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Tuesday, July 1, 2025
Top Ten Tuesday...
Saturday, June 28, 2025
On the Slopes of Tahoe by J.A. Forde
There's so much I loved about this captivating romance! Here's just some of the things:
* Single dad Breck Kylie and all of his sweet and loving interactions with his seven-year-old daughter, Willow.
*Rory falling in love with her older brother's best friend...and with his cute daughter, too.
*That picturesque Lake Tahoe setting (and because it's winter that means there are fun scenes including snowboarding lessons, ice skating, sledding, and a snowstorm that strands Rory at Breck's and Willow's condo overnight).
*Found family.
*Swoony kisses. (I also appreciated that this is a fade to black romance with no explicit sex scenes.)
*That flirty spark between Breck and Rory and how their friendship deepened into love.
*Rory's dream of starting her own photography business and how Breck totally supports her.
*How Rory helps Breck and Willow heal.
*Her grand gesture!
*A fireworks proposal.... and a very happy ending for everyone.
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Wednesday, June 25, 2025
Random scenes from my morning walks...
- Ants. Swarms of them. So many it felt like I was walking into an Antapocalypse. What's up with that?
- Baby robins hopping after their mother in search of breakfast.
- The cutest dog, tail wagging, happily carrying his own red frisbee on his walk to the park with his owner.
- Lovely white yucca blossoms. So many of them. Everywhere except in my own yard. For some unknown reason, my yucca plants refuse to bloom.
- Three chattering squirrels running along the top of a fence then leaping onto a branch of the tree right above my head. For a moment I was afraid I was about to be centerstage in a viral video called "When Squirrels Attack!"
- A sign in someone's flowerbed that read: Garden of Weeden. (It made me laugh.)
- And my favorite thing of all--this quote that my neighbor posted in his front yard: "You believed in the tooth fairy for years; you can believe in yourself for five minutes."
Sunday, June 22, 2025
Another fun summer romance...
Thursday, June 19, 2025
Haiku Reviews
Tuesday, June 17, 2025
Top Ten Tuesday
Saturday, June 14, 2025
Broken Fields by Marcie R. Rendon
"In the wake of the murder, Cash can't deny her suspicions of the dead man's grieving widow. While Cash scours the county and White Earth reservation trying to find the missing mother before Shawnee is placed in foster care, another body turns up. Concerned about the girl and her mother's fate, and with the help of local Sheriff Wheaton, Cash races against the clock to figure out the truth of what happened in the farmhouse."
Wednesday, June 11, 2025
June's bookish art...
Sunday, June 8, 2025
Force of Nature by Joan M. Griffin
"I gazed down the way we had come. The magnitude of the feat we had accomplished flooded in with the crisp air as I surveyed the vastness of the valley and the distant ranges. Patience and determination had carried us up and over the obstacles to that cloud-high perch, to a view usually reserved for eagles and angels. ... Only a few people ever are given the opportunity, or accept the challenge, to climb a thirteen-htousand-foot mountain. Few ever a chance to see that sublime view, breathe that pristine air, overcome those formidable obstacles, or feel that joy-filled exhilaration. And I was one of them."
"Succeeding at such a huge personal challenge changes a person. ... When we take on the nearly impossible and succeed, the impossible begins to look approachable."
Thursday, June 5, 2025
Two quick recommendations....
Tuesday, June 3, 2025
Top Ten Tuesday...
Sunday, June 1, 2025
Randomness...
- The beautiful blooms on my roses.
- Strawberries ready to pick.
- Ladybugs!
- Playing games with friends.
- Spending time with family on Memorial Day.
- Best of all, school's out for summer! (I like my job, but I love summer vacation even more. I just wish I had a fun summer trip planned. Oh, well. Maybe next year.)
Thursday, May 29, 2025
Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak
Monday, May 26, 2025
Haiku reviews...
Friday, May 23, 2025
Summer Romance by Annabel Monaghan
Tuesday, May 20, 2025
Top Ten Tuesday
Saturday, May 17, 2025
In the Hour of Crows by Dana Elmendorf
"Papaw gave me his death-talking gift when I was only nine. He told me what he could do, then he told me how to use the secret Bible verses to do it. The gift jumped out of him and into me."
"There are only a few rules for death-talking. If you tell someone the secret scriptures, your gift is gone. You can only pass it to someone of the opposite sex. If you die with your gift, it disappears forever. And you can't talk the death out of someone twice."
"What Papaw didn't tell me is how you shoulder a lifetime of guilt for all the souls you can't save. That I'll spend the rest of my life trying to make up for it."
My thoughts: I liked the combination of mystery and magical realism in this book. And I always love that small town Appalachia setting with its deep-rooted families (and all their secrets), their strange superstitions, and their herbal folk magic. And I really liked Weatherly Wilder with her eerie gift of saving lives with her death-talking, and her vulnerability, especially as she tries to prove who murdered her cousin, Adaire. There's also a mysterious Soul Walker named Rook, who is sometimes a boy, more often a crow; I loved his connection to Weatherly. There's great Southern atmosphere, a compelling voice, and several good twists. Poignant, gritty, and beautifully written, In the Hour of Crows is a captivating novel. ⭐⭐⭐⭐