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I’m here with my anticipated releases for 2023. I’m sure there will be more, especially Indie romances that haven’t been announced yet. There are some series I’ve been reading that are currently on hold-Sabine Valley and Girl Meets Duke. If those books come out I will pick them up.
Here are the books I’m excited for. I wonder if I’ll actually read them.
Thanks for reading!
Holly
Is anyone else weirded out by writing “2022” still? I just can’t believe we’re already in 2022.
I did go to Disney at the end of the month so that cut my reading a bit short. Although I did read a novella on the plane and started another book. The vacation was very needed though. It was nice to get away and relax.
Work has also been a little stressful so that slowed my reading. I usually listen to some audiobooks while working, but I was limited in how much I could do.
I’m still happy with my reading in both quantity and quality. I read some new-to-me authors and old favorites. I also had a couple favorite reads this month-Shenanigans and The Hollow Heart.
Here are all the books I finished in March along with my ratings and some thoughts:
Thanks for reading!
Holly
Thanks for reading!
Holly
I really felt the shortness of February this year. Probably because work was horribly busy. That did cause me to be pretty tired when I got home which cut into my reading.
I finally read The Flame and the Flower. I’ve wanted to read it for years because I think it’s a foundational text in the romance genre. And oh boy did I hate it. I did a reading vlog if you want to heck that out.
Besides that it was a pretty good reading month. Below are the books I read with my ratings and some thoughts.
Thanks for reading!
Holly
Sesily’s book was long awaited and sadly a bit of a disappointment. This is more of 3.5 and I could be swayed to a three star.
I read this very quickly. That was half being hooked and half being frustrated and wanting to get to better parts. I’m definitely interested in Sesily’s group of friends. I need an Imogen/Peck story and I’m not ok waiting for that. MacLean mentions a gang that inspired her, but this gave me A-Team vibes personally. Duchess is Hannibal. Sesily is Face. Imogen is Murdock. I guess Adelaide is BA-this is where my analogy falls apart.
Sesily is an older heroine and knows who she is. That’s a character a lot of people want in their romance. She’s also very sex positive. Caleb loves to fall on his sword and I could’ve done with a little less of that. He has a lot of hang ups because of his past. He’s also good friends with Sesily’s sister, Sera. God forbid you have a relationship with a friend’s sibling. That’s just one of my least favorite romance tropes/conflicts.
The plot was fairly standard, especially for a Sarah MacLean novel. That’s something that rarely bothers me, but got to me here. I called some revels, but she put a twist on them I wasn’t expecting.
My main frustration came from the romance. There’s definitely tension and chemistry between Caleb and Sesily. However they had the same argument so many times. It was annoying. And Sesily would “sand her ground” and immediately cave. Honestly, it happened the other way, too. I started to skin whenever they would have that conversation.
While I want Imogen’s story, I am intrigued by Adelaide. I’m not quite sure about who she really is, so I’m curious to see how she’s developed and her hero may be a grumpy one. That’s a character-type I've been liking lately.
While this wasn’t my favorite MacLean, I did like it. I just wouldn’t recommend starting here. There’s a lot of callbacks to previous books so you’ll miss out on those.
I did love the Nik and Nora references and I’m still holding out hope for a novella or something.
Thanks for reading!
Holly
2022 is off to a great start-at least when it comes to reading. I finished 17 books and really enjoyed most of them. I did have one DNF. But I think that was really just the audiobook narrator not working for me.
I honestly don’t know what happened in my personal life. It was a huge blur. There was a winter storm and it was on a weekend. That was nice because I could enjoy the beauty of the snow without the stress of driving in it.
I also read my first Nikki Sloane book this month. It was gripping and I definitely want to read more books by her. Below are all the books I read this January along with some quick thoughts.
Thanks for reading!
Holly
