I can't believe how fast this month flew by! How is it the end of summer already? Ok, so I know that summer technically keeps going, but when you've got school-aged kids, summer ends when school starts back, and that's really soon.

Anyway, let's get back on track. First off, you're going to notice that the first two reviews for this month have already been mentioned in my 10 Best Books/Series So Far of 2021, but you'll be happy to know that these reviews are a little more in depth. Secondly, if you read my most recent Currently Reading post, you'll see that only two of those books make this list. I would like to point out that two of the books from that post are re-reads and won't be making an appearance in a monthly book round-up post, and that I kinda put everything else aside to finish the Ruthless Fae of the Zodiac series. Yes, it was that good.

Let's get on with it, yeah?

Author: S.M. Shade & C.M. Owens

I laughed my way through this book. The shenanigans brought back find memories of my besties, although we've never sabotaged an ex's wedding.

Okay, so Henley, Kasha, and Lydia are best friends. When Lydia decides she needs to gain closure by going to her cheating ex's wedding, Henley and Kasha go along for the ride. Not that Kasha had much choice, though, seeing as how the ex is her stepbrother. Anyway, Kasha and Henley decide it's their duty as Lydia's BFF's to sabotage the events leading up the wedding. But their best laid plans often go awry and neither of them counted on two sexy distractions entering the fray.

Seriously, if you need a laugh-out-loud book that actually has a plotline, this is for you. I've recommended it to pretty much everyone by now.

Author: Crea Reitan 

So, if you read my review of Chronicles of Blood last month or my best books/series so far this year, then you'll already know that Mal and her men have defeated the bloody queens, but Mal's quest to fix Wonderland is far from over. As they work to uncover who exactly was pulling the former queens' strings, they learn that their assumption of another fairy tale somehow bleeding over into theirs is only partially correct.

That's all I can say without giving it away, and trust me, the plot twist is well worth it. These four books have a lot going on and cover a lot of time. I will warn you, that the last book's conclusion will come surprisingly quickly and then fade into a bunch of epilogues, leaving the possibility of at least one follow-up book, though that hasn't been confirmed. What has been confirmed is that Reitan is writing a similar series focused on Neverland, and I am so here for it.

Author: Emilia Finn

Holy tear jerker, Batman! This book started and ended with tears. But Finn is so masterful in her character creation that you'll want to keep reading anyway. She has truly become one of my favorite romance authors.

This is the second book in Finn's series featuring the Rosa brothers, who we first met in the Checkmate series. Chasing Fire is the baby brother, Nixon's, story. If you couldn't guess from the title, he's a firefighter. When he meets Idalia, the owner of the newly renovated hotel in town, sparks fly, but Idalia's got a lot of baggage including a young son who hasn't spoken since his father died in a house fire.

Author: Bella Forrest

I'm beginning to wonder if Finch and his friends are ever going to get out of Atlantis. Poor Finch just cannot catch a break, and I truly can't even tell you about it without spoiling the entire book. Just suffice it to say, that if, like me, you're struggling to connect with Harley's character and finish her storyline, you need to hold out for Finch. This part of the Merlin family saga more than makes up for it.

Author: Catherine Taylor

Ruthless Fae of the Zodiac (Dark Fae, Savage Fae, Vicious Fae, Broken Fae, Warrior Fae)

Author: Caroline Peckham & Susanne Valenti

Elise transfers into Aurora Academy in search of her brother's killer. The police say he overdosed on a popular street drug, but she's convinced he was killed by one of the four kings of the school, two of who are also the leaders of rival fae gangs. If she wants answers, she must get close to all four without alerting them to who she really is. They're all hiding things, but there's something even darker lurking in the shadows.

This series is funny at the same time that's it's serious. I liked how the authors interspersed flashbacks from the dead brother's perspective throughout the story to give context and perspective. I can't decide if I like Leon or Ryder the best. They're polar opposites character-wise, but I feel equally drawn to both of them...even if Ryder shifts into a snake (in case you didn't know, snakes are like my number one irrational fear). Technically he's a basilisk, so I keep telling myself it's different.

This series is set in the same world as the Zodiac Academy series, which I started but then put aside because it's taking so long for the authors to finish. This series happens chronologically before that one anyway, so it made sense for me to finish these ones first. There's also a spin-off standalone series featuring two of the side characters that I'll probably read at some point.