How have we reached the end of June already? Seriously I refuse to believe that we are halfway through the year already. This was a pretty solid month overall though. Had my uncle have a stroke, but he is recovering well and thankfully it wasn’t a super serious one. He is my favorite uncle though (I only have three haha) and I wish I had my passport so I could drive up for a visit. Definitely planning on that for July though. I totally forgot to renew it last year. June was a great reading month though. Not the best reading month and I didn’t get as much as I would have liked to but it was a solid month and I am still on track to getting 500 read by the end of the year. My brooklyn membership ended and I am so sad, even though I know I was so lucky to have it as long as I did. (I literally renewed 2 weeks before they made the announcement of not working with out of state subscriptions). Now I need to find a library to replace it. So if you live in the states, let me know if you know of a library that comes close to the catalog that Brooklyn had. I have heard Orange County in Florida is really good but still need to explore their catalog. But if you live in FL let me know what you think of it and if it will be a good match for me.

Reading Stats

Acquisitions/Savings

So one of my goals for this year, is to track my acquisitions and see what I am saving through my subscriptions and such. So each month I will be sharing my month’s current savings. Now while part of me would love to purchase everything and keep all of it, and while I do have the money to buy books, its nice to save money when and where I can especially during a recession.

May Totals:

Total Spent: $37.82

Subscription Costs: Libraries, Audible Plus, Anyplay, KU: $28.98

Total Month Savings: $178.86

Reading Challenges

So, I am not participating in too many reading challenges this year. My focus for the year is the Goodreads (of course), Romanceopoly and a few of the reading challenges on Storygraph. Just simple ones. So below I will be sharing my reading progress with you on these every month.

Goodreads Reading Challenge

I am at 247 books out of 500 and I am on track to complete the challenge. So far I am keeping steady with the challenge.

Romanceopoly Reading Challenge-Under the Covers Book Blog

So I have completed 89% of the challenge. I have been keeping up with the books that I plan on for this. I have really been loving this challenge so far and I got caught up on it! If you are looking for a FUN challenge, you definitely need to join in on it. I also love how adaptable it is, you can really make it work for you in whatever way

Books Read

Top Books of the Month

I Know Her Secret…

Cat is in so much trouble. She did something bad, and I saw.

I’ll keep her secret… for a price.

Poor, sweet, timid Cat should never have come to Kingmakers. It’s a place for monsters and killers. People like me.

She wandered into the lion’s den and now she’s mine.

Mine to play with. Mine to torment. Mine to break…

Probably one of the first times I have put this author on a monthly favorite pick!! haha but this book was true perfection! And honestly I wish I could put both Bully and Spy in here because both were so so fabulous! This is a bully romance though in a unique way where the hero knows the heroine has done something she hasn’t told anyone, something that would cost her life if anyone found out. So he blackmails her in being his servant lol its pretty fun actually if you like dark romance.

Gracen Lowe has a new life theory:
What you don’t know can’t hurt you.

Which is exactly why he decides not to tell his twin sister, Bella, that he’s accidentally falling for the woman she hates most, the very woman who allegedly cheated with Bella’s last boyfriend and broke them apart.

Bella might be his best friend and ultimate confidante, but she’d legit cut off his favorite body part if she knew which woman he’d been craving. So even if his theory’s totally whack, staying quiet will definitely keep him safer.

Except he feels so guilty about it all.

Meanwhile, Bella’s heating up the sheets with one of Gracen’s best friends, and she can’t seem to reveal that little detail to her brother either, due to—you know—reasons.

When the truth is exposed, all bets are off. Shattered secrets will either set everyone free or wreck their relationships forever.

This book was perfect and delightful and so fun to see how it all came together. I will be honest, it took me a little while to brave this book because the blurb made me so nervous. But Linda Kage works magic in her stories and this one was so beautifully crafted! Had the most perfect time with this one here.

Theo Silva. Rowdy bull rider. Notorious ladies’ man. Scorching hot trouble wrapped up in a drool-worthy package.

And he’s looking at me like I might be his next meal.

But I’m almost free of my toxic marriage and have sworn off men entirely. So all I see when I look back is temptation served up with a heaping side of heartbreak.

The man is hard to trust—and even harder to resist.

Make that impossible. Because Theo is persistent. And no matter how hard I try to freeze him out, he melts my icy exterior and pulls apart all my defenses.

Over a drink in a small town bar, I blurt out my deepest, darkest secrets. Then I spend the singular hottest night of my life with him.

He worships my body. He makes me blush. I come alive beneath his hands.

Then I tell him to forget it ever happened. I want simple, and with him it all feels complicated.

It was supposed to be a one-time thing.

A secret.

But that little plus sign is going to make this secret impossible to keep.

The FIRST time this author has ever made it to five star status AND top read of the month and it will make it to top read of the year and it has a secret baby trope no less. NO ONE is more shocked about it than I am haha But while I have had some issues with the past books (except for Powerless), this book was perfectly executed. If you get nervous over the secret baby trope, trust me, this one is worth investing in. The way its handled, is perfection. But if you want a little spoiler (neither of them are at fault for the baby being kept a secret, hope that clarifies a bit for those too nervous to pick it up). And I normally hate secret baby tropes, but the author handled it in the best way possible. And when the hero finds out he is a father, yeah that moment still lives rent free constantly!

Honorable Mentions

I wish I could express how much I adored all of these books and could have added them also in my top favorite and they are really all over the genres here. Definitely most swoony worthy reads that I can’t recommend enough if you haven’t read them!