On the Shelf: April 2022

I think I went slightly overboard in my book binging this month—which kind of makes up for past reading dry spells, IMHO. It all balances out eventually! For instance, I was off historical romance for a bit...and then I read a TON of them recently. Including Jeannie Lin's stealth release of another new Lotus Palace mystery, featuring Wei-Wei and Gao, and two of Erica Ridley's Wild Wynchesters books. I am officially a Great-Aunt Wynchester stan now. If you know, you know. (Also, don't get me started on the cover of The Perks of Loving a Wallflower. Justice for Tommy and Philippa!)

It was also a good month for creepy and paranormal books! As terrifying as Anne Bishop's alternate Earth is, I kind of want to live there. Crowbones was a great addition to her Others series, and I couldn't love the Crowgard and the Sanguinati more if I tried. Meanwhile, Victoria Helen Stone has another winning thriller on her hands with At the Quiet Edge—which came out in wide release today! She takes the setting of a storage unit facility and uses it masterfully to unlock the secrets her characters hoard inside themselves. On the lighter end of the spectrum is Holley Trent's Wish Out of Water, about gorgeous neurodivergent mermaids and the dirtbag secret princes who love them. Holley's books are like a really sexy and funny blanket you can wrap around yourself. Always warm, always safe. 

And I know this is already lengthy intro, but I also want to shout out Namrata Patel's debut,  The Candid Life of Meena Dave, which I read an ARC of. She's a dear friend of mine and I cannot wait for this heartfelt journey of finding home and identity to be out in the world! 

The Reading Rundown
The Wolf at the Door by Charlie Adhara (romantic suspense, paranormal romance)
Kink Camp: Hunted by Adriana Anders (erotic romance, erotica)
Crowbones by Anne Bishop (urban fantasy, horror, mystery)
The Good Girl's Guide to Rakes by Eva Leigh (historical romance, Suleikha's quick review)
Death of a Sorcerer by Jeannie Lin (historical romance, historical mystery)
The Candid Life of Meena Dave by Namrata Patel (out 6/1, women's fiction, mainstream fiction)

The Viscount Made Me Do It by Diana Quincy (historical romance)
First Comes Like by Alisha Rai (contemporary romance)
The Duke Heist by Erica Ridley (historical romance)
The Perks of Loving a Wallflower by Erica Ridley (historical romance)
The Girls I've Been by Tess Sharpe (thriller/suspense)
At the Quiet Edge by Victoria Helen Stone (thriller/suspense, domestic thriller)
The Rebel and the Rake by Emily Sullivan (historical romance)
Wish Out of Water by Holley Trent (paranormal romance)

Backlists and Rereads: I needed some comfort reads amidst all my new book glomming, so this month I turned to old favorites like Have Mercy by Shelley Ann Clark, The Lily Brand by Sandra Schwab, and Heart of Iron by Bec McMaster.

On the TBR/wish list
The Emma Project by Sonali Dev (5/17)
The Wedding Crasher by Mia Sosa 
The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James
The Oleander Sword by Tasha Suri (8/16)
Fake it Till You Bake It by Jamie Wesley (6/21)