Stacking the Shelves #205 Sunday Post #202 Sunday Salon #196

Hey, my bookish friends!!  How are you all doing? It was another long week, and I am sick again, with bronchitis and a sinus infection. Thankfully, my energy is okay. I got sick from the kiddos at work, so I have been working even while sick. My daughter is in for the weekend, but we are not doing very much, just normal stuff around the house (laundry, cleaning, all the fun stuff ;)). 

Top Ten Tuesday-Book Preorders

Happy Tuesday my bookish friends!! I hope you all are doing well. Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is: Genre Freebie. I decided to go with book preorders. I have never done a post like this before, probably because I rarely do preorders (money has always been tight). But, this year, there are a handful of books (7!) I can't wait to get my hands on, so I decided to do preorders. I love being able to support authors in this way, and trust me, I understand not everyone can. I also love supporting my library! Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and you can head over there to see what our other bookish friends are up to today. 

Top Ten Tuesday-Book Preorders for 2026

Cross Words by Chautona Havig releases 3/9/26 on Kindle, but it available in paperback now. My copy is supposed to arrive today. This is part of her Book Strings series, which I have loved. 

Top Ten Tuesday-It's all about the mistletoe

 Happy Tuesday my bookish friends!! I hope you all are doing well. Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is: Halloween Freebie. I am not doing anything for Halloween (except working), and don't read books that would fall under the Halloween vibe, so I am going a different route. It's all about the mistletoe. I have quite a few books on my TBR with Mistletoe in it, so I thought I would go that direction! Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and you can head over there to see what our other bookish friends are up to today.   

Top Ten Tuesday-It's all about the mistletoe

 

Stacking the Shelves #190 Sunday Post #187 Sunday Salon #181

Hey my bookish friends! How was your week? Mine was long. I am finally getting back into all my routines and things, plus I had several extra appointments this week, and we had several evenings with showings. Then, on Wednesday my mom was admitted to the hospital, she had 1300cc's of fluid drained off her lung on Thursday, which had compressed the lung. They are testing the fluid to see if it is from the tumors in her lungs, if so, they will put a port in so they can drain it periodically. This was her first stay in the hospital, and of course you get no rest in there. Thankfully she was able to go home Friday night. She is ready to be back on her own schedule. Today is my daughter's 23rd birthday, so she is here and we will be celebrating her and having some family time.

Top Ten Tuesday-Cozy Atmospheric Reads

Happy Tuesday my bookish friends!! I hope you all are doing well. Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is: Cozy/Atmospheric Reads.  For this topic, I am going with books that tend to be read in the fall, give off fall vibes, have a cozy drink, or romcoms because that is cozy and atmospheric to me right now. I don't want anything too heavy. I have mostly skipped to Christmas reading, but do still have a few fall themed books I want to read this year. Hopefully, this will be a new list, and not stuff I have already shared, LOL! Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and you can head over there to see what our other bookish friends are up to today.   

Top Ten Tuesday Cozy Atmospheric Reads

 

Tempt\est at Annabel's Lighthouse by Jaime Jo Wright-I don't know why I haven't read this one yet, I love her books and I own this one.

Christmas Reading Challenges 2025

I know, I know, I said I was tired of challenges, and I am, BUT, hear me out. I am tired of the ones I am already working on, I'm not tired of Christmas yet 😂. I am going to read Christmas books anyway, I might as well support some fellow bloggers 😁. So, I am going to try to finish up my other challenges this month, so that I can clear the deck to read as many Christmas books as my heart desires. This year has been super hard and I am looking forward to the hope/happy feels that Christmas reads generally bring.

Summer Reading challenges wrap-up post 2025

In addition to the 20 Books of Summer Challenge and Big Book Challenge, two of my blogging friends made a summer bingo challenge. I wanted to support them, so I attempted to find books that fit in their categories as well. Even though these challenges run a few more days, I am not likely to squeeze anything else in, so I am posting a few days early.

My original post for the 20 Books of Summer Challenge and Big Book challenge is here.

The books I read for 20 Books of Summer from the original list:

Top Ten Tuesday-Chunkster Books

Happy Tuesday my bookish friends!! I hope you all are doing well. Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is: Books with a High Page Count (Share those doorstop books!) I think "high" page count is subjective, so I am going to go with 400+ pages as those are books that count toward the "Big Book Challenge" and the limit of what some of my book club members will read for our meetings. So, let's see what I come up with today, I know I don't read as many chunkster books as I used to. I did not include anthologies or Bibles in my list. Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and you can head over there to see what our other bookish friends are up to today.   

Top Ten Tuesday-Chunkster books I have read and enjoyed

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell 521 pages 3-star read-not sure I should say I "enjoyed" this one or not.

Top Ten Tuesday-No book slump here

Happy Tuesday my bookish friends!! I hope you all are doing well. Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is: Books Guaranteed to Put an End to Your Book Slump (Which books would you recommend to someone (it’s me, I’m someone) dealing with the dreaded book slump? No book is grabbing their attention or making them excited to sit down and read and they are suffering for it.) I can't guarantee that these books would get everyone out of a book slump, but these are books that would get me out of a book slump. I was originally going to just go with romcoms, but I decided to be a bit more versatile. The thing they all have in common: the stories stuck with me. Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and you can head over there to see what our other bookish friends are up to today.   

Top Ten Tuesday-books to get me out of a book slump

Juliette and The Monday Mandates by Becky Doughty

June Reading Wrap Up 2025

You guys, I have no idea how it is July! Where did June go? And, will July go just as fast (I hope not!)? Anyway, June was a pretty good reading month. I read 18 books and DNF'd one. Click on the cover of the book if you are interested in reading my review.

5⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

 

Tempting Tait

Title: Tempting Tait

Series: Marriage of Conviction #2

Author: Chautona Havig

Publisher: Havilah Press Publications

Genre: Christian Fiction, 

Source: Kindle own

My Review:

Tempting Tait is the second book in the Marriage of Convictions series. I recommend reading them in order to avoid spoilers.

Blessing Bentley

Title: Blessing Bentley

Series: Marriage of Conviction #1

Author: Chautona Havig

Publisher: Havilah Press Publications

Genre: Contemporary Romance, Christian Fiction, 

Source: Kindle own

My Review:

Blessing Bentley is the first book of the Marriage of Conviction series. I would recommend reading them in order, as the main character of book two is introduced in this story.

Top Ten Tuesday-Unique Animal Encounters

Happy Tuesday my bookish friends!! I hope you all are doing well. Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is: Animal Companions (These animals can be real or fantasy!) (submitted by P.S. I Love Books). I am going to do with Unique Animals and Unique Animal Encounters. Let's see how many I can come up with. Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and you can head over there to see what our other bookish friends are up to today.   

Top Ten Tuesday-Unique Animals/Animal Encounters

Top Ten Tuesday-Valentine's Reads

Happy Tuesday my bookish friends!! I hope you all are doing well. Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is: Love Freebie. I have been gathering books (from my shelves, Kindle, and the library) to read for Valentine's day, so I thought it would be perfect to do a Valentine's post. Not all the books are about Valentine's day, just ones I thought would be good to read this month. Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and you can head over there to see what our other bookish friends are up to today.   

Valentine's Books I had planned to read but probably won't get to:

Delivered with Love by Sherry Kyle

 

Top Ten Tuesday-So many books to read

Happy Tuesday my bookish friends!! I hope you all are doing well. Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is: The Ten Most Recent Additions to My Book Collection (or to your to-read list!) I always share my recent book additions in the Sunday Post/Salon/Stacking the Shelves memes, so you can see latest books here. Today will focus on the ten most recent books I added to my want to read list on Goodreads. Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and you can head over there to see what our other bookish friends are up to today.   

Top Ten Tuesday-10 recent additions (that have already changed since I typed up this post) to my Goodreads Want to read list (which now houses 758 763 books-send help) (affiliate links):

December Reading Wrap-Up 2024

Happy New Year, my bookish friends!! I read 17 books in December. Click on the cover of the book if you are interested in the review.

5⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

  

Advent

Title: Advent

Author: Chautona Havig

Publisher: Independently Published

Genre: Christian Fiction, Contemporary Romance, Christmas

Source: Kindle Own

My Review:

Advent by Chautona Havig is a quick read.

Top Ten Tuesday- Christmas Tree Edition

 Happy Tuesday, my bookish friends!! I hope you all are doing well. Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is another freebie. I was going to go with covers with Christmas lights on them, but since I found exactly zero, I decided I should head in a different direction. Then I decided to share my top Christmas reads, until I realized I did that last year. So, I am going super generic and will be sharing books with Christmas trees on them. Then I am going to list a few things I am thankful for. Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and you can head over there to see what our other bookish friends are up to today.   

Top Ten Tuesday-Ten Christmas books with Christmas trees on them that I haven't read yet, have you?

 

Stacking the Shelves #145, Sunday Post #142, Sunday Salon #136

Hey bookish friends! These past couple of weeks have been busy. This one had quite a bit of hard and stressful things. I have no idea what we are doing today,
possibly a hike, but probably just catching up on chores. Tomorrow will be church and a whole lot of relaxing. Are you doing anything fun this weekend?

Top Ten Tuesday-Books that are easy to escape into

Happy Tuesday, my bookish friends!! I hope you all are doing well. Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is Books That Provide a Much-Needed Escape (bonus points if you tell us why!). I am of the mindset that ALL books (at least fiction) provide an escape, so I am tweaking the topic just a little bit to books I recently loved escaping into. In order to make the list, the books must have received 5-stars from me. And, since I have read a TON of romcoms recently...hopefully there is a little bit of variety in the list😂.  Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and you can head over there to see what our other bookish friends are up to today.  

Top Ten Tuesday: books I recently loved escaping into (tweaked it even more so I am not using the same author or series):