Love Felt Like This by Julie Olivia

Love Felt Like This by Julie Olivia
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thank you to Berkley Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!
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Griffin Harvey lives his life in the spotlight. Reluctantly. The brooding famous singer-songwriter is on the cusp of composing his sophomore album . . . if only he could find the notes. But after gaining custody of his two-year-old daughter, the only music he’s writing is about shapes and counting to ten.

Enter Beverly, who lives her life in the background producing children’s television and laughter. Except joy is hard to find when her nonprofit loses funding. She sinks all of her savings to revive the children’s show by herself, but when her variety show appearance collides with Griffin’s, their banter and chemistry is caught on live television.

Suddenly, Griffin is singing a new tune. He needs a muse, and Beverly needs all the help she can get. With his secret daughter in tow, they hide out in her cozy mountain hometown, attempting to script, compose, and revive television magic. Their dynamic shouldn’t work. He’s all harsh tattoos and rough hands while she’s bright colors and gentle touches. Once their three months of work are done, they’ll return to their separate worlds. But what happens when it seems the true magic might be found in each other?
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This. Book. Y'all. I have no notes.

Except this is a book review, so of course I have notes.

I was pretty sure within the first maybe 15% of this book that it was going to be an easy five star rating for me. It just gave me that kind of vibe. I loved the FMC, Beverly. I was getting ALL KINDS OF green flags from the MMC, Griffin. The setting was perfection. The cast of supporting characters was delightful. I could quickly surmise that I was getting nothing done today because this was the kind of book that I would not be putting down until I was done with it.

This was, in fact, an all-in-one-day read for me. I did have to take a couple of breaks because Real Life got in the way, but I spent the majority of my day curled up on my couch absolutely devouring this amazing love story. There were times that I was sitting here grinning to a room that was empty of other people because I enjoyed reading this so much. From the meet-cute at the very beginning to the HEA that was waiting for me at the end, this was just a really good one. It makes me want to read everything this author has ever written.

Anyway, just in case I have not made myself clear, I really, really enjoyed this book.

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Paper Ghosts by Sarah Addison Allen

Paper Ghosts by Sarah Addison Allen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!
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For decades, the women of Wester House have unsettled and fascinated their small, timeless North Carolina town. Their home is full of whispers, old griefs, and uncanny knowing. But when Willamena Wester reaches out to the granddaughter she once pushed away, long-buried truths begin to stir.

1976: Restless young Willamena falls for a stranded musician who brings freedom and the promise of another life to her carefully controlled world. Their brief, incandescent love story promises to escape the pull of the Wester legacy until Willamena makes a fateful choice that changes her life forever.

Present day: Returning home is the last thing Bailey Wester wants. Yet as she reconnects with Willamena, the grandmother she feared, Bailey begins to understand the love, heartbreak, and impossible choices that shaped the women in her family and realizes the past may not have been trying to haunt them after all. A luminous novel filled with Sarah Addison Allen’s stunning prose and signature blend of romance, Southern charm, and wonder, Paper Ghosts reminds us that in order to have the future we really want, sometimes we need to live with the past, and not let go of it.
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The knowledge that there is a new novel by Sarah Addison Allen on its way into the world is always a cause for celebration, and the fact that I got to read this one ahead of everyone else was just the icing on the cake. Her books were my first introduction to the specific type of magical realism I have really come to enjoy from authors like Heather Webber and Rebecca Serle, and there is something haunting and compelling about the stories she weaves. Here again, we are introduced to complex characters who are carrying the trauma of their ancestors forward as they try to heal the past and move ahead toward a better future.

While her books often have romance in them, romance is usually just a supporting player, and this is the case once again in Paper Ghosts. Plenty of the plot is focused around relationships, but there is heartbreak and sorrow, deep regret, tragedy, and self-imposed exile at the center of these relationships, which is far from the HEA of a traditional romance novel. However, while the author visits some dark themes in this book, her gift for lyrical prose makes this a must-read for fans of her other works, as well as an excellent introduction to the magical world of Sarah Addison Allen.

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Ideal Life by Evelyn Skye

Ideal Life: A Novel by Evelyn Skye
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thank you to Atria, via NetGalley, for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!
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What if you could rewind the last twenty-four hours and perfect your life?

Embarrassing email typo? Corrected and perfected.

Missed workout? Rescheduled and crushed.

Awkward conversation? Smoothed out and charmed.

On the eve of Talia Morgan’s neuroscience startup’s major acquisition, a glitch in her app leads to catastrophe, and everything she’s worked for crumbles in a single night.

Then Talia wakes up with a mysterious watch that lets her rewind the last twenty-four hours. Suddenly, she can prevent the glitch, ace that crucial meeting, and savor perfect Sunday afternoons with Sam, her brilliant best friend who’s quietly loved her for nearly two decades.

But what starts as a tool for good soon becomes a dangerous temptation to turn back every messy moment and optimize her life until it’s flawless. When one rewind goes too far, though, Talia begins to see that the imperfect version of her life might be the only one worth living.

From New York Times bestselling author Evelyn Skye comes a story that asks whether our relentless pursuit of an ideal life might be keeping us from truly living at all.
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I had never read a book by Evelyn Skye when I was offered this one, but it sounded a little nerdy, which I am, and it was recommended to readers of Rebecca Serle, and I love her books, so I decided to give it a try. I have to say that I really enjoyed it! I am definitely addicted to my smart phone, but I am also a little suspicious about some of the newer technological advances happening right now, so I was not sure how I would feel about Talia's major life's work. However, I appreciated the topics of the book and how applicable they were to what is happening in the world today. I found the characters to be likable and the storyline to be well-developed, and I enjoyed the little subplots and how they came back around to contribute to the overall themes of the novel. I am glad I took a chance on a new-to-me author because this book both entertained me and gave me something to think about, and to me that is the perfect combination for a good reading experience.

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