Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl invited us to share our top ten books of 2024 this week. As always, most of these were not published in 2024 but I did read them this year. I’ve organized them by my rating but they’re simply in alphabetical order beyond that. I’ve noted if links go to my review; if I […]
Weekly Update for December 29, 2024
Welcome to my weekly update for December 29, 2024!
I hope everyone who celebrates had a wonderful holiday week! My husband had to work too close to the holiday for us to fly out to visit any family so we had a nice, quiet day at home in our RV. He made a crème brûlée French toast casserole for breakfast that was delicious […]
A Woman in the Polar Night by Christiane Ritter: Book Review
4.5 Stars. This is a slim volume and much of it is taken up with Mrs. Ritter, her husband, and his friend Karl’s day-to-day survival in Svalbard (Formerly Spitsbergen). Fair warning, that survival isn’t really for those who are disturbed by hunting for food and for furs to sell. Just trying to keep wood […]
The Twelve Days of Dash and Lily by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan: Book Review
3 Stars. I adored Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares, the first book in this series. Dash was just enough of a curmudgeon and Lily was a delight. They were quirky together, they had funny friends, and seeing their relationship develop against the backdrop of Christmas in New York was the stuff that holiday rom-coms […]
Weekly Update for December 22, 2024
Welcome to my weekly update for December 22, 2024! As a reminder, sign-ups are open for my 2025 Books in Translation Challenge and my Southern Literature Reading Challenge. These can be as easy or as difficult as you’d like, with the levels starting at just one book for a successfully completed […]
Christmas Bliss by Mary Kay Andrews: Book Review
4 Stars. It’s been quite a while since I read any books in this series because I somehow missed that a fourth one existed! I can’t say that there was a whole lot going on here, plot-wise. There were a few things but they felt and largely turned out to be low-stakes. Mostly I just enjoyed re-visiting Weezie […]
Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan: Book Review
4 Stars. I’m not a huge romance reader and even less of a young adult romance reader but I’ve watched my share of rom-coms and this is a rom-com with the cutest of meet cutes. I adored it. And what reader could resist its charms? Dash and Lily’s paths cross when Lily leaves a red notebook with a dare hidden […]
American Christmas Stories, edited by Connie Willis: Book Review
4 Stars. I listened to Connie Willis’s collection of her own Christmas stories (A Lot Like Christmas) last year and went searching for more of her work. I stumbled on this anthology that she edited and decided to give it a try. The quality of the stories was remarkably consistent! The stories are arranged […]
Weekly Update for December 15, 2024
Welcome to my weekly update for December 15, 2024! Since we had recovered from our Thanksgiving colds, my husband and I decided to drive from Phoenix up to Sedona last weekend and spend a few days. This was our first visit and we fell in love. It’s gorgeous with all the towering red rocks but […]
Weekly Update for December 8, 2024
Welcome to my weekly update for December 8, 2024! My husband and I picked up lingering colds the week of Thanksgiving so we’ve been taking it easy for a couple of weeks. We’re planning to start exploring again this weekend. There’s so much to see around Arizona! One of our first excursions when we arrived […]
2025 Books in Translation Reading Challenge
Welcome to the 2025 Books in Translation Reading Challenge! It’s pretty self-explanatory, right? Nevertheless, here are the rules, details, and linkies. You can read a book that’s been translated from any language into the language of your choosing. The challenge is not limited to translations to or […]