August 2022 Reading Recap

Ahh, summer. We barely knew ya! I just got back from a beach vacation down in North Carolina, which accounts for my silence here the last week or so. While I wasn’t reviewing books, I was actively reading them as I love sitting and reading on the beach (as well as going into the ocean).

Thanks to time off of work and vacation, I managed to read 10 books this month – not too shabby if I do say so myself. I’ve surpassed 70 books for the whole year and am ahead of my reading goals for 2022, which always makes me feel happy!

August was also Read a Romance and Romance Awareness Month so my reading revolved around romances, which honestly is not a change of pace for me as I pretty much read romances every single day.

Anyways, here’s what I read this month:

August 2022 Reads

Emerald Blaze & Ruby Fever by Ilona Andrews (Hidden Legacy #5 & #6)

In preparation for the release of Ruby Fever in late August, I finished up my buddy read of the Hidden Legacy series with the fabulous @meggatzabookclub on Instagram. Emerald Blaze continues to be my least favorite book in the series, but boy did Ilona Andrews make up for it with Ruby Fever. I was so fortunate to read an ARC of Ruby Fever and I’m so happy to book is finally out in the world so I can talk about it with people. Such a great conclusion to Catalina’s series and hopefully not a goodbye to the Baylors.

Check out my review of Emerald Blaze by Ilona Andrews and Ruby Fever by Ilona Andrews.

How the Marquess Was Won by Julia Anne Long (Pennyroyal Green #6)

I am slowly but surely making my way through the Pennyroyal Green series by the fabulous Julie Anne Long. This was actually a reread for me – I had read this book years and years ago before reading any other book in the series. I didn’t remember much from my first read, so rereading How the Marquess Was Won was like discovering it for the first time. I absolutely adored this book – it delivered on the feelings and emotions. So dang good.

Check out my review of How the Marquess Was Won by Julie Anne Long!

The Longing of Lone Wolves by Lana Pecherczyk (Fae Guardians #1)

I was in a bad reading slump after reading Ruby Fever and How the Marquess Was Won, so I picked up this book on a whim after seeing @bookdragontee binge read and rave about it on Instagram. I liked this book, but wouldn’t say I loved it. It suffered a little bit too much because of the worldbuilding that was needed to establish the series and it felt like the romance took a back seat. However, I think the world is unique and I’m interested in checking out future books! Also, if you have Kindle Unlimited, you can read this whole series!

Check out my review for The Longing of Lone Wolves by Lana Pecherczyk!

A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall

After seeing this book everywhere, I finally picked up my copy and really enjoyed it! I loved seeing a trans woman as the lead in a historical romance. As much as I love historical romances, they do tend to be very white and cisgendered and primarily focus on heterosexual couples. This book was so dang emotional – there were so many FEELINGS and PAIN for both Viola and Gracewood, especially at the beginning. I loved watching their romantic journey and seeing them transform over the book. Now, I do think the book was a tad too long and the end went in a weird direction, but overall I really enjoyed this.

Check out my review for A Lady For a Duke by Alexis Hall!

Forbidden by Beverly Jenkins (Old West #1)

I feel like a bad historical romance reader as I had never read Beverly Jenkins before picking up this book. This book has also been sitting on my shelf for YEARS as I kept pushing it off again and again. However, I’m so glad I finally picked it up! I really like Jenkins’ writing style and her characters. This was relatively low in sexiness but the romance still felt like it worked. I’m definitely planning to pick up more books by Beverly Jenkins in the future!

Check out my review for Forbidden by Beverly Jenkins!

The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes by Cat Sebastian (The Queer Principles of Kit Webb #2)

Oh how I adored this book! I liked the first book in the series, but this one touched a special place in my soul. So many emotions and such a good execution of the story. The romance between Rob and Marian was perfect. Also, let’s not talk about how long it took me to realize this was a spin on Robin Hood as it was a bit embarrassing when I picked up on that. Highly recommend this one!

Check out my review for The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes by Cat Sebastian.

Persuasion by Jane Austen

I have never read this book by Jane Austen, but thought it would be a great car read. While not my favorite Austen, I still liked the story. I listened to this on audiobook and thought it did a great job highlighting how odious her family is. I feel like the romance is more subtle in this book, but dang, that letter from Captain Wentworth really was gorgeous and I loved that.

I have no plans to review this, but now I do want to check out some of the adaptations (including the new one which a lot of people have opinions on).

Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert (The Brown Sisters #1)

I feel like the last person to read this book at this point. First off, this cutesy cover undersells the sexy romance this book contains. I was not expecting it to be so sexy and steamy! I was really vibing with the story up until the end. The conflict hinged on some of my least favorite tropes, but at least it was resolved relatively quickly. I really loved Red as that man was so far gone for Chloe and so kind and caring and ugh. I cannot wait to continue on with the series and get to know the other Brown girls more!

Check out my review for Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert!

The Siren of Sussex by Mimi Matthews (The Belles of London #1)

I knew going into this book that it was a closed door, light on the sexy times, romance. However, this book read more like historical fiction than historical romance. That’s not a bad thing but was just a bit different than I anticipated. I’m not 100% the romance worked fully – a lot of it hinges on us believing the chemistry between Evelyn and Ahmad. I did feel like I learned a lot though, so that’s something. Also, I read this as an audiobook, and I’m still BAFFLED by the choice to have two audiobook narrators. That was a CHOICE and it did not work well.

Check out my review of The Siren of Sussex by Mimi Matthews.

August 2022 Reviews

Despite taking a week or so off from writing reviews while on vacation, I was very productive in the first half of the month with 8 review publishing here on the blog.

If you missed any reviews, here’s what I reviewed in August:

How many books did you read in August? Any new favorites?

Let me know what you think! Cancel reply

Enter your comment here...

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Email (required) (Address never made public)

Name (required)

Website

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out / Change )

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out / Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s