Welcome back to Hide Your Wallet!
This is a quiet end to the month for us. Only three books are on our radar. June is looking much beefier in terms of our personal TBR piles.
Do you have anything on your release week list? Or are you in the same boat as us?
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Evocation
Author: S.T Gibson
Released: May 28, 2024 by Angry Robot
Genre: LGBTQIA, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Urban Fantasy
Series: The Summoner's Circle #1From The Sunday Times bestselling author of B&N’s best books of 2022 A Dowry of Blood, comes a spellbinding and vibrant new series.
The Devil knows your name, David Aristarkhov.
As a teen, David Aristarkhov was a psychic prodigy, operating under the shadow of his oppressive occultist father. Now, years after his father’s death and rapidly approaching his thirtieth birthday, he is content with the high-powered life he’s curated as a Boston attorney, moonlighting as a powerful medium for his secret society.
But with power comes a price, and the Devil has come to collect on an ancestral deal. David’s days are numbered, and death looms at his door.
Reluctantly, he reaches out to the only person he’s ever trusted, his ex-boyfriend and secret Society rival Rhys, for help. However, the only way to get to Rhys is through his wife, Moira. Thrust into each other’s care, emotions once buried deep resurface, and the trio race to figure out their feelings for one another before the Devil steals David away for good…
A new queer fantasy series from S.T. Gibson!
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The Ride of Her Life
Author: Jennifer Dugan
Released: May 28, 2024 by Avon
Genre: Contemporary Romance, LGBTQIA, RomanceMolly McDaniel’s life is falling apart. Between her day job as a barista, her night job at a call center, and her crushing student loans, she’s barely getting by. And that dream she has of starting a wedding event planning business? The dream that led to all those student loan in the first place? She can feel it slipping farther and farther out of reach every day. So the absolute last thing she needs is to discover she’s inherited a run-down, struggling horse barn out of the blue, courtesy of her estranged late aunt.
Molly is so ill-equipped to run the barn, it’s laughable. She certainly doesn’t have the money, time or knowledge needed to save it, no matter how much faith everyone who loved her aunt has that she will. But the more Molly gets involved, the more she starts to wonder: maybe the barn is a blessing in disguise. If she can sell the land, the profits could be the small-business seed money miracle she’s been waiting for. So what if she’s starting to love everyone in the mismatched family she’s found here?
Well, everyone except Shani, the resident farrier and family friend who took care of Molly’s aunt in her last days. Judgmental, grouchy Shani, who refuses to give up on the barn; who walks around like she so much better than Molly; who’s actually really good with the horses…and kind of thoughtful. And obnoxiously hot. And unfailingly loyal.
And suddenly, Shani has become an entirely different kind of problem, one Molly can’t possibly solve, not without risking her whole future, no matter how much her heart wishes she could.
Dahlia: Jennifer Dugan is an autobuy for me, and I can’t wait to see what she can do with Sapphic horse girls.
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Summer Fridays
Author: Suzanne Rindell
Released: May 28, 2024 by Dutton
Genre: Contemporary Romance, RomanceYou’ve Got Mail for a new generation, set in the days of AOL and instant messenger banter, about a freshly engaged editorial assistant who winds up spending her “summer Fridays” with the person she least expects
Summer 1999: Twentysomething Sawyer is striving to make it in New York. Between her assistant job in publishing, her secret dreams of becoming a writer, and her upcoming wedding to her college boyfriend, her is plate full. Only one She is facing an incredibly lonely summer as her fiancé has been spending longer and longer hours at work . . . with an all-too-close female colleague, Kendra.
When Kendra’s boyfriend, Nick, invites Sawyer to meet up and compare notes about their suspicions, the meeting goes awry. She finds Nick cocky and cynical, and he finds her stuck in her own head. But then Nick seeks out Sawyer online to apologize, and a friendship develops.
Soon, Sawyer’s lonely summer takes an unexpected turn. She and Nick begin an unofficial ritual—exploring New York City together every summer Friday. From hot dogs on the Staten Island Ferry and Sea Breezes in a muggy East Village bar to swimming at Coney Island, Sawyer feels seen by Nick in a way that surprises her. He pushes her to be braver. To ask for what she wants. Meanwhile, Sawyer draws Nick out of his hard shell, revealing a surprisingly vulnerable side. They both begin living for their Friday afternoons together.
But what happens when the summer is over?
Summer Fridays is a witty and emotional love letter to New York City that also captures the feeling of being young and starting out, uncertain what to do on your summer Friday. It’s also perfect for readers who remember when “going online” meant tying up the phone line, and the timeless thrill of seeing a certain someone’s name in your inbox.
Elyse: I wept a little listing a book set in 1999 as historical, but this novel explores dating just as email and instant messanger were becoming a thing which was exactly where I was at that time.
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I only have one book on my tbr this week, but I’m really looking forward to it: after bingeing Nicky James’s Valor & Doyle series of romantic-suspense stories, I’m eager to read SKELETONS IN THE CLOSET (May 30), which begins another series (called Shadowy Solutions) featuring two mismatched investigators working together to solve a case. I’ve already read the prequel novella, INVISIBLE SCARS, and I am so there for a full-length mystery feature the mismatched Domingo & Krause.
Love Love Loved the Ride of Her Life! The rest are on my TBR!
Despite a TBR pile that could easily stock a bookstore and vows to read 2 books for every book I add, I’m very tempted by SUMMER FRIDAYS. I love the idea of a counterpoint to all the small town romances that vilify any city of more than 10,000. I don’t want to criticize small towns, I just want some acknowledgement that Big Cities have their Good Points too. It’s one of the things I liked about Kate Clayborn’s LOVE LETTERING. Meg & Reid’s relationship grows as they explore Brooklyn and other parts of the city and she opens his eyes to some of the wonders NY has to offer. For various reasons I’ve spent more time in NY the past few years (having a grandchild there being a major one), and I’ve learned to look at the city and pay more attention to its architecture and history and all the things I’d rushed past in my earlier visits*. I do find NYC wearing and at times overwhelming, but I’m grateful for all the things I’ve learned to actually look at and appreciate. Fingers crossed that Rindell’s book opens my eyes to even more.
*An example: the building that now houses Chelsea Market used to be where Oreos were made. As someone who spent a certain amount of time in her childhood carefully separating the cookies and the filling and dipping the cookies in milk while racing to eat them before they fell apart in the glass, I had no idea that they originated in the biggest city in the country – it was not my idea of Manhattan at all when growing up in Phoenix.
Suzanne Palmer’s 4th Finder book is out today! The main character reads as ace or ace-adjacent in the first three books, so go in expecting a science fiction adventure but no romance.
I have to throw in a rec for Dreadful, by Caitlin Rozakis, which was officially released Tuesday. It’s not a romance, it’s a comic fantasy about what happens when the Evil Wizard suddenly loses his memory. Why is he in this castle? What does this half-burned sheaf of papers say? Why does he have a princess in his dungeon? Why does he have goblin minions, and satin robes covered in embroidered flames? Also, is he in fact evil, and does he have to be if everyone assumes he is?
This book has it all–laughter, banter, discussions of toxic masculinity and the appearances both men and women have to project, the aforementioned goblin minions, a garlic festival. I got an E-ARC, grinned the whole time I was reading it, and promptly pre-ordered a copy because I know I’m going to want to read it again.
@Lara, that sounds rather delightful!
@flchen1, I requested it because the advance cover copy compared it to T. Kingfisher, and yeah, if you like her White Rat series, this will be right up your alley. It has similar vibes in the slightly-confused-and-tired protagonist, and the deep-breath sense of “okay, this is happening, best I can do is roll with it, try not to die, and figure it out as I go”.
Ooh, thanks! I will definitely be checking this out!
The one book this week I picked up and really enjoyed is EXHIBITED: A GENTLE LOVE STORY by Nellie Wilson. It’s the third in her series, but the first I’ve read by her, and I think it stands alone well. It’s an m/m story about an exhibit designer and a forest ranger, set in Colorado. I feel like it’s as advertised, a well-paced story about these imperfect guys getting to know each other and falling for each other. They’re surrounded by a great community that gives them space to grow and also nudges them when needed. I found Jeremy and Davis’s story quite moving and I am really looking forward to reading more of her writing.