Week of May 19, 2025

7 books last week

• It was a windy, dreary week here at the beach. A great week to stay in with a book (or several) and Frankie by my side, and that’s pretty much what I did. This was the week before Memorial Day, so this was the last quiet week that Sea Isle would see until the week after Labor Day, so I enjoyed the peace while I could, even if it was indoors.

• I had a listener of our podcast Let Me Call My Mom reach out via instagram and tell me about a book that she’s written, so I downloaded it and read that this week - that’s book #5 below. Thanks, Brittany for reaching out! I’m happy to support you, and thank you for supporting Tori and me.

• And finally, two of my eagerly awaited new releases came out this past week. First was Rewind It Back by Liz Tomforde, which I read immediately and is book #4 below. Second is Brim Over Boot by Emmy Sanders, which I’ll jump into next week.

• 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. Friction, by Kindle Alexander. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

   Kindle Unlimited, 350 pages.

   Would I re-read this book? yes (already did, in fact)

   This is book 1 in the 3 part Gravity series. I read this book in November 2024 before the other 2 books became available and promptly forgot all about it. One of my Goodreads friends, Carol, posted about the completed series so I had to go back to square one and re-read this book in order to catch up. I’m so glad glad I read it again. I think November was kind of early on in my spiral down the MM romance rabbit hole and I think I appreciate Beau and Dash much more now than I did when I first met them. I remember thinking that they were too young (15 when they met) and too different to make a relationship work (worlds apart, truly). But I appreciated this book and their struggles much more after reading this the second time around. I’m looking forward to following their journey through the next two books. Stay tuned!

2. Fusion, by Kindle Alexander. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

   Kindle Unlimited, 288 pages.

   Would I re-read this book? yes.

   As soon as I finished Friction, I started this book. I was hooked on Dash and Beau. And this book didn’t disappoint. I cried my way through this one, I have to admit. I loved their story, how they each fought for each other but then lost their way somewhere along the journey. It felt very real to me and I appreciated that. Eager to finish their story in the final book.

3. Force, Kindle Alexander ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

   Kindle Unlimited, 281 pages.

   Would I re-read this book? probably.

   Again, as soon as I finished Fusion, I started this one. (I read Fusion and Force both in one day.) I enjoyed the solid conclusion to Dash and Beau’s story with no loose ends left dangling. I loved that they didn’t have it easy along the way - their story always had some struggle which I appreciated. And I loved the vindication in the end that made their journey worth everything they went through to get there. All in all, I’d say this 3 book series was a good read, the romance part of it was solid, and if you’re a MM reader I think you’ll like it a lot.

4. Rewind it Back, by Liz Tomforde ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

   Kindle Unlimited, 491 pages

   Would I re-read this book? Yes

   This is book 5 in the Windy City series. My favorite books were books 3 and 4 about Kai and Isaiah respectively, but was really looking forward to this book which was focusing on Rio, who was a supplemental character in all of the books. Rio was always characterized as a golden retriever type guy, always the single guy in his friend group, looking for the ideal woman to match his energy. This book definitely worked out that way and Rio got the happy ending he deserved. I think the author did a great job of bringing Rio and Hallie to life and telling their story in a really perfect way. This was a great finale to this book series and if you haven’t read these yet, start at the beginning, and enjoy them all!

5. What Once Was Ours, by Brittany Rae ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

   Kindle Edition, $3.99, 235 pages

   Would I re-read this book? Probably.

   Brittany is a listener of Tori’s Manifest Podcast and Tori’s and my Let Me Call My Mom Podcast, and as such, she’s aware of how much I read! Bless her, she sent me a link to this book, her first novel, and asked me to read it. This was a very sweet contemporary romance book about first love and first heartbreak and finding your way back after life and misunderstandings threaten to undermine what’s meant to be. Caroline and Parker met at camp as counselors and fall head over heels for each other. But at the end of the summer, miscommunication rears its awful head and they walk away hurt and alone. Fast forward 7 years and they re-connect, again at the same camp for the final hurrah as the camp is being sold, but is it too late? Have they moved on? All closed-door romance, appropriate for all ages, lots of coming-of-age angst spread throughout the book. This was a cute read. Kudos to you, Brittany.🥂 

6. Mine, by Riley Hart ⭐️⭐️⭐️

   Kindle Unlimited, 251 pages.

   Would I re-read this book? I don’t think so.

   Hmmm, not really my style, but that’s ok. I like Riley Hart and the way the characters are written is very good. I’m not even going to say a lot about this story - it’s just not at all in my wheelhouse it wouldn’t be fair of me to judge the content in any way. It wasn’t badly written, the characters were likable, the family and found-family plot lines were great.

7. Shem Creek, by Dorothea Benton Frank ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

   Kindle Edition, $11.99, 348 pages

   Would I re-read this book? Yes.

   This book follows Linda and her daughters Lindsey and Gracie as they relocate from gloomy New Jersey to balmy South Carolina. Linda finds a job managing a restaurant with Brad and lives with her sister Mimi while she looks for a place to live. The story, though it isn’t all that original, will resonate with anyone that needs reassurance that second chances and the opportunity to reinvest yourself exists if you just take that leap of faith.

   FOOTNOTE: This is one of my favorite authors. With this being Memorial Day Weekend, it’s only fitting to read a book by one of the ultimate beach read queens. She does for coastal South Carolina what Elin Hilderbrand does for Nantucket. This book is one of the 13 in her series called Low Country Tales, and you can’t go wrong with any of them. They’re all standalone books, no need to read them in any order but after you’ve read one you’ll probably want to re-fill your lemonade read another.

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