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Review: Out of Step, Into You by Ciera Burch

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , , ,
Out of Step, Into You by Ciera Burch

Out of Step, Into You
Ciera Burch
Farrar, Straus, & Giroux
Published May 20, 2025

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Out of Step, into You is a sapphic contemporary romance following childhood friends turned cross-country team rivals who are forced to work together to win the state championship – for fans of She Gets the Girl.

You can’t outrun love.

Taylor and Marianna were each other’s whole world – best friends, running partners, practically sisters – until Marianna moved away and Taylor promptly ghosted her. When the former best friends turned rivals end up on the same cross-country team three years later, everything is a competition… and a reminder of past feelings, as well as blossoming new ones.

Marianna runs because she’s angry. The oldest child of a single mother, she knows all about responsibility – for her siblings, at her part-time job. She just has to stay focused and be faster than the past nipping at her heels if she wants to secure a new, brighter future. With or without Taylor.

Taylor runs to prove herself. The only child of an almost-Olympian, she’s no stranger to high expectations. With enough effort, she knows she can immortalize herself with a state record and make her parents proud. Then, she can figure out her own passion. She definitely doesn’t have time to untangle her feelings towards Mari.

Can this pair figure out a way to work together before their past catches up with them?

About Out of Step, Into You

My Review

A long time ago I saw someone posting that their favorite trope was friends to enemies to lovers, which I hadn’t thought a lot about. Since then, I’ve read several books that qualify, and I tend to enjoy them (as long as the reconnection and romance don’t seem forced). While Taylor and Marianna aren’t precisely enemies, they begin the story on rival cross country teams after an estrangement in their friendship. So, just about as close as you can get to that trope in a contemporary romance.

The story alternates between each girl’s point of view, and I liked both right away. Marianna is under so much pressure at home with her mom needing her help with younger siblings. Taylor’s dad has a serious health issue that she can’t always count on her parents to be honest with her about. They both have a lot on their plates in addition to competing on the cross country team.

The romance develops tentatively, and it has several really sweet moments between the girls. They dance around whether they can be friends again (or even want to) while they each feel a growing warmth toward one another that is definitely more than friendship.

I’m also not super familiar with cross country as a sport, so it was cool reading something that informed me about it and helped me understand the stakes and celebrate the victories that each girl faced.

All in all, this is a fun romance read, perfect for summer.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content
Characters attend a party where some of them drink alcohol. The next day, they perform poorly at cross country.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Heir of Storms by Lauryn Hamilton Murray

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Heir of Storms (Storm Weaver #1)
Lauryn Hamilton Murray
Roaring Brook Press
Published June 3, 2025

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About Heir of Storms

Red Queen meets Shadow and Bone in this explosive start to a YA romantasy trilogy about dangerous magic, forbidden love, and a cut-throat competition for the throne in an empire where crowns are not inherited — they’re won.

The very day Blaze came into the world, she almost drowned it. A Rain Singer born into one of the most powerful fire-wielding families in the empire, Blaze’s birth summoned a devastating storm that left thousands dead. She’s been hidden away ever since with a dark secret: the same torrential power that branded her an outcast disappeared that fateful day. And she’s not sure she wants it back.

When an unexpected invitation arrives for Blaze and her twin brother, Flint, to compete as future rulers of the empire, she’s suddenly thrust into the limelight again — and into battle. Threats abound at the Golden Palace, where intrigue and romance await with not one but two handsome suitors: the enchanting Crown Prince and a dangerously alluring newcomer at court.

As Blaze explores her untapped power, she discovers the throne may be within her grasp. But in order to take it, she’ll have to leave behind the stories that others have told about her, and find the courage to write her own.

My Review

Wow. Okay. I am having a hard time organizing my thoughts about this one. It was super easy to read. I just had surgery, so I was struggling to get back into reading, having a hard time focusing, stuff like that. And when I picked up this book, the story immediately drew me in.

Blaze has a lot of guilt. She’s a twin child in a family with powerful fire magic, but she somehow has water magic. And not just water magic, but water magic that killed a ton of people on the day she was born.

I thought it was interesting that the book created this moment to focus on what might happen when babies are born with magic power. She had no understanding of what she was doing to anyone else. She was literally a baby. And yet, people died. It’s one of those things that maybe other magic-based fantasies skim past or overlook. It was interesting for this book to highlight that and make it a critical moment in Blaze’s life.

I loved the magic competition. Basically, the gods of the story world determine when it’s time to pass the crown to the next generation. When this happens, there’s an eclipse. Competitors with different types of magic fight for the top positions serving the emperor as kings or queens. They remain rulers of their own magic users and serve as advisors to the emperor. So that process begins and Blaze, of course, must compete.

The competition brings up some interesting magic rules and political intrigue. Blaze herself feels caught between the attention of two powerful guys. I wasn’t the biggest fan of either one of them, but I’m intrigued to see where the story goes. The conclusion of the book kind of makes it clear who the true love interest is, and I think I’m willing to see if he’s actually worthy of her.

Conclusion

Overall, I definitely see the comparisons to Red Queen and Shadow and Bone. There’s a lot of politics and magic, as well as at least one possible love interest who might turn out to be the villain? I will absolutely follow this series into the second book.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing.

Spiritual Content
Some characters are born with the ability to do certain kinds of magic.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Bullying. Battle scenes. One character is enslaved.

Drug Content
Characters drink alcohol at social functions. One character gets very drunk on a painful anniversary.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: These Vengeful Gods by Gabe Cole Novoa

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These Vengeful Gods
Gabe Cole Novoa
Random House Children’s
Published May 27, 2025

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About These Vengeful Gods

ALL GODS MUST DIE in this searingly relevant YA from award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of The Wicked Bargain and Most Ardently. In a world bound by violence, a teen descended from the god of Death must keep their true identity a secret as they fight their way through a gladiator-style competition towards victory and rebellion against the gods who murdered their family.

Years ago, the descendants of the god of Death were murdered. The few that remain are in hiding, including Crow, a teen who survived the genocide and hides their magic to stay alive. After fleeing their village, Crow now lives with their uncles in the lowest part of the the Shallows.

Life in the Shallows is tough, but Crow’s even tougher. Hiding their magic has made Crow resourceful, cunning, and unbeatable — which comes in handy as a fighter in the city’s lucrative underground fighting ring.

Then, Crow’s uncles are arrested for harboring Deathchildren.  

With fists tightly clenched, Crow vows to set their uncles free. But to do that, they’re going to need to enter a world that threatens Crow’s very existence. Carefully navigating the politics of the wealthy and powerful, they enter the Tournament of the Gods — a gladiator-style competition where the winner is granted a favor. As they battle their way towards the winner’s circle, Crow plans to ask the gods for their uncles’ freedom as their reward.

But in a city of gods and magic, you don’t ask for what you want.

You take it.

My Review

I absolutely devoured this book. When I first opened it, I wanted to read the opening line, and I think I literally didn’t look up from the pages until twelve chapters later. So, yeah, this one is pretty immediately engrossing.

The story world is rich. A class system divides the people in Crow’s world, with levels ranging from literal gods to the poor barely scraping by in the Shallows. Crow’s one chance to escape the Shallows and rescue his family from prison comes in the form of a game in which competitors battle, often to the death. This part has a little bit of a Hunger Games vibe. Crow and the other fighters are signed up to compete in this tournament, and there’s all this pageantry surrounding them. And yet, essentially, their potential deaths are part of the entertainment.

Crow becomes part of a team who help each other within the competition. I enjoyed the way those relationships developed and the balance it brought to the story. Crow is the kind of character that gets pretty lost in his own head, so it worked well for there to be allies that drew him out.

If you’re looking for a fast-paced, tournament-focused fantasy novel, I highly recommend this one.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used periodically.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing. In one scene, a couple fall into bed kissing.

Spiritual Content
Some characters are literal gods with certain kinds of magic. Runemagic also allows people to cast spells.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. References to genocide. Battle scenes. Also, spiders appear in multiple scenes.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Time After Time by Mikki Daughtry

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Historical, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , ,

Time After Time
Mikki Daughtry
G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
Published May 27, 2025

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Time After Time

From the screenwriter and co-author of the #1 New York Times bestselling novel and film Five Feet Apart comes an epic YA sapphic romance, unfolding over two sets of lives, one hundred years apart.

Nineteen-year-old Libby has always been inexplicably drawn to the old Victorian house on Mulberry Lane. So much so that when she sees a For Sale sign go up in the front yard, Libby uses all the money her grandmother left her to pay for college to buy the house instead, determined to fix it up herself—even though she knows her parents will be furious. Soon after moving in, she discovers a journal written by a young woman, Elizabeth Post, who lived in the house nearly a century earlier. It doesn’t take long for the journal to reveal that Elizabeth was madly in love with her personal maid, Patricia. A love that was forbidden and dangerous, especially at that time.

Enter Tish, a brash, broke fellow college student, who passes by the house one day and is mysteriously compelled to knock on the door. Soon Libby offers Tish a room in exchange for her help in fixing up the old house, and the two young women quickly find themselves falling for each other. But as Elizabeth’s journal entries delve deeper into her secret love affair with Patricia, uncanny similarities between that young couple and Libby and Tish are revealed, and it becomes clear that this may not be their first time in this house, or in this love. Is this their chance to get it right?

My Review

Sometimes when I read a book, the premise strikes me as something so clever or unusual that I wonder if that’s what brought the book to publication. This is one of those books.

The narrative has a lot of moving parts. We have chapters set in 1925, from the perspective of a young woman whose family lived in the Victorian house. We also follow two points of view from the present day. First, there’s Libby, a girl who just bought the house, and Tish, a girl she meets in her college classes and who offers to help her fix up the house.

As we get to know each narrator, we notice some striking similarities between Elizabeth from 1925 and Libby from 2025. As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that those similarities are more than simple coincidences.

One of the story’s strengths is in its minor characters. I enjoyed the banter between Tish and Joe, the junkyard owner who helps her fix up her scooter, and Tish and her best friend Bari. Libby’s relationship with her mom was also fascinating.

I think readers interested in LGBTQIA+ stories in a historical setting will like getting to see the 1925 timeline in this novel. If your taste for romance leans a little more in the Hallmark movie vein, I can see this being a great pick. It feels a little more like a book to curl up with under a warm blanket, so maybe save it for a stormy summer afternoon.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used periodically throughout the book.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing. Two characters wake up in bed together.

Spiritual Content
Some references to reincarnation.

Violent Content
Brief prejudiced statements against an Irish woman. A man becomes violent in a confrontation. Someone sustains injuries in an accident.

Drug Content
References to teens drinking wine together.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Summer Girls by Jennifer Dugan

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , ,

Summer Girls
Jennifer Dugan
G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
Published May 27, 2025

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Summer Girls

From the author of Some Girls Do comes a YA sapphic romance about two girls from different sides of the tracks.

Cass has a rule about dating summer girls—just say no. Every year the idyllic beach town Cass’s working-class family calls home is flooded with summer girls, the obnoxious daughters of the rich, who stay in their families’ summer homes, sail their yachts, and generally make things unbearable for townies like Cass.

Birdie is the ultimate summer girl. She’s the daughter of a wealthy real estate developer dad and a social media influencer mom, and this summer Birdie happens to be in big trouble for accidentally crashing her boyfriend’s very expensive car.

As punishment, Birdie must spend the summer with her father at the beach—but it won’t be a vacation. He’s enlisted the help of Cass, whose dad works for him, to keep Birdie on the straight and narrow, including getting her a job as a beach parking lot attendant.

As the summer heats up, Cass realizes some rules are made to be broken, and Birdie just might be different from other summer girls. Soon they can’t help falling for one another . . . But will the love the two girls have discovered be strong enough to overcome their differences?

My Review

Summer Girls is the first book by Jennifer Dugan that I’ve read. I’d heard great things about her other books, especially Hot Dog Girl or Melt with You. So, she’s been on my list of authors to check out for a while. Now that I’ve read one of her books, I only want to read more.

I’ve read more than one book lately that shines light on the harmful effects of gentrification on neighborhoods and communities. Summer Girls shows the classism at the root and offers a version of a “Prince and Pauper” kind of romance.

I like that in Dugan’s world, people are more than one thing. The characters continually wrestle with the moral weight of their choices, and struggle to evaluate the decisions others make on a moral scale. For example, Birdie’s dad makes a lot of money buying up foreclosure properties and flipping them as vacation rentals, something which exacerbates the housing crisis for local residents. Yet, he appears to be a big supporter of Cass’s dad’s community organization which helps homeowners retain their property. So, is he a good guy or bad guy? Is he taking advantage of a system and pretending friendship with Cass’s dad to keep his enemies close, or is his support genuine? I liked that the story explored this question.

The romance between Cass and Birdie is also very sweet. It’s got an estranged friends to lovers vibe that was a lot of fun. Birdie is also bisexual and wrestles with some biphobia. I like that Dugan brought this to the page, too.

All in all, I think this is a lovely summer romance, especially perfect for a beach or vacation read.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used periodically.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing. Someone posts a photo of a boy cheating on his girlfriend with another girl.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
One scene includes a car accident with minor injuries.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Come As You Are by Dahlia Adler

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Come As You Are
Dahlia Adler
Wednesday Books
Published May 27, 2025

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Come As You Are

Hot on the heels of a broken heart, Everett “Evie” Riley arrives at Camden Academy ready for a new beginning – one far away from her cheating ex-boyfriend, the sister who stole him, and the best friend who let it happen. But her fresh start is stopped in its tracks when she’s accidentally placed in an all-boys dorm, with no choice but to stay.

When rumors and gossip about Evie’s housing predicament spread like wildfire, she decides the only way to survive is to lean into her questionable new reputation… but she’s definitely going to require help. Her grumpy emo dorm mate Salem Grayson isn’t exactly her first choice, but he does need her help to repair his relationship with his parents every bit as much as she needs his to learn how to be cool. And so they make a pact – he’ll teach her how to be bad, if she teaches him how to be good.

It’s a flawless plan, except while Salem thrives academically, even romantically, and – annoyingly enough – even physically, Evie’s quest feels like one dead end after another, and the girl she’s becoming certainly doesn’t feel remotely cool. But when Evie realizes what she wants more than anything, she’ll have to contend with her thrice-broken heart and figure out how to become someone capable of chasing happiness.

Dahlia Adler’s Come As You Are is about refusing to accept less than you deserve, and realizing that the best relationships are with people who know exactly who you are.

My Review

Okay, y’all. I feel like Dahlia Adler is one of those authors who just doesn’t get enough recognition for writing emotionally real, genuine, and hilarious characters and character casts. I mean, I know she gets recognition. But like… every time I read one of her books, I go in expecting high entertainment and a fun story, and I get so much more. She seems to hit the perfect balance between humor and vulnerability. The friendships between characters feel as real and complex as those we encounter in real life. I love the antics between friends and the banter between characters with the potential to be more.

In Come As You Are, Evie has enrolled in boarding school to escape a horrifically toxic family situation. The only emotional hiccup for me as I read the whole book was that I wanted to grab Evie’s parents by the ears and shake them, or I wanted her to be able to do that. And the truth is, as the kid in the situation, it’s not her job to address the problem. She did fine. And the truth is that sometimes, we do not have the power to initiate a healthy confrontation within our family circles. Sometimes the healthiest thing is to find a way to create boundaries and space. That’s really what Evie did, and bravo to her for it.

I had a great time reading this book. Every book I read by Adler is my new favorite of hers, and this one is no exception. If you’re looking for a smart, funny summer romance, grab this one immediately.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used periodically.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing. References to sex (not shown on scene). Evie notes that she caught her sister and ex-boyfriend in bed together.

Spiritual Content
References to Christian and Jewish faith services and practice.

Violent Content
List.

Drug Content
References to smoking pot.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.