Blog

  • March 2025 Reads

    March brought me to the end (maybe?) of the Gillian St. Kevern series “How to Raise Your Werewolf” and “Read by Candlelight.” I say maybe because I’m unsure of reading order and might have missed something inadvertently.

    I’ve also found a couple of new series. I like to have a few different going so I don’t read too much of any one author in a row. Sometimes I can’t resist, but I like coming back after reading something else. A.M. Rose’s “Cursebreakers, Inc” looks to be an interesting series. I really enjoyed the first and the preview of the second looks promising.

    I’ve also enjoyed the first couple of books of Jax Stuart’s “Sweetwater Pack” series. Not a huge mpreg fan (or anyone preg, really) but I’m a sucker for those fated mates, I guess.

    I like to throw in a little “real world” romance, too, to cleanse the palate between supes and magic and bears, oh my!

  • February 2025 Reads

    Uh-oh. Someone found a new series to read!

    As you can see, I continued with the Gillian St. Keven series. I also started on TJ Nichols’ “Familiar Mates” series. Those, along with a reread of KJ Charles’ “A Charm of Magpies” series, pretty much took over my month. Though I’m realizing I forgot my book club book, so that means I had 28 books in February!

  • JANUARY 2025 READS

    I am a little bit behind, so I’ll post a couple of pictures from earlier this year before March is done. When I wonder why I don’t get a lot done in my life, I look at lists like this and go, “Oh, yeah. Reading.”

    Have you read any of these? I was trying to pick a favorite from the month of January and I’m not sure I can. KJ Charles is a perennial favorite. A definite buy for me. Allie Therin has a couple of series I really enjoy and have read a couple of times. The latest in the “Sugar & Vice” series ends with a cliffhanger and ahhh! I know patience is a virtue, but this is why I like coming to a series late.

    I’ve been making my way through Gillian St. Kevern’s “How to Raise Your Werewolf” and “Read by Candlelight” series (so you’ll definitely see more in February’s collection). The two series are really interconnected and I have no idea what the reading order is. But if you like gothic romance, give them a try. They’re not long books, which I appreciate so I can still get some sleep at night.

  • Learning curve

    When I wrote my intro on here, I said it would be a slow process, but I didn’t realize how slow. There is a lot of information out there that I don’t seem to be absorbing as quickly as I’d like.

    I have made a little bit of progress simply from watching some other writers. One I like whose book I recently reviewed, Jordan L. Hawk, changed his website to sell directly using BookFunnel. I think I’d heard the name before, but I didn’t know anything about it. And while I’m still trying to figure things out, they have good information on their website that anyone can use, even without purchasing their services.

    So I’m learning. Slowly. I know people do this every day, so I try not to get discouraged when I feel overwhelmed. It’s something new. It’s stretching me. I will figure it out.

  • The Bachelor’s Valet by Arden Powell

    This was a lovely little read. I always enjoy when I am smiling as I finish a book.

    Time-period was a little tricky to pin down. They drove cars but people’s parents were still forcing them to get engaged. So it feels a bit like a regency romance, but obviously not.

    Also, there’s magic, but it seems either useless or so widespread that it’s just part of life.

    The point of view character is supposedly empty-headed. Usually characters like this annoy me, I think because so often it’s an excuse to renounce responsibility for themselves or their actions. This one hurt my heart a little bit because he was obviously aware of his lack and how people responded to him. He does give over the running of his life to his valet, though, but at least he seems to have found the right person to place his trust in. So he’s not a complete idiot, just very naive and, luckily for him, rich.

    He’s been ticking along until his mother forces him to get engaged to a girl. This throws his life in a tizzy, but maybe for the best as it can finally settle into the kind of life where he can be consciously happy rather than heedlessly so.