A Plot Twisted post by CJ
Let me be upfront about something: I have a dedicated notebook just to track the physical books I own and have yet to read. That’s not counting Kobo deals, Kindle Unlimited borrows, Chirp/Audible audio sale purchases, or the library Libby rentals. The physical books alone require a notebook. This is fine. Everything is fine.
I’m a mood reader through and through ā I’ll have three or four books on the go at once depending on format, access, and whatever headspace I’m in that day. So the wine cellar selection comparison could be made with my home library. Sometimes I want a swoony slow burn. Sometimes I want a big sweeping fantasy that wrecks me. Sometimes it’s both at the same time, and that’s what the Reading Room TBR pile is for. Right now the top of the stack is heavy on fantasy with romance woven in, which describes my usual reading habits fairly well.
Here’s what’s sitting at the top of the pile right now. Fair warning, I know for a fact that I will pivot. I will read things not on this list that pop up in recommends and on social feeds, but that’s the deal with being a mood reader. These are the ones I’m genuinely excited about right now though, so let’s take a walk through my mind…
Hopeless Necromantic ā Shiloh Briar (Cat’s Eye Chronicles #1)
I’m already a few chapters into this one, which tells you where it lands on the priority list. My concern going in was that it would try too hard to be funny, you know that kind of forced quirky humor that starts to grate by chapter three. But the opening few chapters have given me solid hope that it’s going to be genuinely funny rather than performatively funny. Full review coming once I’m through it.
Branded with Fire ā Tamara Renee (With Fire #4)
This one is also at the top of the pile because it just dropped and I love this series. Tamara Renee is a Canadian author and I picked up the first three books at Slow Burn Books in Calgary (one of my favourite places on the planet; I so wish I lived closer). Book four is here and I’m not waiting.
Harvest Season ā Brynne Weaver (Seasons of Carnage #2)
I read Tourist Season and holy shit, that is a ride. I have theories. I have suspicions. I have forecasts about the plot on this one that I’m genuinely excited to see explode in my face (hopefully not out of a wood chipper). Can’t wait to get into this one and find out exactly how wrong I am.
Court of Ravens and Ruin ā Eliza Raine (Shadow Bound Queen #1)
I vaguely remember starting this on Kindle Unlimited back in 2023 when I was really hitting my stride with the book-a-day habit, but I honestly can’t be certain it’s the same series I’m thinking of. Either way, I noted Eliza Raine on my authors to continue reading list (yes, there actually is one) and this book has Norse mythology style Viking fae, enemies-to-lovers, slow burn, Hades/Persephone vibes with echoes of Beauty and the Beast. The series is complete at four books, but the paperbacks are being released in deluxe editions through 2026 so I plan to read them as they arrive in my mailbox.
Blood Bound ā Ellis Hunter (Cursed Covenant #1)
A debut that’s already a NYT bestseller with witches, dragon riders, high-stakes duel to the death, found sisterhood at the core. It’s a trilogy and book one just came out in April so I’m getting in early. Very excited about this one but worried it’s going to kill me to wait for book two.
A Forbidden Alchemy ā Stacey McEwan
This one has been calling to me from the stack for months with a recommend from my friend J, whose opinion on books I hold in high regard. More details to come once I actually get my hands on it ā but the anticipation is real.
Fallen Gods ā Rachel Van Dyken
I don’t know much about this one, but it sure was pretty and I’m easy. When it comes to books, I mean. Obviously.
Haunted Ever After ā Jen DeLuca
A little palette cleanser energy in a pile heavy on epic fantasy, and I’ve heard it’s a good read.
Love and Other Conspiracies ā Mallory Marlowe
Okay, so. My family loves cryptids. We are enthusiastic consumers of the strange, the unusual, and the genuinely weird. We are, it turns out, a pack of weirdo nerds and I say that with my whole heart. So when you line up Love and Other Conspiracies, Morbidly Yours, and Hopeless Necromantic side by side and ask why they all caught my attention, I suspect it’s pretty obvious. Now you know me that much better. I contain multitudes. Weird, cryptid-loving multitudes.
Morbidly Yours ā Ivy Fairbanks
See above. š
The Swallow ā Charis Cotter
This one’s a little different ā it’s on the list because my twelve-year-old, E, has read it three times and personally lobbied for its inclusion. She’s actually been asking me for months if I’ve read it yet, and three reads from a kid that age is not a casual endorsement, it’s a full blown request to bond over a shared book, and I take those very seriously. Reading books with the weirdos and nerds I love is one of my favourite things, so this one goes on the pile with no hesitation.
And if you want to place bets on how many of these I actually stick to versus how many I abandon the second something shiny catches my eye ā the comments are open. I’m making no promises.
Ready for more reviews from CJ? Find More Here.
Plot Twisted. š„
š | Genre: TBR / Reading List
Want to know what is on LD’s TBR for July? Find out here