Every Sunday, I post a walking reading recap over on Instagram where I take my blue heeler Link out for a walk and completely yap about all the books I’ve read that week. 🐾📚

Those videos are usually very chaotic, very unfiltered, and very much me trying to summarize eight books before Link decides we need to investigate every leaf in the neighborhood.

But because those recaps are more high-level first impressions, I wanted this space to be where I share the slightly longer thoughts. The books that surprised me, frustrated me, emotionally damaged me, made me laugh, or completely consumed my brain for a few days.

And this week’s reading lineup somehow included:
✨ cruise ship wedding chaos
🎯 dark romantic suspense
🌊 cozy coastal small towns
🏳️‍🌈 queer found family
⚔️ treasure hunts and Midwest chaos
💍 emotionally obsessed historical romance husbands
🐉 monster girl fantasy romance
🕵️‍♂️ aggressively unserious gay spies
📖 banned books and historical yearning

Let's dive right in!

The Shippers

This definitely was not my favorite romance of the year, but I still ended up having a pretty good time with it.

The setup is pure romcom chaos: after Jojo’s estranged best friend Cooper crashes her wedding and convinces her not to marry her fiancé, she decides the solution to her life choices is reconnecting with the guy who gave her her first kiss during her sister’s cruise ship wedding.

And honestly? Jojo stressed me OUT 😂 She was messy, impulsive, and missed painfully obvious emotional cues constantly. There were multiple moments where I wanted to lovingly grab her shoulders and yell “PLEASE CONNECT THE DOTS.”

But despite that, the chemistry between her and Cooper genuinely worked for me. Their relationship felt believable in that very specific “we’ve known each other forever and know exactly how to annoy one another” way. The emotional intimacy ended up carrying the romance more than anything else, and I appreciated that this didn’t feel overly polished or manufactured. It was awkward and messy and occasionally frustrating, but still cute.

The Final Target

Nora Roberts really reminded me why she’s considered such a legend in romantic suspense.

This follows Arden, an author rebuilding her life while a stalker’s obsession with her becomes increasingly dangerous and psychologically unsettling. And while I expected suspense, I genuinely did not expect this book to get as dark as it did at certain points. Definitely check content warnings going in.

But the tension throughout this was SO well done. Roberts slowly escalates the danger in a way that keeps this constant unease simmering underneath the story.

And I genuinely need to scream about the audiobook narration for a second because January LaVoy absolutely crushed this performance. This was technically a single narrator audiobook, but there were multiple moments where I forgot it wasn’t full cast because every single character felt distinct and fully realized.

Dolly All the Time

This book felt like sitting on a wraparound porch in coastal New England while drinking coffee and gossiping with your neighbors.

It follows a single mom navigating complicated family dynamics, romance, small-town drama, and the lingering feeling of trying to figure out where exactly you fit into your own life.

This had fake dating, lovable neighbors, rich family chaos, and all the cozy emotional warmth I wanted from it. The relationships throughout the story were honestly my favorite part because even when characters frustrated each other, there was still so much underlying love and comfort woven into the dynamics.

Very much a “curl up under a blanket” kind of read.

This Must Be the Place

This YA sapphic romance ended up surprising me in the best way.

Louisa inherits a queer bar from her great-uncle and becomes determined to save it from being demolished while uncovering pieces of his hidden history and legacy along the way.

What I appreciated most here was how much the story focused on grief, identity, community, and preserving queer spaces. The emotional core of the book felt far stronger than just the romance itself, and I really loved the conversations surrounding found family and the importance of protecting places where people feel safe and seen.

Berserkers

This book genuinely feels like the kind of chaotic adventure movie I would’ve obsessed over as a kid.

A group of friends in small-town Minnesota go searching for hidden treasure after learning one of them is moving away, and naturally the entire thing spirals into weird local legends, historical mysteries, and nonstop chaos.

This absolutely has The Goonies energy everyone keeps comparing it to. Fast pacing, treasure hunts, cinematic action, quirky town vibes… it fully commits to the adventure movie atmosphere.

I did struggle a little with the narration style and some of the exaggerated Midwest stereotypes after a while, but underneath all the chaos there’s actually a pretty emotional story about friendship, growing up, and fearing the loss of the people and places that ground you.

The Dove and the Rogue

Marriage of convenience historical romance where the emotionally unavailable rake accidentally becomes obsessively devoted to his wife almost immediately? Yeah. Inject that directly into my bloodstream.

Jenny proposes a practical marriage to David in order to maintain her independence and help secure her sister’s inheritance. The arrangement is supposed to be simple: marry, spend one night together, then separate and continue living independently.

Unfortunately for David, he immediately ruins the plan by falling completely in love with his wife.

The chemistry here was fantastic. Sweet, emotional, spicy, and ridiculously bingeable. And I loved that despite David’s reputation, he genuinely respected Jenny’s independence and ambitions instead of trying to change her.

Reformed rakes who are embarrassingly obsessed with their wives will continue working on me every single time.

A Curse of Beasts and Magic

This reminded me exactly why Jeaniene Frost works so well for me as a fantasy romance writer.

Raine is secretly struggling with a terrifying creature living inside her that feeds on pain. After a violent encounter exposes her to a hidden supernatural world, she’s forced into an uneasy alliance with Remy, a powerful Warden tasked with helping her control the beast within her.

And yes… this is basically a Beauty and the Beast retelling where Beauty is the beast.

The worldbuilding honestly surprised me in a really good way. Hidden realms, magical politics, supernatural hierarchies, monsters, romance tension… it balanced all of those elements without ever feeling overwhelming.

Also the audiobook narration was excellent and made Raine feel incredibly emotionally immediate as a character.

The Tuxedo Society

This book is genuinely absurd and I mean that affectionately.

A struggling actor turned scented candle salesman gets recruited into a secret society of glamorous gay spies trying to stop political conspiracies and save the world.

And honestly? The SECOND you stop asking questions and fully commit to the chaos, this becomes such a fun time.

This book feels like James Bond, The Naked Gun, Knives Out, and a fever dream all smashed together. It’s campy, self-aware, wildly over-the-top, and constantly escalating into more ridiculous situations.

Not every joke landed for me and there are definitely moments where the narration spirals into tangents, but overall this just felt like pure entertainment.

Behind Five Willows

June Hur truly never misses for me.

Set in 1700s Korea during a period of censorship and banned literature, this Pride & Prejudice re-telling follows Haewon as she secretly helps circulate outlawed books through an underground bookshop while slowly falling for nobleman Yu Seojun.

And first of all: THE YEARNING.

This book is absolutely overflowing with restrained emotional tension in the best possible way. Every interaction somehow felt emotionally loaded because of everything left unsaid between them.

But beyond the romance, what really hit me was the theme surrounding censorship and preserving stories. Watching characters risk everything because they believe knowledge matters felt incredibly timely and emotionally impactful.

And that’s a wrap for this week’s reading adventures!

As always, let me know which of these you’ve read (or which one you’re adding to your TBR immediately).