 Hi and welcome to my blog tour stop for Raquel Vasquez Gilliland's Witch of Wild Things! A big thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.Summary.Sage Flores has been running from her family—and their “gifts”—ever since her younger sister Sky died. Eight years later, Sage reluctantly returns to her hometown. Like slipping into an old, comforting sweater, Sage takes back her job at Cranberry Rose Company and uses her ability to communicate with plants to discover unusual heritage specimens in the surrounding lands. What should be a simple task is complicated by her partner in botany sleuthing: Tennessee Reyes. He broke her heart in high school, and she never fully recovered. Working together is reminding her of all their past tender, genuine moments—and new feelings for this mature sexy man are starting to take root in her heart. With rare plants to find, a dead sister who keeps bringing her coffee, and another sister whose anger fills the sky with lightning, Sage doesn’t have time for romance. But being with Tenn is like standing in the middle of a field on the cusp of a summer thunderstorm—supercharged and inevitable.  [ID: Jess’s white hand holds the ebook in front of a mural of 3 flowers on a slate colored brick wall: a yellow sunflower, a yellow coneflower, & what might be a pink peony.]My review.Witch of Wild Things is one of those gorgeous witch stories. In it, family, home, friendship, love, *& the natural world* are celebrated & important to MC Sage’s well-being & happiness. They’re not things she’s been actively pursuing in the past though—she’s been running from most of them actually, ever since her sister died, leaving her & her remaining sister estranged & Sage with no desire to stay at home. When she’s forced to return, she has to eventually deal with all of it, including her past feelings for a teenage crush who left her broken-hearted. Witch of Wild Things is a lovely story of so many things: finding & choosing your person, being a good friend, taking responsibility, taking care of & respecting the environment & the natural world. I have a new affinity for mushrooms after reading this one. The writing is lyrical in moments but there’s also a striking romance arc including a moment where the MMC takes up for her with a pissy park ranger. Tennessee Reyes is a great balance of hot, understanding, & sensitive & I approve. This is one of those well-rounded witchy reads that will satisfy on the physical & emotional fronts. While a couple things with the plot left me with a bit of the “huh” feeling, overall this is such a sweet & wonderful & whimsical & earthy read that satisfied. 4⭐️. Out 09/12.CWs: Previous loss of sister. Parental abandonment. Loss of mom. A secondary character is outed as victim of abuse. Sage is fired after ending a physical relationship with her boss. Are you in the mood for a witchy read yet? Let me know what you think about this one and thanks for stopping by! 
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 Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.A big thanks to Bethany @illstoptheworldandreadwithyou for sharing about this book. As soon as I read her review I was like SOLD & I ended up finding a fantasy with kissing book that was so good! But also now I am INVESTED & there’s a cliffie. But let’s focus on the positive ;) . Rebecca Ross’s Divine Rivals has an enemies to lovers, workplace romance, class difference romance arc with a bit of a you’ve got mail correspondence situation—Iris, the FMC, has been writing letters & magically sending them to her beloved brother who’s at war, without knowing that they are actually traveling to her workplace rival Roman Kitt instead. He does know that Iris is sending them. That won’t cause any problems, right? ;) I basically thought everything about this book is so well done. Those elements, how war experiences are incorporated, both of the leads’ writing experiences, how they come to mean more to each other. I love how they came together & the closing scenes left me with my heart in my throat. Not to mention the sweetness of various moments throughout the novel, like how Roman is willing to ride on the side of a truck FOR HOURS into a war zone because he can’t bear for Iris to go without him…& this is before they’re even together. Highly recommend this one & really need the second kthankyoubye. 5⭐️. Out 04/04. CWs: previous death of mother. Previous death of sister. War references.
 Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.Secret admirer letters usually have me waving a banner that says YES, I LOVE, but while there are aspects of Tessa Bailey’s Secretly Yours that I really enjoy, the letters & the lead combo just don’t totally work for me. Landscape artist and business owner Hallie Welch has had feelings for Julian Vos for years & his reappearance on his family vineyard makes them forefront in her mind. Julian is bewildered by his immediate attraction to Hallie, to everything about her (especially her breasts), except for her total spontaneity. He’s a big fan of schedules & planning. I don’t know what to say about how opposites attract functions in this book except just to say that I didn’t buy them as a couple. But with that being said, the physical chemistry between Hallie and Julian is hot and I responded very well to the body positivity . The plot is a bit muddled to me as well—the letters feel superfluous to me. If you’re a Tessa Bailey fan &/or you’re looking for a quick-ish read with heat & some heart, you might really enjoy this one. But for me it was a somewhat superficial reading experience. 3⭐️. Out now!CWs: Grief over grandmother. Reference to mental breakdown of colleague. Anxiety rep.
 Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.God bless my fellow bookstagrammers & book-lovers for spreading the word about books you’re adoring. That’s how I found Megan Bannen’s The Undertaking of Hart & Mercy, & it delighted me so hard. From the first pages, when the hero & heroine haven’t actually seen each other in person yet but the author has so perfectly captured their antagonism, I was ALL in. Marshal and demigod Hart Ralston & undertaker Mercy Birdsall do not like each other. But they must work together at times. Then one day Mercy gets a letter from “a friend.” That friend is actually Hart, who didn’t think his letter would actually get delivered to someone. It’s a You’ve Got Mail-ish situation, people! Only add fantasy. This is so wonderfully & inventively written, the chemistry between leads—& their slow & then fast fall into attraction & feelings—is compelling & lovely, & it all comes together so heartwarmingly at the end MY GOD. It was just so good. The dance scene, the epilogue . Other things I loved: a grand p*%#> declaration, a taciturn hero who also cries, stunning final lines. Check this one out!! 5 ⭐️. Out 08/23.CWs: Death. Violence. Reference to cheating & death of family members. Parental abandonment in past and current fears over parent's health. Hart is somewhat self-conscious about being a demigod due to how others have treated him in the past.
 Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.Q: what’s your opinion about a You’ve Got Mail situation in books or movies? Lauren Layne’s books always feel so glossy & sophisticated to me—like they’re letting me peek into another possible life—but they’re also still warm & gently amusing. It’s been a couple of years since I devoured her backlist & it’s always a pleasure stepping back into her voice. But To Sir, with Love isn’t an unqualified “love” for me. Likened to You’ve Got Mail & other examples featuring that dynamic, To Sir is about a fairy-tale obsessed woman, Gracie Cooper, who’s taken on a job at her family’s champagne store out of familial obligation & hasn’t found a (reciprocated) love…despite her very romantic nature. But she does regularly correspond with “Sir” as “Lady,” & they share news & feelings & thoughts with each other through an anonymous dating app. But Sir has a girlfriend. His friend entered him on the app as a joke. Sebastian Andrews, the totally awful man trying to buy out the lease on her family’s store, has a gf too. But also Sebastian is handsome & surprises Gracies sometimes with flashes of non-shark behavior. Two men. Two possibilities. & also zero possibilities. The interplay between Gracie & “both” men is charming, particularly between Gracie & Sebastian. I really go for a charmer lead / more uptight lead sighing in exasperation dynamic. The use of 1st person & the overall premise feels really relatable to my look-for-romance under every rainbow personality. But the “You’ve Got Mail”-esque plot complications aren’t executed pleasingly. I often feel frustrated & or question how it’s present in the book—how the leads are acting, what is supported & not supported by the story itself, etc. There’s a conflict moment to me that also feels shallow & kinda “huh?” This is a fun read mainly because of LL’s voice & flair, but it stalls on the You’ve Got Mail angle for me. 4 ⭐️. Release date: 06/29TW:
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