The relationship between Poppy and Justin developed as the two began to work thru shared grief and trauma. Poppy was driving the car that killed Justin‘s brother way back in high school, and she has never allowed herself to move beyond the guilt of his death. Thru Poppy, her young niece Mary, and a sweet dog called Roo, Justin‘s family begins to forgive Poppy and Poppy begins to forgive herself. So wholesome, so sweet, and I adored the dog.

#10 in the Kate Burkholder series featuring the ex-Amish Chief of Police in Painter‘s Mill, OH-a small town with a large Amish population. The case involves the murder of an 18 y/o Amish male who was beloved by the community. As the investigation progresses, Kate finds that he wasn‘t a nice guy at all, and many of the local Amish are hiding big secrets. Kate is forced to re-examine trauma from her own past. Really good, but hard to read at times.

A very sweet romance where two families grow closer as they work together to rescue and train a very anxious stray dog. Jessica and Briggs also fall in love while working on this common goal. Jessica and her father are veterinarians, so this story really satisfied my craving for good dog-centric stories where the dog remains safe and happy. A great choice for late night reading during a busy work week.

It took me a full half of the story before I realized I had to suspend my disbelief about every single thing. It was only then that I was able to enjoy it. It isn‘t really a thriller and (sadly) there isn‘t very much of the mom-group drama like I had hoped. It IS a mystery though, and there is a lot of sarcasm and comedy throughout. Florence is a mess, and her relationships are too. Except with her son Dylan-she will do *anything* to protect him.

This was such a sweet story, and just as cute as the cover. A second chance romance story where both Autumn and Wyatt work together to train service dogs for people who need them. I seem to be reading this series backwards, having started with the fourth book and progressing to this one, which is the third. The author must be an animal lover because all these books feature animals.

Bravo!! A HUGE 5 ⭐️! This book is everything I love about reading. I‘ve loved ice skating since I was a child and have big memories of the Harding/Kerrigan incident years ago. I also love Wuthering Heights, and this book really leans into its retelling. So much backstabbing, secrecy, and drama. So much competition. Such toxic relationships. So, so good! The audiobook is an absolute DREAM and I was thrilled to hear Johnny Weir narrate parts of it!

Such a cute story featuring a marriage of convenience where a newly widowed goat farmer, Emma, marries her friend Carter so her family can be added to his health insurance. It‘s a little more complex than that, and an interesting premise for this trope. It was such a sweet story with a large supportive family for these characters. My favorite part is that Emma has a lot of animals including two working Great Pyrenees dogs on the farm.

I was so excited to get this from the library immediately after it was released, but I‘m just not feeling it right now. I definitely want to come back to it because I‘m very interested in Boudicca, but I just can‘t seem to settle into it at the moment. So back to the library it goes!

A cute romance that takes place against the background of a Mandarin immersion elementary school where Joanna is a new art teacher and Jack is the new fifth grade teacher. The two bond organically because they‘re the “new guys” at work. Both have to overcome come obstacles before they are open to a relationship. It‘s cute how they have such pure, sweet crushes on one another and there is a lot of Chinese culture and food woven into the story.

I‘ve been waiting months for this book and flew thru it today. I loved it! The fourth installment in the Paws & Pastries novella series featuring Clara Conway, her rescue dog Noelle, and her growing bakery business. This installment features a home renovation, cooking, and a summer tornado in the town of Pinewood. I love these characters and wish they were my friends and neighbors. I sincerely hope Ms Hinske keeps going with this series.

I chose this book 100% because of the cover and title, and it really paid off for me. The dog in this story, Amigo, features heavily and moves the plot along. Amigo is sort of like service dog to two characters, a veteran and a child who has experienced trauma, and he softens the heart of a hardened photojournalist. Amigo brings the whole family together. It was marvelous and I want to seek out more dog-centric stories with romance like this one.

Super fun pick! Not really a popcorn thriller because it wasn‘t “thrilling” until about the last 1/4, but it was nonstop twists and surprises once we got there. I was surprised at how emotional certain parts were because the cover and description do not suggest that. I loved all these characters and I was invested in them from start to finish. It reads like it would be a fun TV series. So much came out at the ending that I didn‘t expect!

Backstabbing and betrayal galore! Some of my favorite things to read about. So many secrets between Billie and Cassie. Their relationship is toxic. I couldn‘t turn away.

I read 6 books this month, with Their Surprise Reunion and Her Amish Country Husband tied for favorites. Both of these brought forth my current obsession which are sweet Harlequin romances.

From NetGalley = 2
From my own shelf = 1
From library = 3

I was disappointed by all three non-Harlequin reads. I hated the ends of Sandwich and Year of Wonders. Also, I have full shelves but have read more library books in both Jan and Feb 2025.

#February25

Finished this puzzle while listening to the tagged book. The book is great so far, I‘m not quite 2/3 thru. I‘ve enjoyed this author‘s work in the past. Her characters are complicated and have such toxic relationships. They‘re so catty, I absolutely love it.

The puzzle is called “A Book Lover‘s Christmas” and it has holiday scenes from a bunch of classic books. I received it for a Christmas gift but am just getting around to it. #audiopuzzling

I‘m obsessed with Harlequin romance at the moment probably because both social media and the news are so divisive. These books are easy and fun, no drama, no politics, and they always have a HEA. Like my favorite kind of ice cream over and over.

This is the first HQN Heartwarming book that was published back in 2013. An enemies-to-more featuring a father and his four daughters who run a historic Victorian Inn together. So stress-free, I loved it.

A second-chance romance where Faith moves back home to run her late aunt‘s antique store along with her two sisters, only to find that her ex-husband Trent was hired by her aunt before her death to make repairs. They never got over one another. I love the way his Amish family and her English family all encourage them to listen to their hearts and find their way back to one another. Great subplots, great supporting cast, and I‘m…

A low pick because I had to work so hard for this one. It took about two weeks to read it, which is a long time for me, because the first 2/3 was so doggone slow. The last 1/3 was great though. I understand the drag in the beginning because Cutter was setting up these characters and The Big Event that would come toward the end. I can strongly see Stephen King‘s influence with certain word choices (palaver!) and a Western feel reminiscent…

I‘ve been reading this book for almost two weeks and I‘m finally about 1/4 thru it. I keep going because it‘s a Cutter book, but this one is much slower-going than the other two I‘ve read by him: The Troop and The Queen. I would love to finish it up this week. Hoping it picks up soon!

This was so great! I wanted something easy and fun, warm and fuzzy. This was perfect! Sean is a young widower raising his 6yr old son Jackson when newly divorced Kayla walks into their lives. Their romance progressed sweetly and little Jackson was a lot of fun to read. This author is wonderful and I love that baking played a part in the story.

Harlequin‘s Heartwarming line is 💯.

On sale 4/29. Many thanks to HQN and NetGalley for my review copy.

I wish I could have loved this one! I DID love the first 2/3 so much, where I found myself identifying SO HARD with the simultaneous exhaustion and joy of motherhood and the conflicting feelings of watching your kids grow up to be successful and great and then moving out.

But I was so disappointed by the last 1/3. All of Rocky‘s issues and feelings just got to be too much. In the end I found her unbearable and I felt sorry for her poor husband.

LOVED reading about the small village being ravaged by the plague and the difficult decision to close their gates and quarantine themselves from the rest of Derbyshire. The story is based on a real village Eyam and how they handled the Bubonic Plague in 1665-1666.

But oh how I hated the ending. The last 50 pages or so made me mad because they ruined an otherwise beautiful book.

Beginning=5 stars, Ending=2 stars. So overall a So-So from me.

I read 8 books this month with the tagged book being my favorite from the lot. But overall, I really enjoyed every one of these. January was a super good reading month for me.

From NetGalley = 3
From my own shelf = 1
From library = 4

A personal goal for myself in 2025 was to read more medieval stories, particularly those from my own shelf, so since I didn‘t do that in January, I want to get going on that goal during February.

#January25

This is a book about magic and who can/can‘t use it. The magic system is a lot of fun and so is the world. It was a ton of fun for me going into it without knowing anything about it at all except that it‘s one of my daughter‘s favorite books, and it was fun to talk to her about the characters and scenes as I read it. She warned me “Don‘t get attached to these characters” and she is so right! I would get attached, and Schwab would kill them off!

I‘ve had a huge book hangover for about two weeks now and tried several books, but couldn‘t get into anything. I finally found a book that stuck! Halfway thru, and it‘s fun so far.

A library loan, and a beautiful cookbook, as all of ATK‘s are. I‘ve made three recipes from it, and enjoyed them all. But there is a ton of articles on history of Southern food with respect to specific people and restaurants, and because this takes up so much of the book, I am opting not to buy it for my shelves. I read it cover to cover. All of the recipes in here are included on the ATK app with my membership, so I‘ll just access them there.

I went in blind and was both shocked and delighted by the strange twists in this story. It‘s what I expect from Nick Cutter, although not quite as nauseating as The Troop (which I also really liked). There are themes of friendship and belonging nestled in among all of the craziness. So many insects in here! A pick!

My favorite way to #weekendreads 🐾☕️

Sidenote: This book is CRAZY. 🐜

5⭐️ It‘s hard to formulate words for this one in a small space. The horror elements are less about the witchcraft and more about the horrors these “wayward girls” had to endure. They had no bodily autonomy nor free will in decision-making. Hendrix did such good work here with generational and religious traumas. He also paid great care to the labor, delivery, and postpartum process (L&D nurse here). My thoughts are LARGE, it‘s so astoundingly good.

5⭐️ I *really* liked this. I read the pitch comparing it to Station Eleven, which is one of my all-time favorites and a book that completely changed the way I think of and interact with people. This one is very similar, where climate changes have forced a life that is unrecognizable. A slow story, beautifully written, with lots of emotion and longing in the pages. Toward the middle, it really started to pick up until I absolutely HAD to finish it.

A wonderful novella, just 2hrs long, taking place in Ireland, 1985. Bill Furlong is a kind, quiet man who was born to an unwed mother but shown kindness and care by his mother‘s employer. Now a successful adult with a good marriage, and five daughters of his own, he cannot help but contemplate compassion. He knows he is fortunate and always tries to pay it forward to others in need, even though his wife nags him about it. Bill stumbles upon…

Finished this morning before work ☕️🐾

Twisty with several POV‘s and a load of red herrings. An exotic, tropical setting and a group of women on vacation, celebrating a divorce in their group. It got crazier the further I read and the twists weren‘t entirely surprising, but I enjoyed every word. Something about a group of friends with a ton of secrets and betrayal always entertains me. I also have enjoyed this author‘s other work as CJ Cooke.

Not many things I love as much as reading with Beau asleep beside me. He‘s so warm!! And he‘s such a good reading buddy #dogsoflitsy

Enjoying the tagged book. Fast-paced and twisty! And set during the end of summer 🏖️🌊🍹

I loved this! I‘m a huge Josh Malerman fan and I think I definitely liked this one as much as Bird Box and Malorie. The 8yr old protagonist Bela is a great narrator. She‘s extremely perceptive about what‘s happening even as her young age means she doesn‘t always understand. This is a super creepy story, with a lot to say about the weight of secrets and how we can‘t run from them. A slow burn, then very intense! With an open ending.

A great third installment in the After Series featuring a community in the NC mountains that struggles to survive and thrive after an EMP attack back in the first book. A new US government has formed, but the characters from this series doubt its intentions and the Constitutionality of its actions. I gasped out loud several times in the second half. Gripping and thought-provoking, with crazy revelations. These characters have been thru so much.

I met my goal of 100 books on Christmas Day and haven‘t really wanted to read much since then. So we‘ve done holiday things and watched a lot of movies and football. I like a nice, round number, so I‘m setting my 2025 goal for 100 books again.

My February favorite was a title that I‘d had on my NetGalley backlog for a looong time. I expected to read something a little bit easy, breezy because of the cover, but NOPE! This one was intense and really packed an emotional punch. I remember enjoying the thought-provoking nature of the story, and I wished I hadn‘t waited so long to read it.

#12Booksof2024 @Andrew65

The Drift by CJ Tudor was my favorite read from January. I remember reading the bulk of it while my family was on a ski trip which was a great backdrop for such a dark, snowy horror thriller. It was also my first book by this author, and it made me want to read more of her backlist. Fast-paced, snowy, bloody, and dark with three POV‘s that were seemingly not connected-until they were. Such fun, this one!

#12Booksof2024 @Andrew65

I finished this one while having coffee from my Grabdmother‘s Christmas china ♥️☕️

This was cute! It drew my attention because it has a food-centric story where Emma is a culinary instructor trying to move her business to an industrial kitchen space. She falls for a professor who is really the crown prince of a fictional European country. I loved all of the food and cooking, Emma and Michel were cute, and I adored all of the supporting cast.

Noooo nope nope. Make it stop 🤢 I can never unhear this.

This was so cute!! At 2 hours, it was a perfect listen for my drive time today. The story is a forced proximity story between two childhood friends-to-lovers. The tropes are all fantastic and even though this is a quick read, it didn‘t feel too short. This is my 4th novella by Hazelwood and I think she does a great job making shorter-length stories feel pretty developed. The narrator, Vivienne LaRue, did a wonderful job.

I thought the first book (tagged👇🏻) was great, but this sequel is even better. Fast paced, tons of action, and the stakes are incredibly high for the characters that I‘ve come to appreciate. Events like those in this story could happen to us, which made for a much more intense reading experience. The fact that the setting is in my own state of NC made it feel personal. The story is: can the US come back after a global EMP attack? And how?

Another cute romcom novella! A quick read at just 67 pgs and available on KU. The MC‘s are in their 40‘s and 50‘s, and I love reading characters in this age range. They have a fun meetcute: Abraham is trying to spread Christmas cheer by decorating Annette‘s house while she is out of town. She comes home early and thinks he is a thief! This story is tied into this author‘s Romancing The Spy series. So cute, I loved it. 🛷❄️🎅

Cute Christmas novellette coming in at a fun-sized 51 pages and available on KU.

Victor is a young Christmas tree farm owner and Adelaide has a homemade Christmas ornament business. The two are business partners with big dreams and big crushes on one another. It‘s set in the 1970‘s and I loved the nods to the great 70‘s music and life before cellphones. It‘s a short read but so cute and there is plenty of Christmas in it with all of the trees🎄

The second novella in King‘s Four Past Midnight collection, another story by King about a writer going mad. It started off very promising, dragged a little in the middle, and ended with a bang. I liked it! And I liked the MC Mort Rainey. There was a very specific place in the story, after something unexpected happened, that I sat up straight and thought “This is getting good!” King writes the descension into madness so well! #readingStephenKing

So cute! Noelle and Jack both have their own reasons for avoiding Christmas, but they come together when they team up to give Jack‘s young nephew a Christmas he won‘t forget. There are a lot of fun Christmas experiences in here and Noelle‘s family are all wonderful. Jack is Noelle‘s boss so there is good discussion in here about whether having a relationship like that is ethical or not, and the resulting power differential.

The first novella in the Four Past Midnight collection is absolutely crazy. How does King come up with this stuff? There is a time rip and people missing from the plane and suspicion of bad, hungry, monsters called “langoliers.” It‘s a long buildup until the langoliers finally land on the page and WHOA once they do. The idea of this happening is horrifying, but I could not look away. This reads sort of like sci-fi horror lite. #readingStephenKing

Bear is snoring and it‘s a perfect time to start the next book on my #readingStephenKing list 🐾☕️🎄

I liked it, especially when things finally started coming together toward the end. Multiple POV‘s, multiple timelines, and a lot of redirecting meant it took me a while to get my bearings. I had a suspicion about halfway thru that ended up being correct! The characters were not easy to like, they were all fairly unbearable actually. But I was kept entertained thru a particularly busy workweek, which worked well for me.

I liked this. Most of the story takes place in the year following an EMP attack. It‘s how a rural mountain community is able to gather and ration what they have and work as hard as possible to survive impossible conditions. Many don‘t survive and there is a lot of violence. Not the most polished writing, but the story is thought-provoking and engaging. And bleak, especially near the end. It inspired some great conversations with my family.