I was lucky enough to find a lot of books readily available from the library for the month, so I jumped on the chance to read a good amount of romance. I also fell in love with Iron Widow and am most certainly going to reread it several times as I anxiously await the next book in the series.
The Roommate
What happens when a waspy girl moves to LA and ends up rooming with a porn star? This book is a delightful read all the way through. It’s fun while addressing stigmas and exploitation in the porn industry.
Meet Cute
This book has a fun premise between a fan girl and an actor, but the real spark of this book is how our main character, Kailyn, is able to explore her own feelings of grief and upbringing by adoption when tasked to help her former crush and his teen sister navigate their own losses.
I Think I Love You
A lovely story of two teen girls navigating their ideas about love and romance through their submissions to a film festival. Emma is a die-hard romantic and Sophia is still devastated about her parents’ divorce. Despite feeling at odds within their friend group, they end up helping one another out and realize that there is something more interesting in bringing their two perspectives together.
Beth & Amy
Last year I read Meg & Jo, a modern retelling of Little Women, but didn’t even realize it would be followed up with a sequel. Amy is always such a complicated character, and this story definitely worked to explore that complexity even though I didn’t always find the character terribly relatable. Beth’s storyline is frustrating but felt like a real struggle with body dysmorphia and Mama March got a nice conclusion to standing up for herself against her absentee husband.
Iron Widow
This is quite possibly the best book I’ve read all year. In this wonderful mix of Chinese history and sci-fi/fantasy, a young girl, Zetian, is tired of the way women are sacrificed to empower male soldiers to fight in their war. Her righteous anger is electrifying in response to such a systematic injustice.
Never Saw Me Coming
Thrillers are usually outside of my usual reading, but I had a lot of fun with this one, even if I felt unsure about the ending. Never Saw Me Coming features a murder mystery with a study of psychopaths for a target. They can’t trust each other, but they do need to work together to put an end to it.
Blood & Honey
The second book in the Serpent & Dove series, and most certainly the weakest of the 3. This book dragged as the group worked to find allies but had a conclusion that was almost as interesting as the first.
Hot Dog Girl
I very much just chose this book because I saw the title and cover and knew I needed to know more about Hot Dog Girl. To my absolute delight, this ended up being a sapphic fake dating story. As with most queer YA, this book also featured a lovely coming-out moment.
Dune & Dune Messiah
After seeing the latest movie, I knew I was hooked on this franchise. I enjoyed reading this book, but I found myself liking the movie counterparts of the characters much more. Paul in particular comes across as arrogant even in unknown situations, whereas Timothee Chalamet portrays a more humility and interest in understanding than the book did.
Foundation
I had my complaints about the way the first season of the new Apple TV adaptation functioned as an overarching plot, but after reading the book, I feel incredibly grateful that the adaptation chose to detour into giving us a lot more of the interior of these characters. I am interested to see where this story goes in the next books, as I’m not quite sure how invested I actually am in the overarching plot, but will most certainly look forward to seeing more of these characters in the next season.