Sending a huge thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this e-arc and for Harlequin Audio for the ALC!

This was my first Mia Sheridan book and I was expecting so much more than what this was, and what it offered. I've had Archer's Voice sitting on my shelf for the longest time and now I wonder if the hype has gotten my expectations far too high. The expectations were far too high for this book! It just was not what I was hoping for, and it fell so short of everything I was expecting.

The characters were written in such a way that made me feel no connection to them whatsoever, and I really didn't care either. Emily was utterly annoying and insufferable for 85% of the book, and Tuck? I'm not sure if he had an personality whatsoever because he was so bland on the page... and. really his descriptors were only "brooding ex-con", and that just also didn't work. There was no depth of personality to any of the side characters either and I really didn't care about anyone. The romance was also just flat... considering it was supposed to be a second chance romance, I saw and felt no chemistry, no connection even. Where was the joy, the laughter, the witty banter? The rehashing of old memories? Something. It just was not a romance, and for a book that is marketed as a romance well it left a lot to be desired.

The pacing was also all over the place - all of the action stemmed from this problems that just spun out of nowhere and really had no desire to really be solved or fixed - they were just there and used as moments for the characters to be together?

The narrators didn't do anything to bring this book to life for me - I figured that listening to the book might help, and I just found myself getting more and more frustrated with each scene.

Overall this book was just not what I wanted or expected at all.- the characters were boring, the entire plotline was so slow and there was just no emotion whatsoever.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing /Canary Street Press for the ARC. I went into this book without reading the blurb expecting a friends to lovers/romcom. I got a bit of the friends to lovers but mainly it was Dystopian Fiction. It was a good enough story but it could have been more face paced, more likeable characters, more emotion…ehhh…not sure. Glad this wasn’t the first Mia Sheridan book I have read.

Honestly? I’m not sure how to rate this one. I knew going into this, it was a dystopian society story, but I also didn’t take into account that with everything that’s currently going on in the world- it would be such a difficult read. The romantic in me, I suppose, had hoped that the love story would overshadow too much darkness. Unfortunately, not the case. The love story didn’t really happen until around the 70% mark. For a majority of the book, our heroine, Emily, had a boyfriend, Charlie, who was also present during this time. Our hero, Tuck, was clearly the better choice even if he had been harden by life, and constantly having his past thrown in his face. But first, to explain, I need to back track a bit. The story starts out with the world changing event happening to our three main characters and their pilot, Russell. Russell tells Tuck that he’s lost all engines and electrical components to the plane and he is no longer able to communicate with air traffic control or anyone. He says he’s going to land the plane the best he can, and tells Tuck to get back to his seat, buckle in, and tell the others to brace for impact. The pilot is doing the best he can while Tuck looks at Emily and realizes he’s next to the girl he loves and not the girl he hates. This is confusing because the next chapter we get, is set eleven years ago when Tuck and Emily are fourteen and living on their respective families citrus farms, you follow them through their day and as the two share their first kiss, when sudden tragedy strikes. It then jumps to present day, but eleven days before the prologue/crash, as we find Tuck has been fired from his dishwashing job because his employer found out he is an ex con. If you are as confused as I am, join the club, because there is almost too much information thrown at you in those first few chapters with time jumps. This book suffered a lot of telling you important character history, but not showing you. As it was, this book was around 460 pages, so I understand there’s only so much you can cover and still get to the heart of the story, but it was just a lot to digest with an already crumbling society. To fast track a bit more, Tuck visits Emily’s mother, we’re told his mother died years ago before he went to prison and his father had sold his mothers legacy, the farm, moved to Florida and remarried, all without any care of what happened to Tuck. We find out this is the reason Tuck is estranged and also part of why he ended up in prison, he went to live with an uncle and fell in with a rough crowd and rebelled. We aren’t told at this point, why he was in prison, just that he was. We find out Emily is now a rising pop star, with a rising star boy-next-door-type actor boyfriend, and Emily is in current need of a bodyguard. Her mother tells Tuck, Emily will be thrilled to give him a job! Emily is anything but thrilled. In fact, she’s pretty shallow and absolutely judgmental about her old friend, Tuck and his ex con status and new found predicament. Finally after some guilting, she tells her mother Tuck can have the job. The two clash almost immediately. They come from different worlds now and old hurts that never healed have festered between the two, and unfortunately as the reader you don’t know what those hurts are yet. And you won’t find out until much later in the book. But of course, the biggest conflict between the two is that she’s judging him for being an ex con, and he’s judging her for being a sellout who now lip syncs and is barely clothed onstage.
We’re also now introduced to Charlie during this time, who seems nice at first, but Tuck is unsure of. Sure enough, Tuck on a search for water and a bathroom, overhears Charlie asking his bodyguard to pick up a variety of drugs, “his usual.” Tuck realizes he definitely doesn’t know the girl he once grew up with anymore, if she’s hanging around and dating guys like Charlie. He says nothing, which comes back to bite him in the butt while on a plane with the couple. Emily finds the drugs after dropping some items out of an overhead compartment, she immediately blames Tuck, who pleads his innocence to Emily and tells her they are Charlie’s. Emily doesn’t believe him, so Charlie doubles down and points the finger back at the ex con who clearly needs money selling drugs. Emily immediately tells Tuck that he’s fired as soon as they land. However, this is the doomed flight from the prologue. Soon, the plane is going down. The pilot, Russell, has died landing the plane, ensuring that his three passengers are safe. Charlie and Emily stand around completely helpless, as Tuck goes back into the plane to get the dead pilot and as much food and supplies as he can before the plane explodes from leaking fuel. Tuck also buries the pilot, whom the other two didn’t even know his name, and they began a trek to look for civilization and find out what happened. This is where the story truly begins as we travel with the trio as they discover the world has fallen to chaos amid some type of solar flare or emp. If you are a fan of The Walking Dead or The Last of Us, you can imagine all the different types of people they encountered and their struggles to adapt and survive. Obviously, as I was given an ARC, so I can’t spoil the ending, but I can tell you feelings and truths are revealed as they struggle to survive in this new world and try to get back to their families.

The struggles these characters faced were difficult to read. The characters suffered from being unlikeable at first, but you eventually grow to care for them once all their defenses are stripped away. They are honest and raw and at their core very good people. You are rooting for Tuck and Emily by the end. While the writing was interesting enough to keep my hold and keep me turning the page, I’m not sure how other readers will feel about the characters from the jump. I think if there had been some more time with the characters years ago, and we could have felt and seen their sort of antagonistic, loving banter more - their love story would have also felt more believable. It sort of felt at times, like Emily was only impressed with Tuck because he could thrive and provide in this new environment. I wish we had a couple of chapters of their backstory and a few less chapters of encounters with people in the dystopian style world. The ending felt a bit rushed and abrupt. We were left hanging about certain characters and places and I wanted more of those details or for those things to have been left out in the first place. Which, I can’t really specify in an ARC review, but perhaps that was the point - in a dystopian society you can’t know what happens to everyone.

As a whole, the book was a page turner, but I don’t think I would be interested in re-reading it again. This author is fantastic writer and I will definitely continue to read more of her books in the future. Heart of the Sun just wasn’t for me.

ARC provided by NetGalley.

I'm a huge Mia Sheridan fan and this was a bit out of her norm, but I absolutely loved it. Tuck and Emily are childhood friends growing up together as neighbors and mom's who are best friends. Through a series of tragic events Tuck winds up as an adult with a mission. Emily on the other hand has found success as a music star. Tuck ends up becoming Emily's bodyguard and, through an apocalyptic event, find themselves relying on each other for literal survival, forcing them to relive past traumas.

Most romance books aren't 'deep' per se. I found it refreshing that the author dove into the realities of how humans react to complete crisis. Some rise to the occasion, some become their best selves and some become the worst of humanity. Throughout their journey Tuck and Emily learn this and what it means to them and how they chose to react to it and each other. I really loved this take on romance and ultimately the story of two people trying to find who they are in unimaginable circumstances.

I have no clue what I thought I’d be reading but this was not it. Don’t get me wrong, loved Tuck downnnn & Emily too but the whole apocalypse went over my head. My fault because I didn’t read the description. But honestly, it was hard to put down. I just wished we had more Tuck & Em time post-disaster and even in between.

Mia is my girl though! Her books are always so hard to put down but not the typical read.

This book was a little different than Mia's normal writing. It took me a bit to get into it but ended up enjoying it. I feel like this book might not be for everyone but it should be given a chance!

5 ⭐ 2 🌶️ 5 🎧

This was such a fantastic story. I don't read much post-apocalyptic stuff, but I found Mia's take equal parts heartbreaking and fascinating.

Tuck and Emily were really interesting characters and I loved them to bits. Tuck's backstory was so tragic, but the way Emily (and the apocalypse circumstances) helped him through it was really beautiful.

Some of these authors are way less petty than myself... I want to see the utter carnage of revenge when it comes to certain villain character arcs, but alas, there wasn't much to be found here. Thankfully Tuck and Emily's story ended beautifully and had me smiling ear to ear regardless.

The audio was great. André Santana and Annalee Scott did a wonderful job bringing these characters to life and I really enjoyed this listen.

I was curious to see how this book would go after reading the synopsis, and I read Archer's Voice prior, so I knew I liked Mia's writing, but this book was definitely wacky. I didn't particularly love it, especially because it took me a long time to really get into the book, but I did find myself getting more interested when Emily and Tuck were in the thick of things.

What I really didn't like about this though was that it felt like there was too much going on, and I wanted the book to focus on either the apocalypse/dystopian part of the book, or the romance. It felt like it switched back and forth between being a romance and a dystopian book rather than weaving the romance throughout. There would be a couple chapters where we learned more about Emily and Tuck yearning for each other, but then all of a sudden we just get plot heavy chapters without the romance, so I didn't really feel attached to Emily and Tuck as a couple at all. I think this would have probably interested me a lot more if it was purely a dystopian story rather than a romantic dystopian.

I also really wish there were some answers about other characters we met. I found myself asking a lot more questions throughout and after reading that I felt super unsatisfied by the end. All in all though, it was a fun read and definitely got me thinking about what would happen if we lost all electricity, but there were a lot of things that pulled me out of reading.

DNF @ 25%
This was my first romance with a FMC as a superstar, and I am realizing that it’s not for me.
Where I did enjoy the beginning of the story and getting to know the characters at a young age, the FMC as an adult didn’t sit well with me.
I don’t identify with this lifestyle and don’t find it entertaining to read. The seriousness of Tuck’s story feels so off next to the life of a superficial superstar, and where that might be part of the point, it makes me not enjoy the story.
I will not be finishing this book.

Thank you Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley for the advanced copy! I am so grateful for the opportunity.

I am a huge fan of Mia Sheridan! This one was a bit different for me, but I still really enjoyed it and continue to think about it. I read the book in less than two days and could not put it down. There are definitely dystopian vibes-- this is much more than just a romance story. Even though the dystopian reality can seem far-fetched, Sheridan did a terrific job weaving it throughout the narrative and making it relevant to today.

In the chaos of a blackout, the story follows childhood friends Emily and Tuck as they’re thrown back into each other's lives after years apart. Emily, a pop star, and Tuck, a recently released ex-con, have both been hardened by life in different ways. Their reunion is full of tension, frustrations, and baggage, but there is also a love that never truly burned out after years apart. Tuck's journey is soul-crushing and beautiful as he seeks to find redemption and love. The novel explores personal and societal collapse, bringing attention to human connections in the midst of upheaval. The relationship between Emily and Tuck was layered with history and vulnerability as they face their pasts and present circumstances.

As I said above, Under the Sun is more than a love story; it about resilience, redemption, and rediscovering what truly matters when the world goes dark. I loved the characters and their emotional journeys. As one point in the novel, I felt the journey to get back to LA felt repetitive and difficult to follow, but then I was wrapped right back into the story. This is a definitely a slow-burn romance with real stakes, second-chance love, and just enough end-of-the-world suspense to keep you flipping the pages.

"How many times had I wished I could go back to those bright, beautiful days with her when life made perfect sense? It felt like I'd somehow miraculously managed to do that, even if this was the future, not the past, an astonishing paradox of time. "

"Only, falling in love with Emily had been like finding a shortcut that led back home."

"Is it really redemption you're seeking? Or is it love you're funning from?"

"It suddenly seemed so clear to me that redemption was everywhere, in every moment of every day. And so too... was mercy."

This was decent. It didn’t wow me but it also wasn’t bad. I didn’t feel like I wanted to keep reading when I wasn’t, meaning I had to force myself to pick it back up. The characters were okay with decent development but the story just fell flat.

3.25 ⭐️
This was definitely a very unique romance, unlike anything I’ve read before. I’ve read other Mia Sheridan books and really enjoyed them, so I was excited to get into this one. I only read the first bit of the synopsis because I prefer to go in kind of blind, which meant the whole apocalyptic/dystopian aspect was a complete shock to me. So if you’ve read her other popular books, know what you’re getting into and that this one is very different.

With that being said, the dystopian aspect of the story was interesting and quite heavy. Definitely felt realistic and a bit scary in that I could picture something like this happening for real.

I enjoyed Tuck’s character, but didn’t really like Emily. I also felt like the romance of the book was a bit lacking. I’m all for a slow burn, but I didn’t really feel the tension nor did I feel very invested in their relationship. Since they already had lingering feelings from childhood, we don’t really get to see their feelings develop or grow, they were always just there in the background, which took away from the whole romantic aspect of the book in my opinion. It was clear that they wanted each other, but it wasn’t super clear why. The focus was more on their attraction rather than the things they knew and liked about each other.

If you are looking for a unique romance book and don’t mind the focus being on the outside plot/journey rather than the romance and relationship between the characters, give this book a read.

Every time I read one of Mia’s books, I’m left in complete awe.

Pop star Emily is forced to rely on her childhood best friend, Tuck, for protection just as a massive solar flare plunges the world into chaos.

From the start, this story had me Emily’s growth was such a standout for me, I loved watching her change.

The second chance romance gave it that emotional punch I always love!

The whole vibe had this spooky, survivalist feel that reminded me of The Walking Dead.

If you love second chances and a little end of the world vibes, this one needs to be on your list.

Thank you Harlequin/ The Hive for the gifted copy!

Mia Sheridan's books are always a must read for me. I was fortunate enough to receive an ARC kindle copy of Heart of the Sun from NetGalley. While this is not my favorite of hers (Archer's Voice will forever hold that title), it kept me wanting to read more and I finished it in 2 days.

Heart of the Sun is a second chance romance/enemies to lovers story weaved into a dystopian/natural disaster tale of survival. The story takes place surrounding a series of tragic events that happen to Pop star, Nova (Emily), and her body guard, Tuck (who happens to also be her childhood best friend) while traveling across country. Emily and Tuck's story had me on the edge of my seat and I couldn't put it down. Their slow burn romance seemed to be perfectly paced given the circumstances and heavy focus on survival. This is a must read for anyone who likes Mia's other novels, enjoys dystopian/end of the world stories, or romances with tropes such as second chance romance, childhood best friend, enemies to lovers, friends to lovers, or slow burn romances. Fortunately, Heart of the Sun falls into all of those categories. I'm also not going to lie, this book made me think about survival preparedness a bit too. Definitely a must read!

Best friends to enemies and to lovers. A lovely reunion after so many years of a life hardship Tuck had, the reunion was well worth it because it’s what makes them come back stronger together again and what makes you think of the things that are worth it in life…really isn’t. This book was written really well and let’s you see how much you really don’t need certain things in life or how much you depends on the grid to live.

As someone who will skip the synopsis for an author I’ve read before and think I know what to expect…READ THE SYNOPSIS FOR THIS ONE! lol

This book was so shocking due to my lack of adventurous expectations. Once I realized what was going on, I was happy to be along for rhetorical ride. If you’re in the mood for an “end of the world” style romance with plenty of action, this is the book for you.

Thank you to the publisher for the gifted ARC

ARC REVIEW

Heart of the Sun
By Mia Sheridan

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 (4 out of 5)

Publishing date: 5/20/2025

I unexpectedly, really enjoyed this!

I've never read anything like this. It had a lot of action packed into it and it really did feel like an adventure which is not what I'm used to with romance. In fact, for a good chunk of the book I kind of forgot about the romance aspect and was more interested in the world's catastrophic events. It was pretty long, but it actually kept my interest the entire time. I couldn't wait to find out what caused the world to go off the grid. But honestly, it's a frightening thought. This book definitely made me question a lot of things.....let's hope this never happens!

The book centers around Emily and Tuck who knew each other from childhood. Emily is now a famous pop star and she hires Tuck as security, following his release from prison. And for some reason, when I envisioned Emily, I saw Tate McCrae 🤣🤣

I haven't read anything else like this and I'm glad I did! I think it was an entertaining story and different from most romance. But I'm not mad about it!

Big big thanks to @netgalley and @htpbooks for the early read opportunity. It surprised me, in a good way!!

3.5 stars

Heart of the Sun by Mia Sheridan is a dystopian fiction novel with a slow burn second chance romance.

Woof. This one was a heavy read - definitely as far from cozy fantasy as you can get. Set in modern day USA after a "solar flare" or something more nefarious... childhood friends Tuck and Emily survive a plane crash in Indiana and set out (along with Emily's horrible boyfriend Charlie) to get back to their lives in California by whatever means necessary. There's no electricity which means no cell service -- which means no answers to what the heck is going on. Various conspiracy theories circle around and society does what it has to do to survive...

This one is kind of depressing, because it feels like something that could potentially happen. It felt a little too real at some points, and there are some HEAVY themes that pop up throughout the story.

I would recommend this book to someone who enjoys dystopian fiction and is in a good mental state that won't spiral. The romance is SLLLOOWWW BURNNNN and there's a lot of unanswered questions at the end, but I did enjoy myself and appreciate the DUAL pov between Emily & Tuck.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Heart of the Sun is an intense dystopian romance set in a post apocalyptic world after a solar flare leaves the entire country without power. The story is depressing at times and shows the dark side of humanity, but it’s also hopeful and emphasizes the good that can come from helping others. I was held in suspense as Emily and Tuck traveled over halfway across the country mostly on foot while avoiding gangs and thieves and relying on the kindness of strangers.

I enjoyed the second chance childhood friends to lovers romance but I feel like the romance was actually less prominent than I thought it would be. Tuck and Emily weren’t necessarily my favorite couple ever, but I thought their story was sweet nonetheless and they had good character development. Everything I’ve read from Mia Sheridan so far has been really unique and I’m looking forward to reading more.

Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Mia Sheridan is one of those authors where I have to read everything she puts out. So when I saw she had a sci-fi/fantasy book, I'll be honest, I was a little hesitant. It's not usually my go to genre.

But I was so pleasantly surprised! While it might not knock my all time favorite Sheridan book (Archer's Voice) off its pedestal, I liked it way more than I anticipated.

The main characters, Emily and Tuck, were just lovely. The underlying romance that simmered throughout the story definitely kept me invested. The sci-fi and fantasy elements were interesting and definitely held my attention, although there were a few moments where the pacing felt a tad slow.

So, if you're already a fan of sci-fi and fantasy, I think you'll really enjoy the journey this book takes you on. And if you're a romance lover like me who's maybe a little unsure about dipping your toes into sci-fi, the romance woven throughout will definitely keep you hooked.

3.5 rounded up to 4 stars

While this one might not be my absolute favorite from Mia Sheridan, I still really enjoyed her writing and the characters she created. It was a fun and engaging read!