April TBR: Wrap Up + Reflection

Hello friends, it's time for us to share the latest in what we've read and our thoughts on how our reading went last month. This time, we've opted not to make a list of books to read for the coming month, since we both miserably failed last time. I don't know if you can relate, but sometimes you just have a burning desire to read anything other than the book you're supposed to be reading.

Lisa:

Oh my god I'm in the worst reading slump ever, I feel. I spent March rereading old faves, and if it isn't for Goodreads' new reread setting I would've been having a hard time trying to meet my 2017 reading goal. Aside from Lisa Kleypas' Wallflowers series (one of my all time favourite regency romance series!), I also reread Cara McKenna's After Hours and Willing Victim. Cara McKenna writes awesome alpha males who aren't scared to show their emotions and it feels so great revisiting her work. Aside from that, I also read and reviewed the ARC for Kate Meader's In Skates Trouble that is a part of an anthology called Hot On Ice. In Skates Trouble is the prequel to Kate's new series, Chicago Rebels, and I'm so excited for the first book, Irresistible You to come out this August.

As for my plan to read romance class books, I'm afraid I failed miserably in that corner. However, I did read Plain Vanilla by Ines Bautista-Yao and I adored it so much. It's a short and sweet YA novella about a girl who's been perceived as plain her whole life, and when she finds a book of dares, she decides to be fun and spontaneous and attempt each one, but for some reason her crush keeps showing up to her every try and does them with her. I'm also currently reading Beginner's Guide: Love and Other Chemicals by Six de Los Reyes, and I'm loving it already because the heroine is 26 year old postgrad student who's never been in a relationship (sounds a tad bit familiar, hmm). 

Last but not least, Laura Florand's Trust Me is coming out this month! Laura Florand is one of my and Eri's favourite romance authors, and I'm really excited for everyone to read her latest release.


Eri:

I've been in an odd reading mood the last month, but I'm slowly regaining my mojo for YA at least, which makes me rather happy. I spent some time reading cookbooks, of all things, in efforts to feel inspired enough to read, and I think it did the trick. I caught up with a number of ARCs I had, which is great and all, but I haven't written many reviews, a fact that makes me quite sad hahah.

Trust Me is the latest Laura Florand book out later this month, and of course, like all of her books, I adored it to pieces. You'll probably get sooner than later that Lisa and I are massive fans of her and we'll post our dual review sometime soon. I also read The Opposite of You which was the cutest romance between a food truck owner and a chef, with positively delicious banter. You can read my review for A Star to Steer Her By on the blog, and that was a nice read as well. Lastly, there's Forbidden Promises, the latest in the O'Malley series, which was a great sexy book.

For YA, I read Why I Loathe Sterling Lane, a book I inhaled because the rivalry and competitive spirit between the main character Harper and Sterling were so much fun and I loved the way it breathed life into the cliche premise. I breezed through the Starbound trilogy, a YA sci-fi romance series that was so well-done and enjoyable I can really understand the hype it gets and deserves.


How has everyone's March reading been? Do you have any must reads or favorites? We'd love to know, since we're always looking for new material!

March TBR: Wrap-Up + Anticipated Reads

Starting this month, we're bringing you a new feature where we briefly talk about the books we liked the previous month and the books we look forward to reading in the new month. We tend to read a lot of romance books so this will give us a chance to highlight and talk about more books rather than us attempting to write full reviews for every book we read. 

Lisa:

February had been eventful and hence a slow reading month for me; I moved back home from Spain and had been busy trying to catch up with the two weeks of uni that I missed. Re-adapting to life and my old routine has taken a huge chunk of my time and energy, so I didn't get to read many new books and instead spent the little time I could spare taking comfort in old favourites. 

However, I want to shine the spotlight on Devil in Spring (Ravenels #2) by Lisa Kleypas that came out on Feb 21st. It was one of my and Eri's anticipated romances this year so naturally we devoured it as soon as it was published, and I'm glad that it lived up to our expectations! A review is due.

As for this month, I decided to finally start on the many #romanceclass books that I hoarded on my Kindle app. Our friend Sue has been very persuasive in recommending these titles, and it's time for me to get on them. I'm not so much for a strict TBR list; I usually just read whatever tickles my fancy, but for March I'm adamant about finishing at least two books from this list:

What You Wanted by Mina V. Esguerra

Learning to Fall by Mina V. Esguerra

Beginner's Guide: Love and Other Chemicals by Six de Los Reyes

Prep and Prejudice by Miren B. Flores

Eri:

February was a terrible reading month for me, checking Goodreads now, I think I read a few books which is a little tragic although because I'm taking a handful of English Lit courses I've been doing plenty of required reading.

Likewise, I read and adored Devil in Spring. It's not really surprising since Lisa Kleypas tends to write books that I thoroughly love; I almost cried when she made her historical romance comeback and I'm eagerly awaiting all of her books. We'll post a review whenever we actually get around to it, but we're excited to talk about this book! I also really loved Never Better by Charlotte Stein, who writes really intense and emotional erotica. I don't read much erotica, but she has a way of crafting strange but compelling characters who just work so well together and I highly recommend her books.

I don't want to set myself too much of a strict TBR since I tend to impulse read books a lot and making lists aren't nearly as effective as I want them to be. I'll list a few of the ones I do want to get to for sure though since I have certain ARCs I really need to get to and books I really need to finish reading now that I've started them.

An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole

The Opposite of You by Rachel Higginson

The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco (not quite romance but YA)

Learning to Fall by Mina V. Esguerra

Are there any books (romance or not) that you're looking forward to this month?