Haiku reviews...

 

Ambition by Natalie Keller Reinert

Jules has a dream of

being the best horse trainer 

and three day eventer.

Fiction .... 358 pages .... 4/5 stars.

(First book in a fun series that's all about dressage, cross-country jumping and horses.)

The Hike by Lucy Clarke

Four women, best friends,

stumble into danger while

backpacking in Norway.

Thriller .... 367 pages .... 4/5 stars.

(Loved the setting!)

Three Hitmen and a Baby by Rob Hart

They're babysitting

for a friend when bad guys come

for Mark and Astrid.

Action/Thriller .... 287 pages .... 4.5/5 stars.

(I love this series! But read Assassins Anonymous first.)

Happy Reading!

This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page

 "The right book in the hands of the right person at exactly the right moment can change their life forever."

 

from the blurb:  When Tilly Nightingale receives a call telling her there's a birthday gift from her husband waiting for her at her local bookshop, it couldn't come as more of a shock. Partly because she can't remember the last time she read a book for pleasure. But mainly because Joe died six months ago...

When she goes to pick up the present, Alfie, the London bookshop owner with kind eyes, explains the gift--twelve carefully chosen books with handwritten letters from Joe, one for each month, to help her turn the page on her first year without him.

my thoughts:  Lovely. Poignant. Heartwarming.  I loved this book. I loved the letters from her husband each month, and how each book he chose helped Tilly take that next step in her journey through loss and grief to living, laughing, risking, and loving again. She meets some great people along the way, even finding a grief group in Paris. And I loved Alfie and his bookshop, and how he became such a good friend to Tilly. This book is amazing. Who wouldn't want 12 months of reading-inspired adventure from someone you love? 

my rating:  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Happy Reading!

Funnily coincidental cover from an equally fun read:

The Library by Bella Osborne

August's bookish art...

 

Albert Aublet -- Reading on the Garden Path

"Some books you read.

Some books you enjoy.

But some books swallow you up heart and soul."

--Joanne Harris

A Parade of Horribles by Matt Dinniman

 I just finished reading this eighth book in Dinniman's Dungeon Crawler Carl series and I loved it. But it's so long, and so much happens in it, I'm not even going to try and summarize the plot, or write a long review of it. Instead, I'm going to take the easy way out and write a haiku review instead. Because that's how I roll these days. 😉

A Parade of Horribles by Matt Dinniman

They've reached level ten.

Racing to stay alive, how

many more will die?

Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Action & Adventure.... 688 pages ....4.5/5 stars.

(Chaos runs rampant in the dungeon as Carl and Princess Donut fight to save as many of their friends as they can. This is one crazy, fun series! I can't wait for the next one.)

Happy Reading!

Here is my review of Dungeon Crawler Carl, the first book. 

Top Ten Tuesday...

 

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

This week's theme:  BOOKS I WAS READING ON THIS DAY THIS MONTH OVER THE LAST TEN YEARS. 

It was fun to look back each August over the last ten years to see what I was reading. Here are 10 of my favs:

2025:  Happy After All by Maisey Yates 

2024: Crow Talk by Eileen Garvin

2023:  The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams

2022:  Something Wilder by Christina Lauren

2021:  American Predator by Maureen Callahan

2020:  Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

2019:  Murder On Black Swan Lane by Andrea Penrose

2018:  The Winter Over by Matthew Iden

2017:  The Lying Game by Ruth Ware

2016:  Alice by Christina Henry

I know it's hard to tell much about a book just by its title, which is why I've included links to my reviews of each of these books...so if any sound interesting to you, check them out. They were all great reads.

Happy Reading!

Hudson Bay Bound by Natalie Warren

 "Sometimes a great adventure lands in your lap."

"...everything that happens, good or bad, is a story. And life is just a string of stories that we collect, over time, and we might as well make them good ones." 

This is a true adventure memoir about two women who are best friends and the two thousand mile canoe trip they take from Minneapolis to Hudson Bay the summer of 2011. What a journey! 

I love these kinds of stories: the challenges and life-changing moments they experience, the humorous camping incidents, and the descriptions that immersed me in parts of the country, the rivers and surrounding wilderness I will never get to see in real life. Plus, there's a very cute dog in it that they adopt at Norway house in Canada, along with some moose and polar bear sightings. It's an interesting and fun read. 

My rating:  ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Happy Reading!

Similar reads:

Mud, Rocks, Blazes by Heather Anderson

Force of Nature by Joan M. Griffon

The Twenty-Ninth Day by Alex Messenger

Top Ten Tuesday

 

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

This week's theme is a COVER FREEBIE...

so I decided to go with 10 Fantasy Covers From Favorite Fantasy Reads. These 10 novels are some of my favorite fantasy reads.... and they are all books I really want to reread this year and next. 

The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien

The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks

(I'd also really like to reread Wishsong of Shannara and The Druid of Shannara.)

The Green Rider by Kristen Britain

Time of the Twins by Weis and Hickman

(Along with the other two books in this fabulous trilogy!)

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

The Bards of Bone Plain by Patricia A. McKillip

(Really I could happily reread ANY of her books.)

Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny

(One of the first adult fantasies I checked out of the library...I think I was 11 or 12.)

Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier

Summers at Castle Auburn by Sharon Shinn

Happy Reading (or in my case Rereading)!