Boston Books & Bubbles

Boston Books & Bubbles I’m Colleen, a Boston-based bibliophile with a taste for sparkling wine.

If overly enthusiastic gushing isn’t your cup of tea, you’re going to want to skip this review. Fair warning. I grabbed ...
11/11/2025

If overly enthusiastic gushing isn’t your cup of tea, you’re going to want to skip this review. Fair warning.

I grabbed Like Real People Do on an impulse while on a recent shopping trip, and I’m so glad I did. This series is SO GOOD, I ended up ordering the sequel before I even finished the first book.

A q***r romance between a hockey player and a figure skater, with disability and mental health representation? AND there are fantastic side characters who lift and support the central pairing? AND a very cute sub-sub-plot about an antisocial cat and beloved service dog learning to tolerate each other??? A GIRL CAN ONLY TAKE SO MUCH.

I can’t say enough about this series. The first two books, Like Real People Do and Like You’ve Nothing Left to Prove, center on the same pairing. Alexander Price is the youngest team captain in the NHL, with a reputation for being hot headed. Elijah Price is a figure skater trying to keep his Olympic dreams alive after an accident that left him with a traumatic brain injury and seizure disorder. They train at the same practice facility and meet after Alex illegally parks in the handicapped spots, and Alex offers to take Eli out on a totally platonic, definitely nothing to see here date to make it up to him. Adorable pining ensues, and trust me, you’ll love every minute.

The sequel picks up right where the first book left off, and goes deeper into the challenges couples face in relationships - balancing conflicting schedules, handling stress, learning to communicate effectively, giving each other space, and navigating the realities of being in a q***r relationship as a closeted professional athlete who suddenly isn’t so sure he wants to keep his sexuality a secret. While it didn’t have the same swoony giggly feet-kicking lift of the first book in the series, I may have appreciated the grounded honesty of the sequel even more. There’s still love and romance here, and I appreciated that we saw that while happily ever afters are possible, they take work and commitment that is often left off the page.

There are two more books in the Breakaway series and I’m looking forward to reading those next!

One of my favorite parts about visiting indie bookshops is discovering new-to-me books. I love seeing what the bookselle...
11/07/2025

One of my favorite parts about visiting indie bookshops is discovering new-to-me books. I love seeing what the booksellers are highlighting, I love checking out the featured tables, and I always love chatting with the staff for their recommendations. When I visited last month, All Fired Up was a featured book club pick for the store, and I knew I had to bring it home with me.

All Fired Up is a sapphic romance between two women conspiring to stop their mutual bestie from following through on her impulsive plan to move to Fiji. Nic recently moved back to Seattle after finishing her degree; she thinks she’s in love with Skylar, and is afraid the move to Fiji will spell the end of any chance they have. Kira filled Nic’s shoes when she moved away, becoming close with Skylar, and bonds with Nic over what they both see as their responsibility to stop Skylar from making a huge mistake. Shenanigans (their word!) ensue, and of course, as they get closer through their plotting, sparks fly between them.

I really enjoyed the characters and thought the plot was original. However, I did wish that Nic and Kira could have communicated with each other more clearly. There was an emotional immaturity undercurrent that I found frustrating and which stopped me from giving this 4 stars.

On the flip side, I loved that both characters were women in traditionally male-dominated fields. Nic works in STEM, specifically in researching fire safety technology (and starting lots of fires for testing purposes), and Kira is a firefighter struggling to gain respect and get promoted. I would have loved even more insights into their professional lives, but I know that’s not really the purpose of a romance.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and would definitely read other books from the author. This is their first adult offering after having success in the YA genre, so I’m interested to see what they do next!

Happy pub day! Son of the Morning by is out TODAY!I have two types of authors who are on my instant-buy list. There are...
11/04/2025

Happy pub day! Son of the Morning by is out TODAY!

I have two types of authors who are on my instant-buy list. There are those authors who are very consistent in their output; when I reach for one of their novels, I know exactly what to expect. Then there are those authors who I reach for because I love their style of writing so much, I trust that I’ll enjoy their work no matter what they publish. Awkwaeke Emezi is the latter type of author for me; their prose is gorgeous, their characters so richly drawn, and they have a masterful ability to craft such vivid worlds.

It is a wonderful coincidence that their newest novel, Son of the Morning, happens to fit right in with my recent reading habits. This is a paranormal fantasy, another entry in my recent foray into demon love stories. Galilee was raised by the Kincaids, a clan of Black Women with deep ties to the land. Though many of the women in the family have special abilities, Galilee has always known she was different. When she meets Lucifer, she immediately recognizes that he isn’t human; he sees the same in her, much to her shock. Though the connection between them is immediate, Galilee’s very existence can threaten the power balance between heaven, hell, and earth, making her a target for the princes of Hell.

The novel deals with themes of power, temptation, and issues of good vs evil… but it’s also a spicy romance with q***r representation, set in the Black South, and I won’t spoil it for you, but the spice only gets better as the books goes on. Also, the hardcopy version of the book is gorgeous, with cover art that is simply to die for.

Thank you to for the gifted copy for me to review!

✨Indie Bookshop Spotlight✨Here’s a thing about me: whenever I visit a new city, I research indie bookshops ahead of time...
10/30/2025

✨Indie Bookshop Spotlight✨

Here’s a thing about me: whenever I visit a new city, I research indie bookshops ahead of time and try to prioritize visiting them - and inevitably buying a few books. No, I do not remember to save space in my luggage. Yes, this has become a First Workd Problem.

While on a recent trip to Kansas City, I visited , which is a romance-focused shop. They had an amazing selection, organized by trope, which I LOVED. Their sticker selection was also on point, as you can tell by how much I ended up bringing home with me. The shop felt super welcoming and definitely designed with readers in mind; swipe left to get a peek (and to see the reason for my trip to KC).

Reviews coming soon for these titles!

Do you set buying limits for yourself at the bookshop? If so, please share your secrets, because I’ve never managed to stick to one… 😳🫣

Why am I featuring this book today? Oh, no reason…Do you believe books find us when we most need them? Because if I didn...
10/29/2025

Why am I featuring this book today? Oh, no reason…

Do you believe books find us when we most need them? Because if I didn’t before, then Exit Interview convinced me otherwise.

About two years ago, I was a wreck. Completely burned out, so stressed I was having daily panic attacks, blood pressure so high I took myself to the ER thinking it was a panic attack. I ended up on a leave of absence from my job, and needed two months to get back to feeling even remotely capable of functioning at work.

Early on in that process, I visited a new-to-me indie bookseller (shoutout to !) and the title of this book leapt out at me from the shelves. “The Life and Death of My Ambitious Career” - well, at that point I definitely felt like my career was, if not dying, certainly on life support. I read a little more about the author, and let’s just say I found a lot of parallels between her experience and my own.

The word that comes to mind for this book, more than anything else, is affirming. So much of being a female leader in a tech environment is rooted in feeling gaslit - so to read about Kristi Coulter’s experiences and to see myself on practically every page? It felt affirming. It felt like I was seen. It felt like someone was reaching out to me and saying — you’re not crazy. You’re not the only one. What you’re feeling is real.

I did eventually go back to work, but since that experience, I’ve tried to maintain healthier boundaries. I try to remind myself that under capitalism, companies aren’t loyal to employees - they’re loyal to shareholders. I try not to get caught up in the stress and the pressure. It’s not easy, especially during weeks like this. It takes a lot of work (and a lot of therapy). And sometimes, I go back to this book and revisit it, glass of wine in hand, when I need a reminder that I’m not going through this alone.

Warning: complicated book feelings ahead. I picked up The Scrapbook at an indie bookstore earlier this year because they...
10/28/2025

Warning: complicated book feelings ahead.

I picked up The Scrapbook at an indie bookstore earlier this year because they were featuring it, and I was intrigued by the premise. Set in the mid-1990s, Anna (the narrator) relates for us the tumultuous year she spent in long-distance love with handsome, intelligent Christoph, a German man she meets in her final year of college. Anna is an American woman trying to figure out her next steps and falls fast and hard for Christoph, but as the reader, it’s clear from the start that he’s got a tendency to gaslight her and that she should be listening to the warning signs.

Overlaid on top of this central dynamic is an a shared history: both have grandfathers who fought on opposite sides in World War II, and much of the book is spent with Christoph taking Anna to visit key sites from the war throughout Germany. In a few chapters, we get flashback POVs from each of the grandfathers, suggesting that they had met while fighting in the war. It’s an interesting perspective to take and one I haven’t seen before, but it ultimately felt really heavy handed in the ex*****on.

Ultimately this is about how hard it can be to resist a toxic gaslighting partner, and that’s what comes through. Did the added political lens add much? I’m not sure. I will say, as a liberal American feeling helpless as I watch the rise of fascism in our government, there were some interesting passages where Christoph reflected on his experience as a German, growing up in the shadow of the war and the N**i party. The author has a celebrated career writing nonfiction, and this is her first novel; given her background I trust her research to inform these characters, but it’s worth noting she herself is American, so take the German perspective with a grain of salt.

Ultimately I’m glad I read this and did enjoy it, but I would only recommend it to people interested in history - it’s definitely more historical and social commentary than it is a romance, despite the book centering on a romantic pairing.

I know, I know, I’m late to the party on this series… but I need to talk about Daydream, the third book in the Maple Hil...
10/27/2025

I know, I know, I’m late to the party on this series… but I need to talk about Daydream, the third book in the Maple Hills trilogy by . I’ll be honest: I came for the romance between a hockey player and a figure skater in Icebreaker, but I proceeded to binge the rest of the series over the weekend because I couldn’t help but fall for these characters, and Halle & Henry are definitely my favorite pairing.

I don’t often expect to be tabbing pages in a romance book to bring up in therapy, but here we are. Halle is an eldest daughter; she quietly ensures everything in her family runs smoothly without ever asking for anything herself, and she’ll keep pushing herself to be everything for everyone until it breaks her. Henry initially steps in to help her experience more of life so she can write her first novel, in exchange for her help in the class he’s failing, but as the book progresses Henry becomes the first person who has ever pushed Halle to put herself first. The way Halle is so blind to the way her dedication to everyone else is hurting her, and Henry’s efforts to make her see and understand, is so tenderly portrayed - these are characters who are so good for each other but who also need to learn how best to care for themselves before they can fully love each other.

I know Bookstagram was all over this series in the past and I’ll be honest, that’s partially why I hesitated to pick them up. I wish more reviews had focused less on the spice and more on the genuine heart and depth to these characters. Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of spice, but for me it was absolutely secondary to the emotional heft of the stories.

Have you read the series yet? Which pairing was your fave?

Am I in my demon romance era? Maybe!Have you ever had the experience of repeatedly picking up a book in a shop, only to ...
10/24/2025

Am I in my demon romance era? Maybe!

Have you ever had the experience of repeatedly picking up a book in a shop, only to decide against it? Well, that was me and the Hell Bent series for a lot of the past year — I can’t tell you how many times I almost purchased the first book in the series, My Funny Demon Valentine, only to ultimately decide against it. The cover art and sprayed edges were so tempting, but I wasn’t sure if the demon romance genre was for me.

Well, if I could, I’d go back to Past Colleen and tell her to just buy the book already - because once I did take the plunge, I was all in. The fourth book in the series was just published in paperback a few weeks ago, and I’ve already preordered the fifth and final book, publishing early next year. (If you can’t take the suspense, all five books are available now on Kindle Unlimited!)

This is a fun concept for a series - what if some of the most infamous demons in hell decided they didn’t want to be evil anymore, and instead moved to Earth to live among mortals? Each book focuses on a different demonic character and their love interest, covering different tropes. I’m not sure I know which is my favorite, although the second book, My Demon Hunter, is a strong contender.

I highly recommend giving this series a try, if you’re on the fence about supernatural romance. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this sub genre and am looking forward to exploring more - so please drop any of your favorites in the comments!

I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to review this gem, but I’m glad I waited for this gorgeous hardcover special ed...
10/23/2025

I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to review this gem, but I’m glad I waited for this gorgeous hardcover special edition!

I started following .ya.later on TikTok in the early days of her Hell’s Belles series, and to see these characters make the leap onto the page has been so special. The concept is so original - what would happen if there were a customer service desk in Hell, where souls who spent their mortal lives as beleaguered retail workers could throw away the idea that the customer is always right and instead say exactly what they’re thinking? The characters are richly imagined and leap off the page, and I am so deeply invested in their stories.

For Whom the Belle Tolls is the first book in a series, and gives us the full backstory for Lily, a mortal soul who originates the Hellp Desk concept (not a typo!), and Bel, a demon prince and warrior who falls fast and hard. Their love story is one that will stick with me for a long time, and the surrounding characters and subplots are equally as strong.

This book is in contention for one of my favorites in 2025; I also highly recommend the audiobook if that’s more your speed, as the narrators so vividly bring this world to life.

Ashley Poston () did it again - she wrote a gorgeous love story that had me sobbing uncontrollably through the final cha...
08/16/2025

Ashley Poston () did it again - she wrote a gorgeous love story that had me sobbing uncontrollably through the final chapters, and I loved every minute of it.

If you’ve been here a while or you know me in my non-bookish life, then you know that music, especially experiencing live music, is critical to maintaining my mental health. There is something about the feeling of sharing the collective experience of singing along to your favorite artists that provides catharsis that’s hard to find anywhere else. So The Revelry, the charming old venue located in a North Carolina beach town, had my full attention long before the characters captured my heart.

But make no mistake - Sasha and Joni had my full attention once their connection was established. They find themselves able to hear each other’s thoughts, brought together by the same snippet of a song that demanded to be written. As they navigate the unusual circumstances that link them, they’re both also confronting their ghosts - Sasha’s mother, long deceased, and Joni’s mom, still alive and fighting against the creeping onset of dementia. It’s impossible not to open your heart to these characters and the world that Poston creates, and I only wish that The Revelry was a real venue so I could make a pilgrimage to Vienna Shores, to dance with these characters and sing along to whoever is gracing the stage that night.

The 5 star rating system doesn’t feel like enough. I want to give all the stars, and my undying love and devotion. I want to reread with a pen in hand to circle every line that grabbed my heart and wouldn’t let it go. I want to tell everyone I know to read this book so we can gush about it together. It is just that perfect.

I finally got around to reading The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by over the weekend, and I’m a little mad ...
08/11/2025

I finally got around to reading The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by over the weekend, and I’m a little mad at past me for waiting so long! This book is such a perfect little gem of a novel - it reminds me a bit of both The House in the Cerulean Sea and Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, both of which I loved. The found family dynamic is so beautifully captured, alongside dealing with very timely issues around what it means to feel included and accepted. It’s a cozy romance with a big heart and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Since Mika has a soft spot for pink gin (and I found myself giddily kicking my feet when Jamie swapped his nightly whiskey to meet her preferences), I had to make my favorite pink gin cocktail to go with it. Equal parts Lillet Rosé and pink gin, topped off with grapefruit soda for a little fizz. It was the perfect tipple to accompany me as I lost myself in this world.

Is there anything better than kicking off your weekend with a new book and a cocktail?I’ve been on the road, traveling b...
08/08/2025

Is there anything better than kicking off your weekend with a new book and a cocktail?

I’ve been on the road, traveling both for work and for pleasure, so I’ve been all kindle all the time since early July. My physical TBR has been neglected, and I’m so excited to finally get around to this pick from June. Don’t spoil it for me - I’m hoping to finish it this weekend while sitting in a beach chair! And after the week I’ve had, a gin and tonic felt like the perfect way to start my weekend - there’s a gorgeous breeze on my back porch and I couldn’t be happier.

What are you reading - and sipping! - to kick off the weekend?

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