July 2026 reading wrap up

This book was an absolute train wreck. But, importantly, it was the kind of train wreck you cannot stop staring at.

I was supposed to be buddy reading My Fault with Ruby from Bookishly Ruby, and instead I accidentally smashed through the whole thing in about 48 hours.

Sorry, Ruby!!

There is so much about this book that I did not like. It felt like fanfiction in a way that gave me strong Twilight-to-Fifty Shades vibes, and there were numerous moments where my response was simply:

No. Absolutely not. What are you PEOPLE DOING?

And yet… I kept reading. Almost compulsively.

Will I read the sequel? Yes.

Will that be because I thought this was a particularly good book? Absolutely not.

Sometimes you just need to know what happens next in the train wreck.

⭐⭐ (2/5)

This was SO CLOSE to four stars.

The Dark Lord’s Guide to Dating (and Other War Crimes) is ridiculous in exactly the way its title suggests, and it was an absolute joy to read… once it got going.

Kazimir is hilariously out of touch with anything resembling a normal human emotion, and the book has enormous fun playing with the conventions of dark romantasy rather than simply reproducing them.

Was it a little too long? Yes.

Did I occasionally want to grab Kazimir by the shoulders and explain that he was, in fact, experiencing a feeling? Also yes.

But this book is funny, self-aware and exactly the sort of palate cleanser I needed. It knows what genre it’s playing with, knows how absurd some of those conventions can be, and completely commits to the bit.

I am looking forward to the sequel.

⭐⭐⭐ (3/5)

YES. This is what I want from the Game Changers series.

I honestly didn’t expect to care very much about Troy’s story because, quite frankly, Troy has been a total dick in the previous books.

And then Rachel Reid went and gave him an actual redemption arc.

Not a redemption arc where everyone immediately forgives him because he’s secretly a nice guy. Troy has to confront the things he’s done. He has to deal with the consequences of his previous choices. Some people don’t forgive him.

And I loved it.

It felt authentic because Reid actually made him do the work. It was a REAL redemption arc.

Troy and Harris are also ridiculously sweet together. However, my favourite parts in this book was getting more Ilya.

At this point I’ve decided Ilya is basically the bisexual fairy godfather of professional ice hockey. He sees EVERYTHING (he’s his own new favourite word: perceptive), and he understands people far better than they realise. And then he just wanders around quietly fixing their problems without anybody noticing what he’s doing.

I love him.

I read Role Model in a single day, and alongside Game Changer, this is easily one of my favourites in the series so far.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 (5/5)

(The Game Changer series is a monthly side quest for The Romance Revelry Society’s book club where we read one book per month.)

I’ll be honest, this book took some work to finish.

I’ve been having such a good time discovering Laura Ashley Gallagher this year that I went into The Wrong Exit Strategy with pretty high expectations.

Unfortunately, for a decent chunk of the book, I just didn’t believe in the romance.

I could see where the plot was going and I could see where the characters were going. But I didn’t feel enough chemistry between them to make me particularly invested in them getting there.

They both felt a little more wooden than the characters in Gallagher’s other books, and it wasn’t until quite late in the story that I finally started buying them as a couple.

That said, I thought Piper’s recovery from the emotional and verbal abuse she’d experienced was handled thoughtfully. I would have liked a little more time devoted to some elements of that storyline, but I appreciated seeing her slowly being built back up rather than having everything magically fixed by falling in love.

By the end, I enjoyed it. But it just didn’t give me the same spark I’ve found in Gallagher’s other books.

⭐⭐⭐ (3/5)

Every time I return to the Psy-Changeling series, I wonder why it took me until last year to finally start reading it.

And then I remember there are approximately eight billion books and perhaps I was (and still am) intimidated.

The worldbuilding in this series is SO GOOD.

It took me a couple of chapters to remember exactly where all the political pieces were sitting (which is entirely my fault for leaving it too long between books) but once everything in my brain clicked back into place, I was hooked again.

One of my favourite things about this series is that it genuinely feels like Nalini Singh knows where she’s going. There’s this enormous overarching political story happening behind the individual romances, and seemingly small details keep connecting back into it.

It feels planned. I appreciate that enormously.

Maybe I have trust issues from other long-running paranormal series (cough MaryJanice Davidson cough), but I always get nervous around the book 10 mark that everything might suddenly veer off a cliff.

So far, Singh seems to be doing exactly the opposite.

I also really enjoyed getting a male Psy and female changeling pairing with Judd and Brenna. Also, every time Hawke and Sienna appear, I become increasingly impatient to get to whatever is happening THERE.

Note to future Meeghan: stop leaving enormous gaps between these books.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5)

Well. Here we go again on another Sierra Simone binge-fest. It’s been a while.

I have read enough Sierra Simone to have some idea of the emotional trauma I was about to get myself into.

I was still not prepared.

This book is intense. It’s angsty. It’s extremely spicy. There is trauma and pain and complicated relationships and SO MANY FEELINGS, and apparently Sierra Simone looked at the concept of emotional restraint and decided it wasn’t for her.

And somehow, despite spending a decent portion of the book wondering what on earth I was reading (in amazement, not confusion), I couldn’t stop.

This is also where I started to realise that Simone’s appeal for me isn’t actually the spice. It’s how completely she commits to her characters and their emotional mess. She isn’t afraid to make them hurt.

And unfortunately for me, I was about to become considerably more invested in them.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5)

Holy moly.

Apparently American Queen was merely Sierra Simone warming up before she decided to start causing me actual emotional harm.

I really loved this book. It hurt to read.

Every time I thought these characters might finally be allowed a moment to breathe, Simone seemed to say, “That’s cute,” and then put them through something else.

But this is also where I really started appreciating what she’s doing with this trilogy. The conflict has consequences. Emotional fallout isn’t brushed aside because the story needs to move on. These characters carry their histories with them, and when something terrible happens, they have to live with the new trauma and the way it interacts with everything they’ve already survived.

I was borderline screaming and crying by the end.

And then there was one final twist I absolutely did not see coming. Everything was great. I equally love and hate it here.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5)

I couldn’t figure out what I wanted to rate this book for a while after I finished. It’s so hard to rate individual books when you’ve just blitzed through a whole trilogy. All of my notes basically said: SCREAMING?!!

What I do know is that American King made me sob.

Not a delicate little tear. Full crying.

By this point I was just completely emotionally invested in Greer, Ash and Embry, and there were moments where I genuinely didn’t know how, or even if, Sierra Simone was going to bring their story to a satisfying conclusion.

I’m deliberately being vague because there is no way to properly discuss my feelings about the ending without enormous spoilers. But I am still arguing with myself about one particular storytelling choice.

Part of me loved where Simone ultimately left these characters. After everything they’d endured, there was something deeply satisfying about it.

Another part of me thinks a different choice might have created an even more powerful, highly bittersweet ending, particularly given the Arthurian foundations of the trilogy.

I’m honestly not sure which version I would have preferred. But what I do know is that I finished the book and kept thinking about it. I’m still thinking about it.

And perhaps that’s the better measure of how much a story affected me than whether I can neatly assign it four or five stars.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 (5/5)

This was such a satisfying conclusion to the duology. The mutual secret pining in this series is exquisite — which, given the title, feels entirely appropriate.

Both main characters also spend an impressive amount of time demonstrating that it is possible to be extremely intelligent while simultaneously becoming a complete delusional idiot whenever one particular person is involved, mentioned or physically nearby.

Honestly, they both deserve lifetime membership in the “Actually, I’m Usually Quite Bright Until This Person Comes Along” Club.

I loved watching their relationship develop, particularly after the very slow enemies-to-lovers progression of the first book.

And yes, it really was slow. If you’re interested in my thoughts on why that trope needs enough time to make the emotional transition believable, I’ve written an entire Editor’s Lens post about what makes enemies-to-lovers actually work.

There were one or two elements I would have liked to explore further, but discussing those would send us directly into spoiler territory. Do not pass GO. Do not collect $200.

There were also some unexpectedly emotional moments that caught me off guard. I did not anticipate getting teary over some of the things I got teary over, but apparently my July book list chose violence.

Overall, though, this was a really lovely ending to a duology I very much enjoyed.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5)