Week of June 23, 2025

I asked my husband, Ross, this week, “when was the last time you read a book for fun?” He looked at me like I was crazy. “Fun” and “reading” are completely incongruous for him. He’s a business psychologist and his idea of reading is non-fiction only, and exclusively about things that pertain to his work, like organizational excellence or leadership development. For me that’s a solid yawn. He said he doesn’t feel the need to read fiction because he loves his life and doesn’t feel the need to escape it. I said, on the other hand, I love fiction because it brings so many other worlds into my life that I could never actually experience. I found it really interesting that we each had a really solid, valid reason for wanting to or not wanting to use our mind or imagination to travel elsewhere through fiction reading. Thank goodness we all have choices in our lives, right? Just food for thought to start your week!

• As always, here’s my rating scale for your information:

  ⭐️ Did not like this book, would not recommend. Lots of errors, plot holes, not worth the effort to read, most likely didn’t finish. But I’m giving this author a single star for making the effort to publish a book. Not everyone’s even gotten that far, so yay for you.

  ⭐️⭐️ Didn’t really like it, multiple issues with style, plot, syntax or characters. Most likely forced myself to finish it. Would consider other books by the same author but I might have to be convinced.

  ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Enjoyed the book. Perhaps there were issues with plot or style but it was an enjoyable read. I could see recommending it if it were of a specific genre or trope or series. Most of what I read could easily fall into this category and I’d be a happy camper.

  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This was a good book. Like a really good book. I will think about this book when I’m finished, and there’s a really good chance I’ll buy it for my personal library if it was a KU read. I’d recommend it to other readers of the same genre or trope. I’ll definitely search out other books by this author, probably as soon as I’m finished reading.

  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Wow. Just wow. Amazing book, amazing story. If there were flaws in the book I’m completely overlooking them because in my mind the book was sheer perfection. I didn’t want the book to end and I’m immediately adding it to my favorites and my re-read pile. And if there’s an audio version I might have to buy that, too. I have a book hangover, I miss the characters, and I feel actual, physical loss in my life when this book is finished.

Thanks for joining me this week! Let’s dive in!

1. Trade Deadline, by Jodi Oliver. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

   Kindle Unlimited, 390 pages.

   Genre/tropes: MM romance, sports romance

   Bi-sexual hockey star Blaine gets in trouble with his coaches when some puck bunnies film their escapades and out him on the internet. He promises to keep his nose clean ahead of the trade deadline because his twin brother is now on the team with him and they’ve waited their whole lives to play together in the NFL. When Blaine catches sight of Alex in the stands at a game, he can’t resist trying to seduce him. When Alex resists, it actually makes Blaine step back and want to re-assess his wild ways and want to be a better man, perhaps the man that Alex might want to date. So he takes it slow and wins him over afterall. It’s a cute story, fan meets his hero and they fall in love.

2. No More Yesterdays, by Catherine Bybee. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

   Kindle Unlimited, 394 pages.

   Genre/tropes: Contemporary Romance, Romantic Suspense, family

   This is book 3 in The Heirs series. I liked this whole series, actually. It ties in with some characters from Bybee’s Not Quite series, so there are lots of books to read with common themes if you like this sort of thing. These are easy reads, nothing terribly spicy or over the top, good romance, decent plot. I was glad that in this book, Alex, the only female lead in the Heirs books, finally got her man. It’s about time!

3. Lessons in Heartbreak, Karla Sorensen ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

   Kindle Unlimited, 342 pages.

   Genre/tropes: Contemporary Romance, Sports Romance, Friends to Lovers

   This was better than I thought it would be. Neighbors as kids, Ruby and Griffin stumble upon one another by accident as adults and become friends. Well, more like Ruby asks Griffin to be her dating coach. Ruby is the town librarian, meek and uncomfortable with men. Griffin is a handsome NFL star, a player in every sense of the word, and he takes her up on her offer. Over the few weeks that they’re together, Ruby ends up softening Griffin up while he ends up convincing her that she didn’t need the coaching in the first place, and feelings erupt. It’s a sweet story, and I liked these two for each other a lot.

4. In Five Years, by Rebecca Serle ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

   Kindle Unlimited, 266 pages

   Genre/tropes: Contemporary fiction,

   I often read a book a day, that’s true, but I truly didn’t put this down even once. I really liked everything about this book. I found it really compelling. I’m the sort of person that often wonders ‘what if I had done this instead of that’ in a particular circumstance in my past and where would it have taken me in my life. So Dannie’s lingering thoughts of her 5 year “dream” really resonated with me and kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the book. I’d recommend this book to anyone. I think it fosters a lot of self reflection, too, and I love books like that. This is perfect book club book - it holds great discussion topics in my opinion.

5. Touch the Sky, by Christina Lee & Nyrae Dawn ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

   Kindle Unlimited, 238 pages

   Genre/tropes: MM romance, Friends to lovers, mental illness

   This book felt a little ‘simple’ when I first started reading it, to be honest - two boys, pen pals, struggling with coming out to their families and hyping each other up while making promises to their future selves. But once Lucas and Gabriel grow up and meet unexpectedly and the real world intervenes in their relationship, I found this book to be much more than I expected. Gabriel, suffering from bi-polar disorder, was written exceptionally well. Lucas, is also written very well as the man who loves Gabe but suffers from a savior complex due to his own difficult past with his alcoholic mother and has to learn to let Gabriel figure our his own way forward. I shed several tears as these young men came to terms with their pasts and came together to try a navigate a future together.

6. No Tomorrow, by Carian Cole ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

   Kindle Unlimited, 627 pages.

   Genre/tropes: Romance, mental health, second chance, substance abuse

   It was a dreary, rainy day, and this book just sucked me in today. I didn’t put it down and I didn’t go to sleep until it was finished. Wow, this was a heavy book. Reading two mental health books back to back wasn’t my intention, but I went into this one not really knowing the topic. No regrets though - this was a great read. Piper and Blue were clearly fated to be together despite the multitude of struggles that they endured. Everything about their relationship was incredibly intense - the passion, the heartbreak, the crushing losses, the amazing successes. Tough read, but really good.

7. The Idiot, by Dianna Roman ⭐️.5

   Kindle Unlimited, 234 pages

   Genre/tropes: MM romance, gay awakening, friends to lovers

   ‘Idiot’ was an appropriate description for Jesse. He was a cringey idiot. I can’t even imagine writing this idiot. Murphy as a character didn’t end up getting any depth because of what an idiot Jesse was, honestly. And whatever depth Murphy had, why the heck had he fallen for an idiot like Jesse. I honestly don’t get this one. Skip this book. I wanted to read something light after my last read, but this was literally not even worth it. Sorry, Dianna - I’m usually a fan of your books, but this one was a big miss for me.

That’s it for this week! As always, you can keep up with all of my reading on my Goodreads if you want to. https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/12921106-karen

Love, Karen