I’m not really sure how it’s been almost a year to the day since I last did one of these posts, but here I am.

It’s sort of strange to realize that I leave for the beach on Saturday, and that it’s already basically the end of July.

2020 is the year time stopped meaning absolutely anything. Honestly, it feels like New Year’s Eve was yesterday, but also like ten years ago. There is a definitely a glitch in the simulation.

Most of the books I’m taking with me to the beach this year are re-reads. If there is ever a time to re-read books, it’s 2020. Comfort reads for the win! I’m also taking some newer releases and my Kindle which is chock full of upcoming releases. I figured 5 physical books, plus my Kindle more than covers my reading ability.

My plan is to park my ass in a chair every day, get tan, have a few drinks and just read. Tune the world out and get lost in stories.

Now, you might be wondering why I’m going on vacation in the middle of a pandemic. I want out of my house. That’s really the main reason. We’re going to a family beach house, on a private beach so we’ll easily be able to social distance from everyone else on the beach. Honestly, I’m going to be roasting in the sun, and I’m going to take precautions and be smart, so I’m not that worried. As much as this is a physical vacation, it will be a mental health one as well.

But I kind of digress. Let’s jump into the books I’m 100% planning on reading while at the beach!

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Wicked (A Wicked Trilogy #1) – Jennifer L. Armentrout

GR

This wasn’t on my list of books to bring, but as you know, I’ve been slowly working my way through a JLA reread. So, I figured why not. I also really want to read the novellas, and the last one was finally released, so it’s smart to reread them now.

Things are about to get Wicked in New Orleans.

Twenty-two year old Ivy Morgan isn’t your average college student. She, and others like her, know humans aren’t the only thing trolling the French Quarter for fun… and for food. Her duty to the Order is her life. After all, four years ago, she lost everything at the hands of the creatures she’d sworn to hunt, tearing her world and her heart apart.

Ren Owens is the last person Ivy expected to enter her rigidly controlled life. He’s six feet and three inches of temptation and swoon-inducing charm. With forest-green eyes and a smile that’s surely left a stream of broken hearts in its wake, he has an uncanny, almost unnatural ability to make her yearn for everything he has to offer. But letting him in is as dangerous as hunting the cold-blooded killers stalking the streets. Losing the boy she loved once before had nearly destroyed her, but the sparking tension that grows between them becomes impossible for Ivy to deny. Deep down, she wants… she needs more than what her duty demands of her, what her past has shaped for her.

But as Ivy grows closer to Ren, she realizes she’s not the only one carrying secrets that could shatter the frail bond between them. There’s something he’s not telling her, and one thing is for certain. She’s no longer sure what is more dangerous to her—the ancient beings threatening to take over the town or the man demanding to lay claim to her heart and her soul.

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Wait for You (Wait for You #1) – Jennifer L. Armentrout

GR

I’ve been wanting to reread the earlier books in this series, well, mainly Stay with Me (my favorite). Even though you do not have to read them in order, it’s been an age since I read this book, so again, it just makes sense to reread them.

Some things are worth waiting for…

Traveling thousands of miles from home to enter college is the only way nineteen-year-old Avery Morgansten can escape what happened at the Halloween party five years ago—an event that forever changed her life. All she needs to do is make it to her classes on time, make sure the bracelet on her left wrist stays in place, not draw any attention to herself, and maybe—please God—make a few friends, because surely that would be a nice change of pace. The one thing she didn’t need and never planned on was capturing the attention of the one guy who could shatter the precarious future she’s building for herself.

Some things are worth experiencing…

Cameron Hamilton is six feet and three inches of swoon-worthy hotness, complete with a pair of striking blue eyes and a remarkable ability to make her want things she believed were irrevocably stolen from her. She knows she needs to stay away from him, but Cam is freaking everywhere, with his charm, his witty banter, and that damn dimple that’s just so… so lickable. Getting involved with him is dangerous, but when ignoring the simmering tension that sparks whenever they are around each other becomes impossible, he brings out a side of her she never knew existed.

Some things should never be kept quiet…

But when Avery starts receiving threatening emails and phone calls forcing her to face a past she wants silenced, she’s has no other choice but to acknowledge that someone is refusing to allow her to let go of that night when everything changed. When the devastating truth comes out, will she resurface this time with one less scar? And can Cam be there to help her or will he be dragged down with her?

And some things are worth fighting for…

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Love, Life, and the List (Love, Life, and the List #1) – Kasie West

GR

So, I bought the 3^rd book in this series when it was on sale on Amazon, not realizing that it was the 3^rd book. I’ve enjoyed pretty much every Kasie West book I’ve ever read, and I love reading fluffier contemporary books while at the beach, so it made sense to buy book 1.

Seventeen-year-old Abby Turner’s summer isn’t going the way she’d planned. She has a not-so-secret but definitely unrequited crush on her best friend, Cooper. She hasn’t been able to manage her mother’s growing issues with anxiety. And now she’s been rejected from an art show because her work “has no heart.” So when she gets another opportunity to show her paintings, Abby isn’t going to take any chances.

Which is where the list comes in.

Abby gives herself one month to do ten things, ranging from face a fear (#3) to learn a stranger’s story (#5) to fall in love (#8). She knows that if she can complete the list, she’ll become the kind of artist she’s always dreamed of being.

But as the deadline approaches, Abby realizes that getting through the list isn’t as straightforward as it seems . . . and that maybe—just maybe—she can’t change her art if she isn’t first willing to change herself. 

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The Princess Will Save You (The Princess Will Save You #1) – Sarah Henning

GR

I’ve been anticipating this book for ages and in the midst of time being irrelevant and work occupying my entire life for the last three weeks, I completely missed its release. I quickly rectified that and bought it. I’ve heard amazing things, so it’s definitely coming with me.

When a princess’s commoner true love is kidnapped to coerce her into a political marriage, she doesn’t give in—she goes to rescue him.

When her warrior father, King Sendoa, mysteriously dies, Princess Amarande of Ardenia is given what would hardly be considered a choice: Marry a stranger at sixteen or lose control of her family’s crown.

But Amarande was raised to be a warrior—not a sacrifice.

In an attempt to force her choice, a neighboring kingdom kidnaps her true love, stable boy Luca. With her kingdom on the brink of civil war and no one to trust, she’ll need all her skill to save him, her future, and her kingdom.

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Echoes Between Us – Katie McGarry

GR

This was one of my favorite reads of last year, and I’ve honestly been kind of dying to reread it. I read it at the beach last year, for the first time, so it seems fitting to read it almost exactly a year later for the second time. I cannot recommend this book enough.

 Veronica sees ghosts. More specifically, her mother’s ghost. The afterimages of blinding migraines caused by the brain tumor that keeps her on the fringes and consumes her whole life haunt her, even as she wonders if it’s something more…

Golden boy Sawyer is handsome and popular, a state champion swimmer, but his adrenaline addiction draws him to Veronica.

A girl with nothing to live for and a boy with everything to lose–can they conquer their demons together?

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Speak the Ocean – Rebecca Enzor

GR

I received an eARC of this on NetGalley, and what better book to read while at the beach, than one about mermaids! I know it’s not all rainbow and sunshine, and it’s darker and grittier, but it’s mermaids, so let’s do this.

For Mer handler Finn Jarvis, the feral mermaid performers at Oceanica Marine Park are nothing more than ruthless aquatic predators, violent and unpredictable. That doesn’t stop the public from flocking to one of the world’s most popular tourist attractions. To them, the Mer are magical entertainment, too beautiful to be dangerous. They don’t see what happens to the ones who dare swim out of line.

Newly caught Erie doesn’t know what the evil landfolk want from her. Alone and voiceless, she watches the other merfolk from the confines of her tank. Broken into submission, they’ve become shells of the once vibrant creatures she knew. But Erie refuses to be subjugated. She’ll get the crowds to see her as something more than simple entertainment—starting with her captor, Finn.

While Finn trains Erie in her routine, she secretly teaches herself the air-words he and the other trainers speak. And when the language barrier falls, Finn starts to realize that the gap between human and Mer is smaller than he thought, and maybe it’s not the Mer who are monsters, after all.