Hey hey! It’s time for the first Whatcha Reading of August!
Let’s get into it!
Claudia: I just finished At Summer’s End ( A | BN | K ) and taking a bit of time choosing my next one… Currently browsing a barbecue book I got from the library.
Catherine: I’m on a T. Kingfisher binge! Minor Mage ( A | BN | K ) which is set in the same universe as her Paladin romances. This is raising certain expectations which may or may not be met by the plot, but I’m enjoying the journey immensely.
Sneezy: I’m on yet another Beverly Jenkins binge. Her books are pets and snuggles for too sad and tired brains!!! Right now I’m on A Chance at Love. ( A | BN | K )
Elyse: I just finished Spoiler Alert and All the Feels by Olivia Dade ( A | BN | K ) and am awash in warm fuzzies
Carrie: I’m reading two very different books – the warm and feminist Love in Color by Bolu Babalola and the 1940’s super cynical noir Nightmare Alley by William Lindsay Gresham. ( A | BN | K )
Maya: I just finished the newest honey badger book — Breaking Badger by Shelly Laurenston. It was exactly what I needed and a perfect pairing with The Suicide Squad. Harley has big honey badger energy!!
Susan: …Oh my god that is the most perfect description of her I’ve ever seen.
I’m bouncing between two very tonally different books! One is Cherí, My Destiny, ( A | BN | K ) which is an m/m manga about the epic (and completely one-sided) rivalry between a patissiere and a sweet-maker, although I currently want someone to push the protagonist into a puddle. The other is The Girl From the Other Side by Nagabe, which is a slow, understated, weirdly beautiful horror manga about oppression and curses.
Sarah: Maya, I just started Breaking Badger, and it occurred to me that one of the reasons I can read this much violence (which otherwise would be a ‘nope’ for me) is that within the world, the characters, as shifters, can absorb a lot of damage so I know they’re going to be okay, AND they’re going to dish out just as much as they have to endure if not more. The ferocity is COMFORTING.
Tara: I’m reading Chemistry Lessons by Jae, ( A | BN | K ) which is a friends-to-lovers story where two best friends are clearly in a relationship and are in denial about it. It’s very cute. In audio, I’m listening to Jesus and John Wayne by Kristin Kobes Du Mez ( A | BN | K ) and it’s equal parts excellent and infuriating. I really appreciate how it’s helping me understand the forces that shaped the evangelical context I grew up so I know the why behind so much of what was said.
Shana: I’m halfway into Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert. ( A | BN | K | AB )I would like to have the heroine’s brightly colored braids, please.
Kiki: I’m listening to The Intimacy Experiment by Rosie Danan and really loving it. It’s unintentionally the second book with a relationship between a sex worker and a religious leader that I’ve read recently—the other being The Lord I Left by Scarlett Peckham (which made me cry more than once)
Catherine: I loved The Intimacy Experiment so much!
What books have kicked off your month? Let us know!
I think I missed a couple of these, so I’m going to list books from July as well as August.
Hope on the Rocks (Rainbow Cove #4) by Albert, Annabeth – serviceable close to the Rainbow Cove series but a little boring
Mangos and Mistletoe by Herrera, Adriana
Fake Dating the Prince by Kane, Ashlyn – adorable tropey, light mm romance that’s exactly what the title promises
The Circus Rose by Cornwell, Betsy – queer retelling of Snow White, Rose Red (not at all the same as Snow White)
Black Water Sister by Cho, Zen – excellent UF set in Malaysia. Darker than her historical fantasies but so, so good.
The Inside Edge by Kane, Ashlyn – mm rivals to lovers romance. Light, tropey and emotionally satisfying.
I’m finally reading the Psy-Changeling books! In a kind of reverse Bad Decision Book Club, I couldn’t sleep Friday night, saw that my library had the SLAVE TO SENSATION ebook, and blew though half before finally falling asleep. They don’t have the next few though so I bought VISIONS OF HEAT and am close to the end.
My library hold on OPEN by Andre Agassi also came in Saturday so I’m listening to that as well. His father is an a-hole.
Last week I listened to ELATSOE by Darcie Little Badger, a YA mystery about a Lipan Apache girl who can speak to the dead and has a Very Good Boy ghost dog. The prose was a little clunky in spots but I loved the supportive family and friendships. Hoping she writes more about Elatsoe.
My Goodreads goal tells me I’m 2 books ahead of schedule for the year but it sure doesn’t feel like it–instead I feel like I’ve been doing way more mindless scrolling of TikTok than actual reading lately. I’m blaming it on pandemic resurgence creating a corresponding anxiety resurgence. But I did read a bit these last few weeks–started with EXPOSED by Kristen Callihan. Her writing is great but I’ve had a love/meh relationship with the VIP series and this one was in the meh category for me. I didn’t feel any connection to the female main character and while I’m a sucker for a “we’ll just be friends with benefits” trope, the setup for the book fell a little flat. Then I moved on to FORCE OF NATURE by Jane Harper. Her writing never fails to hook me. I was in from the first page and ended up staying up way past a civilized hour to finish this. Harper is a great storyteller and masterful at making a setting come alive. Ended up with DEVIL IN DISGUISE by Lisa Kleypas. It was just OK for me, and it pains me to say that about a Lisa Kleypas book. As others have mentioned, the attraction between the two main characters seemed forced and there was no real explanation for why these two even liked each other, so I never felt any tension. Hot sexy times all over the place but the story as a whole just did not have the usual Kleypas magic. Now I am in a comfort re-read place due to some tough family stuff over the weekend that left me needing to distract my brain, so I’m rereading DAY OF THE DUCHESS by Sarah MacLean, in preparation for her new release next week. Trigger warnings for cheating spouse and child death. Normally that sentence would 100% make me avoid a book but I picked this one up during peak pandemic last year and devoured it in one night. The heroine is amazing, the banter is top-notch, and the angst is like level 80. It’s the only book that has ever redeemed a cheating hero for me.