#kate robb

[orlissa]

"I’ve watched enough Harry Potter movies to know nothing good ever comes from reading aloud from a creepy old book."

You're mixing things up, dear. You mean THE MUMMY.

...shame on you

[shxpeshifterr]

[judgingbooksbycovers]

Solar Eclipse of the Heart: A Novel

By Kate Robb.

[darlenefblog]

Kitty St. Clair's Last Dance: A Novel

by Kate Robb

A 3 star review

Publisher ‏ : ‎ The Dial Press

Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 30, 2025

Print length ‏ : ‎ 368 pages

Book blurb:

When a young woman is bequeathed a shuttered dance hall, she begins to dream of its heyday—and learns to see her present-day entanglements in a new light. Jules is stunned when eccentric and glamorous retiree Kitty St. Clair passes away and leaves her a dilapidated dance hall in their quaint lakeside community. That is until Reeve, a charming, successful developer, returns to town, looking for the new owner of the dance hall, intent on turning it into luxury vacation condos. Suddenly Jules has a way to make her lifelong dream of going to medical school a reality. But selling the dance hall will only add to the steadily rising real estate prices, making it harder for the residents of her tiny vacation town to live there, not to mention Reeve also happens to be the man who Jules shared a magical night with two summers ago—and never heard from again. Reeve wants a second chance with Jules and is determined to earn back her trust. But can she let herself fall for him again? Does he want her, or a guaranteed sale? Jules wishes she could talk to Kitty, who always seemed to have the best advice, so she turns to the diary she left her. But as Jules falls asleep reading, she wakes up in the world of the diary, fifty years ago, accompanying a young Kitty to the dance hall in all its glory. Her dream visits to Kitty’s past begin to parallel the questions plaguing her in her own world. Will Kitty’s past hold the keys to unlocking Jules’s future?

My review:

I liked it and I didn't like it. I had more fun and interest in Kitty and the past than Jules and the present. The plot of time travel and using the past as a lesson on life was good, it worked well. What I had a problem with was the character of Jules. She'd had a rough childhood and her present wasn't a bed of roses, it was drawn out and too much of it. Nothing got better until the very end. A chance at a different, better life was dangled in front her her and she ran away each time. I was angry with her silent suffering and indecision - that is really a decision in itself. Being hesitant about a huge life change of course is understandable, 300 pages of it was almost a DNF.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

[reni-reads]

Reni Reviews

Prime Time Romance by Kate Robb

Finished: 12th September 2025

Genre: Adult Romcom

May be for you if you like: Dawson's Creek, teen shows, TV tropes, he falls first, good girl/bad boy romance

Synopsis

Newly divorced on the eve of her thirtieth birthday, Brynn is sick of heartbreak. She thought she had found her happy ending, but now she’s living with a roommate, Josh, to afford her mortgage, and she’s trying to adjust to her new single life. At least she’s got Carson’s Cove to binge, her beloved 2000s teenage soap. The show ended unexpectantly on a cliffhanger after five seasons, and the two main characters, Sloan and Spencer, never got to declare their love for each other. The show is still perfect in Brynn’s eyes; despite all the drama that goes down, things always have a way of working out in Carson’s Cove . . . unlike her own life.

So when a birthday cake surprisingly shows up on her and Josh’s doorstep, Brynn makes a wish for the one thing she’s always wanted: a happily-ever-after. The next morning, she doesn’t wake up in her apartment. She’s in Carson’s Cove . . . and Josh is there too. Everyone seems to know them, except they’re not Brynn and Josh; they’re Sloan, the sweetheart of Carson’s Cove, and Fletch, the town’s bad boy. And to get home, they have to make Brynn’s wish come true by ensuring Sloan and Spencer, the hometown heartthrob, end up together at last.

Rating: 🧁🧁🧁🧁

Idea: 🧁🧁🧁🧁

Plot: 🧁🧁🧁

Characters: 🧁🧁🧁

Worldbuilding: 🧁🧁🧁🧁

Narration: 🧁🧁🧁🧁

Entertainment: 🧁🧁🧁🧁

Full Review

Okay so I bought this book because I could relate to the premise a lot and thought it sounded fun. And fun this was, albeit very predictable, but that doesn't really bother me with romcoms. However, there are a few things that really bothered me, so let's get into it shall we?

First, the characters. Brynn is a protagonist that probably a lot of milennial women can relate to: She's 30, successful, but romantically disillusioned. She relies on her comfort show, Carson’s Cove, which is definitely not Dawson's Creek lol, to get her through a scary and unstable time of her life (me, but with Gilmore Girls). Her roommate Josh is, of course, a walking sixpack wrapped in a green flag. He's caring, smart, and brooding in the sensitive and not the creepy way.

When they are transported into the world of Carson’s Cove, they take on the roles of Sloan, the town sweetheart, and Fletch, the notorious bad boy. And it's super fun to watch them struggle with their respective roles in their own way; as teen TV characters, they are both pretty one-dimensional, which poses an issue for Brynn and Josh. While Josh shares a lot of characteristics with Fletch, he wants him to be more than the stereotypical villain, and can't help but add some charme to him. Brynn realizes that she's not sweetheart material at all, which was pretty fun to read. She's almost the polar opposite to Sloan, which keeps getting her into trouble a lot. She also constantly has to question the perfect world of her favorite teen show, which made the book a bit more interesting.

Other characters include Spencer, heartthrob of Carson’s Cove, who, naturally, is perfect and blond but turns out to be self-centered and boring. A same fate befalls Poppy, Sloan's best friend, who's actually a self-centered bitch. Incidentally, Luce Cho, the antagonist character, turns out to be the most normal and nice character. These "twists" are to be expected, but I still liked the way those reveals are executed, because Brynn is really hesistant to let go of her idealistic Carson’s Cove and clings to it as long as possible.

So far, so good. But then there's Sheldon.

Sheldon is introduced as the one who transports Brynn and Josh into the TV world in the first place, and initially I thought he was hilarious. He's introduced as an "extra" extra, who appeared in every episode if Carson’s Cove until its cancellation, but never had any lines and was a popular subject of fan theories (much like Degrassi's Heather Sinclair). I thought his investment in the show's ending made a lot of sense and I liked that he introduced some kind of stakes to this book. However, I hated how he turned from a minor obstacle to a fullblown sociopath who is willing to murder major characters and force Brynn/Sloan to be with Spencer when she's clearly uncomfortable. Hello, consent??? This aspect was really icky to me. I hated Sheldon.

I also wasn't too fond of the relationship between Brynn and Josh. They didn't really get enough scenes together for me to care about them as a couple, and I think I'd have preferred them as friends to show that a happily ever after doesn't necessitate a romantic relationship. Also, the sex scenes were beyond cringe lol.

Overall, this book is really cute and really lives for its TV tropes, so if you're a hopeless romantic still stuck on your favorite teen drama as an adult, this one might be for you!

[blondie20000]

August Reads rated out of 5 🌟

This Spells Love by Kate Robb: 3 🌟

The Boyfriend by Freida McFadden: 4 🌟

The Lost Girl by Rosie Goodwin: 3 🌟

Death Row by Freida McFadden: 2 🌟

[bookcoversaroundtheworld]

Prime Time Romance - Canada

Is love on the small screen better than the real thing?

A young divorcée finds herself in the ideal world of her favorite 2000s teen soap in this “gleefully nostalgic and completely fresh”* romance from the author of This Spells Love.

[the-final-sentence]

We close our eyes, hold on to that feeling, and blow.

Kate Robb, from Prime Time Romance