Everything I Read And Listened To In August 2025

Can we just go ahead and call August the spiciest month evvvvver and the most read books ever (23 this month)? I grabbed a book from my TBR (to be read – a pile of books which has been sitting on my nightstand for months, silently judging me every time I reach for a new book or library book instead. I made a deal with myself—no new books until I finish it—and somehow, against all odds, I’ve actually stuck to it. Now I’m down to just two books left between me and sweet, sweet bookstore freedom!! There are two new romance bookstores in Milwaukee I’m dying to check out) it started out innocent enough – I had two books waiting for me, both part of series I’d already dipped my toes into. Naturally, that meant I couldn’t stop there. I ended up down the rabbit hole of rereading earlier books, discovering plot points I’d forgotten, and—plot twist!—finding out the fourth and final book in one series is dropping next week (I read 3 series this month lol). Twenty-three books later (yes, 23!), with two re-reads, four five-star reads, and a whole lot of contemporary romance heat, I can confidently say August was a crazy (and spicy) reading month. I read a lot of Elsie Silver and Meghan Quinn (omg I saw someone on IG unknowingly pick up a graphic version of one of her books – there were pictures! I would have died and not read the books had I seen that lol, so be warned, there are graphic versions of Meghan Quinn books.) If you’re not into contemporary romances with spice, I’d skip this months reviews lol I read a few non romance ones as you can see but they were honestly not great and I would not recommend them (they were straight up bad). If you want to check out my past reviews, they’re right here. I finally joined Goodreads in December and loaded in all my books—let’s be bookish besties! Here’s my profile. My rating system is at the bottom. Don’t forget you get 15 hrs audiobooks with Spotify if you have a membership. Now, let’s dive in!

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Wild Eyes 5/5 – picked this off my tbr and so glad I did, love this Rose Hill series, forgot how much I enjoy it, and I was laughing by chapter 3. When Rosie is telling Skylar about her pet mouse, I lol’d. In chapter 6 when West describes his daughter how she is the apple of his eye and all the ways he loves her and she’s amazing but then says “but goddamn. She exhausts me” I felt that!!! God, what good banter! I laughed as she started coming into her own and giving it back to him. Love when he calls her fancy face and love in chapter 22 when he says she has wild eyes!!! “I’ve seen all those versions of you. You have me. You’ll always be relevant to me” The bird with “Coach thick thighs” I died lol. The little emails “Breaking News” West leaves Skylar are so sweet. Verrrry spicy! It’s a slow burn until they get there but when they do, omg loved his confidence and loved that he had kids, it was realistic. As soon as I finished this I found out the fourth book is coming out Sept 9 Wild Card!

Wild Side 5/5 – (a reread/re-listen and omg reread and still so good!!!! Love the story! Love how hard Rhys falls, he’s such a rugged softie, just swoon. I loved the epilogue. So much I teared up at the last line. Here’s my original review from March “same female narrator as Scythe & Sparrow– was great! Omg this story! I LOVED it so so much, it was so unique and engaging and spicy, I LOVED that the characters were a little older in life. God was Rhys swoon worthy! What a sexy male lead! Did not know that this was 3rd in a series, lol, made me go and purchase the other books in the series because this one was so good, I wouldn’t say you need to read the others to know what was going on, I sure didn’t. ”

Wild Love 4.5/5-(a reread/re-listen), my original review from April was “Ford was a billionaire hunk muffin. I just find billionaires as characters hard to believe. Only reason for 4.5 and not 5 was that I thought Wild Side was just a little better. But very cute, good banter, and spicy!” now to add to my review this time -the pen scene holy hot. “You’ve got bowling tonight” is a sentence I never thought I’d hear I LO’L’d. Their emails are too funny. Love that Ford is not afraid of periods. His necklace!! He wore the key to her diary for 10 years swoon. Love that her brother wasn’t weird and the guys friendship wasn’t ruined “our trust is forged in friendship”! The woman is awful at male voices though lol.

Not Another Love Song 5/5 – loved that it had to do with orchestra, I played for 15 years and was first violin in grade school and hs. Was a little dirtier than I expected. I LOVED this other one by this author (might be a series?)! Their playing together was hotttt. Such a unique story. Loved the bits of his perspective sprinkled in. Love when he throws the cot out of the hotel lol. Also love his tattoo! Such a beautiful story.

The Bromance Bookclub 4/5 – got this as a blind date with a book. I had actually read this before but forgot everything about it so I read it again. His stammering was so endearing. The bookclub thing, I didn’t really buy guys doing it- although I I have seen 2 Australian guys discuss ACOTAR on IG and it’s giving me life lol. Lols when his friends are trying to teach him to flirt. Their fighting and their life with kids seemed very realistic! Especially when he couldn’t find the towels when the girls got sick lol. Love that they are married working on their issues. Such a sweet story, I can’t believe I didn’t remember this one, loved it.

Omg I loved this Chestnut Springs Series!!! How can she write so many good books in a row?! Loved the texts at beginning of chapters! Loved Harvey! Loved the men!

Heartless 5/5 – right from the beginning I was chuckling at “panty guy” LOL.  Omg the dads lawn bj jokes!! I lol’d! This book has such great banter and chemistry. Him making her say “thank you” was so hot, all around good v spicy book!

Powerless 4/5 –talk about a slow burn, maybe a little too slow at the beginning? I just loved Sloane and Jasper and how they were with each other! Was really cute, loved the Harvey bonus scene at the end. He’s such a good kind strong and FUNNY dad, he had some zingers in this book too. Nothing will top of lawn bj from the Heartless, but babies with a tail was funny. This was definitely a spicy book but good.

Reckless 4.5/5 – when the chapter turned and “eighteen months later” appeared! Holy curveball! Good for her!! Loved what a sweetie he was and how he was there for her. Only thing that I really don’t like is when they dirty talk and use words like “slut, whore, bitch” derogatory terms, that just really is a big turn off for me. Thankfully it was only used a couple of times. God, Harvey is great. There should really be a book about him! The tom cat prowl, I just died laughing.

Hopeless 4.5/5 -love how careful but not she was with him, and her taking him shoe shopping and the lotion on his feet was sweet. Loved the ring! He was so nice to her, and the age gap was sweet. Loved Harvey in there lol. Love how she kept joking he was a tier one operator! This one was so good, also v spicy as like the rest of the series.

The Path To Loving Him 4.5/5– ha! He doesn’t remember her, girls worst nightmare. God what a friggin original story!! Seriously never have come across something like this and loved it. Very spicy – like holy cow spicy. Uncle dad what a sweet nickname. Liked that the ending it was him having a breakdown not her!

Next to Heaven 3/5– made me feel kind of sad, the way all those people seemed in loveless situations. Rich and very unhappy. Made me feel icky. But was a page turner for sure. These people all sucked and I was happy when things started unraveling for them. I only liked Grace, kind of. Very predictable but I liked how it all was wrapped up in a nice bow at the end. What are the chances that they had all those “perfect pairings” for their party- eye roll.  But I don’t believe for one second he would have just gone to prison without a fight, after everything we learned about him, seemed super unlikely. And that ending for Charlie, where did that come from? Wasn’t one of his 3 loves and was just so random. All the characters were assholes. You’re telling me one woman (and her friend/maid) put together a mastermind plan that perfectly predicted the actions of all those other people? Give me a break. And that Billy wouldn’t fight her in the end? Just don’t buy that. And that she’s separated from her bff? Again, not buying it. And even Grace who was the most likeable I guess, she’s an ahole because she knew about what her husband was doing and stayed with him- for the money?

American Queen 3/5 – whooooeeee dirty book. The narrators on this one, so good, part of Julia Whelans Audiobrary . This is a verrrry spicy one. Like too much for me. I love the names of the men, Ash and Embry, so hot. What I don’t get is why he waited 10 years to contact her? Makes no sense. Also how in the world did she write those things at 17 years old, maybe I was living under a rock but I had no idea at 17- still don’t in regards to this book lol (uncomfortable laugh). Should have known where this book was going the first time she visited the White House. Ok HOLY $%*T the twist/reveal in this book was INSANE!!!!!!!! INSANE!!!!! I had no words!!!!!!!! Didn’t love this look because it was a little too spicy for me but the story was engaging. And um yeah no, if I would have walked in on that scene under the mistletoe. Big noooooope from then forward. Her cousin is the worst. The ending, wtf! Cliffhanger of the highest!!!!

I Hope This Finds You Well 3/5– kinda slow/ a little boring, it just didn’t seem all that realistic, especially for someone who was 35. Definitely a toxic work place.  Listened to this one, love that Nasim Pedrad was the narrator, loved her on SNL, she was the reason I stuck with this book. I do know some really love this book, it just missed the mark for me.

See what I mean with a lot of Elsie Silver this month? I read the Gold Rush Ranch series! That’s 3 of her series in a month lol!

A Photo Finish 4.5/5– love how masculine Cole is – love that he hates the tap water lol. Loved the Vilotet jealousy stairwell with Patrick scene! The hike and omg what Cole was hiding-heart wrenching and sweet. “Hop on over”- ohh Violet, I laughed!!! Loved Trixie and the sun catchers moment. Oh sweet Cole and his issues – tears!

The Front Runner 4.5/5– listened to it, loved his accent. Very different. Oh sweet misunderstood man. I loved this one! I loved how Mira was so perfect for him.

A False Start 4/5– an age gap that works. Loved how manly he was. Loved her wildflower nickname. Loved his wildflower notes. This was swoon worthy and a really cute story. My only like meh point was that the end was a little drawn out I thought. It was cute all the stuff he did for her while they were apart but I didn’t think that was totally necessary to the story, I wish they would have been together and worked together.

Wilder 4/5 – I’ve loved Rebecca Yarros’ books before I read the 4th wing series. This book, no different, just golden, amazing. Didn’t seem like a lot of tutoring was going on lol. Leah in Morocco I was holding my breath the whole time!!!! The whole “what he’d done” secrecy was a little drawn out for me. But man, what he’d done was bad lol, he def should have told her. It kinda went a little downhill for me after they found out, it was just meh but glad they ended up together.

The Way I Hate Him 4/5– omg their banter was so great. I was smiling, eek it’s the prequel to the other Meghan Quinn one! The banter so so good! Always love the one bed troupe, happens a lot in romances and never gets old lol. Love how she called him out on the one bed situation lol. Did like the use of the word “nub” (when I was complaining about my dislike of the word my bestie said minus 2 stars, one for each nub LOL!). Such a cute scene when he brought her brother flowers lol. Omg when they share/reveal the room they’ve redone for Ryland I lol’d when Hattie is just spewing words to her brother, so funny, and it’s so sweet. His gran, so sweet. Loved how Ryland went over there and apologized. With how he redid her apartment and they redid the dead sisters room I wish they had kinda done some renovating together for the future. Maybe if Hayes were a little more emotional he would have written Everything by Alex Warren after they broke up lol.

The Reason I Married Him 3.5/5– the beginning was a little drawn out. He (Wyatt) was very sweet with her and she was so hesitant (understandable) but it was so slow going. The proposal was hilarious. Wowa spice went from zero to 100, but then it didn’t lol. Love that her siblings rallied around her. I don’t know, I just wanted more out of the ending and epilogue, it was kinda meh.

Holding on to Chaos 3.5/5 – Nick got this for me from Target (the Target cover is different than the Amazon one, just fyi). It was a little annoying with the beautification committee. Loved that he was so sure and into her from the get go, v romantic. It was just kind boring when it didn’t need to be.

Consider Me 3.5/5 – lol’d at the movie theatre scene lol. Is it hot in here? Lol! Love how romantic he is, the new furnace and the nicknames “like you lots pumpkin pie.” Love how manly and then softie sweet he is! I didn’t think I’d like this! It was free on audible somehow. But it was a little long-21 hrs!! I won’t be listening to the series but it was a fun one, it’s a hockey romance.

Magnolia Parks 2.5/5 – I forgot what list I found this on, but let me tell you, it is not a traditional romance. I got it on Libby (audiobooks you check out through the library), love the accents.  Love that his brothers gave him a hard time after Magnolia went home with Tom the first time. Liked that she called him Beeeeej (BJ). It was a little annoying how BJ kept sleeping with randos and hurting Magnolia. Ugh them both hurting each other. Kind of annoying how they were to each-other. “This is me tossing my hat in the ring” oh Tom, so sweet!  Gave The Favorites vibes. Love that all these big burly men are so soft with her in the bedroom, like how she just cried with Julien. It seemed like a lot of really stupid drama. Why was this so long lol? Ok don’t understand what happened at the where all of a sudden it was ok with BJ and they met up and decided to try to be together for real- like what did I miss? I just couldn’t, team Tom alllllll the way! I loved that Tom said “he’s going to hurt you again and I don’t know that I’ll be here when he does” god thank you Tom for saying that! Ummmm yeah saw that twist at the end from a milllle away, thought that the whole time!!!! Like there’s only reason he wouldn’t tell you who it was with. And omg that ending, wtf was that?!? Ughhhhh also what perfume was her friend wearing that it stayed on his clothes? Mine comes off after like an hour lol. Def will not be reading this series, heard that all the endings suck and leave you hanging.

The Tenant 2/5 – a little slow? The hair/noodle scene, omg vom. The fruit flies. I will never think of them the same and now I have them and keep thinking of this stupid book lol. It seemed a little dramatic, he could have called the cops, it’s his house, I didn’t get it. Like ok, he thinks Whitney did something. He keeps repeating it. So obvi it’s not her. Also really could have seen that coming with Christa, because are you telling me you’d believe a brand new tenant/girl over your fiancé? Give me a break. He’s telling you about the fruit flies and his rash and his suspicions and you’re believing the girl and not him? Again, why didn’t he just call the police? They didn’t have a lease agreement or anything legally binding, he could have photographed stuff like the bugs. And the fingers! Call! The! Police! What is wrong with this guy? He’s such a moron. This book was just meh, not for me.

Read anything good lately? Just LMK!!!