I haven’t posted a lot this summer, but I have been reading like heck! From June through August I read 34 books and had both some really great ones and really bad ones.
June
June was a bit of an awesome month because I read many 5-star reads, which was exciting. I read 12 books! I read 3,843 pages, six romances, one fantasy, one non-fiction and two historical books.
Best books
How to Fake It in Hollywood by Ava Wilder
I was so surprised with how much I loved this book. I was sent it unsolicited as an arc and really enjoyed it. It was a fake-dating romance but dove deeper beyond the romance and delved into dealing with grief and how to move on, as well as the goods and bads of Hollywood.
All Rhodes Lead Here by Marianna Zapata
In perfect Mariana Zapata fashion, this was another amazing slow-burn romance. I loved the setting, small town in the mountains, grumpy main character. It was really great and I highly recommend it. I’m slowly working on reading all of her books.
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
I had no idea what I was jumping into when I picked this up. I had heard great things but I did not expect to love it as much as I did. I love the messages it has about women empowerment and dealing with sexism in science. I love the main character and this weird story so much.
Least Best
Ace by Angela Chen
It’s not that I didn’t like the content. As someone who identifies on the ace spectrum, I wanted to read this book to learn more about it. Unfortunately I don’t really vibe with the way it was written and the amount of exposition there was about stories in Angela’s life.
July
July was a bit slower for me because I was very busy with work and other things, so I read 8 books. I had an average of 3.65 with 2,282 pages read.
The Romantic Agenda by Claire Kann
This book made me feel so seen. I mentioned earlier I identify as ace so reading a romance book with ace main characters was amazing. I loved this book so very much.
Set on You by Amy Tan
Something about this book really just made me happy. The main character is a plus size influencer and there’s a lot of discussions about negative online hate from anonymous people and it was really eye opening to read.
Least Best
The Doctor by Nikki Sloane
Ugh, let me tell you about how much I didn’t like this book. It was recommended to me because I loved Birthday Girl by Penelope Douglas for the “ex-boyfriend’s dad” trope, which is a fave. This missed the mark entirely, it just felt icky. There were actually too many sex scenes and I skimmed.
Swordheart by T. Kingfisher
I don’t think this book was meant for me. I thought this was bad from the first chapter onward, but I powered through it hoping for some good steam and was sadly disappointed.
The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston
This might be one of my biggest disappointments of the year. I don’t know if I wasn’t in the mood to read this, but this just let me down. I might have had too high of hopes around it because the premise sounded so good, but it just wasn’t what I wanted it to be. I didn’t like the romance at all.
August
Summer has come to an end and I read the most books I’ve read this year – 14 in one month! I read 4,643 ages, seven romances, one non-fiction, one mystery, one thriller and one erotica. It was an interesting month, that’s for sure.
Book Lovers by Emily Henry
This was my last book of August and I’m so glad I ended the month on a high note. I adored everything about this book, from the writing and plot to the setting and characters, I couldn’t not put this down. I had read another book by this author and didn’t love it, but I was so surprised with this one. The last 50 pages had me in tears and they were written so beautifully.
The Extraordinaries by TJ Klune
TJ Klune has become one of my favorite authors. He has an amazing way of writing characters and making you care about them, and his stories are diverse and heart-warming. This book and series was so much fun.
Least Best
My Killer Vacation by Tessa Bailey
Oooo you do not want me to get started on this book. I strongly, strongly dislike the “tiny girl soooo tall guy” trope because it’s in every single book right now and it’s making me angry. I did not like the characters in this at all and thought the romance was kind of icky.
The Kraken’s Sacrifice by Katee Robert
I read this as an advanced copy as a member of Katee Robert’s patreon. When I tell you I learned a lot about myself from this book, yeah I sure did. I do not like anything to do with tentacles. I think that’s all I’ll say about this. Hard pass.
Late Night Reading 