Happy weekend, everyone! We have reached September!

Here’s what we’re reading lately:

…

Lara: I’m bravely continuing my hunt for new release vampire romance novels. So far all the ones I’ve tried have been really disappointing. I’m currently trying Fang Fiction by Kate Stayman-London, but it’s too early to tell if I’m onto a winner or not.

Sarah: What are you looking for re: vampires?

Lara: This is probably embarrassing to admit but I’m looking to chase those highs I felt reading vampire romances in the 2000s. I’m not sure that’s a sensible thing to aim for though given how some books don’t age well.

Sarah: Do you remember what it was that gave you that high? What are some titles that you recall gave you that feeling?

Lara: That’s partly why I’m reading every vampire book I can find at the moment because with my terrible memory, all I can recall is the feeling they gave me and not the reason for the feeling. At that stage, I was predominantly a library reader so I can’t even go through the bookshelves and jog my memory. It’s a struggle! But I my little reading project will succeed – I hope!

Sarah: What was the feeling?

Lara: That giddy feeling of reading about love with a powerful creature who isn’t afraid to be gentle.

Sarah: That sounds maybe like a big dose of morality chain? Like “I will destroy the world and can but won’t bc I like you and you don’t want me to?”

Have you read the Ilona Andrews series with Nevada and Rogan?

Lara: I haven’t but I’m going to look that up at my library right now! Thank you!

Shana: I just finished the novella Sweet Surrender by Viano Oniomoh and now I’ve started binging her backlist. It’s a cozy m/m paranormal romance set in Nigeria with a bloodthirsty edge. A bisexual on the run from a conservative Christian cult asks the demon appearing in his wet dreams to be his bodyguard. There’s a lot of sex, but it was still so wholesome and cute. Both heroes are virgins, should that interest anyone…

It works as a standalone, but I also loved the first book in the series, Sweet Vengeance. ( A ) That book’s much darker, a m/f romance about a rape survivor who falls for the demon she hires to kill her rapist. Definitely lots of CWs for that book (sexual assault flashback, murder etc) but I loved the heroine’s unapologetic rage. And the book somehow manages to keep the romance part super adorable. It helps that the demon thinks her bloodlust is cute.

Sarah: I can tell you what I’m reading this weekend! I’m extremely busy with a lot of ongoing projects, and I wanted something on the shorter side because my brain is Le Tired.

I’m going to try A Marriage of Undead Inconvenience by Stephanie Burgis (the cover is so pretty). A young woman is forced into marriage to a vampire, who it turns out was coerced into that marriage as well. So they’re going to join forces and fuck over their awful families. Mmmm. Catnip.

So what are you reading lately? Let us know in the comments!