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I don’t think I’ve ever really talked about this on the blog, especially when I write my book reviews, but one of my absolute favorite things is those book series where different authors collaborate, and each one tells the story of a different character from that bookish universe.
One of my all-time favorite books is Heart Smart by Emma Lee Jayne, which is part of the Work For It series. This series includes several other authors, and I absolutely loved every single book in it, but Heart Smart was just my favorite.
And I just realized I’ve never actually written a review for that book, even though I’ve read it at least three times. I promise I’ll do that eventually.
Anyway! Give a Bookish Girl a Biker — the book this review is about — is also part of one of those collaborative book series. Other books in the series include The Backpack Bride by Dulce Dameron, The Grump’s Bodyguard by Latisha Sexton, and The Trauna Response by M.J. Padgett.
I really enjoyed this book even though it’s not what I usually read. And by that, I mean it’s very clean and incredibly slow-burn.
I don’t know why these thoughts come to me whenever I sit down to write reviews, but I just realized I don’t really like the term clean being attached to books that don’t have steamy scenes. It almost makes it sound like clean books are the opposite of steamy books and that would make steamy books… dirty?
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Anyway, that’s a conversation for another day. But you get my gist. This book has one kiss, and it’s right at the final chapter, so don’t expect anything more than that.
What we do get is a lot of intense chemistry, which is something I absolutely adored about the execution of the slow bond in this book. It really kept me happy. I didn’t even realize the pages were flying by, and suddenly, I was at the end.
If you ask me — and nobody did, but I’ll give my opinion anyway — bikers and book lovers are a match made in heaven. It really doesn’t matter who is who.
There’s just something about a hot biker and a nerdy book lover that screams intense chemistry, passion, and the most swoon-worthy romance. And that’s exactly what we get here. Honestly, it’s one of the best I’ve read this year and you guys know that’s saying a lot because I’ve read my way through piles.
I feel like I’ve been rambling and haven’t even gotten to the actual meat of the review yet or given the summary. But before I get there, you’ve probably already seen the book cover. It’s a beautiful cover, no doubt.
But since I’ve been reading more historical romance lately — and you guys know historical romances rarely have animated covers — I’ve gotten so used to real models on covers.
Now, when I see animated covers, they give me a little bit of an eh feeling, for lack of a better word. I don’t know what’s going on with me, but right now I definitely prefer actual models on covers.
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I know myself and this will change soon, but I almost didn’t read this book simply because of the cover. I don’t know what that says about me. Probably that I’m shallow.
You can actually check out that post where my vanity was on full display — I listed my favorite books with the most beautiful covers. I really do judge books by their covers sometimes. But I’m so happy I didn’t let that bias get in the way of reading this, because I ended up loving it so much.
Now for the actual summary, it’s fairly simple: Our female lead, Maya, works with, like, a state library or something, and she’s been sent to this small town to check out their library and recommend whether or not they should shut it down.
On her way there, she gets stranded, and our male lead, Desmond, helps her. She gets back to town, and of course, they slowly start falling in love. But they don’t get together immediately because she just left a very ugh relationship, and he’s really too scared of getting into something long-term.
But while he works through his fears fairly early on, she’s slower to realize she wants them to be together. He tells her he can wait — and they wait — and eventually fall in love.
So there’s no real strong conflict, if you’re looking for that. As a matter of fact, the little resistance we get in the book gets resolved in less than 15 pages. And that’s saying something, because I usually enjoy romance books with a genuine central conflict.
But here, I felt like the emotional dilemma of the female lead carried the story well enough that no extra external drama was needed. We did get some small conflict, but it was smooth and measured and it worked perfectly for the story the author wanted to tell.
I don’t know if I mentioned this, but this is actually a Christian romance novel. But not in an overwhelming, super-religious way. We just know the characters are Christians because they regularly go to church, pray, and talk about their faith.
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It’s clearly a part of their lives, but not something that’s thrown in your face. So if that’s something you’re unsure about, no worries. It’s there, but it’s not intrusive or preachy.
It’s funny, but I only realized halfway through this book that one of my favorite tropes is strangers-to-friends-to-lovers.
Not friends-to-lovers where one friend has been secretly in love for years. I mean actual strangers who meet, become friends, and then fall in love. I eat it up every time.
And you’d think that would make the story drag, but when an author (like this one) knows how to portion the stages well — strangers, friends, lovers — the result is always so beautiful.
In this book, I loved seeing them meet, become friends, and slowly enter each other’s worlds. It was simply amazing. I actually want to read more books like this and hopefully, they’re just as beautifully done.
Small-town romance novels will always have my heart and this was no exception. I love when a book has that strong sense of community — whether the characters are good or bad — and everyone knows everybody and cares (even when they shouldn’t).
I eat it up. And yes, I forgot to say this earlier — I don’t know why I keep forgetting important things — but this is actually a biker romance novel. Yes, our male lead is in a biker gang. You’ll get the joke when you read it.
Honestly, I didn’t know a clean biker romance even existed. Like, if you’d asked me before this, I would’ve said that’s impossible. But it’s pulled off here and it’s so refreshing and realistic. I guess I was too used to the darker, more intense biker romance heroes, so I expected this to go that way but it didn’t. And I loved it for that.
Also, I say this every time, but whenever I read a book and the male character is this perfect that I actually wish he were real so I could hug him, that’s when I know I’ve found a new book boyfriend.
Desmond is simply the cutest — he’s ticklish, understanding, quiet, smart, supportive. He’s literally everything you’d want in a book boyfriend. I loved the conversations Desmond and Maya had.
As I said earlier, this couple truly moved from strangers to friends to lovers in the most beautiful way. While they were friends, they had important, meaningful talks about family, life, fears, and everything. And it was just so precious.
Remember how I said the female lead came to the small town to save the library even though she was supposed to report on whether it should close down? She’s that much of a book lover. Literally a bookstagrammer with thousands of followers.
She loves books, breathes books, and everything about her is books. And I loved that for her. I love when a book is really about books and not just the classics or ancient history, but a character who’s obsessed with romance novels and shares them on Instagram.
It was lovely to see. She’s so passionate about literature, spreading bookish joy to everyone — she even has a bookmobile. So cute.
All in all, I really, really enjoyed this book. One thing that did feel odd was how the characters kept divulging other people’s personal details. Like, I cannot imagine doing that. I’d be so offended if someone gave away my personal info to explain my behavior to someone else. But here, characters do that over and over and I was honestly fed up with it.
But that’s not to say this book wasn’t enjoyable because it totally was. As I said earlier, it’s one of the best I’ve read this year. The writing is crisp, sweet, and easy to follow. I adored it. This is a new-to-me author, and I’ll definitely be checking out her other works and you should too!
If you’ve read any good books lately that you think everyone should show some love, drop them in the comments below.
And just in case you didn’t know, this was actually one of my most anticipated romance novels of 2025. I’ve listed the rest in this post, so check it out if you want to keep up with the latest romance releases.
Oh, and the title, you are going to cry. The buildup to the one and only kiss in this book is the stuff steamy nightmares are made of. It made me think about how I wouldn’t wish a slow-burn romance on my worst enemy.
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