 Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own. Dislike(-ish) to friendship (& a small moment of more) to dislike(-ish) to love. So many parentheses, but to me KD Casey’s writing is filled with nuance & subtlety & feelings that aren’t always straightforward, especially when our leads don’t communicate with each other for YEARS even though we all know they belong together (second chance mini emotional explosion over ;)). Ok so I am still working through my emotions about KD Casey’s upcoming book, Diamond Ring, out tomorrow. But in short, KD Casey is one of my favorite writers & this book is amazing & 5 ️stars, & I want you to read it . Alex Angelides & Jake Fischer both make the same Majors team at the same time. In the beginning, Jake is the player to watch, the golden pitcher. That season, Alex & Jake’s friendship grows & before the end, they’ve become intimate in another way. But after Jake has a career-sidelining injury, he & Alex start imploding, & the best friends turned lovers aren’t communicating anymore. In the current storyline, they’re reunited on the same team with their baseball career expectations changed & all the memories of the past they keep holding onto. Anxiety & depression rep are a big part of this novel & it’s emotionally affecting & inspiring to see a lead who not only uses therapy & meds as resources (& talks about them) but also shares how he has difficulty orgasming as a result of taking them. I love how Alex & Jake’s sexual relationship plays out in the book & how pleasure, understanding, & patience is such a big part of their physical dynamic without those things being absolutely predicated on orgasms every single time they engage in intimacy. Besides that, there’s such a fun blip of anonymous date app texting, & the grumpy & the sunshine vibes are delish. This is such a great book & if you haven’t read KD Casey’s books yet please do so & then message me to discuss! 5⭐️. Out 04/11.CWs: Previous death of father. Reference to antiSemitism. Mother worried about Jake self-harming. Panic attack. Compulsive tidiness. Difficulty getting aroused.
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 Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own. Flowerheart by Catherine Bakewell is a YA fantasy with romantic elements that’s also pretty dark in moments. Or maybe just darker than I expected. Here, witch Clara Danielle Lucas’s magic can hurt people, like her beloved father, & her mother is a dangerous witch who’s broken from away from magic’s governing body—The Council—& basically makes dangerous magic available to whoever can pay for it. Against the odds—her scandalous witch background, her unpredictable & strong magic, Clara learns how to wield her magic with the help of her estranged best friend Xavier. The queer rep in this book is fantastic & the characters are complicated in an intriguing way. This book features 16 year old-ish protagonists & the writing style feels reflective of that to me. I wanted more from this story but I can definitely see it appealing to lots of readers who want a sweet fantasy with notes of dangerous & risk. 3.5⭐️. Out now![ID: a white hand holds the ebook in front of a white bookcase & a wood desk with red tulips in a glass vase on top.]
 Thanks to the author & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own. I can’t even imagine how awkward I would be on a reality tv show (let’s just say very awkward) but it’s something the drama- & spectacle-loving part of me loves from a tv or book distance. Courtney Kae’s In the Case of Heartbreak has a relatively peripheral reality tv situation with bakery owner Ben Parrish on a baking show trying to win the prize with his family’s cinnamon roll recipe. But on the initial reality tv filming day, the man he’s had feelings for forever, his friend Adam, seems to firmly establish them as “just friends” in front of thousands of viewers. Visiting family & planning his beloved grandma’s bday bash seems like a good way to get away, & then Adam shows up there, Ben learns things in his family aren’t quite what he thought, & he’s dealing with his narcissistic dad. This small town romance has leads who are open & vulnerable with each other, slowly looking toward each other as confidants for their greatest fears & insecurities. There’s a lot of beauty in the kind of vulnerability that Ben in particular offers, in the relatable fears he shares about failure & being the person someone gives up their career aspirations for & the responsibilities he feels weighing him down. Therapy & meds are part of the storyline & though the starts & stops in the initial part of their storyline annoyed me a bit, on the whole the leads’ open-ish communication is something I love to see represented in romance. This romance is for all the lovers of soft stories, lots of emotion, loving families (as well as some family baggage), & positive mental health rep. 4⭐️. Out 07/25.CWs: Ben was a former missing child & has trauma surrounding media attention regarding that incident. His dad left the family. Narcissism & emotional abuse exhibited by dad. Financial stresses. Adam has a recovering alcoholic father; he was abandoned by his mom.
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