Always Me

Happy Saturday everyone!  Today, I'm sharing my wrap up and mini reviews for my Pride Month 2025 reads.  Of the 14 books on my original tbr, I managed to read 11 of them.  For the most part, I had a pretty good reading month.  If you'd like, you can check out my original tbr post here .  Without further ado, keep reading to see my thoughts on the books I read for my challenge: Books I Own: ❋   ❋ Honestly,  A Dark and Drowning Tide  by Allison Saft  wasn't what I thought it was going to be - and not really in a good way either.  The premise sounded like it could be quite promising, but it the story itself doesn't quite mesh with that.  I wouldn't quite call this a dark academic rivals to lovers story either.  The situation with the villain and the resolution to the story, even the whole reason for the quest in the first place, was off putting to me.  It definitely has a WWI and WWII political undertone to it and I wasn't ex...

      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 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 my July Year In Aeldia 2025, The Boardgame book,  Incidents Around the House  by Josh Malerman .  I've heard so many great things about it and these snippets sure sound intriguing. Beginning: Good night, Daddo! Good ...

  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 Last Adventure of Constance Verity  ( Constance Verity  #1)   by A. Lee Martinez Published: June 14, 2016 Genre: Urban fantasy My Copy: Format: Hardback Pages: 384 Where I Acquired It: A library book sale Summary (From Goodreads): Constance Verity has been saving the world since she was seven, and she’s sick of it. She sets off on one last adventure to assassinate her fairy godmother and become the one thing she’s never been: ordinary. Ever since she was granted a wish at birth by her fairy godmother, Constance Verity has become one of the world’s great adventure...

Happy Wednesday everyone!  Starting in this month, I've decided to do another round of my Spell It Out Reading Challenge.  You can see my 2023 challenge tbr  here  and my 2024 one 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.  I'll give myself until next July to finish my challenge.  Without further ado, keep reading to see the books I plan on reading for this challenge: LAUREN L -  The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff - A friend gave me this one and it sounds pretty fascinating.  A - The Anubis Slayings ( Amerotke #3) by Paul Doherty - I haven't read the others in this series, but this does sound like a cool historical mystery. U - Under the Pendulum Sun by Jeanette Ng - I found this at a thrift shop recently and it looks and sounds like it c...

      Happy Tuesday everyone!  Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by  That Artsy Reader Girl .  This week's topic is a Freebie, so I've decided to continue that series I've been working on and feature my Favorite Books Beginning With The Letter N.  Without further ado, here we go in alphabetical order by title: Nevermore ( Cal Leandros #10) by Rob Thurman - Knowing that we'll never know what happens next after this still kills me, but I still loved this. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro - This sci-fi dystopia is beautifully haunting and definitely a must read if you like the genre. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern - It's been ages since I read this one, but I remember that it was just magical. Night Film by Marisha Pessl - This mystery, horror thriller is still sovereign, deadly, and perfect. Night Owls by A.R. Vishny - This YA fantasy is a hidden gem and absolutely deserves a lot more love and attention. The Night Watc...

Happy Tuesday everyone and welcome to my sixth  2025 Popsugar Reading Challenge  update with mini reviews!   In June, I read 7 books for a total of 44 completed out of 50.  Only 6 to go!  Keep reading to see my thoughts on the books I read in June:  ❋   ❋  ❋ Zombie Apocalypse Running Club  by Carrie Mac  isn't quite what I was expecting it to be at all.  Tonally, it's something else.  It also reads a bit younger than I thought it would as well, but honestly it that mostly works for it given the characters.  I did appreciate that their is a good found family element and the sense of humor.  I'm glad I listened to the audiobook because the production and narration was great. My review is also on  Goodreads  and  The StoryGraph . ❋   ❋  ❋  ❋   ❋ We Shall Be Monsters  ( We Shall Be Monsters  #1) by Tara Sim  is my favorite book by this author so far.  It pul...