On the Shelf: June 2024

My reading tally for June is 22, making my year-to-date count 142. If I continue at this rate, my eyeballs might fall out of my head. Please keep me in your thoughts. Maybe send me a care package of Visine? (Would it be gauche to suggest dropping Visine money in my Ko-fi?)

Did Kindle Unlimited enable my coping mechanisms this month? You bet. Hence me devouring all seven books in Cara Devlin's Bow Street Duchess mystery series. My error on that front was that I read the spin-off eighth book first and then I had to go back to see what had happened prior. Rookie mistake for a seasoned reader. Because the ensuing rabbit hole was deep. Obviously I thoroughly enjoyed Audrey and Hugh's adventures. If you loved Miss Scarlet and the Duke on PBS, check this series out. The other new-to-me writer that I inhaled in June was Aydra Richards. Exit Pursued By a Baron sold me on title alone because lol, but then I read three more books because the actual stories are so well crafted. Author Chelsea Cameron noted on Twitter that Lady Diana's Lost Lord features the absolute best single dad in a historical and, yes, I concur.

The Reading Rundown

Murder at the Seven Dials by Cara Devlin (historical mystery, historical romance)
Death at Fournier Downs by Cara Devlin (historical mystery, historical romance)
Silence of Deceit by Cara Devlin (historical mystery, historical romance)
Penance for the Dead by Cara Devlin (historical mystery, historical romance)
Fatal By Design by Cara Devlin (historical mystery, historical romance)
Nature of the Crime by Cara Devlin (historical mystery, historical romance)
Taken to the Grave by Cara Devlin (historical mystery, historical romance)
The Lady's Last Mistake by Cara Devlin (historical romance)
Double Exposure by Rien Gray (queer romance, trans romance, romantic suspense)
The House of Last Resort by Christopher Golden (horror)
How to Tame a Wild Rogue by Julie Anne Long (historical romance)
The Marquess Wins a Wife by Aydra Richards (historical romance)
Exit Pursued By a Baron by Aydra Richards (historical romance)
Lady Diana's Lost Lord by Aydra Richards (historical romance)

Backlist* titles & rereads: My foray into the past had me catching up on some unread titles from go-to-authors—like The Luckiest Lady in London by Sherry Thomas, Two Little Lies by Liz Carlyle, and Elizabeth Hoyt's Dearest Rogue and Sweetest Scoundrel. Weirdly, I'm still not done with Maiden Lane, because I refuse to read Maximus' and Artemis' book. He's just too insufferable. I also reread my old paperback of Strangers by Dean R. Koontz and then steamed up my glasses with Roni Loren's very sexy Off the Clock and By the Hour. And I got walloped by Aydra Richards' His Forgotten Bride. If you love the angst Lorraine Heath brings, you'll want to give this one a shot. Have tissues on stand-by.

Currently reading: Change of Heart by Kate Canterbary and Follow Her Down by Victoria Helen Stone.

On the TBR/wish list
Blood Betrayal by Ausma Zehanat Khan
A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna
A Legend in the Baking by Jamie Wesley

*My cut-off point between frontlist and backlist titles is four years. Three years is still new. I don't know how I arrived at this arbitrary distinction.