Dawn's Book Reviews 7/23/25 Dawn's Book Reviews 7/23/25

Flight 725 by Kaylynn Hunt and Octavia Grant

Rating: 3.5/5 - Rounding up to 4

Spice: 0/5

Plot: 4/5

Primary Genre: Thriller

Blurb: On a red-eye from New York to Los Angeles, the passengers of Flight 725 are shaken by a sudden, blinding flash of light. As they try to make sense of what happened, terror strikes—one of them is found dead, and it’s clear the death was no accident.

With the plane still in the air and nowhere to run, the passengers realize they are trapped with a killer. Paranoia spreads as everyone becomes a suspect, and trust dissolves in the claustrophobic cabin.

As the body count rises, the survivors must identify the murderer before the plane lands—or before they all meet a gruesome end.

Dawn's Book Reviews 7/21/25 Dawn's Book Reviews 7/21/25

Butcher & Blackbird by Brynne Weaver

The Ruinous Love Trilogy #1

Rating: 5/5

Spice: 2.5/5

Plot: 5/5

Primary Genre: Dark Romance

Blurb: The viral TikTok friends-to-lovers dark romantic comedy full of murder, chaos, and spice—unlike anything you’ve read before—now available in all bookstores.

When a chance encounter sparks an unlikely bond between rival murderers Sloane and Rowan, the two find something elusive—the friendship of like-minded, pitch-black souls. From small town West Virginia to upscale California, from downtown Boston to rural Texas, the two hunters collide in an annual game of blood and suffering, one that pits them against the most dangerous monsters in the country.

But as their friendship develops into something more, the restless ghosts left in their wake are only a few steps behind, ready to claim more than just their newfound love. Can Rowan and Sloane dig themselves out of a game of graves? Or have they finally met their match?

Dawn's Book Reviews 7/20/25 Dawn's Book Reviews 7/20/25

Lights Out by Navessa Allen

Into Darkness #1

Rating: 4/5

Spice: 3/5

Plot: 4/5

Primary Genre: Dark Romance

Blurb: MEET BOOKTOK'S LATEST OBSESSION . . . DARK, FUNNY AND SUPER SPICY, CAN YOU HANDLE THE RIDE?
I want someone with a soul as black as night. Someone who would burn the world down for me and not lose a single minute of sleep over it.
Trauma nurse Aly escapes her hard-working days by thirsting after masked men online. To her, nothing could top the fantasy of her favorite tattooed and masked man hunting her down. But she never could have guessed that one drunken text would turn those dreams into reality . . .
I want things most people don't, craving darkness and depravity instead of light and love.
Josh has spent his life avoiding the limelight, but his online persona is another story. At night, he posts masked thirst traps for his millions of fans, until one follower catches his Aly.
Together, Aly and Josh live out their darkest fantasies, unaware that Aly has captured the attention of someone with far more sinister intentions. As Josh turns from predator to protector, he must ask himself how far he'll go for the woman he can't live without.

Dawn's Book Reviews 7/16/25 Dawn's Book Reviews 7/16/25

The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 3

Check out Season 3!

Dawn's Book Reviews 7/9/25 Dawn's Book Reviews 7/9/25

The Peculiar Gift of July by Ashley Ream

Rating: 4/5

Spice: 0/5

Plot: 5/5

Primary Genre: Magical realism/cozy fantasy

Blurb: With a dash of magic and an ensemble cast of oddball, small-town characters, this feel-good novel explores forgiveness, family, and the sense of humor it takes to live with the ones we love the most.

Ebey’s End is a small town on an island off the Pacific coast, reachable only by ferry (assuming the gods are with you and it’s not a Tuesday). It’s a comfortable, familiar (but okay, fine, sometimes lonely) life for its resident grocer Anita Odom. That is, until fourteen-year-old July shows up on her doorstep.

Taking in the recently orphaned daughter of an estranged cousin had not been on Anita’s to-do list. In fact, it’s a terrible idea. Anita is ill-suited, ill-prepared, and absolutely certain the entire enterprise will end in disaster—for both of them.

From the moment she arrives, July seems to “know” what each customer at the Island Grocery needs. They’re small: a housekeeping magazine slipped into old Mr. Daly’s basket or a coconut cream pie pressed into the hands of Pastor Chet. But one by one, these gifts start to change the lives of nearly everyone in town in ways much larger than they—or July—could have imagined.

It's not long before secrets are exposed and questions emerge, and everyone in Ebey’s End has to open their hearts a little wider to make room for it all.

Dawn's Book Reviews 6/22/25 Dawn's Book Reviews 6/22/25

48 Books To Read While You’re Waiting For Love Island

Can I pull you for a chat? Are you a Love Island junkie like me? Whether it’s the off season or an off night of the week, I’ve got you. A list of reality romance novels to calm your craving. There’s lots of options here, 48 to be exact and you can click on the book cover to check each one out.

Dawn's Book Reviews 6/12/25 Dawn's Book Reviews 6/12/25

Sweet Sin Slaughterhouse by Kinsley Kincaid

The Devil’s Society #4

Rating: 4/5

Spice: 3/5

Plot: 4/5

Primary Genre: Sapphic Erotic Horror

Blurb: If you’re expecting a romance or one of those chick flick love stories, you’ve come to the wrong place.
At my slaughterhouse, we play, you die, and we never love.
Who has the fucking time for that shit anyways?
I am a Sinclair.
My bloodline is infamous.
There is no denying it. I am my father’s daughter, baby Sin.
The Devil’s Society is my favorite playground, and this summer…I’m taking over.

This is a sapphic, but don't expect romance.
You can expect it to be dark, gothic, with a serving of erotic horror.

Dawn's Book Reviews 6/9/25 Dawn's Book Reviews 6/9/25

Sing Me Home to Carolina by Joy Callaway

Rating: 3/5

Spice: 0/5

Plot: 5/5

Primary Genre: Contemporary Romance

Blurb: A small town girl turned big city businesswoman returns home to help her parents, only to find her heart being tugged between her old flame and the town’s mysterious new guy. This witty and effervescent novel is perfect for readers of Viola Shipman and fans of Sweet Magnolias and Hart of Dixie. Event planner Hattie Norwood only came back home to Mountain View, South Carolina to support her parents as they receive word that the family peanut farm is infertile. This news doesn’t come as a surprise to Hattie, and she plans to return to Charlotte at the weekend’s end. But then the town councilwoman begs Hattie to use her event planning prowess to help Mountain View put on a musical benefit to stop the construction of the new Carolina Panthers stadium—a project Hattie is actually in favor of, much to the dismay of the locals—and she finds herself agreeing to stay until the town’s Founder’s Day celebration a week later, just as her old flame, former MLB standout Lee Lockhardt, materializes in town after a career-ending injury. When the hunky and mysterious new owner of Fox’s Hardware, Fox Ryan, suggests the Founder’s Day celebration be moved to the Norwoods’ barn in an attempt to reinvent the failing farm as a music and event venue, Hattie agrees, unaware this move will thrust the town, her love life, and the brewing tension over the stadium into a very public spotlight. Fans of small-town romance and quirky casts of characters will be rooting for Team Lee or Team Fox as Hattie decides if love, like most music, is meant to fade or last forever.

Dawn's Book Reviews 5/31/25 Dawn's Book Reviews 5/31/25

After Happily Ever by Jennifer Safrey

Rating: 5/5

Spice: 0/5

Plot: 5/5

Primary Genre: Fantasy/Cozy fantasy

Blurb: Princesses Neve, Della, and Bry are sisters-in-law, having married into the royal Charming family, and for the last thirty-plus years, they’ve been living a coveted happily-ever-after life in the idyllic kingdom of Foreverness. But royal life isn’t what it seems. Bry’s people-pleasing is exhausting her, Della’s exquisite and renowned beauty is fading with time, and Neve dreads the prospect of becoming queen one day, because power makes one a target, and she doesn’t want to be killed...again. Then the king’s sudden death thrusts each princess into a personal quest that shows her the truth behind the kingdom’s “perfection” and challenges her sense of purpose.

Dawn's Book Reviews 5/27/25 Dawn's Book Reviews 5/27/25

Unwritten Rules by Faye Holland

Legacies & Lies #1

Rating: 4/5

Spice: 3/5

Plot: 4/5

Primary Genre: New Adult Romance (Dark-ish)

Blurb: She's the innocent, sheltered rich girl. He's the campus playboy with a reputation. When it's time for her to take over for her late mother as CEO, a scandal tears at the seams of everything on campus, making her realize not everything is as it seemed on the outside. It's far more dangerous. Welcome to Willow Bay University. Business, pleasure, and academics collide and no one will be left untouched as everything and everyone is tested to the limit. This book is a New Adult spicy romance featuring he falls first, a push-and-pull relationship, bad boy x good girl, with darker themes and a masked man side character every early reader has become obsessed with. This is the first of a complete duology and is suitable for those wanting to dip their toes into the dark romance genre and explore darker themes.

Dawn's Book Reviews 5/18/25 Dawn's Book Reviews 5/18/25

It’s A Love Story by Annabel Monaghan

Rating: 5/5

Spice: 0/5

Plot: 5/5

Primary Genre: Contemporary Romance

Blurb: From the USA Today bestselling author of Nora Goes Off Script, a novel about a former adolescent TV punchline who has left her awkwardness in the rearview mirror thanks to a fake-it-till-you-make-it mantra that has her on the cusp of success, until she tells a lie that sets her on a crash-course with her past, spending a week in Long Island with the last man she thinks might make her believe in love. Rules for a love story: There are none. It’s all a lie. Jane Jackson knows that true love is a lie. Laughter is the only truth—you can’t fake a belly laugh. Jane should know, she spent her adolescence as "Poor Janey Jakes," the barbecue-sauce-in-her-braces punchline on America's fifth-favorite sitcom. Now she’s a Creative Executive at Clearwater Studios and she’s living by a new mantra: Fake it till you make it. Except, she might have faked it too far. Desperate to get her first project greenlit and riled up by pompous cinematographer and one-time crush Dan Finnegan, she opened her mouth and a big fat fib fell out. She claimed that Jack Quinlan, hottest popstar of the moment, has promised to write an original song for the soundtrack. Jack may have been her first kiss—and greatest source of shame—but she hasn’t spoken to him in twenty years. Now, Jane must turn to the last man she’d ever want to owe: Dan Finnegan. Because Jack is playing a festival in Dan’s hometown on Long Island, and Dan has an in. A week in close quarters with Dan while facing down her past is Jane's idea of hell, but Dan just might surprise her. While covering up her lie, can they find something true?

Dawn's Book Reviews 5/18/25 Dawn's Book Reviews 5/18/25

Faking Summer by Jess Bryson

Rating: 5/5

Spice: 3/5

Plot: 5/5

Primary Genre: Sports Romance

Blurb: Reese Carrington, Bayside’s golden boy, has the town wrapped around his finger—rich, smooth-talking, and the star pitcher everyone is obsessed with. But Caroline Matthews? She’s immune. Too focused, too smart, and too guarded to get caught up in his orbit. This is until Reese makes her an offer. Fake dating the town heartthrob might be her ticket to getting exactly what she wants. The only problem? Reese always plays to win. The more time they spend together, the harder it gets to tell what’s real and what’s just part of the game. His casual smirk and effortless charm has no business unsettling her. Her icy defenses shouldn’t intrigue him. And falling for the guy she swore she couldn’t stand? Absolutely off-limits. But in a town like Bayside, even the best plays don’t always go according to plan.