August wasn’t my best reading month in terms of quantity but I did read some gems! I had so many plans to read as much as I could but this summer has been busier than I expected. That said, I am still thrilled with the books I did manage to get to and I am in the middle of three books that I am loving, so I will briefly talk about those at the end of this post as well. I will be talking about the books in order from my least favourite working up to my favourite, but there are no duds in the bunch! Though I did have one DNF, so I will talk about that first.
What a pretty flower to keep locked in a big, rocky tower.
Nineteen years ago, I was plucked from the heart of a bloody massacre that spared nobody else.
Small. Fragile.
An enigma.
Now ward to a powerful High Master who knows too much and says too little, I lead a simple life, never straying from the confines of an imaginary line I’ve drawn around the castle grounds.
Stay within. Never leave.
Out there, the monsters lurk. Inside, I’m safe … though at a cost far greater than the blood I drip into a goblet daily.
Toxic, unreciprocated love for a man who’s utterly unavailable.
My savior. My protector.
My almost executioner.
I can’t help but be enamored with the arcane man who holds the power to pull my roots from the ground.
When voracious beasts spill across the land and threaten to fray the fabric of my tailored existence, the petals of reality will peel back to reveal an ugly truth. But in a castle puddled with secrets, none are greater than the one I’ve kept from myself.
No tower is tall enough to protect me from the horror that tore my life to shreds.
To Bleed a Crystal Bloom is a dark Rapunzel reimagining full of immersive imagery and breathtaking angst. A unique new fantasy series perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas and Jennifer L. Armentrout, guaranteed to grip you from the very first page.
I absolutely loved the prologue for To Bleed a Crystal Bloom and thought that this was going to become a favourite, but I ended up struggling with it. I think I would have adored this if it were a fantasy rather than a fantasy romance. The world building and writing were next level good, but the romance gave me the ick. I don’t know how else to say it! The love interest found her as a child, kept her in a tower, and is now pursuing a romance with her now that she is an adult. She almost sees him as a father figure and I could not get passed it! I think I can like dark romances but only when the situation that the characters are in is dark not when the relationship itself is toxic.
Temptation, thy name is Sunday Fallon, and I am done resisting. Once upon a time I’d been a priest, but she’d made a sinner of me and now I welcomed damnation.
She’d always been my destiny. The woman whose life was tied to mine. I just hadn’t planned on falling in love and being forced to choose between my vows and my soul.
No matter how deep my connection to her ran, I had a greater purpose I was meant to serve. And now that she was carrying the Harbinger of the Apocalypse–the result of our passion–I had to get her away from the rest of them.
Her god of mischief.
Her devoted wolf.
Her dark prince.
She belongs to me…Her twisted captor.
If she’ll let me, I’ll keep her. Hide her from everyone and everything that means to destroy her. Stop what’s coming and make her mine forever. Because Sunday Fallon is more than temptation. She’s my new religion.
I’ve made my choice. This time I will not falter. I will worship at her altar and forsake all others. No matter the consequence.
The seals are broken.
Armageddon is coming.
Temptation is the fourth and final book in the Mate Games series and what a journey this has been. I do think that this was my least favourite book in the series and that is mostly because Caleb is my least favourite of the love interests and this is his book. I thought that maybe I would grow to love him more, but, in the end, I never connected with him. I think I just don’t love tortured love interests. Give me a cinnamon roll any day! Also, we built up to this Armageddon over the course of four books and it wrapped up so quickly. There were some fun reveals though and some steamy/sweet moments. The audiobooks are top tier and I would highly recommend them!
Mariel Spark knows not to trust a demon, especially one that wants her soul, but what’s a witch to do when he won’t leave her side—and she kind of doesn’t want him to?
Mariel Spark is prophesied to be the most powerful witch seen in centuries of the famed Spark family, but to the displeasure of her mother, she prefers baking to brewing potions and gardening to casting hexes. When a spell to summon flour goes very wrong, Mariel finds herself staring down a demon—one she inadvertently summoned for a soul bargain.
Ozroth the Ruthless is a legend among demons. Powerful and merciless, he drives hard bargains to collect mortal souls. But his reputation has suffered ever since a bargain went awry—if he can strike a bargain with Mariel, he will earn back his deadly reputation. Ozroth can’t leave Mariel’s side until they complete a bargain, which she refuses to do (turns out some humans are attached to their souls).
But the witch is funny. And curvy. And disgustingly yet endearingly cheerful. Becoming awkward roommates quickly escalates when Mariel, terrified to confess the inadvertent summoning to her mother, blurts out that she’s dating Ozroth. As Ozroth and Mariel struggle with their opposing goals and maintaining a fake relationship, real attraction blooms between them. But Ozroth has a limited amount of time to strike the deal, and if Mariel gives up her soul, she’ll lose all her emotions—including love—which will only spell disaster for them both.
I finally read A Witch’s Guide to Fake Dating a Demon and it was so ridiculous and so fun! I cannot wait to read the sequel, A Demon’s Guide to Wooing a Witch, when it comes out in November. I have a feeling it will be even better than the first book! I appreciated that this book had a plot outside of the romance and there were some side characters I adored. This really is Gilmore Girls with witches and I ate it up! That said, I wish it was a little bit more slow burn and the main character, Muriel, definitely read younger than she actually, but I expected this to be over the top and that is exactly what it was.
In New York City where we lay our scene, two rival witch families fight to maintain control of their respective criminal ventures. On one side of the conflict are the Antonova sisters, each one beautiful, cunning, and ruthless, and their mother, the elusive supplier of premium intoxicants known only as Baba Yaga. On the other side, the influential Fedorov brothers serve their father, the crime boss known as Koschei the Deathless, whose community extortion ventures dominate the shadows of magical Manhattan.
After twelve years of tenuous coexistence, a change in one family’s interests causes a rift in the existing stalemate. When bad blood brings both families to the precipice of disaster, fate intervenes with a chance encounter, and in the aftershocks of a resurrected conflict, everyone must choose a side. As each of the siblings struggles to stake their claim, fraying loyalties threaten to rot each side from the inside out.
If, that is, the enmity between empires doesn’t destroy them first.
I was so pleasantly surprised by One for My Enemy after being so disappointed by The Atlas Six. The writing in this story worked so much better for me and I think I am a fan of Romeo and Juliet retellings. It wasn’t a perfect book in terms of pacing or characterizations, but I thought it was doing something original and it made me curious to try more from Olivie Blake. I am so glad that a book club forced me to pick this up because I never would have on my own!
Florence Day is the ghostwriter for one of the most prolific romance authors in the industry, and she has a problem—after a terrible breakup, she no longer believes in love. It’s as good as dead.
When her new editor, a too-handsome mountain of a man, won’t give her an extension on her book deadline, Florence prepares to kiss her career goodbye. But then she gets a phone call she never wanted to receive, and she must return home for the first time in a decade to help her family bury her beloved father.
For ten years, she’s run from the town that never understood her, and even though she misses the sound of a warm Southern night and her eccentric, loving family and their funeral parlor, she can’t bring herself to stay. Even with her father gone, it feels like nothing in this town has changed. And she hates it.
Until she finds a ghost standing at the funeral parlor’s front door, just as broad and infuriatingly handsome as ever, and he’s just as confused about why he’s there as she is.
Romance is most certainly dead… but so is her new editor, and his unfinished business will have her second-guessing everything she’s ever known about love stories.
A disillusioned millennial ghostwriter who, quite literally, has some ghosts of her own, has to find her way back home in this sparkling adult debut from national bestselling author Ashley Poston.
Everyone told me that I was going to love The Dead Romantics and they were right! I love what Ashley Poston is doing with romances where they read like contemporary romances with a slight fantasy twist. I adored the love interest (who happens to be a ghost!) because he is such a cinnamon roll. Though this is definitely a romance, I think it is more of a story about family and grief. I need to get to The Seven Year Slip sooner rather than later!
“Love would be so much easier if it were perfect…”
On the night of her husband Matt’s fortieth birthday, Rachel Abbott receives a sexy, explicit text from her husband that she quickly realizes was meant for another woman. Divorce is inevitable, and Rachel is determined not to leave her thirteen-year marriage empty handed. Meanwhile, Matt, a rising star mayor with his eye on the White House, can’t afford a messy split in the middle of his reelection campaign. They strike a deal: Rachel gets one million dollars and their lavish house in the wealthy DC suburb of Oasis Springs, as long as she keeps playing the ideal Black trophy wife until the election.
Then Rachel meets Nathan Vasquez, a very handsome, very lost twenty-six-year-old artist, and their connection makes Rachel forget about being the perfect politician’s wife. As Rachel reawakens Nathan’s long-dormant artistic aspirations, their attraction becomes impossible to resist. But secrets are hard to keep in a town like Oasis Springs, and Nathan has a few of his own. With the risk of scandal looming and their hearts on the line, they’ll have to decide whether the possibility of losing everything is worth taking a chance on love.
The Art of Scandal is a sizzling, conversation-starting debut about rekindling passion, the transformative power of art, and finding love in unexpected places.
I cannot believe that The Art of Scandal is Regina Black’s debut! She is an author who I will definitely be looker out for. I thought there was something so beautiful about this romance. The synopsis would make you believe that this is a story about revenge but it is not. This is a true love story and we follow these characters as they fall in love with each other and themselves. I adored it!
Orphaned as a baby, nineteen-year-old Signa has been raised by a string of guardians, each one more interested in her wealth than her well-being—and each has met an untimely end. Her remaining relatives are the elusive Hawthornes, an eccentric family living at Thorn Grove, an estate both glittering and gloomy. Its patriarch mourns his late wife through wild parties, while his son grapples for control of the family’s waning reputation, and his daughter suffers from a mysterious illness. But when their mother’s restless spirit appears claiming she was poisoned, Signa realizes that the family she depends on could be in grave danger and enlists the help of a surly stable boy to hunt down the killer.
However, Signa’s best chance of uncovering the murderer is an alliance with Death himself, a fascinating, dangerous shadow who has never been far from her side. Though he’s made her life a living hell, Death shows Signa that their growing connection may be more powerful—and more irresistible—than she ever dared imagine.
I am so happy that I finally read Belladonna because I thought it more than lived up to the hype and I managed to grab a copy of the Fairyloot edition of the sequel, which I will be reading ASAP! I thought Signa was an incredible character and I was so invested in her and in the romance. I loved the way this ended. It was not a cliffhanger but left you with enough intrigue to want to see what happens next. Also Death was 🔥
From the author of Love & Other Disasters comes a sparkling grumpy-meets-sunshine romance featuring two men’s sweeping journey across the Western wilderness.
Alexei Lebedev’s journey on the Pacific Crest Trail begins with a single snake. And it is angling for the hot stranger who seemed to have appeared out of thin air. Lex is prepared for rattlesnakes, blisters, and months of solitude. What he isn’t prepared for is Ben Caravalho. But somehow—on a 2,500-mile trail—Alexei keeps running into the outgoing and charismatic hiker with golden-brown eyes, again and again. It might be coincidence. Then again, maybe there’s a reason the trail keeps bringing them together . . .
Ben has made his fair share of bad decisions, and almost all of them involved beautiful men. And yet there’s something about the gorgeous and quietly nerdy Alexei that Ben can’t just walk away from. Surely a bad decision can’t be this cute and smart. And there are worse things than falling in love during the biggest adventure of your life. But when their plans for the future are turned upside down, Ben and Alexei begin to wonder if it’s possible to hold on to something this wild and wonderful.
I think Something Wild and Wonderful is my favourite romance of the year! I am not at all surprised because after reading Love and Other Disasters I had a feeling that Anita Kelly had the potential to become a favourite author. I just adore the way that they write characters! There is so much chemistry and respect between Ben and Alexei and I love their love. I have absolutely no desire to do a hike like this one, but I sure loved reading about it. I need to this be made into a movie like yesterday!
What was the best book you read in August?
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I recently bought The Dead Romantics and I’m looking forward to reading it. Belladonna is on my TBR and I plan to read sometime before the end of the year.
Can’t wait for you to read both of them. I think you’re going to love them!
Loved Witches Guide to Fake Dating a Demon!
It was so cute! I think the sequel has the potential to be even better!
So happy you also like The Dead Romantics!
It was so good!
Yes!
It sounds like you had some (mostly) good reads in August! I’m looking forward to The Dead Romantics—it seems like a likely candidate for October reading, given the ghost love interest. My favorite book last month was Role Playing, which surprised me by being a cozy contemporary romance (no fantasy elements) with adult main characters who actually talked to each other. Such a sweet story.
Adding The Dead Romantics to my TBR…just the romantic twist that I’m searching for. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
I am so glad I could but it on your radar. I hope you love it as much as I did!
There are so many interesting books on this list. I read Fourth Wing in August and really enjoyed it, but the rest of the month was a slump.
I have noticed most people fell into a slump after reading Fourth Wing. I went to The Serpent and the Wings of Night right after and that worked!
I’ll have to check that one out!
I also didn’t like The Atlas Six, but I have a copy of One For My Enemy so maybe I should give it a shot!
I definitely think it is worth trying! I have noticed that my friends who didn’t like The Atlas Six liked One For My Enemy more and those that loved That Atlas Six didn’t love One For My Enemy as much!