Book Review: Honeymoon Phase by Amy Daws
🐾🐾🐾🐾 – Sometimes the person meant to catch you when you fall has been standing beside you all along—wearing flannel, holding an axe, and pretending it’s just friendship.
Review Date: November 2, 2025 | Release Date: November 11, 2025
There’s something irresistibly tender about a romance built on friendship—the kind where inside jokes and quiet glances have been simmering for years, waiting for the right moment to tip into something more. Amy Daws captures that magic beautifully in Honeymoon Phase, a best-friends-to-lovers rom-com that trades high heels for work boots and replaces wedding bells with the clang of lumberyard machinery.
Addison “Roe” Monroe isn’t looking for love; she’s looking for security. Her late father’s will left her his lumberyard—if she can prove she’s “settled down.” When she declares she’s on the hunt for a husband, her best friend Luke steps up with an outrageous solution: marry him instead. Just on paper. Just until the ink dries on the inheritance. Easy, right? Except nothing about sharing vows with your secretly-in-love best friend is simple.
Luke’s devotion is the heartbeat of this story. He’s steady, self-effacing, and quietly aching for Roe to notice him the way he’s always noticed her. Their banter hums with familiarity, the kind that only comes from years of friendship, but Daws layers it with a growing tension—playful moments that turn unexpectedly tender, shared laughs that linger too long, accidental touches that spark something neither can ignore.
Beyond the humor (and there’s plenty—flannel jokes, lumberjack competitions, and a few perfectly timed puns), Honeymoon Phase shines in its emotional depth. Roe’s fear of repeating her parents’ mistakes, Luke’s patience that borders on self-sacrifice, and the small-town backdrop that feels like a character in itself all create a story that’s equal parts cozy and heartfelt.
By the time the “pretend” starts feeling real, you’ll be rooting for both of them to drop the act—for good.
Verdict: A warm, witty, sawdust-scented love story about friendship, trust, and finding forever right where you started.
Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Book Review: Not You Again by Erin La Rosa
🐾🐾🐾🐾 – A quirky, warm-hearted rom-com that makes me glad to be stuck in this loop.
Review Date: November 2, 2025 | Release Date: November 11, 2025
There are few things worse than being trapped in a small town with your nemesis… except maybe being trapped in a time loop with them. Every single day, Carly wakes up to her father’s funeral, and Adam wakes up to the worst day of his life—the one where his wife’s affair is revealed. Neither of them asked for this bizarre cosmic punishment, but somehow, they’re the only two who realize that Julian, California, is stuck on repeat.
Erin La Rosa takes what could’ve been a purely quirky rom-com setup and fills it with a surprising amount of grief, vulnerability, and healing. Carly is snarky, sharp-tongued, and a little self-sabotaging—my favorite kind of heroine. Adam is broody and guarded, hiding behind his funeral-director professionalism. When they collide, it’s pure friction. But as the loops add up, the humor turns introspective. Their banter softens. Their confessions start spilling out. It’s not just about escaping the loop anymore—it’s about learning to live again.
I adored how the setting of Julian feels like another character entirely—apple pie shops, mountain air, and the eerie stillness of a day that won’t end. The repetitiveness forces both leads to confront what they’re running from, and that emotional reckoning makes the slow burn between them hit that much harder.
This book made me laugh out loud (especially the “funeral director meets chaotic screenwriter” moments) and then blindsided me with a gut-punch of emotion. By the time the loop unravels, I was rooting for them—not just as a couple, but as two people choosing to step out of grief and guilt into something new.
Erin La Rosa continues to prove she can blend humor and heartache flawlessly. Not You Again is funny, weirdly comforting, and quietly profound—a story that reminds you that sometimes, you have to relive the worst day of your life to finally move forward.
Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Book Review: The Forest of Missing Girls by Nichelle Giraldes
🐾🐾🐾🐾 – Some forests hide their secrets. Others whisper them back.
Review Date: November 2, 2025 | Release Date: November 11, 2025
Sometimes the line between love and ruin is drawn in ink — right there in a contract clause.
The Forest of Missing Girls is a haunting, lyrical, and deeply atmospheric mystery that lingers long after the last page. Nichelle Giraldes delivers a psychological thriller that blends folklore, trauma, and grief into something both tender and terrifying.
When journalist Camille Barton returns to her hometown to cover the disappearance of a local teen, she’s forced to confront her own past—the night her sister vanished years ago in the same forest. The town whispers about “the girl in the woods,” and Giraldes leans into that eerie mythos, crafting a story where truth and superstition blur beautifully.
This isn’t a fast-paced thriller—it’s a slow unraveling of memory and fear. The writing is almost poetic, with a dreamy darkness that echoes Sharp Objects and The Drowning Kind. Every page feels heavy with atmosphere: rain-slicked roads, pine needles, and the ghosts of what could have been.
Camille’s internal struggle—her guilt, her desire to uncover the truth, and her unease in a town that refuses to let her heal—anchors the story emotionally. Giraldes’s prose captures that mix of small-town claustrophobia and the magnetic pull of the past perfectly.
A hypnotic debut that proves the scariest forests are the ones we carry inside us.
Thanks to NetGalley and Poisened Pen Press for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Book Review: Off Limits by Emma Rae
🐾🐾🐾🐾 – When cheer-skirts and playbooks collide, the only rule left is falling in love.
Review Date: November 2, 2025 | Release Date: November 6, 2025
Sometimes the line between love and ruin is drawn in ink — right there in a contract clause.
In Off Limits, Emma Rae gives us a high-voltage forbidden romance that blends Friday-night-lights energy with the ache of a secret you can’t afford to tell. Serenity Harper finally lands her dream job as a cheerleader for the Canyon Bay Mutineers, but she’s living a double life. By night, she’s dancing in a dive bar to pay off her father’s debt — a truth that could destroy everything she’s worked for. Then she meets Jake Walsh, the team’s golden-boy quarterback, and suddenly, every rule in her employee handbook starts to feel like a dare.
What hooked me wasn’t just the “no fraternizing” trope (though that tension sizzles). It was the why behind Serenity’s choices — the moral tug-of-war between survival and self-respect, between the girl she wants to be and the one she has to be right now. Rae lets us see both the glitter and the grit, giving us a heroine who’s fierce, flawed, and refreshingly human. Jake could’ve been a cliché — the charming athlete with a heart of gold — but he earns his warmth. Beneath the fame and pressure, there’s a man who sees Serenity’s fire and refuses to look away.
Their chemistry burns bright, but it’s the quieter moments — stolen glances at practice, whispered confessions behind stadium walls — that make this story feel lived-in. Rae’s writing is cinematic, balancing adrenaline with tenderness, and her dialogue crackles with realism.
Off Limits isn’t reinventing the sports-romance playbook, but it executes the tropes with heart and honesty. It’s about chasing dreams even when you’re out of breath, about owning your truth even when it costs you the spotlight. And most of all, it’s about two people who risk everything — career, reputation, peace of mind — because some loves are worth breaking the rules for.
Verdict: Forbidden, fast-paced, and full of heart. A perfect read for anyone who loves their romance with a side of risk.
Thanks to NetGalley and Hera Books for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Book Review: Lovestruck by Ivy Dawes
🐾🐾🐾🐾 – Hollywood enemies become fake lovers—but when the act starts feeling real, who’s really directing the scene?
Review Date: October 29, 2025 | Release Date: November 4, 2025
From the first line—“I want to punch my arrogant, hot co-star in his stupid, beautiful face”—I knew Lovestruck was going to be the kind of rom-com that crackles with energy. Ivy Dawes nails the push-and-pull of enemies-to-lovers and the sparkling chaos of Hollywood, wrapping it in all the tension that comes from pretending to love someone you definitely shouldn’t.
Our heroine is sharp, driven, and teetering under the pressure of living up to everyone’s expectations. She’s finally landed a huge role, but her co-star, Roman Everett, is infuriatingly confident, effortlessly charming, and—of course—gorgeous. When the studio forces them into a fake-dating PR stunt, their off-screen hostility becomes dangerously close to heat. What starts as barbed banter turns into stolen glances, inside jokes, and the kind of chemistry that burns brighter than the camera lights.
Roman’s quiet vulnerability is what makes this book shine. Beneath the Hollywood persona, he’s all heart—protective, thoughtful, and absolutely smitten long before she catches up. The “he falls first” angle makes every scene ache just a little bit. There’s humor (plenty of “accidental” touches and deliciously awkward interviews), but there’s also heart—especially as both characters drop their masks and show who they are behind the spotlight.
By the time the fake dating starts to feel all too real, Lovestruck delivers every emotional payoff you’d want from a loathe-to-love romance. It’s cinematic, steamy, and sweet in all the right ways. Think: The Hating Game meets Notting Hill—but with more heat, more Hollywood chaos, and a hero who’s hopelessly lovestruck for the one woman determined not to need him.
Verdict: A perfect mix of glitz, snark, and sincerity. You’ll laugh, swoon, and maybe even tear up a little when the final scene fades to black.
Thanks to NetGalley and Victory Editing for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.