Abby Jimenez knows how to layer difficult situations and messy complications into her rom-coms, and her main protagonists must confront and overcome past and present difficulties in order to banter their way through the story and build a sweet life together. I was hooked on the chemistry and fascinated by the significant, heartbreaking obstacles and how they might possibly be addressed to allow for love. Larissa made a split-second decision one night after a concert, when she

McCurdy translates the singular voice she displayed in her candid, darkly funny memoir into fiction with a story about a taboo relationship that serves as a catalyst for an increasingly strong young protagonist to reject what doesn't work for her and move forward with her life. McCurdy's unique voice came through loud and clear in her personal, unflinching memoir I'm Glad My Mom Died . The premise of her debut novel Half His Age  made me cringe, and I wasn't sure I was going

I love the way Fortune builds a summer tableau, but the reasoning for this forbidden love didn't hold up for me, and I was frustrated by...

I love an astronaut story, and while Reid spent far more page time on relationships than on the astronaut or space aspects, there was...

The deep bond that builds between an injured Union soldier and the Virginia woman who secretly takes him in is touching and complicated,...

In Hall's Broken Country , characters do their duties, find wondrous love, feel heartbreak, suffer tragedies, sometimes act impulsively,...

I was intrigued by the premise of this story--two people tied together by a past tragedy who stumble back into each other's lives in an...

The True Love Experiment is a wonderful, romantic read about forbidden attraction and heartwarming vulnerability, with steamy scenes,...

Ali Hazelwood's light fiction novel is wonderfully immersed in science, offering a forbidden relationship and an enemies-to-lovers...

The fun first book in Tricia Levenseller's trilogy about a teenage female pirate captain sets up a long game toward obtaining a key...

ICYMI: In Matt Haig's How to Stop Time, main protagonist Tom Hazard lives for centuries but is not allowed to fall in love. When he...

Marilynne Robinson offers another gentle yet affecting book in her Gilead series, this time about faith, grace, human connection, and a...

The moments of redemption aren’t too easy, and I found the various threads building toward the amazing ending to be satisfying and...

I adored the romantic setup and seemingly ill-fated attraction in Saft's young adult fantasy-mystery, but I was dissatisfied with the...