Let’s take a look at the books I read in March 2024 that fall into the Project 100 Unread. If you’re unfamiliar with this project, I’m trying to read down my print book collection from the current over 300 unread books to 100 or less by January 1, 2030 (yes, I’ve given myself a lot of space in this project). In reflecting on my progress, I want to be sharing the books I’ve read for this project. Also to have some sort of ongoing view of the progress.
In March, I was able to read three books for this project (well, technically four..I have two copies of This Could Be Us). Of the books that I read, my favorite is easily This Could Be Us by Kennedy Ryan. While this book does have a romance focus, the journey of Soledad is very much the primary plot point in this book. Therefore, it’s romance, but I can also see it classified as literary fiction due to the content. Be sure to check on content warnings for any books you may be interested in!
This Could Be Us by Kennedy Ryan
Series: Skyland #2
Published by Grand Central Publishing on March 5, 2024
Genres: Fiction / Family Life / Marriage & Divorce, Fiction / Romance / African American & Black, Fiction / Romance / Contemporary, Fiction / Women
Pages: 384
Goodreads
Also in this series: This Could Be Us
Also by this author: This Could Be Us“Heart-searing, sensual, and life affirming.” ―EMILY HENRY, #1 New York Times bestselling author
An instant New York Times and USA Today bestseller, featured on The Today Show and CBS Mornings.
Glamour: Best Books for Book ClubsSoledad Barnes has her life all planned out. Because, of course, she does. She plans everything. She designs everything. She fixes everything. She’s a domestic goddess who's never met a party she couldn't host or a charge she couldn't lead. The one with all the answers and the perfect vinaigrette for that summer salad. But none of her varied talents can save her when catastrophe strikes, and the life she built with the man who was supposed to be her forever, goes poof in a cloud of betrayal and disillusion.
But there is no time to pout or sulk, or even grieve the life she lost. She's too busy keeping a roof over her daughters' heads and food on the table. And in the process of saving them all, Soledad rediscovers herself. From the ashes of a life burned to the ground, something bold and new can rise.
But then an unlikely man enters the picture—the forbidden one, the one she shouldn't want but can't seem to resist. She's lost it all before and refuses to repeat her mistakes. Can she trust him? Can she trust herself?
After all she's lost . . .and found . . .can she be brave enough to make room for what could be?For fans of Tia Williams and Colleen Hoover comes a deeply moving and personal novel about sacrifice, self-reliance, and finding true happiness from “one of the finest romance writers of our age.” ―Entertainment Weekly
"A gorgeously grown-up romance and a story about self-love and reinvention...a great novel for readers who appreciate multilayered romantic fiction with elements of domestic drama, scandal, and inspiration." ―NPR
Savage Lands by Stacey Marie Marie Brown
Series: Savage Lands #1
Published by Twisted Fairy Publishing on December 10, 2021
Genres: Fiction / Action & Adventure, Fiction / Fantasy / General, Fiction / Fantasy / Paranormal, Fiction / Fantasy / Urban
Pages: 376
Goodreads
Almost twenty years after the barrier between Earth and the Otherworld fell in the Fae Wars, Budapest is balancing on the precipice. A battle for dominance is brewing between the elite fae and the privileged humans in Eastern Europe. The prejudice between the sides is bubbling with hate and violence.
Nineteen-year-old human, Brexley, has grown up in privilege, but not without heartbreak. After being orphaned, she is taken in by General Markos, living in a walled city rife with power grabs and ruthless political games. Then one night the course of her life changes, and Brexley is thrown into the most feared prison in the east. Halalhaz, the House of Death-where you go in but don't come out.
She must learn to live with the worst of fae and human criminals. The rule of hierarchy puts humans on the bottom, where the only way to survive each day is to make alliances with the fae.
Here she meets the sexy, vicious legend, Warwick Farkas. A myth among man and fae. He is as brutal, cruel, arrogant, and as lethal as the lore says he is, ruling the prison with unchallenged authority. Brexley can't deny an intense draw to him, one that might cost her life.
If The Games don't take her out first-A fight to the death where only one survives.
The Partner Plot by Kristina Forest
Published by Penguin on February 27, 2024
Genres: Fiction / Romance / African American & Black, Fiction / Romance / Contemporary, Fiction / Romance / Romantic Comedy
Pages: 416
Goodreads Two former high school sweethearts get a second chance in this marriage of convenience romance by Kristina Forest, author of The Neighbor Favor.
To Violet Greene, fashion is everything. As a successful celebrity stylist, she travels all over the world, living out her dreams. Professionally, she’s thriving, but her personal life is in shambles. After surviving a very public breakup with her ex-fiancé six months ago, Violet is now determined to focus on her career. But life hands her something—or rather, someone—that might derail everything…
Xavier Wright did not expect to run into his high school girlfriend Violet—the girl he once thought he’d marry—on a birthday trip to Vegas. As a high school teacher and basketball coach, he rarely leaves his New Jersey hometown, so what were the chances? But when the initial shock wears off, they decide to celebrate together. They feel young and reckless as they party the night away—and reckless they clearly were when the following morning, they wake up beside each other with rings on their fingers.
Their impulsive nuptials might be a blessing in disguise, though, when they realize that both of their careers could benefit from the marriage. So they play the part of a blissfully wedded couple. Yet when their passion comes hurling back, they realize their feelings are just as real as they were back when they were teens. But are their lives too different to stick it through or will they finally get a happy ending?
