First, let me say I loved this book and haven’t been able to get it out of my head since the minute I finished. The characters and their situation felt so real, I’m struggling to process that it was just a book. Also, I am now hoarding water bottles.

Other than that, I don’t know how to review this book without seriously spoiling it, so I’ll keep it short and highlight the most important things to know when deciding whether to read or buy this one:
- Heart of the Sun is an apocalyptic work of speculative fiction that was 5% what I expected and 95% “WTF”. While it features a love story and some romance elements, labeling it a romance is misleading.
- Read the TWs — there’s a lot of violence in this book.
- The middle dragged a little and could have been tightened without losing impact.

That said, I really enjoyed it and do recommend it to those who enjoy apocalyptic stories.

Audio: The two POVs are performed by different narrators (a must, IMO!). Andre Santana voices Tuck, and Annalee Scott voices Emily. Both are engaging and easy to listen to—I completely lost myself in their performances. The deeply emotional scenes were especially powerful, as their voices carried the weight of every moment, heightening my own emotional response. Absolutely brilliant performances and a terrific audiobook.

𝑩𝑶𝑶𝑲 𝑰𝑵 𝑬𝑴𝑶𝑱𝑰𝑺:
👧🏻👦🏼⛓️‍💥🎶👩‍🎤✈️💥🎒😰😭💕

👍🏻𝑳𝑰𝑲𝑬𝑫 / 💗𝑳𝑶𝑽𝑬𝑫: 💗

𝑹𝑬𝑨𝑫 𝑰𝑭 𝒀𝑶𝑼 𝑳𝑰𝑲𝑬:
♡ Popstar + Bodyguard
♡ Slow burn
♡ Second chance
♡ Childhood friends
♡ Apocalyptic setting

𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑻𝑯𝑶𝑼𝑮𝑯𝑻𝑺:
This was an incredibly heart wrenching and heart warming story of not only a second chance romance but the goodness of the human spirit. I really loved it 🥹

Emily and Tucker were childhood friends that went two separate ways, only to be reunited after Tucker gets out of jail and she hires him as a bodyguard. When a massive solar flare not only crashes their plane but essentially changes the world as we know it, we see their relationship slowly evolve from survival to what was always meant to be.

I loved the storyline and the details of this book! It’s not often that I’m super interested in the plot outside of the romance but this was AMAZING. I was so dedicated to their journey across the country and I loved how Mia showed us how GOOD humanity can be too, even in the face of such tragedy. I even got my HEA by the end 🧡

Mia Sheridan is hit or miss for me. This was more of a miss. The story was fairly juvenile, and the dystopian aspect just didn't work for me.

I unfortunately dnf’d this read…I felt zero connection to the characters and story. This is such a different genre than her other books so I think I expected more of a love story rather than survival. Maybe I will try it again another time!

This was unlike anything else I’ve read by Mia Sheridan. A romantic dystopian novel and honestly liked it more than I expected. I instantly gravitated towards Tuck and his story. But I have to admit for about 60% of the book I found Emily insufferable. The book focuses on the their journey back to Emily’s parents. I loved how Tuck stepped up and took care of Emily and made it his mission to get her home. Along the way she started to notice that Tuck was still the same person she fell in love with as a kid. The journey lead them to realizing how they always felt for one another.

The narrators did an incredible job of capturing the essence of the characters. I love to do immersive reading and this audiobook really brought forth the movie playing in my mind.

I really enjoyed what Heart of the Sun had to offer. This was one of those upcoming releases I was eagerly hoping to get my hands on, and when I saw the ARC in my inbox, I couldn’t have been more excited!

So, let’s dive in... For me, the standout aspect of this novel is its premise, which offers a unique take on a theme I’ve seen explored in movies, TV shows, and games (raise your hands, Last of Us fans 🙋🏼‍♀️), but rarely in contemporary romance. I loved how the story seamlessly blends romance with survival, giving the love story an added layer of depth. The themes are tightly woven together, and at no point did it feel like a “romance trying to be a post-apocalyptic story” or vice versa. It’s a beautiful love story set in a world where survival is the top priority—and what’s more human than that? Nothing but praise for this premise (also, trying to avoid doom-scrolling about EMPs + solar flares 🙃).

That said, I do have a few notes. I loved almost everything about this story, but there were moments when I couldn’t help but feel that it might have benefitted from being expanded into a duology. The characters were compelling, but more space to develop them would’ve made their journey even more impactful. I wanted more time to dig deeper into their personalities and backstories.

Additionally, I think a dual timeline could have added an extra layer to the narrative and provided more context for Tuck and Emily’s lifelong connection. It would have been fascinating to see glimpses of their past and how it shaped their present.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the book—it was a great read—but I did find myself wishing for just a little more. I’m really excited for you all to get your hands on it!

I went into this basically blind. I wasn’t sure what to expect. Little did I know that this would be perfect for the mood I was in. I did an immersion read I had the audio and the ebook. First I loved the narrators. I thought they did an amazing job. I highly recommend getting the audio and doing this one that way if you can. It is a dual narration so they switch off when it is their characters chapter.
It really drew me into the story even more and I sometimes have a harder time with romance audiobooks. This one just worked for me.

The story. It is a post apocalyptic a solar flare happens, and now they have to figure out what to do and kind of like you would in a fantasy book. They have to go on a journey and that’s just you know my kind of book minus this isn’t a fantasy. They were childhood friends now it’s enemies to lovers. He’s an ex-con. She is more of a famous singer. There is one character in this book that I found absolutely annoying and I believe that was the authors intent because it is not a main character so good on Mia Sheridan. You will know exactly who I mean when you met them. I thought the pacing was great. I read it in one setting and could not put it down. I thought the characters showed development throughout the book. This is definitely what I’m going to have to get a physical copy of when it comes out.
Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing for the advanced review copy!