Look, I'm sharing the July list in July! Turns out I'm capable of making links while I have COVID and can't do much else. It finally got me after 4.5 years. I resent it immensely.

Here's a list of promising-to-me books releasing in July 2024 and a couple short reviews of books I read a bit early.

Happy reading!

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Continuing our new tradition of publishing the month's TBR way after the month is over, here are some June picks that I've already read and more I'm looking forward to!

July's list should be coming soon. Hope you've been reading something great.

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Let's go ahead and pretend I didn't entirely miss the month of May and instead celebrate the fact that I now have a whole bunch of reviews for you? IDK, all I can say is that I finally finished this thing and here it is.

Enjoy.

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I've been sharing these recaps over on Instagram for a couple of years now and they're a great way for me to reflect on my overall reading patterns and monthly favorites. I'm going to do something of a repost here for folks who don't use Insta. We'll see if I keep going :) Summary first, then the graphics.

These TBR posts are apparently replacing my mini-reviews? In this post I talk a lot about some of the April books I've read and then give a list of a bunch I'm looking forward to checking out.

Top on my list of not-yet-reads are Hannah Whitten's Hemlock Queen, Fine Print Vol. 2, by Stjepan Šejić and When I Think of You, by Myah Ariel.

Hope you find something great!

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March is here with many new books!

A couple of changes to these posts for the next several months. I'm serving on an American Library Association committee this year and reading widely across eight genres rather than spending all my time in romance-land. This means I won't have as much time for the blog/these mega-posts and I won't be reading as many early copies. This is a welcome change for me but I wanted to let everyone know because the contents of these TBR posts will change a bit. They'll be shorter and more focused on my personal interests and not the broader landscape.

On to the books.

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February, the month of love and slush falling from the sky. In my house, it's the month of birthdays and overscheduling myself. Also the month of congress doubling down on funding genocide. Maybe by the time I write the next one of these, we'll have a ceasefire. If photos speak to you, take a look through this piece from NPR. I'm aghast at the "activists" sitting in the road to block humanitarian aid from getting into Gaza. 90% of Gazans regularly go an entire day without food. (That's from a month ago. I can't find any evidence it's gotten better.)

The world continues to be a lot. Fuel up.

Here are some books coming out this month.

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Title: The Friendship Study
Author:

• Ruby Barrett

Heat: NSFW
Genre(s): Romance Contemporary
Tropes: Friends to Lovers Nerdy Heroine Forced Proximity
Tags: f-m bisexual queer history of trauma disabled character firefighter academic professor

Where to Buy or Read:Amazon (affiliate)  Libro.fm  Goodreads

Synopsis from the Creator: Jesse Logan doesn’t want a fresh start. He wants his old life back—before an injury made his career as a firefighter impossible, before his grandfather’s Alzheimer’s got so bad he doesn’t recognize Jesse anymore. When a friend tells him about a paid psychological study, Jesse sees it as a chance to get back to the man he was while making a little extra cash.
All Lulu Banks is asking for is a fresh start. Back home after a devastating breakup, she’s struggling to find her place. She’s always been a lot—too loud, too eager, too obvious about her feelings. The friendship study seems like a great idea…until she’s paired with Jesse Logan, who recently ghosted her after a blind date that led to a steamy make-out session.
Now that old familiar tension is back. Despite the program’s strict “no romance” rule, Jesse and Lulu are quick to find a work-around that allows them to explore their tenuous connection. And soon they’re on their way to total self-improvement…
As long as they don’t get caught.

After their mutual friend sets them up on a date that leads to a great kiss and nothing else, Jesse and Lulu independently sign up for a social study meant to find out why millennials struggle to make friends as adults and how to help them do so. One rule: they're not allowed to have sex with other participants. Naturally, our two leads fall head over heels and try (not that hard TBH) not to hook up with each other.

According to my not-so-meticulous tracking, I read 284 books in 2023. Many of those were novellas and popcorn manga, but that still leaves a big crop of around 200 fiction and nonfiction books to whittle down into a tidy Best of 2023 list. As usual, these are my favorites out of what I read during the year, something I wish more columnists at papers of record would mention in their year-end lists.

I've broken the list down into ten 2023 Releases and four earlier releases. Comics and manga will be in a separate post over on the comics side of the site. I've been enjoying reading everyone else's lists and can't wait to dig into all your faves, too.

On to the books!

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