A detailed look at last week’s reading habits: fourteen books read (two from my Up Next shelf), three new books I want to read featuring a nonfiction book about friendship, a YA fantasy novel with a snarky-AF Hero and a fake dating romance, two surprising 5-star reads and three anticipated books releasing this week!
Updates
| Last Week’s Blog Updates | Last Week’s Goodreads Reviews |
|---|---|
| 📖 Weekly Wrap: November 16th to November 29th 📖 10 Books Similar to The Favour by Suzanne Wright: A Marriage of Convenience Romance | 📚 The King’s Horrible Bride by Kati Wilde 📚 The King’s Reluctant Bride by Ella Goode 📚 Love’s Secret Baby by Ella Goode 📚 His Pumpkin Pie by Alexa Riley 📚 Lovely Neighbor by Alexa Riley 📚 Rage by K.A. Knight |
Contents
*These buttons (🇨🇦 🇬🇧 🇺🇸) and the Kindle Embeds contain affiliate links. I may earn a small commission if you buy the item using the links at no additional cost to you. You can read my full disclaimer here.
Weekly Review
What I’ve Read This Week
Key: 🔁 re-read| ❌ DNF | 📜 from my Up Next shelf | 📲 eARC
- Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson 📜 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- The Champion’s Ruin (Age of the Andinna, #6) by Kristen Banet ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Seven Ways to Kill A King by Melissa Wright 📜 ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- The King’s Spinster Bride (Aspect and Anchor, #0.5) by Ruby Dixon ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Lovely Neighbor (Lovely, #1) by Alexa Riley ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Rage (Her Monsters, #1) by K.A. Knight 🔁 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- His Pumpkin Pie by Alexa Riley ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Love’s Secret Baby by Ella Goode ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Lovely Baker (Lovely, #2) by Alexa Riley ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- The King’s Reluctant Bride (Royal Wedding, #4) by Ella Goode ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- The King’s Horrible Bride (Royal Wedding, #2) by Kati Wilde ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- His Christmas Cookie by Alexa Riley ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Pay the Hitman* by Milana Cheers ⭐️⭐️
- Christmas Vows by Alexa Riley 🔁 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
*I use my Amazon Affiliate link here because Goodreads doesn’t have the book’s synopsis. I may earn a small commission if you buy the item using the link at no additional cost to you. You can read my full disclaimer here.
My Reading Progress
Get the book: 🇨🇦
I had a terrific reading week last week! It helps that I balanced my longer reads with shorter books that were also lighter in content.
One of my favourite reads was the sixth book in the Age of the Andinna series–The Champion’s Ruin. I honestly cannot hype this series up enough–it’s the definition of an epic fantasy reverse harem romance. I reviewed the first book in the series, The Gladiator’s Downfall, a while ago, which you can read here. The series takes its time developing its characters, so the reader gets to witness the Heroine, Mave’s transformation from an unsure, recently freed slave/gladiator to a powerful champion of her people!
I read so many books last week that fall into the HEA Erotica genre (shorter books that guarantee a happy-ever-after ending and prioritize the sexy times). While I like them (obviously), I never expect amazing plotlines or characterizations since they prioritize the sexy times over reality. However, I read two books this week that honestly blew me away.
Lovely Neighbor by Alexa Riley–an author that writes the definition of insta-love–actually took their time to develop a sweet romance between the Hero and Heroine! It was an adorable book. You can read my full review here.
Finally, The King’s Horrible Bride by Kati Wilde was another book that I wasn’t expecting a lot from. But Wilde’s execution of the arranged marriage didn’t ignore the emotional ramifications of marrying for duty. The romance was also sweet and took its time to develop a rapport and emotional vulnerability between the Heroine and Hero. It helps that the Heroine was so badass. You can read my full review here.
Up Next Shelf Progress
A reminder: my Up Next Shelf is comprised of all the unread books I want to read and have purchased.
- I added no books to the Shelf last week which means most of my reads were discovered and then read instantly.
- I read two books from my Up Next Shelf last week (see the pink line).
- Overall, I’ve actually made a dent in my Up Next progress (as the yellow line demonstrates with its negative value) because I read more books than I purchased.
– Books Added is the total number of books still waiting to be read on my Up Next Shelf. It’s important to recognize that when I finish a book, that book is immediately deducted from the added, meaning the books added value decreases. It’s important because while the weeks of Nov 2-8 and Nov 9-15 look like my books added value hasn’t changed, it actually shows that I added a new book to my Up Next Shelf during the Week of Nov 9-15.
– Books Read is the number of books I’ve read from my Up Next Shelf in that week. The values are negative because finishing a book from the Shelf decreases the total value. Therefore, when looking at the Overall graph (the yellow line), you can see when the line is 0, the books I read and added cancel each other out. This week (Nov 16-22), the Overall value is below the 0-line, demonstrating that I didn’t add any new books to my Up Next Shelf, but I did finish a book from the Shelf.
Want to Read Updates
You will like Big Friendship: How We Keep Each Other Close by Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman if you appreciate:
✨ Memoir
✨ Psychology
✨ Feminism
✨ Friendship
You will like The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan if you appreciate:
✨ Young adult fantasy
✨ Mythology retelling
✨ Snarky main character
✨ Action and adventure
The Upcoming Week
To Be Read
I’m currently reading Crooked Kingdom… finally. It seems I’ve been putting off this book for a while despite actually wanting to finish the duology.
This coming week I’ve created a list of three books I–at a minimum–want to finish. I’m hopeful I’ll actually finish one today so that it still counts towards my #NonfictionNovember count.
This week’s TBR list is as follows:
- Hood Feminism: Notes From the Women That A Movement Forgot by Mikki Kendall
- The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
To Look Forward To This Week
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I’m happy to get back to reviewing books this week. However, my November Wrap will be posted on December 1st, so I’ll only be able to post one book review.
Also, I’m really excited for the Holiday season to ramp up. My family celebrates Christmas, so we’ve just started talking about presents and our plans this year (and how they’re changing). I’m honestly considering just asking for books this year 😅.
With the first week of December comes so many new books that I’m so excited to finally read! Three books are releasing: A Merry Vested Wedding by Melanie Moreland is the bridge between her Vested Interests series (read my review of the first book, Bently, here) and her new series ABC Corp. ABC Corp will tell the stories of the children from the couples in Vested Interests.
Floored by Karla Sorensen is the third book in the Ward Sisters series. It’s another sports romance which I’m so excited for–especially since the sneak peek seemed suggested that US football will be pitted against UK football (soccer) 😂. Helpless by Crystal Ash is the sixth book in the paranormal, dystopian reverse harem series Steel Demons MC. I’m so ready for some closure about the cliffhanger!
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