I didn’t finish this book… and believe me, I tried.

I gave both the ebook and the audiobook a fair shot, but I just couldn’t get into it. Where was the romance?!

I know it’s supposed to be a slow burn—but there was no burn. Not even a little smoke. I was 60% in and still waiting for something—anything—to happen. And unfortunately, the rest of the plot wasn’t compelling enough to keep me going.

4.25 ⭐️

Tuck and Emily grew up together on a small farm in southern California, but their lives took them in opposite directions. Emily became a rising pop star and Tuck became a felon. When Tuck gets released from prison and is in desperate need of a job, Emily reluctantly hires her estranged childhood friend as her body guard. However, the playing field levels out when a solar flare hits Earth, knocking out the entire power grid. Tuck and Emily are forced to work together and reconcile their differences in a new changing world where humanity is on the brink of collapse.

Mia is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. While this didn't compare to Archer's Voice or Unwanted, I was still addicted to the pages. Emily really annoyed me for the first half of the book, but she's supposed to. We see so much character growth from her. Tuck is selfless and was the sole reason they survived. This is told as a second chance romance, though we barely got a glimpse into their past. I wish their "young love" was more fleshed out so that them coming together as adults made more sense (other than there being no one else amidst an apocalypse). This read more as a dystopian novel with a splash of romance, since that wasn't the main focus. If you know that going in, I think this book is powerful and addictive.

I switched reading this between the audio and ebook because I seriously couldn't stop reading (typical Mia Sheridan for me). The narrators were perfection 10/10.

oooo this book was so good! The world needs more dystopic scifi romances. The romance just hits so hard when the world is ending and people can come together in the end!

In the beginning I'll admit that I didn't care for Emily, but I really loved Tuck. I appreciate how we had so much of Tuck's point of view. But by the end I liked Emily a lot more and I think she really grew throughout the story.

The audiobook was super well done. I thought the narrators portrayed the characters very well.

There’s just something about the way that Mia Sheridan writes romance that makes me feel like I am falling in love with these characters myself. From each character being so thoroughly written to the way the romance and the plot flow so seamlessly, you cannot help but love every aspect of this book. While there are slower moments that do feel choppy occasionally, the rest of the writing making you feel as though you are in the story makes up for it. I was honestly so sad to see this book end, but it is one that made me fall in love with Mia Sheridan all over again.

Thanks to Harlequin Audio and NetGalley for the advance listener copy. Loved the story and the narrators! I loved the end of civilization as we know it setting and the journey home through an ever changing and dangerous landscape. The character growth on Emily and Tuck's part was great to see but I feel that they didn't act on that growth until a bit late in the book. The story was fast paced and I was really invested in them reaching their destination. I loved all the interactions with the people they met along the way. The love story was great and I really wanted them to forgive each other and get together and the author made us wait until almost the 80% mark for that payoff. I really liked that Emily and Tuck were childhood friends and each other's first crush. I didn't like the fact that it took so long to find out what happened to separate them six years age and what we did learn felt a bit vague. I think that their journey home was really detailed and well paced but I felt that the ending was rushed and not as well developed.

I went into Heart of the Sun with a lot of hope but ultimately it was a miss for me. A book that struggled to find it's own identity it wasn't really a romance and it also wasn't really straight dystopian. While I was initially hooked in the beginning, even through the first couple days post-crash, it would become a revolving door of get to new place, find supplies, get into trouble, escape trouble, get to a new place, find supplies, get into trouble and so forth. There wasn't much built up tension or sense of adventure once I realized it was going to be the same circular plot just with a different setting.

Another issue I had with the book was it's inaccuracies during the Amish buggy incident. As a form Missourian, by way of the Army, the Amish absolutely live in Missouri and the fact that Sheridan chose to use this as a plot point took me fully out of the story. Like full stop, what? My favorite booth at our weekly farmers market was the Amish family and I was even invited to shop in their village during the off season. Also, while I understand geography can be difficult for some to grasp Google is always an option. In the book it stated the horse and buggy traveled from Indiana to Missouri in four days. That's impossible. Even in the perfect of conditions the most a horse can safely travel in a day is 25 miles (without a buggy attached). That means, in optimal conditions, at most they went 100 miles. Indiana to Missouri is closer to 400 miles. We also know they stopped at points because of the alluded SA, the roads were packed with disabled cars, and with minimal supplies for the horse it would not have traveled at top speed the entire time. While it may seem nitpicky, this type of detail pulled me right out of the novel because it just wasn't realistic.

The ending didn't bring me the ah-ha that I expected it to have, but I think that is because I was pretty over it by the end. After reading a few reviews I realized the authors note said this wasn't Sheridan's unique idea and once I learned that, I understood why it was so disjointed.

Thank you HTP Hive for the gifted ALC.

Heart of the Sun is a dystopian romance that was unique and kept me intrigued. It had a bit of a slow start, but once it picked up, I couldn’t put it down

Alright now while I did enjoy the audiobook and listening to it on my drives to work, I overall just was not a fan of the book, story, or characters. This had all of the potential and I picked it because it was giving me “The Fifth Wave” vibes which was a movie I really enjoyed when I was younger and so disappointed when it wasn’t continued. This one was a let down for me… the pacing was off and honestly a little bit all over the place and it really struggled to hold my attention. The entire time all I could think about was picking up another book. The romance? I just didn’t feel it and the chemistry was lacking. While I have only read one other Mia Sheridan book “Archer’s Voice” (and absolutely loved it!!!) this one was just a let down for me personally. I ended up DNF’ing the book because I just could not get myself to pick it up and get through it :(

Heart of the sun was a unique twist on adventure and romance. This was outside my typical genre but the audiobook narrators made the story enjoyable. The story could have done without the odd celebrity boyfriend element adding conflict.

Overall worth the listen. Thank you to the author and NetGalley for the ALC.

🎧 Title: Heart of the Sun-a standalone

✍🏾 Author: Mia Sheridan-an auto-buy author for me

📅Publication date: 5/20/25 | Read 5/19/25

🗣️Narrator: Andre Santana and Annalee Scott voice all the characters with standouts from Emily and Tuck. The reading style brought the text to life, and the author and narrators worked together perfectly. The pacing and flow allowed me to get lost in the story. The narrators paused and announced new chapters and there was a table of contents which helped me follow along.

🏃🏾‍♀️‍➡️Run Time: 14:30

Genre:
*Dystopia
*Contemporary Romance
*New Adult

Tropes:
*friends to enemies to lovers
*2nd chance romance
*slow burn
*forced proximity
*childhood BFFs

👆🏾POV: 1st person dual

⚠️TW: plane crash, death, drug use, incarceration, parental death/estrangement

🌎 Setting: CA

Summary: Two childhood friends Emily and Tuck live on an orange grove farm kiss at fourteen and later go their separate ways. Over a decade later, Emily is a famous singer while Tuck has just got of prison. Emily's mother sees Tuck and his need for a job, so she calls Emily. Tuck is hired as her bodyguard, but things go south when their private plane crashes as a solar flare takes out the electricity grid.

👩🏾 Heroine: Emily "Nova" Swanson-a pop star about to start her 1st headlining tour

👨🏾 Hero: Tuck Mattice -ex-con, spent 6 yrs. in prison, hired to be a bodyguard

🎭 Other Characters:

* Charlie-an actor, Emily's boyfriend
*Emily's parents-Phil and Jenna Swanson
*Tuck's parents-mother Mariana deceased, father remarried w/ another child
*Josea-an ex-con Tuck knows-I just loved his character

🤔 My Thoughts: This was a what would you do kind of story for me. If the world as we've known it ended, how do you survive? Tuck was the answer for Emily having spent time in prison but still has a moral compass. Emily's fame meant nothing, so she had to depend on Tuck to keep her safe.

Rating: 5/5 ✨
Spice level 4/5 🌶️

🙏🏾Thanks to NetGalley, Harlequin Audio, and Mia Sheridan for this ALC! I voluntarily give my honest review, and all opinions are my own.

After reading so many Mia Sheridan books, I saw this one on NetGalley and applied so fast, and I was so excited when I was approved for it. That's why it also makes me sad to not be able to give this book 5 stars. It just didn't meet my expectations that I had. Maybe I had set the bar too high? I know that Mia Sheridan writes amazing books, she's one of my favorite authors and I own almost all of her books, but this just wasn't at the same level as the others.

I really did enjoy the idea of the dystopian storyline. It's very unique, and not something that I often read about so I was very excited to give it a try. Parts of it were really done well, including a lot of the events throughout the book and the different plot twists that happen, like with Charlie and at the end of the book.

However, on the other side the story was really slow and drawn out and did not need to be this long. It was as if so many mini events were thought of and thrown in. The romance was a second chance, childhood friends to lovers romance, and there was a lot of build up/slow burn, but there was no tension, no likeable personalities, no excitement.

To clarify when I say that the characters were not likeable: Emily was so self-centered and just so stuck in her snobby personality that I didn't even care what had happened to her. Tuck was slightly more likeable, and his character had a little more depth and we got to see more of his past and what he had gone through, but that was really it. It was really hard for me to connect with the characters because of this. The emotional connection between the two was basically non-existent, and it reads more as the two never getting closure for their feelings from when they were younger, and now they've gone through traumatic events together and it brought those feelings back. We are told that this connection is there, but I never felt it.

Thank you to Mia Sheridan, Harlequin Audio, and NetGalley for the eARC of this book. This is my honest review. Final rating 3.5 stars rounded up.

4.75⭐️

This is a review of the audiobook.

I went into this book totally blind (like I didn't read the blurb or know anything about this book prior to reading it) and I'm not sure what I expected but it definitely was not even close to what this story was actually about. That being said, I really enjoyed it. I was definitely expecting a cutesy, second chance romance based on the beginning of the book but it took an interesting turn into an almost post-apocalyptic world where they're just trying to survive while getting to know each other again.

I'm always down for a dual POV book, especially a dual POV audiobook. Both narrators were great and gave this story exactly what it needed. I would definitely love to listen to these 2 in another audiobook together.

Tuck is an ex-felon looking for a second chance. Emily is a singer on the rise getting ready for her first tour. Childhood friends seperated by grief. When Tuck feels he has no where else to turn, Emily’s mom convinces Emily to hire Tuck as her body guard. Both Tuck and Emily are apprehensive for what this new job could entail.
During a flight all systems become unresponsive due to a solar flare and the plane crashes. Tuck leads Emily across the country to journey back home to what they hope will be safety. The two have to face internal conflict and dangers which force them to address the past and any potential future.

I enjoyed this one! I was gifted the Physcial arc and alc from Harper Collins so I did listen to this one. I think the premise was super catchy & there was great character development. The slow burn was amazing as was the tension! I do think there were some threads left untied as it just ended slightly abruptly but this was a great audio book & the narrators were incredible! Thank you so much for sending me this ARC. I had such a great time listening & it really did point out the strengths we have as humans and our will to survive for those we love

Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin Audio for my advance audiobook copy of Heart Of The Sun by Mia Sheridan in exchange for my honest review. This one has me wanting to start doomsday prepping!

Mia Sheridan does not disappoint in this dystopian-esque tale where we have childhood friends finding eachother after years apart. Tuck, who is recently out of prison, and Emily, an up and coming popstar, find eachother thanks to Emily's mom who encourages Tuck to reach out to Emily to apply to be her bodyguard.

Emily has the movie star boyfriend and the beginnings of a fancy Hollywood life. Tuck is a little surprised with her choice of boyfriend, but does his duty as her bodyguard. They are on a private flight across the country when a solar flare hits and they crash, leaving them in survival mode. Tuck, who gets involved a slight mistrust, does his job to keep her safe, even if she doesn't necessarily want him to.

They do everything they can to make it back to California to check on her parents and get home to where they think they can be safe. They encounter a lot on a the way and the scary part of this book is that one major solar flare or nuclear attack in our atmosphere and BAM, this is reality.

This is a slow burn that checks off so many boxes. Childhood friends. Enemies to lovers. Bodyguard romance. Second chance. I absolutely loved and adored this!

4 stars. It's a fantastic dystopian romance that will have you unable to put this down. I absolutely could NOT stop towards the end of the book and I just loved how Sheridan ended it. This truly is an absolute gem that also has me doomsday prepping now, so, thanks for that, haha. This is one to add to your collection immediately, it's out tomorrow, May 20th!

Thank you to the publishers for an early copy of this book. I realized pretty early on that this book wasn’t for me. I thought it was going to be more of a romance and it ended up being more of a survival novel with very little romance. I didn’t care about the characters at all and didn’t find them very well developed. I wasn’t very invested in this and this was just a bit of a miss for me.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Canary Street Press, and Harlequin Audio for gifting me an audio ARC of the latest novel by Mia Sheridan, perfectly narrated by André Santana and Annalee Scott. All opinions expressed in this review are my own - 4 stars!

Tuck and Emily grew up together, sharing a bond they thought they would always share. Until life intervened. Now over a decade later, Emily is a pop sensation, and her mom convinces her to let Tuck, an ex-con in need of a fresh start, be her bodyguard. But then the world is thrust into darkness, and they must work together to survive.

I listened to this on audiobook and was drawn into the story of Tuck and Emily and was rooting for them throughout the book. This is an intriguing mix of romance, survival, and dystopia, making for a compelling read. It’s a good look into how humans behave when faced with disaster.

Loved it!! It was an emotional rollercoaster from the very beginning all the way to the very end. Would highly recommend it!!

I don’t know what I was expecting this book to be (because I don’t read blurbs or reviews in advance of reading), but I did not expect a dystopian, second chance, slowburn romance. I am NOT disappointed. This was fantastic! I could not get enough.

Thank you Net Galley for a ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Heart of the Sun was such a great read. I already love dystopian fiction, so the post-solar-flare setting pulled me in right away, but what really hooked me was the slow burn romance between Emily and Tuck. The second-chance, childhood-friends dynamic gave the story a lot of heart, and I liked how their relationship developed slowly and realistically—especially with everything falling apart around them.
The popstar/bodyguard setup felt fun without being too over the top, and the survival element added just enough grit and tension to keep me turning the pages. Tuck's character was a standout for me—flawed but solid, and easy to root for.
Definitely recommend if you're into emotional romance with a touch of chaos and grit.

*I received an advanced reader’s copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review