OMG. Can we queue up “ain’t no love in Oklahoma” please. I freaking adored this. I loved the audiobook, Victoria Connelly is one of my favorite female voice narrators so it was so nice to listen to a familiar favorite of mine. This gave me Twister vibes and I was so here for it!

I absolutely loved getting to listen to this book & went feral for tornado daddy 😏

This definitely gave Twister movie vibes but with all the sex we needed.

I loved the actual sound effects that were played throughout the audio and the cast was amazing

I think Joey was my favorite side character he was so funny & I need more from him 🩷🩷

Thank you NetGalley for the ALC!

This author’s books just work for me, I always know what they’re going to deliver on and I’m here for it. Fun, steamy, emotional connection, plus size characters.

Whirlwind is exactly what you expect from the cover! An action adventure romance involving stormchasing! Twisters who? If you enjoyed that movie franchise and was like yeah I wish it was steamier, well here ya go. This has a forbidden element to it (professor x student) and an age gap (he’s 42, she’s 25). We drop in to the story realizing that the characters have a bit of a connection already. Sure it could have been nice to see a little bit more of that on page, but I think this worked for me at the same time cause of the length of the book, it’s just under 250 pages and I feel like that was just the right amount!

I received an audio ALC, all thoughts in this review are my own.

CW: mentions of parental death

Kayla Grosse did it again! Whirlwind was an absolute thrill ride from start to finish, and the audiobook experience took it to the next level. The tornado and storm sound effects? Genius. They made me feel like I was right there in the chase, heart pounding, adrenaline rushing—such a cool and immersive touch that elevated the entire book.

I absolutely love how Kayla writes plus size heroines—Finley was incredible. She was strong, smart, and passionate, and I appreciated that her story wasn’t just about her body, but about who she is. She felt so real, and I loved seeing her navigate the electrifying (and forbidden) tension with Professor West. Their chemistry? Off. The. Charts. 🔥 The push and pull, the tension, the way the storms mirrored their emotions—perfection.

And the spice? Kayla never misses. 🔥🔥🔥 The forbidden professor/student dynamic combined with the high stakes, storm chasing action made this book so unique, intense, and completely addictive. It was such a fun, fresh twist on Twister (pun intended 😉), and I was hooked the entire time.

If you love forbidden romance, adrenaline fueled love stories, and insanely good spice, Whirlwind is a MUST. This book was an easy five stars and one of my favorite audiobooks of the year! 🌪️💨⚡️

Thank you to NetGalley, Kayla Grosse, Dreamscape, and Fat Babe Publishing for the ALC of this book.

First I want to give a big thank you to Dreamscape Media for providing me an arc of the upcoming audiobook. As a heads up the published kindle and physical copy already released on February 6th. This review is for the audiobook format of Whirlwind!

I’ve got to be honest I requested this book because TikTok kept talking about the spicy tornado ditch scene. PS for the record TikTok was 100% correct that scene was spicy as hell and honestly this book is going to go down as one of my favorites of 2025. But we are getting ahead of ourselves.

I gotta be honest on another point I had never heard or read anything by author Kayla Grosse until I sat down to listen to this audiobook. I can promise you that’s about to change and I’m about to devour everything from Mrs Grosse back catalog.

Whirlwind follows our MFC Finely who is a masters student going on storm chasing assignment with her Professor and mentor Ryker. The two of them have massive chemistry and have been flirting endlessly for years but of course have never acted on it due to the schools HR policy regarding student/teacher relationships. That all changes when one of their storm chasing adventures goes sideways and they both decide to throw caution to the wind and act on their feelings. Now they must figure out how to navigate their relationship and the consequences that arise from them being together.

This book was fabulous from beginning to end. I devoured the audiobook in less than 24 hours. Honestly if you’ve already read the book I recommend going back and also listening to the audiobook. The audiobook is dual narrated and Victoria, Grayson & Pablo did an amazing job. They had me laughing, crying, screaming, and swearing throughout the entire journey. Especially Joey! Y’all I cannot stress this enough Joey is hands down the best side character of 2025! That man had me dying and I seriously need him to have his own book to recount him and Hawkes backstory.

If you can’t already tell I cannot recommend this book enough. Perfect for every romance reader, especially those who recently fell in love with Glen Powells “Twisters”. This book is action packed, spicy as hell and has a great found family dynamic. Please don’t miss out on this amazing read and pick it up immediately.

Thank you so much to Dreamscape Select for an early copy of this audiobook!
WOW! This audiobook is GREAT! The Whirlwind audiobook is highly entertaining because they have sound effects, like weather sirens, chimes, notifications, etc. and it really adds so much to the audiobook experience! As well, the fact that the audiobook is a duet really helped me keep the characters separate and it makes it feel like there's more chemistry between the two characters!
Storywise, Whirlwind was really fun! I just finished reading the Cowboys of Night Hawk series by Kayla Grosse and I was SO excited to hear that these two stories intersect a little bit! The female main character in this story is the cousin of Jake in Rein Me In and Rope Me In! I loved that! And I loved that this was a spicy action packed storm chaser story! The male main character is a storm chasing professor and the female main character is his student (and there's an age gap 👀)! This story was super sweet and cute and I really hope that there can be a second book and make this book a series! 💖

Whirlwind is a super fun, cute, action filled, spicy romance between storm chasers and it was absolutely amazing. I had so much fun reading this one. It was my first time reading about storm chasers and I'm all for it, I need more! I loved how researched it was, the tornado scenes, the meteorological information and the technical aspect, everything was so well explained with accurate information. I don't know much about these weather events, as they don't really happen where I live, but I feel like I actually learnt things while reading this book.

I loved the characters, the chemistry between Ryker & Finley was explosive. There were some hot spicy scenes, which were not overbearing. We got a lot of storm chasing scenes and I freaking loved that. Yes it is a taboo/forbidden relationship with a pretty significant age gap, I know it's not everyone's thing, so make sure to check or to reading. Joseph was such a light in this book, he just brought the jokes, the fun to a whole other level.

Overall, I really enjoyed this novel. The romance, the action, the adventure and the chase truly kept me hooked for the entirety of it. Such a fast paced and super fun read!

🎧 The narration by Victoria Connolly, Grayson Owens & Robb Moreira was good. They made the audiobook so much fun. I really enjoyed the sound effects that were added, it just brought the story even more to life. Great listen!

✨️Thank you to @netgalley, @dreamscapw & @kaylagrosse for my gifted ALC in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely LOVE Kayla's books and actually ARC read Whirlwind and looooved it so much. So I jumped at the chance to get an ALC and was not disappointed in the slightest because holy crap this was phenomenal!!!! I loved the tension between Ryker and Finley in the book, but getting to hear it was *chefs kiss*! Ryker is just 🥵🥵

Whirlwind is so fun, action packed and spicy, and I loved every minute of this listen! ALL THE STARS!!!!

Thank you Dreamscape Select for the ALC!

This was such a fun and spicy story! Rykers POVs were so good because he’s wanted Finley since the beginning, so all of the built up tension and yearning was so good. While this book was spicy and focused on Ryker and Finley the side characters were hilarious and give that found family vibe. If you loved the movies Twister/Twisters then you definitely need to pick this book up. The narrators did such a good job and I love that it was Duet narration. Definitely recommend to anyone who enjoys age gap, forbidden, adventurous romances!

This book has become my new obsession. I will say that I was already a huge fan of Kayla Grosse's work and have always been fascinated with all media that focuses on natural disasters. I read this book first and when I realized I wanted more, I decided to also listen to the audio. I've done this for many of Kayla Grosse's books. I don't often re-read/listen to books, but hers are just so addictive. This book was no different. I couldn't put it down the first time and I loved how immersive the audio felt the second time. I can honestly say that no matter how you indulge in this book, you are in for a treat. I knew that I would enjoy the storm chaser aspect and was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed the professor/student relationship. I felt like it was done so well without leaving me feeling icky about the taboo relationship. I also loved the bonus relationship that we got to see in the story. Great representation as always. My hope is that they will get their own book in the future. I loved everything about this book and audio.

Audio review provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is for those who watch Twisters and wanted more romance and spice. It's a great short read. And while the pacing is fast, it works for the story. I really loved the main characters together, their dynamic was hot af.
The side characters were fun and I'm looking forward to seeing them in future books. One thing I was worried about going into this one was the power dynamic with the age gap and the teacher student thing, but that was done really well. I would totally recommend this book.

This was a fun time! If you like storm chasers and banter mixed with smut, this book is for you. Also if you leave in a tornado prone area and like a fun, smutty romance this is also for you. I enjoyed the side characters and I’m hoping we get a book about Jamie because he was hilarious! A delightful, quick, easy read!!

Twisters but with the romance that everyone wanted! I promise this book doesn't leave you wanting in the romance department like the Twisters movie does! However, compared to other novels I have read by this same author, it wasn't nearly as spicy as I was expecting. The spicy scenes that were there though were just as exhilarating as the storm chasing scenes.

You can very obviously tell that the author put a lot of work in researching tornadoes and terminology before/during writing this novel. Theres not just random storm themed words floating by, theres actual science and facts sprinkled in that really add to the story and make you feel like you're there with the team.

I appreciate the audio being a duet! The narrators were so good and their voices definitely seemed to fit the characters and their personalities well.

Grosse filled the void I felt after watching the new Twisters movie. We get great characters, a fascinating & exciting plot and fantastic spice.

This book was so much fun, I couldn't put it down. I could tell the author did a fair amount of research to write this which I appreciate. The character dynamics were entertaining and kept me rooting for them. Plus I thought it was interesting that the main MMC was a professor. A nice twist on the trope of student/professor. This is an age gap romance as well which just adds to the tension and forbidden love. I liked the romance here a lot. It was fun but also romantic.

I liked the plus-size representation too.

Narrators Victoria Connolly & Grayson Owens with Robb Moreira did phenomenal. I could listen to them all day haha. I liked how they characterized each character and made the story unforgettable. Plus it's duet narration which just makes it ten times better.

Truly awesome book! Highly recommend, especially the audiobook.

As a victim of Twisters leaving a gaping hole in my life, this was exactly what I needed. It has such a cute romance, and of course storm chasing, what more could anyone ask for. The characters had really good character progression and the romance itself worked really well. The side characters were also really good, and since this is an audiobook I though having the sounds like phone ringing or alarms was a fun immersive addition. Would definitely recommend giving it a listen/read!

*ALC REVIEW*
Immersive reading!

This was a cute and entertaining read. While it wasn’t Axe’s and O’s it was still a fun and easy listen.

It wasn’t as spicy as I thought it would be but I did enjoy the Twisters feel of it. The audio was a fun time with all
the added sound effects and duet narration! And Joey was such a fun side character. I’m definitely intrigued by Joey and Hawk’s side story!

Thanks to Kayla and Dreamscape for the early audio copy!

a-f-ing-dorable

twister vibes are strong

feels like its well researched (says the non-weather girlie)

Joey - my love, my sweet baby, the best side character around- steals the f-ing show (in the best way possible)

Not that spicy (4 scenes-ish) - but the ditch banging was so freaking hot 🥵

Audio narration was fantastic but I had a small issue (that is totally a me problem) with the sound effects. Since I live in N. Texas my pups are trained to retreat to the bathroom when the weather alert goes off - this made for a couple stressful moments today while listening on speaker. Again totally a me problem but something to note (and the authors note in the beginning does discuss sound effects).

I was absolutely engulfed in this narrative for the first 80% - on par to be a 5⭐️ but it did lose me a little in the last 20% as the MCs struggled with the logistics of it all.

highly recommend if you want something fun, short and sweet, with a little spice!

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Select/Fat Babe Publishing for sending this book (ALC) for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Did you love the movie Twisters and wished for more romance? If so this is the book for you but add an age gap. This was fun and the spice wasn’t too much. Perfect if you are looking for a quick read

I have listened to and read two other books by Kayla Grosse and this is my favorite yet. This was a quick forbidden romance x age gap x storm chaser read that had me at the edge of my seat. The main characters had great chemistry and the humor was everything. I loved all the side characters, I can’t wait for their stories…Joey was def a standout!

The audiobook was such a fun addicting ride—especially with the added sound effects and it being duet narration, it’s truly the best! The narrators were amazing and enhanced my reading/listening experience. They did an excellent job at bringing Ryker and Fin’s love story to life.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Select for the ALC*

I loved this book! It had me swept up in my own personal whirlwind in the best way possible. The narration was absolutely amazing. Victoria, Grayson and Robb did a fabulous job bringing the story to life. I instantly fell in love with the characters. Finley is very relatable, I could definitely see myself in her. And I was so down for the relationship between her and Professor West. It was emotionally charged and filled with such delicious tension! If you liked Twisters but wanted more spice give this book a try. I highly recommend it!

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape for allowing me to listen to this book ahead of release in exchange for my honest opinion.