On the Shelf: October 2026

October's always a terrible month for me emotionally, so I'm really glad that books were there for me. There were so many good stories that got me out of my head and took me to other places. Like the Willow Creek ren faire in Jen DeLuca's sweet series closer, Well Versed, and Elizabeth Bright's Mercy River Ranch. And it doesn't matter if it's Antarctica, a kink camp, a BDSM club, or a kids' soccer game, if Adriana Anders writes it, I'll go. Her upcoming Stay-at-Home Dom is a perfect melding of contemporary rom-com and erotic romance. Perhaps a little bit more fraught are the journeys Shannon Chakraborty and Sabaa Tahir took me on, but you won't catch me complaining. After how The Tapestry of Fate ended, I'm primed for Amina al-Sirafi's next adventure. And Empire...? God, I could wax poetic about all six books in this continuity. Gorgeous prose, gut-wrenching emotional beats, and characters I invest in so deeply that I mourn if they die. Tahir always digs deep on the cost of war and how it impacts the most vulnerable. I'm hoping this isn't the end, because a few people definitely had more story ahead of them. Also? I never thought I'd be happy to see Elias Veturius get punched in the face. He had it coming.

The 17 titles I rattle off below brings my YTD total up to 210. Sorry not sorry. There are worse things I could be doing.

The Reading Rundown
Stay-at-Home Dom (out 1/26/27, contemporary romance, BDSM romance)
Bad Girls Make Good Liars by Sarina Bowen (out 2/2/27, suspense, for professional review purposes)
Long Time Coming by Elizabeth Bright (contemporary romance, romantic suspense)
Long Way Home by Elizabeth Bright (contemporary romance, romantic suspense)
The Tapestry of Fate by Shannon Chakraborty (fantasy)
Well Versed by Jen DeLuca (contemporary romance)
One for the Road by Elliot Fletcher (contemporary romance)
Empire by Sabaa Tahir (young adult fantasy)
Reliquary by Hannah Whitten (horror)

Backlist titles & rereads: Finishing Beverly Jenkins's Before the Dawn was my first act of reading this month and then I flowed right into another classic that I hadn't read before, Laura London's The Windflower. I'd always assumed it was very old-school and lacking in consent, but it ended up being chock-full of oddly wholesome pirates who basically adopted the "captive" heroine. I love when books surprise me! I also love when books are familiar, so I dove into my Kindle for rereads of Against the Wall, Heavy, and Scrap by Cate. C. Wells. Then it was back to Ms. Bev for some comfort and history lessons. I had to "break glass in case of emergency" twice in a matter of weeks, and Archer and Zahra from Winds of the Storm delivered just like Ryder and Leah before them. Then it was time to revisit Blue-Eyed Devil by Lisa Kleypas. And I capped off October with Lorraine Heath's The Earl Takes All after "Gorilla Twins" came up in online conversations multiple times. It's never a hardship to reread a favorite!

Currently reading: Daggerbound by T. Kingfisher.

On the wish list/TBR
Dive Bar at the End of the Road by Kelley Armstrong
Captive Traitor King by Brigid Kemmerer
The Lines We Cross by Ausma Zehanat Khan
The Blade and the Last Sacrifice by Elizabeth May
Wickhills by Premee Mohamed
It Came From Neverland by Cynthia Pelayo
Let's Kiss and Tell by Joss Richard

On the Shelf: September 2026

I read 20 books in September, bringing my YTD total up to 193. It would've been 21, but I bailed out of a book at the 80-percent mark. Some would say that's enough of it to count, but I'm okay with leaving a few titles off my lists every year for idiosyncratic reasons. One that I'm happy to keep on my list is A Midnight Proposal.

Given my neverending "emotional support Lorraine Heath reread" situation, I was thrilled to get my hands on a copy. Who am I to question Avon dropping ARCs of a June 2027 title so early? In this sixth Scandalous Gentlemen of St. James book, Jamie Swindler takes center stage with Desdemona, a widow accused of murdering her husband. It's straightforward, enjoyable, historical romantic suspense. I'm a little bummed by the absence of other characters we love, but this is a trade paperback, a rebranding, and obviously meant to be accessible to a wider audience. On the bright side, it makes for a tight focus on Jamie and Mona, and I loved how much interiority and intimacy building we got. And that's my cue to mention The Roommate Subtext by Elia Winters, an erotic contemporary twist on the Scarlet Pimpernel. Botanist Blake's a secret Dom. Journalist Maggie starts exploring her submissive side when she's tasked with unmasking him. It's a sweet, funny, and very, very sexy journey for them both.

The Reading Rundown
Battle of the Round House by Tananarive Due (western, fantasy, short story)
A Midnight Proposal by Lorraine Heath (out 6/1/27, historical romance)
Chasing the Wild by Elliott Rose (contemporary romance)
Once More with Feeling by Elissa Sussman (contemporary romance)
The Roommate Subtext by Elia Winters (contemporary romance, BDSM romance)

Backlist titles & rereads: I started the month by finishing a reread of Mercy Fletcher Meets Her Match by Aydra Richards. I had a hankering for older romantasy (i.e. written before the term existed) and hit up my paperbacks for The Twelve Kingdoms trilogy by Jeffe Kennedy. When I returned from the kingdoms, I went back to summer camp—Kink Camp: Hunted and Possession by Adriana Anders. I inevitably moved to historicals afterward with Scoundrel of My Heart, Beauty Tempts the Beast, and Return of the Duke by Lorraine Heath. Since they didn't hit for me like I needed, I did a reread of her London's Greatest Lovers trilogy. You can never go wrong with Waking Up With the Duke. I also got in some new-to-me reads. I laughed my way through Swordheart by T. Kingfisher and enjoyed Rilzy Adams's short and sweet second-chance romance Love in the Time of Corona as well as Judith Ivory's Angel in a Red Dress, aka Starlit Surrender—which is a far better title, because at no point did the heroine wear a red dress.

Currently reading: Before the Dawn by Beverly Jenkins and The Tapestry of Fate by Shannon Chakraborty.

On the TBR/wish list
Dive Bar at the End of the Road by Kelley Armstrong
Well Versed by Jen DeLuca
One For the Road by Elliot Fletcher
Captive Traitor King by Brigid Kemmerer
The Lines We Cross by Ausma Zehanat Khan
Daggerbound by T. Kingfisher
Wickhills by Premee Mohamed
Intrigue by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Empire by Sabaa Tahir

On the Shelf: August 2026

With 25 books under my reading belt, August is tied with June for the second highest count of 2026 thus far. The "Are you okay, Suleikha?" award goes to May with a whopping 29. Since I was dealing with numbers anyway, I went ahead and totaled up the year to date: 173. Would I remember the plots of all 173 if pressed by internet people who worry about shit like that? Probably not. That does not negate how each title made me feel—whether it was joy, stress, fear, or disappointment. This is not a competition. This is not a test. I read voraciously because I have always read voraciously. And, holy crap, I voraciously read a lot of frontlist books this past month.

Naina Kumar's Just a Highland Fling had me sniffling by chapter five. The cover kinda gives rom-com, but Neelu and Jacob's story packs an emotional punch too. I told the author that it turned from a gut-punch into a tattoo needle pain because she's so good at slipping in those little moments that hurt. I also love that her protags are from South Indian Christian backgrounds. Desi romance leans North Indian and Hindu, but there's so much more cultural diversity to explore! Elsewhere, Heir by Sabaa Tahir got me primed for Empire. It actually took me a few tries to get into it. It was this latest attempt that clicked and I couldn't put it down, just like the Ember in the Ashes quartet. Proof that sometimes it's the mood that's off, not the book. Speaking of mood, Karina Halle's new gothic romance definitely set one. Atmospheric and sexy, rooted in Irish folklore that I haven't come across in romance before. Have I been privately thinking of it as Bonertide? Yes, of course.

The Reading Rundown
Her Brother's Billionaire Best Friend by Abigail Barnette (erotic romance)
The Daddy's Girl by Sara Cate (erotic romance)
A Curse of Beasts & Magic by Jeaniene Frost (paranormal romance, urban fantasy)
Bonetide by Karina Halle (gothic romance, paranormal romance)
Learn to Love You by Jade Hernandez (contemporary romance)
Wolf Worm by T. Kingfisher (horror, suspense)
Just a Highland Fling by Naina Kumar (contemporary romance)
When the Duke Loved Me by Lydia Lloyd (historical romance)
Captured By the Werewolf Highwaymen by Eva Leigh (out 9/9, paranormal polyam romance)
Possession Island by Sarah McCarry (out 12/1, suspense, for professional review purposes)
Big Trouble in a Little Mafia by Tanvier Peart (dark rom-com, mafia romance)
Look What the Cat Dragged In by Jason Rekulak (out 10/13, suspense, horror, for professional review purposes)
Heir by Sabaa Tahir (young adult fantasy)
Silent Flames by Cate C. Wells (contemporary romance, dark romance)

Backlist titles & rereads: I went to my physical bookshelf for rereads of Joanna Bourne's six Spymaster books, historical romances set during the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. Then it was back to the Kindle for my first time through Remember When by Judith McNaught and Captured by Beverly Jenkins. The latter sent me to rereads of Through the Storm, and Forbidden. No regrets. Reading Ms. Bev is always fulfilling and also a huge comfort. I snapped up The Secret by Julie Garwood on sale, just like I did the McNaught, and that was the end of my backlist adventures for August. I'm not mad, because my frontlist title consumption more than made up for things.

Currently reading: I'm almost done rereading Mercy Fletcher Meets Her Match by Aydra Richards.

On the TBR/wish list
Well Versed by Jen DeLuca
Lady X by Molly Fader
One For the Road by Eliot Fletcher
Captive Traitor King by Brigid Kemmerer
The Lines We Cross by Ausma Zehanat Khan
Empire by Sabaa Tahir
Nobody's Baby by Olivia Waite