Book Review: In the Woods They Wait by Carrie Lee South
🐾🐾🐾🐾 — Haunting, atmospheric, and deliciously unsettling—some secrets never leave the woods.
Review Date: September 15, 2026 | Release Date: September 22, 2026
In the Woods They Wait by Carrie Lee South is a haunting, atmospheric mystery that turns the wilderness into something both beautiful and deeply threatening. Part Southern Gothic, part psychological suspense, and part horror, this is the kind of story that makes you wonder whether the most frightening thing lurking in the woods is something supernatural—or something buried in the past.
Fifteen years ago, Audrey Figg’s younger brother, Benny, disappeared during a family trip to Devil’s Den State Park. He was never found, and Audrey has spent the years since living in the shadow of that loss. Now a park ranger specializing in wilderness search and rescue, she has returned to the very place where Benny vanished. She knows these woods better than almost anyone, but some part of her is still searching for the one person she could never bring home.
Then a little girl named Ivy disappears.
The similarities between Ivy’s disappearance and Benny’s are impossible for Audrey to ignore, and what begins as a desperate search for a missing child gradually becomes something much darker. Audrey starts questioning whether Ivy simply wandered away—or whether something in these woods took her. And if that’s true, she has to confront the possibility that the same thing may have happened to Benny.
I loved how effectively Carrie Lee South makes the setting feel like a character of its own. The woods are simultaneously gorgeous, claustrophobic, and menacing. There’s a constant sense that something is watching from beyond the trail, and even the quiet moments carry this low hum of dread. It isn’t necessarily about nonstop scares; it’s the feeling that something isn’t quite right that makes the story so unsettling.
Audrey is also such a compelling protagonist because her determination to find Ivy is tangled up with fifteen years of grief, guilt, and unanswered questions. Her career makes perfect sense for someone who once experienced the unbearable helplessness of having a loved one disappear. She can rescue other people now. She can search harder, know more, and maybe prevent another family from experiencing what hers did. But returning to those same woods also means she can never completely escape Benny.
And then there’s the secret Audrey has been carrying since the day her brother disappeared.
That layer adds an especially interesting psychological element because the deeper Audrey ventures into the mystery surrounding Ivy, the more she has to confront her own memories. The past and present begin folding together until finding Ivy and discovering what happened to Benny feel almost inseparable.
The mystery kept me turning pages, but it was the atmosphere that really worked for me. This is a story filled with grief, obsession, memory, guilt, and the desperate human need for closure. There’s something especially unnerving about a place that’s supposed to be familiar becoming unknowable, and South captures that beautifully.
Dark, eerie, and wonderfully atmospheric, In the Woods They Wait is perfect for readers who like their mysteries with a supernatural edge and their horror wrapped around an emotional core. It left me with exactly the feeling I want from a story like this: maybe don’t wander into the woods alone.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.
Book Review: Thank You for Remembering by Emily Harding
🐾🐾🐾🐾 — A heartfelt, hopeful romance about forgetting the past and falling for an unexpected future.
Review Date: August 30, 2026 | Release Date: September 15, 2026
Thank You for Remembering by Emily Harding is a heartfelt, hopeful romance about memory, identity, second chances, and the unexpected ways losing the life you knew can lead you toward the life—and love—you were meant to find.
Marnie Stephens wakes up in a Boston hospital expecting her life to look exactly the way she remembers it. Instead, she discovers that an entire year has disappeared from her memory. Her relationship is over, her hair is dramatically shorter, she’s living somewhere she doesn’t recognize, and apparently the version of herself who existed during that missing year made choices Marnie doesn’t understand.
Determined to figure out exactly what happened, Marnie begins piecing together the life she can’t remember. And then there’s Ben Morgan, her grumpy, ridiculously attractive neighbor who definitely wasn’t part of the future she expected.
I really enjoyed the way this story uses the amnesia premise as more than simply a romantic complication. Marnie isn’t only trying to remember events—she’s trying to reconcile the woman she remembers being with the woman she apparently became. There’s something incredibly compelling about watching her question whether recovering the past automatically means she should return to it.
And Ben! I loved the contrast between his gruff exterior and the way he steadily shows up for Marnie. Their relationship develops alongside her search for answers, creating a romance that feels connected to Marnie discovering what she actually wants rather than simply what she believes she should want. Their chemistry, banter, and quieter moments together make it very easy to root for them.
At its heart, Thank You for Remembering asks a lovely question: if you had the opportunity to look at your own life with fresh eyes, would you still choose it?
Sweet, emotional, romantic, and filled with the possibility of beginning again, this is a wonderful read for anyone who loves romances about fate, fresh starts, unexpected connections, and discovering that sometimes the future waiting for you is even better than the past you were trying so hard to recover.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Book Review: A Study in Sparkling by Jodi McAlister
🐾🐾🐾🐾 — Some things are simply too good to keep casual.
Review Date: August 30, 2026 | Release Date: September 15, 2026
A Study in Sparkling by Jodi McAlister is a smart, sexy, refreshingly grown-up romance about rebuilding your life after betrayal—and discovering that sometimes the person who makes absolutely no sense on paper is exactly the person you need.
Fiona Fisher believed she had built the life she wanted: a husband she loved, three children, and enough distance from her family’s expectations to finally breathe. Then she discovers that her husband isn’t simply leaving her—he’s been living an entirely separate life with a secret second family. The betrayal is staggering, and Fiona is left trying to figure out who she is when the marriage she trusted turns out to have been built on lies.
Enter Satoshi Tsukamoto: younger, ambitious, owner of Fiona’s favorite wine bar, studying relentlessly for the notoriously difficult Master Sommelier exam…and already completely, hopelessly in love with her.
I loved the reversal at the heart of this romance. Fiona isn’t searching for someone to sweep in and put her life back together. In fact, another relationship is pretty much the last thing she needs. Satoshi, meanwhile, might agree to something casual, but emotionally? This man never stood a chance. His feelings for Fiona give the story such delicious tension because we know their arrangement is doomed almost from the beginning—and watching those carefully constructed boundaries start disappearing is half the fun.
Their eight-year age gap adds another interesting layer without becoming the sole focus of their relationship. Fiona is navigating motherhood, divorce, humiliation, anger, and the enormous challenge of trusting someone again, while Satoshi is chasing an incredibly demanding professional goal. They genuinely have reasons why a relationship would be complicated, which makes their connection feel even more satisfying.
And then there is the wine. The wine-bar and sommelier elements give the book a wonderfully distinctive atmosphere, adding sophistication and personality without overwhelming the romance. Satoshi’s passion for his work is incredibly appealing, and I loved seeing two adults with complicated, established lives trying to figure out whether there might actually be room for each other.
But what stayed with me most was Fiona’s journey. Her husband’s betrayal doesn’t simply disappear because an attractive younger man wants her. She has to deal with the wreckage of what happened, rediscover what she wants, and decide whether loving someone again is worth the vulnerability that comes with it.
Sexy, emotional, funny, and wonderfully messy, A Study in Sparkling delivers a romance with plenty of heat while still giving its characters room to be complicated adults. Fiona and Satoshi may agree to keep things casual, but when one of them is already catastrophically in love, those rules were never going to survive.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Book Review: The Thoroughbreds by Elin Hilderbrand
🐾🐾🐾🐾 — Secrets. Scandals. Senior year. Welcome back to Tiffin Academy.
Review Date: August 30, 2026 | Release Date: September 15, 2026
The Thoroughbreds by Elin Hilderbrand and Shelby Cunningham takes us back to Tiffin Academy for another deliciously messy semester filled with secrets, shifting loyalties, complicated relationships, and the kind of drama that only seems possible when a group of ambitious teenagers are living, learning, and making questionable decisions under the same roof.
Senior year has arrived at Tiffin, and with it comes an entirely new level of pressure. College applications are looming, friendships are changing, relationships are being tested, and everyone seems to be carrying something they would rather keep hidden. Charley and East may not be as solid as everyone assumes, Dub and Hakeem are suddenly at odds, and Pippa Sacks seems more than capable of upsetting Tiffin’s carefully established social order. Meanwhile, Head of School Audre Robinson is dealing with problems of her own as the consequences of a financial mistake threaten both her position and the future of the school.
And then there is the lingering question surrounding Cinnamon Peters and the mysterious attachment she sent to Dub before her death.
There is A LOT happening here, but that’s part of the fun. Hilderbrand and Cunningham weave together multiple characters and storylines while capturing that very specific boarding-school atmosphere where everyone knows everyone else’s business—or at least thinks they do. Rumors travel quickly, friendships can change overnight, and even seemingly small decisions can have enormous consequences.
What I especially enjoyed is that the adults are every bit as complicated and imperfect as the students. The Thoroughbreds isn’t simply about teenagers behaving badly while adults watch from the sidelines. Everyone at Tiffin has something at stake, whether it’s a friendship, relationship, reputation, future, or career. That gives the story a broader emotional range and makes the school itself feel like its own little ecosystem.
The mystery surrounding Cinnamon adds another layer of tension throughout the book. Beneath the parties, romances, rivalries, and college anxiety is the persistent sense that something remains unfinished. That question kept me turning pages even as I became invested in all of the interpersonal drama unfolding around it.
This is juicy, character-driven drama with an elite New England boarding-school backdrop, complicated friendships, romantic turmoil, family expectations, ambition, betrayal, and plenty of secrets. If you enjoy ensemble casts where everyone’s lives are tangled together and one revelation can send shockwaves through an entire community, The Thoroughbreds delivers exactly that.
Tiffin Academy may look polished from the outside, but inside? It is wonderfully, compulsively messy.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Book Review: Break Point by Ginger Scott
🐾🐾🐾🐾 — Fake dating, fierce rivals, real chemistry, and a romance worth risking everything for.
Review Date: August 30, 2026 | Release Date: September 8, 2026
Break Point is a competitive, tension-filled college sports romance that combines fake dating, enemies-to-lovers chemistry, and two athletes who are far more vulnerable than either of them wants anyone to know.
I really liked the dynamic between the tennis-focused heroine and Bryson, the university’s golden-boy quarterback. She has spent years believing that success comes from discipline, independence, and relying on absolutely no one. Bryson represents almost everything that irritates her—especially because football seems to get all the attention while she’s fighting to prove herself in a sport that barely gets noticed. Putting the two of them into a fake relationship is basically asking for chaos, and I was completely here for it.
The banter and antagonism are definitely part of the fun, but what worked best for me was how gradually their relationship becomes something deeper. Their arrangement might be manufactured for social media, but the moments between them when nobody is watching are what make the romance work. Bryson slowly becomes someone she can lean on without making her feel weak for needing him, and I loved watching her realize there’s a difference between being capable of standing on your own and believing you always have to.
I also appreciated how much of the story revolves around the pressure of being a college athlete. Winning isn’t simply something she wants—it has become wrapped up in her identity, her future, and her ability to stay in school. When her body starts threatening the future she has worked so hard for, the story becomes about more than romance. It’s about what happens when the thing you’ve built your entire identity around suddenly isn’t guaranteed.
And Bryson surprised me. Beneath the quarterback reputation and all the attention surrounding him is someone genuinely supportive, and I loved the way he shows up when things get difficult. Their romance has plenty of chemistry, but some of my favorite moments were the quieter ones where their rivalry disappears and you can see just how much they have come to matter to each other.
Fake dating. College sports. Rival athletes. Fantastic banter. Unexpected vulnerability. And that delicious realization that all those supposedly fake feelings haven’t been fake for quite some time.
Break Point is a fun, emotional sports romance about ambition, pressure, trust, and discovering that letting someone stand beside you doesn’t make you any less strong.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.