June in review

Sorry I’m late (this said in my best Regina voice). I confess that I took last week to really, really rest, as it was the first week of my summer vacation. I also took some time to start this crazy new venture of a tennis site, which is something I was sorely missing. If you’re curious, you can have a look at this new baby of mine, Kick Serve, which will really be tennis with a twist. Does this mean that I will stop writing about books? Oh, no! I love blogging about books too much to give it up. And now that I have time, reading I am.

How was June for this reader? Well, considering that we are talking about the busiest month of the year for a Northern Hemisphere teacher, and an emotionally charged one to boot, it was, as expected, slow. “But you read eight books in June, Caro!” some would say. Considering that I usually read the double amount of that, it was a very slow month.

However, it might have been slow, but it was still full of good books, including four rereads (and a half). Because I could not focus much on anything new and I wanted to start rereading the Charley Davidson series (thanks to that amazing novella that Darynda Jones published in May, which I will tell you about later this week, in the middle of some appointments, one of which being indirectly book themed), three of those reads were from that fantastic series. Among those reads, one and a half of them were also rereads (half because it was one that I started in May and finished in June). As for the rest, it was a new release and two ARCs.

I really mean it when I say it was a slow month!

My favourite June reads

First, there were rereads, them being Robyn Peterman’s latest book, You Light Up My Midlife Crisis, this time with Jessica Almasy’s amazing narration. Then came another fabulous narrator, Nicole Poole, with my (re)listen of Warrior Fae Trapped, in preparation of Revealed in Fire‘s release. I did not have time to do the same with Warrior Fae Princess, be it in ebook or audio, due to total lack of time, but I trusted my memory on that one. Finally, there were the three first Charley Davidson books, which I love as much the third time around as I did when I first read them.

To top off the five (!!!) rereads, there were three new reads: one started in May and finished in June (so I count it for June), and two ARCs. I’ll go with publication date for those.

Earth Spells Are Easy (Renee George)

A new Renee George PWF series, with an heroine closer to my age? Don’t mind if I do! All right, contrary to Iris, I am not a divorcée (heck, I’ve never even been married), let alone a mother, or a witch, but the age is something that appealed greatly to me in this one. And the obnoxious gnome. And the hot professor (but is he really a professor?). Well, everything, really. Which is why I read it rather quickly considering I was in the middle of giving finals to the little ones.

In fact, I loved the book so much that I pre-ordered the next one, Spell on Fire (of which I recommend not to read the blurb if you don’t want a big spoiler from the first book), which comes out on the 26^th, the moment I finished this one. Of course, there should be a review over the course of the next two weeks, now that I have time.

My Goodreads review

Starting From Scratch (Christine Gael) – ARC (now published) read

Every month seems to bring a new Bluebird Bay novel, and I will never be the one to complain! This time, the story moves to Cherry Blossom Point, where Anna follows Nikki in order to finally meet her biological father. But with it comes meeting “the halfs”, aka Gayle, Jack, and Lena, Nikki’s siblings, with the issues that such a meeting entails. There might also be a love story hidden in the depth of those hearts…

Sadly for me, there is no new book of either series coming in July. However, I’m looking much forward to the next one, whenever it comes.

My Goodreads review (for now)

Revealed in Fire (K.F. Breene) – ARC (now released) read

What can I say about that book that I haven’t written before? Very little, except that in the audiobook, Steve finished his self-search (dixit Keri Frey, K.F. Breene’s assistant, to my great hilarity) and is really an Aussie, not a Boston guy (those who listened to the first eight books know what I am referring to). However, I will repeat this, from my Goodreads and Amazon reviews (words you might have also read in some promotional material, to my bashful honour): “Hilarious as always, action-packed to the brim, and leaving us awaiting the next book with bated breath.” I will also add: it takes an amazing book to make me reread it the moment it comes out, although it was in audio, this time. That’s two for two in K.F. Breene’s latest releases, which I reread after release because it’s just too good.

Thankfully, Mentored in Fire comes out on the 30^th, because that cliffhanger, I swear! And what is said in the current (non)blurb (“Reagan’s opinion about Seers hasn’t improved.”) is such a tease!

My complete, spoiler free review

July in reads

There will be no less than five more new releases for me this month, starting with A.R. Casella and Denise Grover Swank’s All the Luck You Need, which I might read a little later since I am still not caught up with the Asheville Brewing series, much to my dismay. But catch up before school resumes I will. This one comes out on the 12^th.

Then there will be two ARC readings: Fashionably Dead and Demonic, the 15^th (!!!) Hot Damned book by Robyn Peterman, which comes out on the 19^th, but of which I will offer a review in the days prior to release day. There will also be the aforementioned Mentored in Fire which, considering the cliffhanger, K.F. Breene doesn’t make us wait to long to read and releases it four weeks after Revealed in Fire.

On top of those three, there will be a jam in my reading queue if I don’t read Renee George’s latest in one day, as Spell on Fire, which I mentioned earlier, comes out on the 26^th, but one of the books I’ve been waiting for the longest (over a year), Darynda Jones’s second Sunshine Vicram book, A Good Day for Chardonnay, releases on the 27^th. And I will be honest: I need to read this one as soon as it’s out because over a year is long to know what happens to characters I’ve grown to know and love.

Of course, there are also many more reads, including one I promised a former colleague to do (his favourite book, which he recommended very highly), and more books that I need to finish, several late reviews to write, and so on. On top of the tennis and life, obviously. But that’s the way I like it!