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As per usual, thank you so much to Netgalley for these advanced copies. In shocking news, I read two of them with the actual e-ARC copy, Heavy Hitter and A Photo Finish, and I read my audio review copy of The Break Up Pact. Truly, a miracle has occurred. Anyway, I’m so excited to talk to you about these books today because I think they’re going to be really successful for some of y’all and will likely not work for others if you’re not in the right mood. And, if I’ve learned anything about myself, it’s that being in the right mood for a book is integral to my overall enjoyment. So without further ado let’s talk about the books!

A Photo Finish by Elsie Silver

A Photo Finish is book two in Elsie Silver’s Gold Rush Ranch series, and happens to be the book that introduces Violet, the sister of the Eaton boys who are the MMCs in the Chestnut Ridge series, which I (and everyone else) am obsessed with. For a while with this book, I was pretty sure it was going to be right up there with Heartless as a favorite book in the Elsie Silver series, but ultimately, nothing can actually top Cade Eaton and Willa for me. That said, this book brought the angst, the tension, and the full cast of found family that makes Elsie’s writing shine, in my opinion.

Essentially, Violet and Cole had an online relationship wherein Violet had posted one artistic nude and Cole responded and they struck up a virtual friendship. Fast forward, and something went down and now Cole and Violet are both living at Gold Rush Ranch and they are… not getting along well. Throw in some forced proximity, a horse, and a lot of tension and eventually, the two of them manage to find their way to one another.

Important things to know about this book: First, Cole is a veteran and has a prosthesis that he refuses to let anyone know about and has a lot of internalized self-consciousness about it. I would call it ableism, but it doesn’t exactly feel like that? But anyway, he’s working through that throughout the book. Second, Cole’s also dealing with PTSD, not just from the war, but from watching his dad die during a horse race. Given what Violet’s career is (a jockey), there’s some tension.

I loved the way this book takes a very reticent hero (Cole) who is so wildly reluctant to open up, to talk about his feelings, and puts him in situation after situation to let the way he can’t stop caring shine through. And Elsie’s plotting really shines through here because I am a huge fan of “romance reasons” but there’s not a single bit of that here. The plot all makes sense, it doesn’t feel like there’s an author in the background manipulating things. Now, Billie (Violet’s BFF) may be pulling some strings in the background, but that’s another story. 😉 I also adore the relationships between all the characters, main and side. I love the tension between Violet and Cole and loved even more when they eventually give into it. I think this book would have benefited from me reading it in dead tree form because there was a lot that I wanted to highlight and for some reason my ARC copy wasn’t letting me do that. But overall, I highly enjoyed this one and also this playlist I found on Spotify to accompany my reading, which I’m still listening to. It features a lot of Taylor Swift, which I always love, but I will say, there were some lines in here that were giving a lot of “You’re Losing Me” feelings.

(Also, also, there’s a line from Cade in here that made me want to fling myself into his arms for a hug and also re-read Heartless, but I’ve resisted thus far.)

The Break-Up Pact by Emma Lord

The Break-Up Pact by Emma Lord was a recipe where all the ingredients for a favorite book were present, but somehow I wound up merely enjoying it and not loving it. And when I say it like that, it sounds like it was bad, but it wasn’t! It was a really solid read from Emma Lord, but the way that I loved Tweet Cute by Lord has me constantly hoping for that full fledged five star, I’m obsessed with it feeling and unfortunately, that wasn’t present here. That said, if you, like me, are interested in a childhood friends (who had deep feelings for one another as teens) turned strangers (New Years Day vibes anyone?) turned friends again turned lovers, this book could definitely be for you. Probably though it would help if you don’t regard running as the most horrific exercise one could possibly engage in.

Essentially, June and Levi are (a) both runners and (b) are both back in their small town. June has been for a while (a year or so, maybe?) because her sister died and she has taken over running the tea shop the two of them dreamed up when they were children. She’s still grieving and having a hard time moving on, in the sense that her grief is keeping her stagnant and it’s causing problems with the tea shop. June has also become a meme, The Crying Girl, because her douche canoe of an ex-boyfriend dumped her on live television. Levi, meanwhile, has come back to their small town to work on his novel and to get some space from his fiancé, who it turns out was cheating on him with a famous actor. Both of them have therefore been thrust into the spotlight, of sorts, and when the two of them are photographed together, somehow the Internet dubs them “The Revenge Exes” and the two of them decide to play along for their own reasons.

So that, in a nutshell, is the plot. This book has an interesting way of switching back and forth between some over the top ridiculous antics of viral-ness and then pairing that with some really deep and introspective moments dealing with grief or the pain of not talking to someone you never thought you would be without, so, almost a different kind of grief in a way. I think this is a tone that works for me quite often. For example, I love Beach Read by Emily Henry, which is alternatively laugh out loud funny and then also, let me cry for ten minutes because this book has me in my feels. Unfortunately, for me, I don’t think I read The Break-Up Pact when I was quite in the mood for that back and forth in tone. So while I really enjoyed it, this book didn’t crack the five star obsession mark. I look forward to seeing what other people thought though, because I really do think it can work for so many other people!

Heavy Hitter by Katie Cotugno

I loved Cotugno’s writing in Birds of California, which is the main reason why I requested this ARC. There’s also the fact that I’m a huge Taylor fan and even though things that feel like fanfic of Taylor and Travis freaks me out in so many ways, I was still intrigued by the premise of Heavy Hitter on the basis of my love for her/them alone. Heavy Hitter is about Lacey Logan, who is a superstar who knows, objectively, how lucky and fortunate she is to have the life she does. She is strategic as all get out about her career (a singer) and channels a lot of Taylor attributes as far as that goes. She also, though, is pretty isolated and doesn’t really have a best friend, unless you count her assistant whom she obviously pays. Lacey has a chance encounter with Jimmy Hodges, a professional baseball player (catcher), and the two of them really hit it off, both conversationally and in a sexy kind of way. Jimmy also gets his own perspective chapters and in those we learn about how he’s struggling with retirement thoughts (reminded me a bit of Jason Kelce, tbh).

Even as I’m writing this review, I’m still trying to sort out how I feel about it overall. When I could turn off the part of my brain that wanted to compare everything Lacey said to Taylor Swift, things went pretty well for me and Heavy Hitter. My problems were when I couldn’t quite separate myself from making those comparisons. And, in all fairness, I think that while Cotugno certainly draws from things that are probably inspired by Taylor, she gave Lacey a distinct personality. But then there would be things like Lacey talking about Easter eggs and I was like, “Taylor??” So, you know. But that’s also not something that’s going to bother everyone, so do with that what you will. I certainly don’t think I would recommend this book to you if you actively dislike Taylor Swift, but maybe there’s a sweet spot between enjoying her music and being a HUGE fan like I am where the enjoyment will be easier to find. Before I move away from the sort of negatives, let me get my biggest out of the way, which is, this book just ends!! It felt so abrupt. I was like, excuse me?? And then there’s an epilogue but it didn’t tell me anything I wanted to know. The agony, honestly.

Anyway, moving away from the negatives, what I loved about this book was Cotugno’s writing. I think she’s a fantastic writer, who uses language pretty sparsely in my opinion, but gets her thoughts across tremendously well. She is able to put things into words that I struggle to even get across in the sanctity of my own brain. So I really appreciate that aspect of this book. I also love the chronic pain that Jimmy deals with and how that is represented. I think we got the realities of his career in terms of the physicality required, but with Lacey we get more of the burdens of super fame and I would have liked to see a mix of that for both of them.

Overall, I enjoyed this book a lot, despite the things that didn’t quite work for me. It won’t be on my list of favorites at the end of the year, but I certainly wouldn’t discourage anyone from picking it up.

Closing Thoughts

All in all, I enjoyed these reads, but I’m still looking for some more reads to add to my favorites list for the end of the year (and this quarter, for that matter). Have you read any of these books? If so, what did you think? If not, are you interested? Do they sound like they would be for you? Let me know!

xx