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Book Review: Kiss Slay Replay by Rachel Harrison

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Title: Kiss Slay Replay
Author: Rachel Harrison
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: September 1, 2026
Length: 336 pages
Genre: Horror
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Every wedding guest’s worst nightmare is on repeat in this wild and twisty new horror novel from the New York Times bestselling author of So Thirsty and Play Nice.

It’s the picture-perfect wedding The venue is dreamy, the weather is beautiful, love is in the air—and Willa Sullivan is having a bad time. She’s excited to celebrate her best friends finally having the big wedding they’ve always wanted, but this is the first time she’s seen her ex-fiancé in months, and he brought a date. Everything feels off, like she stumbled into an alternate universe. But things start to look up when Willa meets Danny, the groom’s charming and single childhood best friend. When they sneak off together, their rendezvous is interrupted by a masked killer terrorizing the reception. Willa and Danny fight to save the ones they love and survive the night, but the killer is unrelenting. A final girl, Willa is not.

Or is she? She wakes up and it’s the morning of the wedding. She just had the most intense nightmare of her life. Only as the day unfolds, there are some uncanny coincidences that make her question whether it was really a dream, déjà vu, or something more sinister. After a horrifying turn of events, Willa comes to understand that she’s stuck in a loop of carnage and terror that she must learn how to escape or else suffer a fate worse than death—being an eternal wedding guest.

Don’t be fooled by the cutesey (but bloody) cover — Kiss Slay Replay is not a light-hearted romp with a hint of horror. Instead, it’s a full-on horror nightmare, with an interesting mix of introspection and terror.

What’s worse than going to your best friends’ wedding, months after calling off your own wedding just three weeks in advance and then living in a quagmire of what-ifs, regrets, and second guessing? All of the above, but with slaughter!

Willa is dreading the wedding weekend, despite its charming rural lakeside location in the Hudson Valley. She’s happy for Steph and Jace, but being there will mean being with her college best friends, all of whom, some ten years later, seem to have found happiness and meaning in their lives. Meanwhile, Willa has just ended her own long-term relationship, feels isolated and directionless and questions every decision she’s made, and has to not only go celebrate her friends’ marriage, but also see her ex at the wedding.

She knows her friends are running out of patience with her, despite how much they love her. She just needs to get her act together long enough to get through the weekend. The rustic setting is gorgeous — a wedding venue that was once the location of a lakeside summer camp. (Uh oh…) When Willa escapes into the woods to give herself a break from the wedding intensity, she sees a strange masked man in the distance… or does she? Maybe the stress and alcohol are getting to her. Maybe she’s seeing things.

She isn’t. What feels like a typical horror movie scenario unfolds. The masked man is a terrifying slasher who attacks the wedding (where, of course, there’s no cell reception, no one is armed, and everyone is too drunk to defend themselves). It’s awful… and (not really a spoiler) ends with Willa herself being murdered.

Except not. Because after a painful death, Willa wakes up back in her own bed, fully aware of everything that just happened. But when she checks her phone, it’s Friday again — the day she woke up and drove to the wedding. Checking in with her friends, she allows herself to be convinced that she had an incredibly vivid nightmare, and sets off for the wedding… only to arrive and see how it’s all exactly the same as it was in her supposed dream.

But things don’t go exactly the same way… and I won’t go into further detail, other than to say that Willa is really and truly caught in a time loop, and that each new version of the wedding day features a brand new type of carnage, mayhem, and death.

Kiss Slay Replay is the trippiest of time loop stories. I’ve read a bunch with a rom-com focus, which this most assuredly is not. Instead, Willa experiences horror trope after horror trope, but in a visceral, terrifying way, always ending in her painful, sometimes disgusting death, as well as the deaths of all of her friends. Stuff of nightmares for sure!

At the same time, Willa is deeply mired in the self-doubt and inner paralysis stemming from her break-up. She knew things with Ravi weren’t working, and hadn’t been for a long time. Calling off the wedding was the right thing to do — but she feels that she’s come adrift in her own life, and sees no point in anything. Starting over is awful. Feeling like a burden to her supportive friends makes her tired and upset. As her friend Cass tells her, the only way out is through… but Willa can’t see her life ever truly changing or how things will get better.

When will I know if I’ve made it out of the loop? At the stroke of midnight? Tomorrow morning? Never? Am I going to spend the next week, month, year, the rest of my life waiting for another monster to show up? Wondering what horror lurks in the shadows?

It occurs to me, that’s actually not so different from how I’ve been living Preemptively experiencing misery. Ye of little faith.

The time loop horror serves as a bloody representation of Willa’s inner life. Give up, or fight? Persevere, even though every day is terrible? Can she hide from the horror, or will it find her anyway? What if this is all life is?

The introspective moments in no way slow down the momentum of Kiss Slay Replay. From the moment I started, I simply couldn’t put it down. At first, I assumed each time loop would bring back the slasher, which I was kind of dreading, as slasher movies/books are not my favorites by a long shot. But no — while each day unveils some fresh hell, none of the horror scenarios repeat. Each is horrifying and terrifying in its own way. And while it’s amazing that Willa doesn’t just give up, we also get a vivid example of what happens on a day when she decides not to go to the wedding. (Hint: It’s not good).

Rachel Harrison’s novels are always a delight, and she never fails to produce a twisted take on what might at first glance seem like a familiar horror sub-genre (witches, haunted houses, vampires, and more). This author is a masterful storyteller, and her unique characters and premises make for compelling reads, every single time.

Kiss Slay Replay is not for the faint of heart, obviously. But if you enjoy horror and want something that will hook you from start to finish, don’t miss this newest (terrifying) gem.

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.

Audiobook Review: My Imaginary Mary by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, & Jodi Meadows

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Title: My Imaginary Mary
Series: Mary, #2
Authors: Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows
Narrator: Morag Sims
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication date: August 2, 2022
Print length: 496 pages
Audiobook length: 13 hours 15 minutes
Genre: Young adult
Source: Purchased
Rating:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

It’s aliiiiiiiive! The bestselling authors of My Lady Jane are back with the electric, poetic, and (almost) historical tale of the one and only Mary Shelley.

Mary may have inherited the brilliant mind of her late mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, but she lives a drab life above her father’s bookstore, waiting for an extraordinary idea that’ll inspire a work worthy of her parentage—and impress her rakishly handsome (and super-secret) beau, Percy Shelley.

Ada Lovelace knows a thing or two about superstar parents, what with her dad being Lord Byron, the most famous poet on Earth. But her passions lie far beyond the arts—in mechanical engineering, to be exact. Alas, no matter how precise Ada’s calculations, there’s always a man willing to claim her ingenious ideas as his own.

Pan, a.k.a. Practical Automaton Number One, is Ada’s greatest idea yet: a machine that will change the world, if only she can figure out how to make him truly autonomous . . . or how to make him work at all.

When fate connects our two masterminds, Mary and Ada learn that they are fae—magical people with the ability to make whatever they imagine become real. But when their dream team results in a living, breathing, thinking PAN, Mary and Ada find themselves hunted by a mad scientist who won’t stop until he finds out how they made a real boy out of spare parts.

With comic genius and a truly electrifying sense of adventure, Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows continue their campaign to turn history on its head in this YA fantasy that’s perfect for fans of The Princess Bride and A Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue.

The Mary series — beginning with My Contrary Mary, an alternate history version of the life of Mary, Queen of Scots — continues here with My Imaginary Mary, a clever, highly entertaining and extremely silly spin on the lives of Mary Shelley and Ada Lovelace, two creative young women stuck in a world that doesn’t appreciate them.

Mary Godwin, living above her father’s bookshop, dreams of becoming a writer someday, just like her famous mother, Mary Wollstonecraft. She also dreams of running off with her handsome secret boyfriend, the up-and-coming young poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Meanwhile, Ada lives with her controlling mother, Lady Byron, raised to despise her disreputable father Lord Byron (the rock star of his era). Ada is a brilliant engineer, scientist, and mathematician, but must work on her inventions and equations in secret, as these are not appropriate endeavors for a young lady of marriageable age.

When Mary and Ada meet at a society party, their lives becomes inextricably connected… due to complicated reasons involving a charlatan scientist, dead frogs, and… magic. As Mary and Ada soon learn, they’re both fae and possess magical powers, and must be instructed on how to use them. Rule #1: Create responsibly.

This lesson doesn’t fully take… and before long, they’ve used a combination of science, magic, and lightning to bring an automaton to life. After all sorts of further mishaps, they end up on the run across Europe, along with Pan — the animated automaton — Mary’s sisters, and a mechanical horse. Finally, their mad trek takes them to Villa Diodati on the shores of Lake Geneva (which actual history tells us is where Mary Shelley famously created the story that became her novel Frankenstein).

Let’s just say that My Imaginary Mary takes wild liberties with these historical characters, and provides a funny, madcap adventure that is a delight to read and listen to. Narrator Morag Sims delivers the ups and downs, the character voices, and the bonkers moments with style — including a scene of dialogue shared while the characters are all bound and gagged, which is laugh-out-loud hilarious.

After listening and/or reading the Jane books by these authors, I’m not in the least surprised that I found My Imaginary Mary to be oodles of fun. There are moments were the story verges on being too much… but really, in a story like this one, the whole point is being over the top, and the book definitely succeeds.

Little direct-to-the-reader (or listener) moments add even more great entertainment, such as the advice provided:

(Reader, your narrators here. We just want to give a small public service announcement about the tiny warning voice in the back of your head, the one that whispers that you might be about to make a mistake. We’re here to tell you there’s a 99.8 percent chance that the voice is right. Please listen to the tiny warning voice. No matter how good a kisser he is.)

I was also highly amused by some recurring bits such as:

Pan’s throat fan whirred. She had told him to stay. But he also had a strong urge to go and investigate.

Should I stay or should I go now? he thought. If I go there could be trouble. And if I stay there could be double.

And…



… “But you do not even have an idea,” she said.

“I shall have one,” he said. “When you give it to me. We’re partners, are we not? We work for our mutual benefit. So go on — ” He lowered his head as if he were expecting to be struck with something tangible. “Hit me with your best shot. Fire away.”

Because I was listening to the audiobook, usually on the go, I didn’t stop and highlight great lines nearly as often as I should have, which is the one downside to not going with a print version of this story. But that’s okay — I really enjoyed every moment, even if I can’t pull up even more examples of favorite passages.

I love the Jane and Mary books, and I’m eager to continue! I supposes the Tudor books (My Lady Jane and My Contrary Mary) are still my favorites, but My Imaginary Mary is a worthy addition to the series, and offers all the fun fans of this series have come to expect.

I look forward to reading the 3rd Mary book, which — sadly — is the last in the series. (Unless the authors decide to write more, or start a new series… here’s hoping!)

Interested in the Jane books? Check out:

And don’t miss:

Purchase links for My Imaginary Mary: 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.

Hockey romance two-fer: Skating my way into the Heated Rivalry book series

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Last week, I arrived super late to the party, and finally binge-watched Heated Rivalry. And what’s a reader to do after watching a compelling TV series and knowing there’s a long wait for season 2? Obviously, it was time to try the book series!

I read books 1 and 2 this week (and technically, the series name is Game Changers, but let’s face it, anyone walking into a bookstore is going to say “hey, where are those Heated Rivalry books?”).

My reactions to the books are below… and fair warning:

THERE WILL BE SPOILERS!

I’ll be talking about the books themselves, but also discussing a few plot points in comparison to the TV version.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Let’s lace up those skates and hit the ice…

Game Changer (Game Changers, #1) by Rachel Reid

Synopsis:

New York Admirals captain Scott Hunter takes his pre-game rituals very seriously. In this case, it’s not just a lucky smoothie he’s craving—it’s the man who made it.

Pro hockey star Scott Hunter knows a good thing when he sees it. So, when a smoothie made by juice bar barista Kip Grady precedes Scott breaking his on-ice slump, he’s desperate to recreate the magic…and to get to know the sexy, funny guy behind the counter.

Kip knew there was more to Scott’s frequent visits than blended fruit, but he never let himself imagine being invited back to Scott’s penthouse. Or kissed with reckless abandon, nevermind touched everywhere all at once. When it happens it’s red-hot, incredible and frequent, but also only on Scott’s terms and always behind his closed apartment doors.

Scott needs Kip in his life, but with playoff season approaching, the spotlight on him is suddenly brighter than ever. He can’t afford to do anything that might derail his career…like introducing the world to his boyfriend. Kip is ready to go all-in with Scott—but how much longer will he have to remain a secret?

If you’ve watched Heated Rivalry, you’ll recognize the plot of Game Changer as the focus of episode three of the TV series, which takes us away from the characters of episodes 1 and 2 (see next book!) and into a whole new set of characters… starting with a smoothie shop! Scott and Kip meet over smoothies and are both instantly smitten, but there’s a problem: Scott is the captain of the New York hockey team, incredibly famous and recognizable, and firmly in the closet.

Which has never felt like a choice for him: There are no out gay players in the NHL, and as depicted in the book, hockey has never been a world in which a gay man might feel safe. As Scott points out, gay slurs are the go-to on the ice for trash talking and riling up the opposition. So Scott has never been in a relationship, and has only ever indulged in the rare hook-up while traveling somewhere where he can be incognito.

Meeting Kip changes everything for him. Their connection is intense and passionate, and they become inseparable. But Scott and Kip can only be together in the privacy of Scott’s home, and Kip starts feeling like a dirty little secret. Despite being madly in love with Scott, Kip isn’t willing to go back in the closet for him. Scott has to decide whether a public persona that denies who he truly is is worth protecting, especially if it means giving up a relationship with the person who’s come to mean everything to him.

I really liked the Kip and Scott episode of the TV series, and for most of Game Changers, the plot beats are pretty consistent with the TV version. I enjoyed delving a little further into each character’s backstory, and getting more of Scott’s thoughts on his career, the homophobia in the NHL, and why he’s felt the need to remain closeted for so long.

I knew going into these books that they’re very spicy, which is usually not my reading preference at all. So no, I wasn’t shocked to see just how detailed and explicit the sex scenes are… but I did find myself thinking “enough already!” after a while. I know how body parts work! As the book moves further and further along, the scenes begin to feel repetitive and unnecessary. Early on, they show the instant chemistry and wild attraction between the characters, but as these explicit scenes continue throughout the entire book, for me at least, it feels like too much. The book probably would have been about half the length with a bit more of a closed door approach! And yes, the TV adaptation shows a lot… but not the up close and personal anatomical details that we get in the book.

One thing I liked a lot about the book’s approach is Scott’s journey toward coming out. In the TV version, he makes what seems like a spur-of-the-moment decision, after his team wins the championship, to kiss Kip on the ice in front of the entire stadium… which also happens in the book, but earlier, he’d already come out to his agent, coach, and three best friends on the team. He hadn’t planned the public kiss in advance, but we know already that he’s been thinking about how to fully come out, and we can see why he’s moved in that particular moment to share the joy of the moment with the person he loves.

Kip and Scott are lovely characters. They really only get the spotlight for one episode of the TV series (plus a couple of other quick glimpses), so obviously a book devoted to them is able to go deeper in terms of exploring their emotions, motivations, and experiences.

Publication date: 2018
Length: 368 pages
Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

(I don’t have quarter-star graphics… but if I did, I’d go with 3.25 stars)

Heated Rivalry (Game Changers, #2) by Rachel Reid

Synopsis:

Nothing interferes with Shane Hollander’s game—definitely not the sexy rival he loves to hate.

Pro hockey star Shane Hollander isn’t just crazy talented, he’s got a spotless reputation. Hockey is his life. Now that he’s captain of the Montreal Voyageurs, he won’t let anything jeopardize that, especially the sexy Russian whose hard body keeps him awake at night.

Boston Bears captain Ilya Rozanov is everything Shane’s not. The self-proclaimed king of the ice, he’s as cocky as he is talented. No one can beat him—except Shane. They’ve made a career on their legendary rivalry, but when the skates come off, the heat between them is undeniable. When Ilya realizes he wants more than a few secret hookups, he knows he must walk away. The risk is too great.

As their attraction intensifies, they struggle to keep their relationship out of the public eye. If the truth comes out, it could ruin them both. But when their need for each other rivals their ambition on the ice, secrecy is no longer an option.

Watching the TV version of Heated Rivalry is what convinced me to pick up the books — I wanted more Ilya and Shane!

Their story is compelling: Meeting as teen pre-draft hockey players, they’re drawn together immediately despite their differences. Shane is a controlled, respectful, nice guy from a supportive family, who lives for hockey. Ilya is the “bad boy” Russian player who loves to rile up his opponents, indulge his wild side, and be absolutely fierce on the ice. From their initial encounter onward, when they end up the #1 and #2 draft picks, then start their NHL careers on rival teams, the entire hockey world views them as enemies, and their rivalry drives the already crazy fan interest through the roof.

Shane and Ilya have a secret that no one can know: Since their earliest days in the league, they’ve been hooking up for intense encounters which are particularly eye-opening for Shane, who’d never questioned his sexuality previously. Over the years, they find ways to meet up whenever they’re playing in the same town. Their chemistry is explosive. But as time passes, they both begin to realize that the sex is only a part of what they want from one another… and acknowledging deeper feelings scares them both to death.

The storyline itself is pretty terrific. Two big, fierce, ultra-manly hockey players who secretly fall in love, yet can never let anyone know? Good stuff — and what makes it so compelling to read are the reasons and complications behind their dynamics, from fear of jeopardizing their careers to Ilya’s painful family history and the reality of what being out might mean for Ilya if he ever returned to Russia. As in Game Changer, both men are aware that there are no out hockey players, and that homophobia is still rampant within the hockey world. Their struggle to find a solution that doesn’t ruin their lives and yet allows them to have a real relationship is what drive this story forward.

As with Game Changer, the book is absolutely overflowing with frequent, highly explicit sex scenes. And yes, I knew what I’d be getting into when I picked up these books, so perhaps it’s not fair to complain about this aspect! On the one hand, the hot and heavy graphic scenes show how intense Ilya and Shane’s connection is, and how at the outset, it really is “just” about the sex. On the other hand… when practically every chapter has an up-close-and-personal scene with everything spelled out in detail — it’s a lot (and as in the first book, it just feels repetitive after a while).

Tastes vary, and I fully recognize that plenty of readers love the high spice content! As a personal preference, it’s just not what I look for in my romance reading. If not for having watched the TV series, I never would have picked up these books, knowing in advance their reputation for explicit content. So I accepted that that’s what I’d be reading — but I do think in terms of the reading experience, the books would be so much stronger if some of the space taken up by those scenes were devoted to more character and plot development.

Overall, though, I did enjoy reading Ilya and Shane’s story. I love their connection and their inner lives, and appreciated getting a sense of the next steps for them (after the closing scenes of the TV version).

Publication date: 2019
Length: 372 pages
Rating:

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Will I continue with the Game Changers series?

Not right now. There are four more books currently available, with a 7th book scheduled for publication in June 2027. Books 3 – 5 apparently focus on other characters, and book #6, The Long Game, picks up Ilya and Shane’s story again (which then continues into book #7, Unrivaled). As I’m mainly interested in Ilya and Shane’s journey, I might skip ahead to The Long Game… or I might just wait for the 2nd season of the TV version, and then decide whether to read more.

As of this moment, reading two books in this series feels like plenty! I’m glad I gave them a try, but it’ll be a while (or maybe not at all) before I feel like diving back into this world.

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Book Review: Theo of Golden by Allen Levi

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Title: Theo of Golden
Author: Allen Levi
Publisher: Atria Books
Publication date: October 3, 2026
Length: 399 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Purchased
Rating:

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

One spring morning, a stranger arrives in the small southern city of Golden. No one knows where he has come from…or why…

His name is Theo. And he asks a lot more questions than he answers.

Theo visits the local coffeehouse, where ninety-two pencil portraits hang on the walls, portraits of the people of Golden done by a local artist. He begins purchasing them, one at a time, and putting them back in the hands of their “rightful owners.” With each exchange, a story is told, a friendship born, and a life altered.

A story of giving and receiving, of seeing and being seen, Theo of Golden is a beautifully crafted novel about the power of creative generosity, the importance of wonder to a purposeful life, and the invisible threads of kindness that bind us to one another.

Theo of Golden is one of those books that seemed to come out of nowhere… and then turned up everywhere. The book has been on the New York Times bestseller list (combined e-book and print) for 38 weeks as of now, and has been selected by countless book groups (celebrity and otherwise) around the world. A debut novel, this gentle story showcases kindness and caring; it’s easy to see why it’s captured so many hearts.

Theo, who never provides more than his first name, is an 86-year-old man of Portuguese descent who arrives in Golden, Georgia (roughly modeled on Columbus, Georgia) and settles in. He wanders the town, observing the shops, the main street, and the river, exchanging pleasantries and greetings with the random people he encounters. When he stops by The Chalice, a local coffee shop, he’s stunned by the pencil-drawn portraits that line the walls. As he soon learns, a local artist has created these portraits, each one showing the face of a Golden resident. For Theo, the portraits are revelatory: In each, he sees hopes, fears, dreams, pains, and purpose. He admires how beautifully the artist has captured the individuality of these 92 people.

And thus, Theo’s mission is born. Learning the portraits are for sale, he decides to purchase them one by one and gift them (as a “bestowal”, as he comes to think of it) to the people they portray. Via handwritten letters, he reaches out to the various portraits’ subjects, asking them to meet him by the fountain at the center of town, where he gives them their portraits and spends time in conversation, learning who each person is and what their inner lives are like.

As Theo spends time in Golden, he connects with people from all walks of life, and listens with an open heart as they tell him their stories. Through Theo, strangers become friends, and he leaves behind a sense of connection and caring wherever he goes.

Theo of Golden is, first and foremost, a book about kindness. It’s a soft, sweet sort of story, but it’s never sappy or dull. Theo seems like someone we’d all want to know. He doesn’t push or intrude; he offers sincerity and is ready to listen and give his time, and that’s what so many of the people he encounters truly need.

I enjoyed seeing Theo weave connections and leave joy in his wake, and his acts of generosity and kindness truly change lives. The plot may feel a bit meandering at times, but it’s building toward something, and by the end, the various threads and hints all come together.

I have just minor quibbles about this book. First, Theo is a man of wealth, who chooses not to share anything about his business or properties or how he became the person he is. He’s able to use his money to change lives, which is lovely, whether it’s shown by way of covering medical bills or buying special gifts or other acts of generosity. This is all beautiful… but part of me wondered how Theo’s acts and encounters might have turned out if he didn’t have such wealth to pave the way.

My other quibble relates to the ending, where we finally get substantive answers about Theo. It’s wonderful in its own way, but also feels a little out of the blue. I can’t say more, but in some ways, it seems a little too neat and tidy. But maybe that’s just my inner curmudgeon peeking out!

I was charmed by Theo of Golden, and wanted to know more. Here’s an article about the real life coffee shop that was the inspiration for The Chalice! Also, check out this book-related guide to Columbus.

Theo of Golden is a lovely, uplifting read. I don’t often go for books that sound overly sentimental, but something drew me to this novel, and I’m so glad to have read it. The book’s messages about kindness, love, and community are something I think we all could use right about now. Highly recommended.

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.

Audiobook Review: The Mother-Daughter Book Club by Susan Patterson and James Patterson

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Title: The Mother-Daughter Book Club
Authors: Susan Patterson & James Patterson
Narrators: Many!
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Publication date: April 20, 2026
Print length: 352 pages
Audiobook length: 7 hours 35 minutes
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Library
Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

The Mother-Daughter Book Club is Susan and James Patterson’s new novel, the follow-up to Things I Wish I Told My Mother—the New York Times bestselling, book club favorite praised novel.

“An entertaining book … As friends talk books, hopes, dreams … and dishy revelations … it’s romantic love—both old and new … that drive[s] the story forward.” —Kirkus Reviews
 
Between their busy lives and their far-flung residences, the Mother-Daughter Book Club—four longtime college friends and their five daughters—more often discuss the books on their nightstands via 2 a.m. texts than in-person meetings. And maybe it’s just as well, after what happened at their last get-together …            
 
So it’s an emotional reunion when they finally gather again, this time on the spectacular shores of Italy’s Lake Como. Sightseeing excursions, reminiscing fueled by “Como-politans,” and a hint of vacation romance all build toward the book club’s trademark “Night of Secrets.”            
 
These friends, and sometime rivals, are close readers—of novels, memoirs, and of each other. But as the years and the distance cast shadows and doubt, confidences and sympathies turn into surprising revelations.  

The Mother-Daughter Book Club is a sun-drenched ode to lifelong friendships and the joy of sharing books… and if that cover doesn’t make you want to run away to a beautiful lake for the rest of the summer, well, I guess you’re not me!

This light book introduces us to four best friends, together since college, and their assorted daughters, now all in their twenties. The friends — an opera singer, a lawyer, a minister, and a fitness instructor — lead very different lives, but share deep bonds that they’ve cherished across the years. A tragic accident at the last gathering of the MDBC (Mother-Daughter Book Club) has kept them apart for three years, but now, they’re reuniting at a gorgeous villa on Lake Como for a weekend filled with good food, sunshine and hiking, book chatter, and their traditional sharing of secrets. The question is — will the secrets bring them closer or drive them all apart once again?

The overall tone is light and cheerful. Even when we learn of painful experiences, the setting and the banter between friends keeps the narrative from getting too dark. There’s always a yoga session or delicious dessert or tarot reading to break the tension.

It’s the relationships that make this book feel so heart-warming. The friends have been through a lot over the years, but they’ve always cared for one another and provided shoulders to cry on and cheerleading through the ups and downs of careers, marriages, and motherhood. The mother-daughter bonds are all flavored in different ways, but convey a closeness that feels special, and the friendship between the daughters likewise shows a foundation of affection and support.

The book made me yearn for an immediate summer vacation where I could indulge in gourmet meals, sinful desserts, and glasses of Prosecco (preferably while staying in a luxurious lakeside villa)… but beyond the escapist fantasy, I also enjoyed the way all of these women, with such different lives, share a love of books. If it doesn’t exist already, someone really should put together a list of every book mentioned in The Mother-Daughter Book Club. There’s something for everyone!

The audiobook is lots of fun, with a different narrator for each of the main characters. They all do a great job bringing these varied personalities to life. Helpfully, every chapter is identified by both character name and relationship status, such as “Mariella, mother of Zoey” or “Merry, daughter of Grace”. It can be tricky at first to keep the names and connections straight (the print edition includes a list of characters, which is handy to have as a reference while listening to the audiobook).

What this book lacks is a true sense of stakes or drama. There are fun moments between characters, great descriptions of scenery and food, and hints of darker secrets… but really, everything just moves along nicely and there’s nothing terribly urgent about it. Yes, there are more serious events and a big reveal (which is telegraphed far in advance) that are emotional for the characters, but the book itself doesn’t go much beneath the surface — possibly because with so many characters to juggle, there’s no time or space to go deeply into any one person’s issues. This is truly a pleasant book, and I liked it… but it doesn’t really rise much above the description of “nice” for me.

If you’re looking for an easy-going summer escape, this might be a good choice. I don’t regret picking this one up, but I can’t exactly call it a page-turner.

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.

Book Review: Enormous Wings by Laurie Frankel

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Title: Enormous Wings
Author: Laurie Frankel
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Publication date: May 5, 2026
Length: 304 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Library
Rating:

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

From the beloved New York Times bestselling author Laurie Frankel, an exuberant and timely new novel

At seventy-seven, Pepper Mills is too old to be a stranger in a strange land. She didn’t choose the Vista View Retirement Community of Austin, Texas—that would be her three grown children—but when she grudgingly moves in, she not only makes new friends, she falls in love. Then the exhaustion, vomiting, and confusion start. She fears it’s cancer, dementia, a stroke. But a raft of tests later, the news is even more shocking: She’s pregnant.

As word gets out, everyone wants a piece of her: the press and paparazzi, activists and medical researchers, belly-rubbers and rubber-neckers all descending on Vista View while Pepper struggles to determine her next move. Soon she has some hard decisions to make—and some she’s not allowed to make.

Enormous Wings is an urgent novel about female agency and bodily autonomy, morality and mortality. It’s about what happens when you don’t get to choose anymore. It’s about motherhood and family, sex and love and friendship, and how those bedrocks—even so late in the day—can still change, and then change everything.

The TL;dr synopsis of this book might just be: Pregnant 77-year old! But if you read no further than those few words, you’ll be missing out.

And yes, I’ll admit that it was exactly those click-bait-y words that caught my attention — but once I picked up the book, I realized that I was in for a delightful, nuanced, lovely reading treat, one that’s thoughtful and funny, quirky yet with pathos and urgency too.

Pepper Mills, age 77, reluctantly moves into a senior living community in her Texas town after a minor fender bender results in her adult children taking away her driving license. Pepper is a bright, lively woman, a retired English teacher who’s a stickler for grammar, and a devoted (and truly amazing) grandmother. She has not been, until now, dependent or restricted, and her entry into the world of senior living doesn’t bode well, until she meets the man next door. Moth (short for Timothy) is sweet and charming, and sparks fly almost instantly… something Pepper never expected after this many decades without any sort of romance in her life.

When she starts feeling woozy and nauseated several weeks later, she assumes it’s just part of the whole package of physical symptoms that come with aging — but eventually, a trip to the doctor reveals the shocking, no-way-this-can-be-true diagnosis: She’s pregnant. Aftre testing and more testing, the pregnacy is confirmed over and over again but, her doctor is certain, her aging body definitely is not equipped to sustain a pregnancy, and a miscarriage is expected any day now. Except it never happens.

Instead, Pepper finds herself stuck in the most absurd of situations. Obviously, she can’t possibly have a baby at her age. Except she lives in Texas, where abortion is not an option. And no, she doesn’t meet the definition of the loophole for saving a mother’s life — she doesn’t seem likely to sustain or survive a pregnancy, but she’s not actively dying from it either, so that’s that.

Dr. Blankman leaned forward from his corner. “Your mother is not in immediate danger. She’s not crashing or bleeding out. She’s not even in pain. She seems, in fact, to be having an entirely normal pregnancy.”

“She’s seventy-seven.”

“But apart from that.”

But apart from the eruption, how did you like living in Pompeii?

Pepper and her children plan a trip out of state to get her the care she needs, but she finds herself stuck without even that option once word of her condition is leaked to the media, turning her into an instant celebrity, with mobs of paparazzi parked outside Vista View tracking her every move.

Now, you may feel like the entire premise is ridiculous, but the book provides enough of an explanation (related to Pepper’s medical history) that I was willing to accept it. Is it realistic or medically accurate? Maybe not… but it was enough to satisfy me and let me enjoy the story without feeling the need to nitpick.

Pepper is an absolute gem of a character. I loved her intelligence, her humor, her devotion to friends and family, and her insistence on being treated like a person with agency. She may be older, but that doesn’t mean anyone has the right to infantilize her. The rest of the cast of characters is fantastic too. Moth is lovely as can be, Pepper’s children are interesting and involved and somewhat ornery at times, but totally in their mother’s corner. One of the most wonderful relationships in the book is between Pepper and her 15-year-old granddaughter Lola — their connection is funny and sweet and strong… and I couldn’t help laughing every time Pepper tried to decipher Lola’s emoji-based communications.

Seeing events unfold through Pepper’s perspective allows the narrative to retain her unique tone, which is often a bit sassy and wry, even as her experiences take darker turns. The extreme nature of Pepper’s predicament provides an interesting lens through which to look at the devastating impact of laws that have been enacted since the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Enormous Wings centers an outrageous situation — a pregnant 77-year-old! — as a window into the lack of choice and agency facing any woman in a state that’s outlawed abortion access.

The title of the book is a call-out to a short story by Gabriel García Márquez, A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings, which Pepper thinks of as she’s confronted both by people seeing her as a miracle and those viewing her as some sort of freak:

People aren’t good at recognizing the hand of God in the aged or unsavory. We like our miracles gold and glowing, not gray, not noisome, not mortal.

I’d never encountered the Márquez story before, but Enormous Wings has made me curious enough to want to check it out.

Enormous Wings takes a hard look at how restrictive laws limit women’s ability to control their own lives, bodies, and futures. By having a woman like Pepper as the main character, the author is able to illustrate the absurdity and cruelty that women (and girls) subject to these laws must live through.

Beyond that, the book also provides some beautiful reflections on life and living, aging and dying, cherishing loved one, and being present through daily challenges and joys. I loved Pepper’s voice and her outlook, and had a wonderful time getting to know the funny, caring people in her life. Highly recommended.

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.

Book Review: The Postcard by Anne Berest

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Title: The Postcard
Author: Anne Berest
Publisher: Europa Editions
Publication date: May 16, 2023 (English translation; first published in France in 2021)
Length: 489 pages
Genre: Autobiographical fiction
Source: Purchased
Rating:

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Winner of the Choix Goncourt Prize, Anne Berest’s The Postcard is a vivid portrait of twentieth-century Parisian intellectual and artistic life, an enthralling investigation into family secrets, and poignant tale of a Jewish family devastated by the Holocaust and partly restored through the power of storytelling.

January, 2003. Together with the usual holiday cards, an anonymous postcard is delivered to the Berest family home. On the front, a photo of the Opéra Garnier in Paris. On the back, the names of Anne Berest’s maternal great-grandparents, Ephraïm and Emma, and their children, Noémie and Jacques—all killed at Auschwitz.

Fifteen years after the postcard is delivered, Anne, the heroine of this novel, is moved to discover who sent it and why. Aided by her chain-smoking mother, family members, friends, associates, a private detective, a graphologist, and many others, she embarks on a journey to discover the fate of the Rabinovitch family: their flight from Russia following the revolution, their journey to Latvia, Palestine, and Paris. What emerges is a moving saga that shatters long-held certainties about Anne’s family, her country, and herself.

The Postcard delivers an unforgettable, deeply impactful history of a family, told through the lens of a book described as “autobiographical fiction”. Written by French author Anne Berest, translated to English by Tina Kover, the book explores the author’s family history and their experiences before, during, and after the Holocaust. Anne Berest herself is a character in the book, as we follow her attempts to unravel a mystery related to the arrival of an anonymously sent postcard.

The postcard is slightly old, featuring a Paris landmark, and has only four words written on it: the names of Anne’s great-grandparents and great aunt and uncle, all of whom were murdered at Auschwitz following their deportation from France during the Nazi occupation. While the postcard is delivered to Anne’s mother’s address in 2003, it’s not until sixteen years later, spurred by an antisemitic incident at her daughter’s school, that Anne becomes consumed by the need to understand who might have sent the postcard, and why.

As she investigates, Anne is driven by questions surrounding her Jewish identity. She does not attend synagogue, knows practically nothing about Jewish holidays or rituals, and has no grounding in organized religion. And yet, she feels deeply that she is Jewish, and that being Jewish is essential to understanding herself and her family. Questioned by a woman she meets at a Passover seder, she has to consider whether her Jewish identity is something she claims only when it suits her, or if not, what does it actually mean in her life?

While the investigation into the postcard provides the framing of this novel, the family’s story provides the most compelling and devastating sections of the book as a whole. The Rabinovitch family’s journey, from Russia to Latvia to Palestine to France, is one of seeking a home and a place representing hope for the future. Anne’s great-grandfather Ephraim’s ultimate goal is French citizenship. As he settles in France with his wife and children, he files for patents and establishes a thriving business. His illusion of belonging is shattered by the advent of the Nazis, and the family’s sense of security is destroyed as edict after edict strips them of rights, freedoms, financial means, and safety.

The stories of Ephraim’s three children — Myriam, Noémie, and Jacques — are particularly powerful. All quite young at the time — in their late teens and early twenties — and what happens to each of them is tragic in different ways. As the sole survivor, Myriam could be considered fortunate, yet we see through the story of her life following the war all the ways in which she’s irrevocably altered and damaged by her experiences and her terrible losses.

I puzzled over this book being called a novel, and only stumbled across the “autobiographical fiction” label (which I’d never heard of before) after the fact. What I came to understand, after doing a bit more reading about the author and her research, is that while she’s portraying her family’s story based on archival documents and intensive research, she’s created scenes between characters to fill in the blanks and bring interactions to life, especially in cases where no living participants or witnesses remain to provide details. She’s also altered certain names of people and villages in France, in order to protect the privacy of descendants of those whose actions or inactions allowed atrocities to occur.

The Postcard never left my thoughts during the week I spent reading it, and even now, days later, it’s hard to shake the thoughts and images associated with this book. The first 40% or so is especially devastating. Yes, we’ve all read about this terrible, unimaginable time, but there’s something about the specificity of the details here that make it all seem new and fresh. Statistics tell us how many Jews were deported from France and ultimately killed; by focusing in one family, the author brings us into the personal nature of the experiences and makes us feel the nightmare they found themselves trapped in.

I’m not sure I have the words to do justice to this important, powerful, haunting book. I’ll close by sharing links to reviews and background pieces related to The Postcard:

New York Times: Opinion: What It Means To Be A Witness Three Generations Later
New York Time: Review: The Postcard
The Guardian: Review: The Postcard

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.

Audiobook Review: Kill the Beast by Serra Swift

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Title: Kill the Beast
Author: Serra Swift
Narrator: Moira Quirk
Publisher: Tor Books
Publication date: October 14, 2025
Print length: 309 pages
Audiobook length: 10 hours 40 minutes
Genre: Fantasy
Source: Library
Rating:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

The Witcher meets Howl’s Moving Castle in this debut original faerie tale of revenge, redemption, and friendship―for fans of T. Kingfisher, Naomi Novik, and cozy fantasy with a dash of gritty adventure.

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.

When the witch Ragnhild decrees that Alderic and Lyssa must gather the other ingredients to forge the weapon together, or else the spell will fail, Lyssa gets more than she bargained for. Alderic is ill-equipped for the task at hand, and almost guaranteed to get himself killed.

But as the two of them search for 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, they begin to forge a blooming friendship―one that will either lead to the culmination of Lyssa’s quest for vengeance, or spell doom for them both.

Kill the Beast is a creative, often blood-soaked fairy tale retelling… and given the title, it’s really no surprise to discover exactly which fairy tale we find ourselves immersed in.

In this tale of vengeance and redemption, Lyssa has a fearsome reputation as “the Butcher”, a brutal sword for hire who specializes in killing trolls, goblins, and other magical menaces. But beyond that, Lyssa’s true purpose is killing Hounds — faerie-made creatures whose bloodthirsty rampages lead to mass deaths, and who have a reputation for being unkillable.

Thirteen years earlier, Lyssa saw her beloved older brother slaughtered by a creature known as the Beast, and vowed to avenge him. Over the years, her blood oath has led to successful quest after successful quest, but her ultimate quarry — the Beast — has remained elusive. When she receives a letter from a rich nobleman offering to hire her, she’s skeptical, until she realizes that he also wants to see the Beast dead.

Alderic is not what she’d expected. Beyond the drunken dandy who seems to only care about outrageously gaudy clothing, she finds a man who has a vengeance goal of his own. When the witch who acts as both mentor and spell-creator for Lyssa pronounces that she’ll need to work with Alderic to kill the Beast if they’re to have any chance of success, she hates the idea, but has no choice. The only thing she’s wanted all these years is to kill the Beast, and she’ll put up with Alderic’s company if she must if that’s the only way to get it done.

As they gather the ingredients they’ll need to forge a powerful enough weapon to destroy the Beast, Lyssa starts to see Alderic’s hidden depths. After near misses and dangerous encounters, their goal is within reach, but devastating secrets threaten to derail it all before the end.

The truth behind what’s going on is much (MUCH!) more shocking to Lyssa than it will be to any reader who’s ever watched a certain Disney movie (although Disney was never as bloody as Kill the Beast!). Still, despite a revelation that really isn’t much of a surprise, it’s enthralling to see how the story gets there, what the complicated explanations and origins turn out to be, and to see how the entire plot comes together.

Lyssa is a bristly, argumentative, thoroughly aggressive character who seems to have never met a problem that she couldn’t punch or stab into submission. She’s tough to love, yet we can understand how deeply wounded she is underneath the hard exterior — so even while wishing she’d stop and listen more often, or learn to control her blood lust, it’s hard not to empathize as well. Her partnership with Alderic leads to comic moments as well as surprisingly tender ones. Their friendship is strange and strained, but rings true.

In terms of pacing, the plot sags for a while as Lyssa and Alderic journey from place to place collecting the items they’ll need for the spell to forge a sword with enough magical power to kill the Beast. There are some tense set pieces, but it’s a lot of figuring out what they need, where to find it, how to get it, and then going through some sort of challenging circumstances to make it happen. The story is much more engaging when the focus is on the characters, their personal struggles, and their secrets. Collecting bits of stuff… not so much.

By the final third, Lyssa and Alderic’s quest picks up in terms of intensity and interest level. As hard truths are revealed, we learn just how much is truly at stake for each of them, which makes the entire story feel more dramatic and dire. I appreciated the climactic scenes and the realizations that come — practically too late — as Lyssa finally is forced to reconsider everything she’s held on to since her brother’s death and choose a path forward that might not be what she’d envisioned all along.

The audiobook for Kill the Beast is narrated by Moira Quirk, who’s been a favorite ever since I first listened to her narration of Gail Carriger’s Finishing School and Custard Protocol series. She’s quite wonderful here, especially when it comes to imbuing Lyssa and Alderic with distinct voices, but also at making the action sequences spring to life.

Kill the Beast is much darker in tone than I originally expected, but that’s okay. It’s a fairly grim story, but there are some nice little moments here and there to add a touch of lightness too. With storytelling flair and terrific characters, this is an enjoyable, compelling tale, and I look forward to reading more by this author in the future.

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.

Book Review: The Amateur by Chris Bohjalian

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Title: The Amateur
Author: Chris Bohjalian
Publisher: Doubleday Books
Publication date: August 4, 2026
Length: 336 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Midwives and The Flight Attendant: When a young woman, a golf prodigy, kills a caddy with a stray ball at the country club, the investigation of this freak accident reveals a dark and shocking tale of secret affairs, predatory men, and a teenager on trial.

1978: It is the first Thursday in August and temperatures are flirting with ninety when Mira Winston, eighteen years old, drives a golf ball from her tee toward the practice net near the clubhouse and caddy shack. The golf ball, weighing 1.6 ounces, tears through the net, traveling 150 miles per hour, and slams, with sickening force, into the temple of a high school junior named Kenny Foster, rupturing an artery and unleashing a torrent of blood. Kenny brings his hand to the side of his head, then topples onto his side. He’s dead before the ambulance even arrives.

In the wake of this terrible accident—and everyone, at first, agrees it was an accident—Mira looks for comfort in all the wrong places: In her lover, Theo Catton, a married man three decades her senior. In her mother, a well-kept woman with secrets of her own. In the dead caddy’s little sisters, girls bewildered by grief. But when the investigators look more closely at the torn net, when a detective recalls Mira’s history of recklessness, and when Kenny’s father spies Mira with her married lover, the affluent and mannered community turns on this once-promising young woman. A gripping story that takes the reader from the sun-soaked greens of a tony Westchester country club to the fluorescent-lit stand of a county courtroom, The Amateur asks: What happens when one small moment—a swing, a ball, a piece of string—changes the course of an entire life?

In prolific author Chris Bohjalian’s newest novel — his 26th! — the focus in on what seems to be a random accident. One August day in 1978, talented golfer Mira Winston, soon to depart for her freshman year at Yale, hits a golf ball at the practice net, as she does hundreds of time every week. But this time, the ball goes through the net and slams into the skull of a caddy — Kenny Foster, Mira’s high school classmate — killing him instantly.

The Amateur unfolds as Mira tells her story from a distance of decades. As we learn, Mira has become a successful author and is now writing her memoir, looking back on this turning point in her teens and revealing the secrets and traumas that have shaped her into the person she is today. And what secrets she has to tell!

Known — unfairly — for her temper, Mira is a golf prodigy who is so good that she routinely plays with the adult men at her country club, the only way she’s actually challenged. Is having a teen girl spend that much time with middle aged, highly privileged men good for her? It may help her golf game, but as we learn, it brings Mira into the orbit of predatory men who see her as fair game. At age 15, Mira begins an affair with a man thirty years her senior… and as Mira reminds us, her impulsive, needy teen brain doesn’t quite grasp that he’s a predator, not a lover.

Within her suburban Westchester home, Mira’s older brother is nicknamed “the Pinnacle” by her parents. She’ll never live up to him, that’s for sure… and meanwhile, Mira makes sure to water down her parents’ liquor bottles so their three or four nightly cocktails won’t be quite as potent as they could be. Mira has friends and does well at school, but she’s clearly a girl who lacks emotional support as well as any sort of internal or external restraint.

The golf accident leads to a chain of events that completely derails Mira’s life. She immediately swears off golf and Yale, and her warped sense of internal logic (something she refers to as Mira Land) leads her to believe that her killing of Kenny is karmic payback for her affair with Theo Catton. When the affair is revealed and then a dispute with the country club golf pro comes to light, questions arise about just what Mira might or might not have done. And while at first her lawyer father assures her that she has nothing to worry about from a legal standpoint, that proves to be untrue. A civil case against the club and the net manufacturer leads to a criminal case against Mira herself. And while Mira, narrating the story, makes it clear that she didn’t do the things she’s accused of, we can easily see how the circumstances — and the sexist prejudices of the time — make her history and her supposed sins support the charges against her.

It’s both fascinating and disturbing to spend time inside Mira’s head for the duration of this story. As adult Mira recounts these pivotal events from her earlier life, it’s clear that she has spent decades coming to terms with what happened and the guilt and trauma she’s carried with her ever since. A post from the author describes Mira as his id and Kenny as his superego, and the idea of Mira as pure id really rings true. She’s impulsive, intelligent but not always smart, and give in to destructive urges for escape, release, or relief, even when she must know that her choices aren’t helping her.

At the same time, the community and era in which Mira lives set her up, again and again, for the worst possible outcomes. Yes, she’s the daughter of a wealthy family with a country club membership — and the elitism inherent in this works against her in the trial scenes, where jury sympathy naturally flows toward the club’s employees rather than the members who complain or demand. But also, she’s just barely an adult, and was in fact a minor when she was seduced by Theo. She remembers being a willing participant — but she was a young girl preyed upon by a much older man, and not of age or in any way truly capable of consent. And yet, in the eyes of the community, and even people she meets later who hear rumors, she’s the person responsible for breaking up a marriage and ruining the lives of the children whose parents divorced. The degree of blame and scorn leveled at Mira is awful, but sadly not terribly shocking, especially in the context of the late 1970s.

I did wonder about the court case and whether the charges against Mira could or would actually have come to trial, much less whether someone in this situation would have ever been criminally charged in the first place. Of course, I have no legal expertise and it’s entirely possible that this is realistic — but I did often find myself saying “really???” while seeing how the legal and criminal aspects developed throughout the book.

The Amateur is fast-paced and absorbing. Mira is a unique character, and her take on events from her past as well as her recounting of her life at the point in which she’s writing her memoir never follows an easy or expected path. It’s amusing to note that Mira’s bestselling novels include books about a flight attendant and a midwife, and to see conversational references to a sleepwalker and a lioness. (IYKYK… but check out the list of Chris Bohjalian books!)

Chris Bohjalian’s books are must-reads for me, and while I still need to get to some of his earliest novels, I don’t think I’ve missed a new release of his in the past 15 years. In terms of personal preferences, I do love his books with historical settings (such as The Jackal’s Mistress, The Lioness, and Hour of the Witch) more than his more contemporary or thriller-focused books… but that’s only by comparison — I’ve never not enjoyed any of this author’s books.

I raced through The Amateur and found it a compelling, thought-provoking read. Mira’s voice is a stand-out! Beyond the hard-driving plot, there’s plenty here to stop and ponder, and I can see this book making a terrific book group pick. Highly recommended.

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.

Audiobook Review: The Romance Revival by Christina Lauren

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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:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

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
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