Merry Christmas!

 

Wishing everyone a joyous and peaceful Christmas full of love and cheer. I'll be taking a brief blogging break to catch my breath, enjoy the quiet, and spend some time with family and friends. See you next year! 

Merry Christmas!

12 Favorite Reads of 2025...

I love doing this end-of-the-year post, but I always find it challenging to narrow my list of favorite books down to just 10 or 12. Because I read a lot of books...and always have so many that I loved...too many to list them all here. So I tried to look back at each month and pick just 12 of my favorite 5-star reads from 2025. Here they are: 

Frank & Red by Matt Coyne

Force of Nature by Joan M. Griffin

Only In Your Dreams by Madison Wright

The Highgate Cemetery Murder by Irina Shapiro

Head Cases by John McMahon

Summer Romance by Annabel Monoghan

Some Like It Scot by Pepper Basham

The Ornithologist's Field Guide to Love by India Holton

Do No Harm by Robert Pobi

Tears of the Wolf by Elisabeth Wheatley

Patton's Prayer by Alex Kershaw

The Austen Affair by Madeline Bell

If you want to see why I loved any or all of these 12 books, just click on the link to see my original review. There are also two series I started this year that I fell in love with because of their humor and engaging characters, so I wanted to mention them here as well: 

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion by Beth Brower (Vols. 1-8) 

The Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman

I look forward to seeing which books were your favorite reads this year. 

Happy Reading!

What day is it?

 I've been a bit scattered this week what with planning my mom's funeral and everything else you have to figure out when a loved one dies. Death is exhausting! Needless to say, I haven't done much reading this week. It's been hard to focus on anything. I did manage to finally finish Kristin Beck's Winter Orphans which I started at the very first of this month. 

It's a well-written historical fiction novel based on two real life Swiss Red Cross workers who helped Jewish refugee children escape from Nazi-controlled France during WWII. It was interesting and compelling and a book my mom would have loved. Historical fiction novels were her favorites. And I'm sad that I can't tell her all about it. Winter Orphans is a good read, I just don't have the energy to write a real review of it. 

My hope for next week is to make the rest of the calls I need to make in regards to my mom's death and maybe read a few of the Christmas romances I checked out of the library. Light, frothy escape reads with guaranteed happy endings are what I need right now. And I'd like to try and post my list of favorite 2025 reads next week, too. Until then, take care of yourself, give your loved ones a big hug, and enjoy this holiday season.

Happy Reading!

The Bustle in a House...

 The Bustle in a House 

By Emily Dickinson

The Bustle in a House

The Morning after Death

Is solemnest of industries

Enacted upon Earth –

The Sweeping up the Heart

And putting Love away

We shall not want to use again

Until Eternity –

This was not the post I was expecting to write this week, but then life never goes quite like you plan. My mom passed away last Tuesday. She was in her 90s and getting weaker and more frail these past few months, so we knew she wouldn't be around much longer, but it was still a shock to come home from work on Tuesday and find her gone. Such a wrenching loss. But even in death there are still things to be glad and grateful for. I'm glad her death was peaceful and painless...to die in her sleep was what she wanted. And she's with my dad, who passed away seven years ago, once more. And that also makes me glad.


My mom always viewed death as a kind of graduation...a returning home to our Father in Heaven after finishing this test of life. And I am very grateful for the knowledge and belief I have that there is life after death. That our loved ones are not lost to us forever. That families can be together for all eternity. And that I will see my mom and dad again someday. Though that doesn't keep me from missing them now, or stop the tears from coming. It's hard, but I know it will be okay. And if I'm not around much these next few weeks, you know the reason why. 

 

Haiku Reviews...

 

Beyond Her Reach by Melinda Leigh

A gruesome murder. 

Three possible suspects. Bree

and Matt track a killer.

Mystery .... 3-3 pages .... 4.5/5 stars.

(This is the tenth Sheriff Bree Taggert mystery, and it's as good as all the previous ones. I especially loved the energetic and enthusiastic dog, Turbo.)

Cold Storage by David Koepp

Aggressive fungus

escapes containment; the race

to stop it is on.

Horror.... 308 pages .... 3/5 stars.

(Good, but not as thrilling as I'd hoped.)

A Family Under the Christmas Tree by Terri Reed

Her matchmaking Gram.

A single guy and his nephew.

A cute puppy. And love.

Contemporary romance .... 336 pages .... 3.5/5 stars.

(Predictable and sweet holiday romance.)

Happy Reading!

Top Ten Tuesday

 

Top Ten Tuesday is a fun weekly meme hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl.

This week's theme:  Books Set in Snowy Places.

But I feel like I've done this one before. Several times in fact. So, I tweaked it a little and decided to go with 10 Sweet Hockey Romances instead. Because ice skating rinks are cold places and a little bit wintery. Aren't they? 

My Lucky Charm by Courtney Walsh

Desire or Defense by Leah Brunner

Season's Schemings by Katie Bailey

Canadian Boyfriend by Jenny Holiday

Absolutely Not in Love by Jenny Proctor

As You Ice It by Emma St. Clair

The Golden Goal by Annah Conwell

The Kiss Class by Ellie Hall

Ice Melts by Sophia Summers

How to Fake Date a Hockey Star

My favorite hockey romances are the ones written by Jenny Proctor, Courtney Walsh, Leah Brunner and Emma St. Clair. But I enjoyed all of these. Though I haven't read the last two books....yet. 

Happy Reading!

My other winter reading lists:

'Tis the Season (Dec. 2015)

Wintry Reads (Dec. 2021)

Ten Chilling Titles Perfect for Winter (Dec. 2018)

Ten fun holiday, seasonal or snowy reads. (Dec. 2020)

December's Bookish Art....

 

Vittore Carpaccio -- The Virgin Reading

"That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you're not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong."

--F. Scott Fitzgerald