I read 43 books released in 2026 in some format between May and August, which feels like a lot. It is, actually, more books that I’m tier ranking this set of four months than what I ranked in the first four months, so I guess I’m not completely crazy. I’ve decided that it would be nice if I included the books that these books are joining, but as a reminder, graphic design is not my passion. Regrettably. So apologies for how ugly these posts are.
The Alchemy
If you need to cry, pick up Lost and Found by Tarah Dewitt. If you need to laugh, pick up The Summer Girlfriend by Kristina Forest and By the Bootstraps. If you want someone to thoroughly play with all of your feelings, pick up Score by Kennedy Ryan. How does she do it? Alternatively, pick up Into the Blue. If you want a friends to lovers romance where you see the friendship being built and the romance, pick up Happy Ending by Chloe Liese. If you want a single mom fake dating a doctor while they are living next door to one another and he’s super grumpy and it’s just absolutely delightful, pick up One for the Road by Elliot Fletcher. I really did love each of these books for what they are, but also I think at least a couple of these I love for personal reasons. The four hyperlinked titles are to the ARC review posts I did for each title.
So High School
Fury Bound was a really solid sequel to Dire Bound, except the end felt a little rushed or convenient? I’m still not sure how I feel about it and am hoping that my feelings will resolve themselves when I get to read the next installment. Out of Her League by Ava Rani was a really great contemporary romance with a bit of fake dating and a lot of real feelings and relationships outside of the main romance. Chaos by EJ Blaise also has a ton of real feelings and relationships outside of the main romance and the family dynamics were probably at least 1/2 of the reason I loved this one. Fever Dream by Elsie Silver was just fun for me. I really enjoyed binge reading this in an evening.
Echoes of Insurrection was an audio reread and it didn’t move the book up to The Alchemy, but it did really make me happy to reread it. Half City by Kate Golden was really fun and I’m super excited to get around to reading Cursed City, which came out at the end of September. Phoebe Berman’s Gonna Lose It was really enjoyable and also somewhat frustrating for me, but in hindsight, I really only remember the fun that I had with it. I do think it could have been a little longer. The Paris Match was Kate Clayborn so obviously it’s incredible. I think my mood may have held me at a disconnect because normally Kate’s books catapult into The Alchemy level so fast.
Sea of Charms has been my favorite installment in this series and I really loved the way we finally got to see some of these connections in this book. Abby Offsides was perfect for me. Full of woman trying to figure out her life and falling in love along the way, but also set in England. A win for me for sure. Scandal of the Summer was so charming. I just really enjoyed it. The adventure, the friendship, the banter… A great time. In Stormy Weather was similarly full of adventure, friendship, and banter and so I once again had a great time. Got a little stressful once or twice, but all in all, I really liked this one.
A Parade of Horribles… Listen, I don’t know how Dungeon Crawler Carl has hooked me so thoroughly, but I am actually obsessed. This series has been so engaging and fun and emotional and sad and enraging. I am deeply invested in so many characters and I’m really looking forward to the next installment. I’m very nervous about this adaptation, but I suppose I’m looking forward to it too. Yes, Chef by Grace Reilly was really quite wonderful, especially if you are looking for a book with more explicit content. There were times where I felt like the physical intimacy scenes were taking over a little more than I would have preferred, but overall, I thought this book was excellent. I especially love the ADHD x ADHD representation. In Her Spotlight was fantastic. I really love Amy Spalding’s writing and I think she did a great job with this one. The sapphic second chance was well done and emotional, but also the way Tess grappled with having to come out and then figuring out how to let herself be loved once she was out… It was really well done. Finally, The Cozy Nook Bookshop by Jeannie Chin was really, really lovely. I loved the meddling small town, the outdoors stuff, the romance, the friendships… It was great.
Honey
This category is for books that maybe I rated highly in the moment or maybe I gave it a three star in the moment, but either way, as time has passed, this book has faded slightly from my mind. They simply don’t have staying power for me personally. But here are links to the following reviews in case you would like more information:
- The House of Now and Then
- The Summer of Lost Things
- The Art of Loving You
- Just a Highland Fling
- The Cupid Dilemma
- Fossil Feud
- Blood Bound
- The Grump Whisperer
- The MASH Up
- Destination Funeral
I have just discovered that I never wrote out a full review of Last First Kiss. Oops. Adding that to my to-do list now…
I Forgot That You Existed
These are all books that I really wanted to like, but ultimately didn’t… Good at Being Alive had too many HP references and the romantic arc wrapped up much too quickly. Riding the Line was actually mostly just so fine it was boring. The Missed Connection was… a missed connection for me. Idk, it just didn’t hit for me. I wanted it to be more fun than what I wound up having. Die for Me had an ending that I did not click with at all and the end of Maybe This Once had me actually angry.
Listen… This is a spoiler for my worst tier, but I’ve put my DNFs in here because of how much I disliked the final book we’ll talk about… So let me just highlight my DNFs right here for a second. I’ve DNF’d four 2026 releases and I would say each and every one of them are for me reasons and not reasons that I think you wouldn’t like a particular book. To Catch a Sinner started off so well, but then there were two things that happened pretty back to back that just immediately soured me on the characters and I couldn’t convince myself to continue. Vera Stein is Completely Fine was actually completely fine, but it had been a month and a half and I wasn’t interested in picking the book up even though I was over a third of the way in. So I gave up. Just Friends by Haley Pham was about characters that felt too young for me in my current stage of life and I just wasn’t vibing with the writing style, but again, I think that’s a me issue. And then Only Friends by Lydia San Andres should have been so great for me, but it went off the rails for me with the characters again feeling too young and also, they started to stress me out. So I put it down too.
Bye Bye Baby
I genuinely feel bad for including both of these books in this category from the first four months of the year because of how much I truly disliked Tropesick. The ending was infuriating. It’s not like a book that masquerades itself as a romance that isn’t, but it still felt so… absurd. Ridiculous. I don’t know. This book made me genuinely aggravated and I hate feeling that way about a book that I read. Every time I think about this book, I get mad all over again. But also in an almost amused way? Like this book was SO BAD that it’s actually funny. (It is well written though, for the most part. It’s just the plot that I despised. And if you liked it, I’m so happy for you.)
Closing Thoughts
I really did not mean for this to not go up until October considering this is about books I read from May – August, but here we are. Please share with me the books you would put in each of these tiers because I would genuinely love to know.
xx
