The fact that we’re halfway through the year is legitimately baffling to me. I feel like I’ve made so little progress in a couple of my reading goals, but I’ll be doing a mid-year check in soon so I won’t bore you with those thoughts at present. For now, let’s talk about the final six books I completed in the month of June.
9. Visions of Heatby Nalini Singh
Maybe I should just re-name 2018, the year of Nalini Singh. At least as far as my reading is concerned. I’m working my way through her backlist with pretty intense focus, honestly. I’m very much looking forward to being all caught up. Visions of Heat is the second book in the Psy-Changling series and it follows Faith NightStar and Vaughn. Vaughn is an interesting changling whose possessiveness set me on edge a little more than Lucas’s did in book one. That said, I wound up becoming quite attached to both of them and I loved getting to see more of the Pack in this book.
10. Searedby Suleikha Snyder
This book follows Naya and her step-brother (former step-brother?) Lachlan as they meet again after ten years of forced separation. Very careful to cross no horrifying lines in terms of the age of consent or weird incest seeming lines, the book was emotionally compelling. That said, my tolerance of men keeping secrets from the women they love to protect them is at an all time low. I find myself getting so frustrated every time that’s a major plot point, which is entirely too often honestly. Anyway, this book also is like five flames for level of heat in this, with dom/sub elements as well. I’m looking forward to reading Snyder’s other books soon though!
11. Caressed by Iceby Nalini Singh
If you’d asked me before this book how much I cared about Judd Loren, the answer would have been not at all. Yet, something about him in this book was utterly compelling. Regardless, Brenna? My favorite. I adore her. She’s so… Fierce. Brenna survived the extremely horrible psychopath who kidnapped and tortured her in book one and she’s still a little bit broken, but she’s done a damn good job putting the pieces of herself back together. Everything about her strength in this book and the way she kept fighting for herself made me both adore her and respect the hell out of her. An excellent book, honestly.
12. Brokedown Cowboyby Maisey Yates
Where to even begin… I enjoy Yates’ writing, but this friends to lovers irked even me, a person who has always adored the trope. Connor Garrett is very much not over his wife’s death and I couldn’t help the part of me that kept screaming internally because Felicity deserved so much more. Ultimately, the HEA felt simultaneously hard won and not believable. It felt like Connor just miraculously got past all of the grief that he had held on to so tightly for three years and decided he’d just be at peace and marry Felicity now. It isn’t that I necessarily expect my romance novels to be utterly realistic, but this just cheapened the end a little too much for me.
13. A Discovery of Witchesby Deborah Harkness
The second half of the month was seriously dominated by paranormal romance and I honestly didn’t notice until just now. In the mood for a book to sink my teeth into and having just watched the trailer for the new show, I knew I wanted to start my re-read of this series. And… Holy cow. I forgot how much I adore this series. I absolutely cannot wait for the new trilogy to start in September! Anyway, Diana is a historian who studies the history of alchemy and when she accidentally undoes a spell on a book for which the creatures who walk among us have been searching for centuries, her world turns upside down. At the center of that is Matthew de Clairmont, a vampire who doesn’t really understand why he feels the need to protect this witch. Although Matthew is possessive (vampire) and Diana is occasionally stupid, I find their romance and their characters fascinating. I really want to watch the show so here’s hoping an American station will pick it up or it lands on Netflix/Amazon promptly.
14. Mine to Possessby Nalini Singh
Following Clay, a Sentinel, and Tally, his childhood and very human friend, book four in the Psy-Changling series again proved to be an exception to the general rule of my adoration of friends to lovers. In the book’s defense, my issues stem largely from Clay’s absurd mindset when it comes to Tally’s sexual history and Tally’s own stubborn blindness to their relationship. These emotional wounds were extremely deep seeded, but yet didn’t feel genuine enough to me for me to respond well. Alternatively, my hackles were raised from the moment Clay responded the way he did to finding out that Tally had sex with several men before returning to his life. The thing is, there were real feeling emotional wounds there and so the need to add in this element bothered me more than a little. I have complicated feelings about this book, honestly. Still, it’s worth it to see the way Tally interacts with Dorian, honestly.
And there you have it, all the books I read in the month of June! I’ll be checking in soon with an update on my Best Books of the Year so far and an update on my yearly reading goals. In the meantime, what was your favorite read in June? Let me know in the comments!
xx
firewhiskeyreader 