On the Shelf: February 2025

I thought I had a poor showing for February until I actually sat down and logged the second half of the month. Fifteen's not too shabby! Especially since one of the 15 was The Lotus Empire by Tasha Suri, which is so intricately woven that I couldn't just tear through it. It's been a while since I read a book in increments over the course of a week, but Suri's prose held me rapt. It was immensely satisfying to see Malini, Priya, Bhumika, Rao, and the rest of her beautifully crafted cast of characters conclude the story that began in The Jasmine Throne. 

The Reading Rundown
Where Have All the Scoundrels Gone by Louisa Darling (historical romance)
It Will Only Hurt for a Moment by Delilah S. Dawson (horror)
Hunt the Stars by Jessie Mihalik (sci-fi romance)
Eclipse the Moon by Jessie Mihalik (sci-fi romance)
[Redacted] by TK (domestic suspense, for professional review purposes)
The Lotus Empire by Tasha Suri (fantasy)
Her Beast by S.M. LaViolette (erotic historical romance)

Backlist titles & rereads: I traveled back to Pennyroyal Green for How the Marquess Was Won by Julie Anne Long and then popped over to Darkest London for Shadowdance by Kristen Callihan. I've read other books in both series but didn't get to those two until this past month! Then there was Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo and rereads of The Devil of Downtown by Joanna Shupe and Flowers From the Storm by Laura Kinsale. During the last week of February, I dug into my Kindle library for Taking the Heat, Looking For Trouble, and Flirting With Disaster by Victoria Dahl (I reread them in that order—which is out of order—because I love chaos).

Currently reading: Ain't She Sweet by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. (My old paperback fell apart mid-reread. Woe. Sadness.)

On the TBR/wish list
No Ordinary Love by Myah Ariel
The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed
Kills Well With Others by Deanna Raybourn
Ready to Score by Jodie Slaughter

On the Shelf: January 2025

The three frontlist books I read in January were all powerful in very different ways. I feel like Amazon's First Reads email tagged Sonali Dev's There's Something About Mira as a rom-com. Though it's funny at times, it's not a rom-com. It's very much a book about generational trauma and breaking cycles. I shed a few tears. Meanwhile, The Reformatory and All The Hearts You Eat made my breath catch and my heart pound—and inspired some shudders. Not just because of ghosts or vampires (and body horror), but because humans are worse than anything that goes in the bump in the night. Due and Piper's writing styles are very different, as are the stories themselves, but there's a devastating commonality at the core that feels even more relevant right now. Anti-Black racism and transphobia are evils that exist beyond the page. Those are the monsters we need to fight.

As for my backlist forays...whew. There are a lot of elements from older romance novels that just don't age well. Colonialism, casual racism, violence against women, underage heroines, etc. And yet I still reread a lot of those old problematic faves. I make allowances for elements in those books that I wouldn't accept in a book written today. I might have to unpack that in a longer blog post at some point. I also need to expound on Iris Johansen's utterly bonkers Wind Dancer series—after having a gummy and a glass of wine.

The Reading Rundown
There's Something About Mira by Sonali Dev (women's fiction, romance)
The Reformatory by Tananarive Due (horror)
All the Hearts You Eat by Hailey Piper (horror)

Backlist titles & rereads: I tried to keep sticking to rereads from my Kindle library in January and for the most part I succeeded—starting off with The Perils of Pleasure and Beauty and the Spy by Julie Anne Long, Tarnished and Gilded by Karina Cooper, and The Haunting of Maddy Clare by Simone St. James. A Woman Entangled by Cecilia Grant and Little Secrets by Megan Hart followed. But then my one-click finger slipped, thanks to Eileen Dreyer's hit-and-miss Drake's Rakes books: Barely a Lady, Never a Gentleman, Once a Rake, and Always a Temptress. I "punished" myself by rereading the trade paperback of my favorite Nora Roberts book: Honest Illusions. Then there was The Baron's Marriage Gamble by Theresa Romain, which was previously published as Season for Scandal, and another round with Ravishing the Heiress by Sherry Thomas. I pulled out the paperbacks again with The Wind Dancer and Storm Winds by Iris Johansen. Last, but not least, I checked out Don't Breathe a Word by Jennifer McMahon via Libby and finally got around to Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo.

Currently reading: The Lotus Empire by Tasha Suri.

On the TBR
No Ordinary Love by Myah Ariel
The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed
Kills Well With Others by Deanna Raybourn
Ready to Score by Jodie Slaughter

On the Shelf: December 2024

I'm sliding in the December reading list a day late. Since I did two other year-end posts, I think a little tardiness is acceptable. My count this past month is eligible to vote. Eighteen books! That brings my total for 2024 to 261. I kept making jokes throughout the year that reading this much was an unhealthy coping mechanism and that I might need an intervention, but it's actually the exact opposite. Joyfully consuming this many books meant my brain was open—that I had actual energy to read. There's been a steady climb as my mental health has improved due to the right combo of meds and therapy. I ended 2023 with 187 books. The year before that was 155. And 2021 was the absolute mental health pits, so I celebrated somehow getting to 100. I say it a lot—books save lives. But more than that, they keep us living.

To that end, I will cop to rereading Exit, Pursued by a Baron on Dec. 31 because I needed a mega-dose of comfort-via-angst. I'd read the book for the first time earlier in the year. I reached for it again because I needed it. Aydra Richards' fourth book in the series, A Deal With a Notorious Devil also hit the spot for me—as unerrringly as Chris's aim. How can you resist a book where the ne'er-do-well male lead chucks oranges at the heroine's unwanted suitors? I gobbled up two incredibly charming historical romances by new-to-me author Kat Sterling, too. You know how you buy more than one of a cute outfit in different colors? That's how I feel about finding a good author. I immediately want to read more of the same. I cannot wait to see what Richards and Sterling have in store for readers in 2025!

The Reading Rundown
The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter (contemporary romance, mystery)
Return to Wyldcliffe Heights by Carol Goodman (gothic, mystery)
Make Room For Love by Darcy Liao (contemporary queer romance, f/f romance)
A Deal With a Notorious Devil by Aydra Richards (historical romance)
Exit, Pursued By a Baron by Aydra Richards (historical romance)
Tiny Threads by Lilliam Rivera (horror)
His by Opening Day by Kat Sterling (historical romance)
Snowed in With the Scoundrel by Kat Sterling (historical romance)

Backlist titles & rereads: I started December off with an old favorite—A Lady Awakened by Cecilia Grant and ended up circling back to Grant's A Christmas Gone Perfectly Wrong a few weeks later. I was in the mood for something dark and bonkers, which meant a revisiting of Ritual Sins by Anne Stuart. I then climbed into my Kindle library to refresh my memories of Evernight, Soulbound, and Forevermore by Kristen Callihan. Soon enough, I returned to new-to-me titles—like The Viscount's Inconvenient Temptation and The Earl's Holiday Wager by Theresa Romain (which were previously published as Season for Temptation and Season for Surrender) and The Werewolf of Whitechapel by Suzannah Rowntree. I wrapped up my year in backlist books with something that wasn't romance—gasp!—Red Widow by Alma Katsu.

Currently reading: If I Told You, I'd Have to Kiss You by Mae Marvel and The Perils of Pleasure by Julie Anne Long.

On the TBR/ wish list
No Ordinary Love by Myah Ariel
Ready to Score by Jodie Slaughter
The Lotus Empire by Tasha Suri