Summer Reads

Looking for a romance that is highly engaging, entertaining, and light enough to enjoy this summer? We have the perfect recs for you to read wherever you may find yourself spending those long summer days. So sit back, relax, and get ready to add to that ever growing TBR. 

Transcript

0:03

Welcome to Romance Wrecks, where three book besties explore the world of romance novels and encourage you to expand your TBR. Join us as we dive into the hottest releases and hidden gems of the genre. You can find us on Instagram and TikTok at Romance Wrecks Pod. I am Jordan and I am currently listening to Divergent by Veronica Roth and reading, yeah, and reading Beautiful Savage by Caroline Peckham and Suzanne Valenti. Yeah. Is that a reread or is this your first time reading that book? First time reading it. I'm going through their whole catalog. Oh, okay. Interesting. So it's nice that they still have books for you to discover. Oh, yeah, because they have so many. All right guys. Hi I'm Devany, and I am listening to Funny Story by Emily Henry. This is an interesting one. Hi guys, I'm Kristina, and I'm rereading Romancing Mr. Bridgerton by Julia Quinn to get ready for the new season of Bridgerton this week. Aww! So smart. So buckle up for some bookish banter. Thank you. Buckled. We're good. Buckled in. Today we are discussing summer reads. Yeah, it's, we here in the Pacific Northwest just had our first heatwave this past weekend. Oh, it was glorious. It is still spring. I turned on the air conditioning. It was a hot one. It was a scorcher for Washington. It was for me. After three days of over 75, I was done. I know. Did you see her take her sweater off? She's getting warm. Jordan, look at those shoulders. Ready? I do have shoulders. Yes. I do have them. I do have a tan line. Look at that. Look at that. It's more like pink. It's more pink than anything, but it's fine. Yeah, but before we get into it And what qualifies, Dev, you told us you had this rant that you wanted to talk about instead of a quote this week. And I want to hear what it is because you wouldn't tell us. Yes, so I have a rant because I have been seeing this debate all over threads. And if you are not following like book threads or in the author. Instagram threads on threads. Is that why they did that? Threads that we didn't connect to? Oh no. Anyway, if you're not on threads, get on there because the conversations are actually diabolical. I just had to bear witness to arguments about why pregnancy tropes do not belong in books and I was offended because. If y'all know me and what I like, I love a pregnancy trope in a book. And of course, I'm not going to say that every single pregnancy trope story is good, but there are some really good ones. And the fact that people are putting off this entire genre, because you're like, no, no babies and books. Are you joking, babes? Like, first of all, me, a mom of a toddler, no pregnancy trope, my life is pregnancy trope, like what are you actually saying? So yeah, I was just, I'm just so annoyed with the argument that pregnancy trope does not belong in books. I will give you that some of them are cringy. Some are cringy. But we may actually need to allow me to spend an episode talking about really good pregnancy trope books. Just so I can get You guys excited about reading that so no more everything belongs in every no, I'm not I'm gonna take that back I'm not gonna say every trope belongs in every book because there are some lines that can be crossed But pregnancy trope leave it alone If you don't like it most authors will put if the trope has it it will put it inside Content warnings trigger warnings or the general story. You'll be able to get it from like the blurb. Just don't read it, babes Okay, don't read it and leave my pregnancy trope alone because I love it. That's my rant. I like it, too Yes You see, okay And I don't know jordan's like I don't yeah, but I would never say it doesn't belong in romance Right. It's just like everyone's it's just like if you have a trigger About things right like for me, it's right. It's kind it can be a trigger depending on how it's presented right because of my history with it and it's like Then I just don't read those It's like giving one star review for a bully romance having bullies in it. Right. Yeah, exactly. No. Yeah. Totally. Avoid it. Just don't read it. And once you, once you figure out it's there, just be like, Oh, this isn't for me and move on. But the bashing on the internet about how this is the worst trope. And then I saw people tag authors in their books and like rail them about why they would put this. I think, yeah, that's what really started the, the rap. Cause I saw creators like, People tagging authors and, and I was just like, oh, sweet summer child, no. That's like me, who doesn't like beer, going to the bar and insisting that they stop serving beer because I don't like it. Because you don't like it. Yeah, don't yuck Dev's yum. Yeah, don't yuck my yum. Anyway, that's my rant, so sorry I don't have a quote, but you know, this was on my heart, so I popped out my little soapbox. Thank you. Stepping off of it now. You're welcome. Thank you. I love that Yeah. Christina, I know you had a quote. You were talking about it before Deb got here. Um, I do have a quote and I love it. I'm excited. It's one of my favorites. I know. I just want you guys to guess what book this is from Twilight. Here it goes. Did I guess it just read it? Just No. Don't ruin her. Surprise. Fall down again, Bella? No, Emmett, I punched a werewolf in the face. I just knew that was coming. Absolutely, babe. The greatest romance. I'm sorry. Wait, when was that? Talk about age gap. It's from Eclipse, the third one. I'm trying to remember what scene. Okay, yeah, I was trying to remember what book and scene that was. No, she's like stomping back into the house. No, Emmett, I punched a werewolf in the face. Yes. Oh, yeah. After Jacob tried to kiss her and she noshed, she tried to punch him. Yes. And Charlie just stood there and let the whole thing happen. Yeah, no, I might actually reread those books. I might, I might have to reread Twilight. I will never again, feast my eyes upon the cinematic production of the books, but, um, yeah. Ooh, she'll never let that part of history down. Yeah, I think I might reread it. Yeah, it's good. Good quote My quote is actually from a book that I will be recommending today, so I stayed on topic This is from assistant to the villain by Hannah Nicole Mayer Um, I'll remind you that at your bequest, I haven't actually killed an intern in several months. Eevee shook her head hopelessly. Sir, I hate to belittle your successes, but there are people who go their entire lives without killing anyone. His face remained serious. How dull. Okay, that book has been on my list for a really long time, but then I saw negative reviews of it and it scared me off. It is so polarizing. Yeah, I think I'll read it because that seems like my kind of comedy. It's so fun and I will get into it in a moment. But first before I get into it, why don't I tell you exactly what qualifies as a summer read? So we, we want to give you a summer reads this year. I mean, we're going summer because we didn't want to exactly call it a beach read. Um, You don't want to get confused with the popular title. Also, not everyone has access to a beach and sometimes you just want to pretend you're at a beach though and it's summer. We got this, we found this quote, I think it's just off Google, but it's, so it's a book, usually fiction, in this case, it's romance that one would enjoy during vacation or a day at the beach because it's engaging, it's entertaining, it's easy to read. So it's those quick things. You want to be fully engrossed in this book. You want to be sworn to peace. You don't want Crescent City world building. Right. You want to relax, but you want to be entertained. Yes, exactly. Very light. And it doesn't necessarily mean fluffy either. It just means plots where you can follow it, where there isn't that extreme world building and a million characters that you have to follow. Quickly engaging. Yeah, we love that. Yeah. It sucks you in. Right. Exactly. You don't need a flowchart It just sucks ya. Like the sucking, Jordan. Yeah. Thank you. Yes. There is some of that, that happens in some of these books, yes, naturally. Um, how's it start? I'll just go. I'll just talk about it. I'm excited for you to talk about Assistant to the Villain. I figured that a lot of these, RECs would be contemporary or rom com because that's kind of what you think of when you think of quick, light, and fluffy, right? But I wanted to highlight Assistant to the Villain. Because I just thought it was so fucking delightful. when you read a description for a book and they call it a fantasy, version of The Office. Oh, is that what they call it? That's what I read. Yeah. That's for me. Yeah, sold. It's meant to be a comedy and people are on there and everyone who I've set, I've seen that gives it negative reviews are just like, this is ridiculous. This is a no thank you. It's supposed to be like, funny. It's supposed to be ironic. It's supposed to be, you know, funny yeah. It's just, it's literally this high ranking villain has his own headquarters set back in this woods. Where he has a whole slew of people that work under him. And he put to pull off these jobs and do these things. He has an actual office, right? For his villain, villain try? Villain ry? Literally, all I can think of is doofenshmirtz people in corporate word. I don't know that. I don't know that either. Oh, it's from Phineas and Ferb with Terry the Platypus. Tough crowd. Okay, never mind. I did not watch it. You lost us. Yep, yep, yep. We did not watch that. But for all you, you're not the only one. I'm sure at least one listener will know that reference. Yeah. Uh huh. Unfortunately, it's not us. They can sing the theme song with me. Yeah. Anyways. So it's just funny. Evie Sage needs a job. She's a job. We love when they're desperate. Oh, she is. She's millennial desperate for this job, right? So with an ailing family to support Evie Sage's employment status isn't just important. It's vital, right? It's vital to her. Her dad can't really work anymore. No job is perfect, of course, but she sees This post for a new job and she goes she goes for it And she gets it, and it's just the banter between her and her boss. Like the quote earlier, it's just so funny, because she's just trying to rein him in, not necessarily keep him from doing evil deeds, but just trying to manage this office, right? And it's just lighthearted and funny. It's freaking hilarious, I think. Like, Thrones, or Fourth Wing, even. But if you go in it as like, this is meant to be a comedy, You're gonna have a great time. I'm gonna get what you want. Yeah. I want to read that one. I don't want to tell too much about it because Just go read it. Deb, you're on mute, honey. It's crazy because I was really talking. I was really, telling you how badly I didn't notice I looked over when she said that. And you were into this monologue. Like, waited a few seconds to see. And I'm like, no, honey. Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait. Hold on. I want to read the end of the The end of the synopsis. Now Evie must not only resist drooling over her boss, but also figure out exactly who is sabotaging his work and ensure he makes them pay. After all, a good job is hard to find. I wish you hadn't read the synopsis. Because what I said on mute was, oh my god, I love this, it doesn't sound cringey or icky, like, it sounds like comedy. And then he ruined the fucking end of the synopsis. And my toes literally curled in on themselves at the cringe. That's a toe curling. Someone call Sarah. No, that's really. No, no. Okay, what I was also saying is that, is there a book too? Cause I could have sworn I saw. Yeah, it's not out yet. Okay. All right, but it's like apprentice to the villain or something. Yeah I was so confused. It ends on a cliffhanger. Okay, i'm still gonna read it I saw it at half price books and i meant to pick it up, but then I was like, oh, is it good? Oh, I don't know Are all the books I know I should I should have gotten it are all the books read? sprayed red edges Or is that like the special thing? I don't have I don't because it was It was sprayed red and the edges were red. I should have gotten it if I go back You should have seen it I know I should have shoulda coulda woulda but I didn't. Oh, yeah. So anyways, that was one just pretend I didn't read the end of that I'm still gonna read it. I wonder if there's an audiobook. I would love to listen to that comedy. Yeah, and I mean, yeah, you just can't take this one seriously. It's not meant to be taken seriously. There's a talking frog. Like, the evil villain, he, he keeps this frog at his desk, but it's, it's a person he turned into a frog, and he like, it's his buddy then, and he wears a little crown. He wears a little I forget what he's called, but anyway, it's just What in the Princess Tiana is going on at this point? It's just funny, and then there's office politics thrown in, and, yeah. So it's a workplace romance, one would say. Yeah. Or interest. It's a billionaire. They didn't really get, they didn't really get to. It's a summer read. Oh. Yeah, you're right. It is definitely a summer read. Yeah. So my second recommendation is one I just read this past week. I read a lot this week. Forget Me Not by Julie Soto. I've seen this one around a lot and I just never picked it up. So it has a beautiful cover. it's one of those books that hops timelines and POVs. Which. I wasn't a big fan of for the first part, because it just kind of annoyed me at first. I'm like another one of these. But I like the characters really intrigued me and I liked the storyline and I thought it was really good. The characters are very unique. She is a wedding planner who branched out on her own to start her own business He is a reluctant florist. So he took over after his father passed away his his shop and They like reluctantly fall in love Not reluctant love. Yeah, because So they end up working together a lot She is this super bubbly outgoing wedding planner who like inserts herself into his life and his business business Right? Oh my God. And she's just, she only believes in casual hookups. She won't commit to things. Her mom has been married 16 times. Jesus God. I'm sorry. There's no way. That has to be a Guinness World Record or something. I mean, I know. It was like so ridiculous. That part was annoying to me. I'm like, just call it 10. Did you have to do 16? 16 is crazy. So that was the annoying part to me. She doesn't believe, she doesn't want to ever get married, but she also doesn't want to commit, because she grew up, Love isn't forever, people lie, love isn't forever, but a wedding is a party. That was like the mentality she grew up with. She helped her mom with so many weddings, she became a wedding planner. But anyways, so she, they start, she starts sleeping with him, like, she basically just inserts herself into this man's life. And he was like, what's happening, but okay, and he kind of falls in love with this like whirlwind of a woman, but he understands who she is, right, and that she is afraid of commitment, so he's like, I'm gonna just have her for as long as I can, and try to not to scare her away. The POVs start with like present day, she's working on this wedding, but they're not together anymore, they had broken up, and then it alternates back to his POV from the past, the beginning of their relationship. So you see after and the beginning, until they finally meet for the last little part. Yeah, that, that kind of time jump is very interesting. Yeah, it took me a little while to be okay with it. But I think the characters are so different. just the difference in their dispositions and I liked it. But he was just That's such a unique premise. Yeah, well he didn't Yeah, yeah. Yeah, he just and he was totally content just having her for however she would be. Wanted him. Mm hmm. He just wanted her like he didn't care. He didn't even care about labeling it He didn't care if he couldn't tell anyone. He was he was just push over a sweetie and I know I can't really like us or bad. It was great. It's beautiful. So you should go read It was unique and you get into it right like cuz then you're hopping timelines he's fabulous Weddings and all that jazz My final recommendation Formal one is one. I actually read today and I had to add it. I read listened to the whole thing today the bromance book club by lissa k adams This was hilarious And I could totally see myself reading this by the pool or like taking this outside to the park one day of summer. To me, I saw this book totally reminds me of a story of what happens after the surprise pregnancy trope book. So Gavin and Thea were married. Had been married for three years. They have twins. They were together together three months before they got pregnant And they got married sounds like my story. Mm hmm, but they got they got married, but they got married, right? Yeah and There was just a huge disconnect and it to me. It really looks like a relationship. That's They committed before they fully fleshed each other out before they fully knew each other kind of a thing and this is the result of that. So she faked orgasms for three years. And he was just disconnected. He is so this is also sports. He is a professional. He is a professional MLB player. So he plays professional baseball. So he's gone a lot. Great dad though. Points for him. He has this amazing game. They have sex after this amazing game and they were both so happy that she finally actually has an orgasm. And he realizes, he was like, what was that? And she's like, uh, he goes, have you been faking it? Because that has never happened when we've had sex. Oh gosh. And then she has to come clean. But she has been faking it since she had the girls. Yeah. He gets really mad because it really hits his pride and he, you know, He gets mad and they don't talk for a few days and she tells him to get out. Cause she has her own issues with commitment in men because of her parents. Sensing a theme here. Right. But she tells him to get out and he goes. And that was her test. And so he listened to her because in his mind, he's like, I'm respecting the boundaries you're putting. But she was like, that was a test. You just left. Screw you. You see, but play stupid games, get stupid prizes. Like, that's what I think too. But they, but by the end, so the whole book by the end, it it's having both of them facing the music, both of them having to face, like, The choices they made and owning up to that. But it's funny because his teammate comes into his hotel room with a couple other guys from the city, prominent. Other like a NHL player and a businessman and he's like, what the fuck are you guys doing here? And they're like, I think he qualifies. They bring him into their secret book club and these men, it's this huge group of 15 men, like important, wealthy, famous men. And they meet to help each other. They pull men into the fold that they know. Their one rule is they can't have cheated on their woman. It has to be, reasons that they can help with. Funny enough, all us book girlies agree the same about books. I know. No, it's hilarious though. They give him this, Regency era, Regency era book to read and it will read whole excerpts from this book that he reads. So you see what he does based on the book and it's them talking him through what to do. Okay. No, dude, you can't kiss her yet. You kissed her. You tried to kiss her already. That was not welcome. You need to respect your boundaries, but be there. You need to show up. And they're like talking them through and coaching this. Like, didn't you read chapter five? Where are you at in the book, man? It's not time for grand gestures. Knock it off. You need to earn your trust again. And it's just so. It's so funny. That's so cute. Oh, and they have a rating for these books. They have whole stacks. They all have come with bags of romance books. And they all talk about stuff, but they rate the scale of these spices, not in oh, it's like a four out of five spice. They call it a book boner scale. And I, they're like, dude, that was a boner scale. That's sick. Love it. Serious relationship issues they're dealing with. Mm hmm, but it was freaking hilarious. So I laughed a lot. Yeah. Yeah, so read it Yeah, that's good. It's a series too, right? Is it part of a series? Yeah. No. Yeah, stand alone the next one. Okay Yeah, I have to look at the next one. I want to know who it's about I haven't looked it up yet because I just read it today Yeah, but I also want to say special shout out for those audiobook listeners If you're looking for something special on a vacation or just, summer outside, try the full cast recordings of a book you've loved in the past. I listened to the second half of Fourth Wing because I love Fourth Wing. The full cast version was available on Libby and I listened to it and I'm like, this would be so fun if I was like on vacation. It feels indulgent. It doesn't feel necessary to me to listen to books like that, But it's just fun in the right setting, yeah. That's my last. It's a good idea. It's a good idea to go back and listen to I've never listened to a full cast one. Graph. Yeah, me either. So that might be interesting to go like Graphic audio? Graphic audio, yeah. Yeah. Thanks for your recs. Thanks. That's enough of me talking. I really should stop. Kristina, do you want to take it? Or Sure. You want me to go? Okay, go ahead. So I have two recommendations that are fun little easy reads. The first one is called Happily Never After by Lynn Painter. So I heard this started as like a Wattpad book or something that got, published. I think I heard that too. One of the comments on Goodreads, so hopefully that's correct. But this book follows Sophie. She's a bride who found out her fiancé, Stuart, was cheating on her again. Right before her wedding, two days before her wedding. Again? Yeah. Not again. But her fiance's father is her dad's boss, and so she's worried about calling off her wedding. So instead of calling off her wedding, she hires a guy named Max to come be like, to interrupt the, does anyone have any objections? And he stands up and objects. Right? So she can be off the hook of her wedding. Right? And confronts Stuart. Is that even a thing? Yeah, like how did she find him? Through a friend of a friend. Craiglist? Craiglist. You can find her. Her bridesmaid. Right. Or her maid of honor found this guy, right? Anywho, it works. Sophie gets off the hook, goes borrows herself back at a job, now stops believing in love. Thinks love doesn't even exist in the world, basically. And throws herself into looking for a promotion. Which it's funny because her fiancé her ex fiancé still works at her business and they have to see each other every day. Wait, okay. I have a question. Yeah, this seems I have a question. No, no, I'm not gonna judge the romance of it. I just wanna know, even if I had, like, let the officiant use that line, if someone had said I object, I'd be like, then you can leave. Who stops their wedding because of that? I wanna know, yeah. I'm sorry, no. I'm sure you can get it in a song. Wait, but I would also like to know, like, so he stands up, he objects, and then everybody's like, well, well, you know, he objected. No, because he called, he called someone. You know, like, help me understand. He calls he you were cheating. And then Stewart's like, I never did the thing. And he is like, well, let us see your phone. And then he refuses to do that and then the whole thing kind of falls apart and she goes back to her room and gets drunk and tells Stewart, see you gotta gimme me the dets. Because Yeah, I thought was stood up. I thought he was like, Hey, um, I, yep. And they're like, Oh, darn it. I guess we can't get married. Yeah. Damn. Damn. Thank you. I'm so sorry for interrupting. I just need the clarification. I couldn't get on it. I'm on board now. I should have been a little more specific. Okay. So she throws herself back into work. She's working on this big promotion, but then Max, the guy who was the objector at her wedding messages her months later. And he's like, look, I have a friend. Who's getting married and his fiancee is cheating on him and so I'm going to go object it this way and you want to come with me. Kind of thing. And They start going to different weddings to be objectors and get paid for this as a side hustle. I want to do that. No, this actually sounds like the coolest job ever. Because, what do you mean I'm being an objector? This is why I picked this book up, because I was like, it's such a unique premise, I've literally never heard anything like this. It's like the opposite of Wedding Crashers. Right. She literally said that, he's like Vince Vaughn, but doesn't look like him, he looks more like Henry Cavill. She talks about Wedding Crashers, then Vaughn, then Vaughn, that's how I stick it up. Oh, oh, oh, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. So, anywho. I'm caught up. She starts doing these jobs throughout the summer with Max. And she doesn't believe in love, so she's refusing to acknowledge these feelings. She just calls him, a friend, right? Of course. And, basically, a friend with benefits kind of thing. Might as well take control of my life and have some fun kind of thing. Of course. Yeah, and so the summer progresses and you'll see where that goes, but it's fun. It's a short little book. It's only 313 pages They have some great banter between each other. There's a lot of swearing in this book So if you don't like swearing, you know, it's not for you. It's every page Someone's dropping it. Interesting. I don't mind that. You got me now. You got me. I'll read it. Yeah George's like that's all it took. Thanks. Yep. Sign me up. It's really it's just such a unique different thing. So It's kind of fun to see this kind of character and it's a girl boss, you know, she's working on getting a promotion of VP and, she's girl bossing up. So we love to see that. Love it. Love that. Okay, so that was Happily Never After. I have one more that I really, really loved. I read earlier this week. It's called Truly, Madly, Deeply by Alexandria Bellefleur? Bellefleur? I can't pronounce her name right. Just gonna start off by saying my wedding song is Truly, Madly, Deeply by Savage Garden. So that's why I saw this title and I was like, of course it is! No! I just know what year you got married and I just was like, yeah. What, 1998? That's when that song was picked? No, because we're the same gender. Just never mind. I didn't mean it as an insulting thing. You're like, of course you is. It's a good song. I didn't mean it. Okay. Thanks Jordan. You ruined my little love holy moment here. You know when you're watching a Do you want to know what my wedding song was? Because it's about getting high. Like, do you want to know? Is it because I got high? No, but it could have been. What was it? Please share quickly, please. It's not about getting high, but it talks about it. Stolen Dance by Milky Chance. No, no idea. I've never heard either of these two songs. You've never heard Dreamland Deeply? Yes, you have. Yes, you have. Okay. We're gonna send it to you after this. I'm sending it to you right now. Sorry, Christina. Continue. Sophie! This book follows Truly. It's her name. She is a historical romance novelist. Oh, I love that. She writes like Regency novels and stuff and she's been like a New York Times bestseller. people consider her like an expert on love, right? So she gets Mm hmm. Invited to give love advice on a popular podcast. And that's how I was sold in the premise. I'm like, we do podcasts. We read romance. I'm in love. But the day of her podcast recording, she goes into her fiance's house to, feed his cat and finds her fiance with another woman. Jesus, these women, you can't catch a break. And then her parents, who've been happily married for over 30 years, announced they're going on a trial separation. So she gets to this podcast, no longer really believing in love, having a rough go of it, and she meets this guy. The other guest speaker on the podcast, whose name is Colin, who's the divorce attorney. So she was supposed to be like the pro of love. And he was supposed to be like the, antagonist of love. Cause he only sees divorces all day and she ends up getting into this like huge argument with him on the podcast. It ends up just walking out of the podcast without finishing the episode. Right. Because she's just, she's pissed at the world. She's pissed at this man, men in general, but she just leaves. Then Colin, the divorce attorney, reaches out through her publisher and he's like, can you give me her number? Like, can you give me, can you give her my number? I need to talk to her. And this woman's like, no. So he follows her. He sees her. He doesn't really follow her. He sees her car at a store. So he stops in to see her. It's at a sex shop. Good for him. He comes in. Yes. I love that for Truly. He's like, Please, you know, forgive me. And her best friend is the like manager of the sex stop. She's like, oh, you can't be here unless you're a paying customer. So he has to go around and start buying stuff to stay here and talk to, truly. It's so cute. I love that. And he's like, this is my sister's podcast. She's trying to get it big with Spotify. She has this deal on the line. Like, please come back and record an answer. Same girl, same. Yeah. Love that. For her, I was like, I love this. And so truly iss like, okay, you know, because he really apologized and she's like, man. Like guys don't usually like have a meaningful apology, but this was meaningful. And so she comes back and decides to do another episode. And this picks up big, this podcast. So they decide to keep recording a few more episodes and spending some time together. And Truly and Colin start to fall for each other. I'm going to say this is a queer romance because they're both bi. So this is representation. I love the way it's represented because she's like, Okay. I've only ever dated men, but I have this feeling for women. And he says, I've only ever dated women, but I also have this feeling for men. And she's like, well, does that make me not really queer? And he's like, no, queer is what you think it is. And he's like, however much you love. And it's just this, I don't want to misquote it, but the way he explains it, it was so beautiful. I just really loved it. He's like, however much you love it is the right way kind of thing. And I was just so in love with that. And so they spend some time together throughout the summer and start to fall in love. But the spice in this book was so amazing. Really? I saw the cover and I was like, Oh, I love this. This looks cute. Now you're telling me the spice. It's always the cute ones. He was the Barbie movie. Then, this Ken's job would be oral, so. Oh! Wow. Interesting. Good to know. Love that for Truly. Truly. Yes. Truly love that for Truly. 336 pages. Ooh, yeah, nice. Oh, also it takes place in Seattle. So another little throw out to Seattle. This author. Yeah, that was the selling point for me. Bye. This author has quite a few that take place in Seattle and they're queer love stories. I think Jordan, I've shown you some of the other ones. Like with the two women kissing with the space needle in the background. No, I have that one, no. I have it. Yeah, so most of them take place in Seattle, so I assume maybe she's in a new area. Yeah, it was great. I think when I went into, cause I was at Half Price Books when I saw it, I'm pretty sure there was like, they had signed copies. So maybe the author does live here. I didn't even, I didn't think any And yeah, I didn't think anything of it, but maybe they do live here. That's interesting. This is such a light, fluffy read. And you know I don't normally like a lot of contemporary, but I loved this book. I would read it again in a heartbeat. It was so sweet. And the premise is so different. I love that. I really loved it. Good premise. Yeah. Good, love that. Those are my two recommendations. So far, y'all are knocking it out the park. I'm like over here like, oh my god, am I going to deliver? Are the books I've picked going to live up to it? Yes, you will. Okay, so I have I mean, it's, this is such a vague definition, if you'd read it by a pool, go for it. In a park. Okay, I have three recs with a Honorable mention but one of the recs is a series and I'll start with that one So the first book I want to talk about is the prince's bride by j. j. McAvoy McAvoy McAvoy, I think that's the person's name the woman who wrote it, but Okay, I'm just gonna read the Blur. He's a spoiled Playboy prince whose family is in desperate need of money. She's an American heiress who can only get her inheritance through marriage according to their families. They are a perfect match according to each other. Arranged marriages have no place in modern times, and this could not possibly work. But Prince Galahad Gale of Vesrovia, Prince Galahad Gale of Ersovia is bound by duty to obey the crown anyway. Odette Winter doesn't give a damn. She doesn't want to get married. Can he change her mind? Can she even handle what it means to be royal if he did? Okay, so yes, Galahad was a choice. Galahad! This book was published in 2020, so Galahad was a choice, baby. Thank you. And even Odette, for me, was a choice in 2020. Dev, you were looking down at your paper, I was watching Jordan's facial reactions. Oh, was she? She went through all the stages of grief in her face. I don't even know what my face does anymore, it just happens. You were like, shock, acceptance, grief, it was all of those. The names were not my favorite. Yeah, the names are not my favorite. I cannot lie to you. I literally would only call him gail in this book, but The the story is so cute. It's interracial. She's black. She's an heiress. They have a lot of money here. She's like the rich girl, you know, have all this money. But her parents are like, Ooh, get married, babe. And then you can actually have money. And then he, yeah, like I said, he, his family's royal, their royalty, but they need money. So it's definitely marriage of convenience, arranged marriage vibes, but it is so funny watching them interact with each other at the beginning, like when they first meet and then seeing their relationship develop because eventually she, obviously they end up together as romance. and she becomes a princess queen vibe. Or whatever. And I don't know. It was really cute to it. It reminded me of princess diaries and I feel like if princess diaries was a book right now, it would, wouldn't that be like a fun read? to just read that right now in this time. So yeah, I love that. And I love that there are multiple books. And then the second book, I think it gets a little more serious. There's pressure, she's royalty now and all these things are coming up, but I thought it's really fun to read. Super short. I think the first book is only 275 pages. So you can fly through it. Yeah, it's cute. Royalty princess vibes. The author is also a black woman. So love that support, support. The second book I have is actually not out. This book comes out May 21st. I have an ARC and it is savor it by Tyra Dewitt. When I, so first of all, I'm obsessed with Tyra. Love her. I've read. A couple of her other books. I read funny feelings and maybe just on funny feelings actually So this will be my second tara read and she just has this way of writing comedy and Characters interacting with each other and they all have a little bit of emotional about emotional balance Emotional baggage, but the way they process it and go through it together. It's always just so Good, but savor it follows. You Hold on, actually, I'm going to think this the one in Spoons, Oregon? Yes! It's in Spoons, Oregon, which I remember you telling me to stop. And I love it. Yes, because at the beginning of the book, it's like, Spoons, Oregon, not to be confused with Forks, Washington. And I was just like, stop. And I think I looked it up. Spoons is not a real place. I'm pretty sure Spoon it's like S P U N E S. But I could not find it on the map. So maybe I did not do good research, but. Anyway, it's cute if she did make it up. Maybe it is made up. Yeah, I hope so. But uh, so it follows sage bird and Sorry She's having a rough time with the names of these book characters I said Sage Bird, Jordan said who? I didn't mean to say that. Was that an inside thought you had outside? Oh, did I say that out loud? It happens. I guess it happens. I guess it does happen. Anyway, yes, Sage Bird. She has lived in a coastal town of spoons her entire life. She's learned to love her small world with the misfit animals on her hobby farm and her friendships with the town's inhabitants. But when her five year relationship ends and her town, her ex town, golden boy, Ian suddenly gets engaged. Sage needs to win and something, something that will convince everyone to stop pitying her all the time and put Ian in his place. There's a festival in spoons, which is like the town's annual competition. And she wants to win the, I don't know if it's a canoe or a kayak. That actually would that would they see That would have been good missed opportunity for sure. It would have been a ladle. Yeah The super spoon get it like a soup spoon. Yeah, that would actually be good Tag tara missed opportunity there, but it was still good so yeah, she wants to win at this festival winning this competition, but she needs a partner She doesn't have one because her partners are ex and he has a new partner and then she so her farm she has a little farm with her little animals and stuff and right next door She takes care of her neighbors House when they travel a lot, they're always on vacation and they rent it out kind of like Airbnb style This is where the mailman character comes in. His name is Fisher Lange Lange or Lange? How do you spell it? Lange? L A N G E That's Lange. Is that Lange? No, that's that's my cousin's last name Lange. Okay, I couldn't In the book, I literally called him Fisher Langlange. because I didn't know which one it was. I couldn't figure it out. For all of us who can't pronounce the book character names. Right, exactly. I struggled the whole time because I was like, Ugh! So I just, eventually I was just like, Fisher. Right. Fish. Fisher used to be a Michelin star restaurant. chef his, the restaurant that he was the executive chef at pretty much lost a star. And then he went into a tizzy and cursed out a food critic who pretty much tanked his career, but he was going through a lot. His sister died. His sister got into an accident and died. And then he was stuck with his 15 year old niece, who he pretty much left back home in their small little town because he was out chasing big city dreams. Being a Michelin star chef. So now he has primary custody of his niece and he has to navigate that with also being like the worst chef right now with like his face being all over social media and people saying they hate him. Anyway, his boss wants to open up a restaurant in spoons. Why? Don't ask me. I don't know. It seemed like a good place to be, I guess. But there's like a, an observatory in the top of the restaurant where they can see the stars. And that's probably why, because think of almost all the stars you'd be able to see. In like in Oregon, somewhere like that, you know, not Washington and Oregon. Yeah, it's a cool concept restaurant. She sends him out there like, babe, you got to get out of here because everybody hates you set this restaurant up for me. Move back, figure out what you want to do. She doesn't say everybody hates you, but yeah, whatever, you know, so he gets out there, he moves into the Anderson house, which is next to sage and they meet. First of all, their meet cute is quite possibly one of my favorite things. And. It starts with Fisher and Indy, who is his niece, thinking that they're that. A burglar or burglar? Burglar. Burglar. Burglar. Burglar. Burglar. That's a tough word for me. Burglar. Burglar. Burglar. Burglar wait. Phonics is Mrs. Balman burglar. Okay, so burglar. Burglar. Okay, they think a burglar. I'm so self conscious of this word and I'm gonna say a thief. So a thief comes in. They think a thief is coming in Yeah, and they freak the fuck out they're like, oh my gosh we just got here there's somebody sneaking in so, you know Fisher's gonna protect his knees. They get downstairs baby. It's the Roomba. The Roomba has been set to 4 a. m to vacuum the house And that thing was tearing his house up. So then the whole town Basically all of sage's brothers work in either law enforcement or firefighter and they get called out because fisher is smart He calls them out. They all come over they realize No, because I know my accent was on that. I'm not saying it again, law enforcement comes out, and that's like a whole big thing. Sage comes over and she collects robes. So she has like cow print robes. She has like kimono style robes. She's like a robe collector and Fisher eventually looks forward to seeing all the little robes that you wear. Anyway, I'm telling you, these characters are so rich. They deal with heavy stuff. There's grief. There's a lot of, Sage always making herself small and being complacent with everyone else's plans because she just feels like she has to she can't make a fuss She can't want more and so that's like really they're like character drives getting over that and pushing through that so that was beautiful, but the Comedy mixed into this it was just chef's kiss. I really enjoyed reading them to interacting with each other I feel like I haven't had a chef's kiss in a little while, but yeah, so that is savor it by Tara Dewitt. That one comes out on May 21st. So as soon as that comes out, guys, pick it up. It will be such a fun read. I think the audio book might actually be dropping the same day. I hope I will totally listen to this on audio book as well, because I just know it's going to be so good. Actually, this episode will be out the week after on the 20th. The episode should be out on the 28th. Okay, so it might already be out as you can enjoy it. It is also a short read 336 um pages so quick fun light Can I just say I love that the x the horrible x is named ian No offense to any ians or anyone that named their kid ian ian is my least favorite name Yeah, I got an uncle name. I if I ever write a book and there's a character named ian You know that he's the big bad. He's the villain Yeah That's Ethan. Ian, I just, I don't like the way my mouth feels when I say the name. Ian. Ian. I'm sorry to Ians, but. What a random thing. But then again, I feel ya. Sorry. I can't read any book that has a Clement or a Jennifer in it, so. Not Jen. That's pretty common. That's a hard, that's a tough one. Not the family drama on air. Anyway, uh, my next, my next book, my next book is, um, it's not personal, but my next book is actually fantasy. Which is, that was unexpected for me because I thought that all my books would pretty much be, contemporary for this, for like light, but I was really excited that I had a fantasy, this is Viciously Yours by Jamie Applegate Hunter. I may have mentioned this very briefly. Please read it. Okay, the book is very short. On Goodreads, it's average reading is like a rating is a 3. 6, I would say. But it's been rated 13, 000 times. So for me, that's kind of high because of how many people read it. Have rated it. I don't know. It's only 278 pages. It reads kind of like a novella Yes, I I cannot wait to get the physical copy There are going to be more books in the series, but this is the only one that's out right now We don't know what's gonna when the other ones are gonna start coming out this book I just don't even know how to describe it. Let me see how goodreads does it No, this is too long. I've seen it. I've seen it. I just haven't ever Committed on my list for a while because I found it on an instagram post I think Mm hmm. Yes, so it follows renek who is faye And his mate whose name I cannot remember and i'm over here trying to get the girl's name out And of course, you know, don't you hate when they don't put the girl's name in the thing? I hate when they don't put either name, but I also hate it when they only put one person's name and not the other Yeah Wow. Pause. Guys, hold on, sorry. Give me, yeah, please pause one second Amelia! Amelia. Oh my god, the way you yelled it. So Renek, it follows Fae and then Amelia who is just a regular human. And in this land of the Fae, the Fae get the name of their mate whispered to them. Like they'll find out her name, find out who they, who that person is. Maybe at a young age, maybe let's say 13 or something. They'll find out. So they have something to live for. Cool. But they cannot meet their Fae until they are 25. Or, sorry, their mate until they are 25 years of age. There's a reason behind the magic and them leaving the border and all that so they cannot go to the human realm until that age. Are all their mates human? I don't think so. No, but this just happened to be who his mate is. No, They don't even expect the mate to be human. They, I think they kind of expect it to be within, you know, their species of people. So Rennick finds out who his mate is. He's at dinner one day. He goes, he's the happiest little clam. He's a little 13 year old boy. He's so happy. He knows who his mate is. He's got his family. He's gonna be king one day. Like this is it. As Rennick gets older until the day they meet at age 25, He starts, he talks to his friend about what he can do to keep in touch with her. He can't go to her, but like, how can he like check in on her or whatever? His friends are just a couple of ways. One, we can write letters and I could deliver them. His friend can go back and forth so he can deliver them, but they also have familiars and Renick will be able to see through his familiars eye. And spy on her and see her right? But anyway, he writes her letters. Amelia is growing up in an orphanage. She does not have any parents. She's all by herself, like alone. So when she starts getting these letters, she's like, babes, is this a joke? Like who the hell, who is writing me? And what do you mean? Like, you know, and he can't give too much away because he, wherever he, where he is in royalty, he He doesn't want his enemies and anyone to know who his mate is because that's a problem, but he can't tell her and you know Have her blabbing whatever anyway, we see the letters go back and forth. That's really sweet And then when should I is this gonna spoil it? No, because I feel like y'all want to read this even more Okay, so obviously they can't she doesn't believe him about the mate, right? She's very like this is a joke No one likes me. No one knows me She writes back to him, but she's, she thinks it's a joke the whole time. One day she decides she's going to give a nice, normal man, her goods. She's going to just lose her virginity. She's ready. I saw the author talking about it. She's going on a date. Renick feels it. When this happens, he's like, wait a minute. But then he's pissed because not only does the man act selfish with his mate, doesn't even return any favors or take care of her. He's pissed that she had to go do that. He knows it. He sees it through his familiar's eyes. He watched it. He was pissed. He was like, you didn't even take care of my girl. Like I'm, look at her. She's upset. What a waste. Right? He hunts that man down. And, and he's unhinged. There's another scene where another female touches him. And she gets upset and I think he like cuts the skin off. This is that book? This is that book? I've heard about this scene. Yeah. He is unhinged. He is a Fae obsessed. I have never seen a Fae as obsessed with their mate as Renek is with her. He sends her gifts. I'm not even gonna tell y'all the gifts because the gifts are actually unhinged. Um, I'm just gonna tell y'all one gift. I am not going to say that. No. No. No. Okay, what? Are you talking about the molds? The dedication is. The dedication is. Oh, oh! Yes! I want to bring that. Yes, read it. Read the dedication, please. For everyone who hates the word cock, I have devastating news. Oh, this is the one. Okay. Yes. See, I keep, I keep heard all these different pieces separately. Yeah. It is such a fun read. It is fun. It was very quick. I can't wait to read the characters whose next books are coming up. You kind of meet them towards the end of this book. So I can't wait to read their books as well. They're also Fae Princes cause it's like seasonal courts. So it's no like cliffhanger, no cliffhanger. No, not in this. No cliffhanger. That's a good, perfect for a summer read. Good summer read. Yes, exactly. It'll just make you want to read the rest of the series and it's not out yet. So hopefully by the time you finish it this summer, we get more book information. Jamie, if you're listening, please send me an ARC of the next book. I am dying girl. I am dying. Okay, that's all I got. Oh wait, no, I did have an And I had an honorable mention and the reason it's an honorable mention is because it's what i'm reading right now It's emily henry's funny story. I'm 50 percent in and I didn't expect it to be an honorable mention But I already know 50 percent in that this is going to be a good Like summer beachy outdoorsy read. I do think it's on the longer side But if it goes really fast if you're listening to it on audiobook So if you don't have time to like physically read a book I think this is a good one to just have on while you're laying around outside or just kind of hanging out and then Heading out and just be outside. Yeah So if you're hanging out outside and just chilling, relaxing, you can like play this on the speakers or put these in your headphones. And I think it's a really good read. It's I think it will be by the time. Yeah. Yeah, I think it's a good at least 50 percent in. If I change my mind, I'm gonna let y'all know, but right now it's looking good. I think Christina, you said that you would do an honorable mention. What was your honorable mention? Ooh, a fate. Oh, yeah. Oh, really? Yeah, it's a fantasy one and it's not a super quick read, but it's really intriguing. I couldn't put it down. And so if you're into something fantasy, if you like the show Vikings, because it's a Viking kind of thing. It's one of my favorite shows. So it's like magical Viking vibes. So they get their, I love that they get magic from like the Gods Freya or Thor. I still have to read mine. I'll put it on the list for this summer then. It's cute. Not bad. I like it. Not so rex. Cool. Well, we've got things to read this summer. Yeah. So many coming out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, if you're listening, we might have things happening, thing, events planned for this summer. So please stay tuned. We are planning a P& W Seattle, Washington bookish meetup. That's in the works. So if you want to hang out and talk books with your besties, we're here for you. Make sure you follow us on socials. Yeah, it's gonna be so cool. It's gonna be so much fun. So, we can't wait. I think we just nailed down a date, so we'll be putting that out. If it's not already out. Yeah. As soon as we get all the little dirty details. Established. Ironed out. Yeah. Yay. I'm excited. Thanks everybody. Thanks for listening to us ramble about our summer reads. If you're looking for more Romance Recs, be sure to follow us on Instagram and TikTok at Romance Recs Pod. You can find our favorite book recs from our episodes there. as well as behind the scenes content. Again, that's at Romance Recs Pod. So make sure to give us a follow, and we'll be back next week with another episode. Yes, we will. We will. Thanks, guys. Bye, guys. Thanks for listening.