FUNNY STORY by Emily Henry, read by Julia Whelan
Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.
This is my third Emily Henry book, and maybe it’s because I just finished it and the memory is still fresh, but I might love this more than Happy Place and Book Lovers.
Just Tell Her (Chicago #2) by Nicole Pyland
Charlie Adams has been in love with her best friend Hailey Grant for over ten years. She has watched her date all the wrong women and is convinced that Hailey does not love her more than a friend. When Hailey’s first love, aka the perfect ex-girlfriend Emma Colton, is back in the picture, Charlie cannot take it anymore. She has to confess her feelings. In the meantime, Hailey has just started to feel something different for Charlie. Will the two be willing to risk friendship for a future together as lovers?
SOMETHING IN THE WINE by Jae
Initially, I was hesitant about picking up this book because of its lower ratings on goodreads. All apprehension cleared once I started reading. I ended up really enjoying the growing relationship between Annie Prideaux and Drew Corbin.
DANIEL CABOT PUTS DOWN ROOTS (The Cabots #2) by Cat Sebastian
Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.
genre : historical romance (achillean romance series)
MCs : 26yo cis white m-spec man + 30yo neurodivergent cis white gay man
POV : dual 3rd-person
location: New York City, NY, USA (1973)
indie? : yes
This is my first Sebastian book, so no, you don’t have to read the first book or prequel of the series to read Daniel Cabot, but it might help you recognize some of the characters that took me several paragraphs to identify.
Set in New York City, 1973, Daniel Cabot (26, m-spec) and Alex Savchenko (30, gay, Ukrainian) have been best friends since Alex stumbled upon a post-fight Daniel one and a half years ago. Daniel is charming, fun-loving, and enjoys breaking up abandoned empty lots in the city for gardening. Alex is a pediatrician, dedicated to make healthcare most affordable for his patients (the sliding-scale pediatrics clinic he opened with fellow pediatrician Mary), and doesn’t like to be out and about like Daniel does. The two of them are inseparable: Daniel brings lunch to Alex, and Alex makes sure Daniel takes care of himself. Everyone else around them seems to think they’re boyfriends, but oh no, they are definitely not, nor are they in love with each other. Nope.
RECKLESS GIRLS by Rachel Hawkins
Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.
MCs : cishet white woman (*4)+ cishet white man (*2) POV : single 1st-person (present) + multiple 3rd-person (past) location: Hawai‘i, USA + Meroe Island (fictional) indie? : no
I read Hawkins’ The Wife Upstairs (my review) this time last year and couldn’t put it down. With Reckless Girls, I had a similar experience of wanting to keep reading to find out what’s going on, but unfortunately, the final reveal also happened to be a huge, unexplained plot hole that just made the whole build-up fell flat.
Lux (25) has been stuck in life after her mother passed away from cancer. When she followed her boyfriend Nico (26) to Hawaii, she was hoping for some travel adventures but ended up working at hotels instead. Then Brittany (22?) and Amma (22?) showed up, wanting to hire Nico to take them to Meroe Island, a secluded atoll famous for cannibalism legends in WWII. Soon, Lux finds herself heading for the island with Nico, Brittany, and Amma, but they aren’t the only one there. Rich boy Jake (30) and his girlfriend Eliza (30) are also on the island. As the days go by, terrible things start happening, and Lux begins to see that this was not a friendly trip after all.