"I've always seen you in my future. That every time I imagine what's to come, it's you I see. If soulmates are real, you must be mine."

GENRE: Romance
RATING: 4.75/5
FORMAT: eBook Arc
Tropes: Childhood Best Friends to Lovers, Fake Wedding, Everyone knows but them

Overall Impression: There is something about friends to lovers that always gets my heart and this was no exception🥺

Review:
The Score was filled with yearning, one that has built over the years between Pen and Bear. It focuses on this push between wanting to preserve the friendship or taking the risks and discovering their feelings and entering a relationship. I was rooting for both Pen and Bear, who both had my heart from the start of the book to the end of it.

I love friends to lovers, whether it starts as adults or it's a childhood friendship to lovers and I think The Score brought a lot of depth into this trope by exploring the fear and how shifting from one to the other will change their relationship. This is done throughout the story in the best of ways and in a way that just makes both Pen and Bear think about themselves and allows them to grow (as a person and together, as they start to accept their feelings for each other)

AND THE YEARNING!!! The way Bear just yearned, oh my god. Like you could tell this is very much "everyone knows but them" because it is so obviously Bear yearns for Pen and Pen loves Bear but doesn't let herself show it AND YOU JUST WANT TO YELL AT THEM TO GET TOGETHER (in the nicest of ways obviously)

Essentially, this is a story of accepting risks and embracing who you are so that you can accept what you deserve. Pen struggles with this because she had a lot of bad experience that caused her to give up on love and honestly? I see why and I'm just glad she had Bear to help and support her. The entire story of getting to meet her family, seeing them accept Bear and going through the journey of Pen's dad and his health scare was emotional and wholesome. It showed that Pen and Bear had their own community and family (in Bear's case, it's Pen's family that are were always there as well)

I am so excited to read more of Leonor Soliz's work and I cant wait to read about the friend groups we met in this book as I just started here with The Score and I definitely cannot wait for more!

Thank you to the Author and Netgalley for the Arc copy! 

Ever wonder if your favorite authors were secretly in a group chat? While they didn’t have Slack, the history of literature is full of strange coincidences, unexpected friendships, and bets that changed the course of books forever.

Here are five hidden literary connections that will make you look like the smartest person at your next book club.

1. Dr. Seuss and the 50-Word Bet

We all know Green Eggs and Ham, but it wasn’t born out of a simple burst of creativity. It was the result of a high-stakes dare. Bennett Cerf, the founder of Random House, bet Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss) $50 that he couldn't write a book using 50 or fewer distinct words.

Seuss won the bet, using exactly 50 words to create a masterpiece. Interestingly, Cerf never actually paid up, but the book went on to sell millions, so Seuss got the last laugh.

2. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vacation

In the summer of 1816 the "Year Without a Summer", a group of literary icons stayed at Villa Diodati in Switzerland. The guest list was wild: Lord Byron, Mary Shelley, and Percy Bysshe Shelley. Because the weather was too gloomy to go outside, Byron proposed a ghost story contest. This single rainy vacation gave birth to:

• Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the first true sci-fi novel.

• John Polidori’s The Vampyre which influenced Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

3. C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and the Tree

The creators of Narnia and Middle-earth weren’t just contemporaries; they were best friends. They were part of an informal writing group at Oxford called The Inklings.

Tolkien actually credits Lewis with being the only reason The Lord of the Rings was ever finished. Lewis was his first audience and constantly pushed him to keep writing when Tolkien got bogged down in elvish linguistics. Without Lewis's nagging, we might never have left the Shire.

4. The James Bond / Roald Dahl Link

You know Roald Dahl for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but did you know he was a spy? During WWII, Dahl worked for the British Intelligence service alongside Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond.

Dahl’s life was so much like a Bond film that he eventually wrote the screenplay for the Bond movie You Only Live Twice. He even invented the child-snatching Child Catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang the book for which was also written by Fleming.

5. Alice in Wonderland’s Medical Legacy

Lewis Carroll, Charles Dodgson suffered from severe migraines that caused him to see objects as much larger or smaller than they actually were. This neurological phenomenon is now officially known in the medical world as Alice in Wonderland Syndrome AIWS.

Scholars believe Carroll used his own terrifying sensory distortions as the inspiration for Alice growing and shrinking in the Rabbit Hole.

❓️Which of these facts surprised you the most? Let me know in the comments if you knew about the Dahl/Bond connection that one always blows my mind!

Our first seasonal readathon of 2026 will be next weekend! If you’re new, I implemented weekend seasonal readathons back in October 2025 and will continue into 2026. This is a four day readathon meant to foster community and read! 

Join us in Discord, we'll be in the channel #seasonal-readathons chatting about our TBRs/hopefuls, reading progress, and sharing our reading fuel (snacks & beverages) throughout the weekend.

When? Friday, February 20th to Monday, February 24th (In your time zone: Starts at midnight, ends 11:59pm on Monday, Feb 24th)

Just a reminder: This is a laid-back readathon. Read as much or as little as you want. Reading one book means "completing" the readathon. Feel free to use the bingo card I’ve created or mood read. My only rule is that you’re reading books with queer rep 🏳️‍🌈 or by BIPOC authors throughout the weekend.

If you need some motivation, I’ll be hosting LIVE reading sprints for free and paid members on Saturday, February 21st 2026. These will also act as our monthly book club sprints. You can read your book club pick OR any book you’re reading for the readathon. (LINK TO COME)

In Discord, you can RSVP at the top of the server under “Events.”

I can’t wait to read with everyone! 📚

CLICK HERE to access the bingo card. 

CLICK HERE to access the reading tracker via Canva. 

Bingo Card Prompts

Read a book you borrowed 

Read a book with snow on the cover

Read a book that features a winter sport

Read a book that starts with “W” 

Attend reading sprints

Read a book in your favorite genre 

Read a book published in February

Read a book by a Black author 

Read a book under 200 pgs

Read a new release 

Read a graphic novel, manga, or comic

Read a romance book 

Drink a hot beverage 

Read a cozy book 

Have a seasonal treat 

Write a book review 

Until the Clock Strikes Midnight was the perfect cozy book to read for some much-needed escapism.

Darling is a talented fairy who yearns to help humans find their happily ever after as a Guardian. She gets a chance to win a Mortal Outcome Council mentorship, but it turns out that she has competition.

Calamity aka Calam is a talented Misfortune, an immortal who saves humans from unhappily ever after by guiding them into contentedness. This mentorship is his ticket to getting away from his father who has never been a loving presence in his life. Darling and Calam must choose to compete or collaborate in order to help Lucy, a young bookshop owner, turn away from her projected unhappily ever after.

My short (spoiler free) review

There are so many things I loved about this story! Lucy was a sweetheart and her struggles with her mental illness (bipolar disorder) felt very relatable. Despite that, she seeks joy through connection and recognizes that lasting change requires stability in the community in order to positively affect the people within it. I also loved her chemistry with Calam and his willingness to open up.

This story is a testament to radical empathy! I really enjoyed this story and hope more people pick it up.

My full review (spoilers included)

As with other books I've read by Alechia Dow, the world-building and organic conversations make it easy to melt into Until the Clock Strikes Midnight.

Despite the escapism, there were many painful moments throughout this book that made me feel seen. Darling is an outsider, or feels like one, in every space she occupies. Her community in Whimsia can't understand why she'd want to leave and become a guardian alongside celestials. Celestials think fairies like Darling are unhinged, frivolous, and not to be taken seriously. She's been told that she's "too much" and that paired with other negative self-talk drags her down from time to time, but she refuses to stop sparkling. Now, unknowingly set up to fail by the celestials, Darling is tasked with saving Lucy from an unhappily ever after in the Kingdom of Lumina, a place unknown to her. They all thought she would crumble but she built foundations, instead.

She's been told that she's "too much" and that paired with other negative self-talk drags her down from time to time, but she refuses to stop sparkling.

I'm not a fairy, but I have struggled with similar issues all my life. Growing up, I revealed my true giggly, loving, and intensely nerdy self to folks and realized that many people judged me for that. I closed myself off when I went to college in a new state, but my severe anxiety and moderate depression convinced me that everything I said or did was "too much" or embarrassing and the people around me were just being nice to me because they felt sorry for me. I recognized Darling's spiraling thoughts as my own and, as I read, the compassion I felt for Darling started to hit me. She deserved compassion and love and so do I.

A part of me wants to follow my dreams, dress is bright colors, and break out in song every time the urge hits me while another part of me doesn't want "to be perceived."

Calam also felt relatable to the part of me that craves the comfort I feel from organization, control, and predictability. A part of me wants to follow my dreams, dress is bright colors, and break out in song every time the urge hits me while another part of me doesn't want "to be perceived." That part of me argues for having a stable job, not rocking the boat too much, and accepting my circumstances. Like Calam comes to realize throughout the book, some things are worth taking a risk for and boat-rocking is sometimes needed in order to make real and lasting change.

It seems like a lot of people are under the assumption that teen/young adult books aren't valuable to adults in the same way that novels and non-fiction aimed for our demographic is. Obviously, I strongly disagree. Until the Clock Strikes Midnight, and many other books like it, give us the opportunity to heal our inner child and find comfort in an increasingly hostile world. I felt a warm appreciation for my body, my hair, and style thanks to Dow's descriptions of Darling and her confidence. Reading about people loving on us, can be life-saving.

Until the Clock Strikes Midnight, and many other books like it, give us the opportunity to heal our inner child and find comfort in an increasingly hostile world.

The ways that Darling positively affected everyone around her and emphasized the importance of hope for the community in Lumina was inspiring. She tried her hardest to find connections between everyone and still knew that making life worth living required an even playing field with supports in place.

Yes, this is a Fantasy book inspired by Fairytales, but it is also book for inspiring radical empathy, organizing, love, and so much more. It's queer normative and inclusive. It's sweet and thoughtful.

I hope you'll pick it up at your local library or bookstore.

If you'd like me to get a monetary benefit from your purchase, click here: https://bookshop.org/lists/books-that-make-me-feel-loved

This playlist I found on Spotify has been on repeat as I've been working on Project Crownless! It fits the vibe of this story perfectly.

Welcome back to Director’s Cut reviews. Today I have Nothing Tastes As Good under the knife 🔪

I’m offering this review as a sample for free members. Typically I post these in my Paid tier, but wanted to give you all a TASTE of what I offer. I have a lot of ARCs and would love to share more this way.

Book: Nothing Tastes As Good

Author: Luke Dumas

Page count: 352

Genre: Horror

Subgenre/Themes: Weight Loss, Obesity, Trauma, Addiction, Cannibalism, Prejudice, Fatphobia, Social Media Influencers, Multimedia

Setting: Southern California

Comps: The Substance, Thinner

Release Date: 3/31/26

My Rating: ✨✨✨✨

Thoughts: I really enjoyed this one! It tackled a lot of hard subjects with some comedy mixed in.

The book follows Emmett who has been battling with his weight for as long as he can remember. Some traumatizing experiences happened to him when he was a kid and it’s affected him ever since. Emmett has tried every weight loss program, but he just can’t stick to one. So when a tailored add for “Obexity” pops up on his social media, he signs up for the trial. The drug seems to be a miracle worker 🙌🏻 He’s losing more weight than ever. But with it comes a side effect. he’s been losing periods of time and coming to covered in blood…

I loved the quick chapters and use of multimedia such as blog posts, interview transcripts, and more. I feel like the book did a great job showcasing the effects of trauma and how hard it is to break addiction. It also tackles the way we try to showcase our lives as “perfect” on social media and the great feeling we chase with likes and comments.

The characters were really well done. I enjoyed Emmett’s life long friend and roommate Lizette. Not only was she a great friend, but she was also a constant source of positivity. She did not let her weight determine her life. She owned her body positivity. Unlike Emmett who constantly let his weight define him and how others perceived him.

I also felt a lot of rage for poor Emmett. Seeing how other characters view and treated him really got under my skin. It’s no wonder that the trauma he faced as a kid still had a lasting effect into his adult life.

I will say that the ending twist was a little bit far-fetched.

Overall, I feel like this book is an excellent social commentary on weight loss culture and the craze of Ozempic.

We have made a form for anyone in the war band who would like to let us know their favourite book or series, as well as genres they would like us to discuss, what you'd like to see on the channel, and how you think we can get people reading:

https://forms.gle/3GBPYA3d7sUMADPdA

Truth & Courage!