Moumantai Bookish

✨moumantai, take it easy✨

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I thought this was a solid introduction to the second generation of Salacious Player’s Club. It’s no secret I love stories that involve grief and healing, knowing that everyone experiences it differently but also being able to connect with characters through a certain quote or action. I was curious about how Jack and Camille would navigate their own grief individually but really enjoyed when they did it together, as well as the safety and beauty of shibari Sara described.

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I’ve never been to an individual signing with a q&a/discussion but I’m so glad Sav R. Miller came through Iowa and I had this opportunity! I cannot get over how beautiful the cover for Endless Anger is and am really excited to read it. I also loved hearing her anime/manga recs and even found the next omnibus for A Sign of Affection I need (I’ve been looking for MONTHS) after she had mentioned it.

Not a bad way to spend my last Friday of summer break 🫶🏼

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My husband and I spent a weekend visiting most of the Central Region shops of the Iowa Indie Bookshop Tour. We both loved the trip so much! We’ve made the drive countless times but were able to explore new areas of the state while visiting these new-to-us bookshops. We loved seeing how different every stop was. They were all so unique and welcoming— one of my absolute favorite things about EVERY shop was the diversity and inclusion of books/authors that were stocked. I feel like I would need to make a blog post to include every detail of our trip (and I just might someday) but I wanted to share a quick video for the time being. There’s a little over a month left for the Tour and I still need to try to visit the North and South regions but the nice thing is that I have a road map and list of all the participating stores so even though I won’t finish it by the end of September, I will still be able to visit them just for fun!

Also, I grabbed a lot of horror and I’m actually really excited for it!!

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I went to the 2025 Romance Rendezvous Book Blast and saw one of my favorite authors and friend E.L. Koslo for the first time in over a year! 🥲🥰

I didn’t take any other photos but had a great time! I also had the most self control and only purchased the rest of EL’s books I didn’t already have 😂

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This was the only book I read on my vacation but I have no complaints! I’ve been wanting to read more horror and have seen a lot of positive reviews for T. Kingfisher.

What Moves The Dead is a reimagining of Edgar Allen Poe’s The Fall of House Usher. It was a very fast read (about 160 pages) but details were not spared in this novella. It creeped me out to say the least 😅

After finishing it I realized that it is apart of a series so I’m looking forward to reading more! It might be the push I need to dive more into this genre outside of spooky season.

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𝑯𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒃𝒊𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒏—𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒊𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆.

Jack St. Claire is desperate. A grieving single father, he buries himself in his work—running a brand-new kink club in Paris. Instead of handling his grief, he’s built a fortress around his heart, and it’s time he hired someone to help him take care of his daughter before things get worse.

Camille Aubert wasn’t looking for a new job. She just wanted to return a lost love letter she’d found within the pages of a book. But when she’s mistaken for a job candidate and hired as his live-in nanny, something tells her this is exactly where she needs to be.

Shortly after arriving, Camille discovers a strange room in the apartment that sparks her curiosity—and hints at a dark, mysterious side to Jack that she’s desperate to uncover. The lines between professional and personal blur dangerously as the heat between them becomes impossible to ignore. She’s drawn to the broken man who hides his grief in ropes and bondage, and she challenges him in ways he never thought possible.

Caught between her growing feelings for Jack and the ghosts of his past, Camille must decide: can love heal a heart still grieving, or will their passion destroy them both?

Tropes:

• Single dad/nanny

• Forced proximity

• Rope bondage

• Sex club

• Second generation

Release day: September 2, 2025

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Realized I leave in a week and haven’t packed anything yet so I figured I’d update my kindle stickers. I’m obsessed with everything Book Babe Designs makes 😭

Anyway, I thought I should pick books out as well. I’ve had Scythe & Sparrow and Wild and Wrangled for months but was in a slump when I bought them. I don’t know, I don’t feel sold on this selection…but I guess we’ll see what I end up going with here before too long 🤪

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I just finished Shattered Promise by Penelope Black and you can go ahead and mark it as my personal favorite of all her books I’ve read so far 🥰

This honestly felt like the most romantic story I’ve ever read, like it was written specifically for me. I related to Mason so much with his worries about being good enough for his son. His relationship with Theo was such a major part of the story and I don’t think I’ve come across many, if any, single dad books that do the same. I also related to Abby a lot with her worries regarding her career and not letting her family down.

But the moments where they’re all together 😩 Those are the moments that got to me. I felt like I was falling with them. It felt real and natural and the absolute sweetest. Every Theo interaction was described so perfectly I could picture my kids doing the exact same thing at his age. The conflict felt like a minimal part of the story and I liked that it was because all I wanted was more of them three and their daily routine.

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𝘚𝘩𝘦’𝘴 𝘢 𝘣𝘪𝘨-𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘳 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵. 𝘏𝘦’𝘴 𝘢 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘋𝘶𝘬𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 (𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵 𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘩 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵). 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘺𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱, 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺. 𝘕𝘰𝘸, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦, 𝘢 𝘧𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬…

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This was my first book by Susie Tate and I read Gold Digger in about a day, which felt great after not reading for months! I really enjoyed this story since it had a bit of everything— it had heart-wrenching moments, some fun banter and a few interactions that had me gritting my teeth in anger for the fmc. I felt like the story needed more groveling (and not just from the mmc) but I was still happy with everything played out.

This was a slow burn with very minimal spice, just a couple of intimate moments on page that did not have much description. It is Book 2 in The Daydreamer series but can be read as a standalone (how I read it). I do plan on adding Daydreamer and Outlier to my tbr now though as I really loved the side characters!

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I need to take a moment to shoutout EL Koslo and her newest release! EL writes some of my absolute favorite contemporary romances with cinnamon roll mmcs (and banter, okay? they’re full of wonderful banter and that’s my biggest weakness).

Smokin’ Situation is the third and final book of The Masked Men of Sage Springs series. If you pick it up you can expect—

✨ Fourth of July romance

✨ Mistaken Identity

✨ FWB’s Older Brother

✨ PTSD Representation

Purchase or get on KindleUnlimited here ➡️ https://a.co/d/gK3h05v

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How many copies is too many copies? The limit does not exist.

Reading Praise back in 2022 introduced me to a lot of things, including bookstagram. I have so much love for this book, this series and of course Sara Cate herself. I’m a bit late to the Salacious Summer Book Club but am so excited to revisit some of my favorite characters of all time.

• 🌶️ Explicit 🌶️

• Forbidden Romance (Ex-Boyfriend’s Dad)

• Age Gap (21 & 40)

• Dom/sub

• Boss/Employee

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The Prodigal Son came out yesterday and I cannot with this bookkkkkkkk 😭 I love when I’m reading a series and every book is better than the last. This was it for me, my favorite book of The Goode Brothers series. My heart beats and breaks for both Isaac and Jensen. I thought they were both wonderful and deserve the world, I felt connected to them and honestly I could just read about their day-to-day life forever.

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My favorite dark romance author Veronica Lancet has another new release! The Cute Psycho came out a few days ago but I wanted to wait to post about it till I finished it. I absolutely love a mmc who is a pure villain with a tortured soul that loves more intensely than any other being and Veronica writes them best. Her characters always have the greatest banter and can be the most adorable but jeeeeeeeeesus does she put those trigger warnings to work. This is part one of the Morally Ambiguous duet but part two will be out this year still 🙏🏼

“You’re my home. You’re where I want to lay my head for eternity.” Seriously? 😩 These scenes play with my emotions too much.

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Absolutely could not wait, had to share as soon as I opened the box. Ashley Bennett can do no wrong 🧡

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I recently got this art print and bookmark for Of Sins and Sacrifice and realized I never made a post about the book in general 😤

Long story short— I love it. I don’t think it knocked Fairydale down from being my favorite book by @authorveronicalancet but it was sooooo close. Veronica’s writing is my absolute favorite, I can always expect a major twist but can never seem to guess what it is before it happens.

Banter is my FAVORITE. The banter, the story, the CHARM. For being a dark romance this story had me giddy and giggling and falling so much in love with the characters. I seriously hope everyone who gives her books a chance enjoys them as much as I do.

If you haven’t read Of Sins and Sacrifice yet be sure to start with Of Ice and Villains (previously Mayhem and Minnie) 🖤

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Felt cute, might geek out over another Sara Cate book.

Cinderella retelling? ☑️ Step-sisters? ☑️ Age gap? MFF? Virgin auction? ☑️☑️☑️ There’s some firsts in there for me (Birdie too 🤫😉) This novella is less than 200 pages— such a fast read but it still has plot and spice. I enjoyed the characters, their connection to each other and loved the dark twist on this retelling.

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As soon as I found The Fucking Trellis Guy I knew my first order was going to be a 🦑 and it’s even better than I expected. Can’t wait to get my shelves sorted and put this on display the way it deserves!