Prose & Cons | 4.11.25
We're back in our romance bag this week!
Happy Prose & Cons Friday!
From soft and soulful Black love to romance that’s dangerously devoted and just the right amount of unhinged—we’re firmly back in our love story comfort zone this week, and honestly? It feels so right. This post contains affiliate links. Now, let’s get into this week’s reads down below ↓
Daly Dennis, best friend to Lake Porter and one of the last bachelor brothers in the Porter crew, has pretty much sworn off love. With a mother who’s battled addiction for most of his life, Daly finds himself once again cleaning up her mess: this time, by stepping up to raise his infant brother, Emory. Determined to give Emory a better life, Daly leans on his sisters and closest friends to create a stable foundation for the baby’s future.
While dropping Emory off at his sister’s salon, Daly crosses paths with Pavati—a woman whose beauty captivates him instantly. But there’s something familiar about her, something that pulls at him, even if he can’t quite place it.
Pavati is a woman with vision and purpose. At just 22, she’s working her dream job as a social worker, advocating for Black women battling addiction, a cause rooted deeply in her own past. Raised by her grandparents while her mother struggled with substance abuse, Pavati is slowly rebuilding a relationship with the woman who once couldn't be there for her. Oh, and did we mention she's a 22-year-old raising a 17-year-old? (Yeah, you read that right.)
Fate keeps pushing Daly and Pavati into each other's orbit, and what starts as chance encounters becomes something far more meaningful. This is a story of self-discovery and acceptance, of found family and healing, and of the kind of soul-shaking love that changes everything—especially when soulmates collide.
Daly, my Daly. I liked Daly in the earlier On Us series books, but I fell in love with him in this one. We’ve seen glimpses—his bond with his sisters, that messy, toxic history with his childhood love—but getting the full backstory on his family and his guarded views on love? Absolutely heartbreaking. From the outside, you'd expect him to be your typical emotionally unavailable, no-good heartbreaker, but he is anything but. Daly is the definition of “looks like he could kill you but is actually a cinnamon roll.” The way he shows up for Pavati, the way he loves her? That’s every girl’s dream, period.
Now Pavati? Easily my favorite woman in the series. No contest. She’s driven, determined, strong, and funny as hell. Her chill, nonchalant vibe? Deeply relatable. Despite basically being a kid herself, she’s raising a whole teenager and holding it down like a pro. Her relationship with Muji melted me. She stepped up time and time again in this story, in ways you don’t expect. For a girl who felt like she wasn’t connected to many people, she had this quiet, beautiful way of connecting with everyone she crossed paths with. And even though she’d never been in love before, she loved Daly right. She was open, vulnerable (even with a few hiccups), and always put others before herself. I saw so much of myself in her. My girl really deserved the world and then some.
And let’s not sleep on the side characters. Woemi (Pavati’s cousin) and Daly’s sisters? Top. Tier. They brought the perfect comic relief to balance out a story filled with grief, healing, and hard-earned joy. I’m gonna need every single one of them to get their own book. Immediately.
This book truly captured my heart. It’s raw, warm, funny, and full of love in all its complicated, beautiful forms.
Sometimes, life puts obstacles in your path that you have to face alone before you can truly be with the one you love. That’s the story of Gia and Wreck. What starts as pure, magnetic connection quickly grows into something deeper, true love. But as their relationship deepens, so do the cracks caused by past traumas and unhealed wounds. What once felt like a safe, blissful bubble begins to burst as reality creeps in.
Wreck has never known a love like Gia’s, and from the start, he knows she’s it for him. But in those early stages, he struggles to be the faithful, emotionally present partner she deserves. He shows up for Gia in ways he’s never shown up for anyone—but Gia needs more.
Gia, on the other hand, has never experienced the kind of unconditional love Wreck gives so freely. But she’s also fighting silent, internal battles—ones she refuses to speak aloud. Her pain becomes a wall, one that keeps Wreck out and eventually pushes him away.
Still, Wreck never stops trying. He’s always ready to fight for her... until Gia disappears(completely off the grid), only to return engaged to someone else.
This is a story about the love that lingers, even when people are broken. A story about learning to become whole on your own before you can truly become one with someone else.
This book was heartbreaking from start to freaking finish. It was not the happy love story I was expecting. Honestly, I don’t even know what I expected from Wreck and Gia’s story, but it definitely wasn’t this. This book made me SAD. Like, my heart hurt for a solid 80% of it.
We’d gotten hints throughout the series about how much Wreck isolated himself, but it isn’t until this book that you really understand why. He’s always been known as the asshole of the Porter brothers—cold, distant, hard to read so I wasn’t expecting to fall for him the way I did. And yes, in true Porter fashion, he made some mistakes when it came to Gia. But once it clicked for him who he wanted, what he wanted... he was all in. Unfortunately for Wreck, by the time he figured it out, it was too late. As a fellow emotional bottler, I felt Wreck deeply. He wanted to carry everything on his own shoulders and protect Lake from the emotional weight his other brothers often shared, never realizing Lake never saw it as a burden. What I loved most about Wreck was that he was a man of his word and actions, especially when it came to Gia. The way he tried to show up for her, even through her darkest moments, was quietly, achingly beautiful.
And my poor Gia… In the earlier books, she was the life of the party, happy-go-lucky, full of light. But this story shows what so many of us know: even the happiest people carry the heaviest burdens. The trauma she experienced, the battles she fought in silence? Absolutely gutting. She loved hard, but her pain made it impossible to open up in ways that could’ve saved her relationship. Like the other women in this series, Gia poured into everyone around her and forgot to save some love for herself. She wanted to be loved so badly that she never stopped to ask whether she was giving that same love to the woman in the mirror. Her pain ran deep, and you felt it on every single page.
I also loved how the book weaved between past and present. Since Gia and Wreck only made small appearances in the earlier books, this dual timeline gave their story so much depth and context. It really painted a full, emotional picture of their relationship: its highs, its heartbreaks, and the years of missed chances.
Gia and Wreck’s relationship was layered with a level of strife I never saw coming. But as much as this story broke my heart, the ending? It healed a little piece of me, too.
Passenger Princess 1 & Passenger Princess 2 by Lakia
*This is a combined review*
In Book One, Jury Collins, daughter of the infamous Collins crime family, thinks she has it all figured out. But everything shifts when she’s forced into an arranged marriage with Marlon Benoit to secure a powerful family alliance. She can’t stand Marlon and hates the idea of sacrificing love for legacy, but keeping her seat at the table means staying in her family’s good graces, so she goes along with it. That is, until Tech, her best friend’s older brother, gets released from prison after serving 11 years. Their chemistry? Immediate and undeniable. Their connection throws everything off balance and sparks a series of events that threaten to ignite a full-blown mafia war. Trust becomes a luxury, and loyalty? A weapon.
In Passenger Princess 2, the heat turns all the way up. Collins’ family secrets start bubbling to the surface, and Jury quickly realizes she’s been a pawn in a game much bigger than she ever imagined. Her bond with her family is tested in every way possible—and just when she thinks things couldn’t get messier, her best friend Quori is going through her own chaos.
Quori hides a relationship she knows is bad for her, but things take a wild turn when she crosses paths with Vez during a gas station robbery. She has no idea he’s Tech’s right hand, but that doesn’t stop her from falling hard. Their connection is explosive, dangerous, and filled with tension that forces Quori to question her heart, instincts, and everything she thought she wanted.
As old enemies resurface and unexpected alliances form, Jury and Quori must navigate a world where love is risky, family is complicated, and loyalty could cost you everything.
I thoroughly enjoyed this duology. I did not see those plot twists coming. At all. While Book One sets the stage for Book Two, it never felt like a typical “setup” read. It was fast-paced from page one, and somehow, even though both books are under 200 pages, Lakia managed to deliver real character development and backstory. Hats off to her, because I’ve read 700-page books that couldn’t pull that off.
Now let me just say this: I love me some Tech and Vez. We’re locked in, okay? They are absolutely unhinged, but a little crazy never hurt nobody. They were the perfect mix of gentleman and shooter. As soon as they found their girls, they were ten toes down and not letting up.
Tech and Jury? LOVE. I really felt for Jury though, her family was trash. Her brother? The worst. I was ready to jump in the book and handle that myself. And as things unfolded, her family situation just kept spiraling, but thank God for Quori and her support!
And speaking of Quori, I loved that blind girl. She was a character in the best way. Her and Vez together? Comedy gold. Their back-and-forth had me cracking up. They were definitely cut from the same chaotic cloth and absolutely made for each other.
This duology gave chaos, comedy, and crazy-in-love, and I ate up every page.
That’s all I got for you this week. See you next Friday!
xoxo,
Tay