Organized Heroines | 12.30.22
Books to read just in time to write your NYRs!
I’m a long-time list lover, and have been setting annual New Years Resolutions publicly for over a decade now. So of course, for our final newsletter of the year, I wanted to collect some of my beloved highly organized heroines to share with you all as you set your intentions for 2023!
Get A Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert. Chloe Brown, a freelancer with chronic pain, recently had a near-death experience and realizes she’s been hiding her whole life, so she wrangles her new apartment’s superintendent (Redd, who’s been in hiding recently himself) to help her tick off some things she’s been holding off on. Plus sized black female lead! Motorcycles! Saving a cat! Nuanced exploration of abuse, chronic pain, anxiety, art, and ambition! This book truly has it all. This book is the first of a trilogy, where the next two follow Chloe’s younger sisters Dani and Eve, and yes, we will be seeing them again soon.
Rating: 5/5
How hot? 🔥🔥🔥🔥
The Duchess Hunt by Lorraine Heath. Second book of a trilogy, best of all three (it’s a romance series so you don’t realllllly need to read the others, though I liked the other books. In order of my preference: book 2, book 1, then book 3). A business-minded duke outsources the trouble of finding a duchess to give him heirs to his secretary/business partner who’s, twist, been in love with him for years. He’s placed an ad in the local paper asking eligible women to send in their duchess resumes and has tasked said business partner to go through them. Heart wrenching antics ensue. This book has one of my favorite epilogues of all time.
Rating: 5/5
How hot? 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Life's Too Short by Abby Jimenez. The third of a trilogy and the most indirectly related to the rest of it, so you can absolutely read this book on its own first. Though I loved the first two (and you can be sure they’ll get shout outs in future editions of Forced Proximity) so dealer’s choice!
Vanessa, a former travel influencer turned single foster mom to her half-sister’s infant daughter, has serious concerns about her own mortality. This is concerning, given her recent baby acquisition as well as the burgeoning friend slash accidental co-parent relationship slash romantic something-something she’s developing with her neighbor Adrian, the buttoned-up lawyer. This book is absolutely BRUTAL (as are most of Abby Jimenez’s books, we love pain and love her for paining us), it’s existential and sexy and heart-wrenching and heart-warming and hopeful and did I mention brutal? It’s brutal. (this book is in this organized heroine category for bucket list inclusion reasons, as well as Vanessa’s attention to detail regarding her potential end of life planning). Don’t worry, though, there’s a HEA. Though it’s verging on a HFN if we’re being technical.
Rating: 5/5
How hot? 🔥🔥🔥
Next week, I’ll be recommending second chance romances for a fresh start to the new year! See ya in 2023, friends!
What should I be reading next? Let me know in the comments!