Tag Archives: Atria Books

ARC — The Long Game — Elena Armas

“I’ll always give you more than what you ask, love. Even when you don’t know what you want.”

Genre: Romance
Actual Rating: 5 stars
Spicy Meter: 2 fire emojis
Content Warnings: Describes a stalker, infidelity, and toxic relationships. Contains explicit sexual content.

“The Long Game” follows Adalyn Reyes, an executive reporter for the Miami Flames Football Club, after she is sent to live in a small town and coach a girls soccer team pro bono after causing a scene back in Miami. The only reason she wasn’t fired was because her father is the owner of said soccer club. What she did bot expect was to find Cameron Caldoni, an acclaimed professional goalkeeper that retired out of the blue and escaped the public eye, also coaching this soccer team in this remote town. This was supposed to be her thing, and she isn’t willing to take it on as a team… until they have to.

I have never simped after a fictional man, but I will simp for Cameron Caldoni. Enemies to lovers, when done well, can be some of the funniest and most enjoyable tropes. Watching Adalyn and Cam be as stubborn as they come was downright comical, but also watching them care for one another was literally heartwarming.

I wouldn’t change a single thing about this book. “The Long Game” would work wonders for a romance book club, as some of the actions and stances both main characters take at different points of their story can be great sources for fruitful discussions. I would highly recommend this read, no questions asked.

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ARC provided by Simon & Schuster/Atria Books, through their S&S Book Club Favorites program, in exchange for an honest review.

Publication Date: September 5, 2023

ARC — Chef’s Choice — TJ Alexander

“‘Reste ici pour toujours,’ he murmured. Stay here forever.”

Genre: Romance, LGBTQIA
Actual Rating: 5 stars
Spicy Meter: 2 fire emojis
Content Warnings: Displays homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, and deadnaming. Describes unhealthy power and family dynamics. Contains some sexual content and references.

“Chef’s Choice” follows Luna O’Shea, a recently fired trans woman, as she fake-dates a multimillionaire to appease his family—ish. Jean-Pierre is a french trans men in search of miracle, as he has been tasked to re-create his grandfather’s famous restaurant menu. He isn’t the most avid cooker, but he is set on trying, as his inheritance depends on it. And ultimately that’s where Luna comes in, as she will be helping him through this quest—after all, she’s part of the family, right? At least for the time being.

Okay, hear me out, I love the fake-dating troop as much as the next gal, but what I truly loved about this book was how amazingly well defined all characters were. I loved how Luna and JP were so stubborn to address the feelings that were starting to bubble between them. I loved how they incorporated the cooking aspect into this book—in book one of this series, “Chef’s Kiss”, we got to see two chefs get to know each other through shared experiences, and now, in “Chef’s Choice”, we get to see two people who knew nothing about cooking get to know each other through the craft.

This is absolutely the perfect series for cooking and culinary lovers. I would highly recommend this Amazon’s Editor’s Pick for Best Romance if you’re looking for a queer romance with that sweet, ol’ fake-dating pizzazz.

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ARC provided by Atria Books in exchange for an honest review.

Publication Date: May 30, 2023

Chef’s Kiss — TJ Alexander — Chef’s Kiss #1

Genre: Romance, LGBTQIA
Actual Rating: 4.5 stars
Spicy Meter: 1 fire emojis
Content Warnings: Displays homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, and deadnaming. Describes medical care after gender-affirming surgery. Contains some sexual content and references.

“Chef’s Kiss” follows Simone Larkspur, a pastry chef working on a culinary magazine, her literal dream job, when said magazine sets to branch out to video and other platforms. Really? After years building up recipes for this magazine, Simone is forced to step into the limelight with a new coworker, Ray Lyton. As they go viral and work closer together, so does their relationship change—but Simone can’t share her feelings with Ray. They’re coworkers, after all.

This is the first TJ Alexander book I’ve read, although they’ve been highly recommended to me by both friends and the endless stream of Instagram posts praising their writing—well, in my opinion this hype is totally justified. TJ Alexander has built an amazing world, full of diversity and speaking from a place too close to reality—where cooking and recipe platforms have displayed so much discrimination and, honestly, simple gaslighting. It was truly refreshing to read this new voice and I can’t wait to see where this series is going.

Are you looking for a book centered around cooking videos and shows, in the style of Tasty’s Make It Fancy or Epicurious’s 4 Levels series, and that has a beautifully queer love story? Then “Chef’s Kiss” is for you.

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ARC — To Swoon and To Spar — Martha Waters — The Regency Vows #4

“I can’t help thinking that he’s always held himself somewhat…apart.”
“Because he was not married?” (…)
“Because he cared about this house more than he cared about anything else. (…) It makes for a lonely existence, I suspect.”

Genre: Romance, Historical Fiction
Actual Rating: 3.5 stars
Spicy Meter: 2 fire emojis
Content Warnings: Mentions death of parent. Includes a marriage of convenience. Contains some sexual content.

“To Swoon and To Spar” is the fourth installment in The Regency Vows series, and it follows Viscount Penvale as he is set to be married for the sake of real estate. Penvale has been set on buying Trethwick Abbey from his uncle for years now, but his uncle had never been willing to sell until now and under one condition—Penvale has to marry his uncle’s ward, Jane Spencer. And they do agree to get married and Penvale does get the house, but once in the Abbey, Jane decides she’ll be faking a haunting in hopes that Penvale will scare off and leave off to London—but Penvale isn’t scared that easily and perhaps Penvale and Jane aren’t as different as they think.

I reviewed the other books in this series a year ago and they’re all equally entertaining, with the third, “To Marry and To Meddle”, being the funniest in my opinion. Working as standalone novels with a few crossovers, these novels are a fun interpretation of unusual love stories during the Regency Era.

I would highly recommend this series as a way to be introduced to historical fiction and historical romances. Martha Waters has found a way to make this historical fiction lighthearted and comedic, which often isn’t associated with this genre.

Grab “To Swoon and To Spar” if you enjoy romances with marriage of conveniences, one bed tropes, and romantic comedies.—Additionally, if you’re into the Bridgerton TV Series, there is no way you wouldn’t like this series.

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ARC provided by NetGalley and Atria Books in exchange for an honest review.

Publication Date: April 11, 2023

The Charm Offensive — Alison Cochrun

“I don’t think happily ever after is something that happens to you, Dev. I think it’s something you choose to do for yourself.”

Genre: Romance
Actual Rating: 5 stars
Spicy Meter: 2 fire emoji
Content Warnings: Discusses mental illness and panic attacks, ableism, racism, and homophobia. Contains sexual content.

“The Charm Offensive” follows Charlie Winshaw, a tech entrepreneur turned reality TV star, and Dev Deshpande, a producer for said reality TV show. This TV show, Ever After, is set to find the perfect princess for the perfect prince. But Charlie is all but perfect, and he isn’t even sure why he’s looking for a princess. So, when Charlie and Dev suddenly click, they definitely can’t act on it. Dev isn’t looking to be anyone’s little secret (he’s over that), and Charlie has a contract signed. And so Ever After continues.

There has not been a single Alison Cochrun book that I haven’t loved—but “The Charmed Offensive” takes the cake and has every single cherry on top. This book made me feel so many things—yes, love, but also frustration and self-consciousness and just plain mad at both main characters at different points in time.

I connected so much with the characters and the story, I can’t not recommend to every single person I’ll come across. If you still haven’t read this gem, and you like queer romances, then what are you waiting for? Grab this without hesitation.

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Icebreaker — Hannah Grace — Maple Hills (UCMH) #1

“Falling in love with Nathan Hawkins was not something I could have planned. No planner, iPad, or freaking sticker chart could have prepared me for my future. My imagination isn’t capable of dreaming up this level of happiness.”

Genre: Romance
Actual Rating: 5 stars
Spicy Meter: 5 fire emoji
Content Warnings: Describes eating disorders, emotional abuse, body shaming, toxic friendship, gaslighting, death of parent, and bullying centered on being adopted. Contains a lot of explicit sexual content.

“Icebreaker” follows Anastasia (Stassie) Allen, a figure skater aspiring to make it to the Olympics, and Nathan Hawkins, the hockey team captain of the university Stassie attends. Considering the University of California, Maple Hills (UCMH) has two ice rinks, they never really crossed paths until a series of unfortunate events leads to one of the rinks being out of service for the near future and so the hockey and ice skating teams now have to share a single rink. Their attraction is undeniable from the start, but so is their hesitation towards commitment. I mean, in the end they both have the same goals: going pro in their field. Nobody’s got time for relationships, right?

Well, this review can be summarized with one sentence: This book is definitely worth the hype. You’ve probably seen “Icebreaker” all over social media and I’m just here to say that this should be your next read if you’re looking for a steamy romance. You won’t regret it.

No, you don’t need to know anything about hockey or figure skating to appreciate this book. But will you still be rooting for Nathan and Stassie all throughout? Absolutely yes.

Something else I loved about this book is that it had various arcs. Usually shorter books tend to have one conflict and one solution and that’s it, but “Icebreaker” had various conflict come up and although it was heavy on the plot, it was also very cemented on character development.

Thank you so much to Ash from @beyondthebookcase on instagram for letting me join her buddy read, it was so so fun.

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ARC — The Sweet Spot — Amy Poeppel

Genre: Women’s Fiction
Actual Rating: 3 stars
Spicy Meter: N/A
Content Warnings:Mentions parental death, cheating, and abandonment.

“The Sweet Spot” follows multiple points of views to tell a story of three women—women at different stages of life and who don’t particularly like each other—as they face the oddest of situations. Lauren is a ceramic artist who’s happily married and has 3 kids. What she was not intending was to cause Melinda’s husband to leave her after 30 years of marriage, simply by giving a small pep talk to the art curator who was having an affair with Melinda’s husband. Melinda worked in HR at a firm for years, but after finding herself forcefully retired after an incident, she ends up working as a school receptionist. What Melinda was not intending was to get Olivia fired after Olivia had a confrontation with Melinda at the mistress’s store and it goes viral on Tiktok. And what none of them expected was to find a baby upon their doorstep.

Getting to meet Lauren first, Melinda second, and Olivia last, these interlacing points of view bring us a story that’s so sad and improbable that it’s comical. These three ladies and a few of the side characters have so many flaws that aren’t regularly portrayed in fiction. Amy Poeppel gives us a very unique story in “The Sweet Spot.”

But I can already see from the reviews on Goodreads that my opinion is the unpopular one this time around. I really enjoyed the whimsicality of the characters, but the story never fully captivated me. I did not DNF this book out of pure willpower and stubbornness, because I honestly was done with this narrative at around 20%.

It’s complicated because the book is really well-written and the characters are thoroughly constructed and fairly unique, yet I did not empathize with any of them. I was not interested in their story and their lives and their problems. Lauren’s struggles with her commissions, Melinda’s grudge over someone steeling her husband, and Olivia’s unemployment after a meltdown inspired barely any emotion in me.

Although this book wasn’t my cup of tea, I would recommend it to readers who have enjoyed books by Sally Rooney, especially “Conversations with Friends”, and books by Frederik Backman, especially “Anxious People” and “My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry”.

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ARC provided by NetGalley and Atria Books in exchange for an honest review.

Publication Date: January 31, 2023

One Italian Summer — Rebecca Serle

“When you’re just a reflection, what happens when the image vanishes?”

Author: Rebecca Serle
Narrated By: Lauren Graham (!!! Yes!!! Lorelai from Gilmore Girls)

Genre: Women’s Fiction
Actual Rating: 2 stars (and I’m being generous)
Spicy Meter: 1 fire emoji
Narration: 5 mikes
Content Warnings: Death of parent, unhealthy grief coping mechanisms, cancer, cheating, and some sexual content.

“One Italian Summer” follows Katy, as she travels to Italy in hopes to reconnect with her mother, who’s just passed away. Leaving her husband behind, Katy sets off to the small town her mother loved—little did she know she would indeed reconnect with her mother, as she literally runs into her, in the flesh, and 30 years younger.

Rebecca Serle is one of my biggest hits or miss. And this one was definitely a miss for me. I came in blindly because I will read anything Rebecca publishes, period, but I lowkey regret doing that.

The only reason this has 2 stars is because of Lauren Graham, THE Lorelai Gilmore, who narrated the audiobook I listened to. Her voice was absolutely perfect. Disliked the story, but loved the experience. So lets get on with the actual review.

The relationship between Katy and her mother is absolutely, insanely, unequivocally unhealthy. Like no, honey, your mother is not your soulmate. And hey, I am all for magical realism, but this book was insane. You’re telling me you run into your dead mother, 30 years younger, and you wait 200 pages to ask someone what year you’re in? This was just ridiculous.

Also, there was some cheating here. Which, as you know if you’ve been following my reviews for a while, is the BIGGEST no-no for me. This novel had literally nothing going for it in my opinion (except for the narrator, 10/10).

I would only recommend “One Italian Summer” if time-travel cheating and dysfunctional, codependent mother-daughter relationships are your jam. If not, please just steer clear.

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“(…) Memory is by definition fiction. Once an event is no longer present, but remembered, it is narrative. And we can choose the narratives we tell—about our own lives, our own stories, our own relationships. We can choose the chapters we give meaning.”

Without Merit — Colleen Hoover

“With or without Merit?”

Author: Colleen Hoover
Narrated By: Candace Thaxton

Genre: Romance, Young Adult Fiction
Actual Rating: 2.5 stars
Spicy Meter: N/A, it’s clean (although lots of talk about spicy stuff)
Narration: 4 mikes
Content Warning: Describes a suicide attempt, depression, sexual assault, accidents, hypochondria, terminal illness, and very very toxic family relationships.

“Without Merit” follows the Voss family, a dysfunctional family living in a repurposed church out of spite, but it specifically follows Merit Voss, as she deals with being a teenager in love dealing with depression and a lowkey estranged twin. In this coming-of-age novel, you’ll get to live through adolescence over again—with its ups and downs and its indecisiveness and struggles.

I… kinda hated this book? It’s weird because I loved the audiobook narration and I love Colleen Hoover as a writer and I like YA clean romance novels once in a while—but this was something else entirely. I am part of a dysfunctional family and love reading about them as much as the next guy but, damn, was the Voss family above all that. There is dysfunctional and then there is that family, holy. It was all so weird it was distracting. This is as fiction as fiction can get. In no way could this family exist in real life, I swear.

Anyways, I would not recommend this book as your first or even fifth Colleen Hoover read, but if you’ve got nothing else to do and are looking for a filler novel then you could hypothetically grab “Without Merit”, I guess.

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“I used to feel like I was on the top of the world. Then one day, I noticed that it felt like I was no longer on the top of the world. I was just floating around inside of it. And then eventually, it felt like the world was on top of me.”

That’s what depression is.

ARC — Kiss Her Once for Me — Alison Cochrun

“Honesty game: I feel like I’ve known you forever.”

Genre: Romance, LGBTQIA+
Actual Rating: 5+ star emojis
Spicy Meter: 2 fire emojis
Content Warnings: As given by the author—there are moments of homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia. Deals with generalized anxiety disorders and stigmas around neurodiversity. Mentions adultery and cheating.

“Kiss Her Once for Me” follows Ellie Oliver, an animator and demisexual hopeless romantic, through two very impactful moments of her life—both revolving around the winter holidays. Bring on December 2021, where Ellie has just moved to Portland and is working at an animation studio, when she unexpectedly has a meet-cute and calamitous one night stand with Jack, only to never see her again. Then flash-forward to December 2022, where she’s working as a barista after losing her dream job in animation and she somehow agrees to fake-marry the coffee shop’s cute landlord, Andrew, so he can get his inheritance. But before they get married, Ellie has to endure a few days at his family’s cabin, celebrating Christmas… only to find out Andrew’s sister who he’s referred to as Jacqueline is actually Jack. The same Jack who broke Ellie’s heart last Christmas. -Queue in “Last Christmas” by Taylor Swift (2007 cover)-

First things first: get this book as a Christmas/holiday gift for all your lesbian, bisexual, queer, and sapphic-loving reader friends. Now. Go order them so they’ll be there for the holidays. I cannot begin to explain how much I loved this book.

“Kiss Her Once for Me” will be hands down my favorite holiday book this season—I have no proofs but also no doubts. This book had it all. Fake dating? Check. Marriage of convenience? Check. Miscommunication? Check. Close proximity? Check. Diverse characters? Check. Character growth? Check. Epic sapphic couple? Check check check.

I would not change a single thing about this book. Alison Chochrun is a swiftie, alright? The amount of times Taylor Swift is mentioned cannot be a coincidence, and I was there for it. I, too, have devoted countless hours to listening to Taylor Swift. I, too, believe evermore is an ode to Christmas. I, too, believe Lover is the superior album.

It isn’t the most explicit read, but there are some steamy scenes—and although this usually knocks down some stars while rating, I didn’t mind it too much through this read. The kissed were sweet and the conversation and intimacy achieved through communication was stellar. I did not feel like something was missing when I finished this read.

I would highly recommend “Kiss Her Once for Me” if you’re looking for a sapphic romance full of wintery feels. If you enjoy books by authors like Casey McQuiston, Rachael Lippincott, and Alexis Hall, then Alison Cochrun’s writing is right up your alley. This was such a fluid, lovely read. Oh, how I wish I could start reading it for the first time all over again.

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ARC provided by Atria Books through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Publication Date: November 01, 2022