On the Shelf: June 2025

June was't so great in other ways, but at least I had a pretty spectacular reading month! August Lane, Regina Black's follow-up to her stellar The Art of Scandal, is no sophomore slump. The characters are so richly drawn and the emotional punches land hard. You can never go wrong with KJ Charles,  so of course Copper Script is yet another one of her stand-out historical mysteries with poignant romance. A recent announcement called her a "rising star; she's been an entire constellation for more than a decade. 

Not quite as shiny? Sunrise on the Reaping. As I said on the socials, I completely understand why Haymitch became an alcoholic because reading this book made me want to start drinking. Suzanne Collins never holds back with her incisive and timely work. Stressful in a completely different way is Christopher Golden's latest, The Night Birds. He's a master of horror for a reason. I had to keep telling myself "Someone has to survive, because surely he won't leave a baby unattended?!" Pick up the book to find out if that's true.

The Reading Rundown
Lights Out by Navessa Allen (dark romance, contemporary romance)
August Lane by Regina Black (out 7/29, contemporary romance)
Copper Script by KJ Charles (historical m/m romance, historical mystery)
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins (dystoptian YA fiction)
We Are Watching by Alison Gaylin (suspense, thriller)
The Night Birds by Christopher Golden (horror)
[Redacted] by TK (out 9/16, suspense, thriller, for professional review purposes)
Charity Nightingale Heals Her Husband by Aydra Richards (historical romance)
Bald-Faced Liar by Victoria Helen Stone (suspense, thriller)

Backlist titles & rereads: I finished up a Kindle Unlimited trial with Angel in Chains and Avenging Angel by Cynthia Eden. Then it was off to my shelf of paperbacks for a reread of Glitter Baby by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. I came back to the Kindle for rereads of Plum and Heavy by Cate C. Wells and The Raven Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt and hit some backlists with Kylie Scott's Repeat, Lorraine Heath's Midnight Pleasures With a Scoundrel, and Mary Balogh's The Secret Pearl. Would you believe it was actually my first Balogh? I think I assumed that she was tame and borderline inspie. I'm so glad to be wrong, because this was just the angsty and messy book I needed. Then I wrapped up the month with some more comfort rereads—Jen Devon's Right Where We Left Us and The Duke Identity and Enter the Duke by Grace Callaway.

Currently reading: Ready to Score by Jodie Slaughter and Regarding the Duke by Grace Callaway.

On the TBR/wish list
Darkwater Lane by Rachel Caine and Carrie Ryan
Gabriela and His Grace by Liana de la Rosa
The Lines We Cross by Ausma Zehanat Khan
A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna
The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
A Box Full of Darkness by Simone St. James
To Catch a Thief by Anne Stuart

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 (out 8/1, 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

On the Shelf: April 2025

I read so much romantic suspense in April—a bajillion books from Anne Stuart's backlist and some rereads from the Keeper Shelf. I have a newsletter in-progress about secondary pairings I love that sprang from all of that reading so keep an eye out for it and subscribe if you haven't already! I also finally got in my library hold on Premee Mohamed's The Butcher of the Forest. It's an exquisitely written, and at times chilling, folklore-ish fantasy novella that has put me off ever going into the woods. I only read two historical romances, which is kind of amazeballs given that they're my go-to. I'm sure I'll make up for that throughout May. Last but not least, I want to shout out No Way Rosé—a super-cute (but not without conflict!) second-chance romance by Kate Davies. It's the perfect pick-me-up for a bad day and would go great with a glass of the titular wine. (Sadly, I did not have any wine on hand when I read it.) 

Assuming anyone actually reads these posts of mine, you might be wondering what's up with the "redacted" items. I've recently begun reviewing titles for a trade publication on a freelance basis and under my legal name. Since the reviews haven't published yet, I don't print the titles. I'll come back eventually to fill them in. I am not reviewing romance, as that is the genre I write in. I'm very aware of potential conflicts of interest and have only been reviewing books by people I don't know.

And now it's on to the book lists!

The Reading Rundown
No Way Rosé by Kate Davies (contemporary romance)
Hunger in the Blood by Zoey Draven (sci-fi romance, paranormal romance)
An Autumn Guest Checks In by Noor Juman (contemporary romance)
The Whyte Python World Tour by Travis Kennedy (out 6/24, spy thriller, spoof/satire, for professional review purposes)
Losers: Part I by Harley Laroux (dark BDSM romance, queer polyam romance)
The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed (fantasy, horror)
A Mother Always Knows by Sarah Strohmeyer (out 7/1, suspense, thriller, for professional review purposes)
It Takes a Thief by Anne Stuart (historical romance)

Backlist titles & rereads: I had a whole "can't eat just one potato chip" thing with Anne Stuart and tore through The Soldier, the Nun & the Baby, Night of the Phantom, One More Valentine, Blue Sage, Return to Mariposa, Moonrise, and Against the Wind. After that snack frenzy, I was still craving more romantic suspense, so I reread Someone to Watch Over Me by Judith McNaught and Carolina Moon by Nora Roberts. But I ended the month with Scandalous by Karen Robards, which was quite the scandal when it came out in 2001 because the male lead is pretending to be the heroine's half-brother and there's a whole incest vibe. That plot set-up would be downright tame now! Hell, he'd probably actually be her half-brother. Although, having said that, Catherine Coulter's The Wyndham Legacy...? Dude's her *cousin. Blood-related. I don't know how that one skated under the radar in 1994! (*I flipped through the book to confirm. I could've sworn he was her uncle—not that it makes it any better.)

Currently reading: Can't Get Enough by Kennedy Ryan and Irresistible by Karen Robards.

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
Ready to Score by Jodie Slaughter