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Happy Tuesday!

There are a handful of books on our radar this week, namely contemporary romances. There’s only one release week left and that is shaping up to be a doozy when it comes to new releases.

Which new releases are you excited for this week? Let us know in the comments!

Henry Tudor Must Die

Henry Tudor Must Die by Jillian Laine

Author: Jillian Laine
Released: July 21, 2026 by Berkley
Genre: ,

One queen exiled. Another headed for the gallows. Both hungry for revenge. England’s most infamous queens set out to reclaim their story and unite in vengeance against Henry VIII.

Anne Boleyn is going to die, and neither her cleverness nor her witchery can save her. So when her late rival, Catalina de Aragón, miraculously appears in her cell at the Tower of London on the eve of her execution, very much alive and offering a daring escape plan, no one is more surprised than Anne.

Lina doesn’t have Anne’s magic—but she has just as much hate for England’s wretched king. Severed from her daughter and stripped of all her influence, Lina breathes only for the Hellebore Sisterhood, a clandestine and powerful society with a vested interest in keeping both queens alive…and using their particular skills to advance womankind.

Anne and Lina’s old rivalries pale in comparison to a common enemy. One by one, they capture their pawns, infiltrating the court, recruiting the new queens in Henry’s orbit, and eliminating the men who plotted against them. Always inching closer to their true target…

And they want his head.

Sarah: The six wives decide they’re going to get revenge on Henry VIII, and I’m thinking fans of “Six” will adore this. I also think this book signals a growing trend I’m calling “Tudorpalooza.”

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

If Books Could Kill

If Books Could Kill by Kate Eberle

Author: Kate Eberle
Released: July 21, 2026 by Penguin Books
Genre: , , ,

A NOVEL LOVE STORY meets LOVE IN THE TIME OF SERIAL KILLERS in this rom-com following Roxie Mitchell, an adventure-loving romance reader who finds herself trapped in a meet-cute turned murderous

When Roxie makes a tongue-in-cheek wish to live out the plot of her favorite author’s next novel, she has romance in mind—namely, the sweet, safe, swoon-worthy storylines Anna Matthews is known for. It should be a dream come true when her wish is granted and she finds herself swept into a first date with a handsome stranger who seems designed to take her breath away.

Except for one little hiccup: That handsome stranger tries to take her breath away. Literally. With a knife. The thing is, Roxie may be the new Anna Matthews protagonist—but this time, Anna is writing a crime thriller.

Thrown into a perilous genre she’s never read, Roxie is desperate for help. So when her escape takes her straight into the path of Grant Hoffman, an anxious English professor with a convenient love of crime novels, she decides that kidnapping a grown man is a small price to pay for her own survival. Together, Roxie and Grant navigate a madcap story where the lines between fiction and reality blur. They’ll find out if they have what it takes to make it to The End—or maybe even Happily Ever After.

Romances with meta book plots are really in right now. 

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

Just a Highland Fling

Just a Highland Fling by Naina Kumar

Author: Naina Kumar
Released: July 21, 2026 by Dell
Genre: ,

Sparks fly on a road trip through the Scottish highlands in this delightful forced proximity romance from the bestselling author of Flirting With Disaster.**

Neelu Pillai makes a last-minute decision to fly to Scotland for her estranged father’s wedding with one goal: to get through it with as little conflict as possible. But when her tipsy tirade at the rehearsal dinner is the reason her father gets left at the altar, she agrees to help him track down his runaway bride.

There’s just one problem: The third member of this road trip through the highlands is Jacob, the hot desi bagpiper from the wedding who just happens to be Neelu’s recent one-night stand. They couldn’t keep their hands off each other a few nights ago, but now he can’t seem to stand her.

Their journey to Skye is certainly not smooth, but as the two work together through the obstacles, doing their best to reunite Neelu’s father with his bride, they realize that there’s more to each other than meets the eye. And that the electric connection they’d felt the night they met is still as strong as ever. . . .

Fiery first impressions, fierce clashes, and undeniable chemistry make for a bumpy ride through the Highlands in this swoony, witty romance about family, forgiveness, and finding love where you least expect it.

Sarah: One night stand at estranged father’s wedding leads to a bride with cold feet and a road trip with her “hot desi bagpiper one night stand” who now seems really mad at her?

Lara: I’m really curious about this one.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

The Story Keeper

The Story Keeper by Kelly Rimmer

Author: Kelly Rimmer
Released: July 21, 2026 by MIRA
Genre: , ,

In the aftermath of a tumultuous year, Fiona Winslow finds solace in the decaying grandeur of Wurimbirra, the rambling family estate she once called home. Intent on restoring it, she discovers the keys to more than just the dilapidated mansion—beneath the crumbling plaster and dust are secrets that have been buried for a generation.

When a curious book, The Midnight Estate, catches her attention in her late uncle’s library, Fiona is plunged into a tale that mirrors her own—a story of love, loss and betrayal. But as the lines between fiction and reality blur, Fiona must ask herself: Is the true mystery the one hidden within the walls of her ancestral home, or is it within the pages of a book that chose her as much as she chose it?

Told in a dual narrative and set against the Gothic backdrop of Wurimbirra, Kelly Rimmer, bestselling author of The Things We Cannot Say, weaves an intricate and compelling tale, inviting readers into the heart of a family’s deepest secrets with an absorbing book-within-a-book mystery.

Sarah: This is a book-in-a-book story featuring a family estate in an Australian-set gothic. Oh, my.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

Vera Stein Is Fine

Vera Stein Is Fine by Julie Murphy

Author: Julie Murphy
Released: July 21, 2026 by Avon
Genre: , ,

From #1 New York Times bestseller Julie Murphy comes a heartfelt and hilarious tale of a woman who thinks life and love have passed her by until she’s thrown into her grandmother’s quirky world of octogenarian free love and gets a second chance with the one man she never expected to see again. Perhaps it’s never too late to play the opening credits…

Welcome to Starlight Palms, a favorite retirement facility among Hollywood actors and industry professionals tucked away just outside of sunny Palm Springs. Filled with forgotten scream queens, eccentric screenwriters, and heartthrobs of the past, it has a brand-new resident: Vera Stein, age forty.

Vera knows she’s missed her chance at a life worthy of the silver screen, just like she missed her chance at ever finding true love. But Vera isn’t one to take chances. She’s spent most of her adult years caretaking for her dying mother and her movie star boss’s ego. Now abruptly houseless and jobless, Vera has nowhere to land, so to grandmother’s house we go!

The Starlight Palms Senior Living Center is midcentury Hollywood down to its pastel-painted bones. This desert gem isn’t lacking in saucy plot twists (swinging seniors, anyone?) or a leading man: Elias Buckley, the on-site doctor and Vera’s former ill-fated college fling and—for reasons that will stay in Vegas—legally her ex-husband according to the state of Nevada.

It’s not long before Vera falls into a job as the activities coordinator and under the spell of a certain smart-mouthed doctor… Suddenly all those empty years in LA look less like mistakes and a lot more like backstory. With a fresh start at her fingertips, Vera begins to see that even with all the detours she’s taken, there’s still a Hollywood ending (and maybe even a happily ever after) in sight…

Lara: This one was such a good fit for me. It felt like the book was written just for me as I’m also going through a big life change in my 40s.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

Yes, Chef

Yes, Chef by Grace Reilly

Author: Grace Reilly
Released: July 21, 2026 by Avon
Genre: ,

The Bear meets It Happened One Summer in this delicious new romance from USA Today bestselling author Grace Reilly, in which a down-on-his-luck chef and a determined social media maven strike a reluctant deal to bring a beloved restaurant back to life.

If you can’t take the heat…get out of the kitchen.

After a public meltdown in the dining room of one of Manhattan’s most elite restaurants, Chef Jack Hartman is back in his South Florida hometown. Angry, grieving, and saddled with the unwanted storefront his late mentor left him, his life is spinning out of control. And that’s before Poppy Winfield, the blond, bubbly, utterly infuriating daughter of his former boss, shows up at his dock.

Poppy needs to escape. From her disapproving family, her horrible ex-boyfriend, and her reputation as someone who has never taken anything seriously. But more than that, she wants to prove herself—and she has just the plan to do it. Unfortunately, that plan involves Jack Hartman, the most arrogant, prickly, intimidating man she’s ever had the pleasure of throwing a shrimp at.

She knows Jack is desperate to come back from his unceremonious firing, so she proposes a deal: working together to open a revamped version of his mentor’s restaurant. He’ll handle the menu, and she’ll use her skill as a social media influencer to sell the hell out of its grand opening. If she and Jack can make the restaurant a success, it’ll be an accomplishment no one can deny—and a ticket for them both to return to New York.

Jack is intrigued, but only on his terms: if Poppy’s going to work for him, she must learn the ropes of the entire business. Including how to cook. From him.

As sparks fly both in and out of the kitchen and tensions reach a boiling point, Poppy and Jack are left wondering–could they be a perfect pairing? Or is this whole experiment a recipe for disaster?

Dahlia: Look, I don’t know why grumpy-sunshine is at its sexiest in the kitchen, but it just is. I don’t make the rules. And I love foodie romances.

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Broswing list: Fic 3

21 Jul 2026 10:57 am
tagglemod: (Default)
[personal profile] tagglemod posting in [community profile] taggle
Fic from 1001 to 1800 words, inclusive.

Read more... )
sholio: airplane flying away from a tan colored castle (Biggles-castle airplane)
[personal profile] sholio
... You might enjoy this lovely Facebook video of a Dragon Rapide taking off!

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1588644629535033

(Not sure if it's viewable without being logged in. I think maybe you need to click through a dialogue box and then can see it.)

Some horror movies

21 Jul 2026 06:52 am
lucymonster: (watchingthroughfingers)
[personal profile] lucymonster
Still catching up with my backlog. Theme is, um. *points upwards*

Midsommar (2019): This is one of the most striking horror movies I've watched to date. Grieving the loss of her parents and sister in a horrific murder-suicide, Dani joins her boyfriend (an anthropology PhD whose plans to break up with her were also interrupted by the deaths) on a boys' trip to rural Sweden, to celebrate the summer solstice with the pagan cult in which one of the friends was raised. Everything is sun-drenched and floral, the cultists all clad in serene white and perpetually smiling; the warm welcome they show Dani contrasts starkly with the barely veiled indifference of her boyfriend and the contempt of his friends. It's all so perfectly idyllic - and yet, they're a cult, and this is a horror movie. So naturally the visit goes GREAT. :)))

Florence Pugh is amazing as Dani. The scene at the beginning, when she first receives the news about her family, was such a gut-wrenchingly real, raw depiction of grief that I only barely managed not to nope out. Her shitty boyfriend was finding her too needy even before she lost her whole family; she's under constant pressure to put on the most coping front she can, painfully aware that her "support network" sees her as a burden. Spoilers )

Smile (2022): As far as I can tell, this film got made because someone reached the end credits of It Follows and said "Great, now take it from the top, but a bit less good this time." Dr. Rose Cotter, a psychologist working in an emergency mental health unit, contracts a sort of contagious demon from one of her patients. The entity follows you around for a few days, appearing in the form of different people smiling the same creepy smile at you. Then it takes over your body and forces you to commit gruesome suicide in front of a witness, who then becomes the entity's next victim. The supposed irony of Rose's professional background - she treats crazy people, but now everyone thinks she's crazy! Cue Alanis! - is milked for all the heavy-handed messaging about mental health stigma it can possibly yield. There are a shitton of jumpscares. That's about it.

Here's a screencap of the creepy smile. If that image scares you in a way that you'd like to experience more of, then it's by no means a bad use of ~2hrs of your life! I had a pretty good time, to be honest, but it was all empty calories. It's probably not one I'm going to feel moved to rewatch.

Late Night with the Devil (2023): A 1970s late night talk show host, played by David Dastmalchian, gets more than he bargained for when he invites a possessed girl to appear on his Halloween special in the hopes of boosting his flagging ratings. This was good solid fun with great acting and some great campy scares. I wasn't 100% sold on the surreal twist in the final act, but that's more of a "this wasted its chance to end stronger" complaint rather than actively detracting from the film, if that makes sense. I liked it a lot! And I'd like to see more of Dastmalchian, I think. The only other role of his I've seen is when he played Gurathin in Murderbot, and since I hated the adaptation in general and his character specifically, I don't think that appearance did him justice. He acted the HELL out of this.

I'm also very interested to see more of Ingrid Torelli, who played the possessed girl. She's young and very early in her career so there's not exactly much backlog to delve into, but I found her extremely charismatic. And apparently she's Australian! We're such a horror powerhouse. Go us. :')

We Bury the Dead (2024): Speaking of Australian horror... The US accidentally deploys an experimental weapon off the coast of Tasmania, killing literally every single life form on the whole island. Daisy Ridley plays an American woman, Ava, whose husband was staying south of Hobart on a work retreat when it happened, and who has come to join the body retrieval effort to find him. On arrival Ava quickly learns that rumours of some of the dead coming back to life as zombies are true, and also that Hobart is still on fire and the army won't be letting anyone travel south until the flames are out. Unwilling to wait that long once she sees some of the zombies showing signs of what look like self-awareness, hoping desperately to find her husband resurrected and still himself, she and the wildcard fellow retrievalist she has bonded with give their unit the slip and set off alone for the husband's resort.

I watched this mainly for Daisy Ridley and did NOT expect to love it as much as I did. I spent the first few minutes uncharitably annoyed because Ava showed up in an Australia that has literally just lost, like, a full percentage of our population in a tragedy caused by her shithole fucking country (sorry US friends I love youse really) and immediately started trying to play the sympathy card about her bereavement to the visibly exhausted Australian soldier manning the registration desk, thinking she could get a super special exemption to go look for ONLY her husband and not be bothered to pitch in with the rest of the cleanup effort. (Australia is of course in no way the primary or intended victim of the American cultural tendency to view the whole rest of the world as a painted backdrop on which American stories, the stories that matter, play out - but we have taken enough collateral over the years that I have some bad feelings pent up, okay.) But I got past that quickly because 1) grief can make self-absorbed jerks of everyone, not just Americans and 2) her bullshit did actually get called out later in the film. Meanwhile, the meat of the story turned out to be that spoilers ) The zombies aren't really the source of much of the horror at all, and the ending left me so fucking happy, in a way that I would never have expected from a zombie flick.

I think We Bury the Dead and Midsommar are tied for my favourites in this post, and are probably up there with my favourites of this year's whole horror binge so far.

(no subject)

20 Jul 2026 10:50 pm
olivermoss: (Melly)
[personal profile] olivermoss
So, I did it. I bought tickets to the Kraken's Pride Night game in February.

Yup, plural. I am betting on finding someone to go with somehow. But also, I didn't buy normal tickets I bought the 'barstool seating' which is behind the normal seats, but it's a bit higher and you get like a bar to sit at for your beer, food, etc. You can stand without blocking anyone. I am actually really happy getting those tickets. The seats are also more spread out. But, they are cheaper for a reason. Not everyone is as into the idea as I am. If I can't get upper bowl first row, lower bowl barstools are my second choice.

The second seat not being a normal seat is going to complicate finding a taker for the ticket, but going with someone to this event is what I want so here's hoping.

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