Tuesday, April 1, 2025

On the Shelf: March 2025

I thought March was going to be a tough month for reading, but I actually got through 18 books! Everything from Beverly Jenkins and Laura Kinsale classics to charming new voices like Myah Ariel—with some Keeper Shelf favorites from SEP and Jeannie Lin for good measure. I was thrilled to zip through Aydra Richards' latest, pretty much the minute it hit the Kindle store, and dove into the new Kate Canterbary. The former featured an FMC with ADHD and the latter had one with an often-ignored shellfish allergy, so I felt very seen. 

The Reading Rundown
No Ordinary Love by Myah Ariel (contemporary romance)
In a Rush by Kate Canterbary (contemporary romance)
The Midnight Arrow by Zoey Draven (sci-fi romance, paranormal romance)
[Redacted] by TK (out 5/6, suspense, thriller, for professional review purposes)
A Ship of Bones and Teeth by Karina Halle (dark romance, paranormal romance)
The Trouble With Inventing a Viscount by Vivienne Lorret (historical romance)
Kills Well With Others by Deanna Raybourn (suspense, thriller)
Mercy Fletcher Meets Her Match by Aydra Richards (historical romance)

Backlist titles & rereads: I started out with Ain't She Sweet and Natural Born Charmer by Susan Elizabeth Phillips, both of which I have in paperback. (I had to glue the covers back on. It was a whole thing!) Then it was back to my Kindle for some rereads of Your Scandalous Ways by Loretta Chase and my very favorite The Jade Temptress by Jeannie Lin. I felt vaguely pirate-y after that, so I reread Sea of Ruin by Pam Godwin. I was so compelled by Shadowheart by Laura Kinsale that I wrote a whole newsletter ramble about it. I followed that with some other new-to-me historical romances: Delicious by Sherry Thomas, Played By the Earl by Alyson Chase, and the much-loved classic that is Vivid by Beverly Jenkins. I guess I was feeling pretty masochistic by the end of the month, because my last reread was Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins. You know, 'cause reality isn't dystopian enough.

Currently reading: Hunger in the Blood by Zoey Draven.

On the wish list/TBR
Gabriela and His Grace by Liana de la Rosa
The Night Birds by Christopher Golden
The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed
Ready to Score by Jodie Slaughter

Saturday, March 1, 2025

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

Sunday, February 2, 2025

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