Mid Year Favorites

Whew can you believe this year is halfway done already? Like what?? 🤯

I’ve read 180 books so far this year (which I fully acknowledge is a silly amount) and here are my favorites so far! Ten 2023 releases and two backlist reads. The awesome thing is that I got to meet six of these authors this year (Lucy, Teagan, Abby, Karla, Sarina, and Christina Lauren) and hang out with book friends! How cool is that? 

Let me know if we have any in common, or if none, let me know what your favorite read(s) of the year so far!

In A Jam- Kate Canterbary 

Things We Hide From The Light – Lucy Score 

Moth – Lily Mayne (really the whole series)

Glove Save – Teagan Hunter 

R’jaal’s Resonance – Ruby Dixon

Yours Truly – Abby Jimenez 

One and Only – Karla Sorensen 

Good as Gold – Sarina Bowen 

Georgie All Along – Kate Clayborn 

Crimson River – Devney Perry 

The True Love Experiment – Christina Lauren

Berries & Greed – Lily Mayne

10 Firefighter Romance Recommendations

What do you think the sexiest (… or should I say hottest 🤭) profession is? I don’t know but firefighter has to be up there! There’s something about a man who’s willing to put his life on the line to save old ladies and kittens, you know? Plus he can carry me. 

Here are ten of my favorites!

Hero – Lauren Rowe 

Parks and Provocation – Juliette Cross 

Hot Stuff – Max Monroe 

Reason to Believe – Rebecca Yarros 

Ignite – Melanie Harlow

Make You Mine – Laura Pavlov 

The Player Next Door – KA Tucker 

Hosed – Pippa Grant and Lily Valentine 

Bailey Brothers series – Claire Kingsley  

Protecting What’s Mine – Lucy Score 

Done and Dusted

Done and Dusted by Lyla Sage was such a pleasant surprise for me! I’ve seen it around since it made its debut a couple weeks ago but I didn’t really know much about it other than it has a unique cover. I read the first couple lines to see if it would draw my attention and the next thing I knew I was 20% in without realizing it. 

It’s a small town, brother’s best friend story about Emmy, who has returned home after an injury on the barrel racing circuit has left her shaken. She runs into Luke, her oldest brother’s best friend, who is surprised to find she’s all grown up.

They become friends as Luke helps her regain her confidence on horseback and the tension grows between them. There’s good steam, good banter, and he totally falls first which is the best since he’s a former bad boy/current playboy turned absolute cinnamon roll for her. 

I loved Emmy’s family and while brother’s best friend is not my favorite trope, I really enjoyed that dynamic here. We also get ADHD rep and no third act break up!

This did not read like it was the author’s debut at all which made it all the more impressive that it was. It made me want to listen to Brooks and Dunn and learn to ride a horse and I’m so excited for more from this series!

10 Road Trip Romance Recommendations

One of my favorite forced proximity micro tropes: Road Trip romances. The ultimate forced proximity , with bickering over playlists and snacks. 

Here are some recs and some on my TBR!

On The Way to You– Kandi Steiner 

The Mother Road – Meghan Quinn 

The Romantic Pact – Meghan Quinn 

A Week to Be Wicked – Tessa Dare 

Cocky Bastard – Penelope Ward

Quarter Miles – Devney Perry 

Too Hot to Handle – Tessa Bailey *

Unraveling Him – Claire Kingsley 

Professional Development – Kate Canterbary *

Along for the Ride – Mimi Grace *

Love & Luck – Jenna Evans Welch (YA)

*On my TBR

One Look

I really enjoyed this grumpy/sunshine single dad romance! 

It’s a fun, easy reading light hearted story with lots of steam and a quirky small town. I love a grumpy single dad and his relationship with his daughter was just adorable. 

I honestly don’t have much else to say about it other than it was a fun read and I enjoyed it! It’s a great summer read, taking place during summer in Michigan along the lake so the setting is perfect. 

I hesitated to pick this up, because tbh I didn’t love the first book I read by the author (not the one pictured) and the premise of a professional mourner sounded a little too “quirky” for me, but I’m really glad I read it! The Andrew cover convinced me to give it a try. 

I’m looking forward to the rest of this series, the next book is out next week and I’m excited for it.

Berries & Greed

Berries and Greed by Lily Mayne releases next week on the 30th! I was lucky to receive an ARC and it absolutely captivated me. I read it all day yesterday and woke up thinking about it so I can’t wait another eleven days to talk about it. 

This book was just so much fun! It’s a low angst, adorable, friends/roommates to lovers monster romance between Beryl, a human woman who has spent her life in a cult which worships the demiurgus, and Greid, a socially awkward demiurgus who’s just looking for a little company. 

Their friendship started off so sweet, Greid has been lonely living on his own so he invites Beryl a chance to escape her cult and live in the real world in exchange for some companionship. 

He’s the grump to her sunshine, his social anxiety means he’d rather sit at home, smoke a joint, and watch tv rather than go out and make friends. He’s an absolute dork in the best possible way. He’s also a sympathetic crier, caretakes Beryl during her period, and wears a Snuggie 95% of the time (Pooh bear style)

Beryl is a strong woman, discovering the real world for the first time and ready to take it on. I really enjoyed her journey to find herself, and also her complete acceptance and willingness to fight for her seven foot tall roommate. 

The chemistry between them builds up so well, it’s a bit of a slow burn but when in snaps, it snaps hard. They have to be a bit creative due to their body difference and his monster peen and oh boy was it spicy! The author has a list of content warnings and kinks explored on her website if you need it. 

This was overall such a delight to read. It made me laugh out loud multiple times, their friendship and udder awkwardness made me smile, and the burgeoning romance and way they took care of each other made me swoon. 

I’m so excited for more from this world! It releases into KU next Friday

15 Single Dad Romance Recommendations

Happy Father’s day! In honor of the holiday, here are some of my favorite fictional daddies. I am such a sucker for this trope, especially if you throw in a small town setting and a blue collar profession.

Do you have any favorites? I need all the recommendations.

Ignite – Melanie Harlow

Broken French – Tasha Boyd

One Hot Italian Summer – Karina Halle

Single Dad Seeks Juliet – Max Monroe

In A Jam – Kate Canterbary

The Least Amount of Awful – Jennifer Millikin

There With You – Samantha Young

Flirting With Forever – Claire Kingsley

The New Guy– Sarina Bowen

Heartless – Elsie Silver

The Last One You Loved – LJ Evans

Make Me Yours – Melanie Harlow

Until You – K. Bromberg

Wrong For You – Harloe Rae

One Look – Lena Hendrix

Favorite Family Series

One of my very favorite types of series is one about a family where each sibling finds their HEA. If you can throw in a sassy grandpa or wise grandma, I’m pretty much guaranteed to love it.

Here are some of my favorite fictional families! Do we have any in common?

Shipley: True North by Sarina Bowen 

Bailey: The Bailey Brothers by Claire Kingsley

Winston: The Winston Brothers by Penny Reid

Sawyer: Cloverleigh Farms by Melanie Harlow

Beauregard: North Carolina Highlands by Jessica Peterson

Adair: The Adair Family by Samantha Young 

Easton: Tattered & Torn by Catherine Cowles

Savioe: Stay A Spell by Juliette Cross  

Bergman: The Bergman Brothers by Chloe Liese

Saving the Single Dad

Saving The Single Dad is book three in the Mount Macon series, which is an age gap nanny/single dad romance. 

I was pretty excited for this one (I mean there is a forehead kiss cover and a single dad) but it ended up being my least favorite of the series. The cover is still gorgeous though! 

The series so far has been very soap opera-ish in some ways. I don’t mean that in a bad way necessarily, just that the characters are dramatic and the plots can be pretty messy and vice versa. While the first two weren’t exactly new favorites, they were very entertaining and I flew through them and just enjoyed the ride.

This was mostly true for this one as well but I really didn’t like the hero here 😬. He is actively pretty mean to the heroine (though to be fair, the blurb does say he’s bossy and rude, so that’s on me for being surprised when he is). He also made some very questionable parenting decisions and acted less mature than the heroine even though he is a lot older. 

The steam is still great and it was still very entertaining like the other two! The heroine was my favorite of the series and I really enjoyed her relationship with the kids.

8 Vegas Wedding Romance Recommendations

Marriage of Convenience gets a lot of well deserved hype, but I also love its drunken little sister, Oops!-we-got-married-in-Vegas. The regret, the hangover, the awkward aftermath, the eventual feelings and trying to figure out how to make the marriage work in the real world – I love it all. 

Here are some I’ve read and enjoyed!

Blind Pass – Teagan Hunter

Marrying Mr Wrong – Claire Kingsley 

The Pact – Max Monroe 

Shenanigans – Sarina Bowen  

The Clover Chapel – Devney Perry

The Devil Gets His Due – Elizabeth O’Roark

Put Me In Detention – Meghan Quinn

The Marriage Solution – Stephanie Rose