fun.

The store itself is super cute — the shelves are organized by romance trope, which is pretty adorable (although I could see it be confusing if you walk in wanting the newest book by a favorite author, but don’t know whether to look under grumpy-sunshine or forced proximity!). A few pics from our bookish outing:

Bookish bits & bobs.

What did I read during the last week?

Romantic Hero by Kirsty Greenwood: Totally delightful rom-com about a fictional character showing up in his author’s real world. My review is here.

The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton: I last read this book literally decades ago, and was surprised to see how much I remembered! I’m so glad I took the time for a reread. Such a powerful book.

Destination Funeral by Paige Harbison: Terrific contemporary fiction about chosen family and time loops! My review is here.

Bromantasy by Máire Roche: Such silly fun! I’ll share a review later this week.

Pop culture & TV:

I went to the movie theater to see the filmed version of Hadestown. It was glorious! I saw the show on Broadway several years ago, and loved getting to see it again this way. While it was originally only supposed to run for five nights, I know it got extended, and I highly recommend checking it out if you have the chance!

My daughter and I also watched The Sheep Detectives! It was just as adorable as expected… and this parody artwork (originally from Fandango, I believe) made me smile:

Fresh Catch:

Here’s what I came home with from our afternoon at the bookstore:

Plus, my daughter and my son-in-law each arrived for their visit bringing me a book! Such nice gifts:

From my daughter, an illustrated edition of Little Women, and from my son-in-law, an Easton Press edition of Pride and Prejudice. Both are gorgeous!

What will I be reading during the coming week?

Currently in my hands:

The Amateur by Chris Bohjalian: I just started last night… and I know I’m always in for a complicated, absorbing read when I start this author’s books.

Now playing via audiobook:

The Romance Revival by Christina Lauren: I really didn’t have much listening time this past week, but I finally made progress over the weekend, and hope to finish in the next few days.

Ongoing reads:

Two books I’m taking my time with:

The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe: My book group’s classic read. We’re reading and discussing two chapters per week. Progress: 63%. Coming up this week: Volume 3, chapters 8 and 9.

Everything On It by Shel Silverstein: I finally took this volume off my shelf and decided to read a few pages a day… because why not?

What will you be reading this week?

So many books, so little time…

2Aug2026

Spell the Month in Books: August

Posted in Fun and Whimsy by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Spell the Month in Books is a monthly meme hosted by Jana at Reviews from the Stacks. To participate, find a book title that starts with each letter in the month’s name, make a list, share your link, and that’s it! You can share anytime by the end of the month. Some months have additional themes, but feel free to participate however you’d like!

There isn’t a theme set for August (or at least not as far as I’ve seen), so I’m making up my own! August is my son’s birth month… and while he’s a full-grown young adult now, I have so many happy memories of reading books together throughout his childhood. So, in honor of my birthday boy, my August theme is… books I read with my kiddo!

Note: It was hard to come up with two U titles that we’ve actually read! So, I fudged a bit with the 2nd U… but I feel like my pick still works!

Here are my AUGUST books:

A:

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst

U:

The Unseen Guest (The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, #1) by Maryrose Wood

G:

Go, Dog. Go! by P. D. Eastman

U:

Great Day for UP by Dr. Seuss

UP! UP! UP!
Great day for UP!

Wake every person, pig and pup,
till EVERYONE on earth is up!

S:

The Secret of Platform 13 by Eva Ibbotson

T:

Thirteenth Child (Frontier Magic, #1) by Patricia C. Wrede

Happy August! Enjoy the sunshine… and plenty of good books!

If you spelled the month in books, please leave me a link to your post — I’d love to see it!

1Aug2026

Book Review: Destination Funeral by Paige Harbison

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Destination Funeral
Author: Paige Harbison
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Publication date: July 21, 2026
Length: 320 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

A fresh take on Groundhog Day with a dash of Practical Magic meets the magical escapism of One Italian Summer in this heartfelt and hilarious novel following a friend group so damaged that only a funeral could bring them back together.

When Babe—the complicated, magnetic matriarch of their teenage summers—dies, four estranged friends return to sleepy Mercy Island, a storm-swept stretch of coastal Georgia, summoned by the reading of her will.

Didion arrives at the timeworn pink house to find the friends she never thought she’d see again—along with the tensions, attractions, and unfinished business that once bound them together and broke them apart.

What should be a brief weekend of small talk quickly unravels when they wake up and discover…it’s Saturday. Again. And again. And again.

Trapped in a time loop with no end and no instructions, they’re forced to confront the betrayals, breakups, and buried truths that shattered them all those years ago. Because maybe, just maybe, an endless weekend is exactly what they all need to save their own lives.

Sometimes a book about chosen family hits just right… and Destination Funeral does just that. In this story about friends, estrangement, resentment, and reconciliation, a time loop forces four former friends to face the issues that drove them apart while gathered for a funeral at the place where they spent their teen-aged summers.

When Babe dies, she leaves instructions for her funeral to be held at her sprawling beachside house on Mercy Island, Georgia. Her daughters Didion and Sammie arrive, having not seen or spoken to one another in years. Didion, the older sister, resents having to be the responsible one, watching helplessly as free-spirit Sammie makes one bad choice after another. Their long-time best friend Matt arrives with his four-year-old daughter, and rounding out the foursome of adults is Austin, Didion’s teen love and source of her greatest heartbreaks.

As they arrive that Friday, they learn that Babe has left the house to all four of them, on the condition that they spend the weekend there, without phones or laptops, until the funeral on Sunday. Reluctantly, they agree, spend a tension-filled Saturday coping with being in one another’s presence again after so long, and grit their teeth until they can get over with it and return to their regular lives. But when they wake up the next morning, they soon realize that it’s Saturday… again. And so their Groundhog Day time loop begins, with a seemingly endless stream of Saturdays to relive.

But why? And how? Has Babe somehow made this happen? And if so, what will it take to break out of the loop?

As the four are forced to spend time together, old wounds and secrets resurface… and as the day repeats and repeats, the ice between them begins to thaw. Didion is our point-of-view character, and she’s a fascinating person to watch the world with. Her complicated feelings toward Babe and Sammie stem back to her teens, and her role as the responsible person, the one who has to make sure everyone else is okay, has carried forward through her adult year as a driven, successful chef — who can never relax and think about what she herself needs. Even more complicated is her reunion with Austin, someone whom she once loved whole-heartedly and never got over — but also never truly understood. Now, in the time loop, Didion finally has days on end where she can do nothing but be present, forcing her to reflect, understand where she herself added to the messier moments, and the ways in which she let other people down too.

The storytelling focuses on the now — and the endless Saturdays — with “then” chapters mixed in to show the early years on the island, and how the sisters and their friends experienced life with Babe, including moments of utter bliss (Halloween in July!) as well as the loneliness of having a fun mother who couldn’t or wouldn’t actually take care of them.

The relationships are all beautifully drawn. It takes the full length of the book to learn key facts about Babe and understand some of her actions. Likewise, Didion’s realizations and reconnections with the others come gradually — we’re by her side as she slowly starts to unravel her more harmful thought patterns and understand why and how she’s allowed herself to shut out the people who once formed the center of her life. I loved seeing the way the time loop serves as a catalyst for the emotional healing that these four people so desperately need.

It’s not all dramatic and serious — Destination Funeral has lovely moments of humor and fun, and it’s a wonderful homage to the glory of a summer spent in the sunshine, playing on a beach, eating good food, and enjoying a slower way of life.

The author’s previous book, The Other Side of Now, was one of my surprise favorites from 2025, and I’m delighted that her newest book hits so many high marks for me as well. Destination Funeral is a beautifully told story about the importance of holding onto the special people in our lives — whether family or friends — even when it’s hard or outside stress gets in the way. It’s also a wonderful immersive experience for summer, and definitely deserves a place in any bookish beach bag!

Purchase links: Amazon – Bookshop.org – Libro.fm
Disclaimer: When you make a purchase through one of these affiliate links, I may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you.

31Jul2026

First Lines Friday 7/31/2026

Posted in Fun and Whimsy by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page.
Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first.
Finally… reveal the book!

I’m going with a short opening line that says a lot with just a few words. This is from a book that’s been on my shelf (unread) for far too long:

The real story isn’t half as pretty as the one you’ve heard.

So what’s the book?

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
Published 2018
480 pages

Synopsis:

With the Nebula Award–winning Uprooted, Naomi Novik opened a brilliant new chapter in an already acclaimed career, delving into the magic of fairy tales to craft a love story that was both timeless and utterly of the now. Spinning Silver draws readers deeper into this glittering realm of fantasy, where the boundary between wonder and terror is thinner than a breath, and safety can be stolen as quickly as a kiss.

Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders, but her father’s inability to collect his debts has left his family on the edge of poverty—until Miryem takes matters into her own hands. Hardening her heart, the young woman sets out to claim what is owed and soon gains a reputation for being able to turn silver into gold. When an ill-advised boast draws the attention of the king of the Staryk—grim fey creatures who seem more ice than flesh—Miryem’s fate, and that of two kingdoms, will be forever altered. She will face an impossible challenge and, along with two unlikely allies, uncover a secret that threatens to consume the lands of humans and Staryk alike.

I keep promising myself that this will be the year when I finally read this book! Have you read it? If not, does this sound like something you think you’d enjoy?

Happy Friday! Wishing everyone a great weekend!

29Jul2026

Audiobook Review: Romantic Hero by Kirsty Greenwood

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Romantic Hero
Author: Kirsty Greenwood
Narrator: Amy James-Kelly & Jared Zeus
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: June 16, 2026
Print length: 368 pages
Audio length: 8 hours 24 minutes
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Review copy via NetGalley; audiobook via Audible
Rating:

A heartbroken romance novelist is forced to address her writer’s block when the villainous cowboy character from her books shows up in the real world, desperately in need of his own Happily Ever After. . . from the bestselling author of GMA book club pick The Love of My Afterlife.

Gertie Bickerstaff writes happily-ever-afters for a living. . . . Or she did, until her own love life fell apart. Now her ex is thriving, her deadline is looming, and she can’t write a single word.

The last thing Gertie needs is more drama—like waking up to find a confused and rugged cowboy on her sofa. And not just any cowboy, but River Oakley, the villain from her unfinished novel. Somehow very real . . . and very shirtless.

River wants to go home. Gertie wants her life back. So they strike a deal: he’ll use his cunning ways to help her win back her ex, she’ll finish the novel, and, surely, he’ll return to whatever world he rode in from.

But as River Oakley proves to be so much more than just the bad guy, Gertie has to choose: the ending she thought she wanted . . . or the plot twist she never saw coming.

Another winning rom-com from the very talented Kirsty Greenwood! After loving The Love of My Afterlife (a GMA Book Club pick from 2024), I was more than ready to dive into her 2026 release, Romantic Hero.

The setup is delicious: Gertie is the bestselling author of the Bedlam Creek romance series, set in a small town in Texas (where London-based Gertie has never actually been). Gertie’s always felt so connected to her characters that it felt as if they were speaking to her… but as the deadline looms for the final book in the series (cue the long-awaited proposal scene!), they’ve gone silent. She suffers from horrendous writer’s block and can’t write a word.

Gertie’s long-term boyfriend, supposedly the love of her life, dumped her four weeks earlier (claiming that he’s been feeling “emotionally apathetic” and in need of a “break”, not a break-up), and she’s been an utter ball of misery ever since. When Gertie’s eccentric neighbor decides that what Gertie needs is help from the universe, she’s desperate enough to go along with a rooftop manifestation ceremony. To no avail, alas…

… or did it work after all? Because the next day, Gertie wakes to find a supremely gorgeous and very shirtless cowboy on her couch, who is utterly befuddled as to how he got there. The last thing he remembers is falling asleep under a tree out in the meadow of his ranch — and oh, his name is River Oakley. As in, the villain of Gertie’s series, the antagonist constantly thwarting her heroine’s quest to reclaim her family ranch and find true love. But how could he possibly be THAT River Oakley?

Still, there’s no denying that he exactly fits the description of the man Gertie has written about. Awkward! After much back and forth, they accept the unbelievable yet seemingly undeniable fact that he is the man from her books, and that he very much needs to get back to his own world. The two come up with a hypothesis: Gertie somehow summoned River during her manifestation ceremony, and he’s here to help her get her ex back, since reuniting with Henry was her secret plea to the universe.

And yet… as Gertie and River spend time together, they click in ways neither expected. Gertie is forced to admit that while the River in her books is a scoundrel, the flesh-and-blood (and very hot) version of him has hidden depths and sensitivity… and also comes to realize that Henry is not the ideal man she’d thought he was.

Romantic Hero is such a fun, entertaining read (and listen)! Gertie and River are both great characters, and their chemistry sparkles. The story is funny, with plenty of banter that’s both silly and sexy — and yet, there are emotional moments that hit as well, as Gertie is forced to come to terms with her sister’s death years earlier and to realize that she threw herself into the relationship with Henry rather than actually deal with her terrible grief.

The story moves in unexpected directions, as we learn just why and how River showed up and what this means for Gertie’s writing career. While it seems hopeless that Gertie and River — people from two totally separate worlds — could ever have a future together, the author manages to find a conclusion that both works from a story perspective and feels utterly satisfying.

Audiobook narrators Amy James-Kelly and Jared Zeus bring the characters to glorious life. His Texas drawl as River is delightful, and Amy James-Kelly handles the overall narration as well as Gertie’s voice with a lovely sense of animation.

Overall, the story itself as well as the audiobook listening experience are both highly recommended. What a great bit of happy summer reading!

Purchase links: Amazon – Bookshop.org – Libro.fm
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28Jul2026

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I HAD to Have Immediately but Still Haven’t Read

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Books I HAD to Have Immediately but Still Haven’t Read.

As the host explains, this is a throwback topic from 2022. My post from back then is here, in case you’re interested. And I’m a bit embarrassed to say that of the ten I highlighted, I’ve still only read three!

And yet, I keep buying books! (Don’t we all?)

Here’s a new batch of books I couldn’t wait to get my hands on… and still have not touched: