Happy Tuesday, everyone! I'm back from my cruise through the Yucatan. My husband and I had fun exploring new places, soaking in beautiful scenery, and learning about the history of the region we visited. We balanced out our excursions with a lot of relaxation time. Although the weather was mostly very hot and very humid, I did make good use of my balcony. It was lovely to read outside, especially after the sun went down and I could enjoy the warm breezes ruffling my hair while I Kindled my way through several books. 

As always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl.

These are the ten books I put on my potential reads list. I highlighted the ones I read (titles link to my Goodreads review):

1. Last One Out by Jane Harper - I ended up finishing this mystery/thriller the night before I left, so I'm not counting it as one of my six vacation reads. As much as I usually love Harper's work, Last One Out turned out to be a bit of a slog for me. It's just...slow. I liked it overall, but I came close to DNFing it several times because I got bored with it. Disappointing.

2. The Midnight Carousel by Fiza Saeed McLynn

3. My Husband's Wife by Alice Feeney - This needs to be my next read since it's already two weeks overdue at my library and I can't renew it because someone else is waiting for it. Oops!

4. A Map to Murder by Michelle Chouinard - This third installment in the A Serial Killer Guide to San Francisco series was one of my at-sea day reads. It's another fun murder mystery in an always-entertaining series. I enjoyed it.

5. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

6. The Memory of Borrowed Books by Meg Anderson

7. Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen

8. The Fish and Chip Shop Detectives by Jenny Kane

9. Family of Spies by Christine Kuehn - If you like interesting narrative non-fiction, you should definitely pick up this book. It tells the fascinating story of how the author discovered that her grandparents were Nazi spies in Hawaii. 

10. The Season of Sinking by Daphne Woolsoncroft

In addition to the two highlighted titles, I also read:

1. Missing Molly by Natalie Barelli - This was my first read of the vacay. It's got a unique premise: a woman who does the books at a small-town newspaper learns her company will be starting a true crime podcast, the first season of which will highlight a notorious unsolved case involving a murdered family and a missing pre-teen. Unbeknownst to her colleagues, the bookkeeper is the missing child. With the murderer still out there, it's imperative that no one discovers her real identity, not even her husband. Can she sabotage the podcast enough to protect herself, even if it means losing her job, her friends, and everything else she's worked so hard to gain? Or will all that be lost anyway when her true identity is exposed? 

Despite this unique and promising premise, Missing Molly was only an okay read for me. The plot is far-fetched, the characters are pretty blah, and the prose is rather humdrum. It kept me turning pages, though.

2. How to Kill a Crime Writer by Sarah Lotz (available July 20, 2026) - Although this murder mystery is largely about a woman grieving the sudden death of her mother, with whom she had a complicated relationship, it's actually a pretty upbeat, hopeful story. It's also funny, quirky, and satisfying. I really enjoyed it.

3. What We Did to Survive by Megan Lally - On the last day of my cruise, as we were gliding away from Mexico and back to Florida, I decided it would be fun to read a YA survival story about a group of teens who go sailing on a stormy day in Puerto Vallarta and end up in a fight for their lives. This novel tells a pretty generic story with a cast of heavily stereotyped characters, but it kept me turning pages.

4. Devils at the Door by Tessa Wegert - I read this murder mystery, the fifth book in the Shana Merchant series, during a very long wait at the Fort Lauderdale Airport. Although it gets into some weird subject matter, the novel is engrossing and compelling, just like all the other installments in the series.

5. The Chow Maniac by Vivien Chien - This is the "ish" part of six(ish) since I haven't actually finished this cozy mystery yet. I read half of it on the plane ride from Raleigh, North Carolina, back to Phoenix. It's the 11th book in the Noodle Shop mystery series. It's about a secret society of Chinese Americans in Cleveland, the members of which are suddenly perishing in ways that seem suspicious. A man who fears he is next hires P.I. Lydia Shepard to investigate, and she enlists the help of Lana Lee, restaurant manager and amateur sleuth.

There you go, the six(ish) books I read on my vacation. Have you read any of them? What did you think? What do you like to read while on holiday? I'd truly love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.

Today's TTT prompt—Top Ten Favorite Secondary and Minor Characters—is a great one, but I've done it recently-ish (actually, it was FIVE years ago!) and I don't know that I really have anyone to add to that list. Since I'm heading out on Saturday for my week-long cruise around the Yucatan, I'm going to use that as my inspo for today's list. While I doubt I'll be able to read ten books on my vacation, I will have two long flights (Phoenix to Fort Lauderdale and back), plus six days on the ship (with a balcony!) to enjoy some reading. I've been thinking about which titles on my Kindle and on my physical bookshelves might make for enjoyable vacation reading. (I don't know about you, but I always travel with my e-reader and at least one paper book, just in case.) I'll list some possibilities below and you can help me decide which ones to pack.

As always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl.

1. Last One Out by Jane Harper—After a month on the library's waiting list, I've finally got my hands on this newest novel from one of my favorite mystery/thriller authors. Set in Carralon Ridge, a rural Australian village that is dying a slow, painful death, the story revolves around a grieving mother whose son vanished from Carralon Ridge five years ago. When Ro returns to the town on the anniversary of his disappearance, she begins to suspect that there is a lot more to his disappearance than she ever suspected.

2. The Midnight Carousel by Fiza Saeed McLynn—This historical fantasy revolves around a mysterious carousel that is linked to a number of missing persons on two different continents. 

3. My Husband's Wife by Alice Feeney—Feeney's newest has a unique premise. After moving into Spyglass, an old home with a charming aesthetic, artist Eden Fox goes out for a run. When she returns, she is shocked when her key doesn't open the front door, another woman—one who looks oddly like Eden—answers her knock, and Eden's husband claims not to know Eden. Something very strange is going on, but what? What will Eden have to do to get her life back? 

4. A Map to Murder by Michelle Chouinard (available September 22, 2026)—The third installment in a fun murder mystery series starring a true crime tour guide in San Francisco, this outing has Capri Sanzio investigating a cold case involving a woman who went missing during the Summer of Love. 

5. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown—I'm re-reading the Robert Langdon series in anticipation of enjoying the latest installment, The Secret of Secrets. In The Da Vinci Code, Robert is called to the Louvre, where its aged curator has been murdered. A cipher left beside his corpse leads to a trail of clues hidden in Da Vinci's works that Robert must follow in order to find a killer.

6. The Memory of Borrowed Books by Meg Anderson (available October 6, 2026)—I always love a bookish read and this one sounds intriguing. It stars a librarian who works at a centuries-old library that is about to be shut down. Desperate to save the beloved institution, she discovers a magical door that leads to a room full of books only she can see, volumes that contain memories of all those who have visited the library over the years. Somewhere in the collection lies the key to saving the library, if only she can find it in time...

7. Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen—I've been meaning to start this highly-recommended series for years. I have this first installment out from the library right now, and I need to read it before it comes due. The book introduces Lady Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie, aka "Georgie." A penniless cousin of England's King George V, she's trying to navigate life as an ordinary citizen. She's managing...sort of...when she's asked to become a spy for the queen. When she then finds a dead body in her bathtub, things start to get very interesting indeed.

8. The Fish and Chip Shop Detectives by Jenny Kane—This is the first installment in a new cozy mystery series starring Maggie and Ryan, both of whom work in an English fish and chip shop. When a dead body is found in the village's harbor, Ryan is identified as the last person with whom the victim interacted. Soon he's the prime suspect in the murder. Not believing he could have done it, Maggie determines to find the real killer and clear her co-worker's name.

9. Family of Spies by Christine Kuehn—Another book I've been meaning to read, this non-fiction title tells the story of the author's grandparents. Sent to Hawaii by Nazi leader Joseph Goebbels, they set up a secret spy network in order to pass war-changing secrets to the Japanese. Shocked and fascinated by her family's unknown history, Kuehn grapples with the enormity of what she has discovered. 

10. The Season of Sinking by Daphne Woolsoncroft (available July 7, 2026)—It might be a little disconcerting to read a book with this title while cruising, but the story sounds promising, if a bit generic. When her mother dies suddenly, Imogen Bly returns to her quaint hometown to help her twin sister clean out their mom's house. Almost immediately, strange things begin to happen, reminding Imogen of the unease she's always felt in Lake Blair. Suspecting there is more to her mother's death than meets the eye, she begins to look at everyone with suspicion, even the man she once loved.

There you go, ten books I might read while on vacation. Have you read any of them? What did you think? What books are you planning to take on your next trip? I'd love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.

I'm late to the party this week. Yesterday was a DAY, and I just wasn't up to crafting a TTT list. I was up all night with an upset stomach, so I finally just got out of bed in spite of the early hour. It's quiet and peaceful in my house, so it's the perfect time to make my belated list. This week's prompt is May Flowers, a follow-up to the April Showers one from a few weeks ago. Even though we haven't had much rain at all this year in the Phoenix area, we do have flowers blooming. The lantana in our backyard has been growing like crazy. I'm not sure how long it will last considering the crazy hot temps we've had this week. Our high yesterday was 105! Anyway, as much as I like flowers, I'm going to go rogue this week. Since I will be cruising the Yucatan on May 26, I'm going to jump ahead and do the theme for that week: My Favorite Books By My Favorite Authors (submitted by Cathy @What Cathy Read Next). Sounds like fun!

As always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl.

The following authors aren't my ten absolute favorites. However, they are all writers I love and read often. More importantly, I can identify the one book of theirs that I love most. I can't necessarily do that with all of my favorite authors, you know? Or am I just weird? (I might just be weird. That's okay!) Here we go in alphabetical order:

1. A Rip Through Time by Kelley Armstrong—I yap about Armstrong a lot because I enjoy her crime fiction so much. Her urban fantasy novels don't interest me at all, and I haven't loved her horror novels either. As much as I enjoy her Rockton/Haven's Rock series, the Rip Through Time series is my favorite. The books are less graphic than the Rockton/Haven's Rock ones and funnier. All of the installments are worth reading, the but the first one is the one I like best so far.

In A Rip Through Time, a modern-day homicide detective travels to Edinburgh, Scotland, to visit her dying grandmother. While taking a mind-clearing jog, she is assaulted in the same spot where a chambermaid was attacked exactly 150 years earlier. When Detective Atkinson wakes up, she's in Victorian Scotland inhabiting the body of the maid, who works for a physician who moonlights as a coroner. As a confused Mallory tries to figure out what is happening and how to get home, she realizes that her professional skills can be of great use to her boss, who helps the police catch killers. How can she help him without revealing that she's not actually an uneducated maid? And how in the world is she going to get home?

2. Bluebird by Sharon Cameron—This YA author pens historical novels centered around World War II as well as sci-fi/fantasy books. Bluebird is the former. It's about a young German woman who travels to the U.S. after the war in order to unmask the Nazi who spearheaded a series of psychological experiments performed on concentration camp prisoners. Absorbing and memorable, Bluebird is a stunner of a novel.

3. Exiles by Jane Harper—I've enjoyed every book I've read by Harper, but those starring federal investigator Aaron Falk are my favorite. Of those, I like Exiles best. It tells a quieter, more intimate story than the other installments in the series do, but it's still a compelling mystery/thriller in its own right. The mystery revolves around a young mother who goes missing at a town festival, leaving her infant behind.

4. The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth—Another Australian author, Hepworth writes domestic fiction with lots of warmth and wit. This novel, my favorite of hers, is my book club's selection for May, so I'll be happily rereading it before next Tuesday. As is indicated by the title, the story concerns sisters, twins Fern and Rose. Fern lives a carefully structured life, sticking religiously to her routines in order to keep her fragile psyche intact. Rose is one of her few friends, someone for whom she is profoundly grateful, so when Rose learns she can't have children, Fern offers to carry a baby for her. She just needs to find a father. That search begins a journey that will profoundly affect both sisters as old secrets surface and new tensions emerge between them. 

5. The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee—Lee writes YA novels, most of which are historical fiction, featuring characters of Chinese descent. This one tells the story of 17-year-old Jo Kuan, a Chinese American who works as a maid for a wealthy, powerful family in Atlanta. Secretly, she also writes an advice column, doling out wisdom for genteel Southern ladies. As Jo's writing gains in popularity, she decides to use it to protest against the injustices she sees every day in her community. She's not prepared for the backlash those articles receive or the danger it will put her in if anyone discovers her secret identity. In the meantime, she's also grappling to understand her own mysterious past.

6. The Nature of Fragile Things by Susan Meissner—I've read almost all of Meissner's books and this one, about the San Francisco earthquake in 1906, is the one that has lingered most in my mind. It stars Sophie Walen, an Irish woman who is so desperate to escape poverty in her homeland that she travels across the sea to become the mail-order bride of an American man she's never met before. She's confused by her silent stranger of a husband, although she quickly becomes enamored of his young, mute daughter. Although she doesn't know it yet, Sophie's life is about to be rocked to its core, not just by a deadly earthquake that will literally shake up her world but also by the unknown woman who will appear at her door, revealing shocking secrets that will change the course of both of their lives. 

7. The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton—Morton's rich family sagas always sweep me away. Although I haven't loved her more recent books nearly as much as I do her older ones, I still consider her one of my favorite authors. Published in 2012, The Secret Keeper is about a woman who secretly witnesses a disturbing crime when she is 16 years old, an event that puts into question everything she knows about her mother. Fifty years later, Laurel is back home to celebrate her mom's 90th birthday. Realizing that time is running out to discover the truth about her mother, she determines to uncover all of the woman's many secrets.

8. How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny—Although I've only read 13 of the 20 books in the Armand Gamache series (the 21st comes out in October), it's one of my very favorite crime series. How the Light Gets In, #9, is set at Christmastime. Our hero, Inspector Armand Gamache, is at a low point in both his professional and personal life. When a friend in Three Pines invites him to come back to the quaint village to investigate a disappearance, he leaps at the chance to return to the place that always feels like home. Turns out, the missing woman is a celebrity who was once famous all over the world. What has happened to her? Because I hate to see my beloved Gamache suffer, How the Light Gets In was a bit of a painful read for me, but it's also a tender and heartening one.

9. The Spies of Shilling Lane by Jennifer Ryan—Ryan's latest two novels (one of which comes out next month) are set in the 1950s, but the rest of her books are all set during World War II. The Spies of Shilling Lane is my favorite of hers because although it has its poignant moments, it's mostly a fun, lively, madcap adventure. It stars the indomitable Mrs. Braithwaite, a hilarious queen bee who's knocked off her throne by her scandalous divorce. Indignant, she hies off to London to lick her wounds with her daughter, Betty, who has been in the city helping with war work. When Betty's timid landlord informs her mother that Betty is missing, Mrs. Braithwaite strong arms the reluctant landord into helping her locate her daughter. Turns out, her child has a much more complicated complicated life than Mrs. Braithwaite ever could have imagined, a life that will put all of them in grave danger.

10. Middle of the Night by Riley Sager—Final Girls is the only one of Sager's novels that I haven't read. I've enjoyed all of them, some more than others naturally, but Middle of the Night is my favorite. It's different from his other books, more gentle and moving. Never fear, though, it's just as riveting as his other thrillers. The story revolves around Ethan Marsh, a man who returns to the picture-perfect neighborhood he lived in as a child. It was there that, many years ago, his 10-year-old best friend disappeared during an overnight campout in Ethan's backyard. Already suffering from insomnia and disturbing nightmares, Ethan is plagued by strange things happening in the middle of the night. Signs of his missing friend keep appearing. Is someone playing a terrible joke on Ethan? Or has his long missing pal returned? What really happened the night of the campout? Ethan is determined to find out.

11. The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James—I love St. James' eerie thrillers. This one is set in a rundown motel in a dying town where strange things are known to happen. Viv Delaney reluctantly takes a job at the dumpy place with the goal of saving enough money to escape to New York City. It doesn't take long for her to realize that something is very wrong at her place of employment. There's a reason for the bad juju that emanates from the Sun Down Motel and she's going to uncover all its many secrets.

There you go, eleven of my favorite books by eleven of my favorite authors. Have you read any of them? Which are your favorite books by your favorite authors? I'd love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.

I don't know about you, but I'm one of those readers who's always looking ahead to what exciting new books are on the publishing horizon. Of course, I love this week's TTT prompt: Top Ten Most Anticipated Books Releasing in 2026. I've actually already read several of the 2026 titles I had been most looking forward to, but there are always more I want to get my hot little hands on. I'm going to list the ones I've already read first, with links to my reviews on Goodreads, so you can see my thoughts on them if you're interested. Then, I'll list ten more that I still want to read. I'm sure there are hot new up-and-comers that I'm not even aware of, so I'm looking forward to perusing your lists to see what other books I should be watching for. 

As always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl.

2026 Releases I've Already Read:

A Box Full of Darkness by Simone St. James (available January 20, 2026) **** stars

Such a Clever Girl by Darby Kane (available January 20, 2026) ** stars

First Sign of Danger by Kelley Armstrong (available February 17, 2026) **** stars

Missing Sister by Joshilyn Jackson (available March 3, 2026) *** stars

Everyone in This Bank is a Thief by Benjamin Stevenson (available March 17, 2026) **** stars

Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth (available April 26, 2026) **** stars

When No One Else Will by Amanda Skenandore (available May 26, 2026) ***1/2 stars

1. Murder Your Darlings by Jenna Blum (available January 13, 2026)—Historical fiction author Blum pens her first contemporary novel with this bookish murder mystery featuring two novelists whose relationship becomes very sketchy very fast. 

2. This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page (available February 3, 2026)—Another bookish read, this one features a new widow who is shocked when she's informed that her late husband left her a birthday gift at their local indie. The present is twelve books, one for each month of the first year without him, to help comfort and guide her through the grieving process. She vlogs about her reading and reading-inspired adventures, finding a global support system that carries her through a difficult year.

3. The Astral Library by Kate Quinn (available February 17, 2026)—New bookish books for the win! Quinn's latest and greatest centers around a young woman who finds refuge from her struggles in the real world in the reading room at the Boston Library. When she discovers a hidden doorway leading to a secret library where lonely souls can literally disappear inside their favorite books, she's dazzled. Then, she's confronted by a frightening enemy who's a danger to everyone the library has sheltered. As she escapes through various books, she must figure out how to defeat this threatening foe.

4. A Kingdom of Shadows by Emily Bain Murphy (available March 3, 2026)—The first book in a new middle grade fantasy series, this novel introduces a trio of young thieves who live in a world of increasing darkness and despair. When a stranger tells them about a lake of light, they embark on a quest across the kingdom to bring light and life back to their dimming world. Naturally, they get more than they bargain for...

5. The Keeper by Tana French (available March 31, 2026)—This is the final book in French's trilogy starring retired Chicago detective Cal Hooper. Now living in a small Irish village, he's become apart of the tight-knit community's fetes and feuds. When a local young woman is found dead in a river, tearing the townspeople in two over ages-old issues, Cal's fiancèe urges him to stay out of the whole mess. Unfortunately for her, his copper instincts and loyalty to his village mean he has to investigate, even if it makes them a target.

6. Last One Out by Jane Harper (available April 14, 2026)—Even though Harper's newest seems to be getting very mixed reviews, I'm excited to read it. The standalone novel is set in a New South Wales mining town that's been left to rot. Ro's son vanished from the ghost town five years ago while working on an oral history of the place. On the anniversary of his disappearance, the distraught mother returns to the abandoned village determined to figure out what happened to her missing child.

7. Caller Unknown by Gillian McAllister (available May 5, 2026)—I always look forward to a new McAllister thriller. This one has an intriguing premise: while staying in a remote Texas cabin with her daughter, Simone wakes up one morning to find the young woman missing. In her place is a phone with a ransom message. When Simone responds, she discovers that her daughter's kidnappers don't want money; instead, they want her to do something unthinkable. How far will she go to save her daughter?

8. The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett (available May 5, 2026)—From the author of The Help comes a new historical novel set in Mississippi during the Great Depression. When the lives of three females—an 11-year-old orphan, a struggling old maid, and a fiery woman with a past—converge, the trio form an unlikely team that will change all of their lives forever.

9. An Ordinary Sort of Evil by Kelley Armstrong (available May 19, 2026)—Armstrong's A Rip Through Time is one of my very favorite historical mystery series. In this fifth installment, our girl Mallory—a modern-day homicide detective trapped in Victorian Scotland—and her employer, undertaker Duncan Gray, are summoned to the home of a wealthy woman. Assuming she has a dead body for them to take care of, they're stunned to find that she actually has a request from the ghost of her dead maid to investigate the maid's murder. Although they're skeptical, they agree to look into the matter, which does indeed present an intriguing mystery.

10. A Pair of Aces by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray (available June 23, 2026)—This historical novel stars Eunice Carter, Manhattan's first Black prosecutor, who becomes assistant DA for the city of New York. Determined to bring down crime boss Lucky Luciano, she decides to catch him through his hand in prostitution. With the help of Polly Adler, owner of a high-class brothel business, she works day and night to bring Lucky to his knees, no matter the consequences to themselves.

There you go, ten 2026 releases I'm looking forward to reading. How about you? Which up-and-coming titles are you dying to get your hands on? I'd love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.

I've been MIA with Top Ten Tuesday lately and on the blog in general. Life's been busy. I just got back from an Alaska cruise and a family reunion in the Seattle area. Stepping out of the Phoenix airport into oven-hot temps very early this morning was a rude awakening after all the lovely, cool (but not all that cold) PNW weather. I'm hot, exhausted, and still nauseous from a bumpy plane ride, BUT I'm happy to be home!

Today's TTT prompt is all about series. I love sinking into series, where I can enjoy characters, settings, and stories. I'm in the middle of so many of them that I started keeping a spreadsheet to keep them all in order. The topic is Top Ten Favorite Books From Ten Favorite Book Series. That's too big of a challenge for my tired, aging brain, so I'm just going to give you my top ten favorite series. How's that?  

As always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl.

Top Ten Favorite Book Series 

(Covers are for the first book in each series, not necessarily my favorite one.)

1. Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling (middle-grade fantasy)

2. Armand Gamache by Louise Penny (adult murder mystery)

3. Bloody Jack by L.A. Meyer (YA historical fiction/action adventure)

4. Rockton/Haven's Rock by Kelley Armstrong (adult murder mystery)

5. Myrtle Hardcastle by Elizabeth C. Bunce (middle-grade historical fiction/mystery)

6. Tempe Brennan by Kathy Reichs (adult murder mystery)

7. Alcatraz by Gennifer Choldenko (middle-grade historical fiction)

8. Aaron Falk by Jane Harper (adult murder mystery)

9. Veronica Speedwell by Deanna Raybourn (adult historical fiction/mystery)

10. Jane/Mary books by Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, and Jodi Meadows (YA historical fiction/alternate history/supernatural)

There you go, ten of my favorite book series. Have you read any of them? What are your favorite series? I'd truly love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.