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Gwen & Art Are Not in Love

by Lex Croucher

Thanks so much to the author, St. Martin’s Press, and Wednesday Books for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for my honest thoughts. All opinions are entirely my own. { partner }
My reviews and content can also be found on Goodreads, on StoryGraph, on Instagram @Tackling_TBR, and on TikTok @TacklingTBR.

Publication Date: November 28, 2023

Genre: romance, historical fiction, queer fiction, young adult

Tropes: found family, mutually beneficial arrangement, reimagined Camelot

Page Count: 410 pages

Audiobook Length: 10 hours and 47 minutes

Audiobook Narrators: Alex Singh, Sarah Ovens

Book Blurb:

Heartstopper meets A Knight’s Tale in this queer medieval rom-com YA debut about love, friendship, and being brave enough to change the course of history.

It’s been hundreds of years since King Arthur’s reign. His descendant, Arthur, a future Lord and general gadabout, has been betrothed to Gwendoline, the quick-witted, short-tempered princess of England, since birth. The only thing they can agree on is that they despise each other.

They’re forced to spend the summer together at Camelot in the run-up to their nuptials, and within 24 hours, Gwen has discovered Arthur kissing a boy, and Arthur has gone digging for Gwen’s childhood diary and found confessions about her crush on the kingdom’s only lady knight, Bridget Leclair.

Realizing they might make better allies than enemies, Gwen and Art make a reluctant pact to cover for each other, and as things heat up at the annual royal tournament, Gwen is swept off her feet by her knight, and Arthur takes an interest in Gwen’s royal brother. Lex Croucher’s Gwen & Art Are Not in Loveis chock full of sword-fighting, found family, and romantic shenanigans destined to make readers fall in love.

Review: 4 stars

TW: violence, excessive use of alcohol, war, homophobia, death of a parent

As a closeted queer girl whose Roman Empire was King Arthur and the story of Camelot, believe me when I tell you I would have killed to have this book as a preteen! A queer YA reimagining of Camelot? With a dashing lady knight? Truly the book of my young dreams.

I really enjoyed this book and its colorful cast of characters. I’ve always loved the idea of Camelot, but I can now confidently say that this updated version years after Arthur’s rule is one of my favorite versions of the kingdom that I’ve read.

The only reason that I’m knocking a star off is because I think that this book was marketed slightly incorrectly. I went into this book expecting a fun YA romance – and despite the fact that the story is indeed centered on Gwen and Arthur’s romances with Bridget and Gabe respectively, it felt to me like the romance took a real backseat to a more found family theming between the four of them and a few others. I don’t see that to be a negative at all, especially in a young adult novel, but it isn’t what I had expected when I picked it up. When I’m recommending this book in the future, I’ll definitely lean into that aspect rather than as a romance.

I am annoyed that it took me so long to pick this one up, but I’m glad that I finally got around to it! I can’t wait to pick up the sequel and see where the story and the characters go from here.

Purchase a copy on Bookshop.org and support your local indie bookstore!

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Cleat Cute

by Meryl Wilsner

Thanks so much to the author and St. Martin’s Griffin for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for my honest thoughts. All opinions are entirely my own. { partner }
My reviews and content can also be found on Goodreads, on StoryGraph, on Instagram @Tackling_TBR, and on TikTok @TacklingTBR.

Publication Date: September 19, 2023

Genre: romance, contemporary romance, sports romance, sapphic romance

Tropes: Grumpy x Sunshine, rivals to lovers, friends with benefits, praise kink, neurodivergence rep

Page Count: 328 pages

Audiobook Length: 11 hours and 10 minutes

Audiobook Narrators: Dana Varden, Zim Avaltrades

Book Blurb:

A sapphic rivals to lovers rom com for fans of Ted Lasso and A League of Their Own, where two soccer teammates are at odds before falling in love as their team gears up for the World Cup.

Grace Henderson has been a star of the US Women’s National Team for ten years, even though she’s only 26. But when she’s sidelined with an injury, a bold new upstart, Phoebe Matthews, takes her spot. Phoebe is everything Grace isn’t—a gregarious jokester who plays with a joy that Grace lost somewhere along the way. The last thing Grace expects is to become friends with benefits with this class clown she sees as her rival.

Phoebe Matthews has always admired Grace’s skill and was star struck to be training alongside her idol. But she quickly finds herself looking at Grace as more than a mere teammate. After one daring kiss, she’s hooked. Grace is everything she has been waiting to find.

As the World Cup approaches, and Grace works her way back from injury, the women decide to find a way they can play together instead of vying for the same position. Except, when they are off the field, Grace is worried she’s catching feelings while Phoebe thinks they are dating. As the tension between them grows, will both players realize they care more about their relationship than making the roster?

Review: 3 stars

TW: description of injury

This was a pretty middle of the road sports romance for me, to be honest. A very enjoyable read, but not one that I’ll probably think back on or remember too many specific details of after the fact.

I enjoyed the cat of characters well enough – not only our two FMCs but also the rest of the women on their team. There are few things that get me bought into a story as quickly as a fun group of friends that I can imagine sitting and gabbing with over brunch, and this book certainly had that. I would totally read more books about these characters – I can totally picture a series of interconnected standalone books to follow this one, going from teammate to teammate, and I would read every single one.

Where this book fell short for me was on two major points –

The first is that this book relies really heavily on the miscommunication trope, which is easily my least favorite to read. Honestly give me an accidental pregnancy in every book before a miscommunication trope. Like, y’all, JUST TALK TO EACH OTHER. And in this book it seems like the two leads will once again make any excuse to make assumptions about what the other is thinking or feeling instead of just talking to each other and having a simple conversation. The one saving grace for this in this particular story to me is that it was generally the emotional side that they weren’t communicating on, rather than there being one big miscommunication leading to a third act breakup. But still that wasn’t enough to make me ignore it completely.

The other issue that I had was that this book is big on telling rather than showing. I can’t put my finger on any specific examples – I listened to the audio for this book, and primarily while in the car. But overall it felt a bit like someone was recapping for me, rather than the book describing the scene or the actions and trusting me to understand on my own what was going on. A bit of that is fine, but it is much more interesting in my opinion the other way around.

All in all I enjoyed it, and I’m glad that I read it, and I would certainly include it in a list of recommendations to a girlfriend looking for a queer sports romance. But this is another one that I’m not sure I’ll be picking up for a reread any time soon.

Purchase a copy on Bookshop.org and support your local indie bookshop!

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Infamous

by Lex Croucher

Thanks so much to the author and St. Martin’s Griffin for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for my honest thoughts. All opinions are entirely my own. { partner }
My reviews and content can also be found on Goodreads, on StoryGraph, on Instagram @Tackling_TBR, and on TikTok @TacklingTBR.

Publication Date: March 21, 2023

Genre: romance, regency romance, historical fiction, sapphic romance

Tropes: friends to lovers, love triangle

Page Count: 336 pages

Audiobook Length: 10 hours and 55 minutes

Audiobook Narrator: Ellie Kendrick

Book Blurb:

22-year-old aspiring writer Edith ‘Eddie’ Miller and her best friend Rose have always done everything together-climbing trees, throwing grapes at boys, sneaking bottles of wine, practicing kissing . . .

But following their debutante ball Rose is suddenly talking about marriage, and Eddie is horrified.

When Eddie meets charming, renowned poet Nash Nicholson, he invites her to his crumbling Gothic estate in the countryside. The entourage of eccentric artists indulging in pure hedonism is exactly what Eddie needs in order to forget Rose and finish her novel.

But Eddie might discover the world of famous literary icons isn’t all poems and pleasure . . .

Review: 3 stars

TW: sexual assault and harassment, excessive drug and alcohol use, murder, infidelity, gaslighting

This was a fairly average read for me.

Initially marketed as “Bridgerton meets Sex Education,” and after having loved other books from this author, I was sold on it before I even read the blurb. I don’t want to say that it suffered from high expectations because I didn’t dislike it, but maybe that played a role in my somewhat blah vibe while reading it.

I think that the biggest issue that I had was with our main character, Eddie. She is a fiercely independent writer that couldn’t care less about society or their polite opinions about her – it is easy to draw comparisons to Eloise Bridgerton, which I’m sure is where that larger comparison comes from. But I would say that she is Eloise dialed up to an 11, and I had a hard time enjoying her as a lead. I can certainly get behind an unlikeable main character when it is a part of the story that the author is telling, but this didn’t necessarily feel like an intentional writing choice so I’m not sure if it was just an issue of my connecting with her. In all honesty I frequently found myself more interested in Rose and several of the background characters that formed Nash’s traveling party, and more than once wished I could have followed them in a scene instead of Eddie.

Overall I would recommend this book to a friend, but likely only once they had already finished and enjoyed other similar books that I’d maybe recommend to them first. This was an enjoyable enough read, and I still look forward to other books from the author, but there are other books with a similar vibe that I would be much more likely to pick back up for a reread.

Purchase a copy on Bookshop.org and support your local indie bookstore!

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Anderson in Bloom

by Jennifer Dugan

Thanks so much to the Libro.fm and Avon Books for the gifted advanced audio copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts. All opinions are entirely my own. { partner }
My reviews and content can also be found on Goodreads, on StoryGraph, on Instagram @Tackling_TBR, and on TikTok @TacklingTBR.

Publication Date: March 3, 2026

Genre: romance, contemporary romance, sapphic romance

Tropes: second chance, small town, celebrity, friends with benefits

Page Count: 320 pages

Audiobook Length: 8 hours and 4 minutes

Audiobook Narrator: Rebecca Mozo

Book Blurb:

From the author of Love at First Set , a hilariously sexy enemies-to-lovers, second-chance rom-com about a reclusive former child star turned florist whose quiet life is turned upside down when her annoyingly hot ex (and former costar) shows up in town, with plans to write a tell-all memoir.

Former child star Anderson “Andy” Ducharme is hiding—has been for a long time, if she’s honest with herself, which she isn’t.

When she suddenly cut off all ties and left LA six years earlier to work in a flower shop in coastal New England, she wasn’t just running away from toxic relationships, embezzling agents, and all the rest of her Hollywood life; she was running to something… sort of, if you squinted, and if you accepted that what she was running toward was little more than a vacation daydream she had made up with her (in)famous ex, and former costar, Nicole “Nikki” Price.

Then Nikki announces her plan to write a tell-all book about growing up in Hollywood and their tumultuous time on the Nik and Andy show, and Andy’s feelings of hurt and betrayal come rushing back. Emboldened by anger (and maybe one too many drinks), Andy does something very stupid: she texts her ex for the first time in years. No one’s more shocked than Andy when Nikki actually shows up to her small florist shop, looking for answers.

Andy is fully prepared to send Nikki away, but it seems Nikki has some unfinished business as well. Now that she finally knows where Andy’s been hiding, she’s not letting her go so easy. And with each passing encounter, Andy can’t deny the simmering physical attraction that threatens to boil over every time they get close.

But can the two of them really reunite without wrecking Andy’s carefully rebuilt life? Or is she setting herself up for a fresh heartbreak?

Review: 5 stars

TW: discussion of addiction (drugs & alcohol), outing of queer characters

This was such a delightful read!

I’d be lying if I said the cover hadn’t sold me on it without even glancing at the book blurb – I mean come on, a cutie sapphic romance with that many flowers? Obviously I need to check that out. So I am so glad that it lived up to the cover-based hype that I built up for it in my own head!

Second chance isn’t always my favorite romance trope. I’m a girlie who went back to an ex when I shouldn’t have, and therefore I’m often inclined to say that if it didn’t work out maybe it’s better to leave it in your past. But in my opinion, this book was second chance romance done very right! The story and the characters didn’t shy away from talking about why the relationship didn’t work out the first time and why it stopped being healthy, all while writing the present in such a way that you could really feel the love that these characters still had for each other. I was not only rooting for the continuation of their love story, but also fully believed that even though it wasn’t the right time before that maybe it was the right time now.

And the characters were so enjoyable! I really found myself falling for both of our FMCs, but honestly Andy’s killer friend group stole the show for me. I would not very much like to live in a small coastal dream of a town and work in a florist shop with my sassy best friend and opinionated cat.

There were times I was tearing up, or giggling, or kicking my feet, and by the end I wanted to curl up with a big cup of coffee and study the language of flowers because oh my gosh, truly NOTHING was sweeter than Nikki wooing Andy in her chosen (floral) love language.

Purchase a copy on Bookshop.org and support your local indie bookstore!

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Late Bloomer

by Mazey Eddings

Thanks so much to the author and St. Martin’s Griffin for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for my honest thoughts. All opinions are entirely my own. { partner }
My reviews and content can also be found on Goodreads, StoryGraph, on Instagram @Tackling_TBR, and on TikTok @TacklingTBR.

Publication Date: April 16, 2024

Genre: contemporary romance, contemporary fiction, LGBTQIA+

Tropes: Sapphic romance, opposites attract, friends with benefits, forced proximity, neurodivergence rep

Page Count: 400 pages

Audiobook Length: 9 hours and 32 minutes

Audiobook Narrator: Ellie Gossage

Book Blurb:

A sapphic opposites-attract romance with Mazey Edding’s signature sparkling voice!

Winning the lottery has ruined Opal Devlin’s’s life. After quitting her dead-end job where she’d earned minimum wage and even less respect, she’s bombarded by people knocking at her door for a handout the second they found out her bank account was overflowing with cash. And Opal can’t seem to stop saying yes.

With her tender heart thoroughly abused, Opal decides to protect herself by any means necessary, which to her translates to putting almost all her new money to buying a failing flower farm in Asheville, North Carolina to let the flowers live out their plant destiny while she uses the cabin on the property to start her painting business.

But her plans for isolation and self-preservation go hopelessly awry when an angry (albeit gorgeous) Pepper Smith is waiting for her at her new farm. Pepper states she’s the rightful owner of Thistle and Bloom Farms, and isn’t moving out. The unlikely pair strike up an agreement of co-habitation, and butt-heads at every turn. Can these opposites both live out their dreams and plant roots? Or will their combustible arguing (and growing attraction) burn the whole place down?

Review: 2 stars

TW: mention of alcoholism, emotional manipulation, toxic relationships (romantic and platonic), grief

Wow, I REALLY wanted to love this book.

Opposites attract? Love that. Grumpy x Sunshine? Obviously. Sapphic romance? Immediate yes. Plus I’ve loved books from this author in the past. I was fully expecting this to be an easy slam dunk from me. But I’m very sorry to say that it somewhat completely missed the mark for me personally.

This basically felt like “Miscommunication: The Novel.” You couldn’t go even two chapters without one of the characters assuming they know exactly what the other is thinking, and always assuming the worst as it relates to themselves – and they don’t ever even consider talking to the other person about it. Truly all it would have taken was someone to have just said “Hey, when you said this thing, did you mean to imply that I’m the most annoying and inconvenient person that you’ve ever met? No? Dang, I’m glad I asked instead of assuming,” and I think the length of the novel may have been cut fully in half.

I also had a very hard time with the romance itself between our two FMCs, Opal and Pepper.

Now don’t get me wrong, I LOVE tropes like enemies to lovers and Grumpy x Sunshine. So I am far from a stranger to the idea of a character being flirtatious by way of negging, or a character being a bit oblivious or socially awkward and therefore getting off on several wrong feet with their eventual love interest. Heck, I’m a Mr. Darcy apologist, for goodness sake.
But I think that there needs to be a distinct difference between those situations and a character just being mean the entire time until the eventual confession of love. Otherwise that’s how tropes like this get a bad reputation.

Make no mistake, both of these FMCs are flawed people. I’m certainly not wanting to go into this making you think that Pepper is bad and Opal is good. But this entire relationship and love story felt incredibly one sided.

While both characters contributed to the issues and obstacles that their relationship faced (see again, Miscommunication: The Novel), at least Opal was willing to own up to her own shit. If she needed to apologize, she would apologize; if she needed to affirm Pepper to make her feel wanted and supported, she made some gesture or speech.

Meanwhile Pepper was just mean for a huge majority of the novel, which was written off as an unavoidable part of her neurodivergence, and she seemed to make no acknowledgment or effort towards potentially working past it. And again, I understand that people can get off on the wrong foot, and that it can be especially prevalent in neurodivergent people or characters. But Pepper was even this way with her closest friends and Opal, even past the point when she started to have feelings towards her. It truly just made her seem mean. And despite needing (and getting) frequent reassurance from Opal about her feelings, we seriously made it to about 86% before Pepper gave Opal even the slightest crumb of affection or verbal confirmation that she cared for her in return.

Plus Opal spends so much of the time being so understanding of Pepper and meeting her where she’s at, and having an energy of “I know that even though you treated me poorly you didn’t mean to hurt my feelings.” While on the other hand, toward the very end of the novel something happens that Opal is very disappointed by and has an outwardly negative reaction to – and at this first (and basically only) crack in Opal’s sunshiny character Pepper gets mad at her and literally asks her “Why are you being so mean?” Like…SERIOUSLY GIRL? You have been so mean this entire time, and now the one time she shows an even remotely negative emotion, you’re going to come at her like she’s attacking you? To be honest it just kind of pissed me off.

So anyway. I just really wish I could recommend this book more highly. As I said, I really wanted to love it but instead I found myself pushing through it to get to the end so that I could move on to the next.
And I know that every book has its perfect reader, so I’m thrilled for all the folks that loved this one. It just turns out that I’m not the one for this book and I won’t be returning to it.

Purchase a copy on Bookshop.org to support your local indie bookstore!

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Vessels of Wild Light

by Ariel V. Fender

Thanks so much to the author for the gifted, advanced e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts. All opinions are entirely my own. { partner }
My reviews and content can also be found on Goodreads, on StoryGraph, on Instagram @Tackling_TBR, and on TikTok @TacklingTBR.

Publication Date: September 22, 2026

Genre: fantasy

Page Count: 468 pages

Book Blurb:

Emryss, a shapeshifting vessel spirit and her dutiful mage witness an unexpected inferno that ignites long-buried memories. It forces the duo to chase after a wicked necromancer and confront their deepest traumas or lose their friends and their worlds to the dark indefinitely.

Bonds will be tested. Her very existence will be questioned. Deciding which path leads to the light is now not as easy as she once thought.

Review: 4 stars

TW: death/murder, murder of children, SA, gore

I have only really jumped into the fantasy genre in the last handful of years, and even still I usually stick within a more romantasy-focused lane, so this is a book that up until recently would have really intimidated me – but I’m so glad I was able to read it, because it was such an wonderful read!

I love the world that Ariel has created, the unique systems of magic at play, and getting to know the characters – some that I loved and some that I loved to hate.
My absolute standout parts of the book, though, were the descriptions of the vessels’ shifting magic and how the new forms are revealed to them. I found myself so invested in what the unknown forms might be, what trait or emotion might bring them to the surface, and what I would like for my forms to be and to say about me if I were a part of this world.
I will also say, without giving any information or spoilers, that I want to get absolutely lost in the Turning Gardens. It sounds like such a gorgeous, hidden treasure. If you’re allowed in, that is.

And the last thing I’ll say – I can’t possibly go without mentioning the art. Ariel is an amazing artist and created some GORGEOUS art for this book. There is art sprinkled throughout the book, and it truly adds a special level of magic to the pages.

Purchase a copy on Bookshop.org and support your local indie bookstore!

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Try Line Hearts

by V.K. Alenko

Thanks so much to the author for gifting me a finished copy of this book. All opinions are entirely my own. { partner }
My reviews and content can also be found on StoryGraph, on Instagram @Tackling_TBR, on TikTok @TacklingTBR, and on my blog at tacklingtbr.home.blog.

Publication Date: December 15, 2025

Genre: romance, MM romance, sports romance

Tropes: sports romance (rugby), secretly dating, yearning

Page Count: 330 pages

Book Blurb:

Lucas Byrne has built his life on control.

Captain of his country’s rugby team. Relentless on the pitch. Disciplined off it. He knows how to carry pressure, how to lead men into collision, how to keep every want neatly folded away where it can’t cost him everything he’s worked for.

Elijah Kaine is a problem.

Too talented. Too open. Too easy with laughter and touch and the kind of attention Byrne has spent years convincing himself he doesn’t need. Kaine plays like he has nothing to lose—and looks at Byrne like he already knows the truth he refuses to name.

They’re supposed to be teammates.
They’re definitely not supposed to want each other.

What starts as friction turns into something sharper. Something electric. Glances held too long. Hands brushing in cramped spaces. Nights where the line between discipline and desire wears dangerously thin. Byrne knows the risks—his career, his reputation, the world that expects him to be one thing and one thing only.

But Kaine isn’t asking for promises.
He’s asking for honesty.
And for Byrne, that might be the most dangerous thing of all.

Set against the brutal intensity of professional rugby, this is an emotionally charged MM sports romance about truth, restraint, and the terrifying freedom of wanting more—on the pitch, and in the dark, when no one else is watching.

Sometimes the hardest opponent isn’t across the line.

It’s the future you’re finally brave enough to imagine. (18+ Heat Level)

Review: 5 stars

Be still my beating heart! I loved this book.

If, like me, your favorite part of your second (or, be honest, your third) Heated Rivalry rewatch was Scott and Kip’s grand romantic gesture at the Stanley Cup finals – this just might be the read for you to follow that up with!

This book sucked me in right from the beginning – it is filled with fun and characters to fall in love with, and a heavy dose of yearning from literally page one.
Truly at different points I giggled, I teared up, and I felt like kicking my feet and gabbing with my friends.

If I had anything negative to say, it would be that I would have liked to get a bit more of the story from Eli’s POV. I loved his character so much, and I seriously can’t stress enough the level of his YEARNING, so it would have been fun to see a bit more of that. Plus then we could have seen a bit more of his friendships and support system outside of this romantic relationship – we got a good amount of that with Lucas (I would die for his BFF Maeve, by the way), and it would have been nice to see for Eli too.
There were also a couple of situations where it took me an extra minute or two to realize we had switched POV from one MMC to the other. There wasn’t a specific heading or anything to indicate that we had made the jump mid-chapter, so it only occasionally caught me off guard.

But truly, both of those comments feel very nitpicky to me. I loved this book and didn’t want to put it down – and now I am slowly but surely working my way through the rest of the books in the series!

Purchase a copy on Bookshop.org to support your local indie bookstore!

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Love Felt Like This

by Julie Olivia

I was provided with an ARC copy of this book that was gifted to my workplace by the publisher. All opinions are entirely my own. { gifted }
My reviews and content can also be found on Goodreads, on StoryGraph, on Instagram @Tackling_TBR, and on TikTok @TacklingTBR.

Publication Date: September 8, 2026

Genre: romance, contemporary romance

Tropes: fake dating, grumpy x sunshine, single dad, rockstar MMC, small town, found family

Page Count: 496 pages

Book Blurb:

A grumpy rock star and a joyful children’s show creator revive television magic in this cozy small-town romance.

Griffin Harvey lives his life in the spotlight. Reluctantly. The brooding famous singer-songwriter is on the cusp of composing his sophomore album . . . if only he could find the notes. But after gaining custody of his two-year-old daughter, the only music he’s writing is about shapes and counting to ten.

Enter Beverly, who lives her life in the background producing children’s television and laughter. Except joy is hard to find when her nonprofit loses funding. She sinks all of her savings to revive the children’s show by herself, but when her variety show appearance collides with Griffin’s, their banter and chemistry is caught on live television.

Suddenly, Griffin is singing a new tune. He needs a muse, and Beverly needs all the help she can get. With his secret daughter in tow, they hide out in her cozy mountain hometown, attempting to script, compose, and revive television magic. Their dynamic shouldn’t work. He’s all harsh tattoos and rough hands while she’s bright colors and gentle touches. Once their three months of work are done, they’ll return to their separate worlds. But what happens when it seems the true magic might be found in each other?

Review: 5 stars

TW: grief, toxic relationships

Oh my gosh, this was exactly the read that my 90s/early 2000s romcom loving heart was searching for.
As I was reading this book it gave me the same cozy hug that my favorite comfort Nora Ephron or Nancy Meyers movies give me on every single (frequent) rewatch.

I really loved all of the characters in the book – except for the one. Obviously. He knows who he is.
Beverly is honestly the sweetest FMC ever. She is sunshine and happiness personified and I want to be her best friend. I bet we would have the BEST sleepovers, and I mean that as the absolute highest form of compliment.
And Griffin. Oh my, Griffin. Is there anything hotter than a grump in a grumpy x sunshine relationship who falls so hard and is absolutely not afraid to show it? Oh yeah, how about he’s also a famous rockstar and a single dad to the cutest little girl? Sign me up.

I had actual tears in my eyes finishing this book, just because it was so cozy and the happily ever after was giving me so many big feelings. I couldn’t put it down, but I didn’t want it to end.

Purchase a copy on Bookshop.org to support your local indie bookstore!

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Immortal Rose

by Alexandra Bracken

Thanks so much to the author, and Avon and Harper Voyager for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for my honest thoughts. Thanks also to Avon for the gifted audio copy via Libro.fm. All opinions are entirely my own. { partner }
My reviews and content can also be found on Goodreads, StoryGraph, on Instagram @Tackling_TBR, and on TikTok @TacklingTBR.

Publication Date: August 18, 2026

Genre: fantasy, romance, romantasy

Tropes: enemies to lovers, marriage of convenience, magic/fae

Page Count: 496 pages

Audiobook Length: 20 hours and 21 minutes

Audiobook Narrators: Nicola Barber, Christian Coulson

Book Blurb:

From Alexandra Bracken, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Lore, comes a stunningly original adult fantasy. Set in a sumptuous world ruled by magical perfume, this achingly romantic, slow-burn love story will shatter your heart and leave you breathless.

Members of the ancient House Rosebourne have a strange gift born of a fairy ancestor: the ability to infuse fragrance with magic capable of manipulating mind, body, and emotion.

When a shocking murder leaves the kingdom of Albion vulnerable to a coup, royal spymaster Hugh Thornton seeks the one person who can help: Viola Lockwood, the last living Rosebourne and secret heir to a fraught legacy.

Livid at the silver-eyed aristocrat who had her thrown in jail to force her compliance, Viola nevertheless comes to an agreement with him. In exchange for crafting Immortal Rose, the singular perfume capable of saving Albion, illegitimate Viola can seize the life—and fortune—that should have been hers.

As Hugh and Viola race to find the perfume’s lost fairy ingredient, hidden deep in Albion’s dark underbelly, neither can deny the scorching attraction building between them—especially as the attempts on Viola’s life grow increasingly brazen.

But a terrible truth lurks in the heart notes of their kingdom—and while every bargain has a cost, Immortal Rose may demand more than Hugh and Viola can ever pay.

Review: 5 stars

TW: death/murder, violence, police brutality, domestic abuse, child abuse, kidnapping

Bridgerton meets Magic meets Whodunnit

Yes please. All of that. Immediately. Three of my favorite things, it turns out, made only better when combined.

The first portion of this book was a little bit slowly paced, but I found that I didn’t mind too much because I found the world and the magic system so interesting. Honestly, I would listen to Viola describe the scents associated with every little emotion and what blend she would make to encourage any outcome, and I probably would have read an entire book of only that.
I will say on that front, though, that I was lucky enough to have both an electronic and an audio copy of this book – so I split my read between listening during car rides and immersive reading on my kindle while listening to the audio – I do think it’s possible that I would have had a slightly harder time with this slower pacing if I hadn’t had the audiobook to fall back on.

I loved the characters so much. They were all complex and flawed, and they felt like (albeit sometimes larger than life versions of) real people despite the fact that a few of them had magical powers.
Also I would read an entire series of books detailing the backstories of all of the members of Foxcourt’s household. IYKYK.

However I do have to note, without any details or spoilers, that cliffhanger was truly diabolical. I have a hard time with a cliffhanger (I’m not necessarily known for my patience), and this one was INTENSE. I will forgive it this time, because I’m really excited for the next book – but I’ve got my eye on you, Alexandra.

Purchase a copy on Bookshop.org to support your local indie bookshop!

Posted on by tacklingtbr

No Gods West of Here

by Hanna Gaard

Thanks so much to the author for the gifted advanced electronic and physical copies of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts. All opinions are entirely my own. { partner }
My reviews and content can also be found on Goodreads, on StoryGraph, on Instagram @Tackling_TBR, and on TikTok @TacklingTBR.

Publication Date: July 30, 2026

Genre: fantasy, romance, romantasy, historical fantasy

Tropes: Gold Rush vibes, enemies with benefits, love triangle, LGBTQIA+ rep, magic & dragons, charismatic cult leader, villain origin story

Page Count: 384 pages

Book Blurb:

A people-pleasing scholar. A dangerous cult leader. Good luck picking sides.

Talia Salaren is a brilliant scholar and obedient eldest daughter with a bright future decided by everyone but her.

Then she finds a dead god’s salacious journal.

The secrets inside could unravel four centuries of empire. The gods were jerks, and their power was stolen, claimed by five families who built legacies on a lie. Families like hers.

With her life’s work outlawed, Talia flees to Gateway, a frontier boomtown where divine magic is clawed from the earth like gold. She walks straight into a trap — a dangerous expedition led by a cult leader who is very good at making people want things they shouldn’t. He has no interest in studying the gods. He plans to become one.

As their uneasy company pushes deeper into godforsaken territory, the myths she was raised to believe begin to fracture — along with the careful version of herself she’s always performed.

The cult leader is wrong. She knows it.
For once, she wants to be wrong too.

If Talia doesn’t choose what she stands for — and who she’s willing to lose — she won’t just have her heart broken. She’ll become someone else’s weapon.

Review: 5 stars

TW: death/murder, cults, manipulation, SA, emotional abuse/toxic relationships

Y’all the minute the author described this as “a romantic fantasy that gives gold rush era Seattle, but with magic and dragons,” I said GIRL SIGN ME UP. Throw in that she’s a PNW local and I honestly couldn’t sign up to ARC read it fast enough.

I enjoyed this book so much! I have a spread in my reading journal every year where I do a bracket of my favorite reads of the year – and this absolutely has a place in the bracket as a top read!

This book drops you right into the action of the story, as if you’d been there all along, and trusts that the world will be built along the way.
It’s full of distinct and messy characters that form the somewhat ragtag crew as our core ensemble cast, and plenty left to explore in the future of the series.
I’ll even forgive the cliffhanger ending because I’m so excited to see where the story goes from here. And that’s saying a lot – your girl HATES a dramatic cliffhanger.

Purchase a copy on Bookshop.org and support your local indie bookstore!