Always Me

Happy Saturday everyone!  I hope everyone's had a good April so far.  I've now completed 6 tasks for  Book Riot's 2026 Read Harder Challenge .  The tasks I completed in April required me to read a   nonfiction book about resistance   and a  nonfiction comic .   I selected  Madame Fourcade's Secret War: The Daring Young Woman Who Led France's Largest Spy Network Against Hitler  by Lynne Olson  and  Hyperbole and a Half  by Allie Brosh  respectively.   Read on to see my mini reviews and my plans for next month: ❋   ❋  ❋  ❋   ❋ Madame Fourcade's Secret War: The Daring Young Woman Who Led France's Largest Spy Network Against Hitler  by Lynne Olson  is a book I'd been eyeing at the library for a few years now and I'm glad Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge finally got me to check it out.  Honestly, I should have learned about Marie-Madeleine Fourcade earlier.  She ...

      On Friday's I take part in two weekly link ups - The Friday 56, currently hosted by  Anne @ My Head Is Full of Books , and Book Beginnings, hosted by  Rose City Reader .  For The Friday 56, you choose a book, a book you have just finished, a book you are about to start, your current read, and share a line or a few lines that grab you (but don't spoil anything) from page 56 or 56% of the way through the ebook. Post it and share your post's url on Anne's most recent Friday 56 post. As for Book Beginnings, you share the first sentence or so and your initial thoughts, impressions, or whatever else it inspires, and then link up your post's url with Rose City Reader. Happy Friday everyone!  This week I'm spotlighting one of my  Beat The Backlist 2026  books,  A Language of Dragons  (A  Language of Dragons  #1) by S.F. Williamson .  This sounds really cool to me. I haven't heard a whole lot about it though. Beginn...

        Happy Thursday everyone! Welcome back to  Books from the Backlog , the weekly linkup I'm taking part of which is hosted by  Carole's Random Life in Books .  This is a great way to put a spotlight on books that I've had sitting on my shelf for awhile.  I don't know when I'll get to my weekly featured book, but I hope to some time hopefully soon. This Week's Neglected Book: Serpent in the Thorns ( Crispin Guest Medieval Noir #2) by Jeri Westerson Published: 2009 Genre: Historical Mystery My Copy: Format: Hardback Pages: 288 Where I Acquired It: Thrift shop Summary (From Goodreads): Convicted of treason, Crispin Guest was stripped of his title, his land, his money and his friends. Now with only his considerable wits to sustain him, Guest works the mean streets of 14th century London, building a small reputation for his skill.  In 1384, a simpleminded tavern girl comes to his door—a body was found where she works and she’s the...

  Happy Tuesday everyone!  Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by  That Artsy Reader Girl .  This week's topic is Books About/Set In Places on My Bucket List, but I've decided to feature books by authors from my home state of Ohio with Books From Ohio Authors I've Never Read I Want To Try.  It's fun to spotlight books by authors from my home state, especially if their stories are set in Ohio since I might actually recognize locations at least a little bit.  Anyways, here we go in alphabetical order by title: All Is Fair by Dee Garretsen  - This 2019 YA historical fiction standalone is set during WWI and the main character gets pulled into the world of spies and international intrigue. Crime and Poetry ( A Magical Bookshop Mystery #1) by Amanda Flower - Cozy mysteries aren't always my thing, but this fantasy inspired one sounds like fun.  I've been eyeing some of the author's other mysteries at the library as well. The Demon King ( Sev...

  Happy Monday everyone and welcome back to Music Monday!  Let's share some songs we've been enjoying!  If you would like to link up with me, please see the rules below. Rules: Every Monday share a few songs you've been enjoying.  It doesn't have to be a specific genre, new, or one of your favorites - just something you'd like to share with others.  If possible, share a music or lyric video of the song and your thoughts on the song(s), artist(s), and/or music video(s). If you would like to participate in Music Monday, please join the link up by sharing your post's url.  Hello everyone! Today, I'm featuring five of my favorite pieces from the soundtrack of  The Mandalorian , Season 2 .  I just recently finished watching it and I absolutely loved it.  I liked the first season, but I preferred the second season. There were some inspired choices that were made with the Ludwig Goransson's score.  Give a listen to  Ship o hoj, Mandalorian...

Happy Saturday everyone!  Today I'm sharing my wrap up and mini reviews for the March 2026 Bingo Round of the  Trope-ical Readathon  which was hosted by  Jenjenreviews .  Itran the entire month of March and I was on Team Fantasy.  This time around we've got unique bingo boards to complete that are based around your choice of team.  Of the 25 books on my original tbr , I managed to complete one bingo with a few extra squares for a total of 10 books.  Keep reading to see my thoughts on the books I read for this round: Dark Academia ❋  ❋ I really wanted to love  Katabasis  by R.F. Kuang , but I was so irritated by the characters and the tone that it put me right off. I made it about 200 pages before I started skimming to see if anything would catch my eye to make me slow down to savor it but that never really happened again. Finally, I just wanted to mention that I couldn't help but think that Alice should talk to the Winchester b...