On the Shelf: January 2024

I think I used books as my January hibernation cave—because I read 26 in 31 days, and it feels like I barely left the apartment in all that time. I suspect February's round-up will constitute fewer books only because my 3-month Kindle Unlimited trial is going to run out. 😂 Maybe that'll force me to actually work on my own stories. 

As usual, I consumed a ton (ha!) of historical romance, but this was a great month for contemporary and paranormal romance, too. Mickey Chambers Shakes It Up by Charish Reid got a lot of love last year, and you can add my heart-eyes to the count. Jen Devon's sophomore outing, Right Where We Left Us, is a fantastic follow-up to Bend Towards the Sun and I need Mal and Frankie's story ASAP. (That was my 26th read. I finished it just before midnight on Jan. 31.) I've heard a lot about Heather Guerre, and after whipping through her BDSM office romance and two of her PNRs, I totally get why people rave. Between Guerre and my return to Kelley Armstrong's backlist, I kind of want to kick my own kinky and wolfy books under the bed to commune with the dust bunnies. I'm sure I'll get over my feelings of inadequacy with sufficient therapy.   

And of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Silver Nitrate. She might just be my favorite author writing today, because I have yet to be disappointed. This latest gem made me want to constantly look up things about the Mexican film industry and Mexican horror films. I don't know about watching the films, because I'm a scaredy cat sometimes, but there's always the aforementioned therapy to help with that, right?

The Reading Rundown
You Can Follow Me by Jo Brenner (dark romance, m/m/m/f polyam romance)
Charlotte and the Seductive Spymaster by Grace Callaway (historical romance)
Right Where We Left Us by Jen Devon (out 6/18/24, contemporary romance)
Preferential Treatment by Heather Guerre (BDSM romance, femdom, contemporary romance)
Cold Hearted by Heather Guerre (paranormal romance)
Once Bitten by Heather Guerre (paranormal romance)
Mickey Chambers Shakes It Up by Charish Reid (contemporary romance)
Hurt For Me by Heather Levy (romantic suspense, suspense/thriller)
Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (horror, speculative fiction)
Slaying the Shifter Prince by Clare Sager (paranormal romance, romantasy)
Please Don't Go Girl by Naima Simone (contemporary romance)
The Hellion and the Hero by Emily Sullivan (historical romance)

Backlist titles & rereads: I kicked off with rereads of A Woman Scorned by Liz Carlyle, Someone to Watch Over Me by Lisa Kleypas, and Anne Calhoun's Uncommon Passion. I plugged a gap in last year's Blue Blood Conspiracy glom with Bec McMaster's The Mech Who Loved Me. Then we had a whole round of Grace Callaway love on Twitter, so I reread Olivia and the Masked Duke and Pippa and the Prince of Secrets before tackling the newest book in the series. Still on the Callaway Express, I went back to the unread Regarding the Duke, which ended up being my favorite of all the Callaways I've read lately. Did I stop there? No. I had to tear through two other books in that Game of Dukes series: The Duke Identity and a reread of Enter the Duke. I also devoured Wild Fire by Anne Stuart, which felt like a callback to her classic Black Ice—in that she engaged with issues of consent in this one, almost to directly speak to the hinkiness in Black Ice. I finished the month with rereads from Kelley Armstrong's Otherworld: Personal Demon, the prequel novella "Chaotic," Waking the Witch, and Spellbound. 

Currently reading: Thirteen by Kelley Armstrong.

On the TBR/wish list
Isabel and the Rogue by Liana de la Rosa
'Til Heist Do Us Part by Sara Desai
Blood Betrayal by Ausma Zehanat Khan
A Song to Drown Rivers by Ann Liang
The Curious Secrets of Yesterday by Namrata Patel