Welcome to the Kissing Books newsletter. If you’re a regular reader, I’m glad to see you again. Or, if this is your first time here, I’m glad that you joined us. I’m PN Hinton, and I’ll be your guide through all things romance-related.
2024 is the tenth year of the Read Harder Challenge! Join us as we make our way through 24 tasks meant to expand our reading horizons and diversify our TBRs. To get book recommendations for each task, sign up for the Read Harder newsletter. We’ll also keep you informed about other cool reading challenges, readathons, and more across the bookish internet. If you become a paid subscriber, you get even more recommendations plus community features, where you can connect with a community of passionate, like-minded readers in a cozy and supportive corner of the internet. Sign up today!
How are everyone’s reading goals going so far this year? According to Storygraph, which I recently moved to, I’ve read four books already. To be fair, those are the ones that I tracked, since I didn’t count anything in December that rolled over. I’ve only purchased one new book this year, and that was with a gift card, so I’m counting it as a gift. Additionally, I’m going to be more strict with skipping BOTM when a book doesn’t call to me instead of feeling like I have to pick one for one reason or another. And, I’ve decided that I’m going to let myself re-read this year, especially comforting reads. All in all, I feel I’m doing great with all things bookish, and I hope the same is true for you.
Bookish Goods
Book Lover Box of Chocolates by TheStepwrightInn
Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, and one of the go-to treats are chocolate boxes. This would be a perfect Galentine or Valentine gift, as well as a treat for yourself. Because you should also remember to give yourself gifts. $5
New Releases
Girls with Bad Reputations by Xio Axelrod
As the daughter of an extremely overbearing mother, Kayla has been told all of her life to be quiet and not draw attention to herself. As an act of desperate rebellion, she took up the drums and found a new family in her band, the Lillys. When the band makes it big, she finds herself struggling with adjusting to the sudden stardom and finds comfort in Ty, the tour bus driver. Are these two kindred separates destined to unite, or will secrets and pressures from stardom doom their love story?
Bride by Ali Hazelwood
When Vampyre Misery is called upon by her councilman father to enter into a marriage of convenience with Were Alpha Lowe in an attempt at an alliance, she agrees. But, despite how it may look to her father, it’s not because she cares about the war one way or another; it is because she feels Lowe knows something about the disappearance of her human best friend. After the ceremony, Misery is left alone in Were territory, though, where the two find it hard to deny the attraction between them that refuses to be ignored.
For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.
Riot Recommendations
Today is Chocolate Fondue Day AND National Weatherperson’s Day. So, today’s recommendations are both books that can be read in honor of one of those holidays.
Sinful Chocolate by Adrianne Byrd
Charlie is a major player who has no interest in settling down with just one woman. But when he receives some startling news from his doctors, he begins to have second thoughts about the poor way he’s treated the women in his life. During this time, he meets Gisella and is taken aback by her beauty. She isn’t unaffected by him either, but between the warnings of her friends and the launch of her new shop, Sinful Chocolate, she isn’t sure she has time to enter into an affair with an alleged ex-heartbreaker.
Weather Girl by Rachel Lynn Solomon
When meteorologist Ari’s mentor seems too focused on her rollercoaster relationship with her ex-husband, who is also the news director of the station they work at, she isn’t sure how to get the help she needs. After a holiday party ends in disaster, she decides to team up with Russell, the station’s sports reporter, to “parent trap” their respective bosses. Soon, though, their plotting leads to feelings developing between the two of them.
And that’s all I have for you on this fine Monday. I’ll be back in your inboxes on Thursday, and you can find me over on Instagram under @pns_bookish_world. Until then, happy reading and stay hydrated.