This book kept popping into my radar as an Indie Next pick for July 2025 and I read about it via The NY Times. I don’t often go for nonfiction memoir/biography but my interest piqued at this tale of a couple surviving adrift for four months after their yacht capsized. It’s a wild story and worth a read. I listen to the short audiobook on Spotify.

My favorite part of this romantasy is the angsty relationship between Odessa and the Guardian. This book is filled with terrifying magical creatures, a mysterious rage-inducing sickness, blood oaths, betrayal and secrets. I loved the first 75% and then once the romance storyline transitioned, it lost a bit of steam but the action of the book soared in the final chapters (A blood bath! Big reveals! Cliffhangers!). I really enjoyed the narration though some of Samantha Brentmoor’s male voices blended together. I listened to the audiobook on Libby and am already looking forward to the next in the series.

i love how there's dragons and how there are people that can control them

3.5 stars. This book kept popping up on my radar as an emotional romance that I ultimately listened to on audio via Libby. The strengths of this book are in FMC Nadia’s clear voice and the lupus representation. I struggled with the believability of Marco’s character. While I was interested in the time-limited romance of dating just for the month of May, the love story felt a bit too intense for the rather playful premise and came off as instalove at times.

Great book I love at the end there is a snowball fight

I thought it was really well-written. The club was cool and I also love making signs. It inspired me.

I enjoyed reading this book. The story is really interesting and touching my heart too. The book is also illustrated nicely. I like the wonderful design of the characters in the book and the abundant details and colors.

In keeping with the-looking-at-a-familiar-story through a different lens, this offering to the genre does not disappoint. It is not always a pleasant read, but definitely a good one.

This book brings Jack and Annie to Australia. They obtain the final gift they need to help the dog Teddy and finish their four-part quest. We learned about kangaroos and there was a scary wildfire.

2.5 stars. I listened to this audiobook in one sitting as it’s quite a quick read, clocking in at 4 hours. I picked this up because I was looking for books that would satisfy a “two books with the same titles” bingo square, and there’s at least three other Forget Me Nots that I have/will read. As an Oregonian, I was intrigued by the historical romance set in Baker City. I don’t often read Christian fiction, but it’s also nice to mix it up. In this second chance romance, Julia and preacher Seth rekindle their former flame after seven years apart. This book’s first turn-off was how Julia went from not recognizing this apparent love of her life to instantly feeling infatuated as if no time or intervening events had passed. I really struggled with the Chinese immigrant representation. It felt so stereotypical with too much emphasis on the white savior. Maybe the stilted broken English speech on the audiobook exaggerated the effect, but I felt there was a missed opportunity to humanized these underrepresented characters. I appreciate what the author is trying to do (as evidenced in the author’s notes), but I think she misses the mark in execution. Maybe this book would be better as a full-length novel in which their story gets fleshed out a bit more. I almost rounded this book up on the rating because I think the intentions are good, but as it currently stands, I would recommend skipping this.