SYNOPSIS
Lyric returns home to help her mom run her bookshop after hearing about her health scare. Back home she meets Drew and thought it would be another one-night stand, but Drew is looking for something more.
What could happen?
RECAP AND REVIEW
Thank you to the author for an arc! All opinions are my own.
Pub date: September 29, 2026
Available on KU!
This is the second book in an interconnected romance series and genuinely works well as a standalone. I haven’t had a chance to read the first yet and didn’t feel like I was missing anything major, though I will eventually go back to read the first.
When we meet Lyric, she’s for the streets, used to having one-night stands, leading with sex, and having casual situations. Her mindset to me is “don’t hate the player, hate the game.” Lyric is straightforward, self-assured, and isn’t afraid to go after the things she wants.
Drew wants more though. He not only wants to see Lyric again after their night together, but he wants to get to know Lyric on a deeper level. Drew is a golden retriever. He’s patient, loyal, and considerate of others and their opinions, sometimes to a fault.
The story is pretty fast paced, which I liked. Both Drew and Lyric have familial issues that they work on throughout the story: one of them being coping with grief and the other dealing with an unsupportive parent. There were times where I thought Lyric was too quick to react and Drew was too slow to react, but nobody’s perfect and I loved that they weren’t either.
I also really loved the different relationships and friendships throughout the book. From Lyric and her mom, to Drew and his mom, to their joint friends, a lot of the conversations made me laugh along with characters or nod my head in agreement.
If I had to describe this romance in one word, I would say it’s supportive. Drew and Lyric both wanted to see each other win and I thought it was really cute how they inspired, motivated, and showed up for each other and how they were able to heal parts of themselves together.
I wish some of the things that happened occurred on the page and near the end I didn’t like that situation with one of the minor characters, but the things I enjoyed outweighed what I didn’t like.
This book is really about not letting fear stop you from going after what you want. There are some themes of family, grief, starting again, moving forward, and living for yourself.
Read this for:
🎨 She’s a reformed player
🎨 He falls first and harder
🎨 One Night Stand
🎨 Writer FMC x Painter MMC
🎨 Grief to Healing
🎨 Dual POV
OVERALL
Overall, I give this a 4 out of 5 stars. I had a great time reading this, I read it pretty fast for me, and I recommend it to everyone who enjoys reading about family dynamics and people who are inspired to create.
What do you think?