My 2024 Summer Maternity Survival Kit

What I’m looking forward to reading while preparing for and recovering from birth sabbatical

I’m about to give birth to my second kid any week. I anticipate this being exciting and boring as far as birthing a whole human is concerned, and it will take a lot out of me.

I will be entirely unreliable for my regular blogging cadence any week now. I expect to return on my usual track by the end of summer, but birth is weird, so I’m not committing to a hard return date.

Expectant parents have a list of so much stuff they need for giving birth. But what most mommy blogs forget to mention is that the newborn era means you need something to keep your crazed hormonal brain from going nuts. The days are long and the years are short and all that. Especially when it feels like all you are doing is feeding and diapering all the time while your reproductive system is recovering from the hell it has been through.

So, even while I anticipate being more offline in the coming month or so, my border collie brain will go nuts if I don’t keep it entertained. This week’s post is about what I have on My Maternity Survival Kit.

Summer Releases

Some folks have summer movie releases to get excited about. I have smutty monster romances. Same difference.

• The Widow and the Orcs by Finley Fenn

  • Coming June 14

  • If there’s a review I am posting despite this current season of life, it will be this one. I’m getting an ARC and I’m a Fenn super fan.

• Invitations by C. M. Nascosta

  • Coming June 30, 2024

  • As someone who reads Nascosta all the time, this feels like a negotiable.

• Wrestling With Werewolves by Hazel Mack

  • Coming June 30

  • I have recently come to enjoy Mack’s cozy little New England world. This will be an installment that expands it.

• The Love Archives Anthology

  • Coming August 1, 2024

  • Some really awesome authors are participating in this collaboration and, bonus, you can get it from places other than Amazon.

• He Loves Me Not by C. M. Nascosta

  • Coming August 24, 2024

  • Nascosta is busy this year! This just happens to be the last of her planned summer releases.

Aquatic Adventuring

It is summer and I’m not going anywhere near a beach or water so these will have to do!

• Breathless by Cat Wynn

  • I haven’t read Cat Wynn before, but I’ve noted good things from authors and reviewers I like and trust about this book.

• Song of the Abyss by Emma Hamm

  • I’m not on TikTok, but I had to laugh when my book-loving friends who are on BookTok texted me that I absolutely needed to read this series. As someone who enjoyed the ARC of the first book in this series, I’m glad to check out this new installment.

• To Ravish a Rogue by C. M. Nascosta

  • This is the third book by Nascosta I have on this post alone. Can you tell I like Nascosta and that woman has been prolific recently?

• Treasure of the Abyss by Tiffany Roberts

  • This has been on my TBR for too dang long and I need more tentacles in my life.

• Washed Up with a Kraken by L. E. Eldridge

  • This has also been on my TBR for a while and I want to read it already! What better time than summer time?

Non-Monster Romance Reading

Here is the stuff I read and don’t always talk about in my monster romance spaces. Lots of nonfiction and other stuff. If you listen to my Tales from the Orc Den podcast, I think I make it obvious that I read and follow current events, politics, and economics a lot. I prefer blogging about my monster smut obsession because it is fun.

• Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

  • Normally when I read mystery, I’m a Ruth Ware and Lucy Foley sort of gal. So, I’m trying to expand myself a bit.

• Evicted by Matthew Desmond

  • If the current “selective recession” in the US has made one thing clear, the cost of surviving for the majority of Americans is increasingly expensive. And yes, I do mean “surviving” and not just “living.” So while this book is a couple of years old already, it feels as relevant as ever.

• If We Burn by Vincent Bevins

  • Why have modern day protests and progress not brought us into a more progressive world? In the United States, the 2024 election lineup at the very least challenges any progress the 2010s made. I am curious what Bevin’s has to say.

• The Influencer Industry by Emily Hund

  • Hund’s book is short and feels like a meta read for someone like me though I’m a nano-influencer if I am one. None of my links on my blog are even affiliated or sponsored. At this rate, my personality would much rather focus on publishing and helping publish books than trying to do straight affiliate stuff.

• The Stolen Heir by Holly Black

  • I’m reading this for my teenage self who used to stalk the Barnes and Noble shelves for the latest Holly Black fairy books back in the early 00s. I’m still that teen girl inside.

• Woe: A Housecat's Story of Despair by Lucy Knisley

  • Coming July 2

  • I have read almost all of Knisley’s backlist. She’s a wonderful storyteller and fellow cat person.

Streaming List

Let’s be honest. I don’t just read all the time. Just most of the time.

• The second half of the Bridgerton season 3 on Netflix

  • Penelope is my soul sister, messy drama and all.

• Season 2 of House of the Dragon on HBO

  • #teamBlack and I will accept no debate.

• Ren Faire on HBO

  • As it turns out those young drama-magnitizing, horny Renn Fest people grow up to become old and powerful drama-magnitizing, horny Renn Fest people.

• The Acolyte On Disney+

  • Murder? Mystery? Hidden pasts? I love it when the Jedi are messy.

• The Daily Show at the RNC and DNC

  • Roughly July 15 (RNC) and Aug. 19 (DNC) on YouTube

  • I look forward to watching an clever old white man and his coworkers moan and groan about other older white men running for the great old white man election of 2024.

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Housekeeping

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