Stacking the Shelves #197 Sunday Post #194 Sunday Salon #188

Happy New Year my bookish friends!!  How are you all doing? It has been weeks since I have had time to do these weekend posts, I have missed catching up with you all. We moved into our rental house on December 19th, celebrated Christmas at home, then went to TN for 5 days, and I also took a solo trip to Indianapolis for 2 days to see my mom, but we are ALMOST completely settled. There are still a few things to do and I am so ready to be done! I am still reading, but ready to have more time for blogging and other stuff too! This weekend is tackling some of the things we haven't had time to finish in the house. I woke up with a temp of 101.6, so I guess this weekend is going to be for rest. What are your plans for this weekend?

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.

Top Ten Tuesday-Fall 2025 TBR part 1

Happy Tuesday my bookish friends!! I hope you all are doing well. Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is: Literary/Bookish Candles I’d Make (Pick a book and assign it a fragrance or fragrance combo that would make a nice candle.) (Submitted by Heather @ The Frozen Library). While this is an interesting idea, I don't have the creative power to think this through, so I will be going a different direction. I have almost twenty books I own that I want to read before the end of the year, plus a few ARCs, so I am going to start my fall TBR early. 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-Fall 2025 TBR Part 1

The Marriage Wish by Dee Henderson

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:

The Island Bookshop

Title: The Island Bookshop

Author: Roseanna M. White

Publisher: Guideposts

Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Christian Romance

Source: Library

My Review:

The Island Bookshop is not Roseanna M. White's normal genre to write, although she didn't stray too far from her historical roots. There are chapters dedicated to the families' past, which help them to unravel some secrets.

Stacking the Shelves #177 Sunday Post #174 Sunday Salon #168

Hey my bookish friends! How was your week? Last Sunday, I did as little as I could. Which meant I mainly sat on my couch and caught up on blogging, I was so tired! This week has been a blur of cleaning, house showings, working, a paddleboarding class (2-hours) Monday night, and helping my daughter pack for her move. We are helping her move to Columbus today, and tomorrow my plan is to do nothing! Here is to the start of year 47, happy birthday to me. Also, our house is under contract (again), but they have to sell their house before we can close. Their house goes on the market Friday, pray all goes smoothly and this contract doesn't fall through.

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⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

 

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

An Honorable Deception

Title: An Honorable Deception

Series: The Imposters #3

Author:  Roseanna M. White

Publisher: Bethany House

Genre: Historical Fiction, Christian Romance, Mystery

Source: Library

My Review:

An Honorable Deception is the final book in The Imposters series by Roseanna M. White.

May Reading Wrap Up 2025

May was busy and went by so fast, I think things will slow down for June. I read 18 books and NO DNFs, yay! Click on the cover of the book if you are interested in reading my review. Flabbergasted by Ray Blackston continues to be a family favorite, we just listened to it for the third time.

5⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

  

20 Books of Summer & Big Book Challenge 2025

It's no secret that I have been trying to whittle down my physical TBR shelves, as
well as my Goodreads shelf (although I am continually adding to that one 😂).

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

Stacking the Shelves #169 Sunday Post #166, Sunday Salon #160

Hey my bookish friends! How was your week? It was another long week, but we made it!!! I have officially closed down my business and I am jobless. It was a hard week of goodbyes and see ya laters. Our house went on the market yesterday. We were supposed to be in NC this weekend, but my son has a bad cold, my husband's family said not to come, so we are in TN instead, at my sister's house. We are hoping to relax a little bit over the next few days.

February Reading Wrap up 2025

February was a weird month. We had a lot of sickness, followed by a lot of working having to make up canceled classes. I read 16 books in February and DNFed 1. Click on the cover of the book if you are interested in the review.

5⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐    

 

Top Ten Tuesday-Historical books I own that I need to read

Happy Tuesday my bookish friends!! I hope you all are doing well. Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is: Books Set in Another Time (These can be historical, futuristic, alternate universes, or even in a world where you’re not sure when it takes place you just know it’s not right now.)  I really don't read books that are alternate universes, or futuristic, but I do read Historical fiction, so I will focus on ten historical fiction books I own that I still need to 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.   

A Beautiful Disguise

Title: A Beautiful Disguise

Series: The Imposters #1

Author: Roseanna M. White

Narrator: Susan Lyons

Publisher: Bethany House & Recorded Books

Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Christian Fiction, Romance

Source: Hoopla

My Review:

What a fabulous start to The Imposters series!

Top Ten Tuesday- Winter 2024-2025 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 2024-2025 to-Read List. How are we already talking about 2025??? I had not started thinking much about it what I would be reading, I am happily absorbed in all the Christmas reading, but now I am, LOL! Let's see what we 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-Ten possibilities for my Winter TBR

ARCS for early 2025:

The New Loneliness by Cindi McMenamin

Top Ten Tuesday-Authors I discovered in 2022

Happy Tuesday, my bookish friends!! I hope you all are doing well. Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is new-to-me authors I discovered in 2022. I did not focus on new authors as much in 2022 as I did in 2021 (I read over 146) . So, I am curious how many I read as well 😀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. 

New-to-me authors discovered in 2022 and the first book I read by them:

Well, looks like I read 55 new ones 🤯 so I will link to my Goodreads shelf and highlight my top 10 favorites:

Top Ten Tuesday-10 books I meant to read in 2022

 Happy Tuesday, my bookish friends!! I hope you all are doing well. Today's Top Ten Tuesday is most recent book additions. I do stacking the shelves every weekend, so I will do a different topic today. Today I will feature 10 books I meant to read in 2022 but didn't! 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. 

My son got me this for Christmas, what books did you get for Christmas??: