Everything I read in June

Somehow I managed to read thirteen historical fiction, romance, or mystery novels in June, and that doesn’t count the ones that I’ve started but haven’t finished yet. Here’s what I read in a month as a historical mystery and romance writer. Save your favorites for your next trip to your favorite bookshop or the library!

First, I read the Regency Goddesses series by DG Rampton. A fun and hilarious series of standalone Regency-era romances, these were some of the best books in the genre that I’ve read. Ever. Think Georgette Heyer or Jane Austen with modern sensibilities and resourceful heroines. Aurora was my favorite, but they’re all excellent. Five stars.

Next, I’ll round up my audiobooks. I like to have an audiobook queued up at all times to listen to while I clean the kitchen, fold laundry, walk the dog…basically it’s my introvert coping mechanism for having two lively kids and a puppy to look after. I really enjoyed Katie Bailey’s The Quit List, about a put-together, plan-oriented young woman who knows exactly what she’s looking for in a partner…until someone comes along who is everything she’s not looking for, but maybe just the person she actually needs. It’s a very sweet and sexy closed-door romance, with lots of romantic tension but no awkward scenes to read through (read: low spice). Four stars.

C.J. Archer is one of my very favorite authors, and The Charmer is the first work in one of her series that I haven’t read yet. It revolves around the romance between an assassin and the woman someone has hired him to murder — a woman he believes to be entire innocent of the crime she’s been accused of. The story is interesting, and the setting evokes the castles, nights, and swashbuckling action of the middle ages. Overall, the spice level was too much for my tastes (higher than her other works I’ve read, so I wasn’t expecting it). I might read the rest of the series in book format — easier to skip a bit when it gets too detailed — or this series might just not be for me. If you wish Bridgerton had more castles, assassins, and damsels in distress, then this is for you. Three stars.

Lastly, I listened to Rocky Road by Becky Wade. This cute opposites-attract romance had a by-the-book FBI agent going undercover as the boyfriend of a lively, creative small business owner. I loved the setting in small-town Maine, and the premise had lots of potential, but I struggled to stay invested in the story. Still, if you’re looking for a sweet, clean modern romance, it’s definitely worth checking out. Three stars from me.

Next up, I saw an add for Maggie Dallen’s regency-era romances on Instagram, and I tracked down a few of her novels on Hoopla. I read The Misplaced Miss Eloise first, and while the story was sweet and unobjectionable, it didn’t strike me as original or creative. I did enjoy The Misadventures of Miss Adelaide, about a young lady who flees an abusive guardian with her infant brother, and hides by posing as a London maid in a wealthy aristocrat’s house. Overall, Dallen writes well and knowledgeably about the genre and era, so I will likely read more of her work in the future. Three and four stars, respectively.

GL Robinson is another new-to-me regency-era author, and since she’s written quite prolifically, I was quite excited to find a veritable treasure trove of new novels to read. A Marriage is Arranged was my first experience with her work, and it was brilliantly done. You can tell Robinson grew up reading Heyer, and has researched her world extensively. Next to Rampton’s Regency Goddess series, this was my other favorite of the month. Five stars.

Murder at the Dinner Party, is CJ Archer’s eight installment in the Cleopatra Fox mystery series. The series follows turn-of-the-century female detective Cleo Fox as she balances solving murders and assisting her family in running their hotel for wealthy members of London society. Even by book eight, Archer still keeps me engrossed all the way through the book, with a rich and complex mystery and more of Fox’s slow-burn romance with fellow detective Harry Armitage. This whole series gets five stars from me.

Lastly, we have the delightful Miss Fleming series from Emma Melbourne. From what I can tell, Miss Fleming Falls in Love is Melbourne’s debut novel, and I’m honestly blown away. My favorite of the series, it features a cast of delightfully witty and complex characters, a MMC and FMC with excellent chemistry and believable obstacles to overcome, and enough laughs to keep me hooked until I plowed through it (within a couple of days). The Mysterious Mr. Oliver was also very enjoyable, though the two main characters didn’t hold quite as much of a draw for me as the first in the series. It was still lovely enough for me to promptly pre-order the third installment in the series, which I read promptly within two days of its release. All, together, it’s a lovely trio, and I hope there are more coming. If you’re a Heyer and Austin fan and love Regency romance as much as I do, they’re worth buying right now. Five stars for Miss Fleming, four and half for the other two.

That’s a wrap on June! I doubt I’ll get to quite so many books in July, as I’m reading a couple of non-fiction works and those always take me longer to finish, but check back here to get inspired for your next read!