Lost and Found by Tarah DeWitt is currently competing for my top book of the year with Star Shipped by Cat Sebastian. Like, I still cannot decide on any given day. But I still haven’t even given y’all my full review, which feels like a travesty. So today we’re fixing that. I received an e and audio review copy of Lost and Found from the publisher via Netgalley and I listened to the audiobook and I read the physical copy that I picked up early (I’m sorry!) when I saw it already out at Barnes when I popped in for a quick pick me up.
I’m also going to review for you Die for Me by Shirlene Obuobi and The Cupid Dilemma by April Asher. I read the e-ARC I received for Die for Me and then I had both an e-ARC and an ALC for The Cupid Dilemma and I read it via audio. Shout out to the publishers! All three of these books are out now so you also can pick them up if you haven’t and are interested!
Lost and Found by Tarah DeWitt
This book wrecked me so beautifully that it immediately found its way to my favorites shelf when I finished it. Don’t read this if IVF or people dying of cancer is a trigger for you that you’re not in the headspace to consume, please. But if you, like me, love a grief novel, yearning, it’s always been you vibes, family dynamics, small town antics, a hot firefighter, damaged people finding their way together, then I would say this book could be for you. I’m not really ready to say goodbye to the Byrds and I’m praying that saying bye to Spunes doesn’t mean saying bye to all of the Byrds because Micah can leave Spunes, yeah? All this to say, I have nothing coherent to review for you. This, like Star Shipped earlier this year, is the kind of book that’s an “if I loved it less, I could talk about it more,” situation. I’m feeling every emotion. I cried. I laughed. I sighed. Truly, every emotion.
As for what this particular installment is about, essentially Bea’s best friend has died of cancer and Bea inherited the eggs that her bestie had frozen. Bea decides that she wants to be a mom and that she wants to use her best friend’s eggs to become one. For romance reasons, she then winds up rooming with Silas, the man that both she and her best friend had always crushed on. That man…. I love him. Anyway, things happen and by things I mean, Silas and Bea fall in love.
The audiobook is great, fantastic narrators, but I honestly found myself needing to physically read so much of it because I just needed to be able to read faster. Maybe one day I’ll be emotionally well enough to be thoroughly devastated by the audiobook again instead of reading probably half and half.
Die for Me by Shirlene Obuobi
It’s been a couple of weeks since I finished Die for Me and I still don’t know how I feel. This book is going to be so fantastic for you if you love horror and romance because the slow build of the creepy horror feeling had me screaming at Sean to get the heck away from Julian. You may have noticed though that I am a romance reader. I have dabbled approximately three times into the horror genre and what I learned from this book is that if the love interest gives red flags, I actually don’t want to root for the romance. Is this growth? (I was Team Edward back in the day, I’m afraid.) But I really loved Obuobi’s writing so I’m even more excited to get to Between Friends and Lovers, which I really should have already read anyway.
If you aren’t sure what this book is about… What I can tell you is this: Sean, a doctor, meets Julian, hot, rich, and too young for her, at the wedding of her best friend’s ex husband to Julian’s best friend. She’s there for the sake of her goddaughter and she absolutely does not expect to find someone so intriguing. But nevertheless, they part, never again to meet, except. And then we have such a cutie little love story minus the fact that Sean keeps getting sick when she doesn’t see Julian for a little while.
So, in conclusion, definitely read this book if you want the blend of horror and romance. But if you’re in the mood for a cutie paranormal romance, maybe try a different book.
The Cupid Dilemma by April Asher
April Asher’s paranormal romances have been a fun time for several books now. The Cupid Dilemma though is the first in a new series that seems to be in a whole new world. Here we have two daughters of Aphrodite and a cousin (not sure on their parentage… It was probably covered in the book) who own and operate a matchmaking and wedding planning company in New York City. One daughter, Adalyn, is our FMC and she is sort of an anti-aphrodite. She does not believe in love, yes, despite the fact that she works in wedding planning. Unfortunately, she and the business are in need of some positive press because of several reasons, including but not limited to Adalyn being called the Anti-Aphrodite has been making the rounds on socials. Enter her neighbor. He’s super hot, but also plays music inappropriately loudly while Adalyn is trying to sleep. This might be because he’s a rockstar. Or it’s just because he really likes making Adalyn a little riled. Anyway, a fake dating scheme ensues.
Here’s the deal. I really liked the plot of this one and the found family. This was fun and breezy and stayed fun and breezy pretty much the whole time. These days that seems to be hard to find. I am super intrigued and excited for the next books in the series so all in all, I think this was a great kickoff book and I am delighted to continue in the future.
The audiobook was fun and I did think Joy Belmont and Tim Paige did a really solid job. I think the book and the audiobook in particular could have leaned a little heavier into the fact that Nix writes songs, but I would listen to the two of them narrate a book produced the same way again.
Closing Thoughts
Three solid books for this set of reviews, which is definitely nice to have! Have you read any of these yet? Do you want to? Let me know your thoughts!
xx
firewhiskeyreader 