Happy July! Here's what I've been reading

Also I spend a lot of time talking about Sex and the City

Hi everyone!

So, this newsletter has been a long time coming. It was initially supposed to come out in mid June before I revealed the cover for The Love Lyric. Then it was supposed to come out in late June after I revealed the cover for The Love Lyric (Also, what is time? I literally just had to check and see when I revealed the cover because I couldn’t remember if I did it this month or last month omg). But now here I am with a summer newsletter lol. I spent all of June finishing the first draft of my next YA novel, and after I sent the draft to my editor at the beginning of July…my brain shut off. Since January 2023, I’ve been on back to back deadlines. I’m extremely grateful to have this job, so I’m not complaining! But it means that this month is the first time in a long time that I’ve had a stretch of weeks where I haven’t had to focus on writing, and because of that, I really wanted to focus on refilling my creative well, and that’s exactly what I’ve done!

But before I get into what I’ve been reading and watching, I want to say thank you to everyone who expressed excitement for The Love Lyric! I love the cover so much and I love seeing all three covers in the Greene Sisters series side by side. Here’s a graphic that I made on Canva, which is essentially my best friend if you can be best friends with a website. We spend so much time together. I shared a version of this image on Instagram a few weeks ago.

The Love Lyric will publish on February 4, 2025 and is currently available for preorder.

Okay, so what have I been reading? I’ve read seven books this month alone, and that is significant to me because prior to this month (i.e. my writing break lol), I had not been doing a good job tackling my TBR. Life has been life-ing, etc etc. But amidst all the life things, I’ve managed to read some really good books. I started the year off strong in January when I read Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren. I know that I am very, very late to the party with this one, but I loved this book so much. I was actually re-reading one of my favorite scenes the other morning, and to me, that is the testament of a truly good book. Last month I read Christina Lauren’s latest book, The Paradise Problem, and I really loved that one too. If you want a juicy, well paced contemporary romance novel to take with you to the beach or on vacation this summer, I highly recommend Curvy Girl Summer by Danielle Allen, When I Think of You by Myah Ariel and The Art of Catching Feelings by Alicia Thompson. I loved all three! Earlier this year, I ended up reading two romance novels back to back that featured the accidental pregnancy trope. They were Out on a Limb by Hannah Bonam-Young and Ready or Not by Cara Bastone. Both books had a very sweet and thoughtful tone overall, and finishing these books felt like receiving a warm hug. Side note, my favorite book that has the accidental pregnancy trope and the secret baby trope is Destiny’s Surrender by Beverly Jenkins.

About 98% of what I read every year is romance, mostly contemporary or historical. But I read Kimberly Lemming’s That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon, which is a fantasy romcom, and it was SO funny and fun. I already have the next two books in the series. And this morning, I finished my first ever cozy mystery, It’s Elementary by Elise Bryant! The humor in this book was so sharp and I loved Mavis and her daughter Pearl! I think this is the first in a cozy mystery series about Mavis, so I’m really excited to read book two.

This morning I started The Ex Vows by Jessica Joyce. I’m only one chapter in, but Jessica is such a talented writer and I’m enjoying the book already. I also just started reading an early copy of Jewel of the Nile by Kerry Rea, which publishes this November! After I finish reading these books, I’m aiming to read Whenever You’re Ready by Rachel Runya Katz, Jewel Me Twice by Cherish Reid, Till There Was You by Lindsay Hameroff, among many others!! In addition to these books, I have so many holds at the library and I’m nervous that they will all come in at the same time lol.

Back in February, I started rewatching Sex and the City. It’s my comfort show and has been since I watched it for the first time during my freshman year of college. But it had been a few years since I rewatched it all the way through. And let me tell you, it’s a very different viewing experience rewatching SATC at 31 lol. My main takeaway is that Carrie has her moments where she can be the worst lol. She can be such a bad friend! And she is so selfish! Like the time that she has Aidan go help Miranda after she pulls a muscle in her neck instead of going over to help Miranda herself?? The time that she’s supposed to get Miranda from the eye doctor after she has surgery but instead she sends Steve??? (Omg don’t even get me started on Steve. I used to adore him but at 31, I realize that while he is kind, he is a man baby.) And literally Carrie has to turn every conversation back to herself, no matter the topic! That being said, SATC is still my favorite show lol. I know it like the back of my hand. Samantha is fabulous. I love the fashion. In the later seasons, the show really focuses on the women and their friendship, and I love that.

I dunked on Carrie a bit, so I’ll tell you my favorite SATC scenes.

• the scene when the girls are having dinner and talking about their lack of luck with love and Charlotte says, “Maybe we can be each other’s soulmates.”

• when Charlotte, still heartbroken over her breakup with Harry, goes to a singles mixer, and suddenly she sees Harry across the room, and he comes up to her and she says that they don’t have to get married, she’d be happy if he just asked her out again. And he says that’s not good enough and he drops down on one knee and proposes!!

• when Samatha finds out that she has breast cancer right before Miranda’s wedding, and during the reception she’s talking to Carrie and Charlotte about it and Miranda comes over to see what they’re talking about and she notices that something seems off, and Samantha says she’ll tell her later because it’s her wedding and she should go celebrate with her people, and Miranda says, “You’re my people.”

• When Aidan proposes to Carrie with a different ring that is more in line with what she wanted (I know that they don’t end up together and they wouldn’t have made much sense long term (which is confusing to me because they are together now in the spin off???) but let me have this moment)

• When Miranda finds out that she’s pregnant and decides that she will keep the baby and Charlotte looks around at their group and tearfully says, “We’re having a baby?!” and Carrie’s voiceover says, “And with those four little words, three aunts were born.”

• Literally any scene with Smith Jerrod

So yeah, even though Carrie gets on my nerves, I still love this show very much and I do actually like Carrie lol. I spent way longer writing about SATC than I thought I would and I’m just realizing how much time has passed. But if I’ve done my job right, maybe I’ve influenced you to rewatch SATC as well. Recently, I finished watching season 4 of the Harley Quinn tv show on HBO Max. I am not big into super hero stuff, but I do love anything Batman related lol. I also started watching the last season of Cobra Kai and the most recent season of The Bear. Both are good so far! And on that note, I need to start cooking dinner so that I can finish hopefully finish Cobra Kai tonight. Or at least part one. (Why does Netflix keep doing that thing where they release the seasons in separate parts??)

Anyway, this newsletter is meant to be bimonthly, so I will aim to send out my next newsletter on time in September. Until then, I hope you enjoy the rest of summer!

xo, Kristina