top ten tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Wishes

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish back in June 2010. It is currently hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and, as is stated on the blog, it was โ€œborn of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.โ€


Hello, reader!

Today was one of those Tuesday where I spent the entire day thinking it was Wednesday ๐Ÿ˜…๐Ÿ˜‚ But, now, it’s time for Top Ten Tuesday and I’m loving the topic for today! Well… I love the concept of it. The theme is bookish wishes and the stated point is to post your top ten most wanted books, leave a link to your wishlist so people can perhaps grant one of your bookish wishes, and go about to other people’s post to grant their wishes!

However… your girl does not need more books on her shelves as her shelves don’t even fit the books she does own! So, though I love the idea of the theme, for my own personal post, Imma mix it up. I’m going to pick my top ten authors that I wish would write another book!


  • Peng Shepard: I’ve only read one full novel and one short story from this author and I gave them both five stars! I know she has other books out that I could pick up, but I want mooooore.
  • Madeline Miller: Okay, she has a short story coming out this year, but I want a full length novel. I, like many others, adore her mythological retellings.
  • Rebecca McLaughlin: I really enjoyed this debut novel and have been anxiously awaiting another book since 2020 ๐Ÿ˜ญ Standalone fantasy that I love doesn’t happen too terribly often, so once I find an author that can pull it off, I want more from them, haha.
  • Maiga Doocy: I was just talking about how I need the next book in this series very recently, haha. This book was so good and I need more!
  • Jonathan Edward Durham: I loved this self-published fantasy horror. I’m so happy that it will soon be traditionally published! But I would also love another novel from the author pleeeease.
Continue reading “Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Wishes”
goodreads monday

Goodreads/TBR Monday: June 15th, 2026

Goodreads Monday/TBR Monday is a bookish meme hosted by Emily @ Budget Tales Book Blog invites you to post about what books are on your Goodreads โ€œto readโ€ lists or TBR lists, the progress you have made on your current books and reading challenges, and any other bookish news!


Hello, reader!

It’s another Monday and it’s time to delve into my Goodreads “Want to Read” shelf to see what gems (or duds…) I might uncover. For this week’s Goodreads Monday, I’m working with 835 books on my TBR, which is a good drop from the last time I checked. Progress is being made!

Let’s see if I’m going to end this post with the same amount of books on there or one less ๐Ÿ‘€


Book:
The Book of Lost Things

Author:
John Connolly

Publisher:
Atria Books

Publication Date:
November 7th, 2006

Pages:
339

Genre:
Fantasy/Horror

Synopsis:
High in his attic bedroom, twelve-year-old David mourns the death of his mother, with only the books on his shelf for company. But those books have begun to whisper to him in the darkness. Angry and alone, he takes refuge in his imagination and soon finds that reality and fantasy have begun to meld. While his family falls apart around him, David is violently propelled into a world that is a strange reflection of his own — populated by heroes and monsters and ruled by a faded king who keeps his secrets in a mysterious book, The Book of Lost Things.

Taking readers on a vivid journey through the loss of innocence into adulthood and beyond, New York Times bestselling author John Connolly tells a dark and compelling tale that reminds us of the enduring power of stories in our lives.

Continue reading “Goodreads/TBR Monday: June 15th, 2026”
the sunday post

The Sunday Post: June 14th, 2026

The Sunday Post is a blog news meme created by @CaffeinatedReviewer! It gives you a chance to post a recap of your last week, whether that pertains to books or not. You can talk about however much (or however little) you would like.


Hello, reader!

Another week is over and it’s time for another edition of The Sunday Post! It was a quiet week, but sometimes that is just what I need, haha. It’s also been a warm (read: HOT) week, temperature-wise, and that just sends my mood skyrocketing!

So why don’t we jump right in ๐Ÿ˜


My work week was pretty hectic due to some drama surrounding one of the tests we run. Suffice it to say, there was a lot of hastily called meetings and quickly crafted emails and I was ready for a day off. Unfortunately, my day off consisted of me spending my day with a tiny camera traveling through my guts so my doctor can try and pinpoint why I’m constantly anemic. The best part of my day off was when I could finally eat solid food again ๐Ÿ˜‚

A highlight of the week was attending our youngest’s school choir concert! It was super cute and the choir actually sang a song the the choir I’m in sang at our Spring concert. It was a lot of fun watching our kiddo follow in our singing footsteps, haha. Other than that, this week was pretty quiet.

At this point, I’m just counting down the days til I go on vacation. I’m taking two weeks off at the beginning of July and my body is ready. Here’s hoping these last couple of weeks of week pre-vacay aren’t too terrible ๐Ÿ˜…

Continue reading “The Sunday Post: June 14th, 2026”
book blogger hop

Book Blogger Hop (Part Deux): Featured Books


The Book Blogger Hop was originally created by Crazy-For-Books and is currently being hosted by Coffee Addicted Writer. Every Friday, a new question is posted for book bloggers to answer in the coming week. The purpose of the hop is connection and community. You can discover new blogs to follow, new books to read, and you may end up with some new followers, as well!


How do you decide which books to highlight on your blog?

Submitted by Billy, Coffee-Addicted Writer.

Continue reading “Book Blogger Hop (Part Deux): Featured Books”
first lines friday

First Lines Friday: June 12th, 2026


First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?  If you want to make your own post, feel free to use or edit the banner above, and follow the rules below:

  • Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
  • Copy the first few lines, but donโ€™t give anything else about the book away just yet โ€“ you need to hook the reader first
  • Finallyโ€ฆ reveal the book!

If youโ€™re sharing on social media, donโ€™t forget to use #FirstLinesFridays!


Hello, reader!

It’s another First Lines Friday and, this time, I’ve picked a book club book that I’m pretty excited about reading! It’s a mystery that has a full cast audiobook and, full disclouser, I’ve already started reading this.

The first line certainly grabbed my attention, so let’s see if it can do the same for you!


The Line(s):


The Build Up:


The Reveal:

Continue reading “First Lines Friday: June 12th, 2026”
www wednesday

WWW Wednesday: June 10th, 2026


Itโ€™s time for another WWW Wednesday! This is a bookish meme hosted by Taking on a World of Words where bloggers answer the 3 Ws:

  1. What are you currently reading?
  2. What did you recently finish reading?
  3. What do you think youโ€™ll read next?

If youโ€™d like to learn more about any of these books, click on the cover to be taken to the Goodreads page.


Current Reads

  • The Gate of the Feral Gods by Matt Dinniman: I’m pushing myself back into my physical reads, so I finally picked this one back up! There is so much going on yet I don’t find myself confused. I find myself enthralled! This floor is intense and the stakes feel higher for some reason and I’m loving it. I do love a quickly patched together Carl Planโ„ข๏ธ and we’re getting plenty of them in this book ๐Ÿ˜‚.
  • The Secret World of Briar Rose by Cindy Pham: I picked up my e-ARC of this and it’s going… fine? I’m not vibing with the plot just yet, but I think our two main characters have a lot of potential. I am only 5% in, so I can’t truly judge yet. I’m hoping as I get further in and the plot really kicks in, I’ll start loving it more!
  • Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt: I’ve had so many people in my life tell me I needed to read this book. My Libby hold came in, so I decided, why not? I’m really enjoying the audiobook (the narrators are doing a great job!) but there’s something about this book that is getting on my last nerve. And that something is Cameron ๐Ÿ˜’ Am I meant to like this giant man-baby?? Cause right now I kind of want to toss him into a dumpster. I’m hoping we’re working towards character growth but we’re 65% in and I’m losing hope.
Continue reading “WWW Wednesday: June 10th, 2026”
goodreads monday

Goodreads/TBR Monday: June 8th, 2026

Goodreads Monday/TBR Monday is a bookish meme hosted by Emily @ Budget Tales Book Blog invites you to post about what books are on your Goodreads โ€œto readโ€ lists or TBR lists, the progress you have made on your current books and reading challenges, and any other bookish news!


Hello, reader!

It’s the start of the week again and it’s time for Goodreads Monday! Not gonna lie, I’m feeling a little meh today because I’m having a procedure done tomorrow that required me to have a liquid diet all day today ๐Ÿซ  So I’m just gonna jump right into it!


Book:
American Psycho

Author:
Bret Easton Ellis

Publisher:
Vintage Contemporaries

Publication Date:
March 6th, 1991

Pages:
399

Genre:
Thriller/Horror

Synopsis:
Patrick Bateman is twenty-six and works on Wall Street. He is handsome, sophisticated, charming and intelligent. He is also a psychopath. Taking us to head-on collision with America’s greatest dreamโ€”and its worst nightmareโ€”American Psychoย is a bleak, bitter, black comedy about a world we all recognize but do not wish to confront.

Continue reading “Goodreads/TBR Monday: June 8th, 2026”
the sunday post

The Sunday Post: June 7th, 2026

The Sunday Post is a blog news meme created by @CaffeinatedReviewer! It gives you a chance to post a recap of your last week, whether that pertains to books or not. You can talk about however much (or however little) you would like.


Hello, reader!

The end of the weekend is here and that means it’s time for The Sunday Post! Time to wrap up my past week and my past blog posts. It wasn’t an eventful week, but it was a good one!

Why don’t we jump right in.


Work was work this past week, haha. I did mix it up a bit by working late shift both Monday and Tuesday. Not gonna lie, I kind of liked it. There’s less people there, I can focus on my own section, and I was busy so the time flew by! I also got to work from home on Friday, which was nice. Sitting in Teams meetings is a lot more enjoyable when you have a cat on your lap ๐Ÿ˜‚

Other than that, I got to have lunch with some of the ladies from my choir. That was absolutely lovely! It was nice to sit and chat while we’re on our summer break from choir. The weather was also perfect to sit out on the host’s porch and watch the birds while we chatted. All in all, it was a lovely lunch.

This weekend was mostly dedicated to chores. We mowed the lawn and did some general cleaning up yesterday. And today we finally got some grocery shopping done! I dislike doing chores, but I do love the feeling I get when their done. I also got to listen to an audiobook while I was mowing and I am loving my current audiobook, so it made the whole thing a lot more bearable, haha.

Continue reading “The Sunday Post: June 7th, 2026”
wrap up

May 2026 Wrap Up

Hello, reader!

Now that I’ve talked about what I’m going to be reading in June, I figured I should wrap up my reading in May! It was an interesting reading month in May… mostly because I could not seem to focus on any of my physical reads. My attention span for physical reads has been absolutely shot, lately. I’m hoping that goes away soon because I have a lot of physical books to read ๐Ÿ˜‚

But back to May’s reads! Let’s jump right in.


In May 2026, I read 7 books for 2,383 pages. One book less than April, but right around my average per month! I’m not mad about it, especially since Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream stole quite a bit of my reading time last month, haha. The game is freakin’ addicting! Still, I’m happy I got a good amount of reading in despite being glued to my Switch.

Though fantasy is still up there, thriller/mystery claimed the top spot in May. They weren’t my favorite reads of the month, but they were the majority of my reading! Maybe I just read too many thrillers back-to-back and that’s why I wasn’t loving them as much? Who knows, but I know I definitely need a tiny break after I finish the current thriller I’m reading! My genre spread isn’t as varied this month, so maybe I’ll work on that in June.

Annnnd audiobooks have edged ahead of my physical reads! I think this is the first time I listened to more audiobooks than read physical books this year. Like I said, my physical reads were just not holding my attention in May, but audiobooks had their hooks in me! Even the audiobooks that had terrible narration! (Looking at you, Not Quite Dead Yet…) Though I’m loving my audio reads, I would like to bring this pie chart back to more of a 50/50.

The 5 star trend continues! That’s two months in a row where I had a 5 star read! My overall star rating, however, wasn’t as high as last month because my ratings were a little more spread out. Still, an overall rating of 3.79 stars is pretty great! I’ve noticed I tend to give out 4 star ratings quite liberally, but if a book entertains me and leaves me with good vibes, I feel like it deserves a 4! If it was fine, it gets around a 3. You have to really annoy me to get less than a 3 star from me quite honestly. So my ratings tend higher and I’m okay with that!

Continue reading “May 2026 Wrap Up”
monthly tbr

June 2026 TBR

Hello, reader!

May has ended and summer is starting to show itself here in New England! June has rushed up on me because I cannot believe May is already over. Now that we’re in the first week of June, though, it’s time to let y’all know what I’m hoping to read this month. It is Pride Month, so I want to focus on LGBTQIA+ reads. Whether or not I will actually read them is truly up to my attention span this month, haha.

With that being said, let me share with you my June TBR!


  • AFB Book Club
    • Love & Other Disasters by Anita Kelly
    • I remember when this book came out and I was vaguely intrigued by it. I do love the idea of sparks flying on a cooking show! The fact that one of the main characters is trans definitely piqued my interest, as well. I’m feeling in the mood for romance, as well, so I’m excited to get into this!
  • Literally Dead Book Club
    • Five by Ilona Bannister
    • I had not heard of this book before it was picked as the June read for this club. Reading the synopsis, though, I find myself eager to pick this up! It sounds like it’s going to have an interesting writing style, breaking the fourth wall to try and get us, the readers, to decide which of our five main characters might be dead soon. I wanna see how the author pulls this off.
  • Weirdo Book Club
    • The Maiden and Her Monster by Maddie Martinez
    • Again, I hadn’t heard of this book before it became a book club pick, but it certainly sounds intriguing! A dark, creepy woods? A young woman trying to save her mother? And maybe falling in love with the “monster” of the woods??? Sign me up!
Continue reading “June 2026 TBR”