ARC Review: Room To Breathe by Kasie West

 

From the critically acclaimed author of Sunkissed comes a new swoony YA romance. Indy and Beau’s friendship is shattered, but getting accidentally locked in a bathroom together just might be what's needed to reconnect.

When the walls close in, the truth comes out.

When Indy’s life came crashing down, she made a no one could know. To the world, she’s still the same Indy—cool, calm, unshaken. But behind the scenes? It’s chaos.

Her tight-knit crew—Beau, Caroline, and Ava—were once her everything. Now they’re strangers she can’t seem to reach—especially Beau. And the only person she talks to these days is Cody, a skater-boy she used to think was so not her type. Funny how everything changes when your world flips upside down.

And then, as if things couldn’t get weirder, Indy finds herself literally stuck in a school bathroom with Beau. After months of silence, and there’s no escape. If they want out, they’ll have to face the messy truth about what happened between them and find a way back to what they once had. Or maybe even more . . .

Title: Room To Breathe

Author: Kasie West

Publisher: Random House Children's

Expected Publication Date: January 6 2026

Review:

Thank you to Random House Children's Books and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this title to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

Kasie West is really the queen of YA contemporary romance for me. I've been reading her books for a long time and each one truly hits one some great topics for teens and what they go through in their lives.

Indy's world has crashed around her. She has gone from top of her class to failing out and losing her friends in a matter of moments. Suddenly her perfect world comes crashing down around her when family drama threatens to upend her entire life. Because of the sensitive nature of the drama, she's unable to involve her friends and quickly loses them. When an unfortunate broken door has her and her best friend, Beau, trapped in a bathroom with no release in sight, she is forced to confront her demons and her attraction to her best friend.

West chose to tell this story in then and now altering chapters. It was a great way to give the background to all the characters, their friendships, and how the sudden change in Indy's family life affected those relationships. I will say I didn't truly believe that a teen would hold a secret as Indy did. While I understand she believed there were implications in others knowing her family's secret, I truly don't believe she would have kept it from her closest friends. Or at least not from Beau. But without that there would not have been the teen drama West is so practiced in inserting into her stories, so I did understand the need for it.

I love a good forced proximity story and West does it well. The idea of being stuck in a teacher's lounge bathroom with no escape is fun. It forces the characters to work through things they would not have otherwise addressed. 

I will say I wasn't a huge fan of Indy. She was super selfish for me. But maybe that was what West was going for seeing as she had to keep this big secret from her closest people.

The romantic chemistry seemed just a bit forced in this story. I wanted to believe in it but it just didn't seem as well done as I have noted West doing in her prior stories. Beau and Indy definitely had the potential background for their relationship to grow into something, but them reconciling and having that change all in one night seems a bit far fetched.

There's something about YA stories that my brain just loves. Maybe it's the ease of how West writes them and truly makes you feel like you're in the lives of the characters. Or maybe it's not having to concentrate so hard to wrap my head around something that has me always going back to reading them. Whatever it is, it's enjoyable and fun and just a bit nostalgic as I think back to my teen years and the friendships and romances that happened then.  If you're looking for a teen story with a bit of angst and lots of drama but ultimately a toss to how teen relationships grow and change, give this one a try! 

Author:

I write YA and adult romance novels. I eat chocolate cinnamon bears. Sometimes I go crazy and do both at the same time. A few of my works are: SUNKISSED, PS I LIKE YOU, MOMENT OF TRUTH, WE MET LIKE THIS, and more. My agent is the talented and funny Michelle Wolfson.

ARC Review: Seeing Other People by Emily Wibberly & Austin Siegemund-Broka

 

Two people haunted by their exes find that love isn’t dead in this heartfelt romance from the beloved authors of The Roughest Draft.

Morgan is being ghosted by her ex. No, really. It’s sad Zach died and became a ghost. But Morgan and Zach only ever went on the one date, and now she’s being haunted by him. Zach has no desire to spend eternity with Morgan, but he can’t recall his past and doesn’t know how to move on.

At a support group for humans and their haunters, Morgan and Zach run into Sawyer, whose fiancée-turned-ghost has started to fade. Unlike Morgan, Sawyer isn’t ready to part ways with his ghost. Although they face opposite issues, Morgan and Sawyer decide to work together to solve their problems.

As Morgan and Sawyer try to solve their paranormal conundrums together, they find something even more surprising—a tender, growing affection between them that threatens any unfinished business they’re seeking to close. The ghosts of their past might be there in spirit, but the connection between Morgan and Sawyer is as alive as anything they’ve ever felt.

Title: Seeing Other People

Author: Emily Wibberley & Austin Siegemund-Broka

Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group

Expected Publication Date: December 9, 2025

Review:

Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this title to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

I've enjoyed the books I've read by this duo so far. I was excited to see they branched out into a bit of the paranormal/speculative fiction with this one. I love a good ghost story.

Morgan and Sawyer are both being haunted. She by a guy she dated once and him by his fiancee who tragically died. When they meet in a support group for humans and their haunters, they decide they could help each of their respective ghosts move on if they work together. Being forced into close proximity only brings them closer until they realize they might just be falling for each other.

Morgan is not only haunted, but she carries the baggage of being left behind. She doesn't like to open herself up to people and often cuts relationships short and runs when things may get too heavy. As the story progresses she slowly learns it's ok to settle down and plant roots. To grow and change and let others in. Sawyer is burdened by the love of his dead fiancee. He can't seem to move past what they had to live his life again. He focuses on making his ghost happy, or what he thinks will make her happy. I was annoyed with Sawyer throughout most of this book. He was so weighed down weigh grief and wasn't allowing himself to heal. It was driving me bonkers. It's been 5 years since his fiancee passed and he's still wallowing in his own self pity. It's never easy to get over the loss of a loved one but I truly don't think a loved one would want you to put your life on hold indefinitely.  It's obvious he doesn't listen to what his ghost is trying to tell him. What each of their haunters truly wants is to move on. But they, too, have baggage that needs to be settled before they can cross over.

I liked how the story involved just a bit of mystery to it. Morgan and Sawyer need to figure out why their ghosts are so attached to their world and what it is that needs to be solved before the haunters can pass over. 

I did have a few issues with the growth of the characters in this book and the romance that bloomed. The chemistry just seemed off to me with the romance. I didn't truly believe they were falling for each other. There were some scenes that definitely showed the potential for this but they were cut short or didn't delve deep enough into the relationship to truly demonstrate why these two were thrown together. It just didn't capture me as I would have liked it to.

I did enjoy the supernatural elements the authors infused into the book. They helped keep the pacing and moved the plot along to where it needed to go.

All together this was a fun and fast read for me. It pulled on my heart strings in many places and dealt with some heaviness I wasn't expecting. But it also dealt with the joy that comes after growth through grief, which is never linear and always different for different people, was a nice touch. I will continue to read stories from this author duo in the future as they dole out some pretty good life lessons for their readers!

Review:

Authors:

Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka met and fell in love in high school. Austin went on to graduate from Harvard, while Emily graduated from Princeton. Together, they are the authors of multiple novels including The Roughest Draft and Reese's YA Bookclub Pick Heiress Takes All. They are also two-thirds of USA Today bestselling author E.B. Asher. Now married, they live in Los Angeles, where they continue to take daily inspiration from their own love story.

Most Anticipated Release Tuesday November 18, 2025

 

These are my most anticipated books releasing today.

And Then There Was You by Sophie Cousens

I've seen books by this author around so I was excited to give her a try. I was lucky to get an early copy of this. It was cute. You can see my thoughts HERE.

Red As Royal Blood by Elizabeth Hart

This is one I wanted to download but I knew I would not have time to get to it. So now I have a copy on my kindle to read at my leisure!

How Girls Are Made by Mindy McGinnis

I really like the way McGinnis writes so I'm sure I will enjoy this one when I get to it!

Secret Nights and Northern Lights by Megan Oliver

Another book I desperately wanted to request but just never got around to it. I love the blurb and cannot wait to jump in.

Violet Thistlewaite is Not a Villain Anymore by Emily Krempholtz

I love me a good cozy witch story and this one sounds like it will be just that!

What are yours?

Audio Review: The Entanglement of Rival Wizards (Magic and Romance #1) by Sara Raasch

 

Ali Hazelwood meets Dungeons & Dragons in this enemies-to-lovers fantasy academia romcom where rival grad student wizards are forced to work together without killing―or falling for―each other.

Will they conjure love, or evoke chaos? Two rival wizards are about to find out.

Sebastian Walsh: twenty-four. Grad student at Lesiara University in the Mageus of Evocation program. Human. The first of his family to go to college rather than the military (and it goes over at family get-togethers about as well as you’d think).

Elethior Tourael: also twenty-four. Also a grad student, but in the far more inferior Mageus of Conjuration program. Half-elf. The latest in a long line of Touraels to grace the hallowed halls of Lesiara U (what would the world do if the Touraels ran out of rich douches to lead their magical weapons manufacturing empire?).

―and the other finalist for the Mageus Research Grant.

Sebastian needs that grant to fund the last few months of research for his degree, after which he’ll get a job that actually helps people. He isn’t about to let anyone snatch this from him, least of all a snob who doesn’t even need the money because his family is loaded thanks to war profiteering.

But there’s something worse than having a conceited academic nemesis steal grant money from you: you could be forced to work with him. Thio is secretive, broody, and his stunning biceps take up far too much shared lab space―but even as volatile as their partnership is, Sebastian just might find himself falling for his rival―and it could blow up his whole future.

Title: The Entanglement of Rival Wizards (Magic and Romance #1)

Author: Sara Raasch

Publisher: Bramble/Macmillan Audio

Publication Date: August 26, 2025

Review:

Thank you to Bramble/Macmillan Audio for sending me a copy of this audiobook to listen to and give an honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

I love me some Sara Raasch. The Nightmare Before Kissmas was one of my favorite listens last year. When I saw Sara had a new series about wizards, I was excited to see what the story was about. I did request a copy but was denied. So I was even more excited when I was sent a copy to jump into. As usual, Raasch is queen of magic and MM relationships. I absolutely adored this book.

This was my first time listening to the narrator, Sam Stark. And he was perfect. I loved the emotion he infused into the MMC's narration. I loved his intonation and pacing. And how he was able to really get the personality of the main character across to the listener. He has moved on to my list of narrators I will go to for a listen!

Sebastian was so much fun to get to know. I loved his personality so much. A little bit of a trouble maker and a lot of someone who wants to make something of himself. He harbored a lot of emotion throughout the book. Especially once he gets "stuck" working with Elethior, his long time enemy. Forced to work together for a grant, they slowly get to know more than just the surface level of each other. They slowly grow into a friendship that eventually turns into just a bit more. Raasch truly does MM romance with amazing finesse. Her spicy scenes are truly perfect. 

And can we talk about the romance? It is just flat out chemistry from the very start. Despite their differences, including their types of magic and their family background, Sebastian and Elethior bond. And then you can just feel how they are are drawn to each other. Even though they "hate" each other, they easily begin to support one another through their shared work. They defend each other so easily, like they were made to be an item.

More over, her side characters are always amazing. I adored Orok so much. And his relationship with Seb is amazing. It was so refreshing to watch two men be the best of friends and watch out for each other. They are uninhibited by societal norms and that truly was a testament to show that love is love is love. They aren't afraid to hug, or say I love you, or support one another. They went through some trauma together and that also gets worked through in this book. This back story is sad and really formed who they are as wizards and friends.

The pacing of this book is great. I sped through it. And honestly, towards the end, I slowed it down because I really didn't want it to end. There is so much I could say but any and all of it would be spoilers and I would not want to ruin the perfection Raasch has created.

Lovers of authors like Ali Hazelwood and Sarina Bowen will enjoy this magical romance. If you love magic and high jinks mixed with close proximity, enemies to lovers, and queer attractxion, Seb and Theo will become your new obsession. I cannot thank the publisher enough for sending me a copy of this story. And can I say how excited I am to get Orok's story next? I did request it but have been denied so I cannot wait for my copy when it comes out!

Author:

Sara Raasch has known she was destined for bookish things since the age of five, when her friends had a lemonade stand and she tagged along to sell her hand-drawn picture books too. Not much has changed since then — her friends still cock concerned eyebrows when she attempts to draw things and her enthusiasm for the written word still drives her to extreme measures. Her debut YA fantasy, SNOW LIKE ASHES, the first in a trilogy, came out October 14, 2014 from Balzer + Bray. It does not feature her hand-drawn pictures.

Fat Stack Friday November 14, 2025

 

Here's what I got this past week. Lots of goodies.

In the Mail:

Heart Life Music by Kenny Chensey

Hubby pre-ordered this one for me. I love me some Chesney. I also had the audio from Libby and finished it up yesterday. It was fun listening to/reading his story.

The Last Wish of Bristol Keats (The Courting of Bristol Keats #2) by Mary E. Pearson

I absolutely adored this duology. Pearson just knows how to write fantasy so well. I had to have a copy of this pretty on my shelf to match my other one. I'm really hoping Fairyloot decides to put out an SE of this to match the first one! 

The Bibliophile's Coloring and Lettering Book

I won this online. It's really rather cute. I may post pictures as I color them!

NetGalley/Edelweiss:

Dolly All The Time by Annabel Monaghan

Monaghan writes such poignant stories. I love how she presents her characters. So much emotion and emotional growth. I was super excited to get this one (approved just one day after I requested it!). I cannot wait to dive in!

The Odds of You by Kate Dramis

I have a Kindle copy of this one but it was available on audio on NG and I love to read and listen along so I requested. This will be my next audio after I finish the Kenny Chesney book.

Meet Me Under The Lights by Cassie Miller

I won a copy of this on Goodreads but it was a read now on NG and thought I could trade off back and forth between paper and Kindle.

Tidespeaker by Sadie Turner

This was suggested in an NG email and the blurb spoke to me. I'm once again a sucker for read now books! I hope it's as good as the beautiful cover suggests it will be!

First and Forever by Lynn Painter

I always enjoy Painter's stories. Some more than others. And usually I enjoy her adult more than her YA. Excited to see what this story has in store.

Kindle:

Snowed In by Navessa Allen

This was available as audio on NetGalley, though I see she wrote this story a while ago. I'm interested to see what this story is like compared to her dark stalker romance.

 

The Fangirl Project by Beth Reekles

This one just looks too cute so I had to grab it. My TBR is ridiculous at this point!

Ship of Spells by H. Leighton Dickson

I love a good nautical book. Add to that some romance and pirates and I'm good to be entertained. Plus, this one is so pretty!

Libby/Hoopla

Bound by Ali Hazelwood

I will read anything and everything Hazelwood puts out. Not sure why she chose to only do this on audio, but I grabbed it from Hoopla and I'm really enjoying it. I started it yesterday and I'm about 3/4 of the way through so I should finish today.

How about you?

ARC Review: The E.M.M.A. Effect by Lia Riley

 

Jane Austen meets Ali Hazelwood in this steamy, friends-to-lovers, STEM rom-com! He’s her best friend’s little brother and NHL forward. She’s a computer scientist used to being in control. The E.M.M.A., her elite AI training program, claims optimizing his performance requires one thing: the perfect match. According to its calculations, that’s her… Will Harriet discover that The E.M.M.A. knows best?

Harriet Smythe’s AI was supposed to create sports legends—not encourage her crush on her best friend’s totally off-limits, hot younger brother. But when funding runs dry, she has no choice but to enlist Gale Knight as her test subject. The same Gale she’s been secretly crushing on for years. The player who follows her every instruction with a knowing smirk that threatens to short-circuit her carefully maintained system.

Everything changes when The E.M.M.A. determines that finding Gale’s perfect match is essential to his peak performance. Even worse? According to its data, that match is Harriet.

Determined to keep things professional, she makes it search for new candidates. But as Gale dutifully endures awkward outings with pop stars and athletes, the chemistry between them only intensifies. And his willing cooperation during their sessions definitely isn’t helping her stay focused.

With her deadline approaching and The E.M.M.A. still playing cupid, Harriet must choose: trust in pure logic, or admit that sometimes taking control means letting go.

Maybe The E.M.M.A. knows something they don’t—even if they’re not ready to compute it yet.

Title: The E.M.M.A. Effect

Author: Lia Riley

Publisher:

Expected Publication Date: December 2, 2025

Review:

Thank you Avon Harper Voyager and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this title to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

I will admit, the concept of this book drew me in immediately. I love STEM and especially women in STEM. And with the AI in our world becoming some prominent in so much of our lives, I was excited to see how it was used in this book. Plus it's a Jane Austen inspired story and likened to Ali Hazelwood. So I had to give it a try. I actually did not realize this book was connected to Puck and Prejudice. While you see some characters from that book, this one could definitely be read as a stand alone. Riley has been hit or miss with me in the books I've read from her. Since I enjoyed the first book in this series, I figured I'd give this one a try.

Harriet Smythe has created E.M.M.A., an AI program to help athletes the best they can be. When Harriet employs her best friend's baby brother, Gale Knight, to be one of her test subjects, she's expecting it to boost his waning career. She's not expecting the AI to evolve into a program that evolves to include more personal things in its assessment, like how it decides the best way to get Gale's game back in line is to pair him with Harriet.

From the start I enjoyed Harriet's character. She was fun and  just a bit on the quirky side with how intelligent she was. Of course she's been attracted to Gale for as long as she can remember. But she never thought it was a good idea to act on it since he's her best friend's brother. She never imagined he'd be her perfect match. Of course Gale has always been in love with Harriet but he never thought she'd have those same feelings for him. So it was fun to watch them realize they wanted to be with each other. 

I was really into this story until about half way through the book. Then it just started to have some plot holes I could not get over. LIke the fact that E.M.M.A. needed Gale to wear a device so she could track him but she easily sussed out Harriet's moods without her having any device. It didn't make sense.  And the chemistry between the characters started to feel off. I understood there was some miscommunication between them but it didn't seem to make sense to me. I hated that Harriet was keeping secrets from Gale. And I wasn't a huge fan of how the plot centered around a relationship being able to fix everyone's problems.

Finally, the submissive/dominant relationship between the characters didn't seem real. It seemed forced into the story to try and make it more interesting to the reader. Another plot line that didn't seem as organic as it could have. And I am in no way against reading this type of spice, but it just didn't work with the characters in this story. Had there been a bit more background, maybe some flashbacks to show these characters traits, I would have found them more believable.

While I enjoyed this one enough, I felt like it was too forced towards the end. I needed the characters to grow organically and it just didn't happen.

Overall it was fun and if you enjoy women in STEM, best friend's brother, friends to lovers, and a little kink exploration, give this one a try!

Author:

Lia Riley is a contemporary romance author. USA Today describes her as "refreshing" and RT Book Reviews calls her books "sizzling and heartfelt." She loves the beach, fresh flowers, foggy redwood forests and a perfect pour over coffee. She is 25% sarcastic, 54% optimistic, and 122% bad at math (good thing she writes happy endings for a living). She and her family live mostly in Northern California.

Visit her at www.liariley.com to learn more.

ARC Review: The Mating Game by Lana Ferguson

 

Two wolf shifters reluctant to love discover there’s no fighting the call of the wild in this steamy romance by USA Today bestselling author Lana Ferguson.

Contractor Tess Covington has spent her entire life as a regular non-shifter human, so after she lands in the Denver ER with flu-like symptoms, it comes as a complete shock to be told that, no, she’s not sick—she’s actually a late-presenting omega wolf shifter. With her family in dire financial straits and a contract for her own television show on the line, she can’t afford not to complete the renovation job she came for. And given that her newly emerged wolf is in danger of going into heat, she’ll just have to do her best to follow the doctor’s advice to keep away from alpha shifters.

Alpha wolf Hunter Barrett has spent most of his adult life living by a routine, and a big part of that involves staying clear of omegas after having one stomp on his heart. So when the tiny contractor shows up at his place smelling like the one thing he’s determined to avoid, he thinks it must be some sort of cosmic joke. But with his lodge on the verge of failing and this sweet-smelling omega his only hope to turn things around . . . he’s left with few other options than to grin and bear it.

Set on avoiding each other as much as possible, they find things unexpectedly starting to heat up between them enough to thaw even the frostiest of hearts. Though even with the pair going head over paws for each other, there’s no changing that their fling has an expiration date. The more time they spend together, the more they realize they’re playing a dangerous game—one where the only thing on the line is their hearts.

Title: The Mating Game

Author: Lana Ferguson

Publisher: Berkley

Expected Publication Date: December 2, 2025

Review:

Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group and Net Galley for providing me with a copy of this title to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

I love me some paranormal romance. And my new love is shifters. I read The Fake Mate and adored it so I could not wait to read this one. I was excited for Hunter's story. And it was just as great as I expected it would be. Lana Ferfuson is an auto-read author for me. I don't think there's anything she can write I won't love.

Hunter Barrett is a guy that sticks to his routines and doesn't put himself out there. He's a grumpy alpha (though he has some amazing golden retriever and cinnamon bun sides come out in this book). When Tess Covington is shoved into his life, he's not expecting to warm up to her, or even fall for her. And Tess has spent her life believing she's a beta when she's suddenly showing late presentation as an Omega. So when she takes the renovation job for Hunter's family's lodge she doesn't expect to present while on the job. Of course she goes into heat and the only one around to help her is Hunter.

I absolutely adored both these characters. Their connection was quite instant though I didn't feel like it was insta-love. They were drawn together because of who they are as shifters, but they easily warmed up to one another and opened up. Hunter presents as a grump but he truly warms up. And his support of Tess is amazing. He never makes her feel like she's alone in what she's experiencing. And he realizes that his self-isolation has not  been what he's needed in his life. When he finally opens up to let others in, he's amazed to find the support there for himself.

The side characters in this book are also fabulous. I loved Hunter's aunt and Tess's brothers. I hope we get to see more of them along the way. And it was great to see the appearances of the characters from The Fake Mate in this book, though you can easily read this one as a stand alone without having to be introduced to that couple.

And Lana gives such great spice in this book. Who knew I'd love knotting and all it brings? Plus she knows just how to pace a book to bring you along through the story and keep you turning the pages for more. The plot for this one was similar to the first book in this series, I will say. I wasn't sure how Ferguson would really make this one different since heats are a big thing with shifters. But she made it just different enough that it was fun to read and see what happened to these characters.

If you enjoy shifters, grumpy/sunshine, forced proximity/snowed in, and omegaverse romance, this one is for. I will run to any book Lana chooses to write, especially the paranormal. 

Author:

Lana Ferguson is a USA Today bestselling author and sex-positive nerd whose works never shy from spice or sass. A faded Fabio cover found its way into her hands at fifteen, and she’s never been the same since. When she isn’t writing, you can find her randomly singing show tunes, arguing over which Batman is superior, and subjecting her friends to the extended editions of The Lord of the Rings. Lana lives mostly in her own head but can sometimes be found chasing her corgi through the coppice of the great American outdoors.

Spotlight: The Marriage Narrative by Claire Kann

 

I'm excited to help showcase a new fabulous book that released into the world today!

Check out The Marriage Narrative by Clair Kann

“Whether you’re a romance enthusiast, a reality TV fan, or someone who enjoys watching 

love bloom under pressure, The Marriage Narrative promises to deliver a heartfelt story 

wrapped in glitz, drama, and authenticity.”  —Houston Style Magazine

An ambitious, successful businesswoman, Zinnia turns her dating profile into a marriage-merger proposal with a unique goal: a few strategic meetings, move in together, and get married—all within thirty days. Her friends think it will never work… until she meets Jordan, a near-perfect applicant with a big secret.  

 

Jordan’s family has spent the last decade starring in a massively popular reality show. He has finally agreed to join the cast, but  production wants him to marry his ex in a romantic storyline to boost viewership.  

  

Convinced Zinnia is perfect for the role instead, Jordan proposes a mutually beneficial marriage agreement: she gets her business partner husband, and he gets to help his family on his terms. Together they face strict schedules, wild plot twists, and behind-the-scenes hostilities, all while acting like besotted newlyweds—an intense performance that evolves into a relationship they never expected. 

Title: The Marriage Narrative

Author: Claire Kann

Publisher: Berkley

Publication Date: Noember 11, 2025

Doesn't this one sound fabulous? I have it on my Kindle and really cannot wait to read it. Love me some marriage of convenicne!

Check out the author:

Claire Kann is the author of several novels and an award-winning online storyteller. Her favorite stories are the kind about everyday life with just a touch of magic hidden in the details. She lives and writes in dreamy California.