Earl Grey Books

On Wednesday I talked about the 2024 releases that have already caught my eye and I mentioned how bad I am at keeping up with new releases. Rather than go straight into a post talking about all the new releases I still need to read this year, I thought I’d start with sharing the ones I have read.

There’s been twelve in total so far, but a few of them are for a post early next month so I’ll hold off on those. So today we’ll be talking about eight of them. I guess in the grand scheme of things, that’s not terrible, I just wish more than four of them had come off my physical TBR. Anyway, let’s get into them.

Loathe to Love You by Ali Hazelwood

This was a nice early release in the year coming out in the first days of January. I bought it on the 14th and read it about a week later. I enjoyed it at the time but I couldn’t tell you anything about the second or third stories. The first one I still remember loving and the basic premise of it, but the others are completely gone. Here’s my original review.

Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert

I bought this one on the same day, but ended up reading it a few weeks later at the end of February. I didn’t love this one. It was cute enough, but it is YA rather than romance and that’s just not something I read a lot of anymore. Here’s my original review.

Iced Out (Heston U Hotshots #1) by Veronica Eden

Easily one of my favourite books of the year, and one that sent me into my ice hockey romance era. I read this a few days after it came out in May and then bought myself a copy in June when I met Veronica Eden. I’m already planning to reread this ahead of the sequel being released.

The Scepter (The Mortal Fates #0.1) by J. Bree

I honestly wasn’t sure whether to count the next two. They’re both prequel novellas and that felt a little it like cheating, but they are both 2023 releases so. I don’t remember anything about this one and I’m not planning on starting this series until I finish J. Bree’s The Bonds That Tie series, but hopefully next year I’ll come back to this one,

That One Night (Jacksonville Rays #0.5) by Emily Rath

I remember this one pretty well, but I just don’t know whether I’ll ever make it back to this series. I read 40 something percent of the first book but it’s about 800 pages or so. Look, I love ice hockey romances but I don’t know that I need 800 pages worth. We’ll see how I feel if I ever get around to finishing this one.

I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai

Okay, this one I loved. I feel like the last third or so of this book will haunt me forever. I listened to it on audiobook and I really felt like the story was real. I was so invested in the characters and the mystery that when I finished I felt like I was coming out of a daze. It really feels like the final third altered my brain chemistry because sometimes it still stops me in my tracks and I just feel a rush of emotion again.

Scoring The Player (Campus Wallflowers #3) and Wild Ever After (Wildcat Hockey #3) by Rebecca Jenshak

I wrote a whole post about the time in July where I just disengaged from the world and read six Rebecca Jenshak books back to back, including these two. I enjoyed Scoring the Player—on a whole, I prefer the Campus Wallflowers series because it’s college-aged and just more fun. It wasn’t my favourite of the series though. On the other hand, I didn’t enjoy Wild Ever After very much. I’d been so excited for Jade, the female MC’s story, but I wasn’t sold on the relationship. The final book in Campus Wallfowers is out this week so I’m excited to finish that series off, but unsure as to whether I’ll come back to Wildcat Hockey.

And that’s everything so far. I’m hoping to get the chance to read a few more before the end of the year, but I’ll talk about some of those next week!