Cherry Baby by Rainbow Rowell
Cherry Baby: A Novel by Rainbow Rowell My rating: 5 of 5 stars I haven’t read every book Rainbow Rowell has written, but Eleanor & Park (2012) and Slow Dance (2024) were both 5+ star reads for me — and Cherry Baby easily joins them at the top of my list. This novel perfectly captures the zeitgeist of 2025 while delivering my favorite romance trope: the second-chance love story. Cherry and Tom’s marriage is unraveling just as Tom’s comic, Thursday, explodes in popularity and heads to the big screen. The twist? Cherry is front and center in Thursday — reimagined as the character Baby. Cherry/Baby and her family are overweight, and this story doesn’t use that for shame — it uses it to shine. In an Ozempic-obsessed world, Cherry Baby feels refreshingly real and emotionally honest. It’s a beautiful, affirming story about love, identity, and being seen — and I’m all in for a romance that makes every reader feel represented. Rowell has done it again — heartfelt, funny, and deeply human...
