This is the third in Lovett's sex planet books (Planet of Desire is the correct series name) and I enjoyed it but not quite as much as the first two. Jenie is an alien herself, so it's her with a genetic mating bond to worry about for a change. She's convinced that penetrative sex is going to seal the deal, as it were, so she spends most of the book fighting both the sex planet toxin (read more about that here) and the mating bond.

More Than Stardust, the third in Vivien Jackson’s Wanted and Wired sci-fi romance series, features two of the recurring characters from prior books, Garrett and Chloe. Their chemistry was hinted at previously and though Garrett is mildly interesting, Chloe really drives both the plot and my interest in this novel. Garrett is a pilot and conspiracy theorist, taciturn and good with computers. Chloe, on the other hand, is an AI who has become independently sentient. She has less personal physicality than a toaster, despite being made up of thousands of nanobots. She and Garrett have been friends since she first became sentient, and as a sentient being, she’s longed for the relationship she feels only physical presence can bring.

Song of Blood & Stone has had something of a confusing publishing trajectory. If you're new to the series, here's a quick rundown before my review. L. Penelope self-published Song of Blood & Stone in 2015, then the book was picked up by St. Martin's Press and reissued in May 2018. Now there's an extended version coming out in paperback July 2019.  The second book was also self-published and is due to come out in October from the same publisher. There's also a prequel novella out as of January. Got all that?

On the cover, there’s a blurb from Maurene Goo that reads, “As sweet and satisfying as actual mochi... a tender love story wrapped up in food, fashion, and family. I gobbled it up.” Honestly, that’s a perfect one-line review. I Love You So Mochi really is as sweet as mochi.

Kimi is a senior in high school and the book opens with her having something of an identity crisis. The book opens with her and her mother having one of those very devastating silent fights about Kimi not wanting to pursue art school. But what does Kimi want to do with her life if not the art she’s been creating since she was four?

Fix Her Up is a funny, surprisingly steamy romance between a literal clown (she does birthday parties) and her brother's best friend. Georgie's the perpetual pesty little sister and wants to change the town's perception of her. Travis is a former playboy baseball player, back home to lick his wounds after an injury led to his being traded between several teams before being effectively booted out of baseball for good.

If writing the word “squee” was an appropriate review, I would write that here. It’s such a warm and generous book that I want to go around telling everyone and forcing them to read it.

Raze tells a story of two men realizing that they can build the life they want right now, and wondering what that life looks like. It’s about finding an identity outside of routines and responsibility. It’s less about music than the previous Riven books, and mostly about Huey’s sober habits.

The Flatshare is a charming romance that happens to be part of the new crop of romance novels being packaged as women's fiction. On the cover, O'Leary is referred to as "the new Jojo Moyes," but if you've read both, you won't think that. No one dies at the end, for example. It's closed door, like Moyes, so maybe that's what they were thinking?

Little reviews of The Unhoneymooners, Fluffy, and One Fine Duke.

Although the book deals heavily with grief and strained family relationships, Don't Date Rosa Santos is a feel-good summer romance that made me smile. Reminiscent of Jane the Virgin, Rosa's Cuban-American family consists of her, her mother, and her grandmother. (More on this later.) They live in a multicultural small town in coastal Florida that feels a bit like Gilmore Girls' Stars Hollow... but not so white.