Eight books . . .
I finished eight books this month. And while some would look at that total and think 'yep, she's definitely in a slump . . .' I'm feeling good about this month. For starters, I began thirteen books. Of those additional five books not technically reported for the month, two are non-fiction tomes which will take a while to plow through, two were just started in the last days of the month and will be included with July's numbers, and only one was a DNF.
So on to what I did finish . . .
Now, I read LGBTQ+ fiction all year long (eight titles so far this year), but in honor of Pride Month, I picked up a few more than usual. They did not disappoint.
I will admit Heated Rivalry was a bit hard for me to get into (much to the dismay of the Book BFF that recommended it). Once I got past all the hate f***ing and feelings got involved, it sped up and I enjoyed it.
Speaking of feelings . . . Tal Bauer is guaranteed to make me bawl like a baby. I gave You & Me 4.5 stars, but really, I should go back and bump it up to five. It was so beautifully written.
In contrast, Leo Loves Aries was laugh-out-loud funny. My friend described it perfectly as an 'idiots to lovers' romance.
Vagina Obscura was my non-romance pick for the month and it left me well informed and angry. Informed because it's a wonderfully written narrative about a part of the female anatomy that gets little attention unless it's featured on PornHub. Angry because . . . well as I already said, medically speaking knowledge of female anatomy is lightyears behind that of males, and that's just wrong. And we're not just talking about humans. Don't get me started on duck dicks and vaginas . . . Go read the book!
Getting off my high horse and back to fiction.
The Book Haters Book Club was read for book club. It was cute. Enough said.
Summer Reading I picked up because . . . it's summer. I realize I'd started it last year only to set it aside because of the trigger warnings (female with reading disability). I was writing a book with a similar character at the time and didn't want to get influenced. Regardless, Jenn McKinlay's romances are something I'll always read and I'm glad I got back to this one.
After You & Me, Right On Cue was my second favorite read of the month. Like McKinlay, Falon Ballard is another must-read author. I always adore her characters.
That leaves All Rhodes Lead Here. It was my final read of the month. I finished it in two days. While I enjoyed the story and was compelled to keep picking the book up (even when I should have been doing other things), I found it to be too long (nearly 600 pages) and from the start, the writing style was just a little off to me. It felt like each sentence used too many words to get the point across. Still, like I said, the story was interesting, and that's why we read, right? To escape into someone else's life for a time. Clearly, this is a much-loved book as my middling 3-star rating was nowhere near the average 4.33 stars on StoryGraph. Go read it yourself and form your own opinion!
Despite it being the last day of June, I've yet to set my July TBR, so that will be a separate post. Instead, let's look at where things stand mid-year.
As you can see, I'm still sticking with emotional, lighthearted, and funny books for the most part. The big difference this year is the increase in the number of dark books I'm reading. Eleven so far! ACOTAR and the fact that I've tried dipping my toe into the world of mafia romances is primarily to blame.
So far I've read 52 books, two ahead of pace to reach my usual target of 100. Forty-five of the fifty-two have been romance. No surprise there . . . With most of them being contemporary. Sports romances have fallen in rank, overtaken by fantasy and LGBTQ+
In terms of ratings, either I'm being more generous this year, or it's been a really good year so far. I've already matched my number of five-star reads for last year with three. Here's hoping the second half of 2024 is as good as the first!
Cheers,
C.J.
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