A high pick! It‘s just as good as I hoped it would be! I‘ll say the beginning was starting to feel like a slog-the parts where we learn about why Phoebe went to the hotel to end her life. But I think that‘s because I was busy and stressed myself. Once I sat down to read with an open mind, I really appreciated Phoebe‘s story. The author really nailed some of the same thoughts we all have about womanhood, mental health, family. Felt very true.

I have today off from work and what a glorious way to start my day! 🐾 📖 ☕️

It‘s my 27th wedding anniversary today and instead of a more traditional celebration, I am driving my husband to/from his dental surgery appointment 😂 Poor guy!

I‘m 1/4 into this book and I have high hopes for it based on so many positive reviews! I‘m taking it with me for reading in the waiting room.

I liked this as more of a winter story than a Christmas story, and I love that it‘s full of snow and cold weather vibes. Sisters Jovi and Isabel are trying to convince their parents not to sell their family‘s candy company while Isabel and Mason work on their marriage and Jovi falls for the new single dad next door. There‘s a mystery-lite concerning a missing recipe. This was fun, easy winter reading that helped me forget it‘s 100 degrees outside.

This was so good!! I‘ve enjoyed everything I‘ve ever read by Sandra Dallas, but what stands out to me about this one is that it isn‘t sad at all. Some of her books are quite emotional. This was like a Western coming-of-age adventure story. I rooted so hard for young Haidie and her brother Boots as they traveled out west as part of a wagon train. Definitely inspired by True Grit. A huge pick, I loved it!

A fun, festive novella trilogy which follows Melissa as she moves from Boston to Inverness, Scotland for a new start after her husband files for divorce. I love that she chose to re-route her life in a whim-so unlike anything I would ever do! These stories cover Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the New Year and Melissa‘s network of friends and family are the best part. Quick, easy reads. Perfect for holiday reading lists. I hope the series continues.

The third part in this novella trilogy takes place in January and finds Melissa‘s divorce finally official—or is it? Her ex-husband stirs up trouble where her inherited Scottish estate is concerned, and her old and new friends rally to protect her interests. There‘s a lot of Boston in this one, as well as Scotland, and some of the loose ends are tied up. I feel like the series really could keep going, if the author chose it, and I‘d keep reading.

Second novella in the Highlands Christmas trilogy, this time featuring Caitlin, Melissa‘s best friend from Boston, who comes to visit for New Year‘s festivities…only to get snowed in at a local inn with Melissa‘s friend Lindsey, two handsome Scottish guys, and a bunch of tourists. Tons of Scottish-ness in here as well as snow and cold weather. Easy reading, very festive. The community people and New Year‘s parties are so much fun to read about.

I decided to do my own #christmasinjuly because it‘s so doggone hot here in NC.

This is the first novella in a trilogy following Melissa, who learns on Thanksgiving that her husband wants a divorce. She has just inherited a home in Inverness, Scotland, so she goes there to start a new life. Fun story full of Scottish food and culture. Very easy to read, very festive. I love the novella length and the buildup to the next novella in the series.

This is a fun story that includes gardening and cooking which was the big draw for me. Also a lot of fun textile art in here. Sadie is edgy with an attitude and Josh is very sweet, very giving. I like the small town vibe here too. There is room for this to become a series. The romance is nice but the steam level is further than I normally like to read. Still, I would consider reading future work by this author especially if it builds on this one.

Brilliant Jess Walters made this story funny (in the way of the brilliant Kevin Wilson) while still including fairly serious themes. At heart is remarkable character growth for Rhys, who was “so far gone” in his thinking that he left society and went out to live in the woods where the world couldn‘t get to him anymore. But leaving society also meant leaving his family behind, and boy oh boy he worked hard to make things right. It‘s really good.

A low pick. The POV is that of a child, where her mother is a cannibal who traps “strays” along the forest road near their secluded cabin, cooks them, and feeds them to her daughter. It‘s gross, it really is. But the saddest part is that young Margot longs for love and acceptance from her mother, and no matter what she does, she can never be as important as her mother‘s hunger. It‘s a good debut, but could be tighter, more solid, more emotive.

I love this series. This is the 12th installment which follows Chief Kate Burkholder as she inadvertently becomes involved with a case of corruption in a neighboring department. I loved the more procedural-heavy tone of this story and the way Kate‘s beginnings with the police force were told. It gives more insight into why she is the way she is.

I also love the way the cold, snowy weather played into the story, since it‘s so hot where I am.

Pick! I read this super fast because it was fun. A morally gray MC with a complicated past, secrecy and distrust, a supernatural component. A serial killer years ago and a potential copycat now, with possible ties to the story‘s MC. The supernatural aspect is related to the forest and I loved all of the trees and nature bits. Requires suspension of disbelief in several different areas, which is spoilery so 🤐. A solid beginning for a series.

Final book in the trilogy and it‘s the best by far.

King Henry is now out of the picture. Eleanor spends her time as Queen Mother and advisor to her children. Tons of tragedy for Eleanor, plus plenty of backstabbing and betrayal which has always been commonplace for life as a royal. My favorite part is the politics and decision-making in this installment, always with the goal of protecting borders. Great series, I really enjoyed my time with it.

Kate Burkholder #11.5, less than 2 hours in length.

Two young boys go missing-one Amish and one English-and Chief Kate Burkholder is racing to find them before the bad weather claims their lives. Nothing added to the series at large in terms of plot, but these shorts are always enjoyable reads or listens while I‘m out running errands.

Beach reading 🏖️🍹☀️

Excellent!! But stressful toward the end, with the Revolt of 1173 and Eleanor‘s subsequent capture. These are not spoilers; history tells us these things. What stood out most was Henry and Eleanor‘s tumultuous relationship and the way Henry forged alliances with neighboring lands to solidify his empire. So much scandal and betrayal! I‘m eager to continue with the third book, but I may take a short break since they‘re such dense reads.

Loved! Sequel to Her Fairy Tale Farmer. Maya Monroe is a baker and author of romance novels. One of her books is being adapted into a movie, directed by her high school boyfriend, the very famous Will Hastings. It‘s a second chance romance featuring Will‘s persnickety father, a troubled teen called Lucas, and a sweet little dog called Bruce. Takes place in autumn, but the movie is a Christmas story, so lots of cool-weather holiday vibes in here.

Nearly halfway thru this one and I‘m enjoying this [fictional] deep dive into Eleanor of Aquitaine‘s life! I love her.

Every time I read medieval stories I‘m just blown away by how little agency women had in that era-even rich and powerful ones-and by how pregnancy and childbirth really sort of ruled their lives.

I absolutely inhaled this 11th installment in the Kate Burkholder series. A grandmother is out picking walnuts with two of her grandchildren when she is brutally murdered. The killer abducts one of the little girls and soon other community people begin dying. Because of the danger to the child, Kate worked extra hard to find her alive and being her home. The stakes were super high throughout. Really good, I couldn‘t turn the pages fast enough.

I enjoyed it! Although there‘s no telling how accurate Chadwick‘s depiction of Eleanor is here given the lack of info and the fact that this author uses Akashic Records (👀) for her research, but I still enjoyed it. Chadwick has no love for King Louis VII, and I felt for Eleanor throughout her marriage to him, but I‘m really excited to see read about her marriage to King Henry II in the subsequent books. Great story, very much in my wheelhouse.

#currentlyreading Nearly a week into this book, I‘m approaching halfway thru. It‘s dense but really good. I keep stopping to read more about historical names and places. My first time reading about Eleanor of Aquitaine!

My best reading buddy Beau is keeping me warm! 🐾

I read this sweet story over the past two weeks while I was providing end of life care for my sweet aunt, who passed a couple of days ago. It‘s a second chance romance between a former country music superstar and a music therapy teacher in small-town Truelove, NC. Their relationship includes his young niece Lili, who he is raising after his sister‘s death. I loved the small town and all of the friends and family. This book is connected to several…

Very sweet best friends-to-more story of Knox, a farmer that has been in love with his best friend since high school, and Andie, a single mom of twin boys. Andie loves him too but Knox has to grow up and show a little bit of responsibility before she takes his feelings seriously. There‘s a lot of hiking, coffee, and horses in this story. Knox is also a line-dancing instructor for seniors, which is a lot of fun.

This is a super sweet story about two neighbors joining together. Both Torryn and Matthew had had heartbreaking losses recently, so they leaned on one another and grew closer. There are themes of forgiveness and facing your fears throughout, and one of my favorite things about the story was that Torryn was at a crossroads in her life, needing to make some life-altering choices. The sunflowers on the cover were prevalent and important in the story.

After 43 days, I am calling it. I can‘t push myself any further. I tried the digital arc that I received, then I added the audio, then I added a print copy, in hopes that I would be able to push thru. I love this period of US History, but the slow meandering plot just did me in. Also, at this part of the book, some things were added to the story that I felt just slowed it down further and didn‘t make sense with where things were going. I read 👇🏻

2nd in the Return to Hopewell series featuring Drew and Tamara, who have tight ties to the characters from the first book. I adore this town‘s quirky, meddling residents and I love the way the Trombo and Longfellow families have blended together. This author gave this series a great sense of place and I could easily see myself living in Hopewell. The best part of the story is Buddy the dog, who also played a huge role in the first book.

This cover made choose this romantic suspense book from HQN‘s Love Inspired line—my first romantic suspense. It was good, with kidnapping and pursuit of murderers against the backdrop of a sweet romance. I like these characters a lot, although I‘m bummed to find they star in three books written previous to this one. I‘d have liked to read them in order, but these connected books aren‘t tagged anywhere as a series. Still, I enjoyed. A quick read.

Whew boy, this has been tough to get into. I‘m 25% thru and have been reading this book for four weeks, two days. Soooo slowww.

I love reading about the Dust Bowl, so got an ARC from NetGalley and have been chipping away at it for ages. I almost DNF‘d but decided to get the audio from the library to see if that helps me push thru, and it does. I‘m finally getting a little bit eager to see where the story goes. But I‘ve really had to work for it.

SUCH a fun read! Southern gothic mystery set mostly in the NC mountains with an impossibly rich, conniving, lying, backstabbing family all trying to end up with the huge McTavish fortune. I loved every second of it. Such a delicious read and the audiobook is great too.

I chose this after my sweet aunt read it with her book club. She‘d texted me a picture that said “I loved this book!” Now I‘ll text her a similar message and we‘ll discuss. So fun.

Home alone with my two pups today. I sat outside and read this entire book in the perfect spring weather 🌳 ☀️

#2 in the Hearts on Main Street series. A second-chance romance between Beau, a pro fisherman with an injured shoulder and antique store owner, and Summer, an antique furniture restorer. I loved the PNW setting and Beau‘s wonderful family. Beau‘s niece Mary and the family‘s Great Dane, Roo, were on many of the pages, which I LOVED.

Short novella. #10.5 in the Kate Burkholder series. Coming in at just less than 2 hours, I listened on my way to/from work over two days. Nothing new is added to the series, it‘s just an aside about an Amish teen that is run over by a car and survives, but just barely. Kate has to figure out who ran him over, and why.

I love this series. Painter‘s Mill OH has an oddly large amount of bad people living in it to be such a small Amish community 😂

My March recap, a few days late 😳

I read 11 books in March. The Favorites was my top favorite, but I really loved several of the Harlequin romance titles I read too. I‘m flying thru HQN books lately because they‘re so easy to read and they have guaranteed HEA‘s.

From NetGalley: 5
From my own shelf: 2
From library: 2
HQN titles: 5
Featured dogs: 5

#March25

The relationship between Poppy and Justin developed as the two began to work thru shared grief and trauma. Poppy was driving the car that killed Justin‘s brother way back in high school, and she has never allowed herself to move beyond the guilt of his death. Thru Poppy, her young niece Mary, and a sweet dog called Roo, Justin‘s family begins to forgive Poppy and Poppy begins to forgive herself. So wholesome, so sweet, and I adored the dog.

#10 in the Kate Burkholder series featuring the ex-Amish Chief of Police in Painter‘s Mill, OH-a small town with a large Amish population. The case involves the murder of an 18 y/o Amish male who was beloved by the community. As the investigation progresses, Kate finds that he wasn‘t a nice guy at all, and many of the local Amish are hiding big secrets. Kate is forced to re-examine trauma from her own past. Really good, but hard to read at times.

A very sweet romance where two families grow closer as they work together to rescue and train a very anxious stray dog. Jessica and Briggs also fall in love while working on this common goal. Jessica and her father are veterinarians, so this story really satisfied my craving for good dog-centric stories where the dog remains safe and happy. A great choice for late night reading during a busy work week.

It took me a full half of the story before I realized I had to suspend my disbelief about every single thing. It was only then that I was able to enjoy it. It isn‘t really a thriller and (sadly) there isn‘t very much of the mom-group drama like I had hoped. It IS a mystery though, and there is a lot of sarcasm and comedy throughout. Florence is a mess, and her relationships are too. Except with her son Dylan-she will do *anything* to protect him.

This was such a sweet story, and just as cute as the cover. A second chance romance story where both Autumn and Wyatt work together to train service dogs for people who need them. I seem to be reading this series backwards, having started with the fourth book and progressing to this one, which is the third. The author must be an animal lover because all these books feature animals.

Bravo!! A HUGE 5 ⭐️! This book is everything I love about reading. I‘ve loved ice skating since I was a child and have big memories of the Harding/Kerrigan incident years ago. I also love Wuthering Heights, and this book really leans into its retelling. So much backstabbing, secrecy, and drama. So much competition. Such toxic relationships. So, so good! The audiobook is an absolute DREAM and I was thrilled to hear Johnny Weir narrate parts of it!

Such a cute story featuring a marriage of convenience where a newly widowed goat farmer, Emma, marries her friend Carter so her family can be added to his health insurance. It‘s a little more complex than that, and an interesting premise for this trope. It was such a sweet story with a large supportive family for these characters. My favorite part is that Emma has a lot of animals including two working Great Pyrenees dogs on the farm.

I was so excited to get this from the library immediately after it was released, but I‘m just not feeling it right now. I definitely want to come back to it because I‘m very interested in Boudicca, but I just can‘t seem to settle into it at the moment. So back to the library it goes!

A cute romance that takes place against the background of a Mandarin immersion elementary school where Joanna is a new art teacher and Jack is the new fifth grade teacher. The two bond organically because they‘re the “new guys” at work. Both have to overcome come obstacles before they are open to a relationship. It‘s cute how they have such pure, sweet crushes on one another and there is a lot of Chinese culture and food woven into the story.

I‘ve been waiting months for this book and flew thru it today. I loved it! The fourth installment in the Paws & Pastries novella series featuring Clara Conway, her rescue dog Noelle, and her growing bakery business. This installment features a home renovation, cooking, and a summer tornado in the town of Pinewood. I love these characters and wish they were my friends and neighbors. I sincerely hope Ms Hinske keeps going with this series.

I chose this book 100% because of the cover and title, and it really paid off for me. The dog in this story, Amigo, features heavily and moves the plot along. Amigo is sort of like service dog to two characters, a veteran and a child who has experienced trauma, and he softens the heart of a hardened photojournalist. Amigo brings the whole family together. It was marvelous and I want to seek out more dog-centric stories with romance like this one.

Super fun pick! Not really a popcorn thriller because it wasn‘t “thrilling” until about the last 1/4, but it was nonstop twists and surprises once we got there. I was surprised at how emotional certain parts were because the cover and description do not suggest that. I loved all these characters and I was invested in them from start to finish. It reads like it would be a fun TV series. So much came out at the ending that I didn‘t expect!

Backstabbing and betrayal galore! Some of my favorite things to read about. So many secrets between Billie and Cassie. Their relationship is toxic. I couldn‘t turn away.

I read 6 books this month, with Their Surprise Reunion and Her Amish Country Husband tied for favorites. Both of these brought forth my current obsession which are sweet Harlequin romances.

From NetGalley = 2
From my own shelf = 1
From library = 3

I was disappointed by all three non-Harlequin reads. I hated the ends of Sandwich and Year of Wonders. Also, I have full shelves but have read more library books in both Jan and Feb 2025.

#February25

Finished this puzzle while listening to the tagged book. The book is great so far, I‘m not quite 2/3 thru. I‘ve enjoyed this author‘s work in the past. Her characters are complicated and have such toxic relationships. They‘re so catty, I absolutely love it.

The puzzle is called “A Book Lover‘s Christmas” and it has holiday scenes from a bunch of classic books. I received it for a Christmas gift but am just getting around to it. #audiopuzzling

I‘m obsessed with Harlequin romance at the moment probably because both social media and the news are so divisive. These books are easy and fun, no drama, no politics, and they always have a HEA. Like my favorite kind of ice cream over and over.

This is the first HQN Heartwarming book that was published back in 2013. An enemies-to-more featuring a father and his four daughters who run a historic Victorian Inn together. So stress-free, I loved it.

A second-chance romance where Faith moves back home to run her late aunt‘s antique store along with her two sisters, only to find that her ex-husband Trent was hired by her aunt before her death to make repairs. They never got over one another. I love the way his Amish family and her English family all encourage them to listen to their hearts and find their way back to one another. Great subplots, great supporting cast, and I‘m…