I have to admit that I like reading books without knowing what it's about...I was expecting a love story.... the book started strong, promising, then it took an unexpected turn but it was still intriguing...unfortunately, the last 10% lost me...I had to increase the listening speed because I just wanted to finish it. It ends well but I could have done without Emily going with her manager and leaving Tuck behind.

thanks for the ARC! The narrators were great!

I enjoy a good survival story and i also enjoy a good romance so it is no surprise that I enjoyed this book so much! I'll be 100 % honest, I didn't read the description when I saw this audiobook on Net Galley, I just knew I love Mia Sheridan so I was excited to check it out. The way this books starts had me thinking this was going to be a complete different kind of book than it actually was which is also something I love. Going in blind makes books better for me, I have no expectations about the story and I think that made this one even better for me too.

I always love a MMC that is just genuinely nice and wants to help so Tuck was right up my alley. I knew from the very beginning I was going to love him. Emily on the other hand took me a little time to warm up to since she was pretty clueless living in her famous bubble but she grew on me and I was rooting for her in the end. The romance was sweet and not very steamy and of course we get a HEA in the end.

The narration was great too. Both new to me narrators that I thought did a fantastic job for these characters.

Heart of the Sun by Mia Sheridan is marketed as a dystopian romance however, the romance is definitely a slow burn/subplot. I thoroughly enjoyed this audiobooks and narrators (listened at 1.5x for my preference in speech cadence).

Tuck and Mia are childhood friends who are separated by a parent’s death and bad choices. They are reconnected when Tuck is released from prison only to have their plane crash and the world changes in an instant. No electricity, food or safety.

The dystopian world was very well done. Incredibly eerie, haunting and felt incredibly accurate for how humans would react. The romance was still a part of the story. The friends to lovers trope was really important for character growth through this story.

Thank you NetGalley & Harlequin Audio for this ARC!

This is a review of the Audiobook.
Dual narration - André Santana and Annalee Scott

Second chance romance
Childhood friends to lovers
Slow burn
Only one bed
Forced proximity

The narrators did a great job bringing life to these characters. Giving each character depth.

The store was enjoyable.
Futuristic and Apocalyptic vibes.
The world is crumbling around them. Tuck and Emily are reconnecting as adults when a solar flare happens taking down all communications. This causes forced proximity, survival instincts, and love.

Very interesting and fun read/listen. Keeps your captivated and interested in the story. Definitely a slowwww burn.

Thank you NetGalley, Mia, & her publisher for the advanced audiobook! I truly enjoyed this story! I definitely want to start prepping for the end of the world or a catastrophic event. Two friends grow up together, & end up growing apart after a tragic event that sends one friend down the wrong path in life. The friend who went down the wrong path, gets out of prison & needs help getting a job. & gets a job as a bodyguard protecting his old friend who is now famous. They end up traveling across the country together during an event that takes out the whole USA. The story continually makes you want to know what happens next & how the story ends. Easy, bingeable read! Would recommend, especially if you love old friends, to enemies, to lovers, with the add of a lot of adventure & lingering mystery.

Not my favorite dystopian novel. Not my favorite love story. But I do appreciate what Mia was trying to do. It was quite a long book for the lack of depth in both character development and storyline. Very introspective. It was almost like two different stories were being told and could have both been completely independent. The loss of the electrical grid caused forced proximity, but it seemed like it could have been replaced with anything else that caused forced proximity.

I do appreciate the new fear of solar flares

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Audio for this ARC. Publication date is May 20, 2025.

this was so so so good. As to be expected by Mia Sheridan. if this was a TV show, id watch it. i loved it so much. I thought it was so interesting the whole collapse of the world without electronics. How correct it would be. people without electronics would decline quickly into primitive ways. I definitely need a part two to this book or for this to be some sort of series it was that good. I am obsessed and not even because we have the same name.

This book is not for those expecting another Archer’’s Voice. The romance doesn’t really start until the second half of the book. I do love a dystopian book; but I this one wasn’t my favorite. I see lots of others are really enjoying this book though!

If you love second chance romances, enemies to lovers, childhood frienemies to lovers type romances, you will probably really enjoy this book!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I do feel this book can be misclassifed as romance. It does have hits on romance, but this book includes sci-fi themes. I have never read anything by this author but this one has caught my attention. The narrators were great!

Wow. This book absolutely blew me away, and Heart of the Sun has left its mark on *my* heart forever.

I've been a fan of Mia Sheridan's writing since the beginning of her career, and no one writes childhood friends to lovers like Mia can. She knows *exactly* how to write the tension, longing, and life experience that can bring two people together, even if they've been apart for years.

This book follows Emily and Tuck, two childhood best friends brought together again (he's her bodyguard, she's a popstar) - and then shoved into an apocalyptic situation I wouldn't wish on anyone. This book had a contemporary romance plus dystopian sci-fi genre mix, and it was incredibly unique. I found myself having to take breaks because coming from someone who has a "prepper" family, this was a little too real at times.

I was lucky I could take breaks, but the characters were shoved into life-and-death situations that all centered on making it somewhere safe... if that existed after all the lights went out.

I may need to think about more to say on this one but all I can say is that I will be recommending it to everyone I know AND buying the physical copy once it comes out. Six stars... Mia absolutely knocked it out of the park with this one!

The audio was fantastic, and both the Emily and Tuck narrators brought life to the story perfectly.

Thank you Netgalley for an advanced copy!!!

5⭐️ 2🌶️

Wow! This was one of the most unique childhood best friend/ second chance romances I’ve read. The plot gave apocalypse vibes. Tuck is sweet, smart and has a heart of gold! Emily is lost in a way I think a lot of us can relate to. So worth the read!

Mia Sheridan does it again with "Heart of the Sun"—a breathtaking blend of second-chance romance and post-apocalyptic survival that had me hooked from start to finish!!!

Emily and Tuck were childhood friends whose lives took very different paths—until a massive solar flare strips the world of modern comforts and forces them back together under extraordinary circumstances.
The tension between them? So real. Their history is messy, emotional, and full of unresolved feelings, making their slow-burn romance all the more satisfying. AHHHHH

I loved how the post-apocalyptic setting isn’t just a backdrop—it completely reshapes Emily and Tuck’s journey. Emily, once a pop star, has to rediscover her strength without the glitz and glamour, while Tuck, haunted by his past, gets a shot at redemption. Their struggles, their resilience, and their undeniable chemistry made this book impossible to put down.

Mia’s storytelling is just chef’s kiss—a perfect balance of tension, emotion, and action. This isn’t just a love story; it’s about survival, forgiveness, and finding hope even in the darkest times. If you love high-stakes romance with depth, Heart of the Sun is a must-read! <3

Heart of the Sun by Mia Sheridan is what happens when you take a second-chance romance, a brooding ex-con bodyguard, and a rising pop star… and then throw in a cataclysmic solar flare for good measure. This book is gritty but romantic, intense but tender, and honestly, the perfect blend of heart-racing chemistry and actual survival stakes. Think Bodyguard meets The Walking Dead but make it romance-first. Sheridan’s writing keeps you hooked, the tension is immaculate, and Tuck? Yeah, he’s about to ruin you for all other fictional men.

Emily and Tuck grew up together, but tragedy hit, and then they grew apart, going on separate paths. They rekindle their friendship as adults and are forced into a closer relationship when a solar flare caused the grid to go down and cut off electronic communications, putting them in a dystopian world. Surviving catastrophic events together and journeying to get back home only push them back closer together. This is a story about redemption, discovery, survival, and love, and I absolutely adored it!

“I’d find you in the dark.”

Listen, I am the worst at reading a synopsis, so this book was a rollercoaster ride for me. This is definitely one of the most unique romances I've ever read. It started off giving Reminders of Him vibes. The characters are childhood best friends, the MMC, Tuck, was just released from prison, and something seems to have gone down between them but you don't know what it is. Now, the FMC, Emily, is a famous popstar, who is giving Tuck a second chance by hiring him as her body guard. While in a plane, a solar flare hits the earth, sending the world into chaos. I haven't seen The Last of Us, so I kept picturing The Walking Dead minus the zombies. It almost felt like the author had an idea for three different books and thought, lets combine them all together. It actually works really well.

Here's why not reading a synopsis worked against me though... I was looking to read a cozy romance with a little bit of drama like Archer's Voice. The world is crazy right now and I was looking for a little bit of an escape. This was not that, however I did really enjoy this book outside of the existential dread it added to my life. Every day I try to tell myself I don't need a "go-bag" or an apocalypse kit, but this book chipped away at my refrain.

Tropes: Slow burn, childhood friends to enemies to lovers, popstar x body guard, dystopian/ post apocalyptic

Thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin Trade Publishing, and Harlequin Audio for the opportunity to read the ebook/audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks Harlequin for the eARC/ALC!

I really loved the beginning of the book and was super excited to read more about Em and Tuck’s story but the longer it went on the more bored I got. 😅

I love second chance romance and that plot line was great but the entire dystopian journey home was SO boring. It felt like they were just doing the same thing over and over again just with different people.
The ending felt rushed - it seemed like an ending just to end. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Maybe this one wasn’t for me. I do think the narrators did a fantastic job at each of their roles!

This book will be the fluffiest dystopian romance that you will ever read, but it is so good and so worth the time to listen I would do this audio just based on how amazing these narrators did me Sheridan can do no wrong in my eyes. She has the best plot to romance with lots of drama and angst. This is the first dystopian. I think she’s done, but she could definitely do more in this genre. Y’all have to get this. No spoilers, but this is a second chance romance, childhood friends rekindled after many years California setting.

I didn’t love the characters which made it hard to get into the story. At 50% mark, I couldn’t believe there was still 50% more to the story….definitely a slow read in the middle with a lot of extra that didn’t feel necessary for the overall story. I gave 3 stars for the dystopian story that left me feeling uneasy.

4.5/5

I had a GREAT time listening to this book! The last thing I would have expected to read was a dystopian, sci-fi from Sheridan, but she delivered!

This book follows a singer and her body guard (childhood friend) as they navigate a world that has seemingly gone dark. They travel across the country and survive many challenges in search of their home.

Tuck & Emily are such a sweet couple and their story is absolutely precious!! I loved following their story and I was on the edge of my seat for at least 50% of the book!!