Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Comforting and heartfelt, like Miles states to Lenny, Cara Bastone’s Promise Me Sunshine promises the reader that there will always be sunshine after a gloomy day if you keep your head up and know where to look. Featuring a compelling premise via a reverse twist of a buckets list, this novel tells a story about two people broken down by grief and loss, helping each other in the areas they know best. Despite tackling difficult topics like loss of loved ones, terminal illness, depression and the importance of family, the story is delivered full of warmth and gentle comfort, making it highly accessible and mass appealing, albeit at the cost of more ambitious developments and deeper self-reflections. While pleasant and fine, I constantly found myself a bit underwhelmed with Promise Me Sunshine, frequently wishing it would go further with its great ideas. Struggling to get by and jumping between short-term, non-committal babysitting gigs, Lenny is not doing well following the recent death of her best friend and other half Lou. Upon arriving at her next weekend job, she meets single-mother Reece, her daughter Ainsley, and Ainsley’s grumpy uncle Miles. Constantly out of town on the job, Lenny is hired to…

The following review is based on a complimentary ARC provided by Sourcebooks Landmark via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Beautiful, fit, smart, on the surface Lily Lennox appears to be the perfect seasonal employee and lifeguard of the exclusive Riovan Wellness Resort that celebrities, influencers, and the wealthy flock to in the pursuit of healthy “wellness”. While physically matching the social media curated brand look of the resort, Lily hides a hidden motive for her annual Caribbean summer job. A lifeguard when on-duty, vigilante killer of toxic and problematic people off-duty, her fifth year at Riovan starts out like every past summer. That is until an attractive and charismatic guest Daniel Black starts asking the wrong questions, complicating her annual tradition as well as causing her to question her actions, motives, and her hopes of “saving people.” Despite this novel being classified on paper under the romance genre, A Killer Getaway has so much more to offer outside of a possible tropical summer romance. Blending elements of the mystery thriller, crime thriller, literary fiction, and of course a bit of romance, Sienna Sharpe has crafted an extraordinarily well-rounded and ambitious Women’s Fiction/Contemporary drama story that was a consistently…

The following review is based on a complimentary ARC provided by St. Martin’s Press via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Mixing elements from both holiday and light magical romance genres, Timothy Janovsky’s A Mannequin for Christmas novel is a light-hearted and cute story perfect for the holidays, though it’s still a solid read outside of the winter months (I read the ARC going into the summer, oops). A cross between the 1980’s movie Mannequin and the classic Disney movie Life Sized, paired with the wishing/midnight hour premise of Cinderella, the story has a charming whimsical feel despite clearly having the light spice and style of an adult romance novel. Likewise, the comedic and sillier moments are nicely balanced out with more serious and somber content, resulting in a well-rounded novel that’s far more ambitious than most holiday themed stories. The story follows Henry’s struggles and insecurities revolving around maintaining his Aunt Isla’s vintage items store as well as his recent breakup, and in a moment of despair, he makes a wish at the afternoon magic hour for a perfect man. Between Henry’s amusing horror at the mannequin/Aidan’s sudden appearance and Aidan’s childlike confusion at how to be a…

In recent years, the romance genre has become known for primarily two types of romance stories: one that is full of romcom fun hijinks and one that is a steamy, passionate “will they won’t they”. Emily Henry’s Great Big Beautiful Life doesn’t follow either formula and in many ways goes in an entirely different direction from most recent trending booktok/influencer. Readers expecting a one on one, passionate and sexy romance drama focusing on its lead characters Alice and Hayden are going to be caught off-guard or disappointed; just look at some of the top-rated Goodreads and book influencer reviews and you’ll know what I mean. However different is certainly not bad and for more veteran or mature readers that have been reading romance novels for a while, Great Big Beautiful Life feels like a callback to an earlier time where the genre had more of a drama and women/contemporary fiction element beyond the heat. While this novel follows Henry’s signature style and tone at a surface level, Great Big Beautiful Life’s theme of “love” goes far beyond Alice and Hayden’s expected meet-cute and instead thoughtfully reflects on the power of love and the things people will do and sacrifice for…

Some books are cozy comfort reads, some are poetic and philosophical, and some are humorous comedy or steamy romance. But then there are some like Olivie Blake’s Gifted & Talented that set out to be something entirely different that’s difficult to highlight and discuss due to its complex yet unusual presentation. Following the musings and drama of three siblings and the entangled web of partners, conspirators, rivals, and more, this literary fiction book is a behemoth of a novel that feels far longer than its nearly 500 page count would suggest. Meticulously deliberate, very light on plot, yet incredibly detailed with its spectacular character writing, Gifted & Talented is absolutely not going to be for everyone and admittedly was not my cup of tea. That said, I have nothing but respect for what this novel delivers and while it was on and off from an enjoyment factor for me, from a critical reading/writing standpoint, this novel is great. Although this Gifted & Talented is technically classified in the fantasy, urban fantasy and science fiction genres, they’re largely surface level classifications due to the novel’s premise involving certain magical, or as the novel calls it, “magitech” powers. Each of the three…