Always Me

Happy Thursday everyone!  Today, I'm sharing my February update for  Bookforager's Picture Prompt Book Bingo 2026 .  In February, I completed 3 out of 4 read so far of a total of 16 books on my tbr.  Without further ado, keep reading to see my thoughts on the books I read in February for this challenge: 8. A cooking pot hanging over a campfire ❋   ❋  ❋ Showstopper  by Lily Anderson  is a solid YA horror thriller. I wouldn't call it a favorite, but it has its moments. I do wish the characters felt more developed and the satire/ humor elements didn't always hit for me. In a way it reminded me of the tv series Scream Queens , so if you enjoyed that tv series you may want to check out this novel. My review is also on Goodreads and The StoryGraph . 1. A teacup and a saucer ❋   ❋  ❋  ❋   ❋  The Tea Dragon Society  ( Tea Dragon  #1) by K. O'Neill  was so stinking cute and I absolutely need to read the rest of this...

Happy Tuesday everyone!  Today I'm sharing my second update for my February progress for the year long Read Queerly 2026 which is hosted by Alexx @  Enthralled Bookworm .  In February, I completed 3 books for a total of 5 read so far out of 16 total books on my tbr.  You can see my original tbr here .  Keep reading to see the sixteen books on my tbr for this challenge: 16. Start Game Button icon: A queer book featuring video games/gamers or even tabletop RPGs ❋   ❋  ❋ I absolutely loved the art of  The Last Session Vol. 1: Roll for Initiative  ( The Last Session  #1-5) by Jasmine Walls , but for the most part the only character I actually liked was Cassandra and maybe Jay. Everyone else is pretty self-absorbed and they're jerks to Cassandra. I wish we got to know Jay a little more though since the character never got much of a POV part at all. Honestly, when the group apologized to Cassandra, I was really wishing Cassandra woul...

      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  All-the-genres on The StoryGraph  books,  Stone Blind  by Natalie Hayes .  I've been working my way through this StoryGraph challenge for over a year now and I'm finally getting close.  I've loved t...

Happy Thursday everyone!  Today I'm sharing my second update for my February progress for the year long  Beat The Backlist 2026  reading challenge, hosted by Austine Decker.  You can see my original tbr  here .  In February, I completed 3 books for a total of 6 read so far out of 24 total books on my tbr.  Not bad so far!  Without further ado, keep reading to see my thoughts on the books I read in February: 5. anthology of shorts: collection of short stories and/or poetry ❋   ❋  ❋ Small Horrors: A Collection of Fifty Creepy Stories  by Darcy Coates  is fine, but none of them particularly stood out from the next or had me wanting more. As a fan of the author, I'm glad I decided to try this. but honestly I could take it or leave it. I would have preferred less stories with more focus on those stories. My review is also on  Goodreads  and  The StoryGraph . 10. classics past or present: classic novel or ret...

        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: Magic for Nothing ( InCryptid #6) by Seanan McGuire Published: March 7, 2017 Genre: Urban fantasy My Copy: Format: Mass market paperback Pages: 352 Where I Acquired It: Library book sale Summary (From Goodreads): Improbable, adjective: 1. Not very likely to happen; not probable. 2. Probably not a very good idea anyway. 3. See also “bad plan.” As the youngest of the three Price children, Antimony is used to people not expecting much from her. She’s been happy playing roller derby and hanging out with her cousins, leaving the globe-trotting to her older sib...

Happy Wednesday everyone! Today I'm sharing my my second update for my February progress for the year long reading challenge called  The 52 Book Club's 2026 Reading Challenge .  You can see my original tbr  here .  In February, I completed 5 books for a total of 16 read so far out of 52 total books on my tbr.  More great progress and I had some pretty great reading overall.  Keep reading to see my thoughts on the books I read in February for the rest of this challenge: 37. Started on the 26th of the month ❋   ❋  So one of my friends got me  Winter, White and Wicked  ( Winter, White and Wicked  #1) by Shannon Dittemore  in one of those blind date with a book things where the book comes wrapped up in paper with a few keywords written on it to catch your eye and a few little treats like stickers, bookmarks, and pens in between folds of the wrappings. Neither of us had heard of it before, but the Mad Max: Fury Road meets...

Happy Tuesday everyone!  Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by  That Artsy Reader Girl .  This week's topic is Quotes From/ About Books, and I'm going to specifically feature Quotes From The Best Books I Read In 2025.  The books I'm featuring are the books featured on my January 6th TTT list . Without further ado, here we go in alphabetical order by title:  A Drop of Corruption  ( Shadow of the Leviathan  #2) by Robert Jackson Bennett “It is good to place oneself before the vast expanse of this world," said Ana. "The ocean cannot tell the difference between a rich man and a poor one, nor one full of happiness, nor despair. To those waves, all are so terribly small.” His Majesty's Dragon  ( Temeraire  #1) by Naomi Novik “Temeraire said, 'It is very nice how many books there are, indeed. And on so many subjects!” Incidents Around the House  by Josh Malerman “The older I get, the more I think the barometer for intelligence is how ki...

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 Black Gryph0n .  I started hearing a some of his Hazbin Hotel songs on Pandora and had a blast with them.  Give a listen to Insane and Upside Down :  You are invited to the Inlinkz link party! Click here to enter

Happy Saturday everyone!  Today I'm sharing my plans for the the Spring Into Reading Athon 2026 which is hosted by Completely Melanie .  I've heard about the SeasonAthon before now, but this will be my first time participating in a round.  This round will run through all of March and all of the prompts are Spring or March themed.  I am aiming for one bingo (diagonally from top left to bottom right).  Without further ado, here are my plans for each prompt: Spring Cleaning: Read a book that has been collecting dust on your TBR My choice:  The Soul Slayer  by Paul Doherty  - This was actually one of my Books on the Backlog titles from December 26, 2024 .  It's just been hanging out for far too long. Spring Fashion: Read a book with a beautiful cover My choice:  The Hexologists  ( The Hexologists  #1) by Josiah Bancroft  - I love the look of this and I can't believe I've been putting it off for so long too. Read the group boo...

      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  All-the-genres on The StoryGraph  books,  Five Broken Blades  ( The Broken Blades  #1) by Mai Corland .  I've been working my way through this StoryGraph challenge for over a year now and I'm finall...

        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...