*waves* It’s been a hot minute since I’ve posted! I’m still alive! I’m still reading! I’m just not blogging at the moment. A few factors have played a part.

In two months, Smexy turns ten years old. Holy crap! When I started this blog, my youngest son was three and I always thought, the older my kids get, the more time I will have to do stuff! While I’m done bathing them and putting them to bed, teenagers present a host of new problems LOL. Y’all – I’m tired! And honestly, burnt out from blogging for ten years. I love it – don’t get me wrong, but it’s a lot. For ten years, I’ve kept a google doc spreadsheet, with reviews scheduled out six weeks in advance. So many ‘new-to-me’ authors reached out with review requests and I am proud at how many we have featured here at Smexy. But keeping up with that pace, I let beloved series and authors fall into my TBR pile – just so I could keep up with my review schedule. I found MANY authors that I now love because of the review requests. But it was a constant stress of reviewing, answering emails, scheduling and writing reviews – and I just got tired. I’ve also recently taken a part-time job so my normal hours for reading are now used for working. Tori has taken a full-time job, and she too couldn’t find the time to do Smexy anymore and Helyce is slowly winding down too.

But – we still have Kini, Sheena and Angela who have grabbed Smexy by the lady balls and are excited to keep the site going! A huge thank you to them, especially Kini who I basically dumped ALL of Smexy onto – and she has gracefully gone through the pile and organized things and made important changes.

I’ll still be around – just not on a consistent basis. I’m going to share my favorite reads of 2018 but I also want to mention how much fun I’m having catching up with books that released years ago, that I never got around to reading. I finished the Off-Campus series by Elle Kennedy and forgot how much I LOVE her writing. I’ve read some Kristen Callihan and Sarina Bowen I missed. I’m currently on the first book of the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J Maas. The best thing I did recently, was to cull my ‘Want to Read’ shelf on Goodreads from 1,000+ books, to 50-something!!! Yes! Those 50 books I truly want to read and it’s my goal to start knocking them off. (The batch removal button on GR is the best).

I’m also on twitter and I have my eye out for alllll the twitter recs.

My 2018 favorite reads:

Bed of Flowers by Erin Satie l Review

A grumpy, very cold recluse hero and a heroine who refuses to give up on him. Such a great voice – I also enjoyed The Lover’s Knot.

Summer Seaside Kitchen series by Jenny Colgan

This is the year that I saw a tweet by Angieville which led me to read The Cafe by the Sea (released in 2017) and the two sequels (both released in 2018) and I discovered my love and adoration for Jenny Colgan. There is something about they way she writes that completely draws me in . She makes me smile. She makes me want to bake things and live on tiny, cold islands. She makes me yearn for things I didn’t know I wanted. Her characters have such depth and many flaws. I love them all.

Slightly leans towards women’s fiction – but there is a romance and a HEA. There is some heartbreak too that you might not witness as much in a pure romance book. I’m obsessed with her.

A Distant Heart by Sonali Dev l Review

This author KILLS me with each of her books. She rips out my hearts. beats it up, mends it, and puts it back nicely in my chest. She writes with raw emotion. I can’t wait for her next one.

Her Claim by Rebecca Grace Allen l Review

I looooved the heroine in this book. She is terrific. Great romance, great chemistry. I await her next book.

I also read A Court of Thorns and Roses trilogy by Sarah J Maas – releases prior to 2018 but I loved it so, so , so much. A fantasy series with a twist at the end of book one/start of book two that made me so excited. The romance IS SO GOOD (you have to wait for book two to get the full romance.) I’m forever a Rhys girl.

So that’s where I am. I just met Chaol Westfall in Throne of Glass and I hear he might become a favorite of mine. I love the anticipation of a good series. I’ll be back to talk about the books I’m reading for sure. Hit me up on Twitter (@smexybooks) for any recs! I love to talk books on Twitter!

Also random but I started binging Schitt’s Creek on Netflix and omg I’m in love with this show and everyone should watch it!! It’s making me LOL. If you need something to watch!

Happy 2019 and I’ll be back soon with another reading update!