Stacking the Shelves #211 Sunday Post #208 Sunday Salon #202

Hey, my bookish friends!!  How are you all doing? This week was hard! I am on day 13 of a vertigo flare-up. I tried to get into my doctor's office for it this week and I was told to go to the emergency room. I was so frustrated (and yes I cried)!

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⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

 

When You Look at Me

Title: When You Look at Me

Series: Pleasant Gap #2

Author: Pepper Basham

Source: Kindle own

My Review:

When You Look At Me is a heartwarming story about coming out on the other side of the darkest trials. 

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-My top favorite books I read in 2025

Happy Tuesday my bookish friends!! I hope you all are doing well. Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is: My Favorite Books I Read in 2025. I added 66 books to my favorites shelf on Goodreads, so this is going to be kind of hard to narrow down. I am not going to count the books that were rereads, which makes the number a little lower. Also, a huge thanks to Erin at Cracker Crumb Life for sending me Strawberry Fields for Never by Kate Watson. I can't wait to read it!! 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-My top favorite books from 2025

Nonfiction:

 

The Intentional Year by Glenn Packiam and Untangle Your Emotions by Jennie Allen

Analyzing my 2025 Reading Goals and Stats

At the beginning of the year I listed my 2025 Bookish goals. I am very much a type A personality. When I set a goal I have every intention of getting it, and I feel this internal pressure to finish what I started. This year I started having to let things go, which isn't easy for me, but there was already so much stress, I didn't need it from my fun hobby.

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-Satisfying book series

Happy Tuesday my bookish friends!! I hope you all are doing well. Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is: Satisfying Book Series. I love this topic, I think the hardest part will be narrowing it down to ten! I will apologize in advance if I have mentioned all of them a thousand times already 😁. I narrowed it down by choosing series that I have read all the books and none of the books in the series have less than four stars. I narrowed it down further by not allowing myself more than one series per author (I started with over 30 series). 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- Twelve satisfying book series (because I narrowed it down far enough, LOL!)-the first book in each series will be pictured and linked to Goodreads

1. The Holly Series by C.C. Warrens-suspense, thriller, no romance, Christian 

CrissCross

September Reading Wrap Up 2025

I don't know how we are already at the end of September! I didn't have as many 5-star reads this month, but I still read a lot of good books. I read 17 books (1 reread) and had 4 DNF's and one two star read (which I don't talk about on here). Click on the cover of the book if you are interested in reading my review.

5⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

  

Stacking the Shelves #186 Sunday Post #183 Sunday Salon #177

Hey my bookish friends! How was your week? I feel like a lifetime has passed since my last Sunday post, but it's only been 2 weeks! Thank you to those of you who prayed I would not get sick before our family reunion, I didn't! Sunday morning I woke up feeling like I had the flu.

The Highland Heist

Title: The Highland Heist

Series: Freddie & Grace Mystery #4

Author: Pepper Basham

Narrator: Pamala Klein

Publisher: Barbour Fiction

Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Christian Fiction,

Source: Hoopla

My Review:

My husband and I listened to The Highland Heist by Pepper Basham on our trip this week. I have read the first three books, but he has not. I think the books are best read in chronological order so that you understand everything mentioned. However, I only had to stop the recording once to explain something to my husband; he got the gist of everything else. I thought the narration was okay.

The Juliet Code

Title: The Juliet Code

Series: Fredrick & Grace Mystery #3

Author: Pepper Basham

Publisher: Barbour Fiction

Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Christian Fiction,

Source: Own

My Review:

The Juliet Code is the third book in the Freddie & Grace series by Pepper Basham. 

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.

August reading wrap up 2025

I don't know how we are already at the end of August! I didn't have as many 5-star reads this month, but I still read a lot of good books. I read 15 books and DNF'd one. Click on the cover of the book if you are interested in reading my review.

5⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

 

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:

Sense and Suitability

Title: Sense and Suitability

Author: Pepper Basham

Narrators: Fiona Hardingham and Christopher Ashman

Publisher: Thomas Nelson Audible Audio

Genre: Regency, Christian Fiction, Christian Romance, Classic Retelling,

Source: Net Galley

RELEASES: October 14, 2025

My Review:

I did not like Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility. But when I saw Pepper Basham had a book coming out loosely based on it, I knew I had to read Sense and Suitability. Why? Because Pepper Basham wrote it. Also, this is Basham's first foray into the Regency genre.

Top Ten Tuesday-Bookish confessions

Happy Tuesday my bookish friends!! I hope you all are doing well. Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is: Non-bookish Freebie (The sky is the limit here. Make a top ten list on any topic of your choosing, bookish or not!). I am going to go with some bookish confessions. 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-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

Stacking the Shelves #180 Sunday Post #177 Sunday Salon #171

Hey my bookish friends! How was your week? I did a lot of relaxing last weekend, and walking (almost 6 miles), so I did not get any packing done, oops. But, I did get some done on Tuesday. On Wednesday the contract on our house fell through, so it is back on the market again. We had two showings last night (Friday), and we will see what the weekend brings. While our house was being shown my husband and I went to Barnes and Noble 😁. On my agenda this weekend is some packing, my daughter is coming home to spend the night this afternoon, and will leave first thing tomorrow, more relaxing, hopefully some walking...