WWW Wednesday – 17 August 2022

I went an entire 32 DAYS without reading a romance novel, and honestly, despite not rating them super high, I had a good time reading all the fantasy. I mean, part of that was a 10 day slump where I barely read anything at all, but still. It was a good time.

And now I am back in the smutiverse. I don’t know how I feel about it. I think I just needed some characters with deep-seated emotional damage (you know, because the Plated Prisoner wasn’t enough*) and I find that romance breaks my heart more frequently. They also end happier. Usually.

Blind Side by Kandi Steiner is a fake-dating sports romance and I liked it. As someone who vehemently will try anything to get out of sport watching, it always surprises me when I love a sports romance. Which is frequently. I do love me a good fake dating story though.

It felt like there should be a story before this one though. I have no idea if there is as Goodreads doesn’t list this as part of a series. And the “epilogue” (if you can call it that) only sets up the premise for the next book. Which, I don’t know if I will read.

* Yes, I am being sarcastic. Auren suffers enough emotional damage to last seven life times.

I also FINALLY got around to finishing the last book in the Ravenswood series. Damaged Goods by Talia Hibbert is technically book 1.5 in the series, but I read it last. You really could read this book after any of the others (so long as you have read book 1).

This is the story of Laura, the wife of Ruth’s ex, and it’s honestly terrifying what she goes through. (Why am I so big on emotional damage lately??) CW: This book has physical, verbal, emotional and financial abuse and mentions past sexual abuse. It is ok if this is NOT for you.

However, I am glad that I finally read this one. I didn’t love it as much as Ruth and Hannah’s stories, but I love that Laura got a second chance after everything she went through.

I picked up Kisses and Croissants by Anne-Sophie Jouhanneau from my bookshelf on Monday. Partly because I have been meaning to prioritise physical books that I own because they’re the ones actually taking up space in my home office / library. Partly because it’s located about the centre of my main bookshelves and I see it all the time.

It’s a cute summer-based contemporary YA romance about an American girl who is in Paris attending a ballet school for the summer. She meets a cute boy on her first day of classes and then he tries to lure her out to enjoy her summer. Not just practice ballet all day long. With a dash of art and a family mystery on the side.

I liked it. It was a really sweet story, and it gave me all the fond memories of my trips to Paris.

Speaking of books that have been sitting on my bookshelves since forever, Soph at Bookwyrming Thoughts picked my current read for me. Which is Shadow of the Fox by Julie Kagawa.

I am literally only about 20 pages in, so no real thoughts on what’s happened so far. And despite owning a bunch of the Iron Fey series, this is my first Kagawa book, so that’s exciting. (For me, anyway.)

I don’t own the rest of the series, so please be prepared for me to panic scream a lot if this ends on a cliffhanger… You have been warned!!