Fat Stack Friday November 13, 2026

Twas a good week!

Gifted:

Went shopping with mom. I had bought two books I already had. So I returned them and got these!

NetGalley/Edelweiss/Booktrovert:

Chosen Son (Fallen City Duology #2) by Adrienne Young

I have the kindle version but I love me some audio. This is my next one up!

Room for Two by Lana Ferguson

I actually listened to this on audio when it was released. So I got the kindle version and will leave my review for it.

Deeper Tides by Clare Gilmore

I saw a few people in my NetGalley group talking about this one so I grabbed it. It looks good. I haven't read this author yet so hopefully I like her.

All Together Now by Julie Buxbaum

I've read a few books by this author and really enjoyed them. I hope I like her as an adult author.

Falling Fast by Jenni Fletcher

Love me some F1. And this one is YA so that should be interesting.

Soulmates by Sarah Adams

I love the idea of this book. I've read a few books by this author. I've liked some and not so much others. We shall see what happens.

The Sleep Walker (Dept of Unexpected Phenomenon #2) by Lauren Oliver

I really loved the first book in this series so I'm looking forward to this one. I have liked Oliver since her YA days with Delerium.

Tryhard Season by Jenna Ramirez

I got a copy of the first book by this author. Not sure if they are connected but this one looked good so I grabbed it as a read now.

Reminders of Him by Colleen Hoover

I'm not a huge Hoover fan but this is one I had read in the past so I grabbed it to see if it's what I remember and it was.

What did you get?

 

ARC Review: Undone by Peyton Corinne

From USA TODAY bestselling author Peyton Corinne comes a second-chance hockey romance between the team’s antihero and the new assistant coach’s daughter filled with Peyton’s trademark “earnest, raw, and sexy” (Elena Armas, New York Times bestselling author) storytelling.

Toren Kane has always been a magnet for trouble. Branded as dangerous and brutal, his reputation has followed him from the playground to the ice rink. After a scandal cost him his first-round NHL draft pick, Toren’s last shot at redemption lies with Waterfell University’s hockey team—who all despise him for what he did to their captain at the last Frozen Four competition. To make matters worse, Waterfell’s new assistant coach is Christophe LaBlanc, Toren’s former coach and the man who knows all his darkest secrets.

Lillian LaBlanc is out of chances, according to her father. After flunking out of an Ivy League, she’s struggling and her father’s strict rules are the only things keeping her afloat. Suffering beneath the weight of his suffocating control, Lily is desperate to keep her need to paint as hidden as her depression. But her fragile stability is threatened when she discovers that Toren Kane, her childhood best friend and first love, is also attending Waterfell—and is on her father’s team.

As Toren and Lily’s lives collide once more, old wounds and unresolved feelings resurface. Toren must confront his self-destructive tendencies and learn to let others in, while Lily faces the daunting task of breaking free from her father’s grip. Their connection could be the key to healing—or the spark that reignites the chaos they’ve both been trying to escape.

Title: Undone (The Undone #4)

Author: Peyton Corinne

Publisher: Atria

Publication Date: October 20, 2026

Review:

Thank you to Atria 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.

It literally pains me to have to write this review. I was really looking forward to Toren's story. He's been built up throughout this series as a bad boy but you just knew there was so much more hiding underneath. And Lily was such a mystery to me when she was introduced. I wanted to see what her story was for sure. Add to this redemption story for Toren, plus a second chance romance based on fated mates and I had very high hopes. Unfortunately, this book did not meet those expectations at all. Just a warning, there may be spoilers ahead. But also, if you have not read the other books in this series, I highly recommend doing so before you jump into this one as you see all the characters who have previously been introduced and this gives a better understanding their story lines and reactions in this book.

First I'd like to address Lily and Toren as main characters. I love a dual POV as it gets you in the heads of both characters seeing how they think and feel. I'm glad Corinne kept that theme of writing this series that way. However, the character development is truly lacking in this book. I know we do get some background in previous books but I truly didn't think anything changed with these characters throughout the book. Everything is about their trauma bond, which, fine, I know this is a thing. But nothing is every resolved. The characters do not grow in any way for me. And their relationship seems purely based on their past rather than what they can give each other in the present. I enjoyed the background we did get on Toren (more of the flashbacks below) but I didn't really learn anything new about him I didn't already know. He remains closed lipped and broody throughout the book. And Lily, my goodness, could she be more childlike? Yes, I understand she was sheltered, and there is so much abuse (more on that below) but she never grows from this at all. Not to mention how her Depression is portrayed, not well, I'll tell you that. Plus, she is absolutely neurodivergent and this is never really explored. You cannot introduce this and then just let it float in the background. And then there's her hearing issues and her contstantly removing her hearing aid. She's had it for most of her life, but 22 I would expect she would no longer think it was "weird" (this word is used to describe her throughout the book and I hate it because what does that even mean?). Lily is infantalized and hypersexulized throughout the entire story and it just gave me the ick.

Now I love a good spicy romance. And this one certainly has lots of sex for those who like that. But my issue with the spice in this book was how it was used. The main characters continuously use it as "conversation." They literally never talk anything out. Whenever there is a tense situation, whenever there is an issue that arises, Toren just tells Lilly he knows what she needs and poof they are having sex. Add to this Lily's personality, very childlike, but her freakiness in the bedroom and I just did not understand her at all.

The author attempted to give us background by infusing flashbacks into the chapters and it honestly just didn't work. Every time it happened, I was taken out of the story. It started to become confusing. The author would have done more of a service to the reader by creating flashback chapters for the characters instead. 

Then we have the abuse Lily has endured from her father. There are many scenes throughout the book showing this abuse, even in front of others, and it's just never addressed at all. There are no consequences for how her father has treated her and no one says boo about it. He lies, he arranges her marriage, he controls every aspect of her life, and in the end she trades his control for a marriage to another man who loves to smother and control. Yes, the cycle of abuse tends to continues like this in many cases but if you are writing a book with this theme, it must be addressed in some way.

We get some allusion to Torn being of a specific  culture but it's just thrown into the story for really no reason. I hate when culture is just thrown into a story with no reasoning or development thereafter. Just leave it out.

There is also a scene that kind of leans towards a throple situation, but that's all we get. One scene, which was so awkward anyway. And from a character who I have really loved throughout this series. It was a disservice not only to the romance between the couple but to that character, as well. It could have been an interested twist but ended up feeling more like it was thrown in to spice up the sex scene and that was it. The exploration of this relationship could have really changed the dynamics of the book.

My favorite part of this book was the coach and his wife and how much they cared for Toren. I loved their support of him, even when he didn't feel he deserved it.

Ovearall, this book had so many lanes I didn't know which way was up or down. I pushed and pushed to get through it even though I really wanted to DNF. It did take off a bit around the 75-80% mark but up until then there was just nothing. It didn't even truly have a plot. The two star rating is purely because I liked some scenes in the book that included previous characters that I love. This book didn't even feel like it was written by the same author who wrote the others. There was no care taken with the mental health issues at all. This book could have benefited from a read through by a psychologist and a sensitivity reader. I do see there are some good reviews of this book and so perhaps others will enjoy this story more than I did.

Author:

 

Peyton Corinne is a writer of romances with imperfect characters, angst and lots of heart. Her stories come with a healthy dose of swoon and angst, of hurt and comfort, and—though it make take them some time, they always end with a happily ever after.

She has been writing since she was young, but is finally letting those stories live further than her notes app.

If she's not writing, she's probably making another cup of coffee, rewatching Twilight and frantically reading through her own endless TBR.

Peyton loves to laugh, but her books might make you cry.

ARC Review: Too Cold for Comfort by Nisha J. Tuli

 

In this steamy romance from the New York Time s bestselling author of the Artefacts of Ouranos series, the arctic heats up when a photographer who rarely holds anything back is forced to share a private wing with a grumpy lodge owner who holds everything in. Photographer Aadya Williams has trekked all the way to northern Canada to nab a career-making shot of a polar bear ... and to put 1,500 miles between her and a messy breakup. Despite expecting freezing temperatures, nothing’s colder than the welcome she gets from Reid Doerksen, the gruff owner of the Northern Wilderness Polar Bear Lodge. Even worse, the lodge is overbooked, so now she has to share the private family wing with him for the next two weeks. At least Aadya has plenty to keep her occupied when she’s not out searching for the perfect photo op. But when a storm strands Aadya and Reid together at the lodge, it’s impossible to avoid the heat simmering between them. As the snow comes down, so do Reid’s walls, and Aadya begins to realize the most important shot of her life may not be one she takes with her camera.

Title: Too Cold For Comfort

Author: Nisha J. Tuli

Publisher: Hachette Audio/Forever Grand Central Publishing

Publication Date: November 10, 2026

Review:

Thank you to Hachette Audio, Forever Grand Central Publishing, and NetGalley for providing me with an audio and epub copy of this title to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

This is my second try with this author and romance. The first book I tried by her I didn't end up finishing. But I don't like to put anyone in a box and the blurb for this book sounded great, so I figured I would give her another try. And I loved the idea of a cozy, snowy atmosphere which surely would put the reader in the romance mood. Unfortunately, I just think her romance is not for me. I would have blamed it on the audio but when that was not working, I switched to the print version and it was still a no go for me. I was just bored.

That being said, the narrator was pretty flat for me. She didn't make me like the character more at all. There was barely any emotion to her story telling and I don't think I would listen to anything narrated by her again.

I can see where the author's writing is good but the book is full of so many cliches I just could not get into the characters or the story.

The FMC and MMC are both very surface level. I didn't feel like I was truly learning anything about them. From the start Aadya is lusting after Reid. Like from the moment she sees him she needs to gird her loins. Listen, I get attraction. Certainly you can look at someone and think they are sexy. But from the moment she sees him she's clenching her legs and thinking about running her fingers through his hair. There was zero build up for it. Couple that with the fact that she just broke up with her fiance and had sworn off men and it just was not believable. I found her to be immature and she did not come off as a 30 year old woman at all. The relationship she forms with Reid is obviously a rebound relationship and it was clear Aadya was not ready for anything deeper than some sex. I need to want the characters to be together and watch their relationship grow. For me, attraction can be surface level but also needs to have chemistry to back it up and that just did not exist for me. He was grumpy and broody and didn't want her there and then we are to suddenly believe he wants her so badly? Nope.

Had the book been dual POV, I may have liked it a bit more. But it is totally from just the FMC's perspective so all the characters are seen through her eyes and I didn't get to really know them at all. I disliked Reid very much. I get the grumpy aspect but he was just rude and had no redeeming qualities for me. Plus he calls her "gossip girl" when she works for National Geographic. I'm sorry, but there's nothing gossipy about that magazine and if you're the owner of a place a journalist will be writing about, I would hope you'd do your due diligence and investigate not only the journalist and their writing, but the source they are writing for. Plus, would you be rude to them so they want to put your lodge in a poor light or would you try your best to accommodate them and make them feel you wanted them there? He did former. Some of the side characters were fun. But, again, we see them all through the FMC's lens so it was hard to get to know them well and see how they were important to the story.

Besides the pacing being very slow and waiting for something to happen, there is a ton of telling in this story and no showing. Telling does not make me feel any emotions at all. Showing me helps me connect with the story and characters. If I had to hear one more time how hot Reid was, I was going to pull my hair out of my head. There wasn't much plot to follow along to, it's mostly how her lust turns into something with the MMC.

Unfortunately, I do not think I will be continuing to read stories from this author as I just don't connect with what she's putting on the page. There are many great reviews for this title and I trust that others will love it much more than I did as I seem to be the outlier. I give it two stars because there is potential but it would have benefited from lots more editing for sure.

Author:

Visit my website to sign up for my newsletter and download a bonus chapter from Rule of the Aurora King and Not Safe for Work!

---
Nisha J Tuli is a USA Today and international bestselling author of glittering fantasy worlds, steamy rom-coms, and kissing scenes full of angst. Her book, Trial of the Sun Queen, went on to become a BookTok hit, selling over a million copies and finding its way into readers' hands around the world. Her book Storm Breaker is currently in development with Amazon MGM for a TV series.

When she isn’t writing or reading, she can be found in the gym or the kitchen (to eat, not to cook) or maybe knitting scarves to survive a Canadian winter. She lives in Manitoba with her husband, their two kids, and their fluffy Samoyed.

Blog Tour Spotlight: Swipe Bite (Corporate Bloodsuckers #1) by Alexandra Vasti

 

An icy vampire corporate heiress and a human software engineer must team up to thwart the saboteur who’s turned their sexy human-vampire dating app into a bloodbath, in this mystery romance romp by USA Today bestselling author Alexandra Vasti.

As heir to HemoCorp Industries, vampire Sophronia Vega has devoted herself to the company her family founded. Most recently, she’s led the creation of Stokr: the wildly successful dating app that pairs lusty vampires with humans they can’t accidentally, er, eat. But when Stokr’s matching technology goes haywire—and vampires start draining their dates—Sophronia’s disciplined life goes up in flames.

Enter Casey Amato, the human software engineer whose team programmed Stokr. Casey knows the Stokr failure wasn’t a glitch—the app’s been sabotaged. To fix it, he’ll have to convince the gorgeous, guarded vampire exec that someone in her inner circle has betrayed her.

Sophronia has never met a human who makes her feel quite so . . . thirsty. But to fix her app and save its users, she must team up with the brilliant programmer. As they hunt the traitor, their attraction burns hotter, and the stakes couldn’t be higher. Because without Stokr, giving in to temptation could be deadly.

Title: Swipe Bite (Corporate Blood Suckers #1)

Author: Alexandra Vasti

Publisher: Berkley 

Publication Date: November 10, 2026

Author:

Alexandra Vasti is a British literature professor by day and USA Today bestselling romance writer by night. After finishing her PhD at Columbia University, she moved to New Orleans with her family. Her books have received starred reviews from Publisher's Weekly, Booklist, Library Journal, BookPage, and Kirkus, and have been featured in The New York Times, NPR, Entertainment Weekly, People, and elsewhere.

ARC Review: Hate and Other Acts of Fiction by Megan Oliver

 

Former lovers turned rival tour guides must join forces to overcome scandal—in this steamy second-chance romance from the author of Secret Nights and Northern Lights.

Sadie Stockton has the almost-perfect job leading tours through the former home of her favorite author, the enigmatic recluse Hazel Wilmont. But when the owners of the Wilmont House announce plans to increase the estate’s revenue by hosting an overnight murder mystery set in a cocktail lounge, Sadie is less than thrilled. Yet again, Hazel’s legacy is being tarnished by the fictitious, decades-old rumors she poisoned her husband(s).

Worse? The new tour will mean working with none other than Ryan Pearson—local mixologist, owner of Pearson’s Pub Crawls, and Sadie’s long-standing professional rival and personal regret. She can’t stand him. Or his smug grin. Or his boastful T-shirt declaring his pub crawl the city’s number-one rated tour. And no, she doesn’t still think about their short-lived, meaningless college fling. Ever.

With a potential promotion on the line, Sadie must play nice with Ryan in order to make the “Mixtures & Murder” tour a success. But over late nights and cocktail tastings, all clues indicate a reigniting attraction between the two. And as new discoveries at the mansion unfold, Sadie is forced to confront her own narratives about Ryan, about Hazel, and about the past she’s tried for years to bury.

Title: Hate and Other Acts of Fiction

Author: Megan Oliver

Publisher:

Publication Date: November 10, 2026

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 picked this up as a read now and I'm really happy I did. It was a really cute story. I loved the second chance love in this story. Plus there was more to the plot than the romance, which always makes me happy.

Sadie and Ryan both have some trauma in their background which makes it hard for them to communicate exactly how they feel. When they got together in college, this is ultimately what tore them apart and made them hurt each other. 

The chemistry between these two was palpable. From the start you can see there's an attraction, no matter how hard either of them tries to deny it. They have great banter which gives the illusion of enemies to lovers but really they just want each other and are finding it hard to stay away from each other.

The underlying plot of Sadie potentially getting a promotion and Ryan expanding his business were a nice touch. It gave more to the story than just the two futzing around and trying to avoid their attraction. 

The side characters were really fun. I loved Simon and Erik so much. I loved all of Sadie's friends. Her childhood trauma really made it hard for her to realize she actually had friends. Her head was so wrapped around being abandoned she closed herself off in many situations. But her friends, and Ryan, stuck with her until she figured her shiz out!

I enjoyed the writing from this author. I honestly had her first book on my radar but never got around to reading it. Now I know I will. Her writing was easy to read and flowed well. Plus the pacing really pushed the story along.

Overall, I enjoyed the story and characters and I'm looking forward to seeing what this author writes in the future.

3.75 stars rounded to 4

Author:

Megan Oliver is a writer, an avid romance reader, and a travel enthusiast whose vacation mishaps provide plenty of inspiration for her characters on page. She lives with her husband, two dogs who refuse to cuddle as much as she’d prefer, and a cat who barely tolerates the presence of any and all above. Secret Nights and Northern Lights is her debut novel.

Most Anticipated Releases Tuesday November 10, 2026

 

These are the books I'm most anticipating this week.

Hate and Other Acts of Fiction by Megan Oliver

This was a read now on NetGalley and I ended up really enjoying it. It's a cute second chance romance. You can see my review HERE.

You, Me, & The Conspiracy by Emma Barry

The publisher sent me this one and I will say I did end up loving it but it was so slow to begin with and there was a huge amount of info dump in the first 25%. See my thoughts HERE.

Crash Into You (Lights Out #3) by Simone Soltani

I've really loved this series. This one was fun because the characters were a bit older. If you don't like accidental pregnancy, don't pick this one up. But I will say Soltani did a good job with it. I got to participate in the blog tour. You can see my post HERE.

Too Cold for Comfort by Nisha J. Tuli

I have a copy of this in print and audio and just had a chance to start it yesterday so I'll be late with my review. But it's coming so you can keep an eye out for it.

What are you looking forward to publishing?

Blog Tour ARC Review: Crash Into You by Simone Soltani

A forbidden love forces a shift in gears in the next sizzling Formula 1 romance from the USA Today bestselling author of Cross the Line.

Formula 1 driver Zaid Yousef is back—though he’s not sure he wants to be. After a crash last season left the seven-time world champion with two broken wrists and a hesitance to get back behind the wheel, his future in the sport is nothing short of uncertain. Saddled with an unfinished contract and expectations to win a record-shattering title, the only choice is for him to return . . . right?

The press turned Ava Farahani’s life upside down in the last few years, forcing her to leave her job in marketing and the world of F1 she grew up in. She knows she should stay far away from the track, but the draw of the sport she loves is too strong to resist.

A preseason event brings the two together for one hot, reckless night, and weeks later, results in a positive pregnancy test. Ava desperately wants to be a mother, and the baby gives Zaid a newfound drive to survive the season and break the world record.

There’s just one little problem: Ava is a team principal’s daughter . . . and Zaid is their biggest rival.

Title: Crash Into You (Lights out #3)

Author: Simone Soltani

Expected Publication date: November 10, 2026

Publisher: Berkley Publishing group

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 really enjoyed this series so far. I love F1 and it's fun to see that sport with some romance in a book. I didn't even read the blurb for this one before diving in since I enjoyed the first two I figured I'd like this one. What I love most about this one is the characters are older. I wasn't expecting an unexpected pregnancy trope, but it works well with this title.

Ava and Zaid are both fun and interesting characters. They come with some baggage and each of them needs to work that out in order to see what's in front of them for their lives. They do a small history, which I wasn't totally understanding throughout the book, but it didn't seem to matter too much. I would have liked to know more about that background but the author chose to not get too far into it.

It was fun to see the characters I have met in the previous books. I love interconnected series.

The plot move along and the pacing is well done. I did like all the conflicts presented. I will say I did get a bit annoyed with Ava when she could not see how far gone Zaid was for her. It was so obvious. not sure how she would even questions it.

There's a lot of emotion in this book. If you are an F1 fan, you can see who the MMC is based on for sure.

Overall, this book moves fast and really focuses on the emotional aspect of being connected to someone by something in common but not necessarily knowing if that relationship will lead to more. It was fun and I'm looking forward to future books by this author.

4.5 stars rounded to 

Author:

Simone Soltani is a romance author and former ghost writer for a serialized fiction platform. Born and raised in Washington, DC, she holds a BA in Geography from The George Washington University, which she likes to think comes in handy for world building in her novels. When she’s not writing, she spends most of her time planning vacations she’ll probably never get to go on, reorganizing her many bookshelves, and watching sports while cuddling with her dogs.

 

ARC Review: You, Me, & The Conspiracy by Emma Barry

 

“Thrilling and romantic in equal measure—these hot nerds solving history crimes are an absolute delight.” —Jodi McAlister, author of An Academic Affair

Perfect for fans of Jo Segura and Rachel Grant, You, Me, & the Conspiracy is an academic adventure romance that finds two history professors trying to unmask a deadly secret society.

After a bruising book rejection, tenure-track history professor Jessica Wilson is scrambling for something new to publish to secure her spot at the top of the academic food chain. While researching in the archives, she discovers a coded message written by one of the founding fathers with the power to change her—and the world’s—understanding of American history forever. But first, she’s got to prove it’s real.

Desperate for answers, Jess searches out Calloway Morgan, a Harvard PhD student turned adjunct professor. Cal was forced to leave graduate school after presenting theories about a shadowy revolutionary organization. Jess heard his conference presentation and thought his findings were absurd, but now, she believes he was onto something.

With their fates intertwined by their discoveries, the two begin to work together, but danger lurks around every corner. The clandestine fraternity that they’ve uncovered still exists and is ready to kill. With it hot on their heels, the embers of Jess and Cal’s attraction grow. But unless they can make their findings public in this “perfect blend of chemistry, spice, and a historical mystery” (Adriana Anders, author of Whiteout), they’ll soon become the conspiracy’s latest victims...

Title: You, Me, & The Conspiracy

Author: Emma Barry

Publisher: Atria Books

Expected Publication Date: November 10, 2026

Review:

Author:

Emma Barry is a teacher, novelist, recovering academic, and former political staffer. She lives with her high school sweetheart and a menagerie of pets and children in Virginia, and she occasionally finds time to read and write.

Fat Stack Friday November 6, 2026

Here's what I grabbed this week.

NetGalley/Edelweiss/Booktrovert/Amazon First Reads:

The Lost Ones by Mia Sheridan

This is an Amazon First Reads book. I've only trie done book by this author in the past and I DNF'd. I hope I like this one.

Certainty by Laura Dave

Another First Reads. I already read this and gave it 4.5 stars. I really love Dave's writing. You can see my thoughts HERE.

Cowboy Like Me by Lynn Painter

I really enjoy Painter's writing, both adult and YA. I'm looking forward to seeing how this one goes.

Faking for a Fortnight

I succumbed to the read now beast once again. This one a Berkley title. It looks cute and regency era is just about the only historical fiction I can tolerate.

Kindle:

The Last Kind of Faerie (The Wicked Powers #1) by Cassandra Clare

I can't pass up a Clare book, especially one written in the shadow hunter world. Looking forward to seeing where this new spin off goes.

Twelve Dark Hours by Amber Hamilton

I love the cover of this one. I'd love to get a copy with those painted edges. I admit, this one I got for the cover. Though, once I read the blurb I was happy I grabbed it.

Lemon Tea and Library Dragons by Emma St. Clair

I've only read St. Clair's romance which I love. I hope she does paranormal justice. I also ordered a signed copy of this but they have not gone out yet.

Fallen Beauty by Astrid Scholte

This one sounds very intriguing. And the cover is gorgeous.

Gifted:

My mom and dad like to buy me books. I actually went to the store to use my gift cards I have but their system wasn't accepting gift cards at the time, so I ended up with more gifts than I anticipated. I did end up buying books I already have so I need to go back and return those and get something different.

How about you?