June 2018 Favorites

Y'all, I'm enjoying my summer entirely too much--as evidenced by the fact that my JUNE favorites are coming out on JULY 9th!! Oops. I read so many fun and interesting reads in June--take a look at the list below and if something looks good, click on the cover image and it'll take you to Amazon to give you more information.

Even Money and  Double Down by Alessandra Torre-- "you'll find yourself inhaling within hours (while also trying to slow down your reading pace so that you can draw it out as long as you can)..." Book 1 review and Book 2 review.

Fearless by Lauren Gilley-- "A fellow bookish friend strongly recommended Fearless and I now must pay it forward. Here's a brief list of reasons to read it..." Find more from our review here.

On the Edge by C.D. Reiss-- "Because of the way Reiss writes her, I really identified with Greyson's stress and anxiety, and her helplessness. I found myself putting myself in her shoes and just immediately stepping out because it felt so overwhelming--kudos to Reiss for putting me there and making me squirm." Find more from our review here.

The Chateau by Tiffany Reiss-- "I feel like I say this about every single Tiffany Reisz book I read but I can't help it. I'm powerless against her word sorcery and The Chateau once again shows that--I couldn't put it down, sleep be damned." Find more from our review here.

Getting Schooled by Emma Chase-- "This steamy, romantic comedy had me laughing, even tearing up at parts, and loving Garrett and Callie's second chance at romance." Find more from our review here.

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang-- "This book absolutely lives up to all the hype you've seen and I don't say that lightly." Find more from our review here.

Cry Baby by Ginger Scott-- "Needless to say, the grit factor we've seen in novels like The Hard Count and Memphis is not only present, it's amplified in Cry Baby..." Find more from our review here.

I could've easily put every single thing I reviewed in June on this list--it was that good of a reading month!

JUNE 2017 Favorites

As many of you know, summer means catching up on reading and I've been doing a ton of that. I'm averaging almost a book a day + listening to an audio books + reading books for teaching next semester. I keep telling myself that I need to probably do other things but I can't seem to stop or find some balance but I haven't done that yet. Maybe July will be the month I get my reading addiction under control? Or maybe not.

I've been thinking a lot about some of the trends in Romancelandia --things like some established authors testing the writing waters in sub-genres or other genres all together, or writers creating classes, workshops, retreats, and online spaces dedicated to writing in this indie world. It'll be interesting to see how all of these things pan out--hopefully with all the success, right? More good writers writing more good things is a good thing, I think. Anyway, enough of the speculation; here are some of our picks. If you see something you like, click on the image and it'll take you to Amazon.

Mature Content by Megan Erickson and Santino Hassell-- "Without exception, each book in this series gives me things to contemplate about our cyber world and never fails to widen my view of things. This ability to open my eyes, have such authenticity in the plot and characters, and have me enjoy the ride while doing all that are just a few of the many reasons why I literally rejoice when I see something come across my social media about the Cyberlove series." More from our review here.

Salvaged by Jay Crownover-- " Honestly, when I go into a Jay Crownover reading experience I know that I'm going to get an ending that feels right, so that's not the mystery I'm waiting to unlock in her novels. What I'm always eager to see is how, exactly, Crownover is going to get us to that ending. " More from our review here.

Bad Penny  by Staci Hart -- "Man oh man do we need more characters like Penny in our lives; she is delightfully irreverent and full of sass and hilarious and there was so much to appreciate about her. Penny does what she wants and loves what she does--whether that is her job or her men--and what's not to love about that, right? " More from our review here.

Dating-ish by Penny Reid-- "Watching their romance unfold on the page gave me all sorts of feelings: I laughed, cringed, gasped, shook my head, felt disbelief, wanted to shake both of them at different times, and swooned. " More from our review here.

The Impossible Vastness of Us by Samantha Young-- "I had many thoughts as I read The Impossible Vastness of Us but the one that kept floating to the surface was how much I know many of my students would love this novel. Even though the high school experience in this novel feels more dramatized than what I see on my campus, there were a lot of feelings and situations that I really think many of my students would relate to." More from our review here.

Oversight by Santino Hassell --"The ending of Oversight has me hungry for answers about so many things and eager to see which of those things Hassell focuses on in the last book. He's done a really great job of handling PNR and romance and suspense and really keeping the threads of all of those things going in a way that is interesting and satisfying while keeping me on edge as I wait for more. " More from our review here.

A Girl Like Me by Ginger Scott--"A Girl Like Me picks right up with the story of Joss and Wes and is the perfect follow up to  A Boy Like You. All of my questions were answered and in typical Ginger Scott fashion, she somehow managed to not only deepen my affection for her characters, she also managed to keep me on my toes with how Joss and Wes's story would play out. I promise you, she had me going all the way to the very end." More from our review here.

June 2016 Favorites

This month we had many more hits than we had misses and this last week we read a ton of great reads that we'll be reviewing next month. If any of these look interesting click on the graphic and it'll take you to the Amazon synopsis and buy links.

 

We're officially hooked on all things Renee Carlino. Our infatuation started with Before We Were Strangers and Swear On This Life sealed the deal. It's a story within a story. It's emotional and interesting and gave us a lot to think about--the intensity of first/true loves, the definition of family, the hardships of poverty and loss, to name a few--and we're still thinking about this book and these characters.

We love Dahlia Adler for so many things and one of the things at the top of that list is her books. Out on Good Behavior gave us the perfect end to this series--a last look at all of these friendships we've come to love, a fantastic f/f story, a wonderfully diverse cast, and the witty dialogue that we've come to count on in her novels. We're sad to see this series go and yet we know Adler must have some great things coming in the future.

  

Into The Tomorrows is Whitney Barbetti's best book to date, in our humble opinions. It ended on the most interesting to be continued we've seen in a while and we're dying to see where she takes the rest of this. This first book in the series began and ended with a promise of a tale of discovery and loss and there's more of that tale to be told. Sign us up for the next part!

Can Mercy Brown do any wrong? Uhhh, no. This series has been a great blend of romance and humor and music and we're hoping that it isn't over with Stay Until We Break. It brings us back to our footloose and fancy free days of college and dive bars and all of the things that go with that scene. Please give us more, Mercy Brown..or give us anything; we're loving what you're putting out there.

Paper Princess and Broken Prince have been the most deliciously wicked and fun reading we've had in a while. It's most definitely not a guilty pleasure because we feel absolutely no guilt about reading and promoting these books AT ALL. This series is like a 1980's night time soap opera updated to 2016 and it's completely addictive. The cliffhangers are so cliffy that if we didn't love the writers who make up Erin Watt we might want to push them off the cliff...instead we'll endure their torture and beg them for more.

We're looking forward to our July reads--they look promising. Until then, happy reading~~