Nowhere - Allison Gunn

"After losing her young son in an accident, Rachel Kennan throws herself into her career as police chief of a small Virginia town to avoid focusing on her grief. Meanwhile, her husband, Finn, a washed-up writer whose alcoholism led to the devastating tragedy that changed everything, struggles to redeem himself before his family completely falls apart. Their two daughters are the only things keeping Rachel and Finn together, but the girls have demons of their own.  At the same time, a disturbing crime rocks their tightknit, religious community, sending Rachel chasing leads in a place that does not take kindly to outsiders. When an ominous force in the forest starts calling to the children, fear spawns hate among the townspeople, placing the Kennan family directly in the line of fire. Left with no choice but to rely on each other, Rachel and Finn must come together to face threats inside and out. A haunting family saga and a disquieting horror debut, Nowhere draws from Appalachian folklore to caution us that true terror is what we bury in our own hearts."

This was absolutely a sleeper hit of a horror read.  I didn't expect to get sucked into this book as much as I did and I loved every minute of it.  Folk horror is my favorite horror subgenre but I do usually find it to be quieter and slower paced than some other subgenres.  However, this read really had the pacing on point and we get right into the mess of horror taking over this small town.  We spend the first 25% or so setting up the character relations and the start of the horror mystery but even this set up portion is full of emotional highs and lows and some great reveals into the lives of these characters. I could not read the last 25% of the book fast enough because there was so much happening and so much at stake.  I can't believe this is a debut and I look forward to reading more books from Gunn in the future. 

Our main character - Chief Rachel Kennen - falls squarely in the 'unlikable main character' trope and I loved it.  And to be clear, all of the characters in this read are flawed in various ways but having our main character be a woman who is grieving the death of her son be so angry, brash, rude, and straight up unhinged at times was fantastic.  Rachel is the kind of character who is doing the right things but with little regard to the feelings or opinions of the other characters and I always find that sort of dynamic super interesting.  The cherry on top is that this is a small town and Rachel and her family are viewed as outsiders.  Even more so after some significant information is found out in the aftermath of their loss.  Religion and religious judgement come into play a few times throughout the read which is another layer to Rachel being unliked by the locals.  The other characters we see are all similarly complex and through the horror elements, we get to learn about their own dark pasts. 

The horror elements are fantastic and so visceral.  A lot of the horror centers around the children of this town and I think it would hit even harder for readers with kids of their own. I loved that we get into the horror so quickly.  As I said before, I expected this to be more of a slow burn sort of read but it really kicks off quickly.  Despite the horror elements getting introduced early on, I still couldn't guess the severity of where we would end up by the finish of the book.  There were a number of times where I thought to myself that it couldn't get any worse.  That from here on out, the rest of the book would be the characters overcoming the horror.  But the horror just kept escalating or twisting in new ways so that by the end, I was holding my breath to see what could possibly happen to make this worse.  I liked that even when we were following characters who had been directly impacted by the horror, that the exact details weren't revealed until later in the book.  It was like the reader was investigating right along side Rachel and we learned most details when she did.  This meant that by the end, the reader and the characters understood the full scope and weight of what the horror in this read was and could turn into.

Overall, this was an incredible read and I absolutely loved it from start to finish. Fantastic use of horror, very complex characters, and perfect pacing. 

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC.  Expected publication date is March 25, 2025. 

She Doesn't Have a Clue - Jenny Elder Moke

 

"A high-end wedding on a private island off the coast of Seattle sounds like something out of a magazine. But for bestselling mystery author Kate Valentine, it’s more like a nightmare. Why Kate agreed to attend her ex-fiancé’s wedding is its own enigma, but she’ll plaster on a fake smile for two nights, with the aid of free champagne, naturally. And because the groom happens to be her editor, she’ll try to finish a draft of her latest Loretta Starling mystery as a wedding gift. But when the bride is poisoned and Kate stumbles across a dead body, she finds herself in a real-life mystery that eerily echoes the plot of her latest novel. And the only person who seems willing to help Kate catch the killer is Jake Hawkins, aka: the Hostralian; aka: Kate’s biggest romantic regret. As the wine flows and the weather threatens to hold every guest hostage, bitter resentments and long-held grudges surface amongst the colorful crowd. Anyone could be capable of murder, it seems. What would Loretta do? Unfortunately, Kate doesn’t have a clue."

I had a really fun time with this read, but I do think that it may be victim to a slight mis-marketing issue.  I've seen it marketed as half romance/half mystery and I think that is a little misleading.  I love both romance and mystery as genres so I was all-in on this read. However, I do think that if you are going to try and blend genres, then you need to make sure both sides are equally well-developed and well-executed and in the case of this read, I think it fell a little short.  This read, to me, like a cozy mystery with a heavy romance subplot.

The mystery elements were fantastic.  It is squarely in the cozy mystery category and Moke captures the vibes perfectly.  We have a cast of colorful characters stuck on an island together when the bodies start dropping. I love that the characters all have different levels of connection with each other which leads to various different theories for motives which makes for a fun mystery.  I found the different investigation paths to be well thought out and fun to see the characters explore.  However, I did find that when we get to the ending reveal, so much had happened in the book that I and the characters were just a bit tired out.  I wanted the reveal just a little bit earlier or maybe to have a bit of a break before the reveal in order to catch our breath.  I enjoyed the actual reveal but the pacing was just a little off.

The romance elements were a bit of a miss for me only in that I felt we needed more time to develop them.  On paper, we hit all the usual romance plot points, but I felt like we missed out on a lot of the emotional development parts of the relationship because our MCs were too busy solving the mystery.  Also, the transitions between the mystery plot and the romance plot were more jarring than I think they should have been.  At times, it felt like there were two distinct drafts of this plot - one pure mystery and one pure romance - and the final draft was just trading off on chapters between each of them.  I think this would have been more successful if the romance was focused on a little less and instead of trying for it to be a dual plot line with the mystery, that it took a step back to become a subplot.  I think Moke did a great job hitting the romance beats and I would be interested in reading a full adult romance from her in the future.

The cast of characters was by far the best part of this read.  We get some messy relationships, complex family dynamics, rich people problems, and a lot of scheming.  I loved that our MC is a mystery writer who is at this wedding as a sort of outsider so we get a lot of the character reveals through her investigation.  While some of the characters were a little over the top, I found all of them to feel realistic and not too caricature-y.  There is a fairly large cast of characters, but Moke does a great job of really honing in on a detail that makes each individual character stand out which makes it easier for the reader to keep them straight.  I also liked that we get introduced to the characters pretty steadily at the beginning, but with enough of a gap between them to give us that time to let the details sink in.

Overall, this was a really fun cozy mystery with a strong romance plot.  Great cast of characters with a fast paced mystery investigation. I would have liked to see the two genres blended together a little bit more. 

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC.  Publication date was January 21, 2025

February 2025 Romance Wrap-up

Spring Fling - Annie England Noblin

This was such a fun read!  I loved the setting being in Arkansas as most small town romances I've read have been set in the northern parts of the US.  We get a good amount of small town antics and gossip along with our characters trying to figure out their relationship.  I did find the conflict to be a little bit over-done or rather the characters specifically stated that they would try to ignore the conflict until later and then when later comes, it turns into a big deal.  It is the sort of conflict that you can see coming from a mile away and I just wanted our MCs to get out of their own ways and sit down and talk about things for once.  I do think we get a good amount of characterization that helps explain why both of them end up acting like this, but it wasn't quite enough to make me un-annoyed at them.  Our MCs did have great chemistry both as friends and as lovers which is always a great time.  I wanted more time of just them interacting together and found that there were some scenes where we would have gotten that, but then the book flashes forward a few hours to them leaving the place and going back home, which was frustrating.  

 

Tropes: Childhood Friends to Lovers, Small Town, Second Chance

Standalone

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon for the ARC.  Expected publication date is March 18, 2025.

  

Till There Was You - Lindsay Hameroff

This was a fine read - but it ended up falling into the 'not for me' category.  Over the past year, I've really honed in on my personal reading tastes regarding celebrity and this book just didn't hit the mark for my personal preferences.  I remember almost not requesting this ARC due to the fact that the MMC is a celebrity but I ended up giving in since I do generally enjoy chef/cooking romance books.  I also found the timeline to be a bit too much to try and fit into one book.  Our MCs meet one night and have a 'perfect weekend' together before they end up not speaking for a year.  Then, they are reunited and the book continues from there to have a full-blast romance plot arc.  It felt like the first section was meant to be a prologue but grew and ended up being the first 20% of the book.  I loved the 'perfect weekend' set up but I think there was too much time between that and the romance rekindling that it made the book feel like it was dragging on and on.  I did really enjoy both characters exploring their relationship with the reality of their dream jobs and familial expectations and I would read from this author again.

Tropes: Celebrity, Second Chance, One Night Stand to More

Standalone

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC.  Publication date was February 20, 2024.  

 

King - S.J. Tilly

SJ Tilly might just be my new favorite mafia-romance author because I love the way she injects humor into these absolutely crazy circumstances. In this case, Savannah gets kidnapped by King after accidentally walking into him murdering her ex boyfriend who was cheating on King's sister with Savannah - an absolutely bonkers start to any romance book.  But where other mafia books might stick with a very dark tone, which we get with Savannah's POV chapters as she doesn't know what is going to happen to her, King's POV is much less serious and more humorous.  We get all the good mafia tropes we know and love (forced marriage, touch her and die, etc) but with a certain charm that I've only really gotten with Tilly's work.  I can't wait to continue on in this series as well as other series by this author.

Tropes: Mafia, Kidnapping,  Age Gap

Series: Alliance #2

Revved Up and Ready - Jasmine Grace

This was 100% an impulse KU download after seeing someone talk about it and boy was I not disappointed.  This was a great read with some really fun characters.  As this was book 3 in the series (and I didn't read the others first), there was obviously some references to the events of the previous 2 books that I didn't quite get.  However, these weren't anything that took away from my enjoyment or understanding of the current read - I could get the gist even if I didn't connect with the exact details.  The specific details and backgrounds of our MCs could have made this into a very angsty read but the author states in the synopsis of the book that there is no 3rd act breakup which only made me want to pick this up even faster.  But just because there is no breakup doesn't mean these characters don't overcome some pretty big obstacles in their relationship.  But they face the issues together and communicate which is something I always love to see.  I loved this read so much, I went back to read the rest of the books in the series.

Tropes: Fake Dating, Roommates, Anxiety Rep, Sports (motorcycle)

Series: Heartbeats in the Heat #3

Star-Crossed - Kerrigan Byrne and Cynthia St Aubin

I've really enjoyed this series so far and I was excited to read the next installment.  I enjoyed this read a lot for the majority of the read - we get more small town antics, some visits from the couples in the previous books, and I loved the tension between our MCs.  Lyra was such a prickly FMC and I absolutely loved seeing her back in Townsend Harbor when she seems the exact opposite of most townspeople.  Her history with Cy was also very interesting to explore how they both have changed over the years. There was one sore spot for me where Lyra specifically says she is almost certain she doesn't want X but by the end of the book, she has X and is very happy about it.  I understand that she could have changed her mind over the course of the book but I didn't really feel any of that happening.  And as someone who doesn't want X, anytime I read a FMC in a book who has those same feelings, I get really excited so it felt like a bit of a let down when the ending came around and I lost that connection.  It was a bit of a bummer, but I still enjoyed the rest of the read and am looking forward to continuing in the series.

Tropes: Small Town, Second Chance, Disability Rep

Series: Townsend Harbor #4

Audiophile - Emerie Hart

This read was a lot - but in the best way possible.  It deals with some very heavy topics of trauma, loss, abuse but in such a loving and healing way.  Both of our MCs have their own past traumas and neither think they are at a place where they are ready for any sort of romantic relationship.  However, they find comfort in each other and as friends first.  I'm not personally an enjoyer of romantic or erotic audios so I didn't really have a personal connection with that portion of the book but I can absolutely see how those types of audio can be enjoyable or healing for certain people.  The characters in this read - both the MCs as well as side characters - are really well fleshed out and I loved that we get to see so many different forms of healing.  There is a full list of trigger warnings on the author's website here. 

Tropes: Small Town, Love after Divorce, Healing/Trauma

Standalone

 Cheap Heat - Lily Mayne

Another absolutely great read in this series!  I love this whole world and the dynamics between all the wrestlers.  The first two installments have been between folks on the management side of the business so we didn't get as much of the interpersonal dynamics of the wrestlers before this book.  I was so excited to see more of the behind the scenes as well as how much of a 'real job' being a professional wrestler really is. I loved the loathing/lusting tension between our two MCs and the way their relationship is simmering before eventually boiling over.  Also, the promise of Dan doing all sorts of weird stuff with his head pays off 100%.  My favorite part was the Frank and Beans plot which had me cracking up. 10/10 can't wait to read the next book in this series.

Tropes: MM, Supernatural, Enemies to Lovers

Series: Goliaths of Wrestling #3

Whirlwind - Kayla Grosse

Overall, this read was fine, but it felt like it was rushed to get out and take advantage of any hype around the new Twisters movie.  On paper, I thought I would really enjoy this read as I generally like taboo romances (teacher/student).  However, it wasn't really executed to my personal taste so it just left me feeling 'meh'.  The relationship/flirting between our MCs was building up all year as Finley was in Professor West's classes for both semesters.  But now that finals are over and she has a spot on a storm-chasing trip with him, they give into the tension.  Only issue is that we don't see that year worth of build up.  We get one or two flash backs but not enough for this to have the sort of build up that these taboo romances usually have.  Plus, we are told over and over again about the rules and potential ramifications of them getting together which means that without all the emotional building, it just seems like these characters are giving into their lust for one another. I did find the actual twister hunting/science portion to be really interesting and I think Grosse does a great job of capturing the awe and fear mixture when it comes to studying these forces of nature. 

Tropes: Age Gap, Professor/Student, Twisters

Standalone