Photo Credit: Lisa Fotios @ Pexels.

The Weekly Book Date is where I talk all things books from the past 7 days (17-23 November 2025).

Woo hoo, two weeks in a row! And I didn’t have any annual leave this week so I’m doubly impressed.

No 5 x Star Reads but I’ve still got 5 x books to talk about this week including 1 x Current Read, 2 x Books Read and 2 x Added to Wish List.

I’ve read 141 x books so far in 2025, which means I’m just 9 x books away from my (unofficial) target of 150. This isn’t an ad and I’m definitely not getting paid to mention it (apart from the fact that my own books are available on KU) but I snagged Kindle Unlimited for 3 months for just 99p as part of Amazon’s Black Friday Week. I love a bargain, which is why I get so excited on the last day of the month waiting for the new Amazon First Reads and Kindle Monthly Deals to be announced.

I’ve just realised I sound like such an Amazon hype girl but I promise you, I’m not getting anything out of it, it’s just where I buy most of my books from.

Full confession: when Amazon first launched here in the UK in the late 1990s, they did send me an Amazon-branded travel mug for being such a loyal customer. I still use it to stash my bookmarks.

After going through my Wish List, I realised there are lots of books on there that are available on KU (including A Royal Mile) and it’s a great way to try books by new authors.

Happy reading, Louise x

Currently Reading (1):

(1) A Royal Mile (Return to Dublin Street #2) (2025) (KU)

Going into my senior year of university at war with a member of the British royal family wasn’t in my carefully laid plans. Sebastian Thorne might be the grandson of a princess, but it’ll take more than a royal pardon to get me to forgive him for pretending to be someone he’s not.

But Sebastian is determined to be my friend. Even if it means signing up to a psych experiment just to get me to talk to him. Who knew a sincere apology and him saying my name in that posh English accent would make me weak in the knees?

This year was supposed to be about my dissertation and graduate school. Only, Sebastian has thrown my ordered world off kilter. He makes me bolder, more confident. A braver version of me.

Yet every lingering glance and stolen touch has me realizing one thing…

I’m falling for my best friend.

There’s just one problem. Sebastian has demons, ones that make him determined to keep me in the friend zone no matter the cost.

And even when temptation sends his walls tumbling down, the beauty we’ve found might not survive against the powerful will of outside forces…

Tags: Favourite Author / Friends-to-Lovers / Royal

What I Read This Week (2):

[image error] (Hated It)

[image error] [image error] (Didn’t Like It)

[image error] [image error] [image error] (It Was OK)

[image error] [image error] [image error] [image error] (Liked It)

[image error] [image error] [image error] [image error] [image error] (Loved It)

(1) Where You’re Planted by Melanie Sweeney (2025) (Kindle) [image error] [image error] [image error] [image error]

A single mum. A grumpy gardener. Can they let love bloom?

Busy librarian and single mum Tansy Perkins doesn’t have time for love – she’s either lost in a book or in a pile of homework.

Grumpy gardener Jack Reid has sworn off relationships since his divorce. Right now, he’s only interested in growing flowers, not feelings.

So when a hurricane forces Tansy to move her library into Jack’s pristine botanic gardens, it’s safe to say that neither of them are thrilled by this new distraction. But soon the chemistry between them grows impossible to ignore …

Will they dig in their heels, or let love take root?

Tags: Florists & Gardeners / Librarians / Single Parents

(2) Under Loch and Key by Lana Ferguson (2024) (Kindle) [image error] [image error] [image error]

Keyanna ‘Key’ MacKay is used to secrets. Raised by a single father who never divulged his past, it’s only after his death that she finds herself thrust into the world he’d always refused to speak of. With just a childhood bedtime story about a monster that saved her father’s life and the name of her estranged grandmother to go off of, Key has no idea what she’ll find in Scotland. But repeating her father’s mistakes and being rescued by a gorgeous, angry Scotsman – who thinks she’s an idiot – is definitely the last thing she expects.

Lachlan Greer has his own secrets to keep, especially from the bonnie lass he pulls to safety from the slippery shore – a lass with captivating eyes and the last name he’s been taught not to trust. He’s looking for answers as well, and Key’s presence on the grounds they both now occupy presents a real problem. It’s even more troublesome when he gets a front row seat to the lukewarm welcome Key receives from her family; the strange powers she begins to develop; and the fierce determination she brings to every obstacle in her path. Things he shouldn’t care about, and someone he definitely doesn’t find wildly attractive.

When their secrets collide, it becomes clear that Lachlan could hold the answers Keyanna is after – and that she might also be the key to uncovering his. Up against time, mystery, and a centuries old curse, they’ll quickly discover that magic might not only be in fairy tales, and that love can be a real loch-mess.

Added to Wish List (2):

For a full list of the future books on my Wish List, check out  Upcoming Releases .

(1) Big Stick Energy (New York Legends #2) by Sarina Bowen (30 June 2026)

Darcy Kendrick is used to putting out fires. As an overworked admin to a hockey team, she’s seen it all. But nothing prepares her for accidentally DMing her very private, very NSFW fantasy to the subject of this fantasy: team captain Eric Tremaine. Nobody actually dies of embarrassment. Right?

But when a wedding invite puts them on a collision course with her chaotic family and his emotionally fraught past, Eric suggests a plan: they fake-date their way through the “Wedding Experience.” It’s mutually beneficial. Totally strategic. And definitely not real. Except between mini tacos, slow dances and lingering glances, Eric starts to wonder if the sharp-tongued assistant with a bottomless to-do list might be the one person who truly sees him. And for Darcy? The fire in her heart might be the only one she can’t put out.

It’s supposed to be fake. It’s supposed to be temporary. So why is it so hard to walk away?

Tags: Fake Dating / Favourite Author / Sports Romance (Ice Hockey)

(2) Yes, Chef by Grace Reilly (21 July 2026)

After a public meltdown in one of Manhattan’s most elite restaurants, Chef Jack Hartman must return to his small Florida hometown. The only upside? He’ll be far away from Poppy Winfield – his former boss’s blonde, beautiful, utterly infuriating daughter – and the shrimp she threw at his head.

Poppy is also desperate for an escape – from her disapproving family and from her infamy as an influencer without a serious bone in her body. With their reputations in ruins, Jack’s only ticket back to New York is turning the unloved restaurant of his childhood into the newest dining hotspot on the East Coast. And unfortunately for him, Poppy’s is using her well-honed social media skills to sell out his grand opening.

As sparks fly and tensions reach boiling point, will Poppy and Jack be a recipe for disaster? Or could they be a perfect pairing …?

Tags: Chefs (Male) / New-to-Me Author / Neurodiversity Rep (ADHD)