contemporary romance
I was first introduced to Chelsea Curto's
writing when a friend shared Curto's D.C. Stars series with me. It's a
fun hockey romance series filled with dreamy, green-flag men, kick-ass, empowered women and very steamy romance.
Curto's In Stormy Weather brings that same energy to Florida where a small group of
30-something friends support one another as hurricane season is about to
begin in the Sunshine State. Lucky for them, two of their friends are
meteorological rock stars: Quincy, who runs a hugely successful weather
blog with more than a million followers and Sebastian, a famous
weatherman for ABC's national evening news. Quincy and Sebastian have
been competing against one another since high school, for grades, awards
and jobs; they circle each other's orbits but can't seem to stop
picking at one another.
Of course, the laws thermodynamics and
romance novels dictate that Quincy and Sebastian are going to be thrown
together, experience some insane and terrifying storms, and will,
eventually, have wild sex and live happily ever after, right? Of course
right.
I loved the characters of
Quincy and Sebastian. I enjoyed seeing unapologetically smart characters
who pushed each other to be their best and who were excited by each
other's intelligence. The misogyny that Quincy experiences is realistic —
every woman who has professional success in a male-dominated field has
experienced it to some degree — and I think that Sebastian's shock in
hearing about it is also realistic, sadly. I don't however, think his
full-throated, constant defense of her is realistic, though I wish it
were. That's the joy of fiction though, isn't it? Curto can create the
man every woman wishes they were standing next to in the breach; the man
who would stop an interview and demand someone give us the respect we have earned. Still, Sebastian serves as a great role model and if a
woman reads this book and thinks that this is what they should expect
from a man, maybe more men will be forced to step forward in the future,
so I am all for it! Either way, it was a fresh, new take on the romance
genre for me, having not read a lot of STEM or storm-chasing romance and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I also loved the
friend group who, it appears, will take center stage in future books
based on the Acknowledgments. Curto sets up the future of these Oak
Valley, Florida friends nicely and I'm eager to learn what will happen
next, not only with Quincy and Sebastian, but also with Mia, Cooper, Harlow and Nate.
In Stormy Weather will be published on July
14, 2026. Thank you to Atria Books, NetGalley and Chelsea Curto for the
advanced reader copy.
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