Christine Kelly Reads and Writes

Not only was January the longest month ever, this month also gave me opportunities to focus on self-care in the way of bed rotting and reading. There was a lot I learned this month as I orioritized reading not only for myself, but also for agenting.

First, I have primarily read manuscripts on my iPad/phone in Google Docs which has then led me to go cross-eyed by the end of the day when I resorted to reading on my Kindle. Thus, I have learned to keep work and play separate. Work reading moving forward will primarily be on screens. Except for big baes like CC3 which I will read on my kindle because my bookshelf don’t have space for that chunky honey. This will help me keep the pleasure of reading for “me” and then the focus of reading for “work”.

So onto the good stuff. What I read in January!

The month kicked off with a bang thanks to Ruined by, Sarah Vaughn, Sarah Winfred Searle, and Niki Smith. Ya’ll this book. It was so good. It was everything I look for in a regency novel. The inner conflict is *chefs kiss*. And this is a graphic Graphic Novel *wink wink, sausage, sausage*.

Then I went for a NetGalley Arc that was Read Now (ya’ll I’m not important enough to get approved ever, so if I get anything from NetGalley, it’ll be a Read Now situation). This Could Be Us by Kennedy Ryan is Soledad’s story, who i remember gravitating to in Before I Let Go. You’ve got parenthood, examples of ASD and ADHD (and parenting said children with those), along with an example of a mutual beneficial divorce (and a bad bad one). All I’m saying is Kennedy Ryan has got the emotional writing down pat, while doing justice to the many, many topics the romance genre is tackling. She’s with Talia Hibbert, Chloe Liese with tackling the *real* life topics, while keeping it swoon-y and romantic.

The next book I read was a real left turn, as I entered the omega-verse. I’m all for shape shifting or monster romances. Love them! And it was a great tone shift from my previous read. The Fake Mate by Lana Ferguson had everything I was looking for when it came to being introduced to the omega verse. It had grumpy x sunshine. It had secrets that led to pining and unanswered questions (temporarily). It had KNOTTING (iykyk). Generally, I love Lana’s voice and spice from The Nanny to this. Highly recommend for a light fun read….but maybe Google omegaverse knotting before you start.

So I feel like it may be cheating to add this next book (honestly the next two books) to this months list, because I read 30% of each in months previous and had to step away for one reason or another. First up is For The Wolf by Hannah Witten. This was a book I requested on Libby right after I watched the Orbit series of instructional videos about writing fantasy. Hannah was charismatic and I will 100% be more interested in books when authors have that certain *charm*. (I know that sucks to hear, but it’s true, which is why I believe book tours and interviews are all the more important! Hannah isn’t the only author that has had this effect on me!) For the Wolf was a different world setting than I have been in with fantasy as of late and I loved that departure. I like how the world was set up, the angsty romance, how quickly I was pulled into story (truly check out her first chapter!), and when I read “MY WIFE” I squealed.

I stayed in the fantasy realm by reading books I still had on my Kindle from when they were available on KU (I don’t believe they are anymore which is why I didn’t read the third). I read The Trial of The Sun Queen and Rule of the Aurora King by Nisha J Tuli. I won’t lie, the first book had me questioning the chemistry, waiting for the ball to drop, which kept me reading. Then the second book had me wondering when the enemies would become lovers which kept me reading. I feel like reading these transported me to a state of consciousness that kept me from feeling wholly of this world for a bit. I firmly believe it’s because I couldn’t read the third and come to a state of contentment with how the story ends. But time will tell if I feel that way once I do read the third!

Last, I read Before and After The Book Deal by Courtney Maum. Listen, I’ve already been more chatty than normal with my monthly reading roundups so I’ll try to keep this brief….but if you’re a querying author, a agented author, a author on sub, a published author. IF YOU ARE A AUTHOR IN ANY CAPACITY: READ THIS! I scrambled to finish this book this month so I can get a author guide for the TPA authors out to help guide them through the steps of getting your book published and beyond. There are so many things I didn’t know we needed to do (Thank You cards are not just for your grandma!). So pick up a copy asap. Courtney has a great voice, so while it’s educational, it’s fun.

That’s it from me for now. Stay tuned for some cool content I have coming up that will hopefully benefit querying authors out there!