Always Me

  Happy Sunday everyone!  I can't believe it's already the end of August!  Today I'm sharing my my eigth update for my progress for the year long reading challenge called the 2026 Popsugar Reading Challenge .  In August, I completed 3 books for a total of 44 read so far out of 50 total books on my tbr.  Only 6 to go!  You can see my original tbr here .  Keep reading to see my thoughts on the books I read in August for this challenge: 26. A book with a character who navigates infertility ❋ ❋ The Children of Men by P.D. James  would be a different story for me if I hadn't already seen the movie that it was adapted from. For me, this is definitely a case of the movie being far, far better than the book that inspired it. I will say though, world-building is the strongest element. A lot of what took this down was the characterizations. I wasn't interested in anything happening to any of them. My review is also on Goodreads and The StoryGraph . 20. A ...

Happy Sunday everyone!  Today I'm sharing my eighth update for my August progress for the year long Beat The Backlist 2026 reading challenge, hosted by Austine Decker.  You can see my original tbr here .  In August, I completed 1 book for a total of 18 read so far out of 24 total books on my tbr.  6 to go!  Without further ado, keep reading to see my thoughts on the book I read in August: 20. recs in real life: recommended by a family member or close friend ❋ ❋  ❋ ❋ The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World by Jonathan Freedland  is a must read history book. Even though the author's style didn't always quite work for me, I still think that more people need to know this story.  It's depressing that it feels so timely. My review is also on Goodreads and The StoryGraph . Are you participating in this challenge?  Have you read this book?  As always, thanks for visiting my blog and perhaps even commenting dow...

Happy Sunday everyone!  Today, I'm sharing my August update for Bookforager's Picture Prompt Book Bingo 2026 .  In August, I completed 2 out of 14 read so far of a total of 16 books on my tbr.  Without further ado, keep reading to see my thoughts on the book I read in August for this challenge: 5. A hot air balloon ❋ ❋ ❋  Airborn ( Matt Cruse #1) by Kenneth Oppel  was quite a fun adventure with engaging characters and writing style. As much as I liked this, though, I think it's definitely a case of simply being a book that I would have absolutely loved even more if I read it back when it was new and I was younger. I'm not sure if I'll continue on with this series or not at this time. My review is also on Goodreads and The StoryGraph . 11. A hand holding a threaded needle ❋ ❋  ❋ ❋ Such Wicked Intent ( The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein #2) by Kenneth Oppel  is a great finale and retelling/ prequel of one of my favorite classics. It's been a w...

Happy Sunday everyone! Today I'm sharing my thoughts on the book I read in August 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: August - 8B - Use Truelight (the darkness here is all consuming, it's dimming your light spells, the torch goes out, even your thoughts are turning against you.  You've read that only Truelight works under these mountains, luckily you've been gifted some and it's time to activate it) - read a book with a world "light" in the title ❋ ❋ Spiderlight by Adrian Tchaikovsky  wasn't quite my style unfortunately. I really liked the idea of this one as a light fantasy, but the tone of the author's writing style didn't mesh with what he was going for in my mind. It worked well for the sci-fi I've read from him but not so much here in comparison. My r...

Happy Saturday everyone!  Today I'm sharing my plans for the SeasonAthon Academy Semester Five  which is hosted by Completely Melanie , with cohosts BookAndBuJo and AStar Reads .  I participated in SeasonAThon's Spring Into Reading Athon 2026, but this will be my first time participating in SeasonAthon Academy.  This round will run through all of September and all of the prompts are themed to college coursework to earn your "Bachelor of Reading."  There are five required courses (some of which have multiple prompt options) and one group book which you can elect to use to complete one of your courses.  Without further ado, here are my plans for each prompt: Group Book: Half City ( Harker Academy #1) by Kate Golden - I actually own a copy of this so I was really excited to see this was the group book.  It sounds like it will be a lot of fun!  I think I'll use this as just the group book and select five totally different books for the other tasks. ...

Happy Friday everyone!  I hope everyone's had a good August.  This year is really flying by, isn't it!  I've now completed 16 tasks for Book Riot's 2026 Read Harder Challenge .  The tasks I completed in August required me to r ead/try a recipe from a cookbook about a culture whose food you’ve never eaten and a  book by a librarian .   I selected  FUSÃO: Untraditional recipes inspired by Brasil by Ixta Belfrage  and  A World Worth Saving by Kyle Lukoff  respectively.   Read on to see my mini reviews and my plans for next month:   ❋ ❋ ❋ FUSÃO: Untraditional recipes inspired by Brasil by Ixta Belfrage   has some great photography. Honestly, I can say I was much more interested in the history and culture segments than the actual recipes. I already know that I won't be making any of the recipes in this book though.  Let me just say, I have no idea where I'd get some of the regular ingredients for th...

      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 Summer of Horror 2026 (hosted by Tammy @ Books, Bones & Buffy ),  Koko ( Blue Rose Trilogy #1) by Peter Straub .  Okay, this has been sitting on my shelf for about a million years and I'm finally going to give it a try. B...