King of Sloth by Ana Huang
Somewhere along the way, Ana Huang became an autobuy author for me. I think her books are perfect beach reads. They’re light, charming, a little spicy and just the right length even if a little unrealistic. I think this series is some of her best writing so far. They feel a lot less angsty and trashy and the relationships are a lot less immature than her previous series (even though I really liked two of the books from the previous series, Twisted Games and Twisted Hate). This one is the fourth book in the Kings of Sin series and it’s about an heir to a big company (I can’t remember what; he’s just rich that’s all you gotta know) and his PR agent and it’s grumpy/sunshine but it’s the female who is the grump. Honestly there needs to be more of this role reversal because it just works. None of her books are groundbreaking but it’s the perfect light read.
Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez
Honestly I think I like this one the least of all of Abby Jimenez’s books. It’s about a guy and a girl who meet via a Reddit post where they both suffer from the same “curse”, the people they date break up with them and then they go on to find their soulmates. So they decide to fake date each other to hopefully end the curse. This one gives off a great summer atmosphere. The female main character is a travel nurse who stays near a lake in Michigan while she is working. I really like how realistic and accurate Abby portrays people in the healthcare system; she must have someone in her life who works in healthcare because it is the most accurate depiction I’ve come across in terms of how much they work, their schedule etc which just adds so much more dimension to her books. I did also like the portrayal of how a parent’s mental illness can affect their child as an adult and how that leads to maladaptive coping mechanisms. I honestly wish she had just expanded more on all of this because the romance was super lack lustre and frankly boring; there was a lack of conflict. I don’t care if they like each other from the beginning but to then just have a conflict in the third act and then wrap in a neat “6 months later” epilogue feels a little cheap. The depiction of BPD was pretty accurate though. It also gives the false impression that mental illness can be solved in a finite amount of time. Still, I have read all 3 books in this series. Will I continue to read them? Yes.
Every Summer After by Carley Fortune
Honestly I wanted to read this because I wanted something that would give me the same feeling as when I read Jenny Han’s books. I heard that this being compared to a Jenny Han book but for adults and in some ways it was. It follows the couple when they meet for the first time at their summer house by the lake when they are 13. There’s also two brothers. This one is not really a love triangle so don’t worry about that. This just made me want to read Jenny Han’s books again because this book did not bring the same whimsicality and carefree nostalgia of being kids over the summer. The characters in Han’s books are more well-realized too. Lara Jean in To all the Boys I’ve Loved Before and Belly from The summer I turned pretty are more than the sum of their hobbies. The main character in Every Summer After just likes writing..and horror movies but I don’t know who she is. Side characters are also not very well-realized which would have made the main characters feel more lived in. Even the other brother in this book could have been more fleshed out. Even the main love interest was lack lustre. This was fine but the more I read into it, the more it became about the angst and not in a fun coming-of-age way.
A Hundred thousand Stories 