On the Shelf: June 2026

It looks like my final count for June was 25 books—and what an amazing reading month it was! Kennedy Ryan's Score was worth the wait and worth the hype, gutting me quite neatly with Verity's journey. I'm not bipolar, I have other mental health issues, but I related so hard to her struggles. Every time I see someone with similar problems fall in love, it gives me hope. That's what a good romance does. It ends with hope, not just happiness. So, as if the smash-hit from Ryan wasn't enough, I also got knocked over by Kate Clayborn's The Paris Match and Shirlene Obuobi's paranormal romance debut, Die For Me. Both books were so exquisitely written that my own abilities felt inadequate in comparison. And they're very different stories! Two clashing personalities trying to fix a destination wedding disaster vs. a driven cardiologist being swept away by a mysterious younger man. If you've been missing classic paranormals with vampire romance vibes, you need to meet Sean and Julian. They also kinda reminded me of Tia Williams's A Love Song For Ricki Wilde.

Before I dive into the lists, I also want to shout out An Ordinary Sort of Evil for delivering on the romance front. Kelley Armstrong is one of my favorite authors and I've followed her around different genres and subgenres. Her historical mystery series is slow-burn and so fun. This latest book had confessions of feelings!!! I was kicking my feet and slapping my couch in glee.

The Reading Rundown
Witch of the Wolves by Kaylee Archer (paranormal romance, historical romantasy-ish)
An Ordinary Sort of Evil by Kelley Armstrong (historical mystery)
Wild, Wild Cowboy by Elizabeth Bright (contemporary romance)
The Paris Match by Kate Clayborn (contemporary romance)
How Simi Got Her Groom Back by Sonali Dev (mainstream fiction, women's fiction)
Seduced By the Werewolf Highwaymen by Eva Leigh (out 7/7, paranormal romance, polyam/why choose romance, novella)
Die For Me by Shirlene Obuobi (out 7/16, paranormal romance)
Score by Kennedy Ryan (contemporary romance)
[Redacted] by TK (suspense, gothic-ish, for professional review purposes)

Backlist titles & rereads: A bunch of old Harlequin Intrigues were on sale in ebook form, so my first two reads of June were Heart of the Night and Echoes in the Dark by Gayle Wilson. I bought Wilson's Only a Whisper in paperback years ago, and it's definitely the strongest of the three—and still a fave—so, naturally, I had to reread it! (And, FWIW, it holds up. Except for the author's constant focus on the Colombian MMC's dark skin. Extra weird because the cover model is a white dude. lol.) Of course I had to get in my monthly dose of historicals, so I kicked off with a reread of The Ground She Walks Upon by Meagan McKinney and then the new-to-me I've Got My Duke to Keep Me Warm and A Good Rogue is Hard to Find by Kelly Bowen. The former was really good, featuring a pair who was a team from the jump and not automatically at odds—and had no duke actually involved (which I do not mind at ALL). Urban fantasy was my next stop, with rereads of Chaotic by Kelley Armstrong and Anne Bishop's Lake Silence and my first visit to Jeaniene Frost's Night Huntress series. I read the first four books in a row and then the spin-off First Drop of Crimson. I closed out the month by settling back into familiar territory, revisiting Simply Insatiable by Kate Pearce, Warrior Princess Assassin by Brigid Kemmerer, and Some Like it Wild by Teresa Medeiros.

Currently reading: Claiming the Courtesan by Anna Campbell.

On the TBR/wish list
Well Versed by Jen DeLuca
One For the Road by Eliot Fletcher
A Curse of Beasts and Magic by Jeaniene Frost
Captive Traitor King by Brigid Kemmerer
The Lines We Cross by Ausma Zehanat Khan
Wolf Worm by T. Kingfisher
Nobody's Baby by Olivia Waite