Welcome back, everyone!
We are so close to 100 of these! I can hardly believe it. I have two romance recommendations this time around. Plus, there’s a memoir and an upcoming non-fiction release.
Do you have any book recs to share? Leave them in the comments!
Dukes All Summer Long
I know we’re in a slow spot with historical romances right now, but if you’re still holding on, this anthology is over 1000 pages. It’s great to dip in and out for an HR fix.
Welcome to Dukes All Summer Long…
One of the most epic Historical Romance collections yet!
Enemies to Lovers – grumpy sunshine – wallflowers vs. rakes – and more!
Over a thousand pages of Regency Romance adventure with never-before published stories.
What are dukes good for? Romance all summer long. Be a fly on the wall for a romantic adventure, or peer into a ballroom as the dancers choose their partners. Enjoy this delectably romantic summer collection with your favorite Historical Romance authors because summer lovin’ has never been so passionate!
Authors in this collection
Kathleen Ayers
Bronwen Evans
Mary Lancaster
Deb Marlowe
Emily E K Murdoch
Tracy Sumner
Ruth A. Casie
Sherry Ewing
Elizabeth Heights
Marie Higgins
Matilda Madison
Amanda Mariel
Cara Maxwell
Paula Quinn
Fil Reid
Wren St. Claire
Tanya Wilde
The Genius Bat
This is coming out soon and is for all my animal and nature nerds. Also, how do I get the title of “world’s leading expert on bats,” because that sounds very cool.
An awe-inspiring tour of bat world by the world’s leading expert
With nearly 1500 species, bats account for more than twenty percent of mammalian species. The most successful and most diverse group of mammals, bats come in different sizes, shapes, and colors, from the tiny bumblebee bat to the giant golden-crowned flying fox. Some bats eat fruit and nectar; others eat frogs, scorpions, or fish. Vampire bats feed on blood. Bats are the only mammals that can fly; their fingers have elongated through evolution to become wings with a unique, super-flexible skin membrane stretched between them. Their robust immune system is one of the reasons for their extreme longevity. A tiny bat can live for forty years.
Yossi Yovel, an ecologist and a neurobiologist, is passionate about deciphering the secrets of bats, including using AI to decipher their communication. In The Genius Bat, he brings to vivid life these amazing creatures as well as the obsessive and sometimes eccentric people who study them–bat scientists. From muddy rainforests to star-covered night deserts, from guest houses in Thailand to museum drawers full of fossils in New York, this is an eye-opening and entertaining account of a mighty mammal.
Leg
This popped up on Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom’s Instagram feed where she was reading it and highly recommended it. Anything she mentions is always work a second look.
A hilarious and poignant memoir grappling with family, disability, and coming of age in two closets—as a gay man and as a man living with cerebral palsy
Greg Marshall’s early years were pretty bizarre. Rewind the VHS tapes (this is the nineties) and you’ll see a lopsided teenager limping across a high school stage, or in a wheelchair after leg surgeries, pondering why he’s crushing on half of the Utah Jazz. Add to this home video footage a mom clacking away at her newspaper column between chemos, a dad with ALS, and a cast of foulmouthed siblings. Fast forward the tape and you’ll find Marshall happily settled into his life as a gay man only to discover he’s been living in another closet his whole life: he has cerebral palsy. Here, in the hot mess of it all, lies Greg Marshall’s wellspring of wit and wisdom.
Leg is an extraordinarily funny and insightful memoir from a daring new voice. Packed with outrageous stories of a singular childhood, it is also a unique examination of what it means to transform when there are parts of yourself you can’t change, a moving portrait of a family in crisis, and a tale of resilience of spirit. In Marshall’s deft hands, we see a story both personal and universal—of being young and wanting the world, even when the world doesn’t feel like yours to want.
Slow Burn
A second chance romance between two dancers on a reality TV show. I wished the buzz were bigger for this one!
Filled with scenes of sizzling passion, plot beats of swoon-worthy romance, and a cast of Black female characters that you’ll fall in love with, the unputdownable debut novel from Oti Mabuse brims with heat and heart. Perfect for fans of Talia Hibbert, Laura Jane Williams, Tia Williams, Farrah Rochon, Hannah Grace and Bolu Babalola.
For dancer Lira, Latin Ballroom is everything. Whilst her dreams of fame were cut short aged 19, she’s never forgotten the connection she felt dancing with a stranger at the Paris World Championship afterparty 13 years ago.
Now, with her younger sisters pursuing their own successful dancing careers, and the responsibility of running the family dance studio falling to her, Lira’s ambitious flame is about to flicker out. Until a chance encounter sees her secretly auditioning for Slow Burn, a new dance show about to embark on a 6-week European tour, and coming face to face with a blast from her past that sends her reeling.
Gabriele is the quintessential bad boy of the Latin Ballroom scene. Slim of hip, with long, lean muscles that pop, a chiselled jaw, dark eyes, obscenely long lashes, and a mouth that just won’t give, it’s no surprise when he lands the principal male lead role on Slow Burn. But, with just a few weeks to go till the tour starts, he still hasn’t found his female co-star. All it takes is one audition to set his world on fire…
On the dance floor they’re smouldering, off it, they’re on fire.
