A Lady of Rooksgrave Manor by Kathryn Moon

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The June patreon exclusive review theme for the Smart Women Read Romance was monster romance. A Lady of Rooksgrave Manor by Kathryn Moon was the winning book. This is book one in her Tempting Monsters series and a newer release. This is a reverse harem. Another fun thing to note, this is both a historical romance and a paranormal romance. I was able to apply this to the Summer of Swoon trope outside of comfort zone prompt and the Historical Romance Readathon class difference, indie published, part of a series and one person on the cover prompts.

Esther is a maid at a house that ends up suffering from debt. She is known for being more of a sexually active woman with a lot of desires. When the Dr. Underwood comes to take care of the lady of the house, Esther likes to eavesdrop. One time, Dr. Underwood catches her. When she doesn't have employment anymore, he suggests she try coming to the Rooksgrave Manor. A sort of personalized brothel for monsters. The witch Magdelena that runs this house reads auras and helps match a woman with the monster(s) that would fit with them. She also provides a sense of security for the ladies and works with the monsters and ladies to make sure they have everything they need.

Esther, as I mentioned before, has a very high sex drive and it feels like was made to be in this house. She ends up putting together a harem with a sphinx, vampire, Dr. Underwood (a kind of jekyll & hyde), marble golem and invisible man. This book is very steamy and honestly felt more like erotica to me than a romance. That could just be my struggle with multiple partner relationships. I've always struggled with ménages and poly relationships, so this is the first harem I've read. While I did like the emphasis placed on the equality of everyone in Esther's harem and how adamant she was that she only felt complete with everyone there, I still struggled believing she was in love with everyone. There a lot of sexy times and I found myself at about 40% just starting to skim it. While I enjoy steam, this definitely felt more erotica with almost constant sex on the page. If Esther wasn't participating in it herself, I felt like she was watching other people have it.

There are a lot of kinks in this book and I can see a lot of people enjoying this. The biggest one I had an issue with was all of the voyeurism. Esther really enjoyed being watched and I'm not into that. At all. I did like the reasoning behind why she enjoyed it though, that she was showing that monsters could find someone to accept them as they are and crave to be with them. I really like how Esther made it point throughout to show that monsters needed love (and loving) too. I did feel for some of the other monsters that were just there but not actively cared for in many ways by their women. That's were I'm struggling with rating this book. Objectively, this would be a 4 or 5-star. The writing is well done and if you're looking for monster smut, this hits it out of the park. My enjoyment though was a complete roller coaster and I feel like closer to a 3-star. Honestly, I kept wanting Amon, the sphinx, to steal Esther from the others and taker her for himself. I was really intrigued by the mythos. I think the world building and reasoning behind of the kink makes me lean towards a 3.5-star rating, but I'll round up to 4 on goodreads. I mainly rate on my enjoyment, so it's hard for me to knock it too much because I knew what I was getting into beforehand.

I will probably read more of the series when it's out and when I'm in the mood. I hope one of the books is a single couple. It's just what I prefer, possessive alphas. I think that there are a lot of different kinds of stories that could be told with the world that Kathryn Moon set up and I hope she goes that route instead of them being mostly the same trope. I'm certainly intrigued. It was interesting to see what everyone else thought about it on the live show last night. This kind of book always seems to get varied opinions, which makes for fun conversations.

Have you read A Lady of Rooksgrave Manor?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: A Lady of Rooksgrave Manor, Kathryn Moon, 4-stars, eBook, 379 pages, published in 2021

40-Love by Olivia Dade

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Before starting the Historical Romance Readathon, I had time to squeeze in one more read. I went with book 2 in Olivia Dade's There's Something About Marysburg, 40-Love. As mentioned in me review for book 1, this covered prompts in all three of my summer reading challenges. I applied 40-Love to vacation romance for the Romancing Summer Challenge, step in tropical or beach location for Summer of Swoon and wardrobe malfunction for the Ripped Bodice Summer Bingo.

Tess, assistant principle of Marysburg High School, is on vacation with her best friend at a resort in Florida. One morning, she's out in the water early and ends up losing her bikini top. She yells for a man on the beach for help once kids start showing up on the beach. The man is Lucas, a former tennis pro and the instructor at the resort. He is in his late twenties and Tess is turning 40 on this trip. They feel a connection and both decide to try to make things last after her vacation.

I really enjoyed this and more than I thought I would. I had heard a lot of good things about 40-Love, but I was nervous about listening to the hype too much. The thing that stuck out to me the most the level of emotional maturity between them both. Yes they are both older, but Tess and Lucas apologized when needed. They also talked about everything and were really conscientious of their feelings and how to deal with those emotions. It just was so nice reading good communication between the main couple. They both have their insecurities, but even when they do go wallow for a little bit, it never lasts long. They both really pushed each other to open up. This was also pretty steamy. Lucas was so gone for Tess and was such a thoughtful cinnamon roll. I really don't have anything bad to say about this book. If anything it would be how much Tess points out she's "old." 40 is not that old.

While I'm not the biggest fan of age-gap, even more so when the woman is older, I really enjoyed this. Every time I thought, "I don't like this" or "how are we coming back from this" Olivia would surprise me and deal with it so superbly. There were a couple moments after an argument or something more nasty said that I had to take breather for a minute and prepare myself for it to not be dealt with how I wanted. Every single time I dove back in I was so pleasantly surprised.

I feel like this series is starting to cement Olivia Dade as a favorite author. I've enjoyed everything I've read from her so far and will definitely continue to read her works. Maybe I'll even get to Spoiler Alert sometime soon. I was waiting for the hype to die down, and now will just need to fit in before the end of the year. I know the sequel comes out in October, so hopefully I'll get to it by then.

Have you read 40-Love?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: 40-Love, Olivia Dade, 5-stars, 1 day, eBook, 320 pages, published in 2020

Untamed by Elizabeth Lowell

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The June book for the Historical Hellions book club was Untamed by Elizabeth Lowell. This is the first of her Medieval trilogy (also known as Disputed Lands). Historical Hellions is hosted by Jess and Samantha and there was a live show on Sunday. It seems like a lot of people didn't quite like this as much as I did. I was able to apply this read to animal on cover prompt for the Romancing Summer Challenge and traditionally published prompt for Summer of Swoon.

We jump right in to Meg waiting for her arranged marriage, infamous knight Dominic Le Sabre to arrive. He's there to marry her, as decreed by the king, and once her father passes take over the estate. Meg is a little more on the independent side and also from the Glendruid bloodline. Think along the lines of druid or white witch kind of magic. She has an affinity for plants and animals and is also a healer. Dominic has been through a couple wars, including time spent as prisoner in the middle-east. He's able to stay calm during his skirmishes and is known for being a great tactician. 

I really enjoyed this book. If I were to be picky it'd be closer to a 4.5-star rating, but I rounded up for goodreads. First off, for being an early 90s historical romance and being medieval, there wasn't really anything problematic. I also really like the writing style. It was very easy to read and didn't have a lot of the long winded prose. I loved the slow-burn between them and the possessiveness Dominic felt towards Meg. There was a lot of parallel and metaphors throughout to training falcons and I really enjoyed it. While I know it bothered others that she was practically locked away for a bit, I didn't really mind it. Mostly because it really gave some nice (and weird) intimate moments between the two and you could really feel their connection grow and evolve. 

The only downside for me was how untrusting Dominic was. I think the misunderstanding of her feelings for her half-brother Duncan went a little too long and I wish she would've clarified earlier that she only loved him as a brother and wasn't in love with him. Others mentioned during the live that they felt it started slow, but I didn't feel that persay. The romance did take a little bit to get going, but the pacing felt okay to me so that we had time to really settle and understand what was going on.

This was my first Elizabeth Lowell and I definitely want to continue not only with this series, but her other historical series Only. It looks like she's mainly writhing thrillers and romantic suspense now. I definitely want to finish this trilogy at least. Plus I really want the gorgeous copies that have stepbacks. I'm excited to find another older historical romance to add to my collection and this was perfect to get me back into a historical mindset. I also have another historical author named Elizabeth to add to my list. Just in time for the Histrocial Romance Readathon that starts today!

Have you read Untamed?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Untamed, Elizabeth Lowell, 5-stars, 0 days, eBook, 416 pages, published in 1993

Mid-Year Freak Out Tag

Happy Sunday! 

I'm caught up with my reviews, so I wanted to do something a little different today. Lately a lot of the booktubers I follow have been doing the Mid-Year Freak Out Tag. While I'm just a booktube viewer, I figured I'd still join in, but with a blog post. Back in college I actually had a blog that was doing questionnaires and fun quiz things, so this certainly feels nostalgic. Without further ramblings from me, lets get into it!

1. Best book you've read so far this year?

Well, this is a really hard choice for me. So first off, I'm going to leave re-reads out of my options and just look at new to me books. It's still really hard to choose, so I'm going to go with my favorites for the main sub-genres I've read so far.

📘Contemporary Romance: Trouble with the Guy Next Door by Holly Renee
📘Dark Romance: A Bullet Between Us by K. Dosal
📘Fantasy Romance: Radiance by Grace Draven
📘Historical Romance: Return of the Rogue by Donna Fletcher
📘Novella: Medusa by Alessa Thorn
📘Paranormal Romance: A Kiss for Solstice by Elizabeth Allyn-Dean
📘Sci-Fi Romance: Saving Verakko by Victoria Aveline

2. Best sequel you've read so far this year?

Since a lot of what I read are series, I'm not just look at the second books. Once again I'm not looking at re-reads. The way I narrowed it down was if I enjoyed a later book better than the first (few) in the series. (I did read several sequels, that I absolutely loved, this year, but they are on par with the previous books.) I still have a couple options that's hard to choose between.

📘Savage Lover by Sophie Lark - book 3 in Brutal Birthright - Even though I enjoyed the first two books, Savage Lover really hit me just right and made me firmly on the Sophie Lark Bandwagon.
📘The Highlander by Kerrigan Byrne - book 3 in Victorian Rebels - The same kind of thing as before. I enjoyed the first two books, but they didn't live up to the hype for me. The Highlander really hit all the notes I was wanting (and kept hearing about) and really entrenched me in keeping up with the read-a-long.
📘Aubin by Annabelle Rex - book 5 in Intergalactic Soulmates - Once again I enjoyed the first few books, but they didn't quite hit all the notes for a 5-star read for me. Annabelle returning to the series and branching out in the universe was such a great choice and I love this epistolary alien romance!

3. New release you haven't read yet but want to?

For these I narrowed my options down to books released since February of earlier this year that I marked as want to read on goodreads. I narrowed down my list even more for books that I knew were going to come out before they did. (For example, Sophie Lark's Kingmakers series started releasing in April but it wasn't on my tbr until earlier this month.)

📘The Rakehell of Roth by Amalie Howard - Released 2/9/2021 - The second book in Amalie's Everleigh sisters duology. I had this preordered and keep planning to read it, but it just hasn't happened. Maybe I'll squeeze it in to the Historical Romance Readathon next week?
📘Scoundrel of My Heart by Lorraine Heath - Released 3/30/2021 - The start of a new series by Lorraine. I had seen great reviews of the arc by several booktubers I trust and bought it on release day. Still haven't gotten to it yet. Maybe during the readathon as well?
📘Yes & I Love You by Roni Loren - Released 3/2/2021 - This is a contemporary romance and the start to a new series. I didn't see very much of this on booktube or bookstagram, but I did a see one of my favorite bookstagrammers read an arc and love it. The premise also really intrigues me and I love the cover. Roni has been on my tbr for a while, I just don't read too much contemporary and tend to stick to my favorite authors (or sports romance) when I do.

4. Most anticipated release for the second half of the year?

There are quite a few releases I'm really looking forward to this year. I'm going to go by date and list the books I have preordered. I'm sure there are more that I haven't realized are set to be released or there are books in a series I haven't started yet. Also, goodreads doesn't go as far as December yet, but I do have one December release since I receive Stacy Reid's newsletter!

📘6/29/2021: An Extraordinary Lord by Anna Harrington, The Wrong Marquess by Vivienne Lorret & The Princess Stakes by Amalie Howard
📘6/30/2021: Carnal Urges by JT Geissinger
📘7/9/2021: Tempting Auzed by Victoria Aveline
📘7/20/2021: Witches Get Stitches by Juliette Cross
📘7/27/2021: Devil in Disguise by Lisa Kleypas
📘9/14/2021: The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
📘10/26/2021: Donut Fall in Love by Jackie Lau & Rules for Heiresses by Amalie Howard
📘10/29/2021: Savage Hearts by JT Geissinger
📘11/16/2021: Homecoming King by Penny Reid
📘12/28/2021: A Scoundrel of Her Own by Stacy Reid
📘Bonus: 1/25/2022: A Dance of Smoke and Steel by Milla Vane - This was originally set to release 10/26/2021, but I actually received an update for my preorder on Thursday that the release date has changed. I'm a little sad to wait a few more months, but it'll also come out right before February, which is also FaRoFeb!

5. Biggest disappointment?

This was fairly easier to choose. I looked at my lower ratings and then judged my expectations for the book. If I went in blind and didn't expect too much and it had a lower rating, I don't see that as much of a disappointment. There were two that immediately came to mind, Glacier by Miranda Bridges & Krya Snow and Seized by Love by Susan Johnson.

6. Biggest surprise?

Instead of going with specific books, I think I would just have to say my enjoyment of dark romance and mafia romances in particular. I've heard it mentioned a couple of times that there's a lot of parallel between historical romance and mafia romance. It's certainly true, and looking back after the fact I feel like I shouldn't be surprised I like it as much as I do. I've never really been interested in mafia romance or dark romance, despite being heavy into romantic suspense previously, but I really enjoy it. It could just also be my age now and life experiences are changing my reading tastes.

7. Favorite new author?

I've read quite a few new authors this year and have really been trying to expand my reading. I'm going to pick someone that I've read several books from and can firmly say is now a favorite. That means as much as I loved Ruthless Creatures and A Bullet Between Us, I can't quite call JT Geissinger and K. Dosal favorite authors... yet.

Alessa Thorn, CL Wilson, Donna Fletcher, Grace Draven, Holly Renee, Joanna Shupe, Kerrigan Byrne, Sophie Lark & Teresa Medeiros

8. Newest fictional crush?

Nino from Savage Lover, Ilias from A Bullet Between Us, Cavan from Return of the Rogue, Griffin from Notorious Pleasures, & Brishen from Radiance.

9. Newest favorite character?

Well, since before I did my favorite heroes, I'm going to focus on heroines!

Natalie from Ruthless Creatures, Jane from My Kind of Earl, Ildiko from Radiance, Sadie from Off the Record & Mala from The Beast of Blackmoor.

10. Book that made you cry?

Honestly, most of them that I gave 5-stars did. I'm really easy to affect emotionally and very easily cry/tear up. Both for sad and happy reasons. Just give me all the books and facial tissue.

11. Book that made you happy?

Same as above. Just look at my 5-stars.

12. Most beautiful book you've bought or were given this year?

Well, if I'm going off of what I've read and ended up buying paper copies of it would have to be any of the Grace Draven books. I also won signed copies of the first two books of Juliette Cross's Stay a Spell series. I did already have copies, but now I have signed ones as well and they are some of my favorite covers ever. I also recently bought (with my birthday gift card) paperback copies of Victoria Aveline's Clecanian series I can't tell you how many times I've pulled them out just to look at them. Then I have all my historicals that have beautiful stepbacks and covers, but there are too many to list. Overall I would say look at Melody Thomas's and Donna Fletcher's covers. So gorgeous. I also bought Ella Maise's To Love Jason Thorn and To Hate Adam Connor. I usually go for the darker or bright colored covers, but the white/cream just looks so gorgeous and the lighting effects on the letters are great. I just had to have them on my shelf (despite haven't even reading them yet).

13. Books that you need to read by the end of the year?

So outside of the releases that I listed above that come out this year, there are a couple author's backlists I'd like to get through as well as finish some series I've started. The ones that are at the top of my list are Sophie Lark, Juliette Cross, Alessa Thorn, Donna Fletcher & Vivienne Lorret. I'd also like to read some more in the Immortals After Dark series by Kresley Cole. There are also quite a few series I've started this year that I'd like to either finish or get caught up on. It's also been a plan of mine to go through my goodreads and look at what I've started (since I started using goodreads) and make a list of series I need to finish. Not sure when I'll have the extra time to do that. I'm sure once I do I'll make a post about "Series I Need to Finish."

I hope you enjoyed learning more about me and my reads this year. I had a lot of fun thinking back on the year so far and narrowing down my lists. It's been a while since I've done a quiz like this and really enjoyed it. Maybe I'll keep my eye open for other tags for (romance) readers and filter one in every once in a while. If you are on any of the platforms and haven't been tagged, consider yourself tagged!

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

Zander's Firecracker by Ember Flint

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Before jumping into a book club book, I had time for one more read. I wanted to go with a novella once again that would meet some of the prompts for my summer challenge. Since we're coming up on the end of June, I went with a July 4th based novella. Zander's Firecracker by Ember Flint is the first book in The Holiday Firecrackers series. This is a multi-author series that I found in fall of last year when I stumbled across Megan Wade. I was able to use Zander's Firecracker for the holiday not Christmas prompt for the Ripped Bodice Summer Bingo and set in summer prompt for Summer of Swoon.

Our hero Zander is in his early 30s and a lawyer and in a high level management position in his family's company. They used to have corporate retreats and 4th of July celebrations that his mother planned. This year is the first time that they are planning after her passing several years prior. His family has all struggled, specifically his dad. After finding out one of the companies they contracted for the fireworks display is not as eco-friendly as promised and actually causing issues at one of their plants, Zander decides they have to switch and starts helping the town as pro-bono in suing this company. The new company is family run and eco-friendly. They end up with their best engineer, the sister Alexa. Zander is nervous because she is 24 and also pushes back against his demands and requests in formulating the display.

So I've read several novellas lately and mentioned that I wished there were a little longer and in the 100 page range. This hit that threshold and I felt there was good character development and I felt the story was more complete. I didn't really mind the insta-love part. If I were to be specific, this would be more of 3.5 rounded up to 4-stars. I really liked Zander and connected with his innate need to have things organized and every box ticked on his to-do list. He did go a little overboard at times, but I also liked that it wasn't too far. Usually characters with his archetype are anti-children/family. That was not the case for Zander at all. He turned into a cinnamon roll with his nieces and nephews. He also worked so much partly due to allow his older brother more time with his family and not be forced to sacrifice more time with them than necessary. He's trying to keep him from getting the same regrets that their father has mentioned. I don't know, I just really liked how aware he was of everything.

Alexa was a lot harder for me to side with. Yes I understand she's supposed to be the complete opposite and the "young wild child" to bring Zander out more. There were some things that felt way to exaggerated and far. Yes their fireworks company is family run and more casual. I didn't expect her to show up in a three-piece suit. I understood that. But she's showing up for the first in-person meeting and even though she was just travelling, ratty shorts and a t-shirt with a snarky saying about her boobs just rubbed me wrong. Just wear a plain t-shirt. I don't know, it just bothered me. And she kept assuming the worst and that his issues with her were that she was a woman. He said nothing of the sort or to hint that that was his reasoning and she even acknowledged why this was such an important event for the family. Yet she still thought the worst of Zander. Their relationship was fine, but with the extra pages I wanted more from them and not as much time spent before they met. I also feel like the intro chapters really set up Zander well yet we didn't get the same time for Alexa. Maybe that's part of the reason I didn't connect with her as much too.

Overall I enjoyed this fun quick read. I'll probably read others in this series, but I might check the tropes first. If you're looking for a different holiday novella for fun, this series would be a good option I think. I know a lot of these authors participate in little series like this and have seen some St. Patrick's Day ones and Valentine's Day as well. They also have season based series as well as the normal holidays, Christmas and Halloween. I'll definitely pick one of these up at some point, but like I said above, it all depends on the tropes and author.

Have you read Zander's Firecracker?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Zander's Firecracker, Ember Flint, 4-stars, 1 day, eBook, 107 pages, published 2020

Teach Me by Olivia Dade

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Going through my summer challenges to pick another book before I need to start a book club book, I was specifically looking for a vacation romance. I went through my tbr once again and realized 40-Love by Olivia Dade would not only fit the vacation prompt, but also hit prompts on my other two reading challenges. However, I am a person that has to read things in order, even if they don't need to be. So I jumped back to book 1 in her There's Something About Marysburg series, Teach Me. This only covers the instagram rec prompt for Summer of Swoon.

Rose is a teacher at the local high school in Marysburg. She gets called in about a week before her summer vacation ends and is notified that a fellow teacher has retired. Martin is the new replacement, but due to some conflict between Rose and one of the board members, Martin not only gets to use her classroom during her planning periods, but was also given her honors US history class. This is a little bit of an issues since the students usually go from the honors class to the AP class, and it helps that it's with the same teacher so they can learn to trust her and how her classes are run. Martin is new to town, having moved to be closer to his daughter.

This is definitely an older romance, with Rose in her early 40s and Martin in his mid 40s. Now I'm only 32, but I'm finding myself drawn to and enjoying the more mature romances a lot lately. This was a little older than I usually read, but it was a nice change. It's just really nice to read characters that know who they are and that they can still be looking for their perfect person. Rose is frustrated about Martin in the beginning and comes off as a total Ice Queen. She knows it's not his fault, but she's still frustrated with the situation. Even more so since she has one of the highest AP attendance in the state and losing the honors class could affect future enrollment and therefore funding.

I'm not the biggest fan of enemies to lovers, so I was really happy to see that Rose starts to thaw towards Martin about the 20% mark. However there are issues and they quickly have a misunderstanding between them, mostly due to the horrible board member that caused the issues in the first place. I enjoyed how it became enemies to friends to lovers. I enjoyed the tension between them and how Martin was patient with her as much as he could be. He was so understanding. I also loved his daughter Bea. If I were to be firm on my rating it'd be more like 4.5-stars, but this book had me laughing and tearing up. It was just so feel good and nice to see two people connect and really come to understand each other. Oh and the caretaking portion was so well done. The conflict was more internal than I enjoy, but it really made a lot of sense and broke my heart. I really sympathized with Rose and how hard it is to not only let others past your defenses, but break them yourself.

I'm excited to finally get to some of Olivia Dade's other books. I've mentioned this in a couple tbr posts, but I've only read her Lovestruck Librarians series so far, but have had her other works on tbr for a while. I forgot how feel good her writing is. I'm certainly excited to continue in this series and Olivai's backlist. I know that a lot of people like the second book 40-Love, but I'm trying not to hype myself up too much. 

Have you read Teach Me?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Teach Me, Olivia Dade, ?-stars, 1 day, eBook, 276 pages, published in 2019

The Professor Next Door by Jackie Lau

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With some more free time for reads, and not wanting to read ahead for my clubs, I went for another book that would work to clear some prompts for my summer challenges. A recent release (earlier this June) was Jackie Lau's third book in her Cider Bar Sisters series, The Professor Next Door. I was able to apply this read to the Romancing Summer Challenge's AAPI author prompt, Summer of Swoon's starts with a "T" prompt and Ripped Bodice Summer Bingo's educator prompt. I was able to hit all challenges!

In The Professor Next Door we get Nicole as our main character. She is very sex positive and as we've learned from previous books, very anti-relationship. At the same time she gets lonely. The last four people she had hook-ups with ended up finding someone to date. After a quick power outage she finally meets her new next door neighbor David. David is a geology professor and has been dealing with hearing Nicole's night-time activities through the wall. He tries to not listen and move rooms, but with the banging of her headboard and sounds, it's hard for him to not be affected. 

I've mentioned this during my reviews for the previous books in this series, but I love that we are dealing with older people. Nicole, like the other Cider Bar Sisters is in her early 30s and we see David turn 40. He is also divorced after his former wife didn't really fight for him against her racist family. I love that they both connect more to not be alone and just get together for food (which is another great trait of Jackie Lau's books). When he finally cracks and tells her just how thin the walls are, things quickly escalate between them. I also loved how David both felt possessive of Nicole, but also knew that was an overreaction, especially since they didn't even really know each other when he started feeling like that. This is also one of the steamiest reads of Jackie. There's a lot of toys included (which you don't see too often). I also loved that there was no negative thoughts towards Nicole from David about her high sex drive outside of recognizing he would be jealous if she found someone else after they finally slept together. 

I also loved seeing Nicole's family, especially her grandmother Po Po. Family is another big aspect that Jackie has in her books and whether it's blood or found it always hits a chord in me. I've said this before, but if I could choose any contemporary world to live in, it would hands down be in Jackie Lau's universe. Her characters feel so real and I want to be their friend. Can I be a Cider Bar Sister? 

We get to see a little bit more of what's going on with Sierra, so I'm thinking she'll be the next book. There was an author's note at the end that there will be two more books in the series to release in 2022, one each for Sierra and Rose. I'm very excited to get to Rose. I mentioned this in my review for His Grumpy Childhood Friend, but Rose suffers from depression. Knowing (and liking) how Jackie deals with and addresses the more serious issues in her books, I'm really intrigued to see what she does for Rose. I can't wait for more! I do still have the Christmas novella to read from this series as well, but might wait until later in the year.

Have you read The Professor Next Door?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: The Professor Next Door, Jackie Lau, 5-stars, 1 day, eBook, 212 pages, published in 2021

Pizza My Heart by Frankie Love

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With a little bit more time before some book club books, I wanted to shoot to fill more prompts and finish out my Romancing Summer Challenge. I wanted to go with another novella since I had a busy afternoon and didn't get much time to read before bed. I decided to go with one of the food based novellas by Frankie Love. The first book in her Way To A Man's Heart series is Pizza My Heart. I was able to use this to apply to the prompts food on the cover for the Romancing Summer Challenge and novella for the Summer of Swoon board 2.

Mirabella is the younger sister of a brother and sister duo that run their deceased parents pizza shop. One day while working the register, Matteo comes in. There's instant attraction between the two and he practically begs for her number and for a date. Mirabella is shy and in remission from ovarian cancer. Matteo gets chased off by her older brother Tony. He comes back again, with flowers and the whole shebang and invites her to dinner at his fancy Italian restaurant.

This was very much an insta-love novella. I recently read Sheets and Giggles, a similar type of novella, and this one just didn't hit the same notes. This was a little too much insta-love and I feel like if we were going to stick to the 50 pages to do a time jump or quick passage of time (smaller than a time jump). They literally talked to each other for like 15 minutes and already are confessing love to each other and talking about marriage. I understand the moniker when you know, you know, but here it just felt too much. The steam was okay. I also didn't like the mentions of cancer for both Mirabelle and Matteo's mother. That's something heavy and either more needed to be addressed or just not there. Also there were two epilogues with a one-year and five-year time jump. I almost would've preferred one time jump for the epilogue and add the first into the meat of the story. 

It was quick, it was sweet, it was okay. I don't know if I'll read more Frankie Love, especially these 50 page novellas. Maybe if it has a trope I really like or fits a specific prompt for a reading challenge I'm struggling to find matches for. If I had to choose though, at this point I'd go with another author with this niche of novellas, like Megan Wade.

Have you read Pizza My Heart?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Pizza My Heart, Frankie Love, 3-stars, 0 days, eBook, 51 pages, published in 2020

Off the Record by Chelle Sloan

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After finishing my binge of Sophie Lark, I wanted a little bit of a change of pace before getting to some book club books. Instead of just going full mood reading, I looked at the prompts I had remaining for the Romancing Summer Challenge and tried to find something that fit one of the prompts as well as met something for my other summer challenges. And also fit my mood. After looking at several options, I decided to go with Off the Record by Chelle Sloan. She is a new author to me and is a fairly new author, having published only 3 books so far (and one more later this month). This is the first book in her Nashville Fury series. I was able to apply this to the sports romance prompt for the Romancing Summer Challenge, recommended by Shelby prompt for the Summer of Swoon and reporter prompt for the Ripped Bodice Summer Bingo!

Our heroine is Sadie, a reporter covering the Nashville Fury football team. She's the only woman reporter on the team, but is also one of the best. She's known as asking the best questions that really cause the players and coaches to think and not just be the same ones always asked. She is really focused on her job. One morning she runs into Hunter, former college player and now coach, before his interview for the Offensive Coordinator position. She breaks the story as they sit across from each other at the same table while flirting. They are immediately attracted to each other and so starts their fun romance. 

This was such a great, light read. I couldn't put it down and stayed up late to finish it. Sadie had me laughing and I even teared up a couple times. I liked is that this is a romance with a coach and not a player. You don't see coach romances too often in the sports romance genre, but I feel like there's more here lately. They both know that there is a lot at risk if they move forward with their relationship, but I loved how emotionally mature they both were most of the time. Even though secretly dating isn't necessarily the best plan, they do want to get to know each other first and if they can make it through the season with no mishaps on either end, let their respective bosses know. That way they'll have proof that they can do it without damaging either of their ethics. 

I also loved how even though they'll keep something to themselves sometimes, if it was something related to their relationship they both pushed to be open and honest. They could read each other so well and were really attuned to the small details of each other. A lot of the times I'll see that type of connection one way, but it was nice that it was on both ends. Did I see the third act conflict coming? Yes. It went down a little different than I expected, although I still assumed that Hunter would assume the worst about Sadie. It did bother me how long it took him to realize he was wrong and had really hurt Sadie. I don't think his grovel was quite what I wanted, but I did like that there was mention that they had a conversation in private afterwards that was hard, sad but overall good for them. I just wanted to actually see that conversation. This was also steamier than I expected. It was decently written, but there were a couple times where it seemed the foreplay was more explicit and then the full intimacy acts were glossed over. In later scenes it was more explicit. Not that it's bad that it wasn't explicit, but it just seemed odd to switch halfway through the scene, but then later go full bore. 

Overall I loved this book and am excited to see there's a second book in the series set around Sadie's sister Bethany and Davis, a fellow coach. We see Sadie and Hunter set them up in this book and I'm intrigued to read theirs despite it having the surprise baby trope. It's not a trope I usually enjoy. I'm definitely going to keep my eye on Chelle Sloan and will definitely try her other works. If you enjoy sports romance, definitely try this book!

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Off the Record, Chelle Sloan, 5-stars, 0 days, eBook, 322 pages, published in 2020

Heavy Crown by Sophie Lark

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The final book in Sophie Lark's Brutal Birthright series is Heavy Crown. My goal was to finish the series before the live interview Jenn (The Book Refuge) had on June 19th. I ended up not quite finishing, with 20% left before the show. It was a great interview and discussion that made me love Sophie Lark even more. If you like her books or even just like learning about authors that are in the indie publishing space, definitely check it out! Also, I was able to apply this to the prompts favorite author for the Summer of Swoon and date auction for the Ripped Bodice Summer Bingo.

Heavy Crown focuses on our remaining Gallo brother, Sebastian. He is walking home after a goodbye dinner with Dante (he and Simone are moving to France) and comes across a lady getting kidnapped. He ends up saving her and then accompanying her to her cousin's party. They have an instant connection and he also learns she is the daughter of the new Bratva boss in Chicago. There is a lot of twists and turns and we get more mafia in this book than the others. Yelena has always been seen as an object to be used by her father and her only positive relationship since her mother's passing is with her twin Adrian.

There were some things I wasn't too fond of in this book. It was really good though and I liked being able to see Sebastian find his place in the family and really find himself. I kind of got the feeling beforehand, but we do see him step up as the new head of the Italian Mob. I did not like Dante at all in this book. It felt like he was abandoning his family, which really rubbed me wrong. Family is a big part of the mafia romance novels, both blood and found. With the Gallos and Griffins (Irish mafia) moving to more legitimate businesses, I kind of wanted Dante to maybe split his time between the two locations. It just felt weird to me. Then he had to the gall to call Sebastian out. It just really rubbed me wrong.

The other thing that really bothered me was how Sebastian reacted after the wedding. It took to long to come to the realization that Yelena wasn't made aware of the plans. I know he was grieving, but it also seemed odd it took him a few days to question her for information. Then it felt a little too quick for them to be back at peace. I would've liked for there to be more discussion between them once everything was over. I was also disappointed that Adrian and Yelena were never able to reconnect and he allowed their father to tear them apart. I understand that it helps set up the spin-off, but I just wanted some sort of bridge between them, even if it was just a "in the far future" kind of thing.

Overall I really loved the series and while the final book wasn't quite what I wanted, it still ended well. I did enjoy the epilogue and the lead in to the Kingmakers series. I'm excited to jump right in. During the live Mr. Lark, Sophie's husband, recommended to read the first two books in the Kingmakers, go back and read the Underworld series, then jump back into the Kingmakers. I might read in that order, or I might just read Underworld before jumping in to Kingmakers. I am planning on getting to them soon either way, but it might not be until next month since I have several book club books to read as well as the Historical Romance Readathon later this month. I'd like to get caught up in time for the release of The Spy, the fourth book of Kingmakers. I'm guessing it'll be out sometime in July or August, but I didn't see an official release date yet. I'm definitely excited to read more though!

Have you read Heavy Crown?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Heavy Crown, Sophie Lark, 4-stars, 1 day, eBook, 371 pages, published in 2021

Romancing Summer Challenge - Mid-Challenge Update

Wrap up is posted!

Happy Sunday (and Father's Day and Summer Solstice)!

In May the Romancing Summer Challenge started and I posted a tbr(ish). It's about half-way through, so I wanted to do an update on how I'm sitting and what prompts I have left to finish on my board! The Romancing Summer Challenge is hosted on Instagram by ldornwrites, esther.reads, annareadshere, petite.bumblebeebooks, theromanticbibliotheca and mama.is.busy.reading!

Above is the blank board for reference. Below is where I'm currently sitting. I won't go over which books are where right now and save that for the wrap up (I'll link when it's up). Right now, I'll focus on what options or reads I have planned for the remaining prompts!

So I'm doing pretty good. A lot of my more current reads have doubled up on prompts already covered; Stolen Heir is the last read that covered a prompt not met yet. I only have 7 left to fill! I'll start at the top row and work my way down row by row.

🍦 Canadian Author: I have quite a few Canadian authors on my tbr. The one that sticks out most in my head is Jackie Lau. The third book in her Cider Bar Sisters series, The Professor Next Door, just came out and I want to get to it soon after recently starting the series. Another option at the top of my list would be Kelly Bowen. She writes mainly historical romance and I'm sure at least one of her books would fit the prompts for the next round of the Historical Romance Readathon later this month.

🍦 Animal on the Cover: There are a few options here. I have a few books left to get caught up in Jill Shalvis's Heartbreaker Bay series and the next one I have to read has a puppy on the cover (and stepback). I also recently added My Fair Lily by Meara Platt to my tbr. It's a historical romance that has a cute sheep dog. I also remember adding a historical romance series to my tbr a few months ago where the covers had the bottom of a dress and shoes with a kitten. After doing some digging and googling to figure it out, I finally found the series I was thinking of! It's Sally MacKenzie's Duchess of Love series! Although only book 1 has a kitten, the prequel and 2nd and 3rd books have puppies. There's also been quite a few newer contemporary releases with illustrated covers that have an animal on the front. Nothing in particular is speaking to me of these options at this point, but I'm leaning towards Sally MacKenzie.

🍦 Sports Romance: I recently found a tennis series on Instagram by Tracie Delaney called Wining Ace. I also usually reread one or more of Lia Riley's Hellions Angels series this time of year; they are my favorite hockey romance series. There's also been some rugby and football romances, as well as more hockey, I've recently added to my tbr. I do have to be honest though, most of the contemporary romances on my kindle are sports romances. I just have to buckle down and actually pick one.

🍦 Summer Release: Well, this is a fairly easy one to hit and I'll meet it at least once later this month. I mentioned above that Jackie Lau recently released her third Cider Bar Sisters book, so that would cover this prompt as well. I also mentioned in my Historical Romance Readathon tbr that there are at least 3 books coming out on June 29th that I have pre-ordered. I plan on getting to at least The Wrong Marquess that week. I also recently read Ruthless Creatures for the Mafia Romance Readathon and absolutely loved it (and already bought a paperback copy). The second book Carnal Urges is set to be released June 30th and it will be at the top of my list after the readathon ends on July 4th. There are quite a few more releases that came out earlier this month and in July and August on my tbr, but these are the ones I see myself reading first.

🍦 AAPI Author: As I mentioned above, Jackie Lau would once again cover this prompt. Another easily met option for this prompt is the group book for the Historical Romance Readathon, Olivia and the Masked Duke by Grace Callaway. I also was thinking, as mentioned in the same tbr, of finally trying Jeannie Lin's Tang Dynasty series for the readathon.

🍦 Food on the Cover: Once again my firth though is Jackie Lau. I've been wanting to reread her Baldwin Village trilogy and it's all based around food. Another series that pops into my head is Frankie Love's The Way to a Man's Heart, which is all food titled novellas. I know that I have more on my kindle, but those are what stick out the most right now.

🍦 Vacation Romance: Now this one is a little harder to for me to decide on. I don't read too many vacation romances since most of them are contemporary. I glanced through a vacation romance list on goodreads and looked for ones that I had marked as "to read." The only one that really stuck out was The Tourist Attraction by Sarah Morgenthaler. (It would also be a perfect option since it has snow on the cover which is a prompt for the Ripped Bodice Summer Bingo!) I'm sure there's other books on my tbr that I'm unaware are vacation romances.

So apparently I'll be going on a Jackie Lau binge. I do want to get through the rest of her backlist at some point. I only have 7 books and novellas left of hers, including her first traditionally published book set to release in October. I just don't get in the mood for contemporary romances too often. I also might keep an out for what other people are reading for a couple of these prompts to see if there's something that sounds good or that I was unaware would fit. It helps that a lot of these would also cover prompts in my other two summer challenges. I'm also super excited for the Historical Romance Readathon later this month and hopefully will get a few more of the prompts done. I'll for sure be able to get through quite a few reads. I'm hoping to get this challenge done by Mid-July so I can focus on the other challenges the rest of July and August, but we'll see where my mood reading takes me. I will post a wrap up once I've completed the challenge instead of waiting until it's over. Hopefully that will give ideas to anyone still working on theirs!

Are you participating in the Romancing Summer Challenge? If so, how are doing with the prompts?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

Giggles & Sheets by Megan Wade

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After finishing Broken Vow and watching the Rake Appreciation live show for Indigo, I wanted a quick novella read before jumping into Heavy Crown. I originally was thinking of going back to sci-fi, but the sci-fi romance novellas I've been into lately aren't really novellas and more in the 200+ page range. I went through my other novellas and decided to finally try a Megan Wade. I have most of her books on my kindle and thought why not finally give her a try. I went the first book in her Happy Curves series, Sheets & Giggles. I applied this to the Summer of Swoon prompt blue on the cover.

This is a quick romp about Ellie, a writer. She has a new neighbor and there's been some banging on the wall since he moved in. His name is Ashton and she mistakes the banging as him having relations with a lady she's seen visiting him daily. She mistakes this banging and they end up getting together.

Now this is a short book and I was looking for a short novella, but I did wish that it was a little longer and in the 75-100 page range. They have a sexy and whirlwind weekend and it's just kind of mentioned. I do wish we would've seen more of that time of them together. It's very insta-love and the characters are self-aware to realize that it's very quick. This is right what I was looking for and the 4-stars is for what this is. It was sweet, the steam scenes were good and I found myself chuckling a few times. Like I mentioned, I just wish it was a little longer and saw more of their connection outside of the steamy scenes. The epilogue was also super cute.

I don't want to go on too much more since this novella is less than 50 pages, so I don't want my review to be longer. It it was it says it is, an insta-love, sweet, steamy, feel good read. I'll definitely try more of Megan's books and am excited for her newest Wrong, Wright series. 

Have you read Sheets & Giggles?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Giggles & Sheets, Megan Wade, 4-stars, 0 days, eBook, 47 pages, published in 2020

Broken Vow by Sophie Lark

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Broken Vow by Sophie Lark is the fifth book in her Brutal Birthright series. I'm hoping to get through at least this series before her live show with Jenn (The Book Refuge) June 19th. After getting teased for this couple at the end of Bloody Heart, I was super excited to move on. I was also able to apply this book to the stable romp prompt for the Ripped Bodice Summer Bingo and small town prompt for Summer of Swoon.

We pick up not too long after Bloody Heart and Riona is working in her office. After a long day at work, she's an attorney, she heads home. She goes to work out in the swimming pool at her condo and is almost drowned. She escapes and calls her brother who also brings in Dante. Dante calls his friend Raylan, a.k.a. Long Shot, whom we met at the end of Bloody Heart. He's tasked to be Riona's bodyguard until they can deal with the hit out on Riona.

This is kind of a reverse of the grump/sunshine trope with Riona being the grump. I wouldn't necessary call Raylan "sunshine," but he's definitely very optimistic and gives off a very laid-back/easy-going vibe. He is a veteran that's currently working in the private sector and was a sniper with Dante. After Riona's building catches fire, he escapes with her to return to his family's horse ranch in Tennessee. I really enjoyed the push and pull between Raylan and Riona. He kind of sees her as a challenge, but once he starts getting glimpses behind her walls, it becomes more than that. I also loved that Riona was also up for the challenge and they were both super competitive. It did go a little overboard a couple times and I wanted a little bit of bend from them. Either swapping who bent or both at the same time. The steam level is pretty high again although a lot of it is the sexual tension between them. I do have to say, I was not a big fan of the riding crop scene. I would've wanted some discussion a little about it. I know if Riona had said something about it Raylan would've stopped, but it just was a little too much "sudden kink" for me. I'm not super into the spanking or whipping, so I was definitely a little squeaked out. Like I said, its probably just me.

That's really the only complaint I have. Otherwise I really liked the book. If I were to be a little more strict, my rating would be more like 4.5-stars. I loved seeing Riona around horses for the first time and her being forced out of her element. It was also fun to see how at ease Raylan was on the ranch. I really enjoyed the other little side stories and want Bo to have her own book (Raylan's younger sister). Maybe a novella? His family was really great too and it was fun to see it contrasted with mafia families. This is a super unique setting for a mafia book and it makes me want Sophie to write some small town and/or cowboy romances now too! I'm a little sad the series is almost over and I only have one more book left. Although that does mean I can start her spin-off series Kingmakers which focuses on the children of this series. I've heard a lot of great things about them and the third book actually just came out on Tuesday (June 15th)! I can't wait to get to them!

Have you read Broken Vow?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Broken Vow, Sophie Lark, 5-stars, 1 day, eBook, 406 pages, published in 2020

Bloody Heart by Sophie Lark

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Continuing my Sophie Lark binge, I read Bloody Heart. This is the fourth book in her Brutal Birthright series. I also applied this book to the saving for summer prompt for Summer of Swoon.

I'm very torn on this book. There were parts I really liked and parts I ended up kind of skimming. It just didn't hit me right. I do have to say though, after completely loving Savage Lover, I knew that the bar was certainly raised for the rest of the books in the series. Bloody Heart is also a second chance romance, which is one of my least favorite tropes. It also has the hidden baby trope. While that is also something that usually bothers me, I'm a little more forgiving when it comes to hiding it because the father is in the mafia.

So a brief rundown. Dante, the eldest Gallo brother, meets our heroine Simone nine years prior. They date for a couple months and fall in love. They are both young but it's such a strong connection formed that they both know that they are each other's person. Simone is the daughter of a diplomat and fairly sheltered. When Dante steals her town car, with her inside gathering herself before a gala, things start to heat up quickly between them. Things happen and family drama ensues and Simone is kind of forced by her parents to leave Dante. She was thinking about going against her parents, but Dante gets injured and shows up to the rendezvous injured and slightly crazed (because he was trying to get to her). Simone ends up leaving and not telling him she's pregnant or in love with him. We time jump back to the present and they end up meeting again as her father and Callum are speaking at the same rally. There's an assassination attempt and Dante is the lead of security for the rally. He takes point and starts his own investigation.

Now, before I get too harsh on the book, I want to go over the parts I did love. First off, Dante is a veteran and it was nice to learn more and see how he's using his skills now. We also learn that he was a sniper in Iraq. I loved the take charge attitude he had during the rally and it was so sexy. Just competence porn all the way. I also loved how despite Simone completely smashed his heart, he knows that it's her and only her. He's resigned himself to not have children or getting married if they can't be together. I also liked the moments showing the friendship between Dante and Callum's sister Riona. I really enjoyed the climax events and getting to see Dante and his friend Raylan do their thing.

Now where I had issues. Maybe this is just me, but it took until 40% in for Dante and Simone to reconnect. I feel like the flashback portion was too long and it left the rest of the book a little rushed for their romance emotionally. There is a lot of hurt and issues on both ends that I would've liked to have been resolved more. Not just banged out. Also, I was not on board with their reconnection scene. It was a little much for me, even though Simone was into it. I think it would've been perfect to do the flashback portion as a novella that ends up with them meeting at the rally. Then this book could pick up there and we would have more space to work on the emotions. Like I said though, second chance romance is harder for me to get behind. I find I'm usually okay with it if the second chance is more that they missed their first chance and never actually dated or got together in the past. Just circled around each other or pined for each other. (A great example of this is Fluffy by Julia Kent.) 

Another thing that bothered me is Simone kept putting off telling Dante about their son until the end. I just wanted her to "man up" and say it. I know she was scared and she was hurt too, but I didn't feel as sorry for her. She's the one that broke up with Dante and ran to London. While Dante says he could've gone after her, I didn't like him trying to put so much of their break up on himself. I didn't like the issues with her parents and wish there was more resolution between them. I did not like that their issues were never dealt with, but just buried. It also felt very odd that they were so adamant that she not raise Henry, but wanted to be grandparents. So most of what bothered me about the book was Simone. Like I mentioned above, there's mentions that she went through depression and all this other stuff, but I wanted more. From what I understand, as someone who has been through depression in the past, it's never really fully "cured." There are things you can do to mitigate and treat it, but it never goes away completely (I know that there are different types; this is just generally). This might be too personal, but as someone that is mostly fine and not dealing with depression symptoms daily, I certainly have down days where it takes everything in me to just get out of bed. There are things that trigger me and can cause me to spiral. Thankfully I've learned how to combat those instances. I just wish that if it was going to be mentioned, that there was actually some representation instead of it feeling more like a character trait. To give Sophie some credit, Simone could've suffered post-partum depression. It just wasn't quite addressed or mentioned what kind. That's were I feel like novella would've been helpful so Simone and Dante could deal with the deeper and darker emotions that was caused by their whirlwind romance and subsequent break up. (Although I'd love to see more representation of post-partum depression in a romance novel.)

Yes the bar was raised by Savage Love, but it was also paired with some tropes I don't like and not getting into the meat of their emotions. I did still enjoy the writing style and will continue reading the series and Sophie Lark for sure. We get a little teaser of Raylan and Riona's book, which is next. I loved Raylan in his few scenes here and can't wait for more. He also fits my young/new adult reading habits as some of my favorite books in late high school and early college where romantic suspenses. My favorites usually had main characters that were former military turned private sector (aka mercenary). I'm definitely planning to read Broken Vow next.

Have you read Bloody Heart?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎 

STATISTICS: Bloody Heart, Sophie Lark, 3-stars, 0 days, eBook, 436 pages, published in 2020

Historical Romance Readathon TBR

Wrap up is posted!

Happy Hump Day! 

I have another readathon tbr today! Announced earlier this month, Jess, Lacey and Lisa are hosting another round of the Historical Romance Readathon. I participated in the 2nd round earlier this year and had a lot of fun! As I'm sure you're aware if you've been following me, Historical Romance is one of my favorite sub-genres and in the past few years has been my default when picking up something to read when I don't have something specific in mind. This round runs from June 28th through July 4th with a live wrap up on July 4th on Lacey's channel. Once again they are using the hashtag #hrreadathon on social media. They have various templates on their instagrams, but I'll post the bingo board below.

They went for some different prompts this round, but all are pretty easily found in historical romance. I will list some ideas I have below. A lot of these will cover multiple prompts which is also nice!

🏰 The group read is Olivia and the Masked Duke by Grace Callaway. This book covers prompts Grace Callaway, duke in the title, purple cover, series and clinch cover. This also might cover indie published and spy I believe. I've had Grace Callaway's other series on my tbr for a bit, so I'm excited to finally try one of her books. I also want to mention that Olivia and the Masked Duke is a newer release (came out February this year) and she is an Asian author!

🏰 I've also been working on re-reading Lisa Kleypas's Ravenels series in preparation for the 7th book to release in July. My original plan is to read books 3 & 4, Devil in Spring & Hello Stranger, this month. These two would cover marriage of convenience, one person on the cover, series, self-made (wo)man, spinster and wallflower.

🏰 I can also read ahead for the Rake Appreciation Society (hosted by Jen and Crystal). The July book is The Earl I Ruined by Scarlett Peckham. It's the second in her Secrets of Charlotte Street series. I prefer to read in order though, so I'll also want to read The Duke I Tempted. These would both cover indie published, class difference, marriage of convenience, one person on the cover and series.

🏰 There are a couple new releases that drop June 29th that I have preordered. The first is The Wrong Marquess by Vivienne Lorret. This is the 3rd book in her Mating Habits of Scoundrels series. This should cover the prompts clinch cover, wallflower, spinster and series.

🏰 Another June 29th release is Amelie Howard's The Princess Stakes. This is a multi-cultural/interracial romance that was postponed from last year. It covers at least clinch cover and depending on how much time is spent in India and at sea, could also cover not in Europe. I also can't quite tell if the cover is pink or purple, so we'll see what it looks like in person. Another Amelie Howard still on my tbr is The Rakehell of Roth. I actually mentioned wanting to reread The Beast of Beswick in the 2nd round of the readathon, but never got around to it or the new release. This for sure covers purple cover, series, and clinch cover.

🏰 The last June 29th release I have preordered is An Extraordinary Lord by Anna Harrington. Anna is one of my favorite historical authors and I'm excited for the 3rd book in her Lords of the Armory series. I own but haven't read the first two in the series, but am hoping to get through at least one this readathon, if not all three! They should cover the prompts duke in the title, purple cover, spinster, wallflower, clinch cover and series. They might also cover the spy prompt.

🏰 For the Scottish prompt my go to is always Donna Fletcher. I have a couple thoughts there, but I still have a lot of her backlist to get through. I have two books I'm debating between. The first is the second book in her Warrior duology, Dark Warrior. The other option I'm debating is the next book in her Warrior King series, Loved by a Warrior. I read Bound to a Warrior earlier this year and it really kicked off my love for Donna Fletcher. She also has some other duologies and smaller series I'd love to get to, most of them also set in Scotland. The two options I'm debating between would also cover the spy, clinch cover and series prompts.

🏰 For the not in Europe prompt, I have a couple ideas. One is to finally return to Joanna Shupe and more specifically start her Uptown Girls or Knickerbocker Club series. These are both set in the USA. They would also cover class difference, self-made man, clinch cover, series and one person on the cover. The other option I'm thinking of for not in Europe is finally starting Jeannie Lin's Tang Dynasty series. This is historical romance set during the, wait for it, Tang Dynasty (618AD-907AD) in China.

🏰 Another just random option for me to get to is Melody Thomas. I bought all of her books (only 12) earlier this year, complete cover buys, and would like to finally try her. I'm sure her books would cover most of the prompts as well.

🏰 My final idea for the readathon that I might try to leave until Monday (or start the readathon early on Sunday) is A Lady of Rooksgrave Manor by Kathryn Moon. This is the June pick for the Smart Women Read Romance patreon live review (that's Tuesday night). I usually read it the weekend before (which is technically before the readathon starts), but I'm thinking of starting it late Sunday night and then trying to finish on Monday. I might just read it earlier though. This is another dual sub-genre, historical and paranormal. It's a reverse harem (which I'm not the biggest fan of) monster romance and should be a fun read. If I do read it for the readathon as well it would cover the indie published, series and one person on the cover. It also might be class difference depending on who is in her harem. I know the main character is originally a maid before joining the house where she forms her harem. 

I have a lot of options once again, but it's helpful that most of these prompts are easily met. The only one that I don't have an idea for off the top of my head is single parent, but there are quite a few single parent historicals out there and I'm sure there are quite a few on my massive tbr. It could also be later on in a series I might end up starting. I'm really looking forward to going on another historical binge and can't wait! Last time I ended up with 7 books, so my goal is to try to do the same and at least get one bingo. I haven't decided if I'm going to use a book for multiple or one prompt yet, but I'll most likely go with one prompt per book. I'm also excited to fit a lot of these into my summer reading challenges and hopefully it'll help me get an even better jump in getting some of the easier prompts covered before my check-ins next month. 

Will you be participating the the Historical Romance Readathon?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎