Song of Blood & Stone has had something of a confusing publishing trajectory. If you're new to the series, here's a quick rundown before my review. L. Penelope self-published Song of Blood & Stone in 2015, then the book was picked up by St. Martin's Press and reissued in May 2018. Now there's an extended version coming out in paperback July 2019.  The second book was also self-published and is due to come out in October from the same publisher. There's also a prequel novella out as of January. Got all that?

On the cover, there’s a blurb from Maurene Goo that reads, “As sweet and satisfying as actual mochi... a tender love story wrapped up in food, fashion, and family. I gobbled it up.” Honestly, that’s a perfect one-line review. I Love You So Mochi really is as sweet as mochi.

Kimi is a senior in high school and the book opens with her having something of an identity crisis. The book opens with her and her mother having one of those very devastating silent fights about Kimi not wanting to pursue art school. But what does Kimi want to do with her life if not the art she’s been creating since she was four?

Fix Her Up is a funny, surprisingly steamy romance between a literal clown (she does birthday parties) and her brother's best friend. Georgie's the perpetual pesty little sister and wants to change the town's perception of her. Travis is a former playboy baseball player, back home to lick his wounds after an injury led to his being traded between several teams before being effectively booted out of baseball for good.

If writing the word “squee” was an appropriate review, I would write that here. It’s such a warm and generous book that I want to go around telling everyone and forcing them to read it.

Raze tells a story of two men realizing that they can build the life they want right now, and wondering what that life looks like. It’s about finding an identity outside of routines and responsibility. It’s less about music than the previous Riven books, and mostly about Huey’s sober habits.

The Flatshare is a charming romance that happens to be part of the new crop of romance novels being packaged as women's fiction. On the cover, O'Leary is referred to as "the new Jojo Moyes," but if you've read both, you won't think that. No one dies at the end, for example. It's closed door, like Moyes, so maybe that's what they were thinking?

Little reviews of The Unhoneymooners, Fluffy, and One Fine Duke.

Although the book deals heavily with grief and strained family relationships, Don't Date Rosa Santos is a feel-good summer romance that made me smile. Reminiscent of Jane the Virgin, Rosa's Cuban-American family consists of her, her mother, and her grandmother. (More on this later.) They live in a multicultural small town in coastal Florida that feels a bit like Gilmore Girls' Stars Hollow... but not so white.

For a book that pretty much opens with heartbreak, Her Royal Highness is a fairly low angst young adult romance, which means it’s totally my speed. And the charm of the book rests in how Millie (a scholarship student from Texas) and Flora (the Scottish princess) reveal their weaknesses and hurts to each other to become both friends and girlfriends.

 Sometimes it’s hard to jump into the last book of a series. As a reviewer, this can happen a lot. Sometimes it can feel like you’re always playing catch-up while reading, and it’s easy to get distracted by the details. But sometimes you find a book that makes you want to go back and read the entire series. Crashing Into Her was that for me. Mia Sosa showed me a world I wanted to know more about, and even though I came in late, I’m so glad I found it.