Artificial Wisdom by Thomas R Weaver | Book Review

[ad/gifted - I received a proof copy of this book for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links.]

Title & Author: Artificial Wisdom by Thomas R Weaver 

My rating: 4/5

Publisher: Bantam

Publication date: 14th August 2025

Blurb:

Who would you trust with the future?

The year is 2050. In the teeth of a climate catastrophe, the world is left with a drastic solution: one global leader to steer it through the coming apocalypse.

The final two candidates are ex-US President Lockwood, and Solomon, the world’s first political artificial intelligence.

As whispers of a global conspiracy emerge, investigative journalist Marcus Tully find himself at the centre of it – when Solomon’s creator turns up murdered.

Overnight, one investigation becomes two, and it’s not just the result of the election that’s at stake but the future of the species. Suddenly humanity must make an impossible choice – between salvation, or freedom.

Review:

It's the year 2050 and there is a global election about to take place. Who would you vote for - an ex-U.S. president or an A.I. artilect?

Marcus Tully is an investigative journalist who lost his pregnant wife in a deadly heatwave on the Persian Gulf a decade prior. Never wanting to give up on finding out the truth about what really happened to his wife and what caused the heatwave, Tully starts to unravel information that suggests that it was a conspiracy.

When Martha, the A.I. artilect's creator is killed, Tully is brought in to try and find out who killed her and why, but then both this investigation and the investigation into his wife's death start to intertwine.

I have never read a book like this before and I loved it. I don't read dystopian fiction for ages but then when I go back to it, I remember how much I love it. This is in the not too distant future but how the technology works feels like it could be real and that honestly scared me a little. 

Not only is it dystopian, but it mixed in another genre I love - murder mystery. I love that shock of finding out information and twists and a little bit of doubt like, is this a red herring?

Really enjoyable and thought-provoking!

They Never Learn by Layne Fargo | Book Review

[ad/gifted - I received a copy of this book for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links.]

Title & Author: They Never Learn by Layne Fargo 

My rating: 5/5

Publisher: Vintage

Publication date: 3rd July 2025

Blurb:

Scarlett Clark is an exceptional English professor and an even better serial killer. She’s made it her mission in life to track down predatory men on campus and kill them and she’s preparing for her biggest murder yet.

Carly Schiller is just trying to survive her freshman year at college – keeping her head down and focussing on work. But when her roommate Allison is assaulted at a party Carly becomes obsessed with making the attacker pay.

When police start investigating the spate of local deaths, Scarlett starts to realise it’s only a matter of time before her secret life is exposed and everything she’s built comes crashing down with it…

Review: 

Layne Fargo can do no wrong. I became a little obsessed with The Favourites when I read it back in January so I was very excited to read They Never Learn, even though the genre is very different.

They Never Learn is dual POV with alternating chapters from Carly, a new university student and Scarlett, an academic at the university. 

Carly becomes quick friends with her roommate Allison and Allison's childhood friend Wes. She is a bit of a wallflower and doesn't really capture anyone's attention whereas Allison is the opposite. 

Scarlett is a serial killer whose focus is on men who mistreat women or abuse their powers. The opening to this book totally gripped me and never let go, right up to the final page.

The two stories come together in a way that surprised me and as someone who doesn't really care for men except my husband, these men made me ANGRY, more so because every single one felt real. These situations are real situations that people currently experience and HAVE experienced for years.

If you are a fan of Dexter but want more queer, feminist, vigilante type women who seek revenge on men, this book is for you. There were moments where my jaw dropped and I had to stare at the wall, the build up and chase had me locked in and the short, plot heavy chapters kept me hooked.

Bravo! (Trigger warnings for murder, rape and sexual abuse.)

Sky Daddy by Kate Folk | Book Review

[This post contains affiliate links.]

Title & Author: Sky Daddy by Kate Folk

My rating: 4/5

Publisher: Sceptre

Publication date: 10th April 2025

Blurb:

Linda makes $20 an hour as a content moderator, flagging comments that violate a tech conglomerate's terms and conditions. Each night, she returns to the windowless room in a garage that she rents from a family who pretend she isn't there.

But once a month, she escapes to San Francisco International Airport for a clandestine meeting on the cheapest flight out that night. Linda's secret is that she's sexually attracted to planes: their intelligent windscreens, sleek fuselages and powerful engines make her feel a way that no human lover ever could.

Linda believes her destiny is to someday 'marry' one of her suitors by dying in a plane crash, a catastrophic event that would unite her with her soulmate plane for eternity. So when her co-worker Karina invites her to join a group of women using vision boards to manifest their desires, she can't resist the chance to hasten her romantic fate. However, as the vision boards seem to manifest items more quickly - and more literally - than Linda had expected, the carefully balanced elements of her life begin to spin out of her control, and she must choose between maintaining the trappings of normalcy or launching herself headlong towards her greatest dream.

Review:

I went into this book because the blurb said it was about a woman who was sexually interested in planes and that piqued my interest as someone who loves a "weird girl fiction" book. I absolutely loved this.

I listened on audio and whilst I did think Linda's sexual description of the planes from her point of view were very strange. I ended up loving her character. Her inner dialogue was quite funny and blunt.

Linda works at Acuity moderating comments on social media sites. It's a mundane job but she is good at it and it earns enough money that she can take one flight a month. She lives in a small windowless "cube" and we find that she doesn't really get a lot of human interaction, aside from her colleague-turned-friend Karina.

Karina invites Linda to a vision board meeting, explaining that she needs to create a picture board of the things she wants to achieve that quarter so she can manifest them into the world. Not wanting to "out" herself too much, Linda includes photographs of pilots and the owner of Airbus, making it seem like her goal is to date a pilot when in reality she wants to marry a plane - by getting into a plane crash.

I ended up finding this story very sweet with regards to Linda's developing friendships. It surprised me and I loved how it was written. She is very much an odd character who just needs to be understood.

Dearly Unbeloved by Sophie Snow | Book Review

[ad/gifted - I am a member of Sophie Snow's Street Team and received an eARC copy of this book for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.]

Title & Author: Dearly Unbeloved by Sophie Snow 

My rating: 5/5

Publication date: 1st July 2025

Blurb:

She needs a wife to secure a promotion. Her roommate needs a wife to claim her inheritance. A marriage of convenience is the perfect solution—if only they didn’t hate each other.

Rose Cannon might not be thriving, but she’s doing her best. Her relationship with her family is rocky, she’s not great with people, and sometimes she can’t make herself get out of bed. Work is the one place she’s perfect—until she lies to her boss and pretends to be engaged to the messy roommate she loathes.

Sierra Hayashi has bigger problems than her stuck up roommate. The deadline for the inheritance she’s counting on is fast approaching, and she still hasn’t done the one thing she needs to do to claim it: get married. Easier said than done, considering she ends every relationship after three months.

When a drunk night in Vegas presents Rose and Sierra with an answer to their problems, they face a new challenge: can they survive staying married when they despise each other? Or will pretending to be in love unravel everything they think they hate about each other?

Review:

I absolutely adore Sophie Snow's books and as soon as I delve into a new one, I instantly know it's going to be a hit.

Dearly Unbeloved is the third book in the Spicy in Seattle series and it is a sapphic romance featuring Rose (Jazz's sister from False Confidence) and Sierra who works for Cal (from Legally Binding). If you haven't read the first two books, I highly suggest you do because they are fantastic and it really helps if you know the background for Dearly Unbeloved.

This book is enemies to lovers and we really FEEL it, getting drunkenly married in Vegas and staying married as a convenience. It is spicy - Snow can write a fantastic scene - but also focuses on some really deep topics such as depression and family issues.

The family issues especially hit me hard and I feel like they were written so well and believably. I love a book that pulls as your heartstrings as well as having you fall for the characters.

Rose and Sierra's little notes to each other made me laugh and I loved the snippets of what's happening with the other characters in the series. Bring on the next one! 

Hat Trick by Chelsea Curto | Book Review

[ad/gifted - I received an eARC copy of this book for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links.]

Title & Author: Hat Trick by Chelsea Curto 

My rating: 5/5

Publication date: 27th May 2025

Blurb:

Riley Mitchell has everything he could ever want.

He’s a back-to-back Stanley Cup champion. He has great friends, a fun life, and he’s living out his dream of playing hockey in the NHL.

Except one night, everything changes.

After a car accident leaves him with an amputated right leg, he struggles with his identity. Who is he away from the ice? How is he supposed to live without the sport that means everything to him?

Enter Lexi Armstrong, the DC Stars athletic trainer assigned to Riley’s rehabilitation.

Independent, proudly single, and a sarcastic ray of sunshine, she’s determined to help Riley feel better not just physically, but mentally too.

And the friends with benefits arrangement they fall into?

Definitely not part of the rehabilitation plan.

It was supposed to be one night, but when just once turns into something much deeper than a romp in the bedroom, they have a decision to make.

Do they fight their feelings and keep things purely physical? Or can they pull off a Hat Trick and find something that lasts forever?

Review: 

I rave about Chelsea Curto's books so much (and I know I have convinced so many people to read them - thank you to everyone who comes to me to say they loved them too off the back of my recommendation!) but I fear my words can't accurately describe just how passionate I am about each and every one.

I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of Face Off, the first in the D.C. Stars series and instantly fell in love. I knew I'd found a new favourite author just from that one book. I then went and binged the entire Love Through A Lens series which I loved just as much. I received ARCs of Power Play, Slap Shot and now Hat Trick and each time I felt like I was going back to a friendship group that I was a part of.

Curto's writing is beautiful and second to none. She always has a real focus on women in sports, women doing well in positions that men don't have to work as hard in and, yes, while we have probably some of the best spicy scenes I have ever read, each book has some form of emotional moment.

Hat Trick was 100% the most emotional of the lot. I was looking forward to Riley's book and I knew it would break my heart, but Curto just managed to put it right back together again.

Riley, one of the defensemen for the D.C. Stars is in an accident and has to undergo an above knee amputation. Being an ice hockey player, this is life-changing for him. Lexi, the team's head athletic trainer is determined to not only aid his rehabilitation to the best of her ability, but to get him back on the ice.

The accident and amputation happens quite early on in the book and by 9% of the way in, I'd already almost cried three times. The way that Riley's emotions following his amputation are written is absolutely perfect. I felt his anguish and anger so vividly as well as his ups and downs throughout the entire book. It felt real.

You can tell that so much research and thought has gone into this book with regards to life as an amputee, rehabilitation in a sports setting following a life-changing incident and the use of prosthetics.

Watching Lexi and Riley's relationship develop was beautiful and you get the sense that they really needed each other. Being back with this group (especially the group chat texts - they are always my favourite parts!) and getting little updates on what they are up to in the current timeline is a nice little extra. 

Chelsea, bring on the next one!