martinas_library's Reviews (457)

To start, I did not read Savor It but the author assures us at the very beginning that it is not required prior. After reading this book, I will 100% be going back to read about the lovely Fisher and Sage. Hopefully, more of the Byrd siblings will be getting their own stories told as well! I love a good second chance romance but a second chance romance where they've known each other since they were kids, became teen parents, married for years, then divorce?? Absolute perfection. Wren and Ellis have been divorced 5 years and are now sending their only child off to college. Ellis proposes a celebration road trip with Wren with the hopes they will rekindle their love. This was such a beautiful, sweet, and relatable read. Wren and Ellis just lost each other in the midst of life and honestly that is a such an easy thing to do. It takes extremely hard work to make a marriage work and sometimes you can feel so alone in a marriage. I loved how they didn't just immediately get back together but they actually communicated, told each other what brought them to their breaking point, and worked together to find each other again. This is going to be among the top of my list of best romance books I've read. It truly made me emotional and really appreciate how hard a marriage can be and how beautiful love is.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Playing Hard to Get

Monica Murphy

4.5

Heart of the Sun

Mia Sheridan

3.0

Up Close & Personal

Ana Holguin

5.0

I initially picked this one up because of its comparison to Jessica Joyce and Abby Jimenez. I am happy to say, those comparisons were right! I flew through the pages, it reminded me of Yours Truly but with a FMC with anxiety. This was such a cute romance with a deep look into mental health, specifically anxiety disorder. As someone with anxiety, I truly connected with that storyline. This was a slow burn romance that focused more on Jo's desire to reveal more of herself to the world, while slowly falling for skeptical journalist along the way. I loved both Jo and Silas and I could feel the tension rising straight out of the pages. I also loved the Pelton-esque of Jo's life, as someone who tried one spin class and declared never again, it was interesting to see the other side to a fitness influencer life. If you are a romance fan that also enjoys a story that goes a bit deeper and discussed mental health, definitely make sure to add this one to your TBR.

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Call It What You Want

Alissa DeRogatis

4.5

The Fall Risk

Abby Jimenez

4.5

Friends with Benefits

Marisa Kanter

5.0

This was my first book by the author and I did not know what to expect going in. All I knew was it was had a marriage of convenience and that is my favorite trope! This book did not disappoint, in fact I fell in love with it. The FMC, Evie, has Crohn's disease and she must have insurance. Her dream internship doesn't offer benefits. In comes Theo, her best friend since childhood, who has fantastic insurance and offers to marry her so that she can be covered. Friends with Benefits...get it, like health insurance packages. Evie never wants to get married but maybe for her dreams, she can fake it and move in with Theo until she can secure her own benefits? This is a complicated story of best friends who always seem to be at the wrong place at the wrong time and both continually deny their feelings for each other. This was very reminiscent of Abby Jimenez books and that just made my heart so happy. It wasn't overly spicy, it had just the right amount. It touches on grief, on complicated parental figures, mental health, and the struggles of having an autoimmune disease. This may possibly be a top romance read for me in 2025! (it's only January, I need to calm down) 😂

Read if you enjoy:
-marriage of convenience
-friends to lovers
-mental health/chronic health rep
-bi main character
-Jewish main characters (although they do admit to not being the most devout)

Thank you to NetGalley and Celadon Books for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.