Fever Dream

By: Elsie Silver
Published Year: 2026
Publisher: Atria Books
Pages: 448

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Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Professional bull rider Emmett Bush is not looking for love. He’s looking for a paycheck to save his family’s farm from bankruptcy. So, when he agrees to be the leading man on a hot new reality dating show, Romance Ranch, he’s already decided it’s all one big performance.

Until Julia Silva walks onto his property. Smart, snarky, beautiful, and off-limits in more ways than one. As the location consultant on set and the little sister of his most bitter professional rival, she’s the last woman who should pique his interest.

Julia has been warned about Emmett. She knows better than to fall for his cocky swagger, broad shoulders, and smoldering good looks. Plus, she’s sworn off relationships.

But as Julia and Emmett work together, mutual distaste grows into an unexpected connection and then… something more.

Soon, they find themselves searching for excuses to spend time together and out of reach of the cameras. Knowing glances. Stolen kisses. Secret rendezvous.

Still, Emmett signed up to play the role of an eligible bachelor searching for the one. His family’s land and legacy depend on him completing the show.

The problem is, he’s already fallen in love.

Just not with a contestant.

First Impressions

I am obsessed with this cover. The colors are my absolute favorite and there is nothing I would change. I’m not normally a cowboy romance person but between this being written by Silver and the cover? Not even a hesitation.

What I thought

While this wasn’t my favorite of Silver’s books, it was still a fun read.

Emmett is a top tier bull rider. However, bull riding doesn’t make enough to support his grandparent’s farm. When he is offered the opportunity to be the next bachelor on a reality show called Romance Ranch, he immediately declines until he finds out how much they’re willing to pay. Julia is the younger sister of Emmett’s bull riding rival Theo. She is also the location manager for Romance Ranch. When they start working together on the reality show, Emmett starts to find romance in places he didn’t expect.

I really liked Emmett and Julia. I liked their history and their chemistry. I also liked that Julia didn’t take any shit from Emmett and called him on his bull (no pun intended). What I didn’t love, even though I thought I was going to, was the reality show storyline. Here’s the thing, I didn’t mind Emmett having to take part in a reality show and date other women. What I did mind was the sleezy producer. I have read a few books that center around dating reality shows (One to Watch being amazing) and I’ve watched TV shows about fake reality dating shows. I feel like I’ve seen this type of story done well and I don’t think it’s done well here. It felt like it was all stereotypical and the reality show and the contestants weren’t fleshed out at all.

I also felt so uncomfortable as Julia and Emmett started dating. They kept talking about how they had to be careful and not get caught because Richard, the producer, would stop Emmett from getting his pay day and then they would go and do things like make out in a former contestants room! I just keep freaking out internally because I was like, there are cameras and microphones everywhere. It made me nervous and uncomfortable which made the back half of the book difficult for me to read.

I do think it works really well as the first book in a new series. It set up the world of Emerald Lake really well, as well as the Brandt family. I am looking forward to reading more books in the future.

This book is a solid 3.5 stars for me. I found the first half of the book more enjoyable than the second but I really enjoyed Emmett and Julia. I thought their whole story was the strongest part which is the most important piece of a romance novel. However, the reality dating show storyline and how icky it made me feel drops it down a few points. While it isn’t my favorite of Silver’s books, it’s still solid.

Abby Offsides

By: Anna McCallie
Published Year: 2026
Publisher: Dell
Pages: 368

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I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion of this novel.

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Seeking a fresh start after leaving her cheating fiancé, Abby McIntyre makes a series of spontaneous decisions: She quits her job. She books a one-way flight to the UK. She even gets bangs!

Newly arrived in Liverpool, she lands a job with the Mersey Football Club and meets Lachlan Ramsay, the recently recruited Scottish star midfielder. Both lonely in a new city, the pair bond quickly, and Abby finds it nearly impossible to deny their chemistry—despite the nagging guilt she feels about Lachlan’s mysterious wife who didn’t relocate with her husband.

When Abby’s housing falls through, Lachlan insists she move into his massive penthouse. As they spend almost every waking moment together, Abby wonders if it’s possible that the world-famous footballer could be falling for her, too. But with her job and his marriage dependent on them staying firmly in the friend zone, can Abby risk being caught offside?

First Impressions

I’m pretty sure I saw this cover on Instagram and immediately went “I need to read this book” so I’d say that’s a solid first impression. I am a huge soccer fan so reading about an American who moves to England and works for a soccer team? My dream!

What I thought

I wish I could live inside this book.

After finding out her fiancé was cheating on her, Abby quits her job working for the Red Sox and moves to Liverpool for a job at the local football club, Mersey. One her first day, she meets Lachlan Ramsay- star footballer who is coming back to Mersey after years in Spain. They hit it off right off the bat, but Abby knows he still has a wife back in Spain.

The banter in this book is elite. Lachlan and Abby right from the start have great chemistry. I was rooting for them from day one. Abby has a lot of stuff going on in her life and this story is just as much a story of self-discovery as it is romance. I read a review that described this book as having Ted Lasso vibes and I feel like that is spot on.

It is interesting because this book could fall into very icky territory with Lachlan still being married and Abby being single. I did appreciate that Abby’s friends were honest with her. She had one friend who was not for the relationship building between them and another friend who was kind of feeding into the fantasy.

I enjoyed every character in this book. Even Lachlan’s wife Claire. I also fell in love with the Mersey club a little bit and find myself wanting to be a fan and go to a match. I feel like I’m at a loss for words as to what it is I loved about this book so much. The characters were spot on, the banter was popping, there was no 3rd act breakup over some stupid miscommunication. There was a lot of depth to both Abby and Lachlan and seeing them grow and now just do stupid things was so refreshing. Honestly, one of my favorite sports romances of the year.

I can’t believe this is a debut novel. It’s written so well. I can’t wait for McCallie to write more so I can read her next book. I think that she does a really nice job of writing a romance with depth and not falling into the tropes that are easy. I highly recommend this book if you’re a soccer fan or a fan of Ted Lasso.

Book Club June 2026- Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil

By: V.E. Schwab
Published Year: 2025
Publisher: Tor
Pages: 535

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Summary (Provided by Goodreads) This is a story about hunger.
1532. Santo Domingo de la Calzada.
A young girl grows up wild and wily—her beauty is only outmatched by her dreams of escape. But María knows she can only ever be a prize, or a pawn, in the games played by men. When an alluring stranger offers an alternate path, María makes a desperate choice. She vows to have no regrets.

This is a story about love.
1827. London.
A young woman lives an idyllic but cloistered life on her family’s estate, until a moment of forbidden intimacy sees her shipped off to London. Charlotte’s tender heart and seemingly impossible wishes are swept away by an invitation from a beautiful widow—but the price of freedom is higher than she could have imagined.

This is a story about rage.
2019. Boston.
College was supposed to be her chance to be someone new. That’s why Alice moved halfway across the world, leaving her old life behind. But after an out-of-character one-night stand leaves her questioning her past, her present, and her future, Alice throws herself into the hunt for answers . . . and revenge.

This is a story about life—
how it ends, and how it starts.

What I thought

I was a little hesitant when Meghan picked this book. First, it’s long. Second, it has a decent amount of hype. Third, lesbian vampires. I enjoyed Invisible Life of Addie Larue, but not as much as the general public did which made me hesitant about this one.

Bury Our Bones follows 3 women, Mary, Lottie, and Alice. Each woman’s story takes place in a different era. Mary starts in the 1500s followed by Lottie in the 1800s and finally Alice in 2019. Each of these women is a lesbian and each of these women becomes a vampire.

I don’t really want to give too much away in my summary because not a lot happens in this story and I don’t want to give away anything enjoyable. I did enjoy this book more than I thought I would. It wasn’t necessarily unputdownable, but I was invested in each of their stories and wanted to see how they tied together and played out.

Schwab writes beautifully. Everything in this story is very well written. Admittedly, I think if she wasn’t as good of a writer as she is, this book would’ve felt drawn out and boring. Like I said, not much happens. I did enjoy the different perspective of vampires and how they lived. It was also interesting to see how they changed over time, from the 1500s to present day.

In that way it’s not your typical fantasy/horror novel. There isn’t really a lot of world building and a lot of the lore is based in vampire history we already know. It is more so a story that focuses on women, how they have suffered at the hands of men throughout history, and love. If that isn’t what you’re looking for or what you’re expecting when you pick this one up, I do think you’ll be disappointed.

What Book Club Thought

This was a really fun one to discuss. The more we talked about it the more we realized there was to discuss. We all agreed this isn’t a book we would’ve necessarily picked up on our own but that we ended up liking it more than we expected. I do think it was interesting because we kind of spanned from  one member feeling bored by the book but still enjoying the reading process, to people not being able to put it down. Another interesting thing that we learned is that Schwab describes this as being her most autobiographical work, so that lead to an entire rabbit hole of discussion. I think this book was a pleasant surprise. I would not have expected it to lead to the type of discussion that it did. I would highly recommend this book as a book club read as opposed to a solo read.

Yesteryear

By: Caro Claire Burke
Published Year: 2026
Publisher: Knopf
Pages: 400

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Summary (Provided by Goodreads): A traditional American woman, a “tradwife” influencer, suddenly awakens in the brutal reality of 1855—where she must unravel whether this living nightmare is an elaborate hoax, a twisted reality show, or something far more sinister in this sensational debut novel.

My name was Natalie Heller Mills, and I was perfect at being alive.

Natalie lives a traditional lifestyle. Her charming farmhouse is rustic, her husband a handsome cowboy, her six children each more delightful than the last. So what if there are nannies and producers behind the scenes, her kitchen hiding industrial-grade fridges and ovens, her husband the heir to a political dynasty? What Natalie’s followers—all 8 million of them—don’t know won’t hurt them. And The Angry Women? The privileged, Ivy League, coastal elite haters who call her an antifeminist iconoclast? They’re sick with jealousy. Because Natalie isn’t simply living the good life, she’s living the ideal—and just so happens to be building an empire from it.

Until one morning she wakes up in a life that isn’t hers. Her home, her husband, her children—they’re all familiar, but something’s off. Her kitchen is warmed by a sputtering fire rather than electricity, her children are dirty and strange, and her soft-handed husband is suddenly a competent farmer. Just yesterday Natalie was curating photos of homemade jam for her Instagram, and now she’s expected to haul firewood and handwash clothes until her fingers bleed. Has she become the unwitting star of a ruthless reality show? Could it really be time travel? Is she being tested by God? By Satan? When Natalie suffers a brutal injury in the woods, she realizes two things: This is not her beautiful life, and she must escape by any means possible.

First Impressions

One of my friends posted about this book before I saw it start to pop up everywhere. The cover and title intrigued me immediately and the summary sounded interesting. I also trusted this friend who posted about it because she and I have similar tastest. Once I saw everyone talking about this book I knew I needed to read it.

What I thought

I haven’t read a book that’s made me think like this in a long time.

Natalie is an influencer. She built her account around being a “Good Christian Wife” who makes bread from scratch and homeschools her kids. Her husband is the youngest son of a political family, but when her world starts falling apart all of a sudden she wakes up in the 1800s. Her hosue is not her house. It has no appliances and an outhouse. Her husband is not her husband and her kids are not her kids. Yet they all act like they are.

This book was so fascinating to me. I have never gotten sucked into the Trad Wife influencer world but I know that they push traditional values and God and obeying your husband. Yet then you find out they come from very rich families and this “simple” life is actually a very costly one.

I honestly had no idea where this book was going from one chapter to the next. I listened to it on audiobook and really enjoyed the narrator. I think it let me feel a lot more of the satire. Natalie is not a likable character by any means. I think if you go into this book expecting to like her or wanting to root for her you will be sorely disappointed. I think Caro Burke does a great job of capturing the seedy underbelly of the influencer world.

I could see a lot of people who might dislike this book and claim it’s “cheap” or disrespectful. I think those people are ones who see themselves negatively reflected in the characters of this book. I was hooked pretty much from page one and found the entire thing to wrap up in a very satisfying way.

This is a book that’s going to stick with me for a while and one that I will continually enjoy discussing with people. I think there are so many talking points and people who take this book too seriously are going to be disappointed. I feel like books like this that entrance the entire public come once in a blue moon and we need to enjoy it while it’s here.

By the Bootstraps

By: Alexa Martin
Published Year: 2026
Publisher: Berkley
Pages: 400

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I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion of this novel.

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Fueled by a love of romance novels, Luna Starr was destined for a life with her head in the clouds. Her delusional tendencies serve her well…or at least they used to. When life throws her a curveball, she decides it’s time to turn her cowboy fantasies into reality and purchases a tiny farm in Celestial, Texas. After all, don’t all heroines try to outrun grief?

Tate Jacobs hates cowboys, which is a small problem, considering his family happens to own the largest ranch in Celestial. Life might not have gone the way he wanted, but as head coach at his old high school and the town’s best (and only) handyman, he’s figured out how to stay busy and keep his head down—until the new girl in town shows up. Luna’s new property is a bad accident waiting to happen unless someone helps her with her DIY home renovations.

As Tate and Luna spend more time together fixing up her house, unexpected feelings and undeniable chemistry bubble to the surface. Luna might’ve moved to Celestial to make her cowboy dreams come true, but somewhere beneath the vast Texas skies, she discovers that love in the real world can be far better than she imagined.

First Impressions

I love Alexa Martin but haven’t read any cowboy romances so I was intrigued. I have to admit, I really don’t like the cover and would not have picked it up if I didn’t already like Martin.

What I thought

The majority of this book was really cute.

After her mother passes away, Luna decides to move from Denver to Celestial, Texas. She uses her mom’s life insurance to purchase a home on some acres of land ad fix it up to make it her dream home. When she moves down, she meets not one but two hot cowboys who are seemingly into her. She settles in and finds herself and a new lease on life.

We’ll start with what worked with me. The town of Celestial is adorable. I could live in this town for a few books and be very happy. All of the side characters were so sweet. I also liked Luna and Tate and Silas. I didn’t necessarily get Luna’s instant attraction to Tate over Silas, but I liked them when they were together. Tate seems like a really good guy and I enjoyed his football coach scenes specifically.

What didn’t work for me was the third act break. I found the reason for Luna breaking down to come out of nowhere. The issues that come up were not built up to at all. She has some difficulties with her mom and how she passed as well as her mom’s brother. I think we could’ve easily focused on those and not added in another breakdown that was unjustified. This kind of left a little bit of a bad taste in my mouth right at the end of the book.

I wish that Martin had focused more on the exploration of the trauma Luna was dealing with regarding her mom’s death and a little less on her home renovations. I also read this following Abby Jimenez’s newest novel and there were some similar storylines that Jimenez executed better.

This is a fun read. Luna and Tate are very cute and the setting is 5/5. I am hoping that Martin continues this as a series because I want to read about Silas, Ciara, and Millie. Is this my favorite of Martin’s books? No. Is it still a solid romance? Yes. I would recommend it if you enjoy small town romance books for sure. Here’s hoping she continues in Celestial!

Rachel West and the Fallen Starlet

By: Emma Mills
Published Year: 2026
Publisher: Berkley
Pages: 336

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I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Tis in no way shape or form influence my opinion of this novel.

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Celebrity gossip can cut to the quick, but when it turns deadly it’s up to an aspiring reporter and her quirky neighbors to close the case in the first of a witty and nostalgic new mystery series.

Baby doll top, gladiator sandals, and fully loaded iPod at the ready—it’s 2008 in Los Angeles, and Rachel West is a little less starry-eyed than your average ingenue. There’s never been a better time to be an entertainment journalist, but the road to writing glossy profiles starts with copyediting a celeb gossip rag. Hey, it pays her bills. Most of them, at least.

Everything changes when Rachel befriends Molly Byrne—former child star and current tabloid fave due to her drunken escapades and rotating cast of boyfriends—in a nightclub bathroom.

When Molly is found dead, all of Hollywood accepts her death as an overdose. But Rachel knows for a fact her friend was clean, so when Molly’s favorite paparazzo, Casper, tells her he thinks Molly was murdered, she believes him.

With the help of a ragtag group of residents from her apartment building, a handsome detective, and her trusty flip phone, Rachel must solve the mystery of Molly’s death before she’s written off for good.

First Impressions

This cover is so fun. I was immediately intrigued between that and the cover. Very solid first impressions. The summary also caught my eye as I’m always down for a light mystery. I also didn’t initially realize this was an author I had read and enjoyed about 10 years ago so that made me extra excited.

What I thought

This book was so fun.

Rachel has recently become friends with Molly Byrne, a former child star and current paparazzi darling. When she winds up dead of an apparent overdose, Rachel is beside herself. But then Casper, Molly’s favorite paparazzo, finds Rachel and convinces her that Molly didn’t overdose- she was murdered.

This book is the perfect mix of all the things I like. Drama, a fun group of ragtag side characters, banter, and a little mystery. Rachel did get on my nerves a tiny bit, but everyone else more than made up for it. This book is set in 2008 which I think is perfect for the story. 2008 was such a time of crazy paparazzi following all of the young starlets from club to club. It caused so much drama and the celebrity media was so hard on all of the actresses. This book captured that time period perfectly.

I was a little iffy on the Casper/Rachel dynamic. Casper confused me until the end and Rachel was a little unstable which sometimes made her unlikable. I loved the people in her apartment building, her friend/co-worker Anton, and the detective. I could see them coming together again for another book, but I worry that it would get a little too silly for the sake of getting them back together to solve another mystery.

What I found most intriguing about this book was it’s commentary on stardom, mental health, and how people view you. While this is mostly a light mystery, it has a strong underlying message which I think takes it one step above other novels within this genre.

I can’t remember at what point in the novel I solved the mystery, but I wasn’t completely taken by surprise. I found the resolution to be a little disappointing, but everything was wrapped up which I greatly appreciated. It also never felt like Mills was writing twists just to write twists and confuse readers.

If you are looking for a cozy mystery that’s a step below cozy but a step above thriller, this is the perfect book for you. I remember enjoying Mills’ previous novels and I enjoyed her writing just as much with her debut into the adult fiction world. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys ragtag characters with heart, even if the resolution of the mystery felt a little unsatisfying.

Book Club May 2026- The Astral Library

By: Kate Quinn
Published Year: 2026
Publisher: William Morrow
Pages: 304

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Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Alexandria “Alix” Watson has learned one lesson from her barren childhood in the foster-care system: unlike people, books will never let you down. Working three dead-end jobs to make ends meet and knowing college is a pipe dream, Alix takes nightly refuge in the high-vaulted reading room at the Boston Public Library, escaping into her favorite fantasy novels and dreaming of far-off lands. Until the day she stumbles through a hidden door and meets the Librarian: the ageless, acerbic guardian of a hidden library where the desperate and the lost escape to new lives...inside their favorite books.

The Librarian takes a dazzled Alix under her wing, but before she can escape into the pages of her new life, a shadowy enemy emerges to threaten everyone the Astral Library has ever helped protect. Aided by a dashing costume-shop owner, Alix and the Librarian flee through the Regency drawing rooms of Jane Austen to the back alleys of Sherlock Holmes and the champagne-soaked parties of The Great Gatsby as danger draws inexorably closer. But who does their enemy really wish to destroy—Alix, the Librarian, or the Library itself?

What I thought

If you have been following this blog for some time, you know that if Quinn has a new novel, my book club is going to read it. I was extra excited for this one since normally she writes historical fiction and this one is a dip into magical realism.

Alix is 26 and her world is falling apart. Having grown up in the foster system, the library was always her safe space. Now in her moment of need, it is there for her again. When she opens up a door at the Boston Public Library, it opens into another world. A world of books in which you can live. However, once she finally chooses which book to try, the library and its Librarian seem to be under attack. Alix jumps at the opportunity to help the Librarian save the Astral Library and begins her adventure across multiple novels.

I loved this book. It took me a little while to get into but then I was hooked. At the beginning, Alix is a bit of a sad sack. She has a ton of things that are going wrong for her and she isn’t the nicest person (understandably so). As a result, I found myself a little uncomfortable reading until she finally makes it into the Astral Library. I just felt so bad for her that it was hard for me to read about everything going wrong.

Once we got into the world of the Astral Library I was hooked. I loved the Librarian and how she was so grumpy with Alix about the rules and Alix’s understanding of what a fantasy figurehead should be. There were so many parts of this book that made me laugh which I didn’t expect.

Honestly, as a book lover, this is the kind of book I relate to. Quinn referenced so many worlds that I loved and then also had similar feelings about classics that I did. For example, irritation at the over analyzation of The Great Gatsby and questioning why people thing Wuthering Heights is a romance. I think because of that, I was able to relate to Alix once she started jumping into the fantasy world.

I also was pleasantly surprised when the Big Bad was revealed. It wasn’t what I expected but it made so much sense. I can’t see many book lovers not enjoying this one. It also was a lot of fun to see Quinn branch out into a different genre! I can’t wait to see what she writes next.

What Book Club Thought

We all loved this book. We enjoyed discussing which books we would want to live in if we were in the Astral Library. It was a fun book club choice. We had a lot to discuss which can be a little harder when everyone enjoys a book. If you’re looking for a quick read with good payoff I highly recommend this book.

The Shippers

By: Katherine Center
Published Year: 2026
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Pages: 336

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I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion of this novel.

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): After a whole lifetime of being bad at love, JoJo Burton decides to solve her intimacy issues once and for all at her sister’s destination wedding on a cruise ship. With the help of a little pop psychology, she diagnoses herself with a fixation on the neighborhood guy who was her her first crush and first kiss (and who just happens to be a newly-divorced wedding guest ), and she decides to woo him during the cruise for some long-delayed closure. Only problem is, her sister’s a little busy being a bride at the moment—so JoJo ropes in her childhood bestie, Cooper Watts, to be her wing man. Cooper: who RSVPed no, but then showed up, anyway. Cooper: who left town without a word four years earlier and moved to London. Cooper: who was, if she’s honest, the worst heartbreak of JoJo’s life. It’s bliss for her to see him again, and it’s agony, too—and the more they team up for Project Conquest, the more she obsesses over questions she can’t bring herself to ask.

Shipboard antics ensue in this witty, heart-tugging, childhood-friends-to-lovers romance—as JoJo and Cooper fake flirt, slow dance, share a cabin, sing duets, treat sunburns, get jealous, rescue each other over and over, and finally, at last, figure it all out in the most blissful, swoony, romantic way.

First Impressions

I love Katherine Center’s books. She is an autoread author for me. I was so excited to get a copy of this book early to review it I’m not completely sure how I feel about the cover. I do think the colors would catch my eye but I don’t know how I feel about the cartoon people.

What I thought

I loved this book.

Jojo recently walked out of her own wedding after her best friend, Cooper, showed up after RSVPing “no” and not talking to her for four years. Now she is stuck on a cruise ship for her sister’s wedding, and Cooper has shown up last minute again. Jojo and her family have decided the reason she is so unlucky in love is that she imprinted on her first kiss from years ago, so they decide that this trip is the perfect time to get her childhood crush (who is not Cooper) to fall in love with her.

At the very beginning of this book, Center has an author’s note talking about romance novels and how they can be predictable but that that is something to take comfort in. I think reading that before I started this book helped me to get in the right frame of mind. I love romance novels and I love that the Happily Ever After is predictable, but sometimes get a little irritated at the way it gets there being predictable. While doesn’t make much sense if you really break it down. Like, in this story, knowing that Cooper is in love with Jojo but that she doesn’t know it, might’ve irritated me if I hadn’t been in the right mindset.

I loved their banter and their shenanigans. I did want to smack Jojo over the head a few times, but I can also see how she ended up the way that she did. I also adored Cooper. He is a great male main character. I also thought it was a unique setting with everyone being stuck on the ship.

I wish I could put my finger on why, but I found myself unable to put this down from the very beginning. Center does a great job of writing realistic love stories with characters you can connect with and this book does not miss. A lot of her books have been being picked up for movie deals and I think this one would also be so fun to watch.

If you like romance without the spice, Center is the author for you. Her previous books used to always have a serious storyline/twist but this one is pure cotton candy. It’s happy and warm and delightful while also being balanced with depth and well thought out characters. Even the side characters are fun.