On the Shelf: May 2025

Eighteen books devoured in May! I was definitely back in my historical romance groove. In fact, I'd even venture to say that My Season of Scandal is one of Julie Anne Long's best books—certainly the best of hers that I've read, and I've traipsed all over Pennyroyal Green and the Palace of Rogues. The love story of Kirke and Catherine is just so richly crafted and layered. It has some really great, quote-worthy, lines and lots of deep-sigh moments. (She climbs up on her desk to try and hear him breathing through their shared ceiling/floor. My heart!) 

Of course, contemporary romance can't take a backseat in a month where one has read Kennedy Ryan. Can't Get Enough, the third in her Skyland series, has hit all the lists and rightfully so! The intense and intimate connection between Hendrix and Mav—and the background flirtation of their assistants, Bolt and Skipper—had me riveted.

The Reading Rundown
[Redacted] by TK (suspense, for professional review purposes)
Tempest of Desire by Lorraine Heath (historical romance)
Losers: Part Two by Harley Laroux (dark polyam romance, BDSM)
My Season of Scandal by Julie Anne Long (historical romance)
The Third Wife of Faraday House by B.R. Myers (gothic romance, mystery)
His Forgotten Wife by Tara Pammi (out 8/26, contemporary romance)
Come Out, Come Out by Natalie C. Parker (young adult horror, queer horror)
Can't Get Enough by Kennedy Ryan (contemporary romance)

Backlist titles & rereads: I started the month reading Irresistible and Shameless, books two and three in Karen Robards's bonkers Banning Sisters trilogy. I had a little foray into older romantic suspense with Call After Midnight by Tess Gerritsen and Night Whispers by Judith McNaught. I finished Beverly Jenkins's Wild Sweet Love, and I am wildly and sweetly in love with Teresa July! The Lady and the Lie by Kate Noble was on sale for Kindle, so I snagged that and breezed right through it. And then it was all rereads! I went from Rise by Claire Kent to the still-problematic and angst-ridden Seize the Fire by Laura Kinsale and returned to some high-heat contemporary romances, Messy by Katie Porter and Talk Me Down by Victoria Dahl.

Currently reading: Copper Script by KJ Charles.

On the TBR/wish list
August Lane by Regina Black
Gabriela and His Grace by Liana de la Rosa
The Night Birds by Christopher Golden
The Lines We Cross by Ausma Zehanat Khan
A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna
The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia