April Reading Wrap Up 2026

TODAY IS MY 5 YEAR BLOGGING ANNIVERSARY!!! How should I celebrate?? And, THANK YOU for supporting me over these last 5 years! Now, back to our regularly scheduled program...April's reading stats.

April's reading had a very rocky start, with my mom's passing and funeral, but I think I made up for it the last half of the month, LOL. I read 18 books and had no DNFs, although I did start a nonfiction that I owned, and decided not to read it...so an unofficial DNF. All four of the nonfiction books had been started before this month. Click on the cover of the book if you are interested in reading my review.

5⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

 

The Bell Tolls at Traeger Hall

Title: The Bell Tolls at Traeger Hall

Author: Jaime Jo Wright

Source: own

My Review:

I love reading Jaime Jo Wright's books. They are well-written and engaging.

TTT-Priority books for 2026

Happy Tuesday my bookish friends!! I hope you all are doing well. Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is: Freebie! I wasn't sure if I would be able to come up with a topic, but then I decided to talk about one of my reading goals for the year. So, I plan to read at least 50 of my owned books this year. As a secondary goal, I wanted to get my unread fiction books under 100. Well, with the few pre-orders I ordered this year (I think close to 10 total), and having won a few books...it has made the goal a little harder. So, in addition to reading from my own shelves, I am trying to read the pre-orders then they come in as well. (Spoiler alert, I am behind, LOL). So, here are 10 books that are top priority to be read before the end of the year. 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. 

Stacking the Shelves #209 Sunday Post #206 Sunday Salon #200

Hey, my bookish friends!!  How are you all doing? I didn't mean to completely disappear, but I did warn you it could happen. I am not sure I am completely back, either. I was called to Indiana on March 31, my mom had started a drastic decline.

Stacking the Shelves #207 Sunday Post #204 Sunday Salon #198

Hey, my bookish friends!!  How are you all doing? I had a decent week. We had book club Thursday night and that was fun. I am not sure, as I type this, what we are doing this weekend. My daughter might come for a visit, she might not. I don't know if the weather is supposed to be nice or not, but I am hoping to get some walks in. I am excited that it is officially spring, I am just hoping the weather gets the memo, LOL! Bring on the sunshine and warm weather! Also, I am struggling and in a weird head space. My mom is not doing well, and I just found out she is officially in hospice. I am grieving (anticipatory grief), and it is hard for me to focus and keep up with things. If you notice slack over the next few weeks (or past few weeks), this is why. 

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-Anticipated Books coming soon!

Happy Tuesday my bookish friends!! I hope you all are doing well. Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is: Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the First Half of 2026. We'll see if I can narrow this down to 10 since I know quite a few are releasing this year that I want to read...I may have to narrow down the time frame, LOL! (nope, it was easier than I thought!) 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-Most Anticipated Books coming soon!

 

The Bookshop of 99 Doors by Jaime Jo Wright 4/7/26 & Deadly Currents by Elizabeth Goddard 2/17/26

Top Ten Tuesday-Winter 25/26 pile of possibilities

 Happy Tuesday my bookish friends!! I hope you all are doing well. Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is: Books On My Winter 2025-2026 to-Read List. I have not thought about this at all, so let's see what our possibilities are 😂. 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-Possibilities for what I will read this winter

 

The Q by Beth Brower and Illusion by Ginny L. Yttrup

Tempest at Annabel's Lighthouse

 Title:  Tempest at Annabel's Lighthouse

Author: Jaime Jo Wright

Publisher: Bethany House Fiction

Genre: Historical Fiction, Christian Fiction, Suspense

Source: Own

My Review:

Tempest at Annabel's Lighthouse is one of those books that is hard to review. So, I am just going to give my incoherent thoughts.

Stacking the Shelves #192 Sunday Post #189 Sunday Salon #183

Hey my bookish friends! How was your week? Mine was long. I am still completely wiped out. We had 5 showings between M-W, which contributed to the longer week. However, our house DID go under contract, BUT they have to sell their house first. So, my praying friends, please pray their house sells and they continue with the contract on our house. I don't know that I will handle it well if it falls through a third time. I am SO thankful it is the weekend!! We are mostly catching up on projects at home. I feel like I should start packing, but will hold off until their house goes under contract. I have already missed things that got packed up this summer.

Top Ten Tuesday-10 Before the End

Happy Tuesday my bookish friends!! I hope you all are doing well. Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is: The First 10 Books I Randomly Grabbed from My Shelf. I have multiple shelves, and while this is a fine topic, I decided I would rather do my list of 10 books I want to get read before the end of the year. 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-Before the End

 

The Illusionist's Apprentice by Kristy Cambron and Finding Lady Enderly by Joanna Davidson Politano

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.

The Christy Award Finalists

 

Welcome to the Takeover Blitz for The Christy Award Finalists 2025 organized by ECPA and hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours! We extend our sincere and enthusiastic congratulations to The Christy Award 2025 Finalists & Winners (announced on November 7th)!

Top Ten Tuesday-Fall Vibes 2025

Happy Tuesday my bookish friends!! I hope you all are doing well. Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is: Book Covers that Give off Fall Vibes (Or, if you’re not a cover person, share the books in general that feel like Fall.) I have done this topic four times and I am not sure if I can come up with anything new, but I will try. 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.   

2022   2023 RomCom edition  2023 Halloween/Fall Vibes  2024

Top Ten Tuesday-Fall Vibes 2025

The Marriage Jinx by Krista Noorman

Spell the Month in books September 2025

I am happy to be participating in this monthly meme again! It is hosted by Jana @ Reviews From the Stacks. Here is how she describes the meme: Spell the Month in Books is a linkup hosted on Reviews From the Stacks on the first Saturday of each month.

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

Spell the Month in books August 2025

I am happy to be participating in this monthly meme again! The last time I did it was December 2023!! When i saw that this month's theme is favorite authors, I knew I had to do a post. I love showcasing my favorites!

 It is hosted by Jana @ Reviews From the Stacks. Here is how she describes the meme: Spell the Month in Books is a linkup hosted on Reviews From the Stacks on the first Saturday of each month.

The Columbus Book Festival

 

I spent half the day writing about the Columbus Book Festival on my other blog.

Top Ten Tuesday-Recap of Anticipated releases early in 2025

Happy Tuesday my bookish friends!! I hope you all are doing well. Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is: Freebie/Throwback (Come up with a topic you’d like to do or go back and do an old topic you missed or just want to do again!) With us doing our most anticipated releases for the last half of the year last week, quite a few of you revisted your 1st half list and said how you did. So, this week, I am looking back at what I anticipated from the first half of the year and seeing how many of them I read. 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-Did I read all of my anticipated reads from the first half of the year? Spoiler alert-no. But, you can click on the cover to see my review of the ones I did read, if you are interested.

First Love, Second Draft by Becca Kinzer -Read it, it was a 5-star read

 

Top Ten Tuesday-Anticipated releases for second half of 2025

Happy Tuesday my bookish friends!! I hope you all are doing well. Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is: Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the Second Half of 2025. Yay, thank you Jana, for an easy topic this week 😁. I keep a list on Goodreads for 2025 book releases, so this should be fairly easy. The hard part will be narrowing it down, (and I ended up adding more to my list, 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-ish Tuesday-my most anticipated releases for the second half of 2025