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stephsnextread's Reviews (390)
I absolutely loved this book! The premise is so unique and hooked me right away. Alison attends her ex-boyfriend’s funeral only to discover that he never told his family they broke up six weeks ago. She plays along so as not to cause them any more pain, but then they ask her to help clean out her ex’s apartment with his best friend, who is not interested in Alison being around.
This book handles heavy topics, including grief and breast cancer/BRCA1 gene, with such care, humor, and sweetness along the way. I loved the undeniable chemistry and witty banter between Alison and Adam. Adam celebrated Alison for all of her interests and opinions, even those others have labeled dorky, which is such a simple thing but meant the world to her. The side characters were such an important part of the story, and I especially loved the bond Alison had with her two best friends (and the intensity of the trivia team!).
The audio is narrated by Karissa Vacker, and it was so well done. Her voice was perfect for the character and tone of the book. I loved the balance between deep emotions and laugh-out-loud moments in this book and I highly recommend it!
This book handles heavy topics, including grief and breast cancer/BRCA1 gene, with such care, humor, and sweetness along the way. I loved the undeniable chemistry and witty banter between Alison and Adam. Adam celebrated Alison for all of her interests and opinions, even those others have labeled dorky, which is such a simple thing but meant the world to her. The side characters were such an important part of the story, and I especially loved the bond Alison had with her two best friends (and the intensity of the trivia team!).
The audio is narrated by Karissa Vacker, and it was so well done. Her voice was perfect for the character and tone of the book. I loved the balance between deep emotions and laugh-out-loud moments in this book and I highly recommend it!
This is the third book in Kristina Forest’s The Greene Sisters series of interconnected standalones. You can read it without reading the first two, but they’re so good and I highly recommend them!
Iris is a widow and a single mother who puts all of her energy into her career and her daughter. She met Pop R&B singer Angel at her sister’s party a couple years ago and didn’t think much of it. Little does she know, Angel has been secretly pining for her ever since!
I loved Iris and Angel so much. While both grappling with career dilemmas, they showed up for each other. I loved their supportive relationship that was full of sweet moments. Angel was so patient with Iris, who was working through her grief and her hesitancy to date after losing her husband. He really helped her remember how to have fun! A special highlight for me was the song lyrics that Angel writes for Iris. I wish we could hear the songs in real life! I highly recommend this book and the whole series!
Read if you like:
💕 Celebrity romance
💕 Single mom FMCs
💕 Secret romance
💕 Forced proximity
Iris is a widow and a single mother who puts all of her energy into her career and her daughter. She met Pop R&B singer Angel at her sister’s party a couple years ago and didn’t think much of it. Little does she know, Angel has been secretly pining for her ever since!
I loved Iris and Angel so much. While both grappling with career dilemmas, they showed up for each other. I loved their supportive relationship that was full of sweet moments. Angel was so patient with Iris, who was working through her grief and her hesitancy to date after losing her husband. He really helped her remember how to have fun! A special highlight for me was the song lyrics that Angel writes for Iris. I wish we could hear the songs in real life! I highly recommend this book and the whole series!
Read if you like:
💕 Celebrity romance
💕 Single mom FMCs
💕 Secret romance
💕 Forced proximity
This book was cute, with summery small town vibes! Sage Byrd has lived in Spunes, Oregon her whole life. She really needs to win this year’s Festival of Spunes annual competition so the town will stop pitying her for her recent breakup. Enter Fisher Lange, a chef from NYC who is in town to consult on a new restaurant. He doesn’t seem to click with the townsfolk and is struggling to be taken seriously. Sage and Fisher decide to make a deal…he will be her partner for the competition and she will help improve his reputation.
I felt like the book got off to a slow start, but then picked up speed at the end (to the point where I wish the competition had been a little more drawn out). I really liked Sage and Fisher together, and their romance was worth the slow pace. The characters were all so lovable (especially the Sage’s animals!). Overall, the book was charming and sweet but missing a little something to make me love it. However, I’m very much looking forward to reading Wren and Ellis’s story (Left of Forever, releasing 5/20/25).
Read if you like:
💕 Small town romance
💕 Lovable animal characters
💕 Grumpy x Sunshine
💕 Summer romance
💕 Dual POV
I felt like the book got off to a slow start, but then picked up speed at the end (to the point where I wish the competition had been a little more drawn out). I really liked Sage and Fisher together, and their romance was worth the slow pace. The characters were all so lovable (especially the Sage’s animals!). Overall, the book was charming and sweet but missing a little something to make me love it. However, I’m very much looking forward to reading Wren and Ellis’s story (Left of Forever, releasing 5/20/25).
Read if you like:
💕 Small town romance
💕 Lovable animal characters
💕 Grumpy x Sunshine
💕 Summer romance
💕 Dual POV
THIS. BOOK. This book was everything! How can a book have tears streaming down my face one minute and then have me kicking my feet in giddiness the next minute!? I absolutely loved everything about this book, and it has quickly become one of my favorites.
Lenny’s best friend, Lou, recently passed away from cancer, and Lenny is deep in grief. She’s ignoring her parents’ calls, sleeping on a ferry to avoid her (their) apartment, and taking temporary nanny jobs to avoid committing to anything. She takes a weekend nannying job for single mom Reese and her daughter, Ainsley. Lenny is trying to seem like she has it all together, but Ainsley’s Uncle Miles sees right through her act.
The way that Cara Bastone writes about grief is devastating. It was such an honest portrayal of the rollercoaster grief can take you on. As soon as Lenny would start to see some light, something would pull her back down again. Miles was there for her every time, never wavering in his willingness to sit with her in her grief. The romance is a slow burn, and for that I am so glad! Lenny desperately needed a friend and someone to help her remember how to live again before she could fall in love. Miles was that person time and time again, and it was the most beautiful thing to watch.
Thank you to Cara Bastone, Dial Press, and NetGalley for this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Read if you like:
💕 Grumpy x sunshine (but the sunshine is so wracked with grief that she has lost her sun)
💕 Grief and healing
💕 Thrifting
💕 Bucket lists
💕 Slow burn
Lenny’s best friend, Lou, recently passed away from cancer, and Lenny is deep in grief. She’s ignoring her parents’ calls, sleeping on a ferry to avoid her (their) apartment, and taking temporary nanny jobs to avoid committing to anything. She takes a weekend nannying job for single mom Reese and her daughter, Ainsley. Lenny is trying to seem like she has it all together, but Ainsley’s Uncle Miles sees right through her act.
The way that Cara Bastone writes about grief is devastating. It was such an honest portrayal of the rollercoaster grief can take you on. As soon as Lenny would start to see some light, something would pull her back down again. Miles was there for her every time, never wavering in his willingness to sit with her in her grief. The romance is a slow burn, and for that I am so glad! Lenny desperately needed a friend and someone to help her remember how to live again before she could fall in love. Miles was that person time and time again, and it was the most beautiful thing to watch.
Thank you to Cara Bastone, Dial Press, and NetGalley for this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Read if you like:
💕 Grumpy x sunshine (but the sunshine is so wracked with grief that she has lost her sun)
💕 Grief and healing
💕 Thrifting
💕 Bucket lists
💕 Slow burn
“I decided that deep down we’re all who we were when we were kids. I think being a teenager is about hiding all your quirks and contorting yourself to fit in and impress people, and being an adult is about re-finding who you were when you were eight years old.”
This book was different than I expected in such an interesting way. The entire book is told through memories recounted by two characters, and the first half of the book is entirely theoretical suicide notes. It was such a unique way to present the story and kept me engaged the whole time because I didn’t really know where the story was going. While the story brings humor to relieve some of the heaviness, this book explores deep topics including complex family dynamics, sister relationships, mental health, and addiction. This was a very impactful book that I will be thinking about for a long time to come.
Note: Please check content warnings if needed because this book hits on a lot of heavy topics.
Thank you to Emily Austin, Atria, and NetGalley for this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.
This was such a captivating story full of drama! It is told in a documentary style, and the audiobook has full cast narration. I enjoyed all of the narrators, and highly recommend the audio to keep track of the characters (because there are a lot!).
The story itself was wild. It follows a pair of Olympic ice dancers, Katarina Shaw and Heath Rocha. Right from the start, we find out that something big happened between them, and the rest of the book tells the story from the beginning. There is trauma, jealousy, and toxic relationships all over the place. The story is never boring, with a new scandal happening all the time. Most of the characters were highly unlikable and make questionable decisions constantly. It felt a bit like reality TV to me, which kept me wanting to find out what wild thing would happen next. I recommend this book if you’re looking for a high drama fictional story about the world of elite athletes.
The story itself was wild. It follows a pair of Olympic ice dancers, Katarina Shaw and Heath Rocha. Right from the start, we find out that something big happened between them, and the rest of the book tells the story from the beginning. There is trauma, jealousy, and toxic relationships all over the place. The story is never boring, with a new scandal happening all the time. Most of the characters were highly unlikable and make questionable decisions constantly. It felt a bit like reality TV to me, which kept me wanting to find out what wild thing would happen next. I recommend this book if you’re looking for a high drama fictional story about the world of elite athletes.
I will read absolutely anything that Abby Jimenez writes! She had me completely hooked in this 82-page short story. Of course, I’d love more of Charlotte and Seth, but it was a full story even though it’s short in length. I absolutely loved the meet-cute and fell hard for both of these characters. Their best friends were hilarious and added so much humor to the story. I loved everything about it and I highly recommend it if you’re looking for a swoony short story!
Note: Check content warnings
Read if you like:
💕 Romance novellas
💕 Dual POV
💕 Forced proximity
💕 Tree trivia
Note: Check content warnings
Read if you like:
💕 Romance novellas
💕 Dual POV
💕 Forced proximity
💕 Tree trivia
This is the 2nd book in Kristina Forest’s the Greene Sisters series of interconnected standalones. You can read this one without reading The Neighbor Favor first, but it’s also so good that I recommend it too!
This book follows Violet Greene, who is a celebrity stylist. She very publicly split from her ex-fiancé 6 months ago (and threw herself an anti-wedding party on her wedding day using her wedding venue and vendors!) and is now putting all of her energy into her job. On a work trip to Vegas, she runs into her high school boyfriend, Xavier, who absolutely crushed her heart when they were younger. After the shock wears off, they decide to celebrate Xavier’s birthday together and, in true Vegas fashion, wake up married!
I adored everything about this book! I’m a sucker for second chance romance, and this one delivered! I loved the character development Violet and Xavier both went through, as well as the growth of their relationship with each other. I appreciated that both of them were very career focused and also supported the other in their career goals. I flew through this book and am so excited to read Iris’s story (The Love Lyric)!
Read if you like:
💕Second chance romance
💕 Accidental marriage
💕 Forced proximity
💕 Celebrity stylist FMC x high school teacher MMC
💕 He cares for her when she’s sick
This book follows Violet Greene, who is a celebrity stylist. She very publicly split from her ex-fiancé 6 months ago (and threw herself an anti-wedding party on her wedding day using her wedding venue and vendors!) and is now putting all of her energy into her job. On a work trip to Vegas, she runs into her high school boyfriend, Xavier, who absolutely crushed her heart when they were younger. After the shock wears off, they decide to celebrate Xavier’s birthday together and, in true Vegas fashion, wake up married!
I adored everything about this book! I’m a sucker for second chance romance, and this one delivered! I loved the character development Violet and Xavier both went through, as well as the growth of their relationship with each other. I appreciated that both of them were very career focused and also supported the other in their career goals. I flew through this book and am so excited to read Iris’s story (The Love Lyric)!
Read if you like:
💕Second chance romance
💕 Accidental marriage
💕 Forced proximity
💕 Celebrity stylist FMC x high school teacher MMC
💕 He cares for her when she’s sick
I loved this book so much! This is the 1st book in Kristina Forest’s The Greene Sisters series of interconnected standalones. Lily Greene is completely endearing. She’s a quiet, shy book lover working in publishing. She emails her favorite fantasy author on a whim and they develop a natural friendship and connection, until he ghosts her (and kind of breaks her heart, which she is embarrassed about since she’s never met him in real life). Months later, she finds distraction in her “Fine as Hell Neighbor”, Nick Brown. She feels instantly drawn to him and doesn’t know why. She doesn’t know that he is an author, and the very one she emailed with months before.
I usually have a hard time with main characters who are hiding things (like their identity!). Nick was different for me. He had a very reasonable reason for hiding his identify. I do wish he had told Lily earlier, but I can’t fault him for it and do think he was the perfect match for Lily. I absolutely loved Nick and Lily together! They both brought out the other’s confidence and helped each other along their career trajectories. Their chemistry was undeniable, albeit a slow burn, and I loved it so much! I recently finished the second book in the series, so stay tuned for that review!
Read if you like:
💕 Books about the book publishing world
💕 Bonding over books
💕 Unlikely “small world” coincidences
💕 Secret identity
💕 Neighbor romance
I usually have a hard time with main characters who are hiding things (like their identity!). Nick was different for me. He had a very reasonable reason for hiding his identify. I do wish he had told Lily earlier, but I can’t fault him for it and do think he was the perfect match for Lily. I absolutely loved Nick and Lily together! They both brought out the other’s confidence and helped each other along their career trajectories. Their chemistry was undeniable, albeit a slow burn, and I loved it so much! I recently finished the second book in the series, so stay tuned for that review!
Read if you like:
💕 Books about the book publishing world
💕 Bonding over books
💕 Unlikely “small world” coincidences
💕 Secret identity
💕 Neighbor romance
Leigh is surprised when she gets accepted into a prestigious MFA program for poetry. Her surprise continues when she finds out that her high school crush (who gave her some harsh feedback on her poetry back then) is also in her program. Now they’re competing for a fellowship with her favorite poet and are forced to confront what happened in the past.
I really wanted to love this story, but I was pretty annoyed with Leigh, who felt immature to me. She’s 27, still very hung up on heartbreak from high school, and overly affected by her parents’ crumbling relationship. She also gets really mean and defensive when people close to her provide her with constructive criticism or try to help her. She felt like a teenager to me. However, I very much enjoyed the on-page therapy sessions and mental health discussions, as well as the poetry, which is so unique in a romance book.
I started this book as audio and other readers have loved it on audio, but I had a really hard time with it. Sarah Beth Goer has a great voice, and I would listen to other books she narrates, but her voice didnt match my vision of Leigh’s character. Leigh is portrayed as the Elle Woods of poetry. She is a pop music-loving former sorority girl, and I thought the narration for her voice sounded a little pretentious. I did really like how the narrator read the poetry and voiced Will though. Overall, I was distracted by the narration and switched to the ebook, where I enjoyed the story more.
Thank you to Katie Naymon, Forever, Hachette Audio, and NetGalley for this e-ARC and ALC in exchange for my honest review.
Read if you like:
💕 Poetry
💕 Forced proximity
💕 MFA Poets
💕 Mental health rep
💕 Rivals to lovers
I really wanted to love this story, but I was pretty annoyed with Leigh, who felt immature to me. She’s 27, still very hung up on heartbreak from high school, and overly affected by her parents’ crumbling relationship. She also gets really mean and defensive when people close to her provide her with constructive criticism or try to help her. She felt like a teenager to me. However, I very much enjoyed the on-page therapy sessions and mental health discussions, as well as the poetry, which is so unique in a romance book.
I started this book as audio and other readers have loved it on audio, but I had a really hard time with it. Sarah Beth Goer has a great voice, and I would listen to other books she narrates, but her voice didnt match my vision of Leigh’s character. Leigh is portrayed as the Elle Woods of poetry. She is a pop music-loving former sorority girl, and I thought the narration for her voice sounded a little pretentious. I did really like how the narrator read the poetry and voiced Will though. Overall, I was distracted by the narration and switched to the ebook, where I enjoyed the story more.
Thank you to Katie Naymon, Forever, Hachette Audio, and NetGalley for this e-ARC and ALC in exchange for my honest review.
Read if you like:
💕 Poetry
💕 Forced proximity
💕 MFA Poets
💕 Mental health rep
💕 Rivals to lovers