Is it weird that I feel guilty if I haven’t read 10 books in a month? I feel like I’m slacking! Fortunately, it’s really about quality, not quantity—and July had no shortage of quality reads! In fact, I met two of my favorite heroines of the year so far: Portia Hobbs, in Alyssa Cole’s A Duke By Default, and Cherry Neita, in Talia Hibbert’s The Princess Trap. Two amazingly relatable women, written by two amazingly talented women! Portia, who is trying to get her life together and eventually discovers that she has ADHD, really spoke to me. I felt so seen as I recognized my own mess in hers. As for Cherry…? Man, I wish I had her take-no-shit attitude!
I also can’t rave enough about what’s coming out of the young adult sector these days. Zoraida Córdova’s Bruja Born and Justina Ireland’s Dread Nation were both excellent. I really would love to see the latter as a big-budget blockbuster film, subverting all the usual tired tropes of most zombie flicks.
The reading rundown:
A Taste of Pleasure by Chloe Blake (contemporary romance)
A Duke by Default by Alyssa Cole (contemporary romance)
Bruja Born by Zoraida Córdova (young adult, urban fantasy)
My Lord, Lady, and Gentleman by Nicola Davidson (erotic historical romance)
The Princess Trap by Talia Hibbert (contemporary romance)
Dread Nation by Justina Ireland (young adult, speculative fiction)
Erotic Stories For Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal (mainstream fiction)
The Tycoon by Molly O’Keefe (contemporary romance)
On the TBR:
Unfit to Print by KJ Charles
It Takes Two by Jenny Holiday
Mr. Hotshot CEO by Jackie Lau
Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse
Jane Doe by Victoria Helen Stone
Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir
So, I feel like 15 books in two months is kind of a sad showing for me — but, in my defense, I moved from New York City to Chicago so I had a lot going on! The ARC of Stripped, by Zoey Castile, was probably the last book to go in my packing boxes! If you loved Magic Mike XXL, this delightful, sexy, summer romance definitely needs to go on your list! (And you’ll never look at the Coney Island Wonder Wheel the same.) Meanwhile, Sarah MacLean and Tiffany Reisz are at the top of their game with Wicked and the Wallflower and The Chateau, respectively, and Tessa Dare’s hilarious The Governess Game threw me a lifeline when I was drowning in doubt post-move.
The reading rundown:
Wicked and the Wallflower by Sarah MacLean (historical romance)
April was a great month in reading, mostly because I finally got around to Samira Ahmed’s New York Times best-selling YA novel, Love, Hate and Other Filters. In turns relatable and harrowing, it’s a story about growing up Muslim and American while trying to embrace your own path, your own destiny. (And Samira’s author’s note at the end almost made me burst into tears.) Then there was Sayantani DasGupta’s The Serpent’s Secret, which is based on Bengali folktales. It totally sent me back to my childhood! I wish I’d had this book, and a heroine like Kiranmala, when I was 10 or 11 years old.
Love, Hate and Other Filters by Samira Ahmed (young adult fiction, YA romance)
Pretending He’s Mine by Mia Sosa (contemporary romance)
January was a little slim, reading-wise, but I more than made it up for it in February! I really stumbled upon some gems these past few months — like Kate Clayborn’s charming contemporary Luck of the Draw — and The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton, which is a lush, evocative YA fantasy about the ugliness lurking beneath a veneer of beauty.
Luck of the Draw by Kate Clayborn (out 4/24, contemporary romance)
Love on the Tracks by Tamsen Parker (contemporary sports romance)
Unfortunately, I had some really problematic reads, too. Like The Master, by Kresley Cole, which featured truly egregious “fiery Latina” stereotypes and Boris-and-Natasha Russian representation that almost had me flinging my Kindle across the room. And Lisa Kleypas’ latest, Hello Stranger, which would’ve been an enjoyable historical read from a longtime favorite author had it not been for completely unnecessary — and, frankly, hurtful — use of India to inform the white hero’s fighting and sexual prowess.
And I already have two books to add to the “Best of 2018” — A Princess in Theory, which is Alyssa Cole’s hilarious and heartfelt spin on Coming to America, and Santino Hassell’s Down By Contact, in which rival football players who are nursing more than a grudge are forced to do community service together.
