Sweet Summertime Reads 2015 with Asheley

Welcome to another edition of Sweet Summertime Reads! All summer long I am featuring a different blogger to share their current summer reads + what's on their agenda for this summer.  Today I am thrilled to be featuring Asheley from Into the Hall of Books.  She has chosen some swoon-worthy contemporary reads (that we all know I am a total fan of!).  Please welcome Asheley to the blog as she shares a bit more of her sweet summertime reads with us...

Hi everyone - I'm thrilled to be on Ginger's blog today as part of her Sweet Summertime Reads Event! Thank you so much for having me today, Ginger!

When I think of summertime reading, I think of fun...so my go-to "sweet summertime reads" are contemporary romances. Hands down, these stories are my happy place during the summer (and any other time I need a pick-me-up).

My favorite contemporary romances are small-town romances - I love the way authors often include great friendships among the characters. Also true to actual small-town life, there are often quirky and pesky characters too, which make the stories interesting and sometimes a little funny. I love them! I love that sometimes the romances are second-chance love stories, and I tend to find myself falling hard for the stories that are set near the ocean or in the mountains. I find myself smiling as these characters grow on me, and I love the happily-ever-afters. I get incredibly excited when I can move onto the next book in the series, if there is one, because I love companion stories. I find that these types of stories are usually easy to follow and they make me smile while I'm reading - these are things that I certainly want out of a book when I'm trying to keep up with my active family during the summertime: light, easy, fun reading that doesn't require too much concentration and is easy to read in small chunks.

Taking my love for contemporary romance a step further, I have no shame confessing that I'm 'one-click happy' when it comes to these titles for my Kindle. If I see one on sale that looks even slightly interesting, I'll download it in a heartbeat! I have multiple Amazon wishlists that I check often for sales. I love recommendations too. If I buy, I may not read it right away, but I certainly will at some point (maybe summertime!), which is my justification for the purchase. If there is an audiobook, I'll likely add it too. These are my romance reading/buying habits - I like plenty of titles on hand, and I love to be able to flip back and forth between reading and listening, or perhaps even listen while I'm reading. Quirky, much? Probably so. I find that I buy even more of these contemporary romances during the summertime when I'm reading more of these stories.

One of my all-time favorite contemporary romance series is the Country Roads Series by Shannon Richard. I've read and reread these books several times; I love them more each time I read them! I love everything about them. More recently, I've enjoyed the Summer Series by C.J. Duggan, an Aussie author that I stumbled upon while browsing Amazon. Both of these series are love-triangle free, small-town companion series. Currently, I'm working my way through the Silver Strands Series by Lexi Scott, the Sugar, Georgia Series by Marina Adair, and a ton of other adult contemporary titles as I randomly pick them out while flipping through my Kindle.

I'm hoping to start some Jill Shalvis titles soon as well as titles by Candis Terry and Shannon Stacey. There are so many great authors and books to choose. I really do enjoy being a well-rounded reader for the most part, but during the summertime I just can't stop reading love stories!

What are your favorite summertime romances? Do you have any contemporary romance recommendations for me?

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Asheley, I am totally loving the vibe you got going for this week's sweet summertime reads!  I've read one book in the Country Roads series and really enjoyed it (thanks to Jess!).  I can definitely say you'll enjoy Jill Shalvis and Shannon Stacey as well too.  Such fab authors, that each highlight your love of small town contemporary romances.  Thank you so much for sharing your summertime reads with us.  

Be sure to check out the giveaway (open international -- Book Depository must be able to ship to you!) happening all summer long...

a Rafflecopter giveaway

+ Open internationally (Book Depository must be able to ship to you!)

+ One winner will be chosen to receive one book from the image above (provided that it is available)
+ Contest ends August 31, 2015