Always Me

        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: Death Blows ( The Bloodhound Files #2) by D.D. Barant Published: March 30, 2010 Genre: Urban fantasy My Copy: Format: Mass market paperback Pages: 352 Where I Acquired It: Thrift store Summary (From Goodreads): FBI profiler Jace Valchek was pulled into this parallel realm to hunt for Aristotle Stoker, a human serial killer who preys on vampires and werewolves. Now she works for the National Security Agency of the Unnatural States of America—and her boss is a vampire. At a bizarre crime scene, Jace finds a bloodsucker murdered by magic, fried to the bone and dre...

Happy Tuesday everyone!  Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by  That Artsy Reader Girl .  This week's topic is Books for Armchair Travelers, but I feel like I've done something like this recently enough that I'll do something else altogether.  This week instead I'm featuring some of my favorite Hidden Gems of 2025.  I'm not just counting 2025 releases, but everything I read over the course of the year that I think more people should know about.  All of the books on my list this week have under 1,000 ratings on Goodreads.  Without further ado, here we go in alphabetical order by title:  Elizabethan Life in Town and Country by M. St. Clare Byrne - Goodreads ratings: 1 rating - I'm the only one for this one!  It  covers a wide variety of topics and was absolutely fascinating.  I'm glad I decided to give this a try when I saw it for 50 cents at Goodwill. Hick: The Trailblazing Journalist Who Captured the Heart of Eleanor Roosev...

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 three of my favorites from Lydia the Bard .  I just happened to stumble upon her channel on YouTube and got hooked.  She's got quite a variety of music and I've had a good time exploring her music.  Give a listen to Run , Grow Up , and  Way Back When : You are invited to the Inlinkz link party! Click here to enter

Happy Sunday everyone!  I hope everyone's had a good February so far.  I've completed my 4 tasks for  Book Riot's 2026 Read Harder Challenge .  The tasks I completed in February required me to read a  microhistory  and a book about a cult or cults .   I selected  The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration  by Isabel Wilkerson  and  How Bad Things Can Get  by Darcy Coates  respectively.   Read on to see my mini reviews and my plans for next month: ❋   ❋  ❋  ❋ The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration  by Isabel Wilkerson  is a must read that feels timely and fresh.  I don't think I was quite as invested in this as I was with Caste .  That said, I'm grateful that these stories of these three people and their lives are known.  Wilkerson's style makes a history I otherwise I wouldn't have been all that familiar with co...

      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,  The Halloween Moon  by Joseph Fink .  Welcome to Night Vale is one of my favorite podcasts so when I found out about this book from Joseph Fink I thought I'd check it out....

        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: The Murder Game by Carrie Doyle Published: April 6, 2021 Genre: YA mystery thriller My Copy: Format: Trade paperback Pages: 384 Where I Acquired It: Target Summary (From Goodreads): What if your best friend and roommate killed a teacher at your prep school? Or what if he didn’t do it, but he’s being framed, and you’re the only person who can save him? Luke Chase didn’t mean to get caught up solving the mystery of Mrs. Heckler’s murder. He just wanted to spend alone time with the new British girl at their boarding school. But little did he know someone would e...