This was a Top Ten Tuesday topic a while ago but I got sad about a few authors that passed away, like Huntley Fitzpatrick and Sophie Kinsella, and couldn’t decide if it felt “right” to include that. I was browsing last week around Goodreads and was reminded of a few authors I am really waiting for new book announcements from, so I decided to finally write this post! I would have included Lucy Keating (I’ve been missing her books!) but she just announced her adult debut, and I’m pumped. Megan Goldin | Read 4 of 5 books | Last book: 2023 Whereeee is the next Megan Goldin book!? I feel like she had a great (and popular!) run of thrillers, and her latest release was a widely read sequel that was featured in BOTM. I’m really hoping she’s been writing and is waiting for a new deal? It hasn’t been THAT long but I’m still eager to at least know if she has a new book coming out at some point… TJ Newman | Read 3 of 3 books | Last book: 2024 Another one from the not-so-distant past, only two years ago, but Newman had three books come out across three years and they were all bangers. I believe they were widely read too, so I don’t think it’s due to lack of publisher interest. I have wondered though how she’ll keep up with the “airplane thriller” theme she’s used. One book involved a hijacking, another involved a plane […]

I usually will write this post late in the year to try to keep track of things in the final hours, but I was thinking about a couple of series and books I really want to get to and thought I’d write an early one too. We’re just past the midway point of the year and there are quite a few books I either can’t believe I haven’t read yet OR just keep putting off and would love to check off my list in 2026. Finish off Emma M. Lion    I keep putting these three “final” books on my TBR each month because I am definitely determined to read all of them before the end of the year. I know the author plans to continue the series and honestly I don’t know when the next ones (volume 9 and beyond?) are coming, but getting the current books done is a priority. Finish off the Seaside Cafe Mysteries   I last read one of these cozy mysteries in the summer of 2024, which is totally crazy. CLOSELY HARBORED SECRETS involves Halloween so I wanted to read it last October and just never got to it. The final two books don’t seem to be holiday-based so hopefully I can just read them through the end of the year, with the fifth book happening sometime around Halloween. Make Progress in The Grandest Game/etc. Series   THE INHERITANCE GAMES is one of my favorite series because of the fun world of games Barnes […]

I thought this was going to be a more common series on my blog but I basically wrote one post and never tried it again! The idea came from the late Grace at Rebel Mommy Book Blog. I still miss her positivity in the book community and hope I can keep doing this post justice! Previous installments include Sandhya Menon, Rachel Lynn Solomon, Christina Lauren, Jennifer Lynn Barnes, and Taylor Jenkins Reid. Today I’ll be featuring… Carley Fortune Now that I’ve successfully read and loved five Carley Fortune books, I thought it’d be a decent time to share my ranking of favorites! There’s a really interesting breakdown here worth exploring. Candidly, because the covers and titles can blend together for her books, I thought this would even help ME remember which ones I’ve loved the most and why, to help better recommend them to people. 5 Stars   Every Summer After // The first and probably my favorite. I know this is a very messy story that will not jive with some people, but I sat on my porch and read this thing in one sitting. It had been a long time since I’d done that and the experience of reading this really stuck with me. The plot is a bit predictable but she does such a great job of hooking you with the characters and writing. Our Perfect Storm // The most recent Carley Fortune book takes the second place spot for me. I really love the childhood best friends-to-lovers trope and these two […]

I’ve noticed a really fun trend lately where authors are writing adventure-forward contemporary fiction and romance. These stories can have an Indiana Jones vibe, featuring paleontologists, archeologists, or scientists going out on a dig or quest or something similar. The first author I think of is Jo Segura; I’ve really enjoyed all of her books within this trope so far.   Her books follow archeologists or scientists who go out to dig sites looking for fossils, scientific discoveries, lost cities, and more. The romances are always really fun and offer a unique setting for a contemporary novel. As you can tell, the titles are all puns based on Indiana Jones movie titles, if that gives you an idea of the vibe! I went back in my brain a bit and remembered that SOMETHING WILDER was actually my first foray into this sub-genre. It’s not the most popular Christina Lauren because it felt a little unrealistic, but honestly I enjoyed the ride! It follows a treasure hunter’s daughter who uses her father’s maps to bring tourists on a fake hunt. I’ve owned a copy of THE JEWEL OF THE ISLE, which is another OG within this genre recently, but haven’t gotten to it yet. This one doesn’t really follow the science or job-forward vibe of the others, but features “two very indoor people rough[ing] it on a remote island after getting swept up in an archaeologist’s hunt for a famed jewel.” I also learned of the Raiders of the Arcana series recently […]