Always Me

                        On Friday's I take part in two weekly link ups - The Friday 56, hosted by  Freda's Voice  ( Anne @ My Head Is Full of Books  is currently managing hosting duties), 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 Freda'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 one of my  Beat The Backlist 2024  books,  Sal and Gabi Break the Universe  ( Sal and Gabi  #1) by Carlos Hernandez . I've heard a lot of great things about this and

  Happy Thursday everyone! Today I'm sharing my sixth update for my June progress on the year long  Beat The Backlist 2024  reading challenge, hosted by  Austine Decker .  You can see my original tbr  here .  In June, I completed 5 books for a total of 33 books completed out of 52 books on my tbr.  Without further ado, keep reading to see my thoughts on the books I read in June: ❋   ❋  ❋   It's interesting that while  Chaucer's Tale: 1386 and the Road to Canterbury  by Paul Strohm  revolves around Chaucer that he's not always the center of the story.  Honestly, that formatting choice was the most surprising aspect of this book.  That said, it works for the most part but I just wish there was more detail about his life.  My review is also on Goodreads . ❋   ❋  Toil & Trouble  by Augusten Burroughs  is my first book from this author.  While I liked his writing style well enough, I can definitely say I'm too much of a skeptic to really enjoy reading this as a memoi

Happy Thursday (and Independence Day in the United States) everyone!  Today, I'm sharing my June update for the  12 Books 12 Friends Reading Challenge 2024 .  In June, I managed to complete 2 books for a total 12 out of the 12 books.  I can't believe I've already finished this challenge!  Thanks for all the recommendations!  Without further ado, keep reading to see my thoughts on the books I read in June: ❋   ❋  ❋   ❋  ❋   Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent was awesome! I'm glad it was recommended to me for the 12 Books 12 Friends Challenge.  I knew absolutely nothing about it going in, and I highly recommend going into this story blind.  I will say though that it kind of reminds me of both Room by Emma Donoghue and Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. My review is also on Goodreads . ❋   ❋ The Proof of the Pudding ( Her Royal Spyness #17) by Rhys Bowen is the most recent installment of a long running series.  I haven't read a single one of the previous bo

     Happy Wednesday everyone and welcome to my sixth  2024 Popsugar Reading Challenge  update with mini reviews!   In June, I completed 4 books for a total of 35 so far this year out of 50 books.  I can't believe I've only got 15 left!  Keep reading to see my thoughts on the books I read in June: ❋  ❋  ❋  ❋  ❋ Not My Father's Son  by Alan Cumming  is a must read memoir.  He's always been one of my favorites and I can't recommend this enough.  Plus, he narrates the audiobook himself.  I'm glad he was able to turn his rough life growing up in to something meaningful. My review is also on Goodreads . ❋  ❋  ❋  ❋  ❋ I was so nervous going into  The Phantom of the Opera  by Gaston Leroux  since I love several movie adaptations of this (one of my favorites is Phantom of the Paradise from 1974) and the musical - movie and Broadway. I don't know why I waited to read the source material but it was excellent!  If you're looking for a great gothic horror mystery, y

        Happy Tuesday everyone! Today I'm sharing my thoughts on the book I read for June for the  Choose Your Own Adventure: Year In Adelia , 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. Read about first recorded companions - book you've had for ages (June): ❋   ❋ I spotted  The Inscription  ( The MacAlpins  #1) by Pam Binder  at a used bookstore and it sounded intriguing enough to try it. I think I was more interested in the idea of it than the final product. It's something along the lines of Highlander meets Outlander , but it could have used a few more rounds of editing to tighten it up. Plus, there were quite a few typos, misspelled words, and other errors that a previous owner had circled in pencil. Honestly, didn't help me stick with it. My review is also on Goodreads . Are you participating in this challenge?  Have you read this book?  As always, tha

      Happy Tuesday everyone!  Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday which is is hosted by  That Artsy Reader Girl .  This week's topic is Books With My Favorite Color On The Cover, but I've decided to do something a bit different this week.  I found this via Louise @  Foxes & Fairy Tales  (she found it Pam @  Read Bake Create ) and the idea is to share ten of your favorite books that begin with a certain letter.  Today, I'm continuing my series by featuring ten of my favorite books beginning with the letter B.  Without further ado, here we go in alphabetical order: Babel by R.F. Kuang The Bad Beginning ( A Series of Unfortunate Events #1) by Lemony Snicket Becoming by Michelle Obama Before the Devil Breaks You ( The Diviners #3) by Libba Bray Beneath the Sugar Sky ( Wayward Children #3) by Seanan McGuire The Big Sleep ( Philip Marlowe #1) by Raymond Chandler Blood Red Road ( Dust Lands  #1) by Moira Young The Book of Koli ( Rampart Trilogy #1) by M.R. Carey The Brothers Cabal ( J

Happy Monday everyone!  Starting in this month, I've decided to do another round of the Spell It Out Reading Challenge.  You can see my 2023 challenge tbr here .  The rules for this challenge are pretty easy - you have to read books to spell out your name by using book titles.  That means I'll be reading to spell out my first name and blog name, LAUREN ALWAYS ME, so I'll be reading 14 books.  Without further ado, keep reading to see the books I plan on reading for this challenge: LAUREN L - The Library of the Dead ( Edinburgh Nights #1) by T.L. Huchu  - I've seen some mixed reviews but this urban fantasy sounds intriguing. A - Among the Living by Jonathan Rabb - A friend of mine gave me this post-WWII work of historical fiction with great things to say about it.  I hope I enjoy it! U - Unholy Ghosts ( Downside Ghosts #1) by Stacia Kane - This urban fantasy series opener sounds like it could be really cool. R - Rhinegold by Stephen Grundy - Norse mythology based fanta

                      Happy Monday everyone and welcome back to Music Monday! Let's share some songs we've been enjoying lately!  If you would like to play and I really hope you do, please see the rules and link up below. Rules: Every Monday share a few songs you've been enjoying lately.  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. Happy Monday everyone!  This week I'm spotlighting a couple of songs from the  Allen Brothers .  So, not long ago I was at a thrift shop and they were playing a very eclectic mix of music including these two songs.  Anyway, they were pretty popular in the 1920s and 1930s and would be considered old time music.  It seems like it would f