Book Review: Mad About You by Heidi Stephens

🐾🐾🐾🐾 — Warm, funny, romantic, and full of hope—a delightful story about starting over at forty-three.

Review Date: August 29, 2026 | Release Date: September 29, 2026

Mad About You by Heidi Stephens is a warm, funny, wonderfully hopeful story about what happens when the life you thought you were supposed to have doesn’t quite work out—and something completely unexpected gives you the chance to begin again.

At forty-three, Meg feels like she should have more figured out by now. Instead, she’s living with her parents, her career has stalled, and she’s making ends meet by walking other people’s dogs. Her world has become small and predictable, and while it isn’t necessarily terrible, she can’t shake the feeling that she’s somehow ended up on the sidelines of her own life.

Then one of her dog-walking clients dies and leaves Meg something she never could have anticipated: a beautiful house in the Cotswolds, three gloriously chaotic dogs, and a mysterious note containing the name of the local vet, Ed.

Suddenly, Meg is dropped into a completely different existence—one involving muddy boots, unruly animals, horses, new neighbors, unexpected friendships, and more responsibility than she ever asked for. And then there’s Ed. Kind, perceptive, quietly charming Ed, who would be much easier to deal with if Meg weren’t increasingly drawn to him…and if he weren’t frustratingly off-limits.

What I loved most about this story is that Meg’s fresh start isn’t treated as a magical solution to everything that has gone wrong. She still has doubts. She still has to figure out who she is and what she actually wants. The inheritance might open the door, but Meg is the one who has to decide whether she’s brave enough to walk through it.

And I absolutely loved seeing a heroine in her forties getting this kind of story. There is something incredibly refreshing about a book that rejects the idea that reinvention, adventure, friendship, and romance belong exclusively to people in their twenties and thirties. Meg hasn’t missed her chance. She’s simply arriving at a different chapter than she expected.

Of course, the animals bring plenty of charm and chaos. The three dogs add so much personality to the story, and the Cotswold setting gives everything that wonderfully cozy, escape-to-the-country feeling. Add in new friendships, a sweet slow-building romance, humor, and the irresistible possibility of creating a found family in an unexpected place, and this was exactly the kind of comforting read I wanted.

Mad About You is ultimately a celebration of second chances—not just at love, but at life. It’s about realizing there is no deadline for becoming the person you want to be and that sometimes the detour you never planned can lead somewhere far better than the destination you originally had in mind.

Heartwarming, funny, dog-filled, and full of hope, this is a lovely reminder that forty-three is nowhere near the end of the story. Sometimes, it’s where the really good part begins.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Book Review: Something Followed Us Home Anthology

🐾🐾🐾🐾 — The past has teeth—and it knows the way home.

Review Date: August 29, 2026 | Release Date: September 29, 2026

Something Followed Us Home is the kind of horror anthology that understands the most frightening things are not always the ones lurking in the dark. Sometimes they are the things carried with us—the stories, beliefs, wounds, memories, and fears passed from one generation to the next.

Edited by Cynthia Pelayo and featuring an incredible collection of Latiné voices, this anthology explores horror through immigration, colonization, faith, folklore, family, identity, and inherited trauma. Each author approaches those ideas differently, but together the stories create a collection that feels deeply rooted in the question of what happens when the past refuses to stay behind.

And there is plenty here that is genuinely unsettling.

Haunted homes, dangerous sacred spaces, strange things waiting in the water, bodies behaving in ways bodies absolutely should not behave, demons, death, blood, bones, and things that may—or may not—be watching from the other side of the mirror. The horror shifts from supernatural and folkloric to visceral and psychological, which means I never quite knew what kind of nightmare the next story was going to deliver.

As with most anthologies, some stories hit harder for me than others, but I loved how distinct the voices felt. Rather than variations on the same type of horror, the collection moves through different styles, settings, and fears while maintaining a strong thematic thread. There is an intimacy to much of the horror here, too. These aren’t simply monsters arriving from somewhere unknown. So often, the frightening thing is already connected to home, family, love, faith, history, or memory—which makes it much harder to escape.

I especially appreciated how folklore and cultural history aren’t treated as decoration. They are woven into the foundations of these stories, giving the supernatural elements additional weight. The idea of something “following us home” becomes increasingly layered as the collection unfolds. What do we inherit? What do we carry willingly? What are we unable to leave behind? And what happens when those things decide they aren’t content to remain memories?

Dark, strange, visceral, and frequently unnerving, Something Followed Us Home is a collection for horror readers who like their scares accompanied by something deeper to think about after the lights go out.

Just maybe don’t look too closely at the mirror before bed.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Book Review: Christmas Valley by Maisey Yates

🐾🐾🐾🐾 — A swoony, sexy cowboy Christmas romance full of chemistry, heart, and holiday magic.

Review Date: August 29, 2026 | Release Date: September 29, 2026

There is something about a Christmas romance filled with snow, cowboys, complicated families, and two people who absolutely should not be falling for each other that makes for an irresistible holiday read, and Christmas Valley delivers all of that with plenty of heart, heat, and festive charm.

Cassidy Wilder has spent most of her life believing she knows exactly who she wants. Dalton Wade has been the object of her affection for years, and this Christmas, she’s finally ready to stop waiting for him to make the first move and tell him how she feels. It’s a perfectly reasonable plan…until West Hancock gets in the way.

Brooding, tattooed, and firmly on the wrong side of a long-standing family feud, West is pretty much the opposite of the man Cassidy thinks she wants. He’s also about to become part of her extended family, which makes the attraction simmering between them particularly inconvenient. When West begins helping Cassidy train as a trick rider for the Wild West show, proximity has a way of making all those inconvenient feelings impossible to ignore.

I loved the contrast between Cassidy’s longtime idea of love and the connection she develops with West. There’s something incredibly satisfying about watching a character realize that the person she has built up in her imagination might not be the person who truly sees her. West and Cassidy have chemistry from the beginning, but what made their relationship work for me was the emotional connection underneath that attraction. They understand pieces of each other that other people tend to overlook, and their relationship gradually becomes about much more than the fling they try to convince themselves they’re having.

West was especially easy to root for. Beneath the brooding bad-boy exterior is someone carrying his own complicated history and trying to figure out where he belongs. His dynamic with Cassidy has that wonderful combination of tension, vulnerability, banter, and undeniable attraction that makes an opposites-attract romance so much fun.

Rustler Mountain is also a fantastic setting for a Christmas romance. Between the snowy Oregon landscape, Wild West festivities, ranch life, trick riding, family drama, and holiday atmosphere, the town has plenty of personality. Maisey Yates balances the festive elements with deeper themes of belonging, family expectations, old wounds, and realizing that sometimes the life—or person—you thought you wanted isn’t actually the one that makes you happiest.

Christmas Valley is warm, sexy, emotional, and wonderfully festive, with a forbidden-ish romance between two people who make far more sense together than either of them expected. Cassidy may begin Christmas determined to make one lifelong wish come true, but sometimes the best gifts are the ones you never thought to ask for.

A swoony holiday cowboy romance perfect for readers who love opposites attract, family rivalries, forced proximity, small-town Christmas magic, and a brooding tattooed cowboy who turns out to be exactly the right man.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Book Review: Love Between the Lectures by Christie Curry

🐾🐾🐾🐾 — Smart, steamy, sex-positive, and packed with chemistry—this academic romance gets high marks.

Review Date: September 15, 2026 | Release Date: September 22, 2026

Smart, sexy, funny, and surprisingly heartfelt, Love Between the Lectures pairs a second-chance-ish childhood crush romance with a heroine who has spent years trying to become the person she was never allowed to be.

June Wells grew up surrounded by purity culture and the expectations of her ultraconservative family. Now she’s a human sexuality professor on the verge of earning tenure—a career she’s conveniently kept vague around her parents. She’s worked hard to build a life on her own terms, and the last thing she needs is Alex Cardoso walking back into it.

Alex isn’t just June’s childhood neighbor and former crush. He’s also the guy who rejected her in high school, creating one of those memories she would very much like to bury forever. Fifteen years later, he’s a PhD candidate preparing to teach his first human sexuality course, and June has been assigned to mentor him. Suddenly, avoiding Alex is no longer an option.

I really enjoyed the tension between these two. There’s history, embarrassment, lingering attraction, and plenty of unresolved feelings simmering beneath every interaction. Watching June and Alex slowly move beyond who they were as teenagers and discover who they’ve become as adults gave their relationship so much more substance than simple workplace chemistry.

Then there’s Sextival.

When June and Alex are tasked with organizing the university’s sexual health event, June’s carefully separated worlds collide. Her conservative parents are major university donors, and once June’s mother and her circle discover exactly what June does—and what Sextival represents—they’re determined to shut it down.

This was where the story became more than a romance for me. June’s struggle isn’t simply about standing up to difficult parents. She has to confront how much of her upbringing she still carries with her, even after seemingly rejecting it. Her career centers on openness, education, autonomy, and removing shame from sexuality, yet she still feels compelled to hide that career from the people who raised her. That contradiction made her feel incredibly human.

And Alex makes a wonderful counterpart to her. Their chemistry is undeniable, but I especially liked the moments when their connection became quieter and more vulnerable. Between late nights, working together, a spontaneous road trip, and finally addressing their complicated past, the relationship develops into something neither of them can dismiss as leftover attraction.

Of course, Alex has been keeping something from June too, and when that secret comes out, June is forced to reconsider not only their relationship but what she actually wants her future to look like.

Love Between the Lectures balances humor, romance, steam, family expectations, academic politics, and some genuinely thoughtful conversations about shame and sexual autonomy. June’s journey toward unapologetically claiming the life she chose was every bit as satisfying as watching her finally get another chance with the guy she once thought she’d never have.

A clever, steamy academic romance about old crushes, new chances, and discovering that sometimes the biggest act of rebellion is simply refusing to be ashamed of who you are.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.