April || May || June

Remember to stay up to date with the world, listen to those facing atrocities and help spread awareness/donate where you’re able to.

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Another three months has passed since my first Quarterly Wrap Up and I can’t believe that it is already July… This year has gone by so quickly and the only challenge/goal that I’m currently smashing is my reading goal!

So far, I have read 53 out of 75, which is 13 books ahead of schedule!

Overall, within this second quarter, I have read 24 books and historical romance is still reigning supreme as my most read genre ♥

As I used my stats from StoryGraph, I also linked each title to it’s page on the reading tracker as well.

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APRIL

I read 9 books in April and it saw me finishing the Bridgerton series, as well as reading the Girl Meets Duke series by Tessa Dare (I’m so excited for the fourth book but it’s not out until 2026 😭). 7 books were physical, but I read the two graphic novels through the Libby app.

When He Was Wicked; Julia Quinn ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Francesca Bridgerton is one of my favourite characters in the series. I love her! Her relationship with both John and Michael were beautiful. I enjoyed her independent personality and I think it was rather refreshing when we were in Scotland.

The Duchess Deal; Tessa Dare ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Ashbury and Emma were perfect from the start. I loved how moody Ashbury was and how Emma rarely allowed his nonsense. Ashbury is different from the “typical” hero as he has prominent visible scars from the war and the way Tessa Dare handles his insecurities was great. Their bickering and teasing were fun and their heartwarming moments had me kicking my feet! I highly recommend this one!

It’s in His Kiss; Julia Quinn ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Hyacinth is chaotic and her relationship with Lady Danbury was the best aspect of this book. Those women are kindred spirits and I adore them both! Gareth was a cutie and he basically couldn’t help but not love her immediately. The little mystery with the “treasure hunt” was super fun and really elevated Hyacinth’s personality.

The History of England; Jane Austen – This tiny little book was written when Jane Austen was 15 and includes illustrations by her sister Cassandra. It’s a witty satire told through short biographies of famous historical figures.

The Governess Game; Tessa Dare ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – The events that lead Alexandra to accidentally becoming the governess to a rakish duke’s two wards was funny and allowed us to truly understand our main protagonists very early on. Alexandra was a determined woman who brought so love to this home. There is something so attractive about a rake being reformed and watching Chase come to terms with his feelings and being supportive of her was so endearing.

‘Garlic & the Vampire‘ and ‘Garlic & the Witch‘; Bree Paulsen – These graphic novels were absolutely adorable! A witch decides that she needs some companionship and help in her garden so she creates sentient vegetables. In the first volume we’re introduced to Garlic and she is, without doubt, the cutest little vegetable ever! She is forced to face her fears to make sure that the village they live near isn’t in danger from the new arrival of a possible vampire!

On the Way to the Wedding; Julia Quinn ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Gregory is without doubt the wildest Bridgerton. He grew up watching his siblings shenanigans and went “hold my beer”. This boy falls in love with Hermione and is then completely blindsided when he realises he actually is in love with Lucy (her best friend) even though we have watched him falling throughout the novel. I loved these two and it was such a wild ride to end the series on!

I also love how much Anthony and Kate were involved in this story ♥

The Wallflower Wager; Tessa Dare ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 – Lady Penelope and her love for animals was so wonderful! And her kindness is not limited to her rescued charges as she is so loving to her friends. Even when her new neighbour, Gabriel Duke, sets himself out as an imposing figure, Penelope is quick to realise he needs saving too. Watching Gabriel melt for her was lovely!

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MAY

I only read 5 books in May. However, my average rating was 4.3⭐ so I was still having a great time with the books I did read ♥

To Have and to Hoax; Martha Waters ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 – Violet and James have spent the last four years of their five-year long marriage ignoring each other. After James dismisses her concerns for his safety when she is under the impression he is seriously wounded, Violet sees red. Everyone around these two advises them that they just need to talk this whole thing out, but these two idiots are absolutely not here for that. The shenanigans they get up to so they can one up each other were great fun.

I don’t like the miscommunication trope, but this was just so stupid and fun that I didn’t care. And I did like the eventual resolution.

Lore Olympus Volume Six; Rachel Smythe ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 – I won’t say much about this one as it is volume six, but this was a great read! We learnt so much in this one and there was a lot of plot progression which some of the previous installments lacked. As always, the art style is stunning!

The Bridgertons: Happily Ever After; Julia Quinn ⭐⭐⭐.5 – This is a short story collection bind-up of the “second epilogues” for each of the Bridgerton books and also includes a short story about the Bridgerton matriarch Violet. This was a mixed bag, and for the most part I did enjoy these stories.

I will say, this would have gotten a higher rating, but the “To Sir Phillip, With Love” one made my blood boil. I have since lowered my rating for that book from 3 to 2 stars and this short story really solidified that for me. The absolute disregard for Marina’s mental health continued here and the way that this little brat of a child said that she was happy her mother had died and people agreed with her… it was so unnecessary.

Brazen and the Beast; Sarah MacLean ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Hattie was headstrong and I loved how she stood her own against Whit. This was a lot more plot heavy than the first one, and some aspects of that were interesting. I didn’t feel that Whit was as compelling as Devil, but I did enjoy his and Hattie’s character development as their relationship grew.

The Secret Service of Tea and Treason; India Holton ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – This is the final instalment (I think) of the Dangerous Damsels series and that makes me so sad! I love these lady pirates and witches so much! This third book really culminates everything in the series so well as we watch our two spies, Alice and Daniel, work as a team to make sure an assassination of Queen Victoria can be thwarted.

These books are so funny and the love of literature that India Holton has is wonderful! I would highly recommend these books and I’m excited to keep reading anything that India Holton writes ♥

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JUNE

June was a great reading month! I ended up finishing two books that I had been “reading” for months and I had a lot more diversity of genre.

To Love and to Loathe; Martha Waters ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Diana and Jeremy bickering all the time was fun. It was also amusing to see these two characters so set on the bet they wager regarding Jeremy getting (or not getting) married and seeing them not really noticing their feelings for each other until they’re really strong.

Parts of the plot were slower than the first book, but it was still a fun sequel and it was funny to see that Violet and James were still so lovey-dovey ♥

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries; Heather Fawcett ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – I enjoyed this so much! The writing style took a little while to get into, but once we knew Emily’s personality more, it became wonderful and such a natural voice for her. This is told in diary entries for her research and it made later moments in the book more compelling than they may have been without this element.

The relationship between Emily and Wendell was lovely. The fact that she is begrudgingly his friend, and pretends that she doesn’t find having him around comforting, was great in contrast to how much he genuinely likes to annoy her and be in her company.

And it was so heartwarming to see the locals come to embrace Emily and her neurodivergent mindset during her Faerie research visit to this isolated Nordic country.

Just Stab Me Now; Jill Bearup ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – I saw some of the videos that inspired this book on Jill’s TikTok account (@jillbearup) and I was really interested to see how Jill was going to translate them into a novel.

We follow Caroline as she is trying to write her own original characters and plot to try and prove that she can write more than just fanfiction. She is struggling with pressures at work and her characters are not doing as they are told. This was super fun and I loved how Caroline had conversations with her characters and these conversations grew the characters, but also gave Caroline much needed insights into her own life.

Furies: Stories of the Wicked, Wild and Untamed; Virago Press ⭐⭐⭐ – This short story collection from the feminist and women run publishing house includes contributions from 15 bestselling authors.

For the most part, I enjoyed the stories and there was a lot of diversity included. I really enjoyed the fact that there was also one story written as a graphic novel.

A Marvellous Light; Freya Marske ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – This is a re-read for me and I didn’t really remember much about it so it mostly felt like I was reading it for the first time… but I really enjoyed it and I agree with my original rating of 4⭐.

Robin is accidentally given the job of government liaison to the hidden magical society in London, of which he has never heard of. He continues to be out of his depth throughout the novel, but he’s a solid type of person who doesn’t let things easily get him down. He becomes the centre of an “evil plot” which means he and a magician – Edwin – must work together to make sure an imminent threat to the magical community can be thwarted.

The Only One Left; Riley Sager ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Kit was close to being struck off from ever being able to be a caregiver again after the death of one of her patients. However, after the police investigation clears her, she is given the care job of Lenora Hope, who is a “popular legend” of the town as her family were all brutally murdered one night leaving her as the sole survivor.

I really enjoyed this one. It was easy to read and I found the chapters in the past really compelling. The reveals were ones that I definitely didn’t see coming!

To Marry and to Meddle; Martha Waters ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – This is my favourite book in The Regency Vows series so far and I have enjoyed the possibility of Emily and Julian which we saw building in the previous books.

Emily and Julian enter into a marriage of convenience, giving Emily freedom away from her parents and dislikeable “suitor”, while giving Julian the respectability he needs to make his theatre popular among the ton. They had a much more mature relationship than the previous two pairs, but there were still silly and fun elements.

Outrageous!: The Story of Section 28 and Britain’s Battle for LGBT Education; Paul Baker ⭐⭐⭐.5 – This is such an important read, especially for those in the UK! Paul Baker’s writing style is very approachable, for the most part, and conversational. It was really interesting how Baker intertwined his own experiences throughout this time and his conversations with prominent figures of the several organisations fighting the introduction of section 28 and the subsequent appeal.

The Thirteen Problems; Agatha Christie ⭐⭐⭐.75 – This is a short story collection of rich people at dinner telling each other crime stories that they have some part to play in, mostly as spectators. There was a fun element of them trying to work out the criminals and “true events”, but they weren’t overly immersive. Miss Marple is cute and I also really liked the character of Sir Henry.

Bad Gays: A Homosexual History; Huw Lewey & Ben Miller ⭐⭐⭐- This was quite an interesting collection of historical figures and exploring how their sexuality impacted their actions. I think sometimes the history was a little too brief and their concept of “bad” wasn’t necessarily strong for all of these figures. I also found that some of the writing was rather dense.

I definitely learnt a lot and some figures I didn’t even know were gay!

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Thanks for reading!

I hope you’ve enjoyed some great books so far this year!

I hope you’re having a lovely day and staying safe ♥