aromanticreadsromance's reviews
242 reviews

Ahhhh this was so so good!! I’m so grateful I got to read an ARC of it. Thank you to Tundra Books for the privilege because I def would not have lasted until its pub date!

This book has Palestinian rep (written by a Palestinian Canadian author), anxiety rep, IBS rep. I loved Jamie’s relationship with her mom. As a teenage girl, I also was so adamant that I didn’t want to turn into my mom, and then one day had a terrifying thought that I was more similar to her than I was admitting to myself. Jamie feels cut off from her Palestinian roots because of her mom, and she has a lot of resentment for that. She also feels like her mom is responsible for her dad having left them three years ago. I like how Jamie grows to understand her mom, and her mom starts to see how her judgment has harmed Jamie. I think their arguments are realistic. 

OH MY GOSH I LOVED AXEL. That boy has my entire heart. His passion for dance, his embracing of his Arab (Lebanese) roots, his clear love and care for Jamie… He’s the real MVP in this book.

I also came to love Olivia’s character. Jamie is so aware of how her dislike of Olivia is rooted in internal misogyny, but she also can’t help but hate her for “stealing her boyfriend” (Ben). I love that Olivia and Jamie eventually hash it out.

And okay, even Ben’s character wasn’t so terrible in the end, even though he made a ton of mistakes (don’t we all, especially as teenagers).

I have a feeling some readers will complain that Jamie is too immature. Yes, she is immature. But she’s a teenager. I think some people forget what they were like as teenagers. Everything feels so dramatic and raw because you’re going through so many firsts. I probably would have acted similarly to Jamie and had the same thought processes. Even as an adult I can relate so much to her all or nothing thinking and catastrophizing. I think Jackie writes teenagers so well, and I like that their flaws seem so real. Jamie grows exponentially from the start to the end of the novel.

I could go on and on about this book. I might add to my review tomorrow after I’ve had more time to digest. But Jackie is a goddess and this book is chef’s kiss good! *mwah*

So overall I liked this! It was super long and probably could have been a bit shorter without compromising the story/pace. This was a slooooooooooow burn. I liked how developed their relationship felt by the time they got together, BUT imo I wish they had gotten together sooner (like before the 70%+ mark, esp because the story is already so long, I just did the math (on my computer bc I can't do math lol) and that's past page 300!!!). Stella and Thomas had me rooting for them the entire time, though. I just kept thinking, "you two big dumb dumbs you both have feelings for each other just smash your faces together already and put me out of my MISERY." Stella did some questionable things at the end that had me scratching my head and being like "girl what" because her actions did not match her thoughts/words. But my girl redeemed herself. Stella also had me cackling with her conceptions of white British families.

The relationships between the MCs and other secondary characters felt superficial, so I wish there had been more depth there. We didn't get to see much of Dev or Willow (from book 1), but there are a few smatterings here and there! I wanted more scenes with them and also with Thomas's best friends (mates, LOL) especially Amara.

If the higher ups at Berkley are reading this, we need more books in this series! Give us more Simone Soltani!

Read this if you like:

I thought this started off strong but then I was left with a feeling of wanting more by the end. I wish their relationship had been more developed. For the most part I liked both main characters. The plot is one of those where you have to suspend your disbelief because it's kinda over the top, haha.

Thank you to the publisher for an advanced copy of this book!

Highly recommend the audio because the narrator is also a wheelchair user! And her voice was perf for Effie. Also there’s an interview at the end with the author and narrator that I loved!

I fell in love with Cara Bastone's writing with Ready or Not (though unpopular opinion, I wish Eve had ended up with Ethan). So of course I jumped at the chance to read an advanced copy of this book, and I'm so glad I did! Promise Me Sunshine is such a beautiful story of coming back from grief and loss and finding a new community of people who love and support you. It's also about finding your person. I loved both Lenny and Miles. Miles comes off as rough around the edges and leaves a terrible first impression, but he's actually a large teddy bear who would do anything for the people he loves. Lenny is so endearing, and I loved her voice. I think her journey through grief is universally relatable, even though we all grieve in different ways.

This is a very slow burn friends to lovers romance. I loved Miles and Lenny together. We also got an Ethan cameo, which was fun!

I definitely recommend this book. At times it's heavy, but it's also so heartwarming.

Thank you to Dial Press for the advanced copy of this book!

I really liked the concept of this one, not so much the execution! Halle got on my nerves with her rigidity and lack of faith/trust in others, lol. I wish we saw more of Halle and Quinton as an actual couple. The buildup was good, if a bit slow, but when they became an actual couple, their relationship became so bogged down by external dramas that we didn't really see them together-together.

Quinton's sister is a wheelchair user, but we don't ever learn more about her disability. It would have been nice to have a bit of context. I liked the conversations on accessibility.

I'm still trying to figure out how I feel about the bullying storyline/major twist at the end. Idk, something's rubbing me the wrong way.

I liked the third book more but don't regret reading this one. I'm not a huge fan of Synithia Williams's writing style, but that's just personal preference. Her books are super readable/easy to binge in a day or two, which I appreciate!

Thanks to the publisher for providing an advanced copy of this book!

The small town romance trope is SO white that I'm always happy to discover a new Black small town romance book! The main characters, Tracey and Brian, are both divorcees who agree to a friends with benefits set-up. They both were cheated on and aren't looking for love (and definitely don't want to get married again). Then you know how it goes, they both catch feelings! Oh, and he's also had a thing for her since high school. The friendship between Tracey and Brian was really well done and developed.

Tracey has such a complicated relationship with her parents. She has a lot of resentment towards them for involving her in their drama and for how their drama/behavior impacted how she was perceived growing up (and rightfully so). I loved seeing how Tracey gained confidence in herself and her business-and how Brian supported her in that journey!

Both their exes were bad news, omg. Good riddance to them.

I wouldn't say the writing style was my favorite (a lot of telling, not showing), but it was also so bingeable. I got through this book in a day. I'm going to go back and read the second book soon!

Thanks to the publisher for an advanced copy of this book!

WOW. 

I have conflicting thoughts about this book. On the one hand, I love that this book engages middle grade readers with the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two Spirit (MMIWG2S+) epidemic. Having Wren with a red hand over her mouth on the front cover makes a powerful statement. I loved Wren and her maternal grandmother, Elisi. Elisi stole the show! Her relationship with Wren was lovely. I liked how Wren found a friend in Brantley at a time when they both needed each other.

But I was also deeply uncomfortable (and not the helpful kind of discomfort) with the prominence and depiction of the police. Wren's white father is the Fort Gibson police chief, and except for one point when Wren was aggravated with her father's lack of forthcomingness around her mother's case, the narrator speaks about the police in mostly positive terms. The same goes for Child Protective Services.

Take this quote from the uncorrected proof, for example: "Now that the chief of police, the principal, and CPS were involved—and Brantley was no longer afraid to speak up—Mr. Sims was much less likely to lose his temper." While this wraps up the child abuse storyline neatly, for a book that trusts kids to handle the sad realities of MMIWG2S+ epidemic, this feels too generous to CPS. If anything, CPS getting involved can make things worse for children. The narrator doesn't say that if Brantley's dad weren't white, he probably would have had his child taken away, even without the abundant evidence CPS had on him.

Wren talks about possibly wanting to be a cop in the future, too, and that was unsettling to me. I recommend reading this article from the Yellowhead Institute (an Indigenous-led research and education center) for an overview on the inextricability between MMIWG2S+ and the failures of policing: https://yellowheadinstitute.org/2023/02/14/mmiwg2s-policing/

I don't think the bullying subplot with M.J. was necessary or added anything to the story. I wasn't satisfied with the resolution and didn't see it as "justice."

The book started off slow but picked up after around 40 percent (in my opinion). Then I couldn't put it down because I wanted to know who was hurting the animals!

I don't know if I'd recommend this book. But I'm curious to read whatever Ginger Reno writes next.

Thanks to the publisher for the advanced copy!

This was a solid debut! You could really tell that Kalela Williams is a historian. Noni is such a well-developed and real/relatable main character, a face of teenage angst and rebelliousness. I could understand her resentment against her parents (mainly her mom) for moving her from New England to small town Virginia (with a very ugly past and present) over the summer and THEN forcing her to withdraw from Boston University in the fall and enroll in a VA community college instead. The lack of agency you experience as a teenager and young adult feels so unfair when you want to make your own choices and mistakes. I can't tell you how angry it made me as a teenager to constantly be told, "I know what's best for you" (which translates to, "you don't know what's best for you" or "I know you better than you know yourself"). UGH. So frustrating!!

This book grapples with the lingering effects of slavery in the South. Noni encounters so many racist white people (who really know how to "disguise" their racism in backhanded, intentional ways). It shows how harmful denying history/our past is.

The book really speeds up at the 75 percent mark. Like seriously, so much is revealed in that last 25 percent, it was almost overwhelming. I imagine that's how Noni felt when she made the same discoveries, but I did have a hard time keeping up, especially since I was listening to the audio. I'm still not sure I got everything that happened.  I really liked the narrator, but I will say that listening to JUST the audio was challenging. I had trouble keeping track of all the minor side characters (sometimes I was like, "why don't we like this person again?"). I feel like doing a tandem read with the physical/digital would have been helpful and less confusing, especially when reading journal entries from the past or hearing flashbacks.

I want to share my (spoiler-free) favorite quotes from the book (I'm quoting an ARC, so it's subject to change, and as I am quoting from the audio, the punctuation might be off. Emphasis is my own!):

Ugh so, so good!!! We can't defend our slave holding ancestors by saying they were "products of their time." Because that implies that during their time, slavery was okay just because it was "legal." I just thought the writing in these paragraphs was beautiful.

My biggest gripe is that there is apparently an Author's Note in the digital book, but it's not there in the audio format (unless I missed it, but I don't think I did, since I tried searching both the beginning and end of the recording and... nothing). At first, I just thought there wasn't an Author's Note but found out through other early reviews that there is. This might be fixed in the final audio version (I hope Kalela Williams herself narrates it). But it makes me sad I couldn't experience it for myself, since I was/am so curious about the research and background that went into this book!

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the advanced copy of this book!