Cloudy with a Chance of Bad Decisions

I already read Cloudy with a Chance of Bad Decisions last year and loved it, so the moment the audiobook released on 2/10 I spent the Audible credit I had been saving specifically for it. I ended up listening right away and just took way too long to actually sit down and write this review because I fell for Alex and Georgie all over again. Georgie is this anxious, prickly overthinker and Alex is pure big, affectionate chaos energy who has absolutely no concept of personal boundaries with Georgie, and listening to them orbit each other during a chaotic family wedding week had me smiling nonstop. Their relationship feels messy and tender at the same time, full of pining, caretaking, and “why are you like this” moments that slowly turn into something soft. The narrators matched the voices I imagined perfectly, so the humor landed even better and the emotional moments felt even stronger in audio. The romantic and spicy scenes especially were a whole experience hearing them acted out. I already adored this story when I read it, but the narration elevated both the emotion and the comedy and I immediately restarted it once I finished. I loved the audiobook just as much as the book and highly recommend it.

To be honest, I'm partial to Quin's fantastical books (looking at you Spooky Boys), so I wasn't sure what I'd get from a Quin Contemporary Romance. Well, I'm glad I took the chance. CWACOBD is an absolute winner! A top MM read for me this year, for sure (and I'm almost 100 deep). Where to start... Character. Quin has an absolute talent to write characters that are believable, lovable and 100% relatable. And that's what happened here. Alex and George have backstories, they have trauma, they have lives they live day in and day out, they have personality. They also have families and friends -- some of which are side characters and absolutely deserving of their own books (and I am SO happy that one of them is actually happening!). They're characters you want to know--and think you do. Another thing I want to call out is Quin's approach to our trans character, Jules. For me, her take was beautiful. Quin doesn't center Jules' character around being trans but she doesn't ignore it either. Instead, she weaves it into Jules' identity in a way that felt refreshingly unforced. Jules' "transness" doesn't need to be justified. She just exists, fully. Like every character is given the space to do. To me, that kind of subtle, lived-in representation is rare. 100% loved this. Plot. I was concerned about a "bring me into the woods and force me to be near you" trope. It's been done and those I've read have not worked out well... this was anything but a let down. I absolutely LOVED the…