Heart of the Sun by Mia Sheridan is another fantastic read!
The story is packed with twists and unexpected turns, keeping me constantly on edge. Just when I thought I had things figured out, the author threw in another surprise, keeping the intrigue fresh and making the story all the more gripping.
As always Sheridan’s writing skills were truly remarkable. The author's gripping plot that immediately grabbed my attention and kept me engaged throughout.

I will always love childhood friends meets second chance romance! By far my favorite trope, and I will eat it up every time! However, the romance dystopian fiction was not my fav.

This book nails the perfect mix of apocalyptic survival and slow-burn romance. Tuck and Emily’s story—from childhood friends to navigating a world turned upside down—is honestly so gripping. Sheridan’s writing just pulls you in and doesn’t let go. If you love emotional twists and real character growth, this one’s a total must-read!

Mia Sheridan delivers yet another emotionally gripping story with Heart of the Sun, a beautifully layered tale that blends romance, suspense, and emotional recovery with her signature tender prose and deep character work.

This book starts like it’s going to wreck me in the best way. The world is gritty—more soft dystopia than full-on apocalypse—but there’s a real sense of danger lurking behind every locked door. And the idea of fame being dangerous in a crumbling society? So cool. Emily has big popstar energy and this core of quiet resilience I really liked.

Then there’s Tuck—her bodyguard, her ex-best friend, the guy who left her behind when everything fell apart years ago. That’s catnip for me. Unfortunately… the angst payoff never fully hit. They kept almost getting emotionally messy, but then backing off before the wounds could really bleed on the page.

This story had all the right ingredients but didn’t quite cook them long enough. It’s a gentle, slightly bruised love story with flashes of deeper emotion, but if you came in expecting sharp angst, feral slow burn, and full throttle trope exploitation—you might leave a little hungry.

Still, the writing is solid, the characters are likable, and the emotional undertones are there. If you want a low-stakes, healing-forward dystopian romance with familiar tropes done in a soft-focus lens, this will work for you.

Just maybe don’t expect it to break your heart in half or leave you screaming into a pillow. I liked it. I didn’t feel it.

This is (kinda) a post apocalyptic bodyguard romance that follows our main characters trying to survive the days and weeks after a solar flare has caused an EMP that has wiped the United States (at least) of all electricity.

I was really hooked in the beginning of this book when we are getting the back story of the main characters and also learning where they are now but as soon as the apocalyptic element of the book kicked in I started to lose my interest. This almost felt like two completely different books stitched together. Also, there is a third character that is tagging along with the FMC and the MMC throughout a good chunk of the story and he was insufferable. I know the role that he was playing the story but it felt like too much and I was just eager for him to get gone so that we could focus on the romance.

Now, the romance. There were definitely some cute moments between Tuck and Emily but the romance is definitely the element of this book that took a backseat. I also think that the marketing of this book as a bodyguard romance is a little misleading. Sure, Tuck starts off as Emily's bodyguard but once they are in survival mode he becomes less of her bodyguard and more of just the guy who is keeping everyone in the group alive. He's the survivalist.

Oh, and the ending?? That felt way too easy. I know that this is supposed to be a romance at the heart but the entire book reads like a post apocalyptic survival story and then everything wraps up so quickly and easily for our main characters? It didn't make sense. I was literally dumbfounded at how this book ends. It is a quick read though and the survival elements were pretty fun.

Love Mia Sheridan books so this was an immediate request for me. I was not disappointed by this one--I really need tor read her backlog to see more of her writing!

I had a really hard time connecting with these characters. I expected it to be more emotional than it was. I expected more from this author since I absolutely loved Archers Voice, Travis and falling for Gage.

Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this ARC!

3.75 stars

This was my first book by Mia, and now I want to read her others. This story had a very unique blend with some of my favorite tropes such as: bodyguard, childhood friends, forced proximity, and suspense. I did not expect this story to make me so emotional. But the characters both have deep feelings that they have to work through and I was either tearing up or melting.

While I love suspense in romance, I needed more of the romance side in this one. The ending wrapped up quickly after the building momentum, but I felt a little bit missing from the romance between them.

This book was not at all what I was expecting from Mia Sheridan. The front cover markets it as a love story… so I was not prepared for a dystopian story of survival. This was a hard one for me to even finish and just really fell flat.

Mia Sheridan delivers a slow-burn love story with emotional depth and just the right amount of action. With themes of redemption, resilience, and reconnection, this book is perfect for fans of emotional romances set against high-stakes backdrops. A heartfelt, atmospheric read that lingers long after the final page. I really enjoyed this book and I am ready to dive into more.

This was an interesting book ... I had it in my head that a Mia Sheridan book was going to be a romance book... and there were aspects of that (childhood sweethearts) the book was really more about what happens when there is a large spread take down of the country.... without rules in place what will happen to society. It was a very interesting look at human nature. Survival of the fittest. And how even in the face of having nothing, helping others who are worse off than you are. It was an interesting concept and a solid read.

This book, about a catastrophic EMP, was so different from anything I've read before. The author did a great job of exploring the aftermath of this event as well as building relationships -- friendly, familial, and romantic. Follow Tuck, Emily, and Charlie after they survive a plane crash landing them halfway across the country from home. The journey is perilous but also comes with bouts of intense showings of the goodness of humankind. I loved the writing style and will continue to gladly read Mia Sheridan's books.

This was the first book I’ve ever read by Mia Sheridan and I enjoyed it! This was a good post-apocalyptic dystopian book but I just didn’t vibe with the romance sub-plot. I think it might be because I didn’t like Emily’s character that felt like a wanna-be Taylor Swift. I really enjoyed Tuck as a character, especially as you see his growth from getting out of prison through navigating the outside world again.

Overall, I really enjoyed Mia’s writing style but the plot of this one wasn’t my favorite.

Thank you to Canary Street Press for sending me an early copy!

I picked it up because I liked Archers Voice, and then I should have put it right back down when I saw the sub-genre change. I didn't see a dystopian romance working, and i was right. it didn't work. Their entire relationship was based on a crush from their childhood days, and it just didn't make sense or feel like a natural progression in 20 DAYS. There were multiple events that felt like fillers for some action points, like the entire ending was confusing and didn't add anything to the story. Not my cup of tea overall 🙃

Thank you Netgalley for the chance to read this. This book had a very unique premise. Not only a love story but a survival story,
Our two main characters, Emily and Tuck, were childhood friends. However they grew apart and their lives changed very dramatically from one another. When they are brought together again just before catastrophe strikes. They share a journey back home together and learn about themselves and each other.
I mostly enjoyed it. There were moments were it felt very unrealistic and sometimes I felt scenes weren’t fully fleshed out and were very chilly. She would go from details to quickly moving on. At times it felt very disjointed and rushed. Other times it flowed very nicely.
I loved the characters and how they learn to trust themselves and each other. The end was satisfying enough although there were so many unanswered questions, which I understand given their situation.

Thanks to the publisher for the gifted copy.

I've been reading this author for years now, and her books consistently offer an angsty but not over the top romance with an engaging plot. This one has a dystopian/apocalyptic twist that was an interesting change from her normal MO. The romance is second chance and a slow burn, but when it finally happens it's well worth the wait. I liked how we got background on Emily and Tuck's friendship when they were younger. I think the fact that they had history together had more of an impact on the story than if they had just met and it was insta-love. Good choice with that!

At first, I was a bit concerned about how the story would play out because I was worried she wrote too deeply into this tragedy. I was really hoping it wasn't going to be an easy fix, and for sure it was not! It did drag a bit in the middle, because Illinois to California is a LONG way and she needed to fill in that time, but the story flowed pretty well and kept my interest. The characters that were introduced along their journey were interesting and had an impact on the story, and also on Emily and Tuck.

I'm glad I listened to this one, because it was almost like listening to a movie. The narrators did a great job, and conveyed the emotions the characters felt very well.

I will say that I miss the punch that her older books threw - Archer's Voice, Grayson, Travis, Leo, Eden, Ryland...those were fantastic. This one was entertaining but not quite the same for me.

3.5 stars rounded up

Such a good book! I was so invested! The characters and the story had me hooked! I couldn’t put it down despite needing to study for finals. Definitely recommending this to friends!

I love Mia Sheridan, but this book was not it for me. It's been a long time since I read anything dystopian and while I like Emily and Tuck, the plot just fell really flat and dull for me. I think it was a good try at a new genre, but it was just meh for me.

“Heart of the Sun” by Mia Sheridan was my first book by this author, and I was blown away. I went in completely blind and did not know what kind of story I was getting into and let me tell you, I absolutely loved it. This book is way more than just a fluffy romance. It’s a deep and thought-provoking story.

The story follows Emily and Tuck, childhood friends who have been estranged for years. Now, reunited, Emily is a rising pop-star that goes by Nova, and Tuck is an ex-convict who’s her bodyguard. They’re thrust into a post-apocalyptic world where they have to fight for survival. What unfolds is a very, very slow slow-burn, but honestly, the romance seems almost secondary to the bigger picture of what this book is about.

The modern day dystopian vibe that Mia Sheridan was going for in this book absolutely absorbed me. I was so invested in the story of the fight for survival in this new civilization, I forgot that I was reading a romance story. And yeah, even with the romance taking a backseat in this story, Mia Sheridan still managed to make me tear up reading this book. The second chance trope here is not just for the romance. It is a second chance story for humanity as a whole.

Though it took forever, the romance between Tuck and Emily does blossom beautiful and their story does have an HEA but not without its struggles.

If you’re looking for a gripping, emotional, and hopeful story, “Heart of the Sun” is definitely worth reading. It’s a testament to Sheridan’s storytelling that she can still make you cry even in a post-apocalyptic setting with a slow-burn romance.

I’m giving this one a 3.5.. I was really excited to dive into this book—the premise drew me in. While I did enjoy it overall, I found myself wanting more from the plot; it felt a bit thin at times. That said, the dystopian setting definitely kept me hooked, and I liked most of the characters (except Emily’s boyfriend halfway through—he just didn’t work for me 😭). Big thanks to NetGalley and The Hive for the ARC!