Book Review | DRAGONBORN: THE TWILIGHT CHILD

DRAGONBORN: THE TWILIGHT CHILD

Dragonborn Series , Vol. 2
BY STRUAN MURRAY | PUBLICATION: OCT 20, 2026
DUTTON BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS | GENRE: MIDDLE GRADE FANTASY
RATING: ★★★★★

"The book trusts young readers with difficult truths and rewards them with something far more meaningful than comfort."

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Soar back into the world of dragons in the thrilling, fiery sequel to Dragonborn.

“Their fate rests in the hands of the Twilight Child.”

Having discovered her true identity as dragon, Alex Evans must embark on a dangerous quest to stop Drak Midna and his war against humanity.

When tragedy strikes the island of Skralla, Alex and her friends journey north to the heart of Scotland, where dark plots are in motion, and humans and dragons fight side-by-side against a rising storm of ancient demons.

Sinister forces are growing stronger every day, and as friendships fall apart and enemies old and new strike from the shadows, Alex must master her own fearsome power, and unravel a mystery that might just be the key to victory: the legend of the Twilight Child.

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Before reading The Twilight Child, I made the decision to read the first book in the series. Looking back, I am glad I trusted that instinct.

Dragonborn lays the foundation. It introduces the characters, the world, the looming threat, and the stakes. More importantly, it creates the emotional investment needed for everything that follows. By the time I opened The Twilight Child, these characters already felt familiar, and that familiarity transformed every triumph and heartbreak into something deeply personal.

To call this book a continuation of the series feels like an understatement.

Struan Murray takes everything established in the first book and builds upon it with remarkable confidence. The world grows larger, the mysteries deepen, and the challenges become more daunting, but the story never loses sight of its heart. The characters remain the reason readers keep turning the pages. Their adventures, misadventures, victories, and failures all contribute to a journey that feels meaningful beyond the fantasy itself.

The mystery at the center of the story is beautifully handled, with twists that feel surprising yet carefully earned. Each revelation adds another layer to an already rich narrative, rewarding readers who have invested themselves in this world.

What impressed me most, however, was Murray's respect for his audience.

He does not dilute pain, simplify difficult truths, or talk down to young readers. The challenges his characters face are emotionally, physically, and ethically demanding, yet he writes with the conviction that children are capable of wrestling with hard questions. The result is a story that hurts, but never harms --one that challenges, but never abandons hope.

The themes woven throughout the novel are substantial: friendship, betrayal, found family, abuse, prejudice, and the devastating consequences of cultural eradication. These are not easy topics, yet Murray approaches them with honesty and care. He trusts readers to sit with discomfort, to question, and to reflect.

As an adult reader, I found myself doing exactly that.

I've always believed that middle-grade books hold a mirror to our adult selves. They ask us to consider where we stand now. Are our convictions firmer, even on uncertain ground? Do we still follow our moral compass when the path becomes difficult? Or do we choose comfort instead?

At its core, The Twilight Child asks a deceptively simple question:

When kindness becomes difficult, do we still choose it?

The answer is explored again and again through its characters, especially through acts of sacrifice, forgiveness, and courage. Here, love is not presented as a feeling alone. It is shown through actions, choices, and the willingness to place others before oneself.

Despite its heartbreak, this remains a deeply hopeful book. It acknowledges grief, anger, and loss, but never allows them to have the final word. Instead, it argues that kindness remains worth choosing, even when it costs us something.

That may be the book's greatest strength.

In a story filled with dragons, ancient powers, and epic conflicts, the most powerful lesson is surprisingly human: hurt and anger can consume us, but compassion can set us free.

This book broke my heart more than once. The last middle-grade story to affect me this deeply was Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell. Like that series, The Twilight Child trusts young readers with difficult truths and rewards them with something far more meaningful than comfort.

It offers hope.

And sometimes, that's the bravest thing a story can do.

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About the Author:

Struan Murray is Scottish and grew up in Edinburgh, the youngest of a large, rowdy family of redheads. His debut novel, Orphans of the Tide, won the prestigious Branford Boase Award, and was included in the Guardian's 'Best children's books of 2020'. When he's not writing, Struan is a lecturer at the University of Oxford.

*Penguin Random House provided the ARC
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Book Review | THE SECRET OF SNOW by Tina Harnesk

THE SECRET OF SNOW

BY TINA HARNESK | ALICE MENZIES (TRANSLATOR)
ATRIA BOOKS | PUBLICATION: FEBRUARY 3, 2026
GENRE: CONTEMPORARY FICTION | RATING: ★★★★

"The grief in this novel did not mirror my own, yet I recognized it."

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This lyrical runaway Swedish hit follows a reclusive, elderly couple who cross paths with a pair of twentysomething newcomers in a small mountain town, revealing an unexpected, shared history and the reclamation of a nearly extinct culture.

Meet Máriddja eccentric, eighty-five years old, and facing a cancer diagnosis. She’s determined to keep the truth about her illness from her husband Biera, while also finding someone who can take care of him once she’s gone.

Meet a new transplant to the village, recently engaged to Mimmi, and mourning the death of his mother. One day, when Kaj unexpectedly finds a box of Sámi—the indigenous people of Scandinavia—handicrafts belonging to his mother, he unlocks something he never anticipated, something that will change his life for years to come.

A “brilliant debut” (Aftonbladet Söndag, Sweden) full of humor and heartbreak, The Secrets of Snow movingly grapples with grief, love, and the power of history.

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THE SECRET OF SNOW by Tina Harnesk is one of those rare novels that manages to be both deeply rooted in a specific culture and universally human. Through the eyes of 85-year-old Máriddja, Harnesk crafts a story rich with humor, grief, resilience, and the quiet longing for connection that transcends age and geography.

Máriddja is a delight. Sharp-tongued, stubborn, and unintentionally hilarious, she frequently finds herself at odds with the modern world, particularly when it comes to technology. Her interactions with Siri provided some of the novel's funniest moments, yet beneath the humor lies something far more poignant. Rather than treating Siri as a digital assistant, Máriddja seems to regard the voice as a companion, someone who listens and responds. What initially appears to be a comedic misunderstanding gradually reveals a deeper truth about the human need for connection, even among those who value solitude.

One of the novel's greatest strengths is its portrayal of aging. Máriddja reminded me of Leo Gursky from Nicole Krauss's The History of Love. Though very different people, both characters feel fully realized rather than symbolic. They are funny, frustrating, vulnerable, perceptive, and unmistakably alive. Older readers may recognize parts of themselves in these characters, while younger readers may find an unexpected glimpse of who they themselves could one day become. Harnesk understands that growing old does not diminish a person's inner life.

The novel also handles difficult subjects with remarkable grace. Aging, dementia, terminal illness, and grief are woven throughout the story, yet it never becomes overwhelmingly bleak. Instead, there is a tenderness to the narrative, a warmth that exists alongside the heartbreak. What impressed me most was its understanding of forced cultural displacemnt. The characters may live quiet lives, but the story never loses sight of their need to be seen, known, and remembered.

As someone who enjoys translated fiction, I especially appreciated the window the novel offers into Sámi history, folklore, and the effects of displacement. What makes these cultural elements so effective is that they never feel instructional. They emerge naturally through the lives, memories, and experiences of the characters. Rather than simply teaching readers about a culture, the novel allows us to spend time within it.

I also loved the smaller details that make a place feel lived-in: the rhythms of daily life, the humor, the ways people relate to one another, and the distinct atmosphere of a northern winter. Living in a place where winter can reach -40°C, I recognized the cold, but not the culture surrounding it. The novel was a reminder that even familiar landscapes can hold entirely different histories and ways of seeing the world.

Perhaps what stayed with me most was the novel's portrayal of grief. It did not mirror my own experiences, yet I recognized it immediately. Grief wears different faces across cultures and lives, but there is something universal in its weight and persistence. Harnesk captures that beautifully, allowing grief to exist not as a problem to be solved, but as something carried alongside love, memory, and hope.

THE SECRET OF SNOW transported me to another culture and another way of life, while quietly revealing truths that felt deeply familiar. Tender, humorous, and profoundly human, it is a story that lingers long after the final page.

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About the Author:

Tina Harnesk is a writer of Sámi descent born in northern Sweden. She works as a library assistant and lives on a mountain outside Arvidsjaur, Sweden, with her husband and children. The Secret of Snow is her debut novel.
Photo by Sandra Hallnor.

*Simon & Schuster CA provided the eARC
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Book Review | THE SWEETEST FIEND by Raven Kennedy

THE SWEETEST FIEND

Played by the Piper, Vol. 1
BY RAVEN KENNEDY | PUBLICATION: SEP 22, 2026
AVON | GENRE: ROMANCE / FANTASY
RATING: ★★★★

"The author knew exactly what story she wanted to tell."

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It’s time to pay the Piper.

Our world cracked open like an egg. Power burst out, and with it, nine monstrous Banes ready to destroy everything. The powerful Core fae finally slayed them all, but each Bane left a Plague to punish us.

But that’s not the only thing they left behind.

I’m half Bane, half fae, and wholly hated. Survival means enduring every vicious glare and cursed outbreak. Until one day, a Plague descends upon my city that means certain death.

Then he comes. The Pied Piper.

He rids my city of the Plague, but it comes at a cost. One hundred and thirty people are taken as payment. Including me.

I don’t know what he’s going to do to us, but I know I have to get home. My family’s lives depend on it. But the Piper won’t let me go, and something wicked stirs between us. The sweet scent in my veins beckons him, while the seductive lure of his magic sinks under my skin.

I have to escape before it’s too late. Because if I don’t, it’s not just my heart at risk…

But the entire world.

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The original Pied Piper tale has never been about rats.

At its heart, it is a story about promises, consequences, and the devastating cost of failing to honor one's word. A town plagued by suffering accepts help from a stranger, only to break the agreement once the danger has passed. In return, the stranger takes the most precious thing they have: their children.

When I pick up a Pied Piper retelling, that tension is what I'm searching for. Not necessarily a faithful recreation of the folklore, but an expansion of its central questions. What is owed? What happens when people convince themselves a debt no longer needs to be paid? What price is too high when the consequences finally arrive?

The Sweetest Fiend takes a different path.

Rather than preserving the Piper's enigmatic presence, this retelling pulls him into the light. The story shifts its focus from the folklore itself to the characters inhabiting it, particularly the mysteries surrounding the Piper and the relationships he forms. As the first book in a duology, many answers remain deliberately out of reach, ending on a cliffhanger that leaves both the characters and readers suspended in uncertainty.

What immediately impressed me was the novel's opening. The earth is literally opening up, the plagues are terrifying, and people are dying. The sense of urgency is established from the very first pages, and the stakes feel both immediate and overwhelming. This isn't danger for the sake of drama. The situation itself drives the momentum forward and keeps the story moving.

The pacing slows in the middle, but not without reason. Character development, relationship building, and bringing together a larger cast all require space. While certain sections felt less urgent than the opening, I understood their purpose within the larger story.

The novel's greatest strength is its character work. The rapport among the cast is engaging and often carried my interest through slower moments. Even when I wasn't entirely sold on every development, I remained invested in the interactions because the relationships felt lively and compelling.

The romance was less successful for me. While the chemistry is certainly present and the romantic scenes are effective in what they set out to do, the emotional progression felt rushed. I understood the attraction, but I wanted more development before some of the relationship milestones occurred.

It's also worth noting that this is clearly the work of an experienced author. The worldbuilding is one of the novel's strongest elements, not because it exists independently, but because it shapes the characters themselves. Their fears, decisions, and relationships feel born from the world they inhabit rather than simply placed within it. There is confidence in the storytelling that comes from a writer who understands her craft.

Ultimately, my experience with The Sweetest Fiend comes down to a matter of mismatch rather than disappointment.

I understand the appeal this book will have for many readers. I can see why its character-focused approach and reimagining of the Piper have captured so much attention. The author knew exactly what story she wanted to tell.

It simply wasn't the expansion of the folklore I was searching for.

While I came looking for a deeper exploration of the promises, consequences, and moral weight at the heart of the Pied Piper legend, this novel chose to explore different questions. That's neither a flaw nor a failure. It's a choice.

And sometimes a book and a reader can admire the same road, while still wishing to travel in different directions.

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About the Author:
Raven Kennedy is an international bestseller, whose love for books pushed her into creating her own worlds. The Plated Prisoner Series, a dark fantasy romance, has sold in over twenty countries. It became a New York Times, USA Today, Sunday Times, and Spiegel bestseller, hit #1 in the Amazon store, and has sold over six million copies worldwide.

*HarperCollinsCA provided the eARC
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Book Review | KIKI AND THE NEW MAGIC by Eiko Kadono

KIKI AND THE NEW MAGIC

魔女の宅急便 [Majo no Takkyūbin], Vol. 2
BY EIKO KADONO
ILLUSTRATOR: YUTA ONODA | TRANSLATOR: EMILY BALISTRIERI
PUBLICATION: APRIL 29, 2025 | HQ DIGITAL
GENRE: WOMEN FICTION | RATING: ★★★★

"A story about growing up, listening deeply, and learning the sounds of the world."

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It has been a year since Kiki started her new life as an honest-to-goodness witch, and the—not quite so—little courier has become a real celebrity. But fame comes with its own set of challenges. As Kiki faces increasingly perilous tasks, her friendships with Jiji and Tombo are put to the test. Doubts creep in, leading her to question her purpose. Determined to overcome her fears, Kiki must summon all her courage and perhaps even explore a new kind of magic. Will she find the strength to navigate her evolving world?

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In KIKI AND THE NEW MAGIC, Eiko Kadono gives us a Kiki who is no longer the wide‑eyed girl of Koriko’s early days. She’s a year older now — not yet an adult, but no longer a child — and Kadono lets her step into the full emotional weather of adolescence. What makes this installment remarkable isn’t just the new magic Kiki discovers, but the way she learns to listen.

This book is, at its heart, about the sounds of the world.

Kadono shows us that magic isn’t only broomsticks and flying. Magic is attention. Magic is perception. Magic is the ability to hear what you once overlooked — the wind shifting, the hum of a town, the emotional rhythm of people’s hearts. As Kiki expands her environment beyond Koriko, she also expands her inner world. She begins to hear things she never noticed before.

And with that listening comes growth.

Kiki experiences the full spectrum of teenage emotion: jealousy, insecurity, impatience, angst. Her doubts about her chosen profession — once tucked away — burst open. She wonders if she’s good enough, if her magic is enough, if she is enough. These moments don’t weaken her — they humanize her. They make her real.

Kadono writes adolescence with tenderness. She doesn’t punish Kiki for doubting. She lets her explore, question, and widen her world. The “new magic” isn’t flashy — it’s emotional truth. It’s the magic of hearing the world more clearly and hearing herself more honestly.

For readers who grew up with Miyazaki’s gentle, pastel version of Kiki, this book feels like watching a beloved character step into the next chapter of life. And for mothers — especially those who raised daughters who grew up with Kiki — this story carries an extra resonance. My own daughter grew up with Miyazaki’s Kiki, and admired her resilience, her curiosity, her independence — all of it echoes the same quiet courage Kiki shows here.

KIKI AND THE NEW MAGIC is a story about listening. About growing. About expanding. About finding your place in a world that suddenly feels bigger than you expected.

It’s a gentle, thoughtful continuation of Kiki’s journey — one that reminds us that magic isn’t always loud. Sometimes, it’s the softest sound in the world.

I highly recommend the audiobook version for a fuller experience. Kim Mai Guest did a great job narrating.

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About the Author:

Eiko Kadono has published nearly two hundred original works and received many accolades, including but not limited to the Hans Christian Andersen Award and a place on the IBBY Honor List for Kiki’s Delivery Service. She lives in the Kanagawa prefecture of Japan.
Photo: © Japanese Board on Books for Young People (JBBY)

*Penguin Random House provided the eARC
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Book Review | FIRE TO THE STARS by Morgan J. Watchorn

FIRE TO THE STARS

BY MORGAN J. WATCHORN | PUBLICATION: AUGUST 4, 2026
KNOPF BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS | GENRE: YA FANTASY
RATING: ★★★★

"The romance works because it’s built on emotional risk, not just trope mechanics."

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In a kingdom cursed to turn people into dragons, two teens from opposite worlds, each with nothing left to lose, form an uneasy alliance. Told in dual perspectives, this sweeping debut follows their search for redemption and the slow-burning bond that could save them both. Now available in paperback!

Every month, the kingdom of Florent braces for the Ignition: a solar event that turns ordinary humans into vicious dragon shifters. And anyone can be a dragon’s next victim.

Claire knows this all too well because the Ignition consumed her and her father, her town, and the life she thought she’d have. Now, she’s scraping by on her wits as part of a sisterhood of thieves—lying, stealing, her heart locked tight—until she tracks down a disgraced dragon slayer who may be the one person who can give her back the life she once had.

Abel has been shunned by the prestigious Slayers Guild for conducting research that’s too…unorthodox to condone. But there’s no one Claire trusts more than a rulebreaker, and that research might be the one thing that could help her. So when Abel reveals he is hunting again, Claire tries to hire him under false pretenses. Abel, however, is reluctant to accept a job from a criminal, no matter how charming she is. And yet…he really needs the money.

Together, Claire and Abel will race through Florent and uncover dangerous secrets in their quests for forgiveness—and survival. But that knowledge may cost them the very thing they’ve grown desperate to protect: each other.

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Finally followed Gillian Cosgriff advise and read a book about sexy dragons.
...just kidding. Penguin Random House Canada was generous and shared access to the book.

Might as well sit down and relax, because this is probably one of the longest book review I've written.

~~~~~~~~~~

FIRE TO THE STARS presents itself as a YA fantasy romance — enemies to lovers, cursed dragons, danger, heat. But beneath the trope friendly surface, the author reaches for something far more difficult: a story about divine mistakes, mortal suffering, and the thin line between mercy and resignation.

Claire: Brave, Enduring… and Chosen for Her Strength
What struck me most was Claire’s curse — not born from greed, recklessness, or wrongdoing, but from virtue. She is chosen precisely because she is brave, enduring, defiant. The kind of person who steps forward when others step back. And that’s the tragedy.

Her strength becomes the justification for her suffering.

Claire’s anger isn’t petty; it’s righteous. Her defiance isn’t attitude; it’s survival. She is heroic, yes — but she is also a pawn in a divine mistake the world has learned to call fate.

The Dragon Pit: Mercy or Resignation?
The worldbuilding around the dragon pits is one of the book’s most haunting elements. These pits exist so cursed humans can die in dragon form without harming anyone — a “humane” solution, a controlled place for an uncontrollable transformation.

But the more you sit with it, the more you realize:
this isn’t mercy.

It’s damage control dressed up as compassion.
It’s the world trying to manage a divine error.

When gods err, mortals suffer — and we call the least painful option mercy. That tension sits at the heart of the story, and it’s where the book’s emotional weight truly lives.

Romance Woven Through Moral Dilemma
Yes, there is romance — tension, heat, the pull between hunter and dragon, danger threaded with desire. But the book never lets you forget the ethical cost of the curse. The love story is shaped by:

• memory loss
• identity fracture
• the fear of transformation
• the inevitability of sacrifice

The romance works because it’s built on emotional risk, not just trope mechanics.

Ignition Day: Beauty and Tragedy
This solar events — the moment of transformation — is written with a mix of awe and dread. It’s beautiful, terrifying, and deeply unfair. The author captures that duality well: the spectacle of magic and the cost of being chosen by it.

Pacing & Structure
The book opens boldly, settles into a tense middle, and crescendos toward an emotional final act. The pacing is confident, though a few moments could have lingered longer. Still, the momentum carries you through with a steady pull.

Humor in the Heat
I wasn’t expecting the dragons to be this… charismatic. There are moments of humor — scandalous, bold, delightfully unexpected — that break the tension in the best way. It’s a welcome contrast to the heavier themes.

Final Reflection
Fire to the Stars is more than a romance. It’s a story about the cost of being strong, the cruelty of being chosen, and the rituals we invent to survive divine mistakes. It asks what mercy really means — and whether the world’s “humane” solutions are anything more than resignation.

And I want to congratulate the author for reaching beyond trope and spectacle. She didn’t just bring a charismatic dragon to life; she gave these dragons justice. In a world that sees them as fire, blood, and destruction, she offered them dignity and a complicated kind of mercy. It’s a bold, thoughtful achievement — one that lingers long after the last page.

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About the Author:
Morgan J. Watchorn writes stories that feature unapologetic girls at the heart of cataclysms—either fighting or causing them. A Southern California native, she graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of California Irvine with a bachelor’s degree in Japanese Language and Literature. Her manga and novel translations can be found in most major bookstores. When she’s not writing, she’s usually at the barn with her spoiled horses. Fire to the Stars is her debut novel.

*Penguin Random House provided the eARC
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Book Review | THE NEVERFEAR by Katherine Rundell

THE NEVERFEAR

Impossible Creatures Series, Book 3
BY KATHERINE RUNDELL
ART BY ASHLEY MACKENZIE | PUBLICATION: SEPTEMBER 1, 2026
PUFFIN CANADA | GENRE: CHILDREN'S MIDDLE GRADE BOOKS
RATING: ★★★★★

"This sequel is everything I hoped for — great adventure, new challenges, enduring loyalty, and wonder. "

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It’s the Midsummer Feast on the islet of Glimt, and on this magical moonlit evening, the word on everyone’s lips is bandits. Reports of masked men wreaking havoc are spreading throughout the Archipelago.

Christopher and Anya have faced danger before; they think they are prepared for this threat—until they are ambushed and someone very close to them is kidnapped.

Their frantic quest to pay the ransom will take them on a wild journey across Glimouria. Together they must face giants, duel with pirates, and race against deadly karkadanns.

But just when they think they might succeed, there will come the most Herculean task of all . . . -PRH

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There was a moment, while reading THE NEVERFEAR, when I realized something about myself as a reader: I still read with wonder. I still fall into stories the way I did when I was young — with curiosity, with awe, with that feeling of stepping into a world that welcomes me back like an old friend. Meeting Christopher, Anya, Nighthand, Irian, and Teren again felt less like picking up a sequel and more like returning to people I’ve missed.

This sequel is everything I hoped for — great adventure, new challenges, enduring loyalty, and wonder. The challenges asked so much from our characters, but they stood to the task. Every single one of them was tested and passed with flying colors. Their loyalty, love, and morals were pushed to the edge, and where there was anger, hurt, or guilt, there was also love — unconditional love and profound understanding.

One of the most beautiful truths in Neverfear is the way Nighthand rebuilds his boat after every storm, every loss, every hardship — always carrying a piece of the old into the new, and always naming it Neverfear. It’s not just a name. It’s an act of courage. A promise to himself that fear will not define him, and that renewal is always possible. Naming it Neverfear is continuity — not because the boat stays the same, but because he stays true.

This idea echoes through the entire Archipelago. The islands are home to everyone — the strange, the oddball, the different, the ones who don’t fit neatly anywhere else. The Archipelago welcomes them not by asking them to change, but by giving them space to grow. It’s a world that says: you belong here, exactly as you are.

And just like Nighthand’s boat, the people of the Archipelago rebuild themselves after hardship. They carry their past forward, but they don’t let it trap them. They learn, they change, they discover new strengths. Their renewal is quiet, brave, and deeply human.

The threat to the Archipelago is terrifying — deathly terrifying — and I found myself anxious for everyone… and yet hopeful. If there’s one great takeaway, it’s that hope can be pulled from different places, different directions. It’s there, even in the darkest corners, waiting to be found.

This book is a whole lesson on its own. I would recommend it to any child or adult alike. It reminds us that wonder is not something we outgrow. Curiosity is not something we lose. Renewal is not something reserved for stories. And belonging is not something we have to earn.

Stories like this remind me that I never lost that part of myself — I just had to remember it.

Impossible Creatures, Book 1

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About the Author:

KATHERINE RUNDELL is the internationally bestselling author of Impossible Creatures. Her other books for children include Rooftoppers, Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms, The Wolf Wilder, The Explorer, and The Good Thieves. She grew up in Zimbabwe, Brussels, and London, and is currently a Fellow of St. Catherine’s College, Oxford. For adult readers, Rundell has written Vanishing Treasures: A Bestiary of Extraordinary Endangered Creatures and Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne, which won the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction. She was the recipient of the British Book Award for Book of the Year and Author of the Year.
Photo by Nina Subin

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Book Review | HOW TO FIND LOVE IN THE CEREAL AISLE by Alissa DeRogatis

HOW TO FIND LOVE IN THE CEREAL AISLE

BY ALISSA DEROGATIS | PUBLICATION: AUGUST 4, 2026
COSMO READS | GENRE: WOMEN FICTION
RATING: ★★★✬

"It’s a character driven narrative with good development and relatability in most aspects."

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If you can’t write a good meet-cute, maybe you need to live one first…

Ainsley Green writes happily-ever-afters for a rabid fanbase of hopeless romantics. In real life? Her boyfriend just broke up with her, her editor wanted a new book yesterday and she’s starting to wonder if love actually exists beyond the pages of her favorite novels.

So when Lucas, Ainsley’s best friend and biggest cheerleader, insists the best cure for writer’s block is real-life inspiration, she’s ready to try anything. Enter: the meet-cute plan, a mission to take her head out of her heartbreak and force meet-cutes IRL to spark some new ideas. But as failed missions bumping into strangers at the airport and spilling coffee on men at the cafe result in nothing but embarrassment and stained clothing, Ainsley begins to wonder if maybe the romance she’s been chasing already has a leading man.

Because the truth about falling in love? It never goes according to plan.

Equal parts heartbreak, humor, and hope, How to Find Love in the Cereal Aisle is a fresh, flirty send up of dating in the modern age and a reminder that love finds us when we stop performing and start living.

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Ainsley is so dramatic. There, I said it.
But to be fair — she’s a romance author. Big feelings are her brand.

This book is entirely centered on Ainsley and her emotional world: ME, MYSELF, AND I. And while I understand it — she’s reeling from a breakup — her voice had me exhausted at times. She spirals, she whines, she loops through the same insecurities. Yet despite my initial frustration with her, I found myself appreciating the parts of Ainsley that shine through the noise: the Ainsley who values her friends, who knows when to call for help, who tries her best to move forward, and who eventually recognizes her own worth. Those moments made her feel real.

What kept me reading was Alissa DeRogatis’s prose and execution. The pacing is smooth, the structure is clever, and there were no moments where I felt disengaged. The setup — alternating between the “NOW” chapters and the months leading up to her breakup — works beautifully. It’s a character driven narrative with good development and relatability in most aspects.

Lucas, meanwhile, is simply a bonus. A warm presence, a gentle addition, and ultimately someone I’m happy she has.

SPOILER AHEAD →

There’s a moment in the book where it talks about “keeping it real,” and the implication seems to be that authenticity requires a strong or engaged social media presence. That idea stopped me. It made me wonder: Does an author need a big online presence to be relatable? Is an author unrelatable without constant visibility?

To me, that part of the book does give the impression that social media is tied to authenticity — and I don’t agree. Many real authors today maintain tiny or nonexistent online footprints and still write deeply resonant, emotionally honest work. Authenticity comes from craft, vulnerability, and self awareness — not follower count.

So while I enjoyed the writing and appreciated the emotional arc, that modern publishing assumption is a bit of a conundrum. It’s not a flaw in the book, but it is a tension that shaped my view.

In the end, How to Find Love in the Cereal Aisle is heartfelt, well written, and often charming — but its emotional repetition and its nod to social media driven relatability kept it from reaching the full depth I hoped for.

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About the Author:
Alissa DeRogatis is the author of the viral debut Call It What You Want and How to Find Love in the Cereal Aisle. She lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she writes stories about modern love, self- discovery, and the people who help us put ourselves back together. When she’s not reading, she’s rewatching her favorite rom- coms, curating sad-girl playlists, or hang- ing out with her dogs, Asher and Oliver.

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