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2026 Bookish Books Reading Challenge (hosted by Yours Truly)

My Progress:


27 / 30 books. 90% done!

2026 Cover Lovers Reading Challenge (hosted by Yours Truly)

2026 Cover Lovers Reading Challenge (hosted by Yours Truly)

My Progress:


39 / 50 books. 78% done!

2026 Literary Escapes Challenge

- Alabama
- Alaska (1)
- Arizona
- Arkansas (1)
- California (7)
- Colorado (1)
- Connecticut (1)
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia (1)
- Hawaii (1)
- Idaho (1)
- Illinois (2)
- Indiana (1)
- Iowa (1)
- Kansas
- Kentucky (1)
- Louisiana (2)
- Maine (4)
- Maryland (1)
- Massachusetts (2)
- Michigan (2)
- Minnesota (2)
- Mississippi (1)
- Missouri
- Montana (1)
- Nebraska (1)
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey (1)
- New Mexico
- New York (4)
- North Carolina (2)
- North Dakota
- Ohio (3)
- Oklahoma
- Oregon (2)
- Pennsylvania (1)
- Rhode Island (1)
- South Carolina
- South Dakota (1)
- Tennessee
- Texas (3)
- Utah (1)
- Vermont (1)
- Virginia (1)
- Washington (1)
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin (2)
- Wyoming
- Washington, D.C.*

International:

- Australia (6)
- Austria (1)
- Canada (2)
- England (21)
- Fiji (1)
- France (1)
- Ireland (2)
- Italy (1)
- Mexico (1)
- New Zealand (1)
- Norway (1)
- Scotland (1)
- The Bahamas (1)
- Vatican City (1)

My Progress:


34 / 51 states. 67% done!

2026 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

My Progress:


24 / 25 books. 96% done!

2026 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge

My Progress:


29 / 50 books. 58% done!

Booklist Queen's 2026 Reading Challenge

My Progress:


38 / 52 books. 73% done!

2026 52 Club Reading Challenge

My Progress:


34 / 52 books. 65% done!

2026 Build Your Library Reading Challenge

My Progress:


22 / 40 books. 55% done!

2026 Craving for Cozies Reading Challenge

My Progress:


24 / 51 books. 47% done!

2026 Medical Examiner Mystery Reading Challenge

2026 Mount TBR Reading Challenge

My Progress


19 / 25 books. 76% done!

2026 Around the Year in 52 Books Reading Challenge

My Progress


44 / 52 books. 85% done!

Shelf Reflection Candy Reading Challenge for Kids (and Adults)

My Progress:


54 / 65 books. 83% done!

2026 Countdown Reading Challenge

My Progress:


55 / 55 books. 100% done!

2026 Series Reading Challenge


23 / 36 books. 64% done!

Dragon Rambles' Law of Fives Bingo

Dragon Rambles' Law of Fives Bingo

My Progress:


70 / 125 books. 56% done!

2026 Southern Literary Reading Challenge

My Progress:


9 / 9 books. 100% done!

2026 Reading Challenge (by Linz the Bookworm)

My Progress:


36 / 60 books. 60% done!

2026 Pioneer Book Reading Challenge

2026 Pioneer Book Reading Challenge

My Progress:


10 / 40 books. 25% done!

European Reading Challenge 2026

My Progress:


7 / 50 books. 14% done!

2017 Pick Your Poison Reading Challenge (retired challenge - doing old boards for fun)

My Progress:


67 / 125 books. 54% done!

2026 Reading Challenge Addict Reading Challenge

My Progress:


4 / 5 challenges. 80% done!

The 100 Most Common Last Names in the U.S. Reading Challenge

My Progress:


98 / 100 names. 98% done!

The Life Skills Reading Challenge

My Progress:


76 / 80 skills. 95% done!
Monday, January 20, 2020

Cute YA Rom-Com Upbeat and Fun

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

Meet Pepper, swim team captain, chronic overachiever, and all-around perfectionist. Her family may be falling apart, but their massive fast-food chain is booming — mainly thanks to Pepper, who is barely managing to juggle real life while secretly running Big League Burger’s massive Twitter account.

Enter Jack, class clown and constant thorn in Pepper’s side. When he isn’t trying to duck out of his obscenely popular twin’s shadow, he’s busy working in his family’s deli. His relationship with the business that holds his future might be love/hate, but when Big League Burger steals his grandma’s iconic grilled cheese recipe, he’ll do whatever it takes to take them down, one tweet at a time.

All’s fair in love and cheese — that is, until Pepper and Jack’s spat turns into a viral Twitter war. Little do they know, while they’re publicly duking it out with snarky memes and retweet battles, they’re also falling for each other in real life — on an anonymous chat app Jack built.

As their relationship deepens and their online shenanigans escalate — people on the internet are shipping them?? — their battle gets more and more personal, until even these two rivals can’t ignore they were destined for the most unexpected, awkward, all-the-feels romance that neither of them expected.

From its peppy back cover plot summary to its charming cover to its totally apt title, you can tell that Tweet Cute, a debut novel by Emma Lord, is, well, cute.  It really is an adorable romance starring two likable characters who find themselves thrown together in a funny (if a little implausible) situation that gets increasingly impossible and confusing.  While there's some family drama thrown in for both Pepper and Jack to deal with, it's just enough to add substance to the story without throwing off its light, upbeat vibe.  Overall, Tweet Cute is an engrossing, entertaining rom-com that's just fun to read.  I enjoyed it.

(Readalikes:  Um, I can't think of anything.  Can you?)

Grade:


If this were a movie, it would be rated:


for language (two F-bombs, plus milder expletives), innuendo, and depictions of/references to underage drinking and illegal drug use

To the FTC, with love:  I received an e-ARC of Tweet Cute from the generous folks at St. Martin's Press (an imprint of Macmillan) in exchange for an honest review.  Thank you!
Thursday, January 16, 2020

Authentic and Compelling, Oakley's Latest an Enjoyable Read

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

For years, Mia Graydon has had recurring dreams starring the same dark-haired man.  A man who is not her husband.  She hasn't thought a lot of it as her life has taken its own dream-like path toward fulfillment.  With a strong marriage to a handsome doctor, a spacious house (picket fence and all) in a quaint new town, a private studio which will allow for hours of peaceful painting, and a baby on the way after two miscarriages, Mia is experiencing the joy of hope and possibility unfurling before her.  It feels as if anything could happen in her happy, privileged life. 

Then, the unexpected occurs—Mia sees the man from her dreams.  To her absolute astonishment, Oliver is a real, flesh-and-blood person.  A nice one to boot and one with whom she feels instantly comfortable.  Even more amazing, he has been dreaming of her too.  As the two puzzle out the meaning (or lack thereof) behind their odd connection, Mia's orderly life starts to veer off the rails.  With things falling apart in her real life, her dreams of Oliver start to seem more and more appealing.  When it comes to a choice between salvaging her reality and chasing what could be, what will Mia ultimately decide to do?

You Were There Too, a new novel by Colleen Oakley, explores the intriguing question of what if?  It uses a unique premise to ruminate on common themes like marriage, infertility, grief, guilt, and familiarity vs. newness in romantic relationships.  The characters come off as authentic (flawed, but relatable), the prose is engaging, and the story compelling.  You Were There Too kept me guessing right up until the unexpected plot twist at the end which seems to come out of nowhere, but is actually inevitable and, when you think about it, not entirely surprising.  Overall, then, I found You Were There Too to be an engrossing, funny, poignant novel about love, loss, and the strange "coincidences" of life that maybe aren't so coincidental after all.  

(Readalikes:  Reminds me of novels by Joshilyn Jackson and Katherine Center)

Grade:


If this were a movie, it would be rated:


for language (a few F-bombs, plus milder expletives), mild sexual content, and violence

To the FTC, with love:  I received an e-ARC of You Were There Too from the generous folks at Penguin Random House in exchange for an honest review.  Thank you!
Tuesday, January 14, 2020

My Top ONE Tuesday Discovery


It's Tuesday!  You know what that means—it's time for my favorite weekly meme.  Top Ten Tuesday is always a good time.  You should really join in the fun.  All you have to do is click on over to That Artsy Reader Girl, read a few instructions, create your own list, and hop around the book blogosphere to visit other people's lists.  It truly is a great way to find new book blogs to read, add intriguing titles to your TBR mountain chains, and just spread the love throughout this wonderful online community of ours.

The topic du jour is Top Ten Bookish Discoveries I Made in 2019.  I did find some new authors and blogs last year, but I feel like I've already talked about them.  So, I'm going to talk about a bookish discovery I've made this year.  Since there's only one, this won't be a list, but more of a discussion.  I really do value your advice and recommendations, so please leave a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on yours.

I know I'm late to the party on this one, but my big discovery of 2020 is ... wait for it ... audiobooks.  I'm sure I'm the last person on Earth to jump on this particular bandwagon.  However, in reading lots of 2019 wrap-up posts, I realized something—bloggers that read a heck ton of books last year often attributed their astounding numbers to, you guessed it, audiobooks.  So, I decided to give them a try.  Audible had a New Year's sale that offered a free trial membership, some free books, and an easy reading (listening) challenge that will net me a $20 Amazon gift card to boot.  Serendipity!  I signed up.
For my first audiobook, I decided on a book I've been eyeing for awhile—Spectacle by Jodi Lynn Zdrok.  It's a YA novel about a 16-year-old Parisian girl who visits the city's public morgue, which prompts her to have strange visions about a string of grisly murders.  It sounded interesting, so I downloaded the book and started listening.  The narrator, Laurie Catherine Winkel, seemed a little stiff, her French words sounding more natural than her English ones, but she sounded even weirder at higher speeds, so I listened to the story at normal speed.  I kept the audio running while I ran errands in the car, scrubbed my kitchen, folded laundry, worked on the computer, etc. and was surprised at how well I could multi-task.  In the past when I've tried to listen to books I've either fallen asleep or gotten so distracted by other things that I missed half of what the narrator was saying.  The only problem with Spectacle was the tale seemed to go on and on and on and on.  When I downloaded the book, I hadn't paid any attention to its length.  I actually gasped when I finally realized it was ELEVEN HOURS long.  Needless to say, it was an interesting first-time listening experience.

Now, I'm listening to a MG novel called The Other Half of My Heart by Sundee T. Frazier.  The Audie Award-winning narrator, Bahni Turpin, is much more animated than the last one and the book is much shorter.  I'm enjoying it.

All in all, my audiobook experiment is going well so far.  I'm curious, though, as to how the rest of you use this resource.  Do you listen to audiobooks?  Why or why not?  How often do you "read" them?  Which books have been your favorite to listen to?  Who are the best narrators?  Any other tips for me from you audiobook lovers?  I'd love any advice on how to use audiobooks most effectively and enjoyably.

Happy TTT!
Monday, January 13, 2020

Debut Proves Rader-Day Improves With Time

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

It's been 10 months since a student shot Dr. Amelia Emmett in the pelvis.  Although she's still walking with a cane, popping pain pills, and suffering from panic attacks, the professor is determined to get back in the classroom at Rothbert University.  Despite her colleagues' misgivings and the whispers that trail after her wherever she goes, Amelia aims to prove she's ready and able to reclaim her life.  No one needs to know that she's shaking in her high heels.  Just like no one needs to know how obsessed she is with the question why.  Why did the shooter—a kid Amelia had never met, never taught, never spoken to—choose her as his victim?  Why had he deliberately waited outside her office door with a gun?  Why had he tried to kill her before taking his own life?  None of it makes an ounce of sense.

Nathan Barber, a grad student in sociology, has come to Rothbert for one reason—to research Dr. Emmett.  Intending to do his dissertation on the shooting, he offers to be Amelia's teaching assistant in an effort to get closer to her.  When Amelia wises up to his plan, she can't keep herself from encouraging Nath to do some sleuthing around campus.  She wants to know why she was shot even more than he does.  But the clues Nath uncovers only create more questions and when the truth finally comes to light, it will be even more shocking than either Amelia or Nath ever imagined.

I've enjoyed a couple of Lori Rader-Day's newer novels, so I was interested to see how her debut, The Black Hour, compared.  I liked it least of the ones I've read because although it boasts a compelling premise, the story plods along slowly, with the action only picking up at the end.  A few times, I almost put the book down.  In addition to a sluggish plot, the main characters are pretty blah.  Amelia's sympathetic, but not very likable.  Nath's just boring (admittedly so).  The book's vibe doesn't help—it's dark and depressing.  Considering all this, why did I keep reading?  Well, it's the same question that haunted Amelia and Nath—why?—that kept me turning pages.  In the end, though, I didn't find The Black Hour all that satisfying.  I finished it, but I definitely didn't love it.  The good news is I know for certain that Rader-Day's novels improve with time!

(Readalikes:  Hm, I can't think of anything.  Can you?)

Grade:


If this were a movie, it would be rated:


for language (no F-bombs), mild sexual content, violence, and disturbing subject matter

To the FTC, with love:  I bought a copy of The Black Hour from Changing Hands Bookstore with a portion of the millions I make from my lucrative career as a book blogger.  Ha ha.
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