I needed some more comfort in May but I also found myself drawn to some WILD romances that were more animal focused (that reads weird) but were in fact surprisingly good. This months Schitt’s Creek works perfectly for Morning Glory Milking Farm and The Scoundrel and the Satyr King! 😀

Morning Glory Milking Farm (Cambric Creek #1) by C.M. Nascosta – 4⭐

So I picked this up because I saw a few people talking about it on bookstagram and I thought to myself, ‘ooooh this sounds super smutty and I’m in the mood for super smutty!’ and it’s a little smutty but it was also super wholesome and cute. I’ve no idea how a ‘milking farm’ storyline with minitours getting hand jobs ended up being wholesome but it did. Sometimes I find it best not to question things. Will be continuing this series for sure!

Complicated by Kristen Ashley – 5⭐

This book is kind of heartbreaking at times, I seem to always forget that until reading it. Greta and Andy’s story is just so very sad and then we have the Nat Calloway storyline which is gut wrenching to be honest.

It’s still one of my favourites though, I just cry a lot when reading it and that can be very cathartic!

The Hookup (Moonlight and Motor Oil #1) by Kristen Ashley – 5⭐

Such a comfort read for me. I love Johnny and Izzy. One of my favourtie things about this book is the lack of out and out drama, there is some drama at the beginning but it’s resolved very quickly and then it’s just lots of nice things with only one ‘family drama’ at the end but it wasn’t relationship one so it was all good.

Things We Never Got Over (Knockemout #1) by Lucy Score – 4⭐

This is actually more likely 3.75!

I actually really liked the premise and the characters and I do like Lucy Score (this is my second of hers) but sometimes I struggle with the ‘wackiness’ of her characters. These people were adults and sometimes they feel like teenagers. That being said, they are fun reading, it’s just that over the top behaviour can grate when the book is almost 600 pages.

I liked that the second epilogue gave them a slightly different HEA (still 100% a HEA) and while that HEA isn’t necessary for a couple to be happy it was nice that it wasn’t a traditional HEA.

HEA Spoiler – Naomi and Knox obviously struggled with infertility and the second epilogue is them bringing home two babies they’ve adopted. As I said, it’s actually refreshing to give characters different types of HEA’s but it’s also important to note that kids don’t make the HEA and couples don’t need to adopt or foster to have that HEA. Be nice to see a bit more of that in romance.

The Scoundrel and the Satyr King (The Monsters Ball) by Clio Evans – 4⭐

Bridgerton meets monster romance. Right down to a joke about a bee sting! I mean come on, I was always going to enjoy this. Too short and I’d just love more of these two. Because it’s a novella it’s a bit too speedy but that just meant they didn’t mess around with miscommunication too much!

Ezra was a bit of a pill but Pan made it all worth it!

The Gamble (Colorado Mountain #1) – 4⭐, Lady Luck (Colorado Mountain #3) – 5⭐, Jagged (Colorado Mountain #5) – 4⭐ & Kaleidoscope (Colorado Mountain #6) – 5⭐by Kristen Ashley

Did a mix and match reread, I like to come back to these books often, I read Sweet Dreams and Bounty earlier in the year so was due a read of these. Probably won’t read Breathe because I really dislike Chace. I’m beginning to realise how much I dislike how KA writes the naïve heroines who are supposedly the heroes ‘reward’.

The Duke and I (Bridgertons #1) – 4⭐, The Viscount Who Loved Me (Bridgertons #2) – 5⭐, An Offer From a Gentleman (Bridgertons #3) – 5⭐, Romancing Mister Bridgerton (Bridgertons #4) – 4⭐, To Sir Phillip, With Love (Bridgertons #5) – 4⭐, When He Was Wicked (Bridgertons #6) – 4.5⭐, It’s in His Kiss (Bridgertons #7) – 5⭐ & On the Way to the Wedding (Bridgertons #8) – 5⭐by Julia Quinn

The Scoundrel and the Satyr King put me in a mood and I had a lovely time rereading these. I always do to be honest!!

Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente – 3⭐

I really wanted to like this and in a lot of ways I did but overall it just missed the mark.

It’s full of great quotes and the premise is fun while also being clever but it also kind of felt like a very chaotic Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and well Hitchhikers is chaotic so to out-chaotic it is impressive. The difference though is that Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is kind of perfect in my opinion and I think it’s best that we don’t try to replicate it.

I started this on Eurovision weekend and thought it would be a fun speedy read over that weekend but I found it so OTT that I honestly needed little breaks and overall it took me 17 days to read, that’s like 10 days more than I’d like for such a short book.

The end also felt very ‘blink and you’ll miss it’.