Top Ten Tuesday – My 10 Favorite Reads of the Year So Far

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Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.  Top Ten Tuesday has been one of my favorite memes ever since I started blogging, so huge thanks to Jana for taking over the hosting duties!

This week’s TTT topic is a Freebie, so I thought it would be fun to share my 10 Favorite Reads of the Year So Far. All of my favorite authors delivered big for me in the first half of the year, so these are all highly anticipated releases that met or exceeded my very high expectations.

 

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My 10 Favorite Reads of the Year So Far

 

   

 

Have you read or are you planning to read any of these?

Can’t Wait Wednesday – A DEMON’S GUIDE TO WOOING A WITCH by Sarah Hawley

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“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, which encourages fellow bloggers to spotlight upcoming releases that we’re excited about.  It is a meme that I have  loved participating in since I first started blogging, but as Jill is no longer actively posting, from now on I’ll be linking to Can’t Wait Wednesday, hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings, which is a spinoff of the original WoW meme.

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My selection for this week is A DEMON’S GUIDE TO WOOING A WITCH by Sarah Hawley.  I thought the first book in this series was hilarious so I can’t wait to return to this world and see what these characters are up to.

A DEMON’S GUIDE TO WOOING A WITCH by Sarah Hawley

Publication Date: November 28, 2023

by Berkley Romance

 

Goodreads:

Calladia Cunnington curses the day she met Astaroth the demon, but when he shows up memoryless, why does she find him so helpless . . . and sort of hot?

Calladia Cunnington knows she’s rough around the edges, despite being the heir to one of small-town Glimmer Falls’ founding witch families. While her gym obsession is a great outlet for her anxieties and anger, her hot temper still gets the best of her and manifests in bar brawls. When Calladia saves someone from a demon attack one night, though, she’s happy to put her magic and rage to good use . . . until she realizes the man she saved is none other than Astaroth, the ruthless demon who orchestrated a soul bargain on her best friend.

Astaroth is a legendary soul bargainer and one of the nine members of the demon high council–except he can’t remember any of this. Suffering from amnesia after being banished to the mortal plane, Astaroth doesn’t know why a demon named Moloch is after him, nor why the muscular, angry, hot-in-a-terrifying-way witch who saved him hates him so much.

Unable to leave anyone in such a vulnerable state–even the most despicable demon–Calladia grudgingly decides to help him. (Besides, punching an amnesiac would be in poor taste.) The two set out on an uneasy road trip to find the witch who might be able to restore Astaroth’s memory so they can learn how to defeat Moloch. Calladia vows that once Astaroth is cured, she’ll kick his ass, but the more time she spends with the snarky yet utterly charming demon, the more she realizes she likes this new, improved Astaroth . . . and maybe she doesn’t want him to recover his memories, after all.

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I’d love to hear what upcoming book releases you’re waiting on this Wednesday? Leave me your link in the comments below and I’ll stop by and check out your CWW selection for this week. 🙂

Top 10 Tuesday – My Most Anticipated Books Releasing During the Second Half of 2023

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Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.  Top Ten Tuesday has been one of my favorite memes ever since I started blogging, so huge thanks to Jana for taking over the hosting duties!

This week’s TTT topic is My Most Anticipated Books Releasing During the Second Half of 2023.  The hardest part about this topic is trying to narrow down to just ten books that I’m excited about. These were the ten that first popped into my head but there are so many others that I’m also very excited to read in the second half of the year.

 

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My Most Anticipated Books Releasing During the Second Half of 2023

 

 

  

 

Have you read or are you planning to read any of these?

Can’t Wait Wednesday – NOT BAD FOR A GIRL by Anastasia Ryan

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“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, which encourages fellow bloggers to spotlight upcoming releases that we’re excited about.  It is a meme that I have  loved participating in since I first started blogging, but as Jill is no longer actively posting, from now on I’ll be linking to Can’t Wait Wednesday, hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings, which is a spinoff of the original WoW meme.

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My selection for this week is NOT BAD FOR A GIRL by Anastasia Ryan. I took part in the cover reveal for this book over on my Instagram account and it sounds like such a fun read that I just had to share it on my blog as well.

 

NOT BAD FOR A GIRL by Anastasia Ryan

Publication Date: January 30, 2024

by Sourcebooks Casablanca

 

Amazon Pre-Order Link

THE BEST MAN FOR THE JOB JUST MIGHT BE A WOMAN…

INDIANA “ANA” AARON is a talented coder and a natural leader, but her tendency to say what everyone else is thinking hasn’t made her many friends at work. After speaking up one too many times for her boss’s ego, she’s transferred to a remote team-and it’s clear this is her last chance to blend in and stop questioning authority.

So from now on, Indiana isn’t going to give her supervisors another opportunity to discredit her. She’ll keep her head down and her camera off. But the next time she can’t help but speak up via email, she’s shocked to be praised…as Mr. Aaron. Turns out her new team assumes she’s a he, and the way they treat her is completely different from what she’s come to expect. She knows she should come clean, because the more time that passes before Ana reveals the truth, the worse it could get for her and her coworkers-including handsome tech guy Shane, who’s smart enough to put the puzzle together.

From hilariously awkward lunch breaks to cringe-worthy Zoom calls, Ana is in over her head, especially with the well intentioned, but thoroughly misguided help from the only people who know that “he” is a “she”—her two work besties, Heidi and Patrick. But with Shane by her side, it’s not long before Ana realizes that she’ll only be happy when she takes her story into her own hands.

 

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I’d love to hear what upcoming book releases you’re waiting on this Wednesday? Leave me your link in the comments below and I’ll stop by and check out your CWW selection for this week. 🙂

Can’t Wait Wednesday – THE FAKE MATE by Lana Ferguson

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“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, which encourages fellow bloggers to spotlight upcoming releases that we’re excited about.  It is a meme that I have  loved participating in since I first started blogging, but as Jill is no longer actively posting, from now on I’ll be linking to Can’t Wait Wednesday, hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings, which is a spinoff of the original WoW meme.

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My selection for this week is THE FAKE MATE by Lana Ferguson.  Here I am in the middle of my summer reads, already looking ahead to fall and winter releases.  I really enjoyed Lana Ferguson’s last book, The Nanny, so I was excited to see that she has a new rom com coming out before the end of the year and that it features wolf shifters!

 

THE FAKE MATE by Lana Ferguson

Publication Date: December 5, 2023

by Berkley

 

From Goodreads:

Two wolf shifters agree to be fake mates but unexpectedly find something real in this steamy paranormal romantic comedy by Lana Ferguson.

Mackenzie Carter has had some very bad dates lately. Model train experts, mansplainers, guys weirdly obsessed with her tail—she hasn’t had a successful date in months. Only a year out of residency, her grandmother’s obsession with Mackenzie finding the perfect mate to settle down with threatens to drive Mackenzie barking mad. Out of options, it feels like a small thing to tell her grandmother that she’s met someone. That is, until she blurts out the name of the first man she sees and the last man she would ever Noah Taylor, the big bad wolf of Denver General.

Noah Taylor, interventional cardiologist and all around grump, has spent his entire life hiding what he is. With outdated stigmas surrounding unmated alphas that have people wondering if they still howl at the moon, Noah has been careful to keep his designation under wraps. It’s worked for years, until an anonymous tip has everything coming to light. Noah is left with two come clean to the board and risk his career—or find himself a mate. The chatty, overly friendly ER doctor asking him to be her fake boyfriend on the same day he’s called to meet the board has to be kismet, right?

Mackenzie will keep her grandmother off her back, and Noah will get a chance to prove he can continue to work without a real mate—a mutually beneficial business transaction, they both rationalize. But when the fake-mate act turns into a very real friends-with-benefits arrangement, lines start to blur, and they quickly realize love is a whole different kind of animal.

 

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I’d love to hear what upcoming book releases you’re waiting on this Wednesday? Leave me your link in the comments below and I’ll stop by and check out your CWW selection for this week. 🙂

Can’t Wait Wednesday – THE UNMAKING OF JUNE FARROW by Adrienne Young

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“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, which encourages fellow bloggers to spotlight upcoming releases that we’re excited about.  It is a meme that I have  loved participating in since I first started blogging, but as Jill is no longer actively posting, from now on I’ll be linking to Can’t Wait Wednesday, hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings, which is a spinoff of the original WoW meme.

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My selection for this week is THE UNMAKING OF JUNE FARROW by Adrienne Young.  I’ve had such good luck with this author’s books, both her YA and her adult ones, so I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy of this one.  It sounds like the perfect atmospheric read for spooky season!

 

THE UNMAKING OF JUNE FARROW by Adrienne Young

Publication Date: October 17, 2023

by Delacorte Press

 

From Goodreads:

A woman risks everything to end her family’s centuries-old curse, solve her mother’s disappearance, and find love in this mesmerizing novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Spells for Forgetting.

In the small mountain town of Jasper, North Carolina, June Farrow is waiting for fate to find her. The Farrow women are known for their thriving flower farm—and the mysterious curse that has plagued their family line. The whole town remembers the madness that led to Susanna Farrow’s disappearance, leaving June to be raised by her grandmother and haunted by rumors.

It’s been a year since June started seeing and hearing things that weren’t there. Faint wind chimes, a voice calling her name, and a mysterious door appearing out of nowhere—the signs of what June always knew was coming. But June is determined to end the curse once and for all, even if she must sacrifice finding love and having a family of her own.

After her grandmother’s death, June discovers a series of cryptic clues regarding her mother’sdecades-old disappearance, except they only lead to more questions. But could the door she once assumed was a hallucination be the answer she’s been searching for? The next time it appears, June realizes she can touch it and walk past the threshold. And when she does, she embarks on a journey that will not only change both the past and the future, but also uncover the lingering mysteries of her small town and entangle her heart in an epic star-crossed love.

With The Unmaking of June Farrow, Adrienne Young delivers a brilliant novel of romance, mystery, and a touch of the impossible—a story you will never forget.

 

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I’d love to hear what upcoming book releases you’re waiting on this Wednesday? Leave me your link in the comments below and I’ll stop by and check out your CWW selection for this week. 🙂

Top Ten Tuesday – Book Covers on my TBR with Summer Vibes

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Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.  Top Ten Tuesday has been one of my favorite memes ever since I started blogging, so huge thanks to Jana for taking over the hosting duties!

This week’s TTT topic is Books or Covers that Feel/Look Like Summer.  I love a beautiful summer cover so I thought it would be fun to share some of my favorites from my TBR.  I’m planning to read all of these books in the coming months and these covers are all just calling to me!

 

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Book Covers on my TBR with Summer Vibes

 

 

Have you read or are you planning to read any of these?

Can’t Wait Wednesday – HELLO STRANGER by Katherine Center

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“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, which encourages fellow bloggers to spotlight upcoming releases that we’re excited about.  It is a meme that I have  loved participating in since I first started blogging, but as Jill is no longer actively posting, from now on I’ll be linking to Can’t Wait Wednesday, hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings, which is a spinoff of the original WoW meme.

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My selection for this week is HELLO STRANGER by Katherine Center. I’m actually embarrassed that I’m only just now posting about Katherine’s new book on my blog because she’s one of my auto-buy authors and Hello Stranger is, by far, one of my most anticipated reads of 2023.  Needless to say, I can’t wait to read this one.  Katherine is such a wonderful storyteller and I’m so curious to see how she incorporates face blindness into this romance. I do have an arc of Hello Stranger and I’m hoping to dive into it either later this week or over the weekend so I can come back and share my thoughts with you.

 

HELLO STRANGER by Katherine Center

Publication Date: July 11, 2023

by St. Martin’s Press

 

From Goodreads:

Love isn’t blind, it’s just little blurry.

Sadie Montgomery never saw what was coming . . . Literally! One minute she’s celebrating the biggest achievement of her life—placing as a finalist in the North American Portrait Society competition—the next, she’s lying in a hospital bed diagnosed with a “probably temporary” condition known as face blindness. She can see, but every face she looks at is now a jumbled puzzle of disconnected features. Imagine trying to read a book upside down and in another language. This is Sadie’s new reality with every face she sees.

But, as she struggles to cope, hang on to her artistic dream, work through major family issues, and take care of her beloved dog, Peanut, she falls into—love? Lust? A temporary obsession to distract from the real problems in her life?—with not one man but two very different ones. The timing couldn’t be worse.

If only her life were a little more in focus, Sadie might be able to find her way. But perceiving anything clearly right now seems impossible. Even though there are things we can only find when we aren’t looking. And there are people who show up when we least expect them. And there are always, always other ways of seeing.

 

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I’d love to hear what upcoming book releases you’re waiting on this Wednesday? Leave me your link in the comments below and I’ll stop by and check out your CWW selection for this week. 🙂

Top Ten Tuesday – 5 Things That Make Me Want to Read a Book & 5 Things That Make Me NOT Want to Read a Book

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Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

This week’s TTT topic is actually just supposed to be Things That Make Me Instantly NOT Want to Read a Book but life got in the way last week so I missed last week’s topic, which was  Things That Make Me Instantly Want to Read a Book, so now I’m combining last week’s and this week’s topics into one post and giving you five of each.

 

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Things That Will Instantly Make Me WANT to Read a Book

 

1. FOUND FAMILIES – Doesn’t matter the genre, if there’s a found family, I want to read about it.

 

2. BOOKS ABOUT BOOKS OR BOOKISH PEOPLE – Again, doesn’t matter the genre,

this kind of book has a special place in my heart and will always be a must read.

 

3. FAVORITE ROMANCE TROPES – Grumpy/sunshine, enemies-to-lover,

small town romances, and second chance romances are like catnip to me

 

 

4. NEW RELEASES BY AUTO-BUY AUTHORS – Again, pure catnip for me.

Don’t even need to read the synopsis to know I’m going to read them.

 

5. ADULT DEBUTS BY FAVORITE YA AUTHORS – I’ve been struggling a bit lately with YA books

so I’m always thrilled when a YA author I love tries their hand at writing something non-YA.

 

 

Things That Will Instantly Make Me NOT Want to Read a Book

 

 

1. LOVE TRIANGLES

 

2. INSTA-LOVE

 

3. IMMATURE MAIN CHARACTERS – I’m all for following a character’s journey of growth and development

but draw the line when MCs are just so immature that it’s painful and cringeworthy every time they speak or think anything.

 

4. TOO CLOSE TO REAL LIFE (i.e. set during COVID or too steeped in politics).

I don’t mind a little politics but as soon as it gets too preachy, I’m done. I read to escape reality, not be further immersed in it.

 

5. CONSISTENT LOW RATINGS AND/OR DNFs

BY TRUSTED BLOGGERS AND BOOKSTAGRAMMERS – If they say it’s bad or just won’t be a good fit for me, I believe them. 

 

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What are some things that will make you instantly want to either read or not read a book?  Do we share any?

Can’t Wait Wednesday – THE WAKE-UP CALL by Beth O’Leary

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“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, which encourages fellow bloggers to spotlight upcoming releases that we’re excited about.  It is a meme that I have  loved participating in since I first started blogging, but as Jill is no longer actively posting, from now on I’ll be linking to Can’t Wait Wednesday, hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings, which is a spinoff of the original WoW meme.

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My selection for this week is THE WAKE-UP CALL by Beth O’Leary.  I’ve had such great luck with this author’s books in the past so I can’t wait to dive into her newest one.  I love an enemies/rivals to lovers story and this sounds like a fun one!

 

THE WAKE-UP CALL by Beth O’Leary

Publication Date: September 26, 2023

by Berkley

 

From Goodreads:

Two hotel receptionists—and arch-rivals—find a collection of old wedding rings and compete to return them to their owners, discovering their own love story along the way.

It’s the busiest season of the year, and Forest Manor Hotel is quite literally falling apart. So when Izzy and Lucas are given the same shift on the hotel’s front desk, they have no choice but to put their differences aside and see it through.

The hotel won’t stay afloat beyond Christmas without some sort of miracle. But when Izzy returns a guest’s lost wedding ring, the reward convinces management that this might be the way to fix everything. With four rings still sitting in the lost & found, the race is on for Izzy and Lucas to save their beloved hotel—and their jobs.

As their bitter rivalry turns into something much more complicated, Izzy and Lucas begin to wonder if there’s more at stake here than the hotel’s future. Can the two of them make it through the season with their hearts intact?

 

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I’d love to hear what upcoming book releases you’re waiting on this Wednesday? Leave me your link in the comments below and I’ll stop by and check out your CWW selection for this week. 🙂