Every quarter or so, I like to take a look back at which books have been tickling my eyeballs. Most of my reading choices come from BookBub deals and from the Smart Bitches, Trashy Books blog (reviews, sales, the Help a Bitch Out feature, and the Hide Your Wallet feature). And of course, word-of-mouth recommendations from friends.
I don’t read a lot of paranormal romance anymore, probably because I write it! When I read, I want to relax, but if I read PNR, it begins to feel like “work,” if that makes sense?
Also? There’s a lot of teal here. 🙂
Usually I limit these “what I’ve been reading” posts to five or six books, but I’ve been reading a LOT of great books, so I’m just going to go for it and share some of my favorites in the order I read them. Please note, some of these have affiliate links, meaning I earn a tiny amount if you purchase them. This helps me keep my blog/website alive:
- The 3d20 Series Anthology, by Allyson Lindt. Each book in this series set is fairly short and super satisfying. I blazed through each one of these steamy mmf books!
- Slade House, by David Mitchell was utterly terrifying. I hadn’t realized it would end so badly for so many characters. So reader beware unless you truly love the horror genre.
- The Pool Boy, by Nikki Sloane. Not gonna lie, I bought it for the cover. 😉 There are a ton of tropes and a ton of plot packed into this erotic romance. May/December (where the woman is the older person in the m/f relationship), rock star/music scene, boss/employee…oh, and he’s her best friend’s SON.
- Spoiler Alert, by Olivia Dade. This skyrocketed immediately into my Top Five of the year. Funny, sexy, and the FEELINGS. I knew I’d love it after reading the dedication, and I wasn’t wrong. The heroine and hero write fanfic, but meet in a whole different crazysauce way, and I absolutely adored them both.
- All the Feels, by Olivia Dade. I lucked out and got an ARC of this one (it comes out in October). Preorder it now, because I loved it just as much, if not more, than Spoiler Alert!
- The Empress of Salt and Fortune, by Nghi Vo. This is an absolutely lovely fantasy novella. I want to read it once more now that I know how it ends.
- Upright Women Wanted, by Sarah Gailey. This is a weird western, alternative history. Cars and tanks and tech exists, but only for the purposes of war, it seems. Everyone else is riding horses. It was incredibly cool. The cover hooked me, as well as the tagline: “Are you a coward, or are you a librarian?”
- Act Your Age, Eve Brown, by Talia Hibbert. I’ve read these books all out of order. First #2, then #3. Cannot wait to get my hands on #1! These are funny and steamy, and I love the characters.
- The Kiss Quotient, by Helen Hoang. This one had been recommended to me several times, and I finally got around to reading it, kind of by accident. I was looking for Hoang’s The Bride Test at the library, but it must have been on a different shelf. This one, however, was right there, so I decided to give it a go. So glad I did!
This is not a complete list, but it includes some of my favorites! Maybe you’ll find something you want to read in here.