Rebekah Weatherspoon

This is a super cute summer romance about two biracial lesbians whose social circles overlap due to their best friends dating and how they end up falling for each other.

I adored Heaven in every single chapter. She's exactly the type of girl I'd have been friends with in high school. Saylor was a little annoying at first, but she grew on me by the halfway point. I love the summer bingo challenge idea and how they worked together to cross off squares. And, while there is a part about keeping show more the relationship secret, it's not due to ANY homophobia!

There are two things keeping this from a full five-star read. One, the writing seems a little on the young side, but these girls are supposed to be 17. 15-year-old me would have devoured it. Two, the ending. It was anticlimactic and super abrupt. I was fully prepared to keep going with the girls, but it just...stopped. Not even an epilogue.

Otherwise, I had a fun time with this book and would absolutely recommend it for teenagers!

Thank you to G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers for the opportunity to read and review. show less

Janelle and Andre both have gone through ugly breakups in the last two years, they are both workaholics and they both feel the need for company. So, they both have the same idea: To give a dog from the animal shelter a new home. When each of them arrives at the shelter, they learn that there has been a mixup, and they both have been promised the same dog. As they have both utterly set their hearts on Zeus, a lively and adorable pup, they agree to co-parent him so that neither of them has to show more give him up. But of course, soon they find that they are looking forward to their meetings not only because they get to pick up Zeus.

I totally loved this story, and not only because of the heart-warming descriptions of Zeus. I liked both of the main characters, who are realistic and non-toxic, which is not a given in contemporary romances. Although they have their baggage, their behavior is mostly healthy and they are able to reflect on their actions, and that was such a nice change to many other books. Both main characters are high weight, but the body positivity does not feel constructed or artificial.
What I didn't like that much is that the sex scene comes a bit sudden and I could have done without it. I also think that the female narrator, Marissa Hampton, reads very hectic and fast at times, so much that I checked if I had accidentally sped up the audiobook. The male narrator is Chinua Hawke and I did enjoy his style. show less

When I discovered Rebekah Weatherspoon on Bluesky, I didn’t hesitate for a second—I immediately purchased her latest book, Meegan, and convinced my spicy book club to dive in with me. It was one of the best literary decisions I’ve made this year.
Meegan is a kindergarten teacher whose sunny disposition hides a deep engagement with BDSM and polyamory. Her journey is a refreshing departure from conventional romance narratives, offering a candid portrayal of a woman embracing her authentic show more self. The chemistry between Meegan and autistic tech millionaire Olin is electric, their interactions brimming with genuine emotion and sizzling tension.

One of the joys of Meegan is discovering how this book fits into the larger world Weatherspoon has created. Many of the characters in this story are from her previous works, and their presence feels like reconnecting with old friends—even for a first-time reader like me. Now, I’m eagerly working my way through her backlist because I can’t get enough of her vibrant, layered characters and their beautifully messy lives.

The novel's exploration of BDSM and multiple partners is handled with sensitivity and authenticity, challenging stereotypes and presenting a nuanced perspective on alternative lifestyles. Weatherspoon's commitment to inclusivity and representation is evident, making Meegan a standout in the romance genre.

In essence, Meegan is a wish-fulfillment narrative at its finest, offering readers a story that is as empowering as it is enchanting. Weatherspoon's ability to craft relatable, multifaceted characters within engaging and unconventional love stories solidifies her place as a luminary in contemporary romance.

For those seeking a romance that defies norms and celebrates individuality, Meegan is an essential read that will leave you both satisfied and yearning for more of Weatherspoon's captivating storytelling. show less

Recommended: sure
for an extremely cute fake-dating story, for characters I loved, for a heartwarming story with a little silliness thrown in

Thoughts:
I was so excited for this book, and I'm glad I wasn't disappointed. I felt like everything I had hoped it would be, it lived up to, plus then some that I didn't expect to get!

The way the "dating my friend's ex" element is handled was done well enough to make me buy into it without it being weird or seeming too contrived. I thought it could be show more extremely weird and unbelievable for someone to be like "hey borrow my boyfriend for a date" but in this case they actually got me to buy into it.

You get chapter perspectives from both Bethany and Jacob, and I always love when that happens, and especially when romance is involved, because it's fun to see how each person interprets an event or thinks about the same things in different ways. Also the chapter sub-headings made me smile every time and I love when chapters have titles, so that was a fun addition. There are text exchanges illustrated with speech bubbles and emojis in this too, which is a nice shortcut to communication and feels very relevant. A lot of books seem to forget that phones exist. xD Just a note though because I'm not sure how that might look in a digital copy for the formatting of the texts (maybe they just converted it for that so it's not images) but in the printed copy it worked very nicely.

This is a young adult novel, and there are definitely elements of that besides the romance and dances thing. They struggle with deciding their future paths after high school, and with school projects, and navigating friendships, and in communicating with their parents, and so much more. It was a really robust amount to be included in one story, honestly, but it didn't feel like too much and worked organically with all the other plot elements.

Where this mainly lost me was in the too-common issue of wondering why people don't just talk to each other and be honest. I get that honesty can be kind of scary, and it makes more sense for teenagers with little romantic experience, but it still made me sigh a bit when they both steadfastly clung to this expiration date that neither of them actually wanted! Oy. Kids.

Anyway, overall this was a sweet and fun read with an impressive amount of extras thrown in -- photography, body image, honesty, parental relationships, and so much more -- that made it feel like the characters were whole complete personalities and not just boy & girl who want to kiss.

Thanks to Bookishfirst and Razorbill for a free advanced copy. This is my honest review. show less