October was such a crazy but fun month. I always love October. Its one of my favorite months of the year. I love all the fun events in October especially when you mix in the perfect weather with Halloween and Autumn events, it can be so much fun. We also had fun going to some football games. As for my reading status, it was a pretty solid month, it could have been better but it was much better than the previous month. I always love it when I can get to more books. I am focusing on being healthier so I have had a bit less time for reading so working on finding that balance and hopefully November I will find that balance. But really had a fun time this past month and eager to see what November brings to us.

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: $36.50

Subscription Costs: Libraries, Audible Plus, Anyplay, KU: $18.98

Total Month Savings: $156.64

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 426 books out of 500 and I am on track to complete the challenge. So far, I am ahead on the reading challenge with 11 books being ahead. I really made great strides this past month.

Romanceopoly Reading Challenge-Under the Covers Book Blog

So I have completed the challenge completely. This was such a fun challenge to do! I highly recommend doing it next year. It was also great for working through some books in my TBR I have been meaning to get to.

Books Read

My reading for this month was AMAZING, I read so many great books even if some of my most anticipated releases were disappointments for me. Both Hopeless and Caught up broke me heart because they just weren’t that good for me and ended up as fails. Isn’t that the worst when the books you are most excited for just fail you? It literally made me so so sad. But then I have some amazing books that I was able to pick them up.

Top Books of the Month

Once upon a time…the Blood Sorcerer vanquished the kingdom of Elden. To save their children, the queen scattered them to safety and the king filled them with vengeance. Only a magical timepiece connects the four royal heirs. Now they must return and save Elden…and time is running out….

As the dark Lord who condemns souls to damnation in the Abyss, Micah is nothing but a feared monster. He has no idea he is the last heir of Elden. Only one woman knows�the daughter of his enemy. Liliana sees past his impenetrable black armor to the prince inside. To help Micah remember, she must brave his dark, dangerous lair. Because they only have until midnight to save Elden.

This gothic fantasy romance was brilliant. I wasn’t sure what to expect as an older Singh novel, but this one was brilliant and also was written to be read around Halloween time. So if you love a great spooky read with strong gothic vibes and a Beauty and Beast type of retelling, then you need this book in your life. It was superb.

New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Ryan’s page-turning Dark Horse Dive Bar series continues with this story of love lost…and found…as a widow seeking to heal her heart crosses paths with a rancher/bartender who offers her a taste of adventure. 

Welcome to the Dark Horse Dive Bar, where the Wildes throw one hell of a party and love could be a barstool away!

Landscape artist, Layla Brock, knows what it feels like to love someone so completely you’d do anything for them—even take their secrets to the grave. Widowed after her husband’s betrayals and tragic death, Layla is searching for a new scene to paint, a new life to live. And Wyoming feels like the perfect place to get lost and find herself again.

Jax Wilde runs the family ranch, but has a few side wrangling his sisters, covering shifts at the Dark Horse Dive Bar, and renting out cabins to tourists looking for the ranch experience. His busy schedule, plus a bad breakup, equals no personal life. And then she showed up. And the woman he thought he had nothing in common with turned out to be his perfect match.

Layla knows what it feels like to lose everything. Jax is a man who wants it all—a wife, children, a life filled with happy memories. It’s a beautiful picture of a life Layla thought she’d had but turned out to be a lie. This could be her second chance…

Until her secrets begin to unravel and a new threat is revealed. There’s one difference this she has Jax Wilde on her side…

What is it about this author that I love so much? But also this series is her best work. This book is a pure masterpiece and I can’t convey enough how much I loved this one here. Its just really refreshing knowing that it won’t have a third-act breakup, the conflict between the couple is minimal in this series and I really love that. Jennifer Ryan is an author who normally tends to write about outer conflict which I appreciate. Too many authors depend on couple conflict. And this one will deliver all the feels. The heroine is a artist, the hero creates this beautiful studio for her, and they instantly have this strong connection to each other. There is also talk of some of the triggers in this one, that the author was very delicate on handling. I appreciated it so well. Both sides of the political isle on this issue will be okay with how its handled, you could just tell the author was so careful to not offend anyone but to touch on the human aspect of things.

My stepbrother, my tormentor…

I had a plan to get through senior year. Get good grades, stay busy with clubs, don’t forget to carve out time for Mom and Hannah, and most importantly, stay far, far away from Landon Atwater.

That plan collapsed at the end of summer when my mom announced her surprise engagement… to Landon’s father.

Now, I have to live with the jerk who has spent years tormenting me. At school, I could make sure we weren’t in the same classes and turn the other way if I saw him in the halls, but avoiding him gets a lot harder when I’m living in his seaside mansion.

Especially because he doesn’t want to be avoided.

Landon has always loved taunting and controlling me, but now he has the ultimate advantage and he’s not afraid to use it. Landon is the chaos machine that could blow up this newly minted family—and my mom’s chance at happiness—and, unfortunately for me, he knows I won’t let him.

I was prepared to be on my guard at school, but I didn’t plan to spend senior year avoiding capture in my own home.

Unfortunately, it seems Landon has a plan of his own.

And no lock on my bedroom door is going to keep him from accomplishing it.

This book y’all was complex and different and I loved everything about it. This is a book however that may not be for everyone. If you can’t do bully romance do NOT Read it especially if you can’t do dubious consent scenes. What I did love about this one especially was that the hero isn’t like her other heroes. He is just a emotionally struggling young man whose father is a workaholic and he lost his mom when he was young and that fractured him and didn’t get the help he needed. And the ending y’all shocked me in what he does to claim her as his own to their parents, its EPIC and it won’t be what you expect him to do.

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!