June is often a pretty light month for new books, but I'm thinking it's not this year? Or maybe there are just a bunch I happen to be excited about this time around. There's not much better than sitting in the shade with a good book and listening to birds, so I'm going to hurry up and finish this post so I can go do that!

Wishing you all the good things and the strength to fight against the bad ones. Pride is a tough month this year, so please remember to advocate for your queer and trans siblings.

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It's May! May and June are objectively the best months of the year, so let's go outside and touch grass. (Bring a book.)

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Come on, sunshine and flowers and birds and the sense of renewal that will hopefully bring positive change. We just gotta work for it.

Here are some new books!

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I'm writing this as snow falls and while I always look forward to spring, I'm enjoying the snow. As the climate crisis deepens and winter changes, I find myself appreciating even the slushy mess at the end of the driveway. (Most of the time.)

Harper Collins and the HCP Union reached an agreement after a three month strike. That means increased pay and union benefits for the staff and the return of Harper Collins content to LiP!

I hope you have a great month of reading and hope you'll share here or find me on Instagram or in Discord to tell me all about it.

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Once again, I'm publishing a Top Off Your TBR post and wondering if the Harper Collins Publishing Union will have a fair contract in hand by the time these books release. The strike began on November 10, 2022 and Harper Collins/NewsCorp finally agreed to mediation last week. I'm cautiously optimistic that the two parties can reach a deal sometime soon, but we've been asked to keep applying pressure until it's all official.

With that in mind, I've listed a few Harper Collins titles below and marked them with an asterisk *. There are a couple I would have loved to feature in the top part of this post, but out of solidarity with the union, I'm holding off for now. (I'm cheating a little by showing their covers, but you're already here and Harper Collins can't use any of this for their socials, which is the point of the union's ask.)

I also wanted to mention that we're heading into the second month of Shop Your Shelves Winter Bingo and I've loved all the posts you've shared with me on Instagram. I'm not doing great on my own board (classes started, sick kids, a death in the family, a surprisingly time-intensive volunteer assignment) so I really appreciate the inspiration and fun!

I hope your month is full of excellent reading.

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New year, new books! This is the time of year when we make resolutions and while the cynical part of me knows most of us won't stick to them, I get a certain warm and fuzzy feeling from the optimism in the air at the turn of the calendar. I put together a separate post with my 2023 reading goals and I hope you'll share yours, too!

This month brings a bunch of new books and while there aren't many on the list, I want to note that the Harper Collins Union is still on strike as I write this. They're striking for NYC wages and an increased commitment to improving diversity at the company. The two are, of course, closely related since low wages prevent all but the economically privileged from joining and staying in the profession. You can read more, download graphics and contribute to their strike fund here. The union isn't calling for a boycott and you can support them and Harper Collins authors by shopping through their Bookshop storefront (at no extra cost to you) here.

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December is usually a wasteland for new releases from mainstream publishers and this year is no different. There are lots of indie releases, most of which are Christmassy and a couple of which I've featured here. I'm not a big holiday romance person (sorry?) so this list is short.

Though Kobo tells me it released on Nov. 30, I'd like to draw your attention to the Current anthology, a collection of new stories to benefit community groups in Jackson, Mississippi. This first volume features stories by talented A.H. Cunningham, Meka James, Dria Andersen, Karmen Lee, Jayce Ellis and Nicole Falls. I've read and enjoyed books from four of these authors, so I'll be picking this up once my book buying pause lifts in January!

I also want to note that a couple of the books in the list at the bottom are Harper Collins titles. The unionized US employees of Harper Collins have been on strike since November 10 and have asked readers to support the strike and the authors by continuing to talk about the strike and buy books, but not to generate the kind of review coverage and social media posts that HC could use to replace the work of publicity employees. I've added an asterisk next to HC titles.

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It's November! Some of my most highly anticipated books of the year release this month, so I'm excited to share a bit about three I've already read and two I'm eager to dive into. If you plan to read any of these, please find me on Instagram (@loveinpanels) or pop into Discord to tell me all about them.

Do some research and vote on the 8th. If you don't like any of your options, remember that by not voting, you're allowing other people to choose for you. It's especially important to vote in your local/down ballot races. Folks who can't vote are of course excluded from this call to action, but please feel free to badger your friends into exercising this fundamental right before we lose it.

Sending cozy thoughts and an extended spooky season to all!

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We are officially in the Spooky Season! Hocus Pocus 2 is on Disney + starting September 30, so I'm not sure why you're even reading this instead of watching the Sanderson sisters rise again. But...

If you haven't already, check out these two fun reading bingo challenges:

But Do They Bang: Bang in the Night 2: The Monster Smash - This is not all about monsters, but is really quite flexible and spooky/spoopy. Runs September 19-October 31.

Fall In Love Bingo - General fall theme, runs September 1-November 30. These are quarterly, so if you miss it you can expect one for winter afterward. (Please, I hope Jen and Aarya continue!)

 My birthday is this month, so I'm probably going to be up to some nonsense (and maybe yelling about the Supreme Court, sorry) over on Instagram where I'm @loveinpanels.

I also want to mention that October is when the majority of Christmas romances are released. Those aren't my thing, so I didn't include many on this list. They're everywhere though, so enjoy!

Happy October!

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Happy back to school/spooky season/pumpkin spice/apple season!

I am currently "between jobs," so although I'm still doing the grad school thing, I'm looking forward to taking breaks from home repair projects to write up some long-overdue reviews. Expect more things here soon, but in the meanwhile you can find me over on Instagram where I'm @loveinpanels.

September is a pretty easy-going month for books over in my personal TBR, but this list turned out pretty big!

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