book round up

Welcome to my monthly book round up! Here’s how June went!

June was an interesting month of reading! It started slowly as I got into a new series with a new universe. It took me a while to read the first book, so I couldn’t get into other stories. This was part of the reason I ended up with a lot of black romance books this month. I needed to go back to my roots and read books I’m familiar with and I find easy to read.

I explored authors that are my tried and true, but also discovered some new ones, which was exciting. I mentioned in my May Round Up that my main goal was to read the romantic fantasy books on my TBR, and I succeeded! I have reviewed a couple and even discussed them in my Genre of the Month post, where I went into more detail, so please do read that post! So this post will be on the books outside of that genre. Here is my book round up!

In total, I read 17 books across four genres, with just one 5-star read, but many others did come close. 

Finished (in chronological order) – faves in italics

  1. The Book of Azrael by Amber Nicole 
  2. The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw
  3. The Perfect Marriage by Jeneva Rose 
  4. The Throne of Broken Gods by Amber Nicole 
  5. Rather by Grey Huffington
  6. Dr Bell by M Monique
  7. Plus Size Player by Danielle Allen
  8. Harder Stephanie Nicole Norris 
  9. Unexpected Pass by A Blossom
  10. Creed by N’dia Raye 
  11. The Other Side of Fame by D Rose
  12. Our Infinite Fates by Laura Steven
  13. Lights Out by Navessa Allen 
  14. The Memory of Us by Dani Atkins 
  15. The Dawn of the Cursed Queen by Amber Nicole 
  16. Love You a Little Bit by Kasha Thompson
  17. Smoke Signals by Danielle Brooks

Currently Reading 

  1. Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter
  2. Anti-Hero by CW Farnsworth

I went back to my roots a lot this month, rediscovering black and urban romances. My favourite read was Rather by Grey Huffington. I have discussed Grey on here before within my not-so-guilty pleasures. I love her so much! The beginning of the month was filled with books outside of my zone, and I was finding it difficult to read, so I went back to my tried and true. And Grey Huffington did not disappoint. Rather, everything I needed was filled with love and yearning. It was a forbidden romance, as the FMC was betrothed to the MMC’s brother, but they had already met and formed a strong connection. It was saucy and beautifully written. I loved it!

My second favourite book was The Throne of Broken Gods, which I’ve already mentioned in my Genre of the Month post and The Book of Azrael review, so I won’t go into any more detail. However, it has broken me as far as romantic fantasy is concerned, and I need some time to recover before I try again.

I picked up The Perfect Marriage, looking for my usual good thriller of the month. This book was a six-pack of ASS. Oh my word – it was so bad. The more thrillers I read, the better I get at spotting when things start to go off the rails, and this one derailed fast.

It’s a real shame because it started strong. I loved the premise, a lawyer defending her cheating husband, who’s accused of murdering his mistress. But unfortunately, the twists didn’t feel substantial, the plot went completely off track, the ending made zero sense, and the writing didn’t ground anything in logic.

Every character was stupid and insufferable. And I don’t even need characters to be likeable to enjoy a book, but these were just badly written. I hated it. Honestly, I’m just grateful it was short, because if it had been any longer, I would’ve DNF’d without hesitation.

This month, I decided to give Lights Out (yes, the TikTok sensation) a read – and honestly, it was hilarious. I went in expecting a dark romance with a brooding, morally ambiguous male lead – someone borderline villainous. Instead, I got a golden retriever who accidentally bites you sometimes. Sure, it had morally grey elements, but not in a genuinely sinister way. More like… creepy stalker vibes, but if your stalker was a raccoon rifling through your trash. 

It was salacious, and the smut girlies will be satisfied. That said, aside from one specific scene, I surprisingly found it pretty tame compared to what I was expecting. It was raw, and Navessa certainly wasn’t shy with her language, but the actual content wasn’t all that intense. Then again… maybe that says more about me and the kinds of books I’ve readRolling on the floor laughing.

It also definitely leaned more toward dark romantic comedy than anything truly dramatic. Completely ridiculous in the best way, and honestly, I laughed way more than I expected. If you’re looking for a deep, brooding romance, this isn’t it. 

I had already finished this writing this round up and scheduled it to be uploaded, but on Thursday, I started and finished Love You a Little Bit and fell in love! The romance gave me goosebumps, and it’s been a while since that happened. The characters were touch-and-go for a bit, and I was appropriately frustrated at various times in the book, but it came together so beautifully at the end. As I’m writing this, I literally just finished it, and right now it feels like a 5-star read! I’m sure I’ll go back and think deeply about the aspects that I didn’t like, but for right now, a 10/10 to Kasha Thompson!

Overall, not a bad reading month at all. There were some truly memorable reads, whether for good or bad reasons, and I feel like every book left an impact. That’s a nice change from previous months, where some reads were just… meh. I’m officially at 78 books for the year! Keep an eye on my Fable, where I’m tracking all my reads and yearly goals.

I’m not sure what I’m planning to read next month. I have abandoned my TBR a bit, so I might work through it now since there’s nothing else on my radar. The Book of Eve has been on my TBR since April, and I think it’s time I read it. 

As always, my next post will be an updated TBR! Make sure to go back to the beginning of May to see what was there and what I’ve now read! I hope you enjoyed this book round up!

See you next week!

Signed,

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