Until She Can Figure It Out by María Martínez had me in my feelings from the very first page. The emotional pull is impossible to resist, with a deeply relatable and layered protagonist in Harper Weston. I loved how balanced the emotional depth with the romance. It’s a story of self-discovery, of reconciling grief and love, and finding the courage to take risks. The writing is both raw and tender, and the author weaves Harper’s journey of healing and self-acceptance in such a way that I couldn’t help but get lost in the pages. Every moment feels earned, and the payoff is just so worth it. It is a perfect blend of heartfelt angst and emotional growth, and I could not put it down.

OMG! What a beautiful and wonderful love story. Harper and Trey were amazing characters and I fell in love with them from the start. Sometimes she frustrated me to no end, but I got her. She had so many decisions to make, was so lost and hurting. Trey was an amazing partner. He loved her so much. This romance has everything to be absolutely perfect. The second characters are deep and super important to de story and the scenery, really especial.
I highly recommend this book and this author.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I picked this one up because the cover was gorgeous and the premise was intriguing, I love stories about bookstores and writing. Ultimately, I struggled to connect to these characters. I also felt the writing was a bit repetitive with some redundant details included, which I found distracting. While this book wasn't for me, I think others will enjoy the island setting and the satisfying conclusion.

Harper’s grief over her grandmother and the sudden shift in her life plans felt genuine and relatable, and I appreciated the weight of those emotions. The inherited bookstore was such a cozy and bittersweet setting—it’s easy to see why Harper felt torn between honoring a legacy and chasing her own dreams.

That said, the pacing did drag at times. While the introspective moments were powerful, I found myself wanting a bit more movement in the plot and chemistry in the romance. It felt like everything simmered without ever quite boiling over.

Still, this is a thoughtful and emotional coming-of-age story about grief, love, and finding your own path—even when it doesn’t go according to plan.

3.5 star

The story wastes no time diving right in. Harper Weston just inherited her grandmother's bookstore. Now she has to decide between keeping the bookstore or moving forward with her current life plans. The story follows Harper's journey of grieving the loss of her grandmother, who was always supportive and encouraged her to follow her dreams.

This was a beautiful story! There were so many layers to it. There was self-growth, self-discovery, and love. I enjoyed Maria's writing style, which immerses you into the story. I felt that I was going through the heartbreak with Harper. I saw myself on the island.

Harper Weston’s grandmother just passed away and she inherits her bookstore and house. But her life is elsewhere. She goes to school and has an internship at a publishing company. Now she has a decision to make. Go back to her life, or keep the bookstore and follow her dreams. However, too many people are telling her what to do, including her dad who always seemed to have such disdain for her. Her sister, Hayley, buys her a trip to her house on an island so she can take some time to figure out what she wants. On this island, she runs into the one that she has loved, and that has angered her. But he’s also the one that helps her. Then comes a bombshell and her world is turned upside down again, so what does Harper do, and will she ever be able to be happy and live for herself?

There is so much goodness in this book. Yes, there is the romance aspect of this book, but there is also a strong theme of finding yourself and figuring out what you want. I really enjoyed that the people in Harper’s life gave her great advice, those that she knew already (her grandmother, Frances, Trey, her siblings) and those that she met on the island. They each had some great wisdom. Harper is a people pleaser, so it was nice to see her growth in the book.

I really enjoyed the romance in this one too. I think Trey and Harper were a great couple. The way things started for them felt realistic, even if Harper’s anger toward him felt a little dramatic. He was very sweet with his surprise!! He even made me fall for him a little bit with that.

I didn’t love Harper’s dad, but her siblings were simply amazing. I understand why he acted the way he did (have to read to find out), but I think his actions are inexcusable. That’s just my opinion though.

So even though there is romance in this book, there is so much more to it that I think a vast audience would really enjoy this book!

The FMC, Harper was going through a lot of emotional distresses and having to make life changing decisions. Her father is too demanding and she feels he hates her. Her past has come back and she confronts him. She lost her grandmother and is dealing with what she left behind. The overall plot was great, my only negative is the translation. It read like it was copy and paste from a translating app making some parts of the story awkward to read and losing the emotional connection the author was building.

You and Other Natural Disasters by Maria Martinez is a beautifully narrated tale of complex emotions. Love. Grief. Self discovery. Happiness. Sadness. Harper was on an emotional rollercoaster. She did find her own happily ever after finally.

Harper has been lost. Trying to get approval of her ever resentful father. Trying to chase her dreams of being something in publishing industry and being a writer. Trying to do justice to her late grandmother's bookstore. It's all too much. So she took the opportunity to run away to her brother in law's house in an island. And just next day, her brother's best friend Trey appears. Trey broke her heart four years ago. He didn't know she will be here and he also didn't know the damage he caused her. It's a second chance. But she has to get her pieces together.

This story is told from Harper's POV. She is no perfect character. She thinks too much. She isn't spontaneous. She cares too much about others opinion. She has a very soft and big heart. And that makes her life complicated. She is creative and kind and adorably awkward. She has endless vulnerability and that makes her relatable. Trey isn't the driving force here but he is definitely one of the most important factor that pushed her to break her chains. The island away from the struggles made it easier to see how her happiness needs to be the most important one. I love the writing here. It's very descriptive. The scenes. The settings. The emotions. The author takes us to Harper's heart and show us her turmoils. It's heartaching. It's emotional.

I reviewed an early copy voluntarily

You and Other Natural Disasters had a great story about a grandmother leaving her bookstore to her bookloving grand daughter. Unfortuantely the book seemed to just have too much going on and was a bit disjointed for my liking.

Thank you Sourcebooks Casablanca and NetGalley for a copy of You and Other Natural Disasters in exchange for my honest review.

I am such a sucker for books about books and this was no different. This was honestly a beautiful story with a self discovery journey and figuring out what path to take in life. I think this book was really relatable in the sense that we have all been there in some way or another of not knowing what to do... Whether we should do something for our selves of do something that our family expects us to do. This was a really cozy, heartfelt romance. It was an easy read and perfect for a quick weekend read!

Harper Weston always wanted to be a book editor. However, when she inherits her grandmother's bookstore, she has to decide between carrying her grandmother's legacy forward and the carefully planned life she had envisioned for herself. When her family attends her older sister Hayley's wedding, she finds herself confronting Trey Holt, a close friend of her siblings whom Harper has been in love with for years.
I enjoyed the vivid description of the island that Harper escapes to, as it made the story all the more easy to fall into. I found this to be more than just a simple romance, with Harper attempting to find some semblance of order in her life, coming face to face with Trey. Initially I wasn’t too sure about Trey but as Harper and Trey spent time together, I found their connection enjoyable to read about. I did have to remind myself of how old Harper was, particularly as she tries to establish herself amongst the dominating characters in her family.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Split about my rating about as much as my thoughts are split on this one. I keep going back and forth on each end of the spectrum. On one hand I enjoyed the story of the grandmother leaving Harper her bookstore and house after she passed away because she knows what a special place it held for Harper growing up. You can feel how torn Harper is on what she thinks she’s meant to do with her life, what her father wants her to do, and this piece of her dream her grandmother left her. That’s one story. And I liked it. She is only 22 and really needs to find herself and i enjoyed reading about that journey. And the romance between her and her brother’s best friend comes with some unfinished baggage they both have to come to terms with. Enjoyed that unfolding as well.
What I struggled with is the length and pacing. Internal monologues, as beautiful as they were, took pages to get through and some were just FMC doing the most mundane things. Needed to be tightened up some.
I was given a copy by NetGalley for my feedback.

Thank you to Maria Martinez, Sourcebooks Casablanca and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this arc!



I’m firmly in my romance era at the moment and You and Other Natural Disasters was the perfect cosy romance read for me this week!



It follows Harper, who after the devastating loss of her grandmother she was incredibly close to, is struggling with what direction to take her life in. Does she follow her dreams of being a writer and running the bookstore she inherited from her grandmother? Or does she continue with her current life working in publishing and trying to impress her standoffish father whilst feeling completely unfulfilled?



When her sister arranges for her to take some time out for herself at her holiday home on wholesome Petit Prince Island, Harper is able to start working through the tangled mess that is her life and is quickly charmed by the residents on the island and their slow, content way of living. Harper starts to slowly heal but there’s just one problem…the arrival of Trey, the cocky, womanising asshole who broke her heart 3 years before.



I loved Harper and Treys little romance far more than I thought I would! Harper did annoy me at times as she was super irrational and dramatic but then I reminded myself she was only 22 and I was probably the same if not worse at her age. I absolutely love a story set in a small town and this one was super cute. I was firmly team Ridge at the start and I am desperate for him to get his own story?! Also one about how Sid and Adele met would be so stinking cute, I loved them!



The ending was super cute and really heart-warming. I don’t want to say much more to give out any spoilers but I’d recommend this one to anyone looking for a lovely little romance book that will give you all the feels! It definitely won’t be my last from Maria Martinez, I really hope we see these characters again!

Amazing captivating and emotional romance. I loved the caracters, and Maria's writing style. This book gave me the Colleen Hoover vibes and i loved it.

This was a strong romance novel and had that element that I was looking for and enjoyed the overall feel of this book. I enjoyed how good everything worked well overall in the romance genre. I was invested in the characters and what was happening with the characters. María Martínez has a strong writing style and am excited for more.

Sometimes things doesn't go as planned. Harper is finding that out in this book. I love Harper as a character. She is written very well and develops realistically thorughout the book. Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

You and Other Natural Disasters by María Martínez is a beautifully written, emotionally charged contemporary romance that explores love, loss, and self-discovery. From the very first page, I was drawn into Harper’s world—her struggle to balance her dreams with the weight of her grandmother’s legacy felt deeply personal and relatable.

Harper is a well-developed protagonist, and I loved how her journey unfolded. Her passion for books, her emotional depth, and her uncertainty about the future made her feel real. The romance was engaging, with moments of tension and tenderness that kept me invested. While I enjoyed the chemistry, there were times when the pacing felt a little slow, and I wished for more depth in certain moments between the characters.

María Martínez’s writing is lyrical and evocative, making even the quietest scenes feel meaningful. The themes of grief, self-worth, and finding one’s own path were handled beautifully.

This is another wonderful story by the Spanish author María Martínez. It warms my heart to see more and more Spanish authors reach international markets and getting translations deals so readers worldwide can also discover the amazing authors we have.

This book follows the story of Harper, a girl who has her entire life planned out but all of a sudden sees her plans come tumbling down. We see how Harper must confront herself to decide if the life she has built up was really her dream or if the alternative path that has opened itself before her could lead to where she's meant to be.

Here we'll find family legacy, love, self discovery, all surrounded by a beautiful setting full of books.

This story is perfect for readers who appreciate a beautiful love story but also appreciate a self discovery journey.

Harper Weston thought she had it all figured out. But when her grandmother passes away leaving her bookstore to Harper, she is forced to make a decision…sell the beloved bookstore and continue living the life her father wants her to live, or leave all that behind to live the life she truly wants to live.

Such a beautiful story of love, loss and finding yourself. This book was well written and María Martínez did a great job really bringing the characters to life. Each and every character brought so much to the story. This book took me through SO MANY emotions and almost had me in tears more than once! It says a lot for a book when I find myself missing the characters for days after I’ve finish reading and this one did just that. Such a beautiful lesson in really living life and finding what makes YOU happy.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for the ARC!!

You & Other Natural Disasters ⭐️⭐️⭐️/⭐️
“It all starts with a letter.”

Harper never expected to return to her hometown, but after losing a loved one, she finds herself back in familiar streets, facing an impossible choice that could change her life forever. Just when she thinks she has enough on her plate, she runs into him—her first love, the one who shattered her heart. Turns out, after all these years, she hasn’t moved on as much as she thought.

Between grieving her grandmother, navigating the emotional distance with her father, and the whirlwind of old feelings resurfacing, Harper makes a bold decision: escape to an isolated island, hoping the solitude will help her find clarity. But what awaits her there will not only unravel her past but also shape her future in unexpected ways.

Will Harper find the balance and happiness she’s searching for? And more importantly, will she make the right choice?

A cozy and heartfelt second-chance romance that beautifully weaves love, grief, and family dynamics. It’s my first romance of the year, and I’m so glad I had the opportunity to read it—thank you, #NetGalley!

Tropes: Second-chance romance, grief, family dynamics