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Sam & Nora Are Stuck
Not yet published
Expected 6 Apr 27Sam Parker has made a career out of happily ever afters—for everyone else.
When her former best friend, Nora James, walks into Hillcrest Events with her fiancee, Sam's world gets thrown for a loop as she attempts to remain professional while planning the wedding of the woman who once broke her heart.
As they confront old feelings they both thought were long buried, wedding bells start to sound more like a funeral march.
Sam and Nora must battle through their complicated past to know if it's too late to have a future.
When her former best friend, Nora James, walks into Hillcrest Events with her fiancee, Sam's world gets thrown for a loop as she attempts to remain professional while planning the wedding of the woman who once broke her heart.
As they confront old feelings they both thought were long buried, wedding bells start to sound more like a funeral march.
Sam and Nora must battle through their complicated past to know if it's too late to have a future.
Paperback
Expected publication April 6, 2027
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Author
2.25 ⭐
Sam and Nora Are Stuck is an angsty second-chance romance about Sam, a wedding planner who finds herself face-to-face with Nora, her former best friend and first love, ten years after an impulsive kiss ended their friendship. Now Sam has been hired to plan Nora's wedding to her fiancée, which is already awkward enough, but spending more time together brings all those old feelings back to the surface. The big question is: will Nora actually turn her life upside down for a future with Sam?
I sincerely wish I could say I had a great time reading this one, but that just wouldn't be honest. It always makes me sad when I rate a debut this low because I understand how vulnerable it must feel to put your work out there and have strangers pick it apart. And truthfully, I don't think Laura's writing was the problem for me. There was something promising here, but the execution just didn't work for me.
Let's talk about Nora because... oh boy. I genuinely haven't been this frustrated with a character in a while. At first, I tried to sympathize with her people-pleasing tendencies because I assumed we'd eventually see her grow beyond them. And to be fair, she does begin rediscovering who she is over time and sorting out her true professional goals. I just wish we had been given more time with that storyline because it feels incredibly important to understand her character, yet it gets surprisingly little attention.
Her lack of accountability was an even bigger hurdle for me, especially once we get into the romance. Aside from mending things with her mother, I didn't feel like Nora experienced much meaningful growth throughout the story. Even that subplot, which received considerably more page time than some of the others, didn't fully satisfy me.
Sam, meanwhile, was someone I truly liked. She was confident, romantic, passionate, and incredibly devoted to the things and people she cared about. She was almost too understanding at times, but I loved how wholeheartedly she approached everything in her life. That's why I wish we'd gotten more of her. It felt like most of the narrative weight was placed on Nora's journey, while Sam's development was left sitting in the background.
I especially wanted more exploration of the huge decisions Sam makes toward the end because those choices could have had such a significant emotional impact, yet the book barely scratches the surface of what they mean for her. The one storyline involving Sam that I thought was genuinely well done was her estrangement from her mother. That relationship had real personal and financial stakes, and seeing how deeply it affected Sam helped me connect with her much more.
But honestly, the biggest issue for me was MISCOMMUNICATION. And I don't mean just between the romantic leads. Pretty much every relationship in this book seemed to rely on avoidance, unspoken feelings, and people waiting around instead of actually talking to each other. And maybe this is partly a personal reading preference, but I've always struggled with those conflict styles in YA, so encountering the same dynamic in a contemporary romance aimed at a more mature audience made it particularly difficult for me to connect with the story.
Which brings us right to the actual romance...
Sadly, this was probably the biggest miss for me. Nora knows she's developing feelings for Sam while simultaneously keeping her fiancée entirely in the dark. I might have been more sympathetic if she were still figuring out her sexuality or sincerely struggling to acknowledge what she felt, but that wasn't quite the situation. She knew what was happening, and yet she continued putting Sam in that position.
That made some of her choices feel incredibly selfish to me.
And Sam? Girl. I was frustrated with you too! She kept running back to Nora despite everything, and I couldn't understand why she was willing to give so much to someone who wasn't giving the same in return. Nora rarely seemed to ask about Sam's own problems, including everything happening with her mother and her career, but she had no problem turning to Sam whenever she needed emotional support. With things feeling so lopsided, I just couldn't bring myself to really cheer for them as a pair.
I also desperately wanted the flashbacks to hit home, but the past never felt quite as vividly alive as the present. I mean, in a second-chance romance, I need to truly feel why these people matter to each other, not just be told that they do. Instead of making me invest in their history, the flashbacks mostly just laid out the facts of what happened. Because the emotional foundation wasn't fully there, the big romantic payoffs had to be rushed into the final stretch instead of feeling naturally earned.
That said, I don't think this means Laura doesn't have potential. This is a debut, and there are definitely some rough edges here that feel more like execution problems than a lack of ideas. I actually think the foundation is there, which is why I'd be willing to give her another chance with a future release. There were glimpses of what I think could become a deeply compelling writing style and heartfelt storytelling once those elements are given more room to breathe.
Ultimately, books are subjective. What totally frustrates one reader can be exactly what another person loves, and I know some readers are going to connect with Sam and Nora in ways I simply couldn't. So while this one wasn't for me, I wouldn't want my review to stop anyone from giving it a chance. Maybe you'll fall completely in love with these two, or maybe you'll end up screaming at your Kindle like I did. Either way, the only way to know is to read it for yourself.
Sam and Nora Are Stuck is an angsty second-chance romance about Sam, a wedding planner who finds herself face-to-face with Nora, her former best friend and first love, ten years after an impulsive kiss ended their friendship. Now Sam has been hired to plan Nora's wedding to her fiancée, which is already awkward enough, but spending more time together brings all those old feelings back to the surface. The big question is: will Nora actually turn her life upside down for a future with Sam?
I sincerely wish I could say I had a great time reading this one, but that just wouldn't be honest. It always makes me sad when I rate a debut this low because I understand how vulnerable it must feel to put your work out there and have strangers pick it apart. And truthfully, I don't think Laura's writing was the problem for me. There was something promising here, but the execution just didn't work for me.
Let's talk about Nora because... oh boy. I genuinely haven't been this frustrated with a character in a while. At first, I tried to sympathize with her people-pleasing tendencies because I assumed we'd eventually see her grow beyond them. And to be fair, she does begin rediscovering who she is over time and sorting out her true professional goals. I just wish we had been given more time with that storyline because it feels incredibly important to understand her character, yet it gets surprisingly little attention.
Her lack of accountability was an even bigger hurdle for me, especially once we get into the romance. Aside from mending things with her mother, I didn't feel like Nora experienced much meaningful growth throughout the story. Even that subplot, which received considerably more page time than some of the others, didn't fully satisfy me.
Sam, meanwhile, was someone I truly liked. She was confident, romantic, passionate, and incredibly devoted to the things and people she cared about. She was almost too understanding at times, but I loved how wholeheartedly she approached everything in her life. That's why I wish we'd gotten more of her. It felt like most of the narrative weight was placed on Nora's journey, while Sam's development was left sitting in the background.
I especially wanted more exploration of the huge decisions Sam makes toward the end because those choices could have had such a significant emotional impact, yet the book barely scratches the surface of what they mean for her. The one storyline involving Sam that I thought was genuinely well done was her estrangement from her mother. That relationship had real personal and financial stakes, and seeing how deeply it affected Sam helped me connect with her much more.
But honestly, the biggest issue for me was MISCOMMUNICATION. And I don't mean just between the romantic leads. Pretty much every relationship in this book seemed to rely on avoidance, unspoken feelings, and people waiting around instead of actually talking to each other. And maybe this is partly a personal reading preference, but I've always struggled with those conflict styles in YA, so encountering the same dynamic in a contemporary romance aimed at a more mature audience made it particularly difficult for me to connect with the story.
Which brings us right to the actual romance...
Sadly, this was probably the biggest miss for me. Nora knows she's developing feelings for Sam while simultaneously keeping her fiancée entirely in the dark. I might have been more sympathetic if she were still figuring out her sexuality or sincerely struggling to acknowledge what she felt, but that wasn't quite the situation. She knew what was happening, and yet she continued putting Sam in that position.
That made some of her choices feel incredibly selfish to me.
And Sam? Girl. I was frustrated with you too! She kept running back to Nora despite everything, and I couldn't understand why she was willing to give so much to someone who wasn't giving the same in return. Nora rarely seemed to ask about Sam's own problems, including everything happening with her mother and her career, but she had no problem turning to Sam whenever she needed emotional support. With things feeling so lopsided, I just couldn't bring myself to really cheer for them as a pair.
I also desperately wanted the flashbacks to hit home, but the past never felt quite as vividly alive as the present. I mean, in a second-chance romance, I need to truly feel why these people matter to each other, not just be told that they do. Instead of making me invest in their history, the flashbacks mostly just laid out the facts of what happened. Because the emotional foundation wasn't fully there, the big romantic payoffs had to be rushed into the final stretch instead of feeling naturally earned.
That said, I don't think this means Laura doesn't have potential. This is a debut, and there are definitely some rough edges here that feel more like execution problems than a lack of ideas. I actually think the foundation is there, which is why I'd be willing to give her another chance with a future release. There were glimpses of what I think could become a deeply compelling writing style and heartfelt storytelling once those elements are given more room to breathe.
Ultimately, books are subjective. What totally frustrates one reader can be exactly what another person loves, and I know some readers are going to connect with Sam and Nora in ways I simply couldn't. So while this one wasn't for me, I wouldn't want my review to stop anyone from giving it a chance. Maybe you'll fall completely in love with these two, or maybe you'll end up screaming at your Kindle like I did. Either way, the only way to know is to read it for yourself.
September 25, 2026
4.5⭐️
I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this book!
Sam & Nora are Ex’s who find each other again when Sam has to plan a wedding… Nora’s wedding 😮
Step by step, day by day, they figure out the end they thought was the end… isn’t.
A sweet and spicy love story everyone will enjoy!
I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this book!
Sam & Nora are Ex’s who find each other again when Sam has to plan a wedding… Nora’s wedding 😮
Step by step, day by day, they figure out the end they thought was the end… isn’t.
A sweet and spicy love story everyone will enjoy!
September 20, 2026
Thanks Emrae for the advanced copy!
This read like a 2000s rom-com and I could not put it down. I read up to 50% in one sitting before my body threatened to drop my kindle on my face.
The pacing is phenomenal, there are laugh out loud moments, and you want to just give both main characters a hug.
This read like a 2000s rom-com and I could not put it down. I read up to 50% in one sitting before my body threatened to drop my kindle on my face.
The pacing is phenomenal, there are laugh out loud moments, and you want to just give both main characters a hug.
Review of advance copy received from Author
Love love loved it! Can’t wait to read it again!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews