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Book Recommendations

Book Recommendations · Favorites · Romance Recs

14 BIPOC Queer Romances You Need on Your TBR, Babe

June 30, 2025June 28, 2025

Queer romance keeps my heartbeat steady. While everyone rushes to drop a glowing Goodreads rating…

Read More 14 BIPOC Queer Romances You Need on Your TBR, BabeContinue

Book Recommendations · Thriller Recs

If You Love Twists, These Mystery Books Will Wreck You

May 26, 2025June 29, 2025

There’s something about a good mystery that pulls you in before you even realize it….

Read More If You Love Twists, These Mystery Books Will Wreck YouContinue

Book Recommendations · Fantasy Recs · Romance Recs · Thriller Recs

Best Summer Reads for People Who Love to Get Lost in a Book

May 14, 2025May 14, 2025

There’s something about one day in the summer. You know the perfect day. Sun on…

Read More Best Summer Reads for People Who Love to Get Lost in a BookContinue

Book Tag · Favorites · Lifestyle · TBR

How to Know Your TBR Is a Walking Red Flag

April 23, 2025April 21, 2025

You swore this would be the year you’d conquer your Goodreads reading challenge. But here…

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The Book ChatGPT Said I’d Love—Was It Right?
Book Recommendations · Book Tag · Thriller Recs

The Book ChatGPT Said I’d Love—Was It Right?

April 9, 2025May 21, 2025

Generally, I’m not one to hand over the reins to a machine, especially not in…

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Book Recommendations · Fantasy Recs

Urban Fantasy 101: Your Questions Answered + Book Recs You’ll Love

March 24, 2025March 22, 2025

Magic humming beneath city streets, vampires slipping through crowded alleys, and witches blending in at…

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Book Recommendations · Fantasy Recs · Thriller Recs

Upcoming Reads That Will Break You—in the Best Way

March 23, 2025March 27, 2025

Get ready to add some must-read books to your reading list! These upcoming book releases…

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Book Recommendations · Fantasy Recs · Romance Recs · Top 10

Brace Yourself: These New Releases Will Wreck You

March 17, 2025March 16, 2025

Some books give you a little life—others rip your soul out and leave you questioning…

Read More Brace Yourself: These New Releases Will Wreck YouContinue

Book Recommendations · Fantasy Recs

Spring 2025 Fantasy Books That Will Ruin Your Sleep

March 10, 2025March 9, 2025

Prepare to kiss your sleep schedule goodbye because Spring 2025 is upon us, and with…

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Book Recommendations · Fantasy Recs · Horror Recs · Romance Recs

Black Authors Who Will Emotionally Wreck You (and You’ll Love It)

February 17, 2025February 17, 2025

Your bookshelf is looking a little… basic. Don’t panic—I’m here to fix it. If your…

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DIARY OF A READER

Welcome to my blog!

I'm Dominique. As an avid reader and book lover, my job is to inspire you to read my favorite books. So, grab your favorite drink, and stay a while. We hope you find a new love.

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14 BIPOC Queer Romances You Need on Your TBR, Babe

Read More 14 BIPOC Queer Romances You Need on Your TBR, BabeContinue

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IN THE SHOP

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diaryofthereader

Bookish soft life. Always Probably reading. Book reviewer for fiction that lingers — soft, deep & unforgettable.
Link ⬇️ for book recs & more!

You ever love someone who didn’t love you back? You ever love someone who didn’t love you back?
These stories know that ache.
The kind that blooms slow — then bruises deep.
They don’t give you happy endings.
But they give you truth. Longing. Devastation in velvet.

Unrequited love is soft torture —
And these books?
They make it beautiful.

📖 Small-town pining.
📖 Quiet obsession.
📖 That breathless space between what you want… and what you can’t have.

Add these to your TBR, babe.
You’re not ready. But read them anyway.

💬 Which one are you emotionally spiraling over first?

#AddTheseToYourTBRBabe #UnrequitedLoveBooks #RomanceRecs #BooksThatHurt #EmotionalReads #RomanceThatHurts #BookishWednesday #TBRList #HeartbreakingRomance #BooksThatBruise #SlowBurnRomance #DarkRomanceReads #BooksWithFeelings #SoftBookTok #BookInfluencerVibes
📖✨ I blinked, and the alpha claimed me (well, 📖✨ I blinked, and the alpha claimed me (well, the entire pack did 😏)

The Wolves of Crescent Creek trilogy by @tessahalewrites sinks its claws into you in the best way.

 Book two, Eclipsed Empire, is almost here. If wolf shifters, heat-soaked power plays, and short, spicy reads are your thing… this one's already howling your name. 🐺🔥

I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of book two (thank you, universe), and while I won’t spoil a thing, just know… this pack? It doesn’t play fair.

If you haven’t read book one, you’re missing out on a wild, fated-mates ride. My spoiler-free review is live! click the link in my bio to see why this wolf shifter romance just might be your next favorite escape.

→ Quick reads. Quick steam. But these wolves linger long after you turn the last page.

Have you read a shifter romance that completely surprised you?

👇Drop your alpha obsessions in the comments.

#WolfShifterBooks #ShifterRomance #WerewolfRomance #FatedMates #WolvesOfCrescentCreek #SpicyReads #RomantasyRecs #AlphaRomance #BookReview #GoodreadsFinds #WolfShifter #ShortSpicyReads #BooksOfInstagram #RomanceReaders #ShifterBooks #ReadMoreRomance #WerewolfReads #ParanormalRomance #BookTwoLoading #RomanceSeries #WolvesAndFate
Love, but make it lethal. Hunger. Chaos. Ruin. A n Love, but make it lethal.
Hunger. Chaos. Ruin. A new window into the darkest romance books on my shelf—enter at your own risk.

📚 Tonight’s stack:
🖤 God of Wrath – rivals who’d torch empires for one kiss. (Rina Kent)
🔪 The Ritual – secret-society oaths, blood on silk sheets. (Shantel Tessier)
🩸 Court of the Vampire Queen – three monsters, one mortal craving power. (Katee Robert)
☠️ That Sik Luv – toxic obsession that dares you to survive. (Jescie Hall)
👁️ Phantasm – dream-realm witchcraft where betrayal draws blood. (Kaylie Smith)
🔥 Once You’re Mine – he doesn’t love her, he owns her. (Morgan Bridges)
🌒 Nightfall – the house is haunted, the man is worse… yet she stays. (Penelope Douglas)
💔 How Does It Feel? – grief aches; his love is the blade. (Jeanine O’Reilly)
🔥 Soul of a Witch – pain as worship, pleasure as penance. (Harley Laroux)

❓ Confess: Which single scene from a dark romance still haunts your daylight—and why hasn’t therapy fixed it?

🔖 Save this stack for your next blackout read.
✉️ DM it to that “I-don’t-do-dark” friend—let’s test that.

#darkromance #romancebooks #rinakent #penelopedouglas #shanteltessier #triggerwarnings #twistedromance #newromancereleases #forbiddenreads #smuttybookclub #paranormalromance #readingaddict #blackgirlswhoread #diaryofareader #bookstagramcommunity #romancenovel #bookclubreads #shareyourbooks #searchforstories
✨ This... and my kids letting me read uninterrup ✨ This... and my kids letting me read uninterrupted? That’s the dream. ✨

Soft pages. Soft moments. A bookshelf full of stories waiting to hold me.

What’s your version of peace lately?

#BookLover #ReadingTime #BookshelfAesthetic #MomLifeReads #CozyReadingVibes #BookTokMoms #BibliophileBliss #SoftMoments
What if the world outside your home felt like a th What if the world outside your home felt like a threat—but staying silent felt even worse?

Dust by Alison Stine is a haunting, speculative coming-of-age story set in a near-future Colorado where the land is dying and so is connection.
A partially deaf teen, cut off from the world, begins to question everything—family, love, and the future she thought she had.

📚 For readers who love atmospheric dystopia, quiet rebellion, and stories that give voice to what’s been silenced.

Would you risk everything to finally be heard?

Drop a 🌫️ if you love gritty, haunting dystopias with fierce female leads.

#DustByAlisonStine #SpeculativeFiction #YAComingOfAge #DystopianReads #ClimateFiction #HardOfHearingRepresentation #DeafCharactersInBooks #BookstagramRecs #QuietBooks #UnderratedReads
✨New month, new book obsessions.✨ If you're lo ✨New month, new book obsessions.✨
If you're looking for the next romance novel to wreck you or a fantasy that feels like a fever dream—you’re in the right bookshop.

From heart-tugging family stories to addictive fiction that deserves its own window display, these new book releases for June & July are the titles you’ll want to read before the hardcover edition sells out.📚

This is your sign to return to your TBR.
Join the round, pick your next book club fave, and tell me—
Which new book has your name written all over it? 👀

🕰️ It’s time. Your next favorite story is waiting.
💬 Drop a 🌿 if you’re grabbing a copy quick!

#newbookreleases #bookreleases #romancenovel #fantasynovel #bookclubreads #juneandjulybooks #newbooks2025 #booktok #booksbooksbooks #bookstagramnewreleases #readersofinstagram #fictionlovers #newbooksalert #summerreading #bookishedition
📚✨What if love didn't just break the rules— 📚✨What if love didn't just break the rules—but rewrote them entirely?✨🌈

This Pride, I’m reaching for stories that crack open the binary and kiss it on the mouth.
From morally gray lovers to queer found families and soft boys with sharp edges—
these are the books that made me feel seen and shattered all at once.

💘 Give Me More – open marriages and bi awakening? Yes. Please.

🖤 Kiss the Villain – the darkest desires often hide in plain sight.

💀 A River of Golden Bones – sapphic high fantasy with curses, queens, and rebellion.

🐺 Wolfsong – queer werewolves, found family, and aching tenderness.

Whether you crave spice, softness, or the supernatural—there’s something here waiting to devour you right back.

🌈 Which queer book has you in a chokehold right now? Tell me—I'm building my TBR.

—
Hashtags:
#PrideMonthReads #QueerBookRecs #LGBTQBooks #SpicyBookTok #FantasyRomance #SapphicReads #QueerFantasy #DarkRomanceRecs #FoundFamilyBooks #BookstagramPride
🌑 “Some stories aren’t meant to be loud. Th 🌑 “Some stories aren’t meant to be loud. They bloom in the dark.”
⠀
Reading Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab felt like the ache of Addie LaRue—quiet, ghostly, and soaked in longing. It’s the kind of story that lingers in the corners of your heart… a gothic echo of love, grief, and legacy.
⠀
Schwab has always had a way of making pain feel poetic—and here, every sentence feels like a requiem. For who we were. For what we lost. For what we dare to dream beyond death.
⠀
✨ This is for the readers who want stories that haunt beautifully. If The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue made you ache, Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil will make you weep in silence.

🖤 I shared my full, emotional review on the blog—because this one deserves more than just a caption.
➡️ Link in bio to read the full review.
⠀
💬 What’s a book that felt like grief and magic all at once?
⠀

Thank you so much to @torbooks for sending me an advanced copy. 

#BuryOurBones #VESchwab #GothicFantasy #AddieLaRueVibes #QueerBooks #HauntingReads #PoeticFiction #DarkFantasyBooks #EmotionalReads #BookstagramMagic #BookBloggers #DiaryOfAReader #AtmosphericReads
“We are not casual readers. We are stitched from “We are not casual readers.
We are stitched from storylines, scarred by plot twists, and resurrected by re-reads.
This is what I’m made of—
What about you?”

🔮 Tell me: What would your reader soul be built from?
Tag someone whose ingredients are just as unhinged.

#ReaderEra #BookishIdentity #FictionalFeels #DarkRomanceReads #BookLoverMood #TBRChaos #GothicReader #BuiltFromBooks #DiaryOfAReader #ReaderAlchemy
💔 “He’s still in love with his dead wife... 💔 “He’s still in love with his dead wife... and yet I’m rooting for them.”

If that line doesn’t scream new adult romance, I don’t know what does.

From the first two pages of Shattered Hearts by Renee Parker @byreneeparker I was emotionally done for. This mafia romance book cracked something open in me — the kind of tension-filled, slow-burn romance read where the grief hits before the guns do.

Meet Finn Gallagher: broody, scarred, a morally grey made man with a soft heart buried deep. And Riley Brennan? She’s trying to escape her abusive father and carve out a future that’s hers — outside the mafia world that’s been pulling her back her entire life. Their chemistry? Quiet, intense. The kind that builds in looks, subtle touches, and one-sided crushes turned mutual obsession.

Yes, there are moments that could’ve used a tighter edit, but the dialogue? 🔥 Finn’s internal monologue gave me everything. I was giggling, kicking my feet, fully inside his head (where I love to be in adult romance reads).

I flew through it on Kindle in just two days. The story unfolds in layers, and while it’s a slow burn, the emotional and physical payoff is worth every page.

🖤 If you're searching Goodreads or Instagram for your next dark romance, stop scrolling. Add this one to your TBR immediately. And if you've read it, drop a 💔 in the comments so we can scream together.

Don't forget to check out my full review on my blog, The Diary of a Reader link in bio

✨  #newadultromance #mafiaromancebook #adultromance #romancereads #ReneeParker #ShatteredHearts #IrishKings #romancebooks #bookrecommendations #romancereview #kindlereads #slowburnromance #bookbloggerlife #readmorebooks #romanceauthor
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