The Fine Print | Book Review

Title: The Fine Print
Author: Lauren Asher
Series: Dreamland Billionaires #1
Genre: New Adult | Contemporary | Romance
Publisher: Piatkus Books

Trigger Warnings: Sexual content | Parent death | Emotional abuse | Cancer | Suicidal thoughts

Rowan
I’m in the business of creating fairy tales.
Theme parks. Production companies. Five-star hotels.
Everything could be all mine if I renovated Dreamland.
My initial idea of hiring Zahra was good in theory, but then I kissed her.
Things spiraled out of control once I texted her using an alias.
By the time I realized where I went wrong, it was too late.
People like me don’t get happy endings.
Not when we’re destined to ruin them.

Zahra
After submitting a drunk proposal criticizing Dreamland’s most expensive ride, I should have been fired.
Instead, Rowan Kane offered me a dream job.
The catch? I had to work for the most difficult boss I’d ever met.
Rowan was rude and completely off-limits, but my heart didn’t care.
At least not until I discovered his secret.
It was time to teach the billionaire that money couldn’t fix everything.
Especially not us.

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The Midnight Library | Book Review

Title: The Midnight Library
Author: Matt Haig
Genre: Contemporary | Fantasy
Publisher: Canongate Books

Trigger Warnings: Suicide | Alcoholism | Mental illness

Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?

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I’m not one to believe in destiny, although I’m changing my approach to life and believing in ✨ manifesting ✨. And I feel like, somehow, I manifested this book at the moment I needed it the most. It was already on my shelf, but I picked it up on a whim on a day I was feeling rather shitty. This story came through and helped me gain some much needed perspective.

Never Ever Getting Back Together | Book Review

Title: Never Ever Getting Back Together
Author: Sophie Gonzales
Genre: YA | Contemporary | Romance | LGBT
Publisher: Hachette Children’s Books

Trigger Warnings: Cheating | Gaslighting | Biphobia | Misogyny

Romance, revenge, and reality TV. The new queer YA rom-com from Sophie Gonzales, bestselling author of Only Mostly Devastated.

Eighteen-year-old Maya dumped her cheating ex-boyfriend Jordy two years ago. So, when she receives a call to participate in Second Chance Romance – a reality show in which the now-famous Jordy re-dates his ex-girlfriends – she isn’t interested… until she realizes she can use this opportunity to exact her revenge. If she can make it to the final spot on the show, she can reject Jordy in front of the nation and publicly break his heart.

Maya’s fellow contestants include Skye, the beautiful, charismatic girl Jordy cheated on Maya with. Skye charms the socks off everyone she meets, except for Maya, who knows that underneath all the sparkle, she’s the girl who dated her boyfriend while he was still her boyfriend.

The reality show is a challenging environment. Amidst backstabbing, bickering, and having to see Jordy again, Maya finds herself becoming friends with Skye. Together, they come up with a plan for the ultimate revenge on Jordy.

But as she spends more time with Jordy and Skye, Maya is torn. Is Jordy a good guy who made a mistake? Is there more than friendship between her and Skye? As the season finale approaches, can Maya execute her plan, or will she go off-script?

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Sophie Gonzales is one of my favorite YA contemporary romance writers in the last few years, as you may see in my Perfect on Paper and Only Mostly Devastated book reviews. But, unfortunately, Never Ever Getting Back Together missed the mark for me.

Perfect on Paper | Book Review

Title: Perfect on Paper
Author: Sophie Gonzales
Genre: Young Adult | Contemporary | Romance | LGBT
Publisher: Wednesday Books

Trigger Warnings: Biphobia | Alcoholism mention | Underage drinking | Drugs

Her advice, spot on. Her love life, way off.

Darcy Phillips:
• Can give you the solution to any of your relationship woes—for a fee.
• Uses her power for good. Most of the time.
• Really cannot stand Alexander Brougham.
• Has maybe not the best judgment when it comes to her best friend, Brooke…who is in love with someone else.
• Does not appreciate being blackmailed.

However, when Brougham catches her in the act of collecting letters from locker 89—out of which she’s been running her questionably legal, anonymous relationship advice service—that’s exactly what happens. In exchange for keeping her secret, Darcy begrudgingly agrees to become his personal dating coach—at a generous hourly rate, at least. The goal? To help him win his ex-girlfriend back.

Darcy has a good reason to keep her identity secret. If word gets out that she’s behind the locker, some things she’s not proud of will come to light, and there’s a good chance Brooke will never speak to her again.

Okay, so all she has to do is help an entitled, bratty, (annoyingly hot) guy win over a girl who’s already fallen for him once? What could go wrong?

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After a year where YA contemporary books weren’t my forte, this story feels like coming home. I couldn’t choose a better book to get back into the genre because Perfect on Paper is everything I like in a young adult contemporary romance. Curious? Here is my Perfect on Paper book review!

Only Mostly Devastated | Book Review

Title: Only Mostly Devastated
Author: Sophie Gonzales
Genre: YA | Contemporary | Romance | LGBT
Publisher: Wednesday Books

Trigger Warnings: Homophobia | Biphobia | Cancer | Family death

Summer love… gone so fast.

Ollie and Will were meant to be a summer fling — casual, fun, and done. But when Ollie’s aunt’s health takes a turn for the worse and his family decides to stay in North Carolina to take care of her, Ollie lets himself hope this fling can grow to something more. Dreams that are crushed when he sees Will at a school party and finds that the sweet and affectionate (and comfortably queer) guy he knew from summer isn’t the same one attending Collinswood High.

Will is more than a little shocked to see Ollie the evening of that first day of school. While his summer was spent being very much himself, back at school, he’s simply known as one of the varsity basketball guys. Now Will is faced with the biggest challenge of his life: follow his heart and risk his friendships, or stay firmly in the closet and lose what he loves most.

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🏀 ❤️ 🎸

I’m so glad I requested this book because I enjoyed my time reading it. I’m having luck with my YA romances because Tweet Cute was also gooooooooood. So here, enjoy this Only Mostly Devastated book review!

Along for the Ride | Book Review

Title: Along for the Ride
Author: Sarah Dessen
Genre: Young Adult | Contemporary | Romance
Publisher: Penguin

Auden has always felt like the odd one out.

Since her parents’ divorce she’s shied away, studying lots and staying out of the party scene.

But now Auden’s realized there must be something more and, just like that, she changes everything. Moving to her dad’s house opens up a whole new whole of beach parties, food fights – and simply having fun.

As she gets to know herself – and a secretive boy with dark, brooding eyes – can Auden begin to let go and finally feel like she truly belongs?

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Summer is the perfect time to read something light and fun I can enjoy while at the beach. Romance books are my top choice, and in 2022 I started with this Along for the Ride book review.

Zyla & Kai | DNF Review

Title: Zyla & Kai
Author: Kristina Forest
Genre: Contemporary | Romance
Publisher: Kokila
Pages: 480 pages

A fresh new YA romance novel by Kristina Forest, Zyla & Kai is an epic star-crossed love story about first love and not just the will they, won’t they— but why can’t they?

While on a school trip to the Poconos Mountains (in the middle of a storm) high school seniors, Zyla Matthews and Kai Johnson, run away together, leaving their friends and family confused. As far as everyone knows, Zyla and Kai have been broken up for months. And honestly? Their break up hadn’t surprised anyone. Zyla and Kai met while working together at an amusement park the previous summer, and they couldn’t have been more different.

Zyla was a cynic about love. She’d witnessed the dissolution of her parents’ marriage early in life, and it left an indelible impression. Her only aim was graduating and going to fashion school abroad. Until she met Kai.

Kai was a serial monogamist and a hopeless romantic. He’d put a temporary pause on his dating life before senior year to focus on school and getting into his dream HBCU. Until he met Zyla.

Alternating between the past and present, we see the love story unfold from Zyla and Kai’s perspectives: how they first became the unlikeliest of friends over the summer, how they fell in love during the school year, and why they ultimately broke up… Or did they?

Romantic, heart-stirring and a little mysterious, Zyla & Kai will keep readers guessing until the last chapter.

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2022 was not a good reading year for me for many reasons: my attention span was shot, I didn’t have time to read and, when I did, I got too sleepy. So I was waiting for a book to come in, make me fall in love with reading again and get me out of that reading slump. Unfortunately, Zyla & Kai was not it for me.