Always Me

Happy Monday everyone! Today I'm sharing my thoughts on the book I read in October for Choose Your Own Adventure: Year In Adelia 2026, The Boardgame , an additional challenge to G. @ Book Roast 's Magical Readathon .  You can see my full tbr here .  Without further ado, check out my mini review below: October - 10B - Meet entry wardens (ah finally, the gates to the Capital of Darkmeadow, but you get stopped by the wardens.  This city has strict entry rules, you'll have to convince them to let you in.) - read a debut novel ❋ ❋  ❋ Friend Request by Laura Marshall  has a pretty great premise, but it's a bit underwhelming in the end. One thing I appreciated the most was the dual timeline from 1989 to 2016. My least favorite thing about the story was easily our main character. She's a little too whiny about everything which made me lose interest in her fairly early on in the story. My review is also on Goodreads and The StoryGraph . Next Month: November - 11B - Pay ...

Happy Monday everyone!  Today I'm sharing my October update for my progress for both the year long reading challenges,  Beat The Backlist 2026   &  The 52 Book Club's 2026 Reading Challenge .  Beat the Backlist is hosted by Austine Decker and I completed 3 books for a total of 22 read out of 24 books on my tbr.  You can see my original tbr here .  For the The 52 Book Club's challenge, I read 2 book for a total of 50 out of 52 books.  You can see my original tbr for it  here .  I'm so close to being done wih both of them!  Without further ado, keep reading to see my thoughts on the books I read in October for these two challenges: ❋  ❋  ❋ I found a 1910 edition of  The Kingdom of Slender Swords by Hallie Erminie Rives   at a local antique shop and it really caught my attention and since the seller was only asking a few dollars I thought I'd give it a try. The Japanese stuff is really interesting and pres...

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!   In honor of SciFi Month 2026 , a celebration of all things sci-fi and it's hosted by Lisa @ Dear Geek Place , Imyril @ There's Always Room For One More , Annemieke @ A Dance With Books , and Mayri @ Book Forager , all of my Music Monday posts will be sci-fi themed.    Today, I'm featuring some of my favorite pieces composed by Daniel Pemberton from  Proje...

Happy Sunday everyone and welcome to SciFi Month 2026!  SciFi Month is a month long celebration of all things sci-fi and it's hosted by Lisa @ Dear Geek Place , Imyril @ There's Always Room For One More , Annemieke @ A Dance With Books , and Mayri @ Book Forager .  You can also find it on Bluesky here and follow along with #SciFiMonth26 .  This year will be my 10th year participating - a whole decade, wow!  (Art credit: Art Credit Image captured by the James Webb Space Telescope.  Use of this image does not imply affiliation with or endorsement by NASA. Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Klaus Pontoppidan (STScI), Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI), Text: Dolly Parton. )   This month I'll still be doing my regular posts, but my Music Monday, Top Ten Tuesday, Books From The Backlog, and Friday Book Snippets will have a sci-fi twist.  Also, be on the look out for sci-fi movie and tv reviews and maybe a few other special things this month. Who knows...

On Fridays, I participate in the weekly linkup called Friday Book Snippets, co-hosted by Anne @ HeadFullofBooks and Olivia @ Bemused and Bookish .  The directions for are pretty simple.  Share two snippets (a sentence or short paragraph) from a. the book's beginning and b. page 56 (or another page) in the book you are currently reading. No spoilers, please. Join the fun every Friday.  Previously, this was The Friday 56 hosted by Anne @ HeadFullofBooks and Rose City Reader . Happy Friday everyone!  This week I'm spotlighting one of my Halloween Reads books,  Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman .  I think this is going to be right up my alley. Beginning: Now in these days the Lord God had turned His face from the business of men; and the angels who had remained loyal to Him said to one another, we must look after the children of Adam.  And they did so, as best they could. 56: Part of the thing coiled through the water in front of him. Are you par...

        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: A Radical Act of Free Magic ( The Shadow Histories #2) by H.G. Parry Published: July 20, 2021 Genre: Historical Fantasy My Copy: Format: Paperback Pages: 495 Where I Acquired It: A yard sale Summary (From Goodreads): A tale of revolution and wonder in a world not quite like our own, A Radical Act of Free Magic is the conclusion to this genre-defying series of magic, war, and the struggle for freedom in the early modern world. The Concord has been broken, and a war of magic engulfs the world. In France, the brilliant young battle-mage Napoleon Bonaparte has summoned a kraken from...