It’s almost summertime and I’m stoked for beach read season! We’re heading to Hawaii at at the end of July and I plan to carefully and strategically plan my books way ahead of time. I’m currently reading Happy Place by Emily Henry and LOVING IT! And, I’m listening to Lost Boy by Christina Henry. It’s an excellent dark retelling of Peter Pan. No romance that I no of, but very much giving me Lord of Flies vibes.
And onto Tiktok….
#5 In all seriousness this guy is a hero.
#4 I rarely do these guessing games, but this one got me. Which is your choice? My answer is at the bottom.
#2 Daddy?
#1 Going into the weekend like…
My choice of where to nap? The first one. So cozy! I’d love to curl up with a good book and my hubs. Since I’m building my vacation reading list, tell me what your top book of the year is so far. I’ll do a future post on what I’m taking to the beach. I want all the reccs! Have a great weekend! Cheers, Jen
Wishing you a good weekend, too, Jen!
(But where is #3?)
I have two favorite books so far this year: DIAMOND RING (2023) by KD Casey and SEASON’S CHANGE (2022) by Cait Nary. They are both angsty m/m sports romances (baseball and hockey, respectively), and both deal with some serious subjects such as mental health issues and the stresses of being closeted while playing professional sports. DIAMOND RING covers ten years in the relationship between a pitcher (bi) and a catcher (gay) who fall in love in their first season working together but then fall apart when a missed pitch (or was it a missed catch?) loses their team the World Series. They drift apart for nine years, but then reunite when they find themselves on the same team again. The spark is still there of course. SEASON’S CHANGE is about two hockey players (one gay and deeply closeted, the other bi and rather casual about it) who become roommates-with-benefits while playing professional hockey. Mental health issues and homophobia (internalized and from others) are major themes in the book, but so are caring for others, what it means to be part of a family, and how coming out is an ongoing process. Both books are beautifully written and totally immerse you in the worlds of their characters. I’m a huge baseball fan (I know next-to-nothing about hockey), so I have to give the edge to DIAMOND RING, but both books are highly recommended.