I loved B1, the setting, the dynamics between Hannah and her 16 yo stepdaughter, the mystery of why they were running for their lives, and who they might trust. This sequel didn‘t give me any of that. Still, I liked reading Hannah and Bailey nearly 6 years later. I hope this is B2 of a trilogy because I love to read Hannah and Owen forced into an escapade together - of course to protect Bailey.

First 3x3 grid of the year (tagged my favorite). Well, from a reading perspective 2026 is looking good!

So often in the past I‘ve read historical fiction considering how far we‘ve come in showing compassion for our neighbors. This story is built around 1920s American eugenics, and it‘s not only history where I cringe at our actions. It‘s knowing that these very discussions are likely taking place among people of great power in America. We must be better.

This was a sophisticated HEA. I appreciated the complexity in the conflict as well as the response to it. The author could easily have created entire substories with the surrogate, cross-state legal issues, ‘morality police‘, or even made the ex more controversial. But she kept the focus on the MC - that was a full story and I‘m happy with the focus.

Postpartum depression is likely not the storyline that everyone would just wanna pick up and read on a whim, but I found this to be an engaging story. I wasn‘t even considering how it might end and was just cut up in the six days that Julia was missing. It‘s interesting how quickly a community can change their mind about someone they really don‘t know.

We get independent stories of each of the four women in the friendship, and a fifth story with the estranged sister to Desiree. The friends finally come together in the final quarter of the book. Without the book the few times time didn‘t move forward added to my confusion. But still, I was quite interested in all five of these women and their lives. Dang, I did myself an injustice here by not reading with the physical book..

Many of the scandals in Queen Elinor‘s fictional reign as Queen of England ‘coincidentally‘ mirrored those of Elizabeth with enough differences to make it a fun fictional story. And of course that Reese Bookclub label had me wondering the whole time if this was enough for a limited series or could it be packed into a streamed movie. I say the latter.

Well, this was certainly a reset from all those holiday HEAs. It‘s beautifully written and nearly 20 years later it could be written with exactly the same verbiage and have the same impact today. Now I get why there‘s a prequel vs a sequel to this story😳 Even though this book has been on my shelf since Oprah selected it for her Bookclub in 2008, I finished it with no regrets for finally reading it in 2026.

Jan #DoubleSin Cat:450+ pages

I know little of New Zealand, its culture, or its politics but was fascinated by Jacinda Ardern‘s account of what inspired her to become the leader of her country from in the tumultuous years from 2017-2023. I wish her goal to lead with kindness had inspired the world to adopt her paradigm.

When I was in my 30s, one of my mother-in-law‘s 7 sisters had rapidly progressing dementia. It had a profound effect on me to witness how differently each sister interacted with her as some had significantly more patience than others. This book is a beautiful tribute to those with dementia and being open to the value of their life as it is.

When stars (or in this case, heavens) align and I‘m in the mood for a slow roll of a book, it can be a beautiful thing. Beauty was here. It warms my soul thinking of an 87 yo man taking up residence in a new town and discovering a unique way to positively impact one stranger at a time. I was settled in for those sweet actions to continue through the last page, but there‘s a fascinating twist in the last quarter.

Covered in an #indexcard blanket for the last couple days as I‘m committed to reading my hen-scratch spoilers on the backside of all these cards before sorting each by author into my combined stack dating back to 2019😳 I‘m humbled by whole or parts of stories I‘ve forgotten already, but each card reminds me how much enjoyment I had and have from reading books! …Happy New Reading Year to my amazing Litten community📚🥂🕛

2026 #YearlyWrapUp

Well, I‘m calling it for my December #indexcard stack because it‘s going to take a while for me to read the backside (subjective rating and memory-triggering spoilers) of all my 2026 cards as I sort them by author into my combined cards of previous years.

Dec 2026 #MonthlyWrapUp

A new book with a magic coffee shop adhering to some pesty rules and I‘m all caught up on the ‘Before the Coffee Gets Cold‘ series so I had to go here. Except for some magic realism over a cup of coffee this story shares little similarity to the former. It was a quick, easy and predictable there‘s-no-place-like-home type of story. It‘s cute.

Oh just me convinced I‘ll tunnel through my TBR in 2026.

Jan 2026 #BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

My last 3x3 grid to complete in 2025 and it gets a 5⭐️ read!

5 ⭐️= Loved It, would recommend to others. A+
4 ⭐️= Liked it, would love to discuss. Solid B
3.5 ⭐️ = Close to either pick or so-so
3 ⭐️= Meh, no need to discuss. Avg C
2 ⭐️=Nope D
1 ⭐️=DNF F

The cover-art and title promoted this more holiday-ish than it was - I always think that is a disservice to the author. I thought the first half of this book could have been written in one chapter. I didn‘t buy-in to this exploration and resolution of grief for Emmy. Her 10-yr life-crushing grief over the death of her mother needed more than an HEA. It was okay, just not memorable.

This is my kind of romance - too complex for an obvious Hallnark holiday script and devoid of pages describing spice upon spice🤪. My favorite part was its love letter to Toronto. The complexity involves dealing with the brac a gene, a parent who does not deserve you, whether home is a physical place or the people you define as family, and are the lifelong plans still what you want.

Merry Christmas!

This was sweet story with dual HEA love stories happening for 35 yo Fred as well as her mother, Bella,52. The reader clearly knows those HEA will happen, but what makes it fun is the drama built into the separate stories and how it came together at the end.

Contemporary family drama and time travel are two of my favorite genres. So combined this book was right up my alley. Bonus that I got to hate on a power-driven billionaire for a bit🤣

Over 10 years I moved through the cancer deaths of my father, brother, oldest sister, and a best friend. My brother had two lengthy remissions but when cancer returned a 3rd time it was fast and fatal. He explained in his final days (with endless love for us) dying had to be selfish as he could not do it on anyone else‘s terms. That is a lesson I‘ve carried with me for 15 years, and this book reminds me to respect that lesson.

Career driven, but debilitated by migraines, made worse by the reality that Evelyn‘s insurance company allowing 14 migraine pills per month - doesn‘t seem the makings for humor. Something sadder, too but that might be a spoiler to reveal. I lost track of the spirits visiting her in this Hanukkah Christmas mashup, but I was fully engaged. The author notes at the end explaining why she wrote the story - ugly cry here😭

Oh, a thriller set in the Pacific Northwest you know I‘m in. This was intriguing to read and I kept reading even when I needed to stop for other priorities. There were times when I nearly forgot Sadie had a missing husband because I was so curious how things were going to go for the boys. I pretty much nailed the ending, but that didn‘t spoil the read.

I can‘t resist at Jenny Colgan Christmas book set in Scotland at a 30-bedroom run-down estate full of books. This had fewer characters than many of her books but also much more description of the estate. Okay, maybe too much description - but it works for some Christmas hygge 😊

Just passed halfway there was a twist I absolutely didn‘t see coming. It made the backstory details all the more interesting. This story didn‘t end anything like I expected a thriller/mystery to end, and I‘m going to be thinking about that for a while.

December #DoubleSpin Category: Mystery/Thriller

And thank you @TheAromaofBooks for inspiring me to ‘shop‘ in my own bookshelves for another year!

I‘m knee-deep in seasonal reading, but I knew it was unlikely anything in this grid would match the feels I had (still have) reading the tagged.

5 ⭐️= Loved It, would recommend to others. A+
4 ⭐️= Liked it, would love to discuss. Solid B
3.5 ⭐️ = Close to either pick or so-so
3 ⭐️= Meh, no need to discuss. Avg C
2 ⭐️=Nope D
1 ⭐️=DNF F

The thoughts in Margo‘s head are spit-take funny. What‘s required of first time homebuyers ascertaining a home in their chosen neighborhood is a great setup for a novel. Homebuyers Margo & Ian and sellers Jake & Curt are interestingly drawn. I wish the story stayed inside the Margo/Curt blackmail. She went off the rails and became more psychopath than funny. A slower pick than I expected as I was half-way in.

I was a young adult when I first read JPE‘s the Christmas box and his books have been a tradition of mine ever since. They are the tears turned to joy type of read and set me on a path to remember to be just a little bit better this season. I cried following the forward to this one, so I knew I was gonna be a goner by the time this one ended.

It was pre-pandemic when I read Jon Krakauer's ‘Missoula‘ with reticence - I love Missoula, the university, and cheer family with season tickets to Griz games. But the book gutted me. Jon told his readers his account was in Missoula but the story was the same in college towns across America. This book is a perfect reminder of the accuracy of Jon‘s statement.

Dec #BookSpin Cat:Pub 2022-24 @TheAromaofBooks

This was all sorts of Debbie Macomber Christmas cute with love bouncing off every wave for this stranded ferry. There‘s four distinct stories of love here. I might‘ve tightened it up a little and cut the twins‘ storyline, but it really was everything you hope for in this author‘s Christmas holiday stories.

This was a good story and realizing it was written to be funny, it seemed okay to just go along with the affair. My take-away is 10 years is just entirely too long to carry on an affair - in one‘s head or otherwise 😆. I did a Google search for an interview with the author and ended up listening to a YouTube post of Holly Hunter reading the short story inspiring the novel. I recommend that Google search if you enjoyed this book.

I enjoy a fictional book with a really good dog name in it – Harry Styles, I mean come on🐶 Also, Henry is a dream - a guy with a little to no experience with kids but has an instant connection with Grace‘s lovely kiddos. It was a cute and fun read. I need books like this in December🤣

I‘ve become an auto-read fan of Adrienne Young. This one took a bit of concentration upfront with world building and political intrigue but trusting the process, stuck with it for favorable results. Maris and Luca are an interesting power couple and their city, Isra, is a hot mess. I like them both, but I‘m curious if I‘m going to have to pick teams in Book2.

This weekend got away from me and yesterday I forgot to post my newest contribution to my. #indexcard collection.

November 2025 #MonthlyRoundUp

I read the first three books of this series in a mixed up order so it makes sense that I would see this book, put a hold on it, only to find out it‘s book5 in the series🤣. Book4 now on hold! This was cute. It‘s fun to see how all these different couples in Dream Harber come together and get their HEAs.

This book speaks to sexual abuse and rape in such a powerful way through four novellas representing water (enabler), earth (accomplice), fire (perpetrator), and air (victim). Characters weave subtly from one element to the next while time always moves forward. The ending is beautiful, which is an accomplishment since these elements are brutal in their destruction.

It‘s crazy to me that I‘m posting my December #BookSpinBingo. It proves one year has become a very small percentage of my life🤪 …I‘m hoping my new category nbr 13 is drawn. I‘ve read my physical books down to a Litsy respectable hefty stack so I want to begin considering a Libby shelf I‘ve long built of no guilt (because I don‘t own them) TBR - it‘s a monster-sized digital shelf at this point!

Dec #BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

Two 5⭐️ reads and two more that were very close! But the tagged book is in the running for my favorite book of the year. I feel it‘s a very important book.

5 ⭐️= Loved It, would recommend to others. A+
4 ⭐️= Liked it, would love to discuss. Solid B
3.5 ⭐️ = Close to either pick or so-so
3 ⭐️= Meh, no need to discuss. Avg C
2 ⭐️=Nope D
1 ⭐️=DNF F

Even though I liked the characters here I couldn‘t make sense of Page and Liam‘s break up four years earlier. Page, what? Since I had issues with the then I couldn‘t buy into their fake-date scenario in the present.

For Part 1 I was in my tween/teenager head totally immersed in 1970s disaster-movie mode of nuclear proportions, and I loved it. Following this there‘s a genre switch then with a major twist - neither of which I was anticipating. I liked the entire story, but especially Part 1.

During Covid Elise‘s Instagram posts somehow came up in my algorithm. I enjoyed her but never hit follow. I forgot about those posts until recognizing her name and face on this book so of course, I had to go there. It‘s very busy inside her head! I liked this - it reads more like a collection of her Instagram posts with a bit longer explanations than it does a memoir.

The writing is engaging but full of stereotypes and cringeworthy scenes. Determined to finish for my IRL bookclub I jumped to the author interview, found it fascinating and forged ahead. My problem was fictional MC, Mary Dodd, as the incredible heroine of her own journals. I didn‘t believe an 1870s woman would make her choices because the consequences were too grave. However, everyone in my bookclub loved her and disagreed with my take.

Imagine going through life with family members convinced that because you were born on the same day an aunt died you are their reincarnation - oh what a tangled web we weave. I found the story fascinating and couldn‘t put it down. I‘m glad I had this in print so I could backtrack insuring I was tracking generations correctly.

This book has long been on my TBR. I also wanted a stereo read with audio because well, Stanley Tucci. Of course I loved it. My DNA tells me I‘m all but 2% from Celtic stock, and I imagine my wee Nordic bit accounts for some many times a great grandmother having a wild night as a lass with some rogue from a cool looking boat who was in search of a pint. But Stanley sure makes me wish I were of Italian heritage.

Nov #DoubleSpin Cat: Food

I. Am. Gutted. …It is impossible for me to disparage any decision of Ma, Dadu, or Boomba because the world in the near future is so devoid of compassion for our neighbors. This is an important story.

I chose this book based on title but started reading it and thought it was weird. I wasn‘t sure how I felt about placing a real life Bob Dylan inside of a fictional story. But the Bob Dylan aspect was just a jumping point to get to a fascinating story of 26 yo Evan aiding his mother in her final stages of cancer. As the two talk he discovers who his mother was, what she endured, and how she took those experiences to become a compassionate woman.

This is one of those family dramas that likely requires you to enjoy the genre in order to appreciate the book. It‘s about the horrible accident in life that can change the trajectory of a family. It‘s about sisters adulting differently than each other. It‘s when a child‘s faith and life experiences do not align with the faith and experiences of parent. It‘s real life in a fictional format.

In my mood-driven subjective grading scale this entire grid fell within a solid A (4.75 ⭐️) to a solid B (4⭐️). I love to assemble my grid and realize that happened! Tagged the one that keeps me wondering if there will be more.

5 ⭐️= Loved It, would recommend to others. A+
4 ⭐️= Liked it, would love to discuss. Solid B
3.5 ⭐️ = Close to either pick or so-so
3 ⭐️= Meh, no need to discuss. Avg C
2 ⭐️=Nope D
1 ⭐️=DNF F

1997 Cooper‘s Run is a great setting. Like many a romance book I thought too much was written inside the MCs heads rather than enjoying their beautiful Vermont autumn. But the characters (including the dog) are all so likable so I‘ll give my grievance a pass. I can easily see this as a trilogy advancing the timeline 10-15 years with each installment so Emily then Brittany get their grown up stories.

I love a good time travel story and even though I typically prefer travel within the confines of magical realism I was all in for the fantasy of Dominion. …I‘ve fallen into several stories of late where magical elements come into play to rewrite history. I can‘t help but wonder if authors see craziness in aspects of today‘s world to create unrelated fictional stories