On the Shelf: May 2023

I did a Scrooge McDuck swan dive into historical romances in May, and yet the book that really knocked my socks off was an upcoming contemporary! The Art of Scandal by Regina Black was almost impossible to put down. I kept being pulled back to my Kindle like a magnet. A story set in the greater D.C. area, with politician's wife Rachel being drawn to younger man Nate, it's got every bit of scandal that the title implies. Yes, there's cheating. But it's also every bit a gorgeous romance where these two seemingly disparate characters find themselves as they fall in love with each other. There is an HEA. And, oh, it's so worth it. Definitely preorder it or run out and grab it on August 1!  

I also want to rave about T. Kingfisher's A House With Good Bones, because she really seems to be committed to putting the fear of flora in me. First it was mushrooms in What Moves the Dead, now it's rosebushes. Kingfisher is writing some of my favorite horror books right now. I have never been so happy to be so freaked out. (If you haven't read The Hollow Places or The Twisted Ones...my god. Keep some lights on.)  

The Reading Rundown
Someone is Always Watching by Kelley Armstrong (young adult thriller/suspense)
The Art of Scandal by Regina Black (out 8/1, contemporary romance)
Harrow Lake by Kat Ellis (young adult horror)
The Counterfeit Scoundrel by Lorraine Heath (historical romance)
A House With Good Bones by T. Kingfisher (gothic horror)
A Sinister Revenge by Deanna Raybourn (historical mystery)

Backlists and Rereads: I reread Eva Leigh's April release, A Rogue's Rules for Seduction. I worked my way through Elizabeth Hoyt's Legend of the Four Soldiers quartet—To Taste Temptation, To Seduce a Sinnder, To Beguile a Beast, To Desire a Devil—despite the cringery of the French and Indian War content. I had to do a quick reread of Scandalous Desires to cleanse. I also forayed into Nicola Davidson's backlist with The Seduction of Viscount Vice and reread Sarah MacLean's One Good Earl Deserves a Lover and No Good Duke Goes Unpunished. I didn't go unpunished either. lol.Then I journeyed back to an old fave, Liz Carlyle, and her books Wicked All Day and Devil to Pay. The former held up. The latter, which in some ways was more progressive, not so much. 

Currently reading: I'm still reading Topaz by Beverly Jenkins a few chapters at a time.

On the TBR/wishlist
The Notorious Lord Knightly by Lorraine Heath
Blood Betrayal by Ausma Zehanat Khan
The Duchess Takes a Husband by Harper St. George