Today's Top Ten Tuesday prompt is: Cover Freebie. You can pick any topic related to book covers. In celebration of my 20th blogiversary this week, I'm going to highlight the covers of the first ten books I reviewed here at BBB. As always, this fun event is hosted by the lovely Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl.

On August 7, my little blog will turn the big 2-0. Twenty! I can't believe it. Although I'm living in the same house I was living in back in 2006 (we moved back in in 2021 after living elsewhere and renting it out for 14 years), a lot has changed in my life since then. Two decades ago, I was a 30-year-old stay-at-home mom juggling the needs of a husband and three young children. Life was chaotic, not leaving me tons of time to read or relax in any way. I needed a creative, stay-sane strategy to survive. Book blogging did that for me. Now, I'm half a century old, I have four mostly grown children (my baby turns 18 in a few months) and one grandbaby. Life is generally calm, leaving me with oodles of time to read. It's never been a perfect life, but it's always been a good one. Being part of this beautiful book blogosphere has made it even better. Thank you for hanging here with me, whether you've been around since the early days or you just started following me. I don't know how long I'll keep this gig going, but for now, I'm enjoying myself, so I'll carry on.

Oh, and I was curious to see who the first person to comment on my blog was and if they were still hanging around the book blogosphere. I'm thrilled to give a shout out to Lindsi over at Do You Dog Ear? Her blog is still going strong. Thanks a bunch, Lindsi, for your support!

I'm not sure how, but we have managed to reach the middle of 2025. The year has whizzed by in some ways; in other ways, it feels like its been going on for forever. The Mid-Year Freak Out Book Tag is a fun way to mark the occasion. Created by Ely @Earl Grey Books and Chami, it offers a chance to look at what we've accomplished in our reading in the first six months of the year. It is a tag, but I wasn't tagged by anyone and I'm not going to tag anyone. If you want to do it, consider yourself tagged! (I used the same version of the tag that Leslie @Books Are the New Black did. I've seen slight variations in the questions on other blogs.)

Every year, I try to read more than I did the year before. To this end, I set my Goodreads goal at 215 for 2025. I'm almost halfway there:

I've taken on a bunch of reading challenges this year. Some of them are short term, some of them last all year, and others are open-ended ones. I'm over 50% done with the majority of them. You can see where I'm at by checking out the left sidebar of my blog or by clicking the "Reading Challenges" tab at the top of my homepage.

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

Evil Bones by Kathy Reichs (available November 18, 2025)

It Happened on the Lake by Lisa Jackson—This book is way too long, too melodramatic, too predictable, too far-fetched, too everything. I read all 592 pages, but man, it was a slog!

Murder Runs in the Family by Tamara Berry—I love a good cozy mystery and Tamara Berry is one of my favorite cozy authors. This book has a fun premise, too. All of these things should have equaled a real hit for me, but this one was a pretty meh read for me. The main characters were annoying and the plot dragged. I wanted to love the book, but I just...didn't.

A Dream of Death by Connie Berry—I read this book, the first installment in Berry's Kate Hamilton mystery series, in January and really enjoyed it. I've since read the next three books and will likely finished the next two—a holiday novella and a full-length book—by the end of the year. It's a light, clean, entertaining mystery series that has provided some great comfort reading.

I've discovered lots of great new characters this year, but I'm really not the "book boyfriend" type.

Vera Wong is the character who came immediately to mind for this question. She makes me laugh! Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto is the first book in the series. I still need to read the second.

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness—I loved this book when I first read it back in 2011, but it had been so long that I had forgotten that my favorite character dies. It's such a pitiful scene, too, that it ripped my heart out all over again. 

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.