Most Anticipated Releases: June 2023

I have been meaning to make a 2023 most anticipated release blog post since January, so I am a bit late to this, but why not start now and do monthly lists for 2023 releases? I had a lot of Anticipated releases for the first half of the year like Happy Place by Emily Henry and The Spite House by Johnny Compton which I am getting to this month! Let me know if any of these books I am looking forward to are also on your radar.


June

“Lore Olympus” Volume 4 By Rachel Smythe

Release Date: June 6th, 2022

Main Genres: Fantasy, Romance

GoodReads Rating: 4.60

I am in love with this series and I will be picking up both volume 4 and 5 this year. There is no doubt in my mind!

Synopsis

The rumor mill of Olympus is constantly churning, but Persephone and Hades are all anyone can talk about. With the constant gossip creating intense pressure on the pair, they decide to slow down their budding romance and focus on sorting out their own issues first.

But that’s easier said than done.

Hades struggles to find support in his personal life, with Zeus trivializing his feelings and Minthe resorting to abusive patterns in their relationship. And while Hades tries to create healthier boundaries where he can–like finally putting a stop to his sporadic, revenge-fueled hookups with Hera–he still feels lonely and adrift.

Persephone feels equally ostracized as her classmates shun her for her connection to Hades, and she can find no refuge at home, with Apollo constantly dropping by unannounced and pushing his unwelcome advances. And on top of it all, the wrathful god of war, Ares, has returned to Olympus to dredge up his sordid history with the goddess of spring, threatening to surface Persephone’s dark and mysterious past and ruin her tenuous position in the land of the gods.

Despite agreeing to take it slow, Persephone and Hades find themselves inextricably drawn toward each other once more amid the chaos. The pull of fate cannot be denied.

This edition of Rachel Smythe’s original Eisner-nominated webcomic Lore Olympus features exclusive behind-the-scenes content and brings the Greek pantheon into the modern age in a sharply perceptive and romantic graphic novel.


“The Only One Left” By Riley Sager

Release Date: June 20th, 2022

Main Genres: Thriller, Mystery, Horror

GoodReads Rating: 4.15

I have read one Riley Sager all the way through and rated it 3 stars and DNF’d another. But here I am hoping this one brings all the good reading Vibes!

Synopsis

Now reduced to a schoolyard chant, the Hope family murders shocked the Maine coast one bloody night in 1929. While most people assume seventeen-year-old Lenora was responsible, the police were never able to prove it. Other than her denial after the killings, she has never spoken publicly about that night, nor has she set foot outside Hope’s End, the cliffside mansion where the massacre occurred.

Stabbed her father with a knife
Took her mother’s happy life

It’s now 1983, and home-health aide Kit McDeere arrives at a decaying Hope’s End to care for Lenora after her previous nurse fled in the middle of the night. In her seventies and confined to a wheelchair, Lenora was rendered mute by a series of strokes and can only communicate with Kit by tapping out sentences on an old typewriter. One night, Lenora uses it to make a tantalizing offer—I want to tell you everything.

“It wasn’t me,” Lenora said
But she’s the only one not dead

As Kit helps Lenora write about the events leading to the Hope family massacre, it becomes clear there’s more to the tale than people know. But when new details about her predecessor’s departure come to light, Kit starts to suspect Lenora might not be telling the complete truth—and that the seemingly harmless woman in her care could be far more dangerous than she first thought.


“Love Theoretically” By Ali Hazelwood

Release Date: June 13th, 2023

Main Genres: Romance, Contemporary

GoodReads Rating: 4.23

I have only read “The Love Hypothesis by this author but I am really hoping to read this one this year!

Synopsis

The many lives of theoretical physicist Elsie Hannaway have finally caught up with her. By day, she’s an adjunct professor, toiling away at grading labs and teaching thermodynamics in the hopes of landing tenure. By other day, Elsie makes up for her non-existent paycheck by offering her services as a fake girlfriend, tapping into her expertly honed people pleasing skills to embody whichever version of herself the client needs.

Honestly, it’s a pretty sweet gig—until her carefully constructed Elsie-verse comes crashing down. Because Jack Smith, the annoyingly attractive and broody older brother of her favorite client, turns out to be the cold-hearted experimental physicist who ruined her mentor’s career and undermined the reputation of theorists everywhere. And that same Jack who now sits on the hiring committee at MIT, right between Elsie and her dream job.

Elsie is prepared for an all-out war of scholarly sabotage but…those long, penetrating looks? Not having to be anything other than her true self when she’s with him? Will falling into an experimentalist’s orbit finally tempt her to put her most guarded theories on love into practice?


“All The Sinners Bleed” By S.A. Cosby

Release Date: Juse 6th, 2023

Main Genres: Mystery, Thriller

GoodReads Rating: 4.39

I read “Razorblade Tears” by this author almost two years ago now and I am still thinking about that book till this day! I have plans to read more of his books soon so I for sure have this one on my radar.

Synopsis

Titus Crowne is the first Black sheriff in the history of Charon County. A former FBI agent and security expert, Titus came home to take care of his father and look out for his troubled younger brother. He ran for Sheriff to make a difference, especially in the Black community, which has so often been treated unfairly by the police.

But a year to the day after his election, a school shooting rocks the town. A beloved teacher is killed by a former student, and as Titus attempts to deescalate and get the boy to surrender, his deputies fire a fatal shot.

In the investigation, it becomes clear that the student they shot had been abused by the dead teacher, as well as by unidentified perpetrators. The trail leads to buried bodies—and secrets. While Titus tries to track down a killer hiding in plain sight, while balancing daily duties like protecting Confederate pride marchers, he must face what it means to be a Black man wearing a police uniform in the American South.


I am super excited for June’s releases even if I know I wont actually get to these books next month. I will be adding these to my shelves as soon as I can and will be posting reviews as I get to them.

QOTD: What is a most anticipated 2023 release for you?

WWW Wednesday

This is a weekly prompt hosted by Taking On A World Of Words. Basically you just answer three simple questions. So lets go!


The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?


What are you currently reading?

Physical Book

E-Book

Audio


What did you recently finish reading?

“Loveless” By Alice Oseman

Rating: 5 out of 5.

What do you think you’ll read next?

“The Priory Of The Orange Tree” By Samantha Shannon

I have been wanting to read this for a long time and I know have the urge to read a fantasy book. I think this will be a great book for my birthday month! It is an 800 paged book so this might be a big reach to say I will finish it next but I do hope I stick with it.


QOTD: What is your next read?

Book Review: “Crave” By Tracy Wolff

Let me start off by saying I am typically not a huge fantasy reader, let alone a book about vampire’s. I really have no desire to read Twilight and honestly that could be because I have already seen the movies, I hate Robert Pattinson and I think it is way too popular (is popular the word I am looking for? Probably not.) I found this book all over Booktok for a fun YA Romance Vampire read and I was already not super stoked about it but like I said, I saw it everywhere! So I decided to purchase the first book with low hopes and jumped in.

About The Book

Author: Tracy Wolff

Published Date: April 7th, 2020

Publisher: Entangled: Teen

Main Genres: YA, Fantasy, Romance

Page Count: 592 Pages

GoodReads Rating: 3.77 Stars

Synopsis

When Grace’s parents unexpectedly pass away due to a car crash she must leave hot and sunny California and move to cold and snowy Alaska to attend her uncles Boarding school. But when she arrives she can tell something is off about this school. Every student belongs to a clique but she just can’t seem to fit in to any of them. She can’t even make it to her first class without her life being threatened. The worse part is that everyone seems to be keeping secrets from her. How could a boarding school be so mysterious and dangerous?


Rating


Review

I have read so many mixed reviews about this book ranging from five stars to one star. I have seen comparisons to twilight (which I haven’t read yet) and I have seen people stating it was super cringy.

Did I think parts of this were cringy? Yes, the romance aspect of this book felt very strange but then again it is a fantasy novel based in a high school age group. Thinking back to my high school romances I guarantee we were this cringy and awkward. So I feel like for a YA romance read this was suitable. The main character and her love interest also started off hating each other and just a few short days later can’t keep their hands off of each other which seemed fast until you read the whole book and the author I felt tied it together nicely.

As for this book being a knock off of Twilight, I guess I can see where these people are coming from but then again it still had its own storyline. I can see a few similarities just from what I have seen of the Twilight movies but honestly, I found this book and plot more interesting. Maybe I should read the Twilight series before I make the assumption that this is better. However i have no desire to read that series.

I gave this four stars rather than five stars because I honestly found the main character grace annoying more often than not and towards the last fourth of the book I did get a little bored but the ending pulled me right back in. I also felt like this book did not need to be 600 pages long, but even so I read it in a week and that is very impressive on my end.

I am very excited to read the rest of the books in this series and I really hope they just continue to get better.

QOTD: Should I read the Twilight series or just call it good?

August Wrap up

August has officially come to a close so you know what that means! That’s right, it’s time to talk about what I accomplished this past month. Honestly I am not sure why I am making hopeful lists each month because I never actually follow along with them. With that said let’s get down to business (to defeat the Huns) Just Kidding but really let’s get on with it!

What Did I Plan On Reading

I told my self last month that I wasn’t going to make a big TBR for this month because I tend to over do it and then I never get around to finishing it. Well this month I did end up finishing four books but not exactly these four. I had a pretty interesting month where I tried to join a bunch of buddy reads to keep me motivated to read and then also try to still read my other books along with it. Well I did enjoy the accountability that came with buddy reads but I realized I didn’t enjoy talking in large groups about the books. Should I join more buddy reads this month?

What Did I Actually Read

This month my list of books that I read I was actually really surprised with the genres and my ratings that I gave out. I typically wouldn’t have picked these books out on my own which I think is the greatest part about the buddy reads.

“Razorblade Tears” By S.A. Cosby

This book was my favorite book that I happened to read this month. I am not typically a big fan of violent things and this book was extremely violent, but it was a very important part to the book and it helped create the characters. Speaking of the characters, they were extremely well rounded and you ended up feeling for their struggles.

I gave this book a well deserved five star rating check my review out here.

“The House in the Cerulean Sea” by TJ Klune

This book was very magical and had a very great message tied into it. I highlighted so many quotes from this book that will stick with me forever! It did start off a little slow which is fine because it was all story building that was much needed!

I promise you will fall in love with every single one of these characters! I wish I could be friends with them in real life.

Down below I will link my full review for you to read.

“Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” by J.K. Rowling

I read this book as a buddy read for my first time ever! I wanted to see what I missed out on when I was younger by not reading this sooner, and let me tell you, I definitely missed out on finding a love for reading sooner.

I know this author has been controversial lately but I am trying to separate the author from her work. I did not write a full review on this but that is ok because I feel like everyone has read this already.

“Among the Beasts and Briars” by Ashley Poston

I read this book not really being a fantasy reader so I was surprised to enjoy this story as much as I did. I did knock it down a star for a few reasons but the biggest was spelling mistakes that were very distracting! I also felt the storyline had a bit of repetitiveness to it, but over all it was a super cute story to read and got me into reading more fantasy books.

I will leave my full review down below so you can see more information.


My Favorite Quote

A home isn’t always the house we live in. It’s also the people we choose to surround ourselves with. You may not live on the island, but you can’t tell me it’s not your home. Your bubble, Mr. Baker. It’s been popped. Why would you allow it to grow around you again?

A direct Quote from “The House in the Cerulean Sea”

I just love the thought that the people you surround yourself with become your family, safe place and home. Surrounding yourself with people that will always care about you is so important to our true happiness in life.


Life Events

We have added a new member to our small little family. I saved a three week old kitten from the dumpster at work last week and decided to take him home and adopt him! Being a newborn baby kittens mom is honestly super nerve racking, I have to make sure he stays fed every few hours, help him use the restroom and overall just keep him alive! I stay up so late at night making sure he isn’t going to die on me. please enjoy some cute pictures of my sweet baby boy.

In other news I also started a new job that I am absolutely loving! I am making so many new friends and truly enjoying the work environment. However, I feel like training typically is like this in new jobs. I hope I continue to love it as the time goes by.

Book Mail

Last week I received three boxes of book mail! What an exciting week! My favorite day of the week is what ever day I have a package at my door. Whether I know what I ordered or if I have honestly forgotten what I got for my house, it will always be a good day when I see that mailman.

My three boxes came from only two different sources. One came from One Night Stand With a Book and the other two were from Book of the Month Club. I know I am a bit obsessed with Book of the Month, I can never pick just three books so I have two subscriptions to it, yikes!

One Night Stand With a Book

This is not a subscription based book site. They have many options to choose from and each option comes with a drink mix and some snacks! The option I chose from for this order was their primum book box that changes theme each month and comes with a book, snack, drink mix, and many other fun goodies!

Lets explore!

This boxes theme was “Summer”!

Inside we have so many goodies!

  • “Been There, Married That” by Gigi Levangie
  • Flamingo rubber duckie
  • Two bookmarks
  • Tumbler
  • Sunglasses
  • Lei
  • Scrunchie
  • Beach ball
  • drink cozy
  • Snacks
  • drink mix

All of this was only $34.99 and it was all a surprise! What a fantastic company! I promise you will not be disappointed! July’s theme is true crime and it looks as if they still have a few boxes left, go check the web site out ASAP!

Book of the Month Club

For the people who haven’t heard of this subscription service let me walk you through it real quick! Each month for $15.99 you get one credit that is good for your first book any book after that is $9.99, up to two extra books, so a total of 3 books for $36.00! That is honestly a steal if you think about it! Every book is a hardback which normally runs for about $26.00 a piece! Sorry, I am just so excited about this subscription! Each month they will pick five main picks for you to use your first credit on and then with your two extra books you can pick any book from previous months. A lot of these books are new or early release, this is a fantastic opportunity!

Ok, that is plenty of information , let’s move on to the good stuff!

My four picks were…..

“Last Summer at the Golden Hotel” by Elyssa Friedland

“We are the Brennans” by Tracy Lange

“Razorblade Tears” by S.A Cosby

“56 Days” by Catherine Ryan Howard

Three of these books were main picks this month which is insane! Normally I like one or two main picks and then I choose from previous books. This month they had so many good choices and if money would have allowed I would have gotten all six books.

Look at all these cute bookmarks!

Each box will come with a funny, or should I say puny, bookmark. I have a decent sized collection going but these are a few of my favorites.

If you sign up using the button below you can get your first book for only $9.99!

I am so excited to read these books! I would dare say that this is the best haul I have ever gotten since I started this journey. If you haven’t looked into these book boxes please give them a try! I promise they are worth it!

Probably My Greatest Accomplishment

On Thursday this past week I received a book in the mail. The book is a hardback copy of Belinda Lei’s “Not THAT Rich”, I already own The E-Book and the paperback copy so if that doesn’t tell you how much I loved this book maybe this review will https://worldofbaiblog.com/2021/06/20/not-that-rich-by-belinda-lei-book-review/

I originally received a free paperback copy from the author herself in return of an honest review, this review ended up being a five star review because I truly loved it! This book is Belinda’s debut novel and with her writing you would never be able to tell that, she is extremely talented and able to paint a beautiful picture in your head as she tells her story.

The reason why I am posting about this book once again is because on the hardback front cover flap there is a blurb that I wrote! Can you believe it? Because Idk if I can. Someone pinch me please!

All because of an incredible Debut novel an amazing friendship bloomed and I couldn’t be happier! Please go follow and support my dear friend and her wonderful book! 

Belinda’s Website https://notthatrich.com/

Belinda’s Instagram https://www.instagram.com/blei_writes/