Genre 📚: Adult Contemporary (w/ sci-fi elements), Romance
Tropes 💁♀️: Second chance romance, Amnesia, Opposites attract
Rep ✔️: Women in STEM 🧪, BIPOC side character
CW ⚠️: Emotionally distant parents, off-page death of parents, grief, kidnapping, moments with blood/violence
Rating ⭐️: 4/5
I’ve only read a few Christina Lauren books (the rest are on my TBR list, I swearsss), and each one left me feeling warm and fuzzy. Their latest, The Romance Revival, was a pretty different experience. Kind of like The Soulmate Equation, but with more intensity. MCs Emery and Luca Martín had a whirlwind romance, falling head over heels in Vegas and marrying soon after. The love is still there years later, but their marriage is strained because of Emery’s busy and secretive work life.
Things come to a head when Em misses their anniversary dinner — she races home, apologies at the ready, only to witness Luca in a tragic accident. Em has moments to save him, and she makes a decision that could risk her career, her future, everything. She’s successful, but her method (*ahem* her secretive and groundbreaking medical work) causes Luca to lose his memory. He doesn’t remember the accident, the missed dinner… he doesn’t remember her. At all.
Even knowing the plot going in, I was not ready. This was WILD. The shit Em does to save her husband’s life, the shit she does to cover her tracks… And yet, with all these thriller-y aspects, there was still Christina Lauren’s signature humor and romance. The amnesia, in particular, was such a great tool, as it gave the couple the chance to start over and to look at their relationship more objectively. Seeing how much they adored each other, how much they were willing to learn and grow to protect their marriage, I was a goner. I adored them too.
**Much thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. The Romance Revival will be released on July 14, 2026.
Sara Bechtol 