Review: Wreck Your Heart by Lori Rader-Day

 

Wreck Your Heart by Lori Rader-Day

Publication Date: January 6th 2026 by Minotaur Books & Macmillan Audio

Pages: 352

Audio Book Length: 12hrs 9min

Narrator: Lauren Ezzo

Source: Publishers

Rating: ★★★★

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Libro.fm | Audible | Goodreads

My Thoughts:

Dahlia Devine, a country singer scraping by on the small stage at McPhee’s Tavern, finds herself back living in the apartment above the bar after her boyfriend disappears with the rent money. As if that blow weren’t enough, her estranged mother, Marisa, suddenly reappears after twenty years. Dahlia wants nothing to do with the woman who abandoned her at six years old, leaving Alex, the tavern’s owner, to raise her. But when Marisa vanishes just as abruptly as she arrived and a younger sister Dahlia never knew existed shows up looking for her Dahlia is pulled into a mystery she can’t ignore.

Wreck Your Heart blends a compelling mystery with Dahlia’s deeply personal journey toward understanding her past. Her abandonment issues and resentment toward Marisa felt painfully real, especially as the truth about Marisa’s relationship with her younger daughter comes to light.

There was a lot to unpack here, but it was an engrossing story. Dahlia was a flawed but likable character, and I cheered her on as she tried to untangle what happened to her mother, what was going on at the bar, and where her missing boyfriend fit into it all. I correctly guessed one twist, but another reveal genuinely surprised me. The finale was a wild, thrilling conclusion that tied everything together in a satisfying ending.

I alternated between an audio and e-copy and can recommend either version. While it took me a bit to get used to her pace, Loren Ezzo captured the essence of Dahlia’s character perfectly!

4 Stars

Book Description:

Dahlia “Doll” Devine had the kind of hardscrabble beginning that could launch a thousand broken-hearted country songs, but now she’s the star of her own stage at McPhee’s Tavern. As part of Chicago’s—yes, Chicago’s—country music scene, Dahlia is an up-and-coming singer in spangles and boots of classic country tunes. Up and coming, that is, until her boyfriend Joey up and went, taking the rent money with him.

So Dahlia is back to square one, relying on Alex McPhee—again. Alex helped her out of a bad situation when she was a kid living rough with her mother. Now he’s part landlord, part band booster, all-around rescuer. It’s just that Dahlia wishes she didn’t keep giving him reasons to have to do it.

Just as Dahlia suspects she’s scraped rock bottom, the mother she hasn’t spoken to in twenty years shows up with something to say. The next morning, a distraught young woman arrives at the bar, asking after her missing mother—Dahlia's mother, too, even if the missing suburban PTA mom the girl describes sounds pretty different from the one who let Dahlia down all those years ago.

Though no one is using the word sister any time soon, Dahlia lets herself be drawn into reuniting the family that might have been hers. But when a body is discovered outside McPhee’s Tavern, the crime threatens not just the place Dahlia has made into a home, but everything she’s believed about her past, her dreams for the future, and the people she was just, maybe, beginning to let into her heart.