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Music Monday - Sleep Theory "Static"

Sleep Theory’s album has been on repeat lately. I just really dig their music and it’s so easy to sing along to!

Life Right Now #9

As I look outside my window:

Death Note Vol. 6

Light Yagami is an ace student with great prospects--and he's bored out of his mind. But all that changes when he finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by a...

Death Note Vol. 5

Light Yagami is an ace student with great prospects--and he's bored out of his mind. But all that changes when he finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by a...

Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher

Healer Anja regularly drinks poison. Not to die, but to save―seeking cures for those everyone else has given up on.But a summons from the King interrupts her...

House of Idyll by Delilah S. Dawson

Angelina Yves is a struggling singer/songwriter offered the chance of a lifetime to join the experimental luxury compound sponsored by the most famous band in...

The Seduction of Phaeton Black by Jillian Stone

In the gaslit streets of Victorian London, phantoms rule the night, demons dance till dawn, and one supernatural detective dares to be seduced by the greatest...

Currently #5

Reading: I’m so close to finishing House of Idyll by Delilah S. Dawson. I am loving this creepy cult novella.

Music Monday - Poppy, Amy Lee, and Courtney LaPlante "End of You"

Three powerhouse vocalists on one track! I cannot even handle this. It is just so so amazing.

First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston

Evie Porter has everything a nice Southern girl could want: a doting boyfriend, a house with a white picket fence, a tight group of friends. The only catch:...

Hexed by Emily McIntire

Spice Rating: 5

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

Snake-eater by T. Kingfisher

With only a few dollars to her name and her beloved dog Copper by her side, Selena flees her past in the city to claim her late aunt’s house in the desert town...

Music Monday - Babymetal feat. Spiritbox "My Queen"

I’m really into female led metal bands lately. Courtney and Spiritbox is amazing! And her collaborating with Babymetal is the perfect combo!

Life Right Now #8

As I look outside my window: It’s very overcast today. Making me feel a bit dreary.

February 2026 Wrap-up

February TBR Pile (16/16):

Gulp by Mary Roach

“America’s funniest science writer” (Washington Post) takes us down the hatch on an unforgettable tour. The alimentary canal is classic Mary Roach terrain: the...

Through Gates of Garnet and Cold by Seanan McGuire

After Nancy was cast out of the Halls of the Dead and forced to enroll at Eleanor West's School for Wayward Children, she never believed she'd find her door...

Currently #4

Reading: I’m halfway through Mary Roach’s Gulp all about the alimentary canal. I love her dry wit while sharing so much science.

Homeschool W24: Change of Plans

We started off the week thinking that it would be a normal week of a park playdate, dentist appointment for me, academic co-op, and a parent info meeting. Most...

Music Monday - ILLENIUM and Bring Me the Horizon "Slave to the Rithm"

I am always up for new BMTH music. And a collab with ILLENIUM is perfect for their sound. Loving this one!

Life Right Now #7

As I look outside my window: Bright and cold. Winter has returned.

Death Note Vol. 4

With two Kiras on the loose, L asks Light to join the task force and pose as the real Kira in order to catch the copycat. L still suspects Light and figures...

Death Note Vol. 3

Light Yagami is an ace student with great prospects--and he's bored out of his mind. But all that changes when he finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by a...

A Short Walk Through a Wide World by Douglas Westerbeke

Paris, 1885: Aubry Tourvel, a spoiled and stubborn nine-year-old girl, comes across a wooden puzzle ball on her walk home from school. She tosses it over the...

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

Death Note Vol. 2

Light Yagami is an ace student with great prospects--and he's bored out of his mind. But all that changes when he finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by a...

More Deadly Than War by Kenneth C. Davis

2018 marked the 100th anniversary of the worst disease outbreak in modern times: the Spanish flu, a story even more relevant today. This dramatic narrative,...

Homeschool W22-23: Weirdly Abbreviated Weeks..

These past two weeks ended up being filled with activities. That meant that we didn’t get as much book work done. But I am glad that we could take advantage of...

Music Monday - Yellowcard feat. Good Charlotte "Bedroom Posters"

I had no idea that these two bands decided to collab for a song! I am digging the throwback to late 90s early 2000s emo rock!

Life Right Now #6

As I look outside my window: Bright, sunny, and way too warm for February.

Death Note Vol. 1

Light Yagami is an ace student with great prospects--and he's bored out of his mind. But all that changes when he finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by a...

The Darkest Night

From some of the biggest names in horror comes an Advent calendar of short holiday horror stories perfect for the darkest nights of the year. Edited by...

The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow

Sir Una Everlasting was Dominion’s greatest hero: the orphaned girl who became a knight, who died for queen and country. Her legend lives on in songs and...

Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang

For twenty years, Sciona has devoted every waking moment to the study of magic, fueled by a mad desire to achieve the impossible: to be the first woman ever...

Currently #3

Reading: I picked up one of my Unread Shelf books, The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow. I was super excited to get it from BOTM lsat October. Finally getting to...

Music Monday - ATEEZ "Adrenaline"

ATEEZ’s comeback album snuck up on me. I was so distracted by the Stray Kids concert movie that I forgot about it until Friday. Thank goodness I remembered and...

Life Right Now #5

As I look outside my window: So bright and sunny out. It’s going to be unseasonably warm today and even warmer tomorrow. Nice to enjoy the warmer temperatures,...

Lights Out by Navessa Allen

Where It Got It: Library

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

Homeschool W21: So Much Curriculum

The weather was terrible, which meant that we spent most of the week at home. Plus we had a broken washer that I had to stay and wait on the repair man. This...

Music Monday - Motionless in White "Afraid of the Dark"

2026 is bringing a new Black Veil Brides album and a new Motionless in White album! I am so excited about both of these new releases. Currently the new...

Life Right Now #4

As I look outside my window: It’s still cold out there, but warmer than last week. I will take temperatures in the 20s and low 30s over the below zero temps...

January 2026 Wrap-up

January TBR Pile (13/14):

Voices in the Snow by Darcy Coates

Clare remembers the cold. She remembers abandoned cars and children's toys littered across the road. She remembers dark shapes in the snow and a terror she...

Mate by Ali Hazelwood

Spice Rating: 6

Music Monday - Chevelle "Pale Horse"

Chevelle is one of those bands that I occasionally forget about and then rediscover. I always dig their sound. Not sure why they seem so forgettable. Loving...

Life Right Now #3

As I look outside my window: It’s clear and cold. So so cold… Not looking forward to having to leave the house later.

Overgrowth by Mira Grant

This is just a story. It can't hurt you anymore.Since she was three years old, Anastasia Miller has been telling anyone who would listen that she's an alien...

Hooked by Emily McIntire

Spice Rating: 6

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

What Stalks the Deep by T. Kingfisher

Alex Easton does not want to visit America.They particularly do not want to visit an abandoned coal mine in West Virginia with a reputation for being...

Homeschool W19-20: January Blues...

We managed to get two weeks of school in before taking a break to visit the Great Wolf Lodge with friends. I will admit that we were really dragging our feet...

Music Monday - Black Veil Brides "Certainty"

A new single out from Black Veil Brides! And a new album dropping at the end of the month! I am in heaven right now. Loving the darker edge to the music with...

Life Right Now #2

As I look outside my window: It’s bright but still very cold!

Sphere by Michael Crichton

A classic thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Michael Crichton, Sphere is a bravura demonstration of what he does better than anyone: riveting...

Binti by Nnedi Okorafor

Her name is Binti, and she is the first of the Himba people ever to be offered a place at Oomza University, the finest institution of higher learning in the...

Currently #1

Reading: I’m in the middle of Sphere by Michael Crichton. It’s been so so long since I read this book. I’m thoroughly enjoying it!

Music Monday - Pierce the Veil "So Far So Fake"

An older Pierce the Veil song that I somehow completely missed. I’m really loving this sound and downloaded the corresponding album.

Life Right Now #1

On my bedside table: I have a random stack of library books to dive into soon after reading the book club book tonight. Thankfully it’s a short novella.

All These Worlds by Dennis E. Taylor

Being a sentient spaceship really should be more fun. But after spreading out through space for almost a century, Bob and his clones just can't stay out of...

Tourist Season by Brynne Weaver

Spice Rating: 6

The Wildest Things by Andrea Hannah

When her glass coffin unexpectedly shatters, Snow White awakens to anything but a dream. The land is rotting. The animals have mutated. In the twenty years...

2026 Reading Challenges

2026 Reading Challenges

2025 Reading Challenges Roundup: Completed and Failed

For 2025, I added some reading challenges to my plan, but didn’t force myself to tailor my reading to those challenges. I had a good variety of challenges, but...

2025 Wrap-up

Favorite Books of the Year:

December 2025 Wrap-up

December TBR Pile (11/12):

The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megan Bannen

Spice Rating: 5

Bingsu for Two by Sujin Witherspoon

Meet River Langston-Lee. In the past 24 hours, he’s dumped his girlfriend, walked out of his SATs, and quit his job at his parents’ cafe in spectacularly...

Homeschool W15-18

Arthur is primarily using Hearth and Story G6 for his language arts this year. While I love H&S, there’s never enough literature in there. Thankfully we have a...

Life Right Now #33

As I look outside my window: Bright and sunny yet again and not too cold.

Morbidly Yours by Ivy Fairbanks

Spice Rating: 5

Lore Olympus Vol. 9 by Rachel Smythe

Still really enjoying this series. I loved seeing Persephone start to come into her power and role as Queen of the Underworld. I loved seeing her take...

The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter

Spice Rating: 4

Music Monday - Kami Kehoe "Fade Out"

Found Kami when she was featured in one of my favorite Instagram poster’s videos. She reminds me a lot of Amy Lee. I’m really digging her vibe.

Life Right Now #32

As I look outside my window: It’s bright, but oh so cold! It is currently 11 degrees. Last night when I came home it was 2 degrees. BRRRRR!!!

The Lodge by Kayla Olson

Spice Rating: 2

Tender Cruelty by Katee Robert

Spice Rating: 5

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

Music Monday - hannah bahng "Misunderstood"

Very different vibe than her brother’s music, but I’ve really come to like Hannah Bahng’s music also.

Life Right Now #31

Right now I am: Sitting surrounded by project stacks. I need to get some house organization stuff done this morning and prepare for tonight’s Co-op meeting.

The Compound by Aisling Rawle

Lily—a bored, beautiful twenty-something—wakes up on a remote desert compound, alongside nineteen other contestants competing on a massively popular reality...

The Haunting of H.G. Wells by Robert Masello

It’s 1914. The Great War grips the world—and from the Western Front a strange story emerges…a story of St. George and a brigade of angels descending from...

Currently #20

Reading: In the middle of The Compound by Aisling Rawle. I really don’t know what I feel about this book. Definitely have mixed feelings.

Music Monday - Stray Kids "Divine"

Stray Kids dropped their new album and oh my goodness, I love it so much! “Divine” is hands-on my favorite of the tracks. But really the entire thing is a...

November 2025 Wrap-up

November TBR Pile (11/12):

Is a River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane

Hailed in the New York Times as “a naturalist who can unfurl a sentence with the breathless ease of a master angler,” Robert Macfarlane brings his glittering...

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

The Nightmare Before Kissmas by Sara Raasch

Nicholas “Coal” Claus used to love Christmas. Until his father, the reigning Santa, turned the holiday into a PR façade. Coal will do anything to escape the...

For We are Many by Dennis E. Taylor

Bob Johansson didn't believe in an afterlife, so waking up after being killed in a car accident was a shock. To add to the surprise, he is now a sentient...

Homeschool W13-14: Two Weeks of Normal

Another two weeks down! We’re getting closer to our Christmas break here. Managing to get a lot of work in during this in-between month.

Music Monday - CL "Spicy"

I was listening to a podcast Bang Chan and Felix from Stray Kids created for Apple Music in 2024 and they highlighted this track by CL. I had no knowledge of...

A Land So Wide by Erin A. Craig

Like everyone else in the settlement of Mistaken, Greer Mackenzie is trapped. Founded by an ambitious lumber merchant, the village is blessed with rich natural...

Currently #19

Reading: Another random library read with A Land So Wide by Erin A. Craig. I went in blind and am so glad that I did.

Music Monday - Take the Name feat. What Lies Below "Blackest Void"

Every once in awhile, Apple Music gives me a recommendation that I actually really love. This one definitely peaked my interest.

Life Right Now #30

As I look outside my window: Within two days, all the leaves on the trees fell. We went from beautiful fall colors to nothing. I’m a bit sad that they didn’t...

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

This House is Haunted by John Boyne

This House Is Haunted is a striking homage to the classic nineteenth-century ghost story. Set in Norfolk in 1867, Eliza Caine responds to an ad for a governess...

Currently #18

Reading: I randomly picked up This House is Haunted by John Boyne from the library shelves. It’s a homage to Dickens and gothic ghost stories. I’m really...

Homeschool W11-12: October is My Favorite Month!

This is actually two regular weeks and a Flex week all in one. But as expected, the end of October was crazy busy and we had to adjust. Now that we’ve reached...

Music Monday - Evanescence "Afterlife"

K-Pop summer is over, but don’t worry, I’m still listening to K-Pop all the time. For November, I’m swinging back to metal as my comfort music. This week I had...

Heartless by H.G. Parry

At the age of seven, in a London workhouse, newly-orphaned James meets ten-year-old Peter. Mysterious, mercurial, thoughtless to the point of cruelty, Peter...

My Funny Demon Valentine by Aurora Ascher

Spice Rating: 6

The Great Mortality by John Kelly

The plague that devastated Asia and Europe in the 14th century has been of never-ending interest to both scholarly and general readers. Many books on the...

Music Monday - HAN "Updraft"

It’s a K-Pop summer! After doing my Top 10 Stray Kids songs, I decided to focus on some other K-Pop groups and people that I enjoy.

October 2025 Wrap-up

October TBR Pile (26/30):

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 27

In a world where cursed spirits feed on unsuspecting humans, fragments of the legendary and feared demon Ryomen Sukuna have been lost and scattered about....

Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco

Emilia and her twin sister Vittoria are streghe - witches who live secretly among humans, avoiding notice and persecution. One night, Vittoria misses dinner...

Music Monday - Seungmin "Phobia"

It’s a K-Pop summer! After doing my Top 10 Stray Kids songs, I decided to focus on some other K-Pop groups and people that I enjoy.

Life Right Now #29

As I look outside my window: It’s a bit overcast, but definitely not as much as yesterday.

Everyone Knows Your Mother is a Witch by Rivka Galchen

The story begins in 1618, in the German duchy of Württemberg. Plague is spreading. The Thirty Years' War has begun, and fear and suspicion are in the air...

Fiend by Alma Katsu

Imagine if the Sackler family had a demon at their beck and call.The Berisha family runs one of the largest import-export companies in the world, and they’ve...

Tomes of Terror by Mark Leslie

Throughout history, books have inspired, informed, entertained, and enriched us. They have also kept us up through the night, thrilled us, and lured into their...

Royal Heart by Nana Malone

Spice Rating: 7

Currently #17

Reading: I grabbed Alma Katsu’s new book, Fiend, hoping for another great horror read. I’m about a third of the way in, but it’s not quite hitting the mark. We...

Homeschool W10: A Wild Week

Another week full of fall fun. We didn’t get a ton of school work done, but did make some progress on certain things. But we had a ton of fun with friends and...

Music Monday - Stray Kids "Ghost"

It’s a K-Pop summer! After doing my Top 10 Stray Kids songs, I decided to focus on some other K-Pop groups and people that I enjoy. But today, I’m switching...

Life Right Now #28

As I look outside my window: It’s bright and sunny but definitely fall temps today.

The Carrow Hunt by Darcy Coates

Some houses are merely haunted. Carrow House is something else entirely.

Shattered Innocence by Sara Cate

Spice Rating: 7

The Savior's Book Cafe Story in Another World Vol. 5

Despite being sent to another world as a Savior, Tsukina has managed to stay out of the spotlight and run her book cafe. With her marriage to her fiance Il on...

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

The Savior's Book Cafe Story in Another World Vol. 4

Tsukina has been keeping her great magical powers under wraps, content to spend her time with her book cafe and her fiancee, Il. And now that a new Savior,...

The Savior's Book Cafe Story in Another World Vol. 3

After being transported to another world by an orb that calls itself "God," Tsukina used her newfound magical powers to open up a cozy book cafe. Now that...

The Savior's Book Cafe Story in Another World Vol. 2

Since being transported to a new world Tsukina has made a cozy life for herself, doing magic and running a book cafe. She's even grown closer to Il, a handsome...

The Savior's Book Cafe Story in Another World Vol. 1

Tsukina is a single, thirty-something office worker who's favorite thing is curling up with a good book. When a god tells her that she must go to another world...

Homeschool W8-9: Two Light Weeks

Fall is such a busy time for us. Between homeschool, the switch from enrichment to academic co-op, and fall activities such as Vala’s, we have lots of packed...

Music Monday - Babymonster "Batter Up"

It’s a K-Pop summer! After doing my Top 10 Stray Kids songs, I decided to focus on some other K-Pop groups and people that I enjoy.

Life Right Now #27

Right now I am: Ready to leave for Junkstock! I had to miss May’s Junkstock, but thankfully my friend is free today to go.

Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli

On the night Rune’s life changed forever, blood ran in the streets. Now, in the aftermath of a devastating revolution, witches have been diminished from...

Rosen Blood Vol. 5

After a horrific carriage accident, Stella Violetta awakens in a Gothic mansion to find that her saviors are gorgeous young men. The manor’s residents let her...

Rosen Blood Vol. 4

After a horrific carriage accident, Stella Violetta awakens in a Gothic mansion to find that her saviors are gorgeous young men. The manor’s residents let her...

Rosen Blood Vol. 3

After a horrific carriage accident, Stella Violetta awakens in a Gothic mansion to find that her saviors are gorgeous young men. The manor’s residents let her...

Rosen Blood Vol. 2

After a horrific carriage accident, Stella Violetta awakens in a Gothic mansion to find that her saviors are gorgeous young men. The manor’s residents let her...

Rosen Blood Vol. 1

After a horrific carriage accident, Stella Violetta awakens in a Gothic mansion to find that her saviors are gorgeous young men. The manor’s residents let her...

Currently #16

Reading: After hearing about it from retreat friends, I picked up Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli. It’s a whole fantasy enemies-to-lovers YA story. Not...

Music Monday - Aespa "Whiplash"

It’s a K-Pop summer! After doing my Top 10 Stray Kids songs, I decided to focus on some other K-Pop groups and people that I enjoy.

Life Right Now #26

As I look outside my window: It’s a bit overcast and rainy today. Thankfully the temperatures are going back down to acceptable fall temperatures.

Zomromcom by Olivia Dade

Spice Rating: 4

The Sister Who Ate Her Brothers by Jen Campbell

Do you dare read this collection of terrifyingly gruesome tales? In this gripping volume, author Jen Campbell offers young readers an edgy, contemporary, and...

Stolen Vows by Sav R. Miller

Spice Rating: 6

We are Legion by Dennis E. Taylor

Bob Johansson has just sold his software company and is looking forward to a life of leisure. There are places to go, books to read, and movies to watch. So...

September 2025 Wrap-up

September TBR Pile (13/14):

Homeschool W7: Two Weeks of Pushing Through

We’ve actually had our first Flex Week and a regular week these two past weeks. Our Flex Weeks are unplanned curriculum weeks that we can use to catch up with...

Music Monday - Jungkook "Standing Next to You"

It’s a K-Pop summer! After doing my Top 10 Stray Kids songs, I decided to focus on some other K-Pop groups and people that I enjoy.

Life Right Now #25

As I look outside my window: It’s dark outside… the day really got away from me. So many tasks to be completed and errands to run.

The Strange by Nathan Ballingrud

Since Anabelle’s mother left for Earth to care for her own ailing mother, her days in New Galveston have been spent at school and her nights at her laconic...

Lone Women by Victor LaValle

Adelaide Henry carries an enormous steamer trunk with her wherever she goes. It’s locked at all times. Because when the trunk opens, people around Adelaide...

Dr. Mutter's Marvels by Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz

A mesmerizing biography of the brilliant and eccentric medical innovator who revolutionized American surgery and founded the country’s most famous museum of...

Irresistible Devil by Jenny Nordbak

Spice Rating: 6

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

A Short Stay in Hell by Steven L. Peck

An ordinary family man, geologist, and Mormon, Soren Johansson has always believed he’ll be reunited with his loved ones after death in an eternal hereafter....

The Antidote by Karen Russell

The Antidote opens on Black Sunday, as a historic dust storm ravages the fictional town of Uz, Nebraska. But Uz is already collapsing—not just under the weight...

Music Monday - J-Hope "Killin' It Girl"

It’s a K-Pop summer! After doing my Top 10 Stray Kids songs, I decided to focus on some other K-Pop groups and people that I enjoy.

Homeschool W6: Sickness Ugh!

Sickness derailed our activities plans, but it did allow for us to get a ton of school work done. This leaves us with more time for activities in the next few...

Music Monday - Lisa "Fuck Up the World"

It’s a K-Pop summer! After doing my Top 10 Stray Kids songs, I decided to focus on some other K-Pop groups and people that I enjoy.

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

In the Shadow of Spindrift House by Mira Grant

Nature abhors a straight line. The natural world is a place of curves and softened edges, of gentle mists and welcoming spirals. Nature remembers deviation;...

Dark Tales by Shirley Jackson

After the publication of her short story “The Lottery” in the New Yorker in 1948 received an unprecedented amount of attention, Shirley Jackson was quickly...

Homeschool W5: A lighter, but productive week

In terms of bookwork, we had a lighter week. Activities got in the way a bit, but we still managed to accomplish most of what I had planned. We are still...

Music Monday - ROSÉ "APT"

It’s a K-Pop summer! After doing my Top 10 Stray Kids songs, I decided to focus on some other K-Pop groups and people that I enjoy.

Life Right Now #24

As I look outside my window: Another bright and sunny morning. Thankfully the temperatures aren’t going to be super high today.

Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove

Demeter just wants to do her job: shuttling humans between Earth and Alpha Centauri. Unfortunately, her passengers keep dying—and not from equipment failures,...

Worth Fighting For by Jesse Q. Sutanto

Spice Rating: 3Following one’s heart isn’t easy when family honor is at stake.As the right hand of her father’s hedge fund company, Fa Mulan knows what it...

Currently #14

Reading: I randomly picked up Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara truelove off of my Unread Shelf. And I must say that it is a delight. It’s a strange mix of...

Homeschool W4: Our groove is back!

Four weeks in and I feel like we are finally in the groove. I’m still a bit frustrated about some attitudes, but we got through a ton of curriculum. And we...

Music Monday - Jennie "Seoul City"

It’s a K-Pop summer! After doing my Top 10 Stray Kids songs, I decided to focus on some other K-Pop groups and people that I enjoy.

August 2025 Wrap-up

August TBR Pile (14/17):

Lore Olympus Vol. 8 by Rachel Smythe

Finally! We get to see Persephone as the Queen of the Underworld. I’ve been waiting for eight volumes to see her come into her power. After a terrible trial...

Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint Vol. 4

At this rate... Junghyeok Yu will die today. Dokja has his hands full dealing with relentless monster attacks, as well as the Landlord Coalition’s tyranny. But...

Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint Vol. 3

IF YOU HAVE A SHRED OF PRIDE LEFT, STAND UP AND FIGHT!Inside the ruthless scenarios of TWSA, something as simple as getting a meal is a life-or-death struggle....

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

Is She Really Going Out with Him? by Sophie Cousens

Spice Rating: 3

A Letter from the Lonesome Shore by Sylvie Cathrall

Former correspondents E. and Henerey, accustomed to loving each other from afar, did not anticipate continuing their courtship in an enigmatic underwater city....

Music Monday - Blackpink "Pretty Savage"

It’s a K-Pop summer! After doing my Top 10 Stray Kids songs, I decided to focus on some other K-Pop groups and people that I enjoy.

Homeschool W3: I think we are finally getting there...

We might be finally getting our footing for this year. We ended up doing schoolwork three out of the five days without much complaint and fuss. We completed...

The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

“Back then, when I was a young woman, there were still witches”: That was how Nana Alba always began the stories she told her great-granddaughter...

Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 26

In a world where cursed spirits feed on unsuspecting humans, fragments of the legendary and feared demon Ryomen Sukuna have been lost and scattered about....

Currently #13

Reading: I finally dove into Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint series. I’m really enjoying it. Unfortunately, the library only has the first four volumes. I will...

Homeschool W1-2: Kicking Off Our Year in Hard Mode

We’ve officially started our 6th year of homeschooling and I will admit that it’s been difficult. For whatever reason, the boys had a really hard transition...

Music Monday - Taemin "Bones"

It’s a K-Pop summer! After doing my Top 10 Stray Kids songs, I decided to focus on some other K-Pop groups and people that I enjoy.

Life Right Now #22

As I look outside my window: Bright, sunny, going to be extremely hot today. I think I will stay inside thank you very much!

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

Music Monday - ATEEZ "Answer"

It’s a K-Pop summer! After doing my Top 10 Stray Kids songs, I decided to focus on some other K-Pop groups and people that I enjoy. Let’s embark on my Top 5...

Feathers So Vicious by Liv Zander

Spice Rating: 8

Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint Vol. 2

THE ENDLESS TRAGEDIES OF THIS WORLD ALL BEGIN WITH THIS CHARACTER.Three Ways to Survive the Apocalypse is Dokja’s favorite novel, or it was...until it became...

Cold Eternity by S.A. Barnes

Halley is on the run from an interplanetary political scandal that has put a huge target on her back. She heads for what seems like the perfect place to lay...

Currently #12

Reading: I finally started a dark romance, Feathers So Vicious by Liv Zander, that a friend recommended to me months ago. There are definitely multiple content...

Music Monday - ATEEZ "Halazia"

It’s a K-Pop summer! After doing my Top 10 Stray Kids songs, I decided to focus on some other K-Pop groups and people that I enjoy. Let’s embark on my Top 5...

Life Right Now #21

On my bedside table: I have a stack of library books that I need figure out which one to read first. And I have a few more manhwa volumes for my current...

Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint Vol. 1

AT THAT MOMENT, MY LIFE TOOK ON A DIFFERENT GENRE. As a struggling office worker, Dokja Kim’s sole joy in life is an online novel so obscure that he’s its only...

July 2025 Wrap-up

July TBR Pile (24/26):

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

The Geographer's Map to Romance by India Holton

Spice Rating: 5

Music Monday - ATEEZ "Take Me Home"

It’s a K-Pop summer! After doing my Top 10 Stray Kids songs, I decided to focus on some other K-Pop groups and people that I enjoy. Let’s embark on my Top 5...

Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 25

In a world where cursed spirits feed on unsuspecting humans, fragments of the legendary and feared demon Ryomen Sukuna have been lost and scattered about....

Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 24

In a world where cursed spirits feed on unsuspecting humans, fragments of the legendary and feared demon Ryomen Sukuna have been lost and scattered about....

Currently #11

Reading: I have officially fallen down the fan fiction rabbit hole. A friend and I have been sharing our favorite stories, series, and authors. It has wrecked...

Music Monday - ATEEZ "Cyberpunk"

It’s a K-Pop summer! After doing my Top 10 Stray Kids songs, I decided to focus on some other K-Pop groups and people that I enjoy. Let’s embark on my Top 5...

Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 23

In a world where cursed spirits feed on unsuspecting humans, fragments of the legendary and feared demon Ryomen Sukuna have been lost and scattered about....

Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 22

In a world where cursed spirits feed on unsuspecting humans, fragments of the legendary and feared demon Ryomen Sukuna have been lost and scattered about....

Seoulmates by Susan Lee

Hannah Cho had the next year all planned out—the perfect summer with her boyfriend, Nate, and then a fun senior year with their friends.But then Nate does what...

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 21

In a world where cursed spirits feed on unsuspecting humans, fragments of the legendary and feared demon Ryomen Sukuna have been lost and scattered about....

Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 20

In a world where cursed spirits feed on unsuspecting humans, fragments of the legendary and feared demon Ryomen Sukuna have been lost and scattered about....

A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett

In the canton of Yarrowdale, at the very edge of the Empire’s reach, a Treasury officer has disappeared into thin air—vanishing from a room within a heavily...

Music Monday - ATEEZ "Bouncy"

It’s a K-Pop summer! After doing my Top 10 Stray Kids songs, I decided to focus on some other K-Pop groups and people that I enjoy. Let’s embark on my Top 5...

Life Right Now #20

Right now I am: Leaving for our Homeschool Co-op Steering Committee Meeting at a local coffeehouse. It shouldn’t be a long meeting, but we still have things to...

The Darcy Myth by Rachel Feder

You already know Mr. Darcy—at least you think you do! The brooding, rude, standoffish romantic hero of Pride and Prejudice, Darcy initially insults and ignores...

Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 19

In a world where cursed spirits feed on unsuspecting humans, fragments of the legendary and feared demon Ryomen Sukuna have been lost and scattered about....

Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune

A magical house. A secret past. A summons that could change everything.Arthur Parnassus lives a good life built on the ashes of a bad one.He’s the headmaster...

Divine Intervention by R.M. Virtues

Spice Rating: 7

Wicked Pursuit by Katee Robert

Spice Rating: 7

Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke's Mansion Vol. 8

“ONE OF YOU HAS TO DIE IN THE END.”Just when all hope of unearthing Raeliana’s memories seems lost…enter Iosa Ben! The dark priestess has the ability to awaken...

Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke's Mansion Vol. 7

“THE ONLY ONE WHO MAKES MY HEART RACE EVER SO IS YOU.”Raeliana is off to save Noah from the terrorists’ trap, gun in hand and ready for action! But when the...

Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke's Mansion Vol. 6

“IF SHE APPEARS BEFORE YOU…WILL YOU STILL LOVE ME THE SAME?”As the first snow of the year descends in luscious flurries on Chamus, so too follows a romantic...

Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke's Mansion Vol. 5

A PLACE TO RETURN— NOT FOR THE RAELIANA McMILLAN WHO WAS…BUT FOR ME.Raeliana is putting on her detective cap! Set on unraveling the secrets behind her strange...

Music Monday - Stray Kids "Thunderous"

Based on my new obsession, I decided to do a Top 10 series of my favorite Stray Kids songs. There are so many songs, but I keep coming back to the same ones...

Life Right Now #19

As I look outside my window: Bright, sunny, and hot day. I am not a fan of this weather. The humidity was killing me.

Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke's Mansion Vol. 4

“IF BEATRICE DOES SHOW UP…WILL HE KEEP LOVING ME?”Raeliana is being held hostage! Well, sort of. After being summoned to the palace by Noah’s half brother,...

Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke's Mansion Vol. 3

It’s off to the temple for the torch-lighting ceremony! But what should be a mundane ritual is turned on its head when the legendary priest Heika Demint takes...

Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke's Mansion Vol. 2

Raeliana McMillan thought she was escaping death through her fake engagement to Duke Noah Wynknight…only to realize that he’s a whole different kind of danger!...

A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor by Hank Green

The Carls disappeared the same way they appeared, in an instant. While the robots were on Earth, they caused confusion and destruction with only their...

Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke's Mansion Vol. 1

Eunha Park thought she was getting another chance at life when she awoke in the world of a novel. The only problem? Raeliana McMillan, the character she was...

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

In a shabby house, on a shabby street, in the new capital of Madrid, Luzia Cotado uses scraps of magic to get through her days of endless toil as a scullion....

June 2025 Wrap-up

June TBR Pile (29/34):

Music Monday - Stray Kids Fave Sub-unit and Solos

Next week I am going to reveal my Number 1 Stray Kids song. But first, I thought I would do my Top 5 subunit and solo songs. Can you guess my bias?

The Wedding People by Alison Espach

It’s a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn wearing a green dress and gold heels, not a bag in sight,...

Ne'er Duke Well by Alexandra Vasti

Spice Level: 5

Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 18

Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 18In a world where cursed spirits feed on unsuspecting humans, fragments of the legendary and feared demon Ryomen Sukuna have been lost and...

Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 17

In a world where cursed spirits feed on unsuspecting humans, fragments of the legendary and feared demon Ryomen Sukuna have been lost and scattered about....

Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 16

In a world where cursed spirits feed on unsuspecting humans, fragments of the legendary and feared demon Ryomen Sukuna have been lost and scattered about....

Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 15

In a world where cursed spirits feed on unsuspecting humans, fragments of the legendary and feared demon Ryomen Sukuna have been lost and scattered about....

Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 14

In a world where cursed spirits feed on unsuspecting humans, fragments of the legendary and feared demon Ryomen Sukuna have been lost and scattered about....

Say You'll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez

Spice Rating: 4

Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 13

In a world where cursed spirits feed on unsuspecting humans, fragments of the legendary and feared demon Ryomen Sukuna have been lost and scattered about....

Music Monday - Stray Kids "God's Menu"

Based on my new obsession, I decided to do a Top 10 series of my favorite Stray Kids songs. There are so many songs, but I keep coming back to the same ones...

Twisted Wonderland Vol. 4

Stranded in the world of Twisted Wonderland, Yu must brave a magical school filled with ghosts, monsters, and uncooperative students!Now that he’s officially a...

Twisted Wonderland Vol. 3

Stranded in the world of Twisted Wonderland, Yu must brave a magical school filled with ghosts, monsters, and uncooperative students!Still trying to get his...

Twisted Wonderland Vol. 2

Stranded in the world of Twisted Wonderland, Yu must brave a magical school filled with ghosts, monsters, and uncooperative students!Yu is formally enrolled in...

Twisted Wonderland Vol. 1

Stranded in the world of Twisted Wonderland, Yu must brave a magical school filled with ghosts, monsters, and uncooperative students!Yu is whisked away to...

Alley by Junji Ito

Every night, a young man hears children playing outside his boarding house—but the alley below his window is fenced off from the world. Then, when a young...

Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry

Spice Rating: 4.5

Tombs by Junji Ito

Countless tombstones stand in rows throughout a small community, forming a bizarre tableau. What fate awaits a brother and sister after a traffic accident in...

Deserter by Junji Ito

A vengeful family hides an army deserter for eight years after the end of World War II, cocooning him in a false reality where the war never ended. A pair of...

Currently #10

Reading: I got back into the Jujutsu Kaisen manga series. And holy cow, the story took a turn this week! I am floored.

Music Monday - Stray Kids "Topline"

Based on my new obsession, I decided to do a Top 10 series of my favorite Stray Kids songs. There are so many songs, but I keep coming back to the same ones...

Life Right Now #18

As I look outside my window: It’s bright and sunny and going to be very hot today. I’m staying in doors.

Black Paradox by Junji Ito

Four people intent on killing themselves meet through the suicide website Black Paradox: Maruso, a nurse who despairs about the future; Taburo, a man who is...

Gyo by Junji Ito

The floating smell of death hangs over the island. What is it? A strange, legged fish appears on the scene... So begins Tadashi and Kaori's spiral into the...

Smashed by Junji Ito

Try not to be noticed when you eat the secret nectar, otherwise you’ll get smashed… What horrific events happened to create the earthbound—people tied to a...

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

As the day dawns on the fiftieth annual Hunger Games, fear grips the districts of Panem. This year, in honor of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will...

Uzumaki by Junji Ito

Kurouzu-cho, a small fogbound town on the coast of Japan, is cursed. According to Shuichi Saito, the withdrawn boyfriend of teenager Kirie Goshima, their town...

Music Monday - Stray Kids "Hall of Fame"

Based on my new obsession, I decided to do a Top 10 series of my favorite Stray Kids songs. There are so many songs, but I keep coming back to the same ones...

Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 0

In a world where cursed spirits feed on unsuspecting humans, fragments of the legendary and feared demon Ryomen Sukuna have been lost and scattered about....

Life Right Now #17

On my bedside table: More manga (mix of horror and fantasy), new Emily Henry book, new Abby Jimenez book

Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao

On a backstreet in Tokyo lies a pawnshop, but not everyone can find it. Most will see a cozy ramen restaurant. And only the chosen ones—those who are lost—will...

Enchantra by Kaylie Smith

Spice Rating: 5

Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 12

In a world where cursed spirits feed on unsuspecting humans, fragments of the legendary and feared demon Ryomen Sukuna have been lost and scattered about....

Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 11

In a world where cursed spirits feed on unsuspecting humans, fragments of the legendary and feared demon Ryomen Sukuna have been lost and scattered about....

The Liminal Zone by Junji Ito

What destiny awaits them after the screaming?After abruptly departing from a train in a small town, a couple encounters a “weeping woman”—a professional...

Currently #9

Reading: I’m deep into Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao for the retreat book selection. It has a beauty dreamy quality to the story. I’ve hit a bit of a...

Music Monday - Stray Kids "Pacemaker"

Based on my new obsession, I decided to do a Top 10 series of my favorite Stray Kids songs. There are so many songs, but I keep coming back to the same ones...

Life Right Now #16

As I look outside my window: Bright and sunny yet again. And the temperature is supposed to climb. I’m staying indoors today.

May 2025 Wrap-up

May TBR Pile (24/27):

Swept Away by Beth O'Leary

Spice Rating: 3

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 10

In a world where cursed spirits feed on unsuspecting humans, fragments of the legendary and feared demon Ryomen Sukuna have been lost and scattered about....

Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 9

In a world where cursed spirits feed on unsuspecting humans, fragments of the legendary and feared demon Ryomen Sukuna have been lost and scattered about....

How to Be Eaten by Maria Adelmann

In present-day New York City, five women meet in a basement support group to process their traumas. Bernice grapples with the fallout of dating a psychopathic,...

Music Monday - Stray Kids "S-Class"

Based on my new obsession, I decided to do a Top 10 series of my favorite Stray Kids songs. There are so many songs, but I keep coming back to the same ones...

Frankenstein by Junji Ito

The master of horror manga brings the world's greatest horror novel—Frankenstein—back to life.Junji Ito meets Mary Shelley! The master of horror manga bends...

Life Right Now #15

As I look outside my window: It’s dreary today. Fits my mood I think.

Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 8

In a world where cursed spirits feed on unsuspecting humans, fragments of the legendary and feared demon Ryomen Sukuna have been lost and scattered about....

Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 7

In a world where cursed spirits feed on unsuspecting humans, fragments of the legendary and feared demon Ryomen Sukuna have been lost and scattered about....

The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis

Egypt, 1936: When anthropology student Charlotte Cross is offered a coveted spot on an archaeological dig in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, she leaps at the...

Venus in the Blind Spot by Junji Ito

This striking collection presents the most remarkable short works of Junji Ito’s career, featuring an adaptation of Ranpo Edogawa’s classic horror story “Human...

Sensor by Junji Ito

A woman walks alone at the foot of Mount Sengoku. A man appears, saying he’s been waiting for her, and invites her to a nearby village. Surprisingly, the...

Currently #8

Reading: I’m deep into the Jujutsu Kaisen manga series. I want to read a few more volumes before we start the anime.

This Inevitable Ruin by Matt Dinniman

They call it Faction Wars. The ninth floor. Nine armies, each led by rich and powerful aliens from across the galaxy. Each team has one objective: to capture...

Homeschool W32-33: Lots of Travel!

Arbor Day Farm

Music Monday - Stray Kids "Back Door"

Based on my new obsession, I decided to do a Top 10 series of my favorite Stray Kids songs. There are so many songs, but I keep coming back to the same ones...

Life Right Now #14

As I look outside my window: It’s bright and sunny although we are supposed to get rain later.

Lovesickness by Junji Ito

Ryusuke returns to the town he once lived in because rumors are swirling about girls killing themselves after encountering a bewitchingly handsome young man....

Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky

To fix the world they must first break it, further.Humanity is a dying breed, utterly reliant on artificial labor and service.When a domesticated robot gets a...

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 6

In a world where cursed spirits feed on unsuspecting humans, fragments of the legendary and feared demon Ryomen Sukuna have been lost and scattered about....

Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 5

In a world where cursed spirits feed on unsuspecting humans, fragments of the legendary and feared demon Ryomen Sukuna have been lost and scattered about....

Currently #7

Reading: I’m almost finished listening to the next Dungeon Crawler Carl book, The Inevitable Ruin, by Matt Dinniman. I only have about 2 hours left. I have...

Music Monday - Stray Kids "Bounce Back"

Based on my new obsession, I decided to do a Top 10 series of my favorite Stray Kids songs. There are so many songs, but I keep coming back to the same ones...

Life Right Now #13

Right now I am: Getting ready to make brunch. Before then, I am hoping to get a bit of reading in.

Stitches by Hirokatsu Kihara

A tumor shaped like a man’s face slowly moves across a woman’s body. The sea shoots glowing balls into the sky, much to the distress of beachgoers. And a girl...

Remina by Junji Ito

An unknown planet emerges from inside a wormhole, and its discoverer, Dr. Oguro, christens the body “Remina” after his own daughter. His finding is met with...

Dissolving Classroom by Junji Ito

What destiny awaits them after the screaming?A pair of twisted siblings—Yuuma, a young man obsessed with the devil, and Chizumi, the worst little sister in...

Fragments of Horror by Junji Ito

An old wooden mansion that turns on its inhabitants. A dissection class with a most unusual subject. A funeral where the dead are definitely not laid to rest....

Homeschool W30-31: Wrapping Up and Travel

We completed one regular school week and then a few days of another week before leaving for Indiana for Alex’s graduation. So I decided to combine these two...

Music Monday - Stray Kids "Case 143"

Based on my new obsession, I decided to do a Top 10 series of my favorite Stray Kids songs. There are so many songs, but I keep coming back to the same ones...

Life Right Now #12

On my bedside table: The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis

Tomie by Junji Ito

Tomie Kawakami is a femme fatale with long black hair and a beauty mark just under her left eye. She can seduce nearly any man, and drive them to murder as...

Shiver by Junji Ito

This volume includes nine of Junji Ito’s best short stories, as selected by the author himself and presented with accompanying notes and commentary. An arm...

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

April 2025 Wrap-up

April TBR Pile (32/33):

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 2 Battle Tendency Volume 4

The conclusion of the fight against the Pillar Men! It has been a long and perilous journey for JoJo and his allies. Many battles have been fought and many...

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 2 Battle Tendency Volume 3

JoJo and Caesar face their most powerful foe yet—the leader of the Pillar Men! Armed with the ability to create a weapon from any part of his body, he is more...

Music Monday - Stray Kids "Item"

Based on my new obsession, I decided to do a Top 10 series of my favorite Stray Kids songs. There are so many songs, but I keep coming back to the same ones...

Life Right Now #11

As I look outside my window: It’s a dreary day out there.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 2 Battle Tendency Volume 2

The battle against evil takes a diabolical twist as more Pillar Men awaken! Now it is up to Joseph Joestar and his new ally Caesar Zeppeli to try and stop...

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 2 Battle Tendency Volume 1

The beginning of the Battle Tendency Arc! The Joestar family is called upon to do battle against evil again! This time, it’s Joseph Joestar, the grandson of...

Love in the Time of Serial Killers by Alicia Thompson

Spice Rating: 4

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 1 Phantom Blood Volume 3

The legendary Shonen Jump series, now available in English for the first time, in a deluxe edition featuring color pages and newly drawn cover art! JoJo’s...

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 1 Phantom Blood Volume 2

The legendary Shonen Jump series, now available in English for the first time, in a deluxe edition featuring color pages and newly drawn cover art! JoJo’s...

Sex Criminals Vol. 6: Six Criminals

The grand finale! The big finish! The climax! We speak, of course, about this, the end of the award-winning, boundary-pushing, taste-challenging SEX CRIMINALS....

Sex Criminals Vol. 5: Five-Fingered Discount

Suzie and Jon have that special something—when they have sex, they freeze time and do crimes. Well—they HAD that special something. In the aftermath of what...

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 1 Phantom Blood Volume 1

The legendary Shonen Jump series, now available in English for the first time, in a deluxe edition featuring color pages and newly drawn cover art! JoJo’s...

Currently #6

Reading: My reading brain is still a bit broken and so I’m all about horror manga right now. I checked out so many Junji Ito story collections for the next few...

Homeschool W29: A Normal Week I Guess

We pushed through and finished a pretty normal week for us. My body decided to make me cancel Friday’s hike, but we did engage in a few other activities this...

Music Monday - Nothing More "We're All Gonna Die"

Loving the new song from a favorite band of mine.

Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 4

In a world where cursed spirits feed on unsuspecting humans, fragments of the legendary and feared demon Ryomen Sukuna have been lost and scattered about....

Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green

Tuberculosis has been entwined with hu­manity for millennia. Once romanticized as a malady of poets, today tuberculosis is seen as a disease of poverty that...

Her Last Flight by Beatriz Williams

In 1947, photographer and war correspondent Janey Everett arrives at a remote surfing village on the Hawaiian island of Kauai to research a planned biography...

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

Sweet Obsession by Katee Robert

Spice Rating: 6

Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 3

In a world where cursed spirits feed on unsuspecting humans, fragments of the legendary and feared demon Ryomen Sukuna have been lost and scattered about....

Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 2

In a world where cursed spirits feed on unsuspecting humans, fragments of the legendary and feared demon Ryomen Sukuna were lost and scattered about. Should...

Homeschool W28: We're Getting to the End

We had a normal week and a flex week. Basically it means that we came other the end of my preplanned weeks. I like to take a flex week to catch up on anything...

Music Monday - The Lumineers "Same Old Song"

Completely missed that The Lumineers had a new album out.

Life Right Now #10

As I look outside my window: It’s fairly sunny outside but the wind is still pretty high.

Kinky History by Esmé Louise James

Contrary to popular belief, our predecessors had all sorts of obscene hobbies long before Christian Greyhit the scene. In this enlightening romp, learn about...

Parasyte Vol. 8 by Iwaaki Hitoshi

MONSTER TWIST: Shinichi vows to destroy Goto, one of the deadliest of the alien parasites that have invaded Earth-and people's bodies. But at the moment of...

Parasyte Vol. 7 by Iwaaki Hitoshi

ENDGAME: Shinichi is both man and monster. He's an ordinary high school student whose body has been invaded by an alien parasite. And he alone knows a terrible...

Parasyte Vol. 6 by Iwaaki Hitoshi

ENEMY MINE: Shinichi has been hiding his true nature from the world: His body has been colonized by an alien being, and now he's half-human, half-alien. The...

Parasyte Vol. 5 by Iwaaki Hitoshi

MONSTER: Shinichi was just an ordinary high school student, until his body was invaded by a parasite, a horrifying alien being. Now Shinichi is a monster with...

The Demon's Queen by Katee Robert

Where It Got It: Library

Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 1

In a world where cursed spirits feed on unsuspecting humans, fragments of the legendary and feared demon Ryomen Sukuna have been lost and scattered about....

Currently #5

Reading: Finally got and started reading Sweet Obsession by Katee Robert. Not sure if it is one of my favorites in this series, but I am enjoying it.

Music Monday - BAND-MAID with The Warning "Show Them"

Fun collab between a band from Japan and one from Mexico.

Life Right Now #9

As I look outside my window: It’s chilly but sunny today. Unfortunately, I am absolutely exhausted.

Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett

Emily Wilde has spent her life studying faeries. A renowned dryadologist, she has documented hundreds of species of Folk in her Encyclopaedia of Faeries. Now...

The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry

In the war-torn London of 1939, fourteen-year-old Hazel and five-year-old Flora are evacuated to a rural village to escape the horrors of the Second World War....

Parasyte Vol. 4 by Iwaaki Hitoshi

SIXTH SENSE: Shinichi, an ordinary high school student, is the only one who knows that aliens have invaded Earth and are controlling the minds of thousands of...

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

Parasyte Vol. 3 by Iwaaki Hitoshi

ALIEN NATION: Aliens parasites have invaded Earth and taken over the minds of ordinary people. Shin has been infected with a parasite, but he still can think...

Parasyte Vol. 2 by Iwaaki Hitoshi

PERSONAL DEMON: Shin looks like an ordinary high school boy, but he has a terrible secret: an alien parasite has infected his body. This mysterious creature is...

March 2025 Wrap-up

March TBR Pile (24/25):

Homeschool W27: Spring Finally Arrived!

After a March filled with weird weather, this week finally cooperated and we took full advantage. Our schoolwork was shortened to spend multiple days outside...

Music Monday - Aurora "Dreams"

I just absolutely adore her voice!

Life Right Now #8

As I look outside my window: Another pretty gloomy day…

Sex Criminals Vol. 4: Fourgy

Everybody's favorite sex-having, time-freezing, bank-robbing crew of lovable love-misfits come together and ask themselves the big question: are we still into...

The Demon's Bargain by Katee Robert

Where It Got It: Library

Sex Criminals Vol. 3: Three the Hard Way

So it turns out Jon and Suzie aren't alone — other people around the world, like them, freeze time when they climax. A self-appointed group wants to regulate...

Sex Criminals Vol. 2: Two Worlds, One Cop

The second storyline from the Eisner-award winning SEX CRIMINALS finds the honeymoon to be over for Jon and Suzie. Once the thrill of new lust fades, where do...

Sex Criminals Vol. 1: One Weird Trick

Suzie's just a regular gal with an irregular gift: when she has sex, she stops time. One day she meets Jon and it turns out he has the same ability. And sooner...

Ruins by Dan Wells

Kira, Samm, and Marcus fight to prevent a final war between Partials and humans in the gripping final installment in the Partials Sequence, a series that...

Parasyte Vol. 1 by Iwaaki Hitoshi

SILENT INVASION: They arrive in silence and darkness. They descend from the skies. They have a hunger for human flesh. They are everywhere. They are parasites,...

Currently #4

Reading: My brain is a bit broken and so I have turned to manga to help myself out. Currently, I’m reading multiple series, but my current obsession is...

Homeschool W26: Weather Again!

We had a full week planned with multiple activities and the last week of Academic Co-op. Unfortunately, a blizzard hit us on Tuesday night cancelling our...

Music Monday - Bring Me the Horizon "Wonderwall"

How about a cover for today? I really love BMTH doing Oasis!

Life Right Now #7

As I look outside my window: We’re alternating between sunshine and clouds with a lot of wind. Just a normal spring day here in the Midwest.

Deep End by Ali Hazelwood

Spice Rating: 6

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

Loretta Thurwar and Hamara “Hurricane Staxxx” Stacker are the stars of the Chain-Gang All-Stars, the cornerstone of CAPE, or Criminal Action Penal...

Moonshine Vol. 4 Angels Share and Vol. 5 The Well

The next volume moves location and time once again. I found the switch to be a bit jarring and had to reorient myself. I didn’t really like how Lou’s story...

Moonshine Vol. 2 Misery Train and Vol. 3 Rue Le Jour

I read the first trade in this series back when it published I think and somehow forgot about it. I was going back through my records and decided to finish the...

Fragments by Dan Wells

After discovering the cure for RM, Kira Walker sets off on a terrifying journey into the ruins of postapocalyptic America and the darkest desires of her heart...

Homeschool W25: Another Normal Week (We're on a Roll!)

Another week full of regular schoolwork, co-op, and a few activities. Very very normal.

Music Monday - The Plot in You "Pretend"

A band that I immediately liked the first time I heard it on the radio. Loving it!

Life Right Now #6

As I look outside my window: It’s been a rainy weekend here. A storm rolled in on Friday night and the clouds stuck around. We definitely need the rain, but I...

Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld

Spice Rating: 4.5

The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle

Our Nerdy Bookish Friend selection for May (it got bumped from March). It’s been on my TBR for absolute years. I finally got around to it and I’m not sure...

The Secret Lives of Color by Kassia St. Clair

The Secret Lives of Color tells the unusual stories of seventy-five fascinating shades, dyes, and hues. From blonde to ginger, the brown that changed the way...

Dreadful by Caitlin Rozakis

It’s bad enough waking up in a half-destroyed evil wizard’s workshop with no eyebrows, no memories, and no idea how long you have before the Dread Lord...

Currently #3

Reading: I’m almost finished reading Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld. It’s our book club selection this month and I have some mixed feelings. Waiting...

Homeschool W24: Back to Normal?

We had a pretty normal week. Lots of schoolwork, a few activities, but also weather that interrupted some plans. We had a big blizzard blow through on Tuesday...

Music Monday - Breaking Benjamin "Awaken"

And a turn to a band that I’ve been listening to for almost 30 years…

My Vampire Plus-One by Jenna Levine

Spice Rating: 4

All the Water in the World by Eiren Caffall

All the Water in the World is told in the voice of a girl gifted with a deep feeling for water. In the years after the glaciers melt, Nonie, her older sister...

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

The Near Witch by V.E. Schwab

The Near Witch is only an old story told to frighten children. If the wind calls at night, you must not listen. The wind is lonely, and always looking for...

Homeschool W22-23: Lots of activities, a Flex week, and a trip!

We had a week of a ton of activities. Seriously, we only did book work school one day between a birthday party, a parent meeting, co-op, and the Valentine’s...

Music Monday - Novelists "All for Nothing"

Another new-to-me artist that I stumbled upon. Reminds me a bit of Within Temptation.

Life Right Now #5

On my bedside table: No idea yet… I’m currently reading five books, so I should finish those first. And I did start War and Peace, which will take me months to...

A Werewolf's Guide to Seducing a Vampire by Sarah Hawley

Spice Rating: 5

February 2025 Wrap-up

February TBR Pile (22/23):

Alice in Borderland Vol. 9

Eighteen-year-old Ryohei Arisu is sick of his life. School sucks, his love life is a joke, and his future weighs on him like impending doom. As he struggles to...

Alice in Borderland Vol. 8

Eighteen-year-old Ryohei Arisu is sick of his life. School sucks, his love life is a joke, and his future weighs on him like impending doom. As he struggles to...

The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan

Anthony Peardew is the keeper of lost things. Forty years ago, he carelessly lost a keepsake from his beloved fiancée, Therese. That very same day, she died...

Music Monday - Bury Tomorrow "Let Go"

New-to-me artist that I stumbled upon.

Alice in Borderland Vol. 7

Eighteen-year-old Ryohei Arisu is sick of his life. School sucks, his love life is a joke, and his future weighs on him like impending doom. As he struggles to...

Alice in Borderland Vol. 5-6

Eighteen-year-old Ryohei Arisu is sick of his life. School sucks, his love life is a joke, and his future weighs on him like impending doom. As he struggles to...

The Way is Up is Death by Dan Hanks

When a mysterious tower appears in the skies over England, thirteen strangers are pulled from their lives to stand before it as a countdown begins. Above the...

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

Horseman by Christina Henry

Everyone in Sleepy Hollow knows about the Horseman, but no one really believes in him. Not even Ben Van Brunt's grandfather, Brom Bones, who was there when it...

Scythe and Sparrow by Brynne Weaver

Spice Rating: 5Doctor Fionn Kane is running from a broken heart, one he hopes to mend in small-town Nebraska, far away from his almost-fiancé and his derailed...

Music Monday - Nirvana Reunion at Fire Aid LA

Absolutely amazing… and when Joan Jett came on stage, I thought everyone was going to just lose it.

Life Right Now #4

As I look outside my window: The snowfall from Wednesday has stuck around and the wind has kicked up. It’s beautiful if I don’t want to drive anywhere.

Shark Heart by Emily Habeck

For Lewis and Wren, their first year of marriage is also their last. A few weeks after their wedding, Lewis receives a rare diagnosis. He will retain most of...

A History of the World in Twelve Shipwrecks by David Gibbins

The Viking warship of King Cnut the Great. Henry VIII's the Mary Rose. Captain John Franklin's doomed HMS Terror. The SS Gairsoppa, destroyed by a Nazi U-boat...

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

Spice Rating: 5

Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear by Seanan McGuire

Nadya had three mothers: the one who bore her, the country that poisoned her, and the one who adopted her.Nadya never considered herself less than whole, not...

Currently #2

Reading: Finishing reading The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang for Dirty Book Month for book club. I actually have liked it a lot more that I was expecting.

Homeschool W21: More Sickness

Another week of winter 2025, another sickness impacting our scheduled activities. I really hope that we can get back to some activities this next week. As a...

Music Monday - Stray Kids "Bye Bye Bye / Chk Chk Boom"

Something very different for today… I love this mash up for NSYNC and Stray Kids from the AMA’s last year. Enjoy some fun K-Pop.

Life Right Now #3

As I look outside my window: It’s alternating between cloudy and sunny, but it’s still very cold. Just another February day.

Alice in Borderland Vol. 4

Eighteen-year-old Ryohei Arisu is sick of his life. School sucks, his love life is a joke, and his future weighs on him like impending doom. As he struggles to...

The Fae Princes by Nikki St. Crowe

Spice Rating: 8

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

Temple of Swoon by Jo Segura

Spice Rating: 5

The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas

During the overthrow of the Mexican government, Beatriz’s father was executed and her home destroyed. When handsome Don Rodolfo Solórzano proposes, Beatriz...

Homeschool W20: School, Dentist, Car, Co-op, and Play!

I think we are officially back on track for the spring semester. We managed to balance school work, some errands, and a bit of play this week without too much...

Music Monday - Badflower "London"

Almost a stripped down song for Badflower, but I’m digging it.

Life Right Now #2

On my bedside table: I have the next three volumes of Alice and Borderland, a book about shipwrecks, and War and Peace (yes, War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy).

Their Vicious Darling by Nikki St. Crowe

Spice Rating: 8

January 2025 Wrap-up

January TBR Pile (19/22):

The Last Bookstore on Earth by Lily Braun-Arnold

The world is about to end. Again.Ever since the first Storm wreaked havoc on civilization as we know it, seventeen-year-old Liz Flannery has been holed up in...

The Dark One by Nikki St. Crowe

Spice Rating: 8

A Ship of Bones and Teeth by Karina Halle

Spice Rating: 8

Currently #1

Reading: Currently in the middle of a Book of the Month, Unread Shelf book The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas. It’s the spooky ghost story that I was really needing...

Homeschool W19: Finally Back to Activities and Friends!

More of our week was spent in your usual flow with school, co-op, and activities. I think that we ended the week in a really good place, I did implement a more...

The Roommate by Rosie Danan

Spice Rating: 5

A Song for a New Day by Sarah Pinsker

In the Before, when the government didn't prohibit large public gatherings, Luce Cannon was on top of the world. One of her songs had just taken off and she...

Alice in Borderland Vol. 2-3

Eighteen-year-old Ryohei Arisu is sick of his life. School sucks, his love life is a joke, and his future weighs on him like impending doom. As he struggles to...

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

Small Angels by Lauren Owen

The woods are stirring again. . . . Lucia and her sisters grew up on the edge of Mockbeggar Woods. They knew it well—its danger, but also its beauty. As a...

Partials by Dan Wells

Humanity is all but extinguished after a war with Partials—engineered organic beings identical to humans—has decimated the population. Reduced to only tens of...

Homeschool W18: Back to a Normal Week

We got over the sickness and went back to our usual schedule. We had some school days, I had a dentist appointment, and we restarted co-op.

Music Monday - Anberlin "High Stakes"

A new singer and slightly new sound for Anberlin. Another early 2000s band coming back!

Life Right Now #1

On my bedside table: I’ve got a stack of library books to prioritize. Not quite sure which one I want to read first.

Apprentice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

Spice Rating: 3

The Never King by Nikki St. Crowe

Spice Rating: 8

The Gathering by CJ Tudor

In a small Alaska town, a boy is found with his throat ripped out and all the blood drained from his body. The inhabitants of Deadhart haven’t seen a killing...

Kiss the Girl by Zoraida Córdova

Spice Meter: 3A modern tale of unexpectedly falling in love, and finding your voice—the highly anticipated third installment of in the acclaimed and...

Above the Bay of Angels by Rhys Bowen

Isabella Waverly only means to comfort the woman felled on a London street. In her final dying moments, she thrusts a letter into Bella’s hand. It’s an offer...

Homeschool W17: Sickness Changed All Our Plans

The entire family came down with that norovirus that’s been going around the country. And let me tell, it was horrible. We had plans for activities and...

Music Monday - Coheed and Cambria "Searching for Tomorrow"

Looking forward to the new album dropping in March from Coheed and Cambria.

Hunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton

Spice Rating: 8

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow

Jules is a young man barely a century old. He's lived long enough to see the cure for death and the end of scarcity, to learn ten languages and compose three...

Blame the Mistletoe by Dani Collins

Spice Rating: 4

2025 Reading Challenges

2025 Reading Challenges

2025 Goals and Resolutions

House Goals/Resolutions

2024 Reading Challenges Roundup: Completed and Failed

For 2024, I brought back reading challenges into my life. My overall challenges stat isn’t great, but look at that overall spots stat! I really managed to...

2024 Wrap-up

Favorite Books of the Year:

Christmas Bucket List Finish

Another year, another Christmas bucket list! This season I’m still embracing the mantra of “Take it easy.” As such, I’m filling our bucket list with all my...

December 2024 Wrap-up

December TBR Pile (21/24):

Snowed In with Benefits by Misha Horne

Spice Rating: 5

Kringle Down by Shane Lacy Hensley

1990, Red Onion Mountain, Southwest Virginia. A bright flash of light slashes through the night sky. Something crashes on the mountain near the infamous "pot...

The Wedding Witch by Erin Sterling

Spice Rating: 4.5Bowen Penhallow has always been a loner, studying dark and ancient magic on a mountaintop in Wales. He prefers it that way. But when his...

Throttle Me by Chelle Bliss

Spice Rating: 5

Homeschool W15-16: That's a Wrap on the Fall Semest

We wrapped up our fall semester in a great place. We managed to cover a ton of material while engaging in so many activities and fun outings. We are so ready...

Savor It by Tarah DeWitt

Spice Rating: 5

Christmas Bucket List Update #2

Another year, another Christmas bucket list! This season I’m still embracing the mantra of “Take it easy.” As such, I’m filling our bucket list with all my...

Before the Fall by Noah Hawley

On a foggy summer night, eleven people--ten privileged, one down-on-his-luck painter--depart Martha's Vineyard on a private jet headed for New York. Sixteen...

A Ruse of Shadows by Sherry Thomas

Charlotte’s success on the RMS Provence has afforded her a certain measure of time and assurance. Taking advantage of that, she has been busy, plotting to...

Under the Mistletoe Collection

The Under the Mistletoe Collection is comprised of 5 original short stories presented through the Amazon Original Stories program. Stories from any of the...

Music Monday - Three Days Grace "Mayday"

Very exciting to have Adam back. It’s like the early 200s all over again.

26 Ways to Come Home for the Holidays by Jennifer Joy

Spice Rating: 3.5

The Story of Evolution in 25 Discoveries by Donald R. Prothero

The theory of evolution unites the past, present, and future of living things. It puts humanity’s place in the universe into necessary perspective. Despite a...

Jingle Ale the Way by Sarah Everly

Spice Rating: 4

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

The Book Swap by Tessa Bickers

Still reeling from a recent tragedy, Erin Connolly knows she needs to start living, but has no idea how. When she accidentally donates her favorite book—a...

Christmas Bucket List Update #1

Another year, another Christmas bucket list! This season I’m still embracing the mantra of “Take it easy.” As such, I’m filling our bucket list with all my...

Homeschool W14: A play, board games, and lots of schoolwork!

Back to our normally schedule program. We managed to fit in a decent amount of school work along with a few activities with friends. Trying to make the most of...

Music Monday - The Warning "Hell You Call a Dream"

Always love women rockers.

Life Right Now #30

Right now I am: I am deciding what to make for brunch. I’m thinking either cranberry orange pound cake or pecan pie pound cake for today.

The Best Cowboy Christmas Ever by June Faver

Spice Rating: 4

All I Want is You by Falon Ballard

Spice Meter: 5

The Kingdom of Sweets by Erika Johansen

Twin sisters, divided by envy and magic, set against one another on a fateful Christmas EveLight and dark—this is the cursed birthright placed upon Clara and...

The Holiday Honeymoon Switch by Julia McKay

Spice Rating: 4 (couple of explicit scenes, but short and easy to skip)

Music Monday - Fame on Fire "Nightmare"

The local radio station keeps playing this song. I finally really paid attention.

Christmas Bucket List

Another year, another Christmas bucket list! This season I’m still embracing the mantra of “Take it easy.” As such, I’m filling our bucket list with all my...

December 2024 Life Goals

Let’s check in on November’s goals and my progress.

November 2024 Wrap-up

November TBR Pile (18/19):

A Demon's Guide to Wooing a Witch by Sarah Hawley

Spice Meter: 5

The Gargoyle's Captive by Katee Robert

Where It Got It: Library

The Loneliest Place by Lora Senf

As summer comes to an end, Evie Von Rathe is determined to begin the search for her parents in earnest. Armed with her knowledge of the otherworldly, her mom’s...

Homeschool W13: Lots of Schoolwork and Sickness

A flex week and a regular week all rolled into one post. I took to heart my November goal of Take It Easy. We have continued our activities, but I lessened the...

Music Monday - Franz Ferdinand "Audacious"

Takes me back to college…

Life Right Now #29

On my bedside table: I have a few more non-holiday reads left in my library pile. Up next is The Gargoyle’s Captive by Katee Robert.

The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke

A church is a sort of wood. A wood is a sort of church. They're the same thing really.'Nineteen-year-old Merowdis Scot is an unusual girl. She can talk to...

Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins

From the glittering streets of Manhattan to the moonlit rooftops of Paris, falling in love is easy for hopeless dreamer Isla and introspective artist Josh. But...

A Soul to Keep by Opal Reyne

Spice Rating: 8

A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan

I finally got around to the beginning of this series and it was very enjoyable. Written as a scientific memoir, we follow Lady Trent on her first adventure...

Music Monday - Weathers "Wasn't Gonna Go Out"

Emo-pop? Um yes! I need some right now.

Life Right Now #28

Right now I am: Enjoying my coffee before needing to go pick up Arthur from his first sleepover.

Mistress of Rome by Kate Quinn

First-century Rome: A ruthless emperor watches over all—and fixes his gaze on one young woman...

Illicit Temptations by Katee Robert

Spice Rating: 5

To Shape a Dragon's Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose

The remote island of Masquapaug has not seen a dragon in many generations—until fifteen-year-old Anequs finds a dragon’s egg and bonds with its hatchling. Her...

Homeschool W12: Slowing Down was Helpful

After the whirlwind that was August, September, and October, we hit November and everything slowed down. So so helpful for us. We grabbed a few minutes to...

Music Monday - Zedd feat. Muse "1685"

Um… weirdly I’m digging this song this week

Life Right Now #27

On my bedside table: Um… I have a ton of library checkouts, but not sure what I want to read next. I’m deep into a historical fiction right now.

Desperate Measures by Katee Robert

Spice Rating: 6

Alice in Borderland Vol. 1

Eighteen-year-old Ryohei Arisu is sick of his life. School sucks, his love life is a joke, and his future feels like impending doom. As he struggles to exist...

Haunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton

Spice Rating: 8

Tangled Up in You by Christina Lauren

Spice Rating: 3She has a dream. He has a plan. Together they’ll take a leap of faith.Ren has never held an iPhone, googled the answer to a question, or...

Currently #19

Reading: I finally started reading the November book club selection, To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose. I’m really intrigued by the story.

Homeschool W11: Celebrating the Last Autumn Fun

We celebrated the last fun bits of autumn before the weather turned. Two last visits to Vala’s, a fun Halloween night, and more outdoor activities. We even...

Music Monday - Snow Patrol "All"

How did I miss that Snow Patrol has new music out? I really used to love them.

Life Right Now #26

On my bedside table: The last spooky season reads and the beginnings of the holiday romances.

The Nighthouse Keeper by Lora Senf

Evie Von Rathe has been home for only a few weeks from her adventure in the strange world of seven houses when Blight Harbor’s beloved ghosts begin to...

November 2024 Life Goals

Let’s check in on October’s goals and my progress.

October 2024 Wrap-up

October TBR Pile (26/27):

Haunted Ever After by Jen DeLuca

Spice Rating: 5 (although not really until the end)

The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry

An exquisitely talented young British author makes her American debut with this rapturously acclaimed historical novel, set in late nineteenth-century England,...

Lore Olympus Vol. 7 by Rachel Smythe

I got my hands on this volume pretty quickly after its release date. And we finally get some movement in the story. It’s less about the will they, won’t they,...

Homeschool W9-10: Too Busy to Make a Weekly Post!

I had to combine two homeschooling weeks into one post. We were just too busy for me to get around to documenting. Fairly last minute, I actually planned the...

Music Monday - Wage War "Magnetic"

I keep coming back to this song lately…

Life Right Now #25

As I look outside my window: It’s bright and sunny but chilly. Perfect fall day!

The Hitchcock Hotel by Stephanie Wrobel

Alfred Smettle is not your average Hitchcock fan. He is the founder, owner, and manager of The Hitchcock Hotel, a sprawling Victorian house in the White...

That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Human by Kimberly Lemming

Spice Rating: 5

We Kept Her in the Cellar by W.R. Gorman

Eunice lives her life by three simple rules: One, always refer to Cinderella as family. Two, never let Cinderella gain access to rats or mice. Three, never...

The Kiss Curse by Erin Sterling

Wells has come to Graves Glen to re-establish his family’s connection to the town they founded as well as to make a new life for himself after years of being...

Music Monday - Archetypes Collide "Becoming What I Hate"

Another find from the radio!

Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

ASSISTANT WANTED: Notorious, high-ranking villain seeks loyal, levelheaded assistant for unspecified office duties, supporting staff for random mayhem and...

A Witch's Guide to Fake Dating a Demon by Sarah Hawley

Spice Rating: 5

The Clackity by Lora Senf

Evie Von Rathe lives in Blight Harbor—the seventh-most haunted town in America—with her Aunt Desdemona, the local paranormal expert. Des doesn’t have many...

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young

In the small mountain town of Jasper, North Carolina, June Farrow is waiting for fate to find her. The Farrow women are known for their thriving flower...

By the Book by Jasmine Guillory

Spice Rating: 4Sometimes to truly know a person, you have to read between the lines.

Homeschool W8: Big Changes are Happening!

My title sound really scary, but the big changes I am referring are actually great things. We officially started our new Academic Co-op. (More info later in...

Music Monday - Chrissy Costanza feat. VOILA "7 Minutes in Hell"

Did I just find new artists to follow? Yep, I just did. Loving this song right now.

Year Zero Vol. 2

Upshot's hit series Year Zero returns with four new harrowing tales of survival from around a post apocalyptic world, set several months after the events on...

Year Zero Vol. 1

Ben Percy (Wolverine) and Ramon Rosanas (Star Wars: Age of Resistance) team up to present an epic tale that offers a global look at the Zombie Apocalypse. A...

Ghost Camera by Darcy Coates

Fixated on her.

Paladin's Grace by T. Kingfisher

Stephen’s god died on the longest day of the year…Three years later, Stephen is a broken paladin, living only for the chance to be useful before he dies. But...

Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Törzs

For generations, the Kalotay family has guarded a collection of ancient and rare books. Books that let a person walk through walls or manipulate the...

That Time I Got Drunk and Yeeted a Love Potion at a Werewolf by Kimberly Lemmin

Spice Rating: 7

Currently #18

Reading: I got back into comics with Year Zero, a series about the zombie apocalypse.

Homeschool W7: Our Usual Routine for Fall

Today’s post actually includes a Flex Week and a normal week. We’re deep in Vala’s season, so our weeks are a bit shorter and bit busier than usual. Still, We...

Music Monday - Hailstorm and I Prevail "Can U See Me in the Dark"

Lovely this collaboration! Such a great mix of two bands.

Life Right Now #24

As I look outside my window: It’s bright and sunny, but thankfully cooler than yesterday. It reached 96 degrees yesterday and I could feel it at Junkstock....

Year Zero Vol. 0

In this action-packed prelude to the hit series, acclaimed horror writer Daniel Kraus (George Romero's The Living Dead, The Autumnal) unveils four...

Behind the Horror by Lee Mellor

Overall, the stories behind the horror movies are pretty uneven. A few were very detailed and sufficiently creepy. I loved the chapters that detailed the...

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

October 2024 Life Goals

Let’s check in on September’s goals and my progress.

September 2024 Wrap-up

September TBR Pile (20/21):

Music Monday - Halsey "Lonely is the Muse"

Some major 90s angst this is new Halsey song. I think I might just love it!

2024 Reading Challenges Update #3

I’m back to employing reading challenges to help direct my reading this year. Let’s check in with my progress of all the challenges I am attempting this year.

Life Right Now #23

As I look outside my window: Bright and fairly warm. Our proper fall weather has warmed up again.

The Ornithologist's Field Guide to Love by India Holton

Beth Pickering is on the verge of finally capturing the rare deathwhistler bird when Professor Devon Lockley swoops in, stealing both her bird and her...

Dead Lake by Darcy Coates

Another fun creepy Darcy Coates book for my Spooky Season. I didn’t realize that this was actual a novella and a few short stories. But I still really enjoyed...

Phantasma by Kaylie Smith

Spice Rating: 5

Lost Boy by Christina Henry

There is one version of my story that everyone knows. And then there is the truth. This is how it happened. How I went from being Peter Pan’s first—and...

A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher

Cordelia knows her mother is . . . unusual. Their house doesn’t have any doors between rooms—there are no secrets in this house—and her mother doesn't allow...

Homeschool W6: A Pretty Normal Week

This week is our current normal: a few activities, some days of schoolwork. We got to visit Vala’s for the first time this season and it was amazing. The boys...

Music Monday - Linkin Park "The Emptiness Machine"

I’m really digging this new Linkin Park with Emily joining her massive vocals.

Book of Night by Holly Black

So very disappointed by this book. I was intrigued by the summary and interested in reading a dark magical story featuring a scrappy protagonist. What I got...

From Below by Darcy Coates

I also enjoy a Darcy Coates book for some spooky fun. This one involves a sunken ship and lots of creepy creepy scenes. I will say that every Coates book is a...

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz

Destry's life is dedicated to terraforming Sask-E. As part of the Environmental Rescue Team, she cares for the planet and its burgeoning eco-systems as her...

Lore Olympus Vol. 6 by Rachel Smythe

Finally I grabbed this volume of one of my favorite comic series. I loved how the story actually moved forward in this volume. The last one did not move the...

Homeschool W5: Meh. I Guess It was a Normal Week.

Oddly this past week just feels very meh for me. We covered a decent amount of schoolwork and had a few activities. But we also had a big car appointment and...

Music Monday - Ice Nine Kills and Reel Big Fish "Walking on Sunshine"

The two major sides of my music personality - metal and pop ska - together in one song. Plus, it’s a band from the 90s that I still love and a current band...

Life Right Now #22

On my bedside table: All the spooky books! I have The Hacienda by Isabel Canas and Book of Night by Holly Black on the short stack.

That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon by Kimberly Lemming

Spice Rating: 6

Never Whistle at Night

Many Indigenous people believe that one should never whistle at night. This belief takes many forms: for instance, Native Hawaiians believe it summons the...

Murder Road by Simone St. James

July 1995. April and Eddie have taken a wrong turn. They’re looking for the small resort town where they plan to spend their honeymoon. When they spot what...

Key Lime Sky by Al Hess

Denver Bryant’s passion for pie has sent him across Wyoming in search of the best slices. Though he dutifully posts reviews on his blog, he’s never been able...

Currently #16

Reading: I’m currently deep into Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology. It’s giving me all the spooky vibes that I was looking for....

Homeschool W4: Catching Up a Bit

This was our off week for co-op and we took advantage catching up on bookwork. We also ended up having a very light activity work. It was actually pretty nice...

Music Monday - Bring Me the Horizon "Top 10 staTues tHat CriEd bloOd"

Caught this song on the radio and realized how much I enjoy Bring Me the Horizon.

Life Right Now #21

As I look outside my window: Bright and sunny. It’s looking to be a warmer day than yesterday. I yearn for fall over here…

The 22 Murders of Madison May by Max Barry

I finally picked up this book that’s been sitting on my shelves for a few years. We chose it as a book club read this fall. I was very intrigued by the...

Universal Monsters: Dracula

A wonderfully creepy graphic novel version of a classic story. The art is decidedly vague when it comes to the count and the horror and very clear when we...

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

The Succubus's Prize by Katee Robert

Where It Got It: Library

RC: Spooky Season A to Z

I always love reading “spooky” books during the fall. These books can be hard core horror or just very atmospheric. They could be mystery, romance, or fantasy....

Homeschool W3: Another Week of Activities, But We Caught Up Mostly

Q’s History

Music Monday - Nothing More feat. Eric V "House on Sand"

Always love new music from Nothing More and I think this is my favorite song on the new album.

September 2024 Life Goals

Let’s check in on August’s goals and my progress.

August 2024 Wrap-up

August TBR Pile (18/19):

The Briar Club by Kate Quinn

Washington, DC, 1950. Everyone keeps to themselves at Briarwood House, a down-at-the-heels all-female boardinghouse in the heart of the nation’s capital where...

The Nice House on the Lake Vol. 2

One of the most critically acclaimed and bestselling horror books of 2021 returns for its shocking second act—and now is the perfect time to enter the house!...

Currently #15

Reading: I’m deep into Kate Quinn’s new book The Briar Club. This is a different type of book for her. Still historical fiction, but this time we have a murder...

Homeschool W2: Activities Took Over!

A’s science and ELA

Music Monday - Bailey Zimmerman "Hell or High Water"

I’m totally digging the Twisters soundtrack right now. A bit of departure from my usual music, but I’m loving it.

The Deading by Nicholas Belardes

Such a disappointing read! I was hoping for some great cli-fi horror involving snails and an otherworldly presence. I was hoping for something like...

Life Right Now #20

Right now I am: Heading out to the last academic co-op working meeting before we start in October. We still need to make a decision on location and some...

The Idea of You by Robinne Lee

Labeled as romance. Let me tell you that this is not romance. There is no HEA here. There is not mutually respectful relationship between adults. There is a...

Dark Restraint by Katee Robert

Spice Rating: 6

I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue

When an IT mix-up grants her access to her entire department’s private emails and DMs, Jolene knows she should report it, but who could resist reading what...

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

Currently #14

Reading: After social media pressure, I started reading The Idea of You by Robinne Lee. I’m not quite sure what I think about the book so far, but I will say...

Homeschool W1: Year 5 has begun!

We hit the ground running on Monday with a full week of curriculum and activities. My focus word for the year is balance. Last year, I felt like we let...

Music Monday - Lainey Wilson "Out of Oklahoma"

Not usually a huge fan of country, but I do love Lainey Wilson’s sound. Very old-school country.

A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid

But musty, decrepit Hiraeth Manor is an impossible task, and its residents are far from welcoming. Including Preston Héloury, a stodgy young literature scholar...

Four Lost Cities by Annalee Newitz

Newitz travels to all four sites and investigates the cutting-edge research in archaeology, revealing the mix of environmental changes and political turmoil...

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

Temptation by R.L. Stine

I saw this book featured on an episode of The Big Door Prize and of course I had to grab it. I knew that it was going to be some cheesy young adult vampire...

Ruthless Redemption by Katee Robert

Spice Rating: 5

Music Monday - Rise Against "Ready to Fall"

A very old song that I rediscovered on the radio. I just really love their sound. Takes me back…

Life Right Now #19

As I look outside my window: The sky is cloudy, but it’s still super humid. Not the best weather today.

The Nice House on the Lake Vol. 1

Everyone who was invited to the house knows Walter-well, they know him a little, anyway. Some met him in childhood; some met him months ago. And Walter’s...

Lovely Corruption by Katee Robert

Spice Rating: 5

Beautiful Vengeance by Katee Robert

Spice Rating: 5

Music Monday - Royale Lynn feat. Danny Worsnop "Death Wish"

Really digging this collaboration.

The Six by Loren Grush

In this account of America’s first women astronauts “Grush skillfully weaves a story that, at its heart, is about desire: not a nation’s desire to conquer...

Summer Adventures - July

Instead of a summer bucket list, we are just taking the weeks as they come. But we ended up having many adventures this month.

August 2024 Life Goals

Let’s check in on July’s goals and my progress.

July 2024 Wrap-up

July TBR Pile (19/19):

Music Monday - Something Corporate "Death Grip"

New music from Something Corporate with Andrew McMahon! It’s been way too long.

Twisted Secrets by Katee Robert

Spice Rating: 5

Life Right Now #18

Right now I am: Prepping for the Homeschool Seminar I’m hosting today. Lots of people are planning on coming (like 25), we’ll see who actually shows up.

The Bad Ones by Melissa Albert

Such a disappointment. I loved Albert’s Hazelwood series and was hoping for more dark fantasy. This one started very very slow and failed to go anywhere for...

Heated Rivals by Katee Robert

Spice Rating: 5

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

Raising Critical Thinkers by Julie Bogart

Education is not solely about acquiring information and skills across subject areas, but also about understanding how and why we believe what we do. At a time...

The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett

In Daretana’s greatest mansion, a high imperial officer lies dead—killed, to all appearances, when a tree erupted from his body. Even here at the Empire’s...

Music Monday - Palaye Royale "Showbiz"

New music from Palaye Royale. Very exciting!

Life Right Now #17

As I look outside my window: It’s a bit overcast this morning. Definitely rained last night. I would be fine with it as the temps are a bit cooler, but the...

Dark Succession by Katee Robert

Spice Rating: 5

The Gentleman's Gambit by Evie Dunmore

Spice Rating: 5

Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman

To eight-year-old Bela, her family is her world. There’s Mommy, Daddo, and Grandma Ruth. But there is also Other Mommy, a malevolent entity who asks her every...

Broad Strokes by Bridget Quinn

Historically, major women artists have been excluded from the mainstream art canon. Aligned with the resurgence of feminism in pop culture, Broad Strokes...

Currently #12

Reading: I’m deep into The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett for this month’s Nerdy Bookish Friends pick. I’m really enjoying this murder mystery set in am...

Music Monday - The Last Dinner Party "Nothing Matters"

Song is great. The video is even better!

Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Kady, Ezra, Hanna, and Nik narrowly escaped with their lives from the attacks on Heimdall station and now find themselves crammed with 2,000 refugees on the...

The Leftover Woman by Jean Kwok

Jasmine Yang arrives in New York City from her rural Chinese village without money or family support, fleeing a controlling husband, on a desperate search for...

Glass Town by Isabel Greenberg

Glass Town is an original graphic novel by Isabel Greenberg that encompasses the eccentric childhoods of the four Brontë children—Charlotte, Branwell, Emily,...

Leather and Lark by Brynne Weaver

Spice Rating: 5Contract killer Lachlan Kane wants a quiet life working in his leather studio and forgetting all about his traumatic past. But when he botches a...

Music Monday - The Ramona Flowers "Up All Night"

Last week I featured a song from Scott Pilgrim This week I’m featuring a band named after a character in that comics series. This one has such a great beat

Witch King by Martha Wells

After being murdered, his consciousness dormant and unaware of the passing of time while confined in an elaborate water trap, Kai wakes to find a lesser mage...

Gemina by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Moving to a space station at the edge of the galaxy was always going to be the death of Hanna’s social life. Nobody said it might actually get her killed.    ...

The Book of Scandal by Julia London

Spice Rating: 4

The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods

‘The thing about books,’ she said ‘is that they help you to imagine a life bigger and better than you could ever dream of.’

Summer Adventures - June

Instead of a summer bucket list, we are just taking the weeks as they come. But we ended up having many adventures this month.

Currently #11

Reading: Getting ready to dive into the 3rd book in The Illuminae Files series, Obsidio. I am really enjoying this series.

July 2024 Life Goals

Let’s check in on June’s goals and my progress.

Music Monday - Metric feat. Brie Larson "Black Sheep"

Why do I keep coming back to old music? Still love it!

June 2024 Wrap-up

June TBR Pile (17/20):

2024 Reading Challenges Update #2

I’m back to employing reading challenges to help direct my reading this year. Let’s check in with my progress of all the challenges I am attempting this year.

Cursed Cruise by Victoria Fulton and Faith McClaren

Well, that was decently fun. After two duds of books, I was really hoping for something fun and exciting that wouldn’t make me think too hard. This was just...

The Do-Over by TL Swan

Spice Rating: 5

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

Annie Bot by Sierra Greer

Annie Bot was created to be the perfect girlfriend for her human owner Doug. Designed to satisfy his emotional and physical needs, she has dinner ready for him...

The Book of M by Peng Shepherd

Set in a dangerous near future world, The Book of M tells the captivating story of a group of ordinary people caught in an extraordinary catastrophe who risk...

Music Monday - Slipknot "Snuff"

A very old song and yet I pull out old Slipknot and Stone Sour at the most random times.

Life Right Now #16

As I look outside my window: Very blue skies with no clouds. It’s going to be another scorching hot day.

Rules of Civility by Amor Towles

On the last night of 1937, twenty-five-year-old Katey Kontent is in a second-rate Greenwich Village jazz bar when Tinker Grey, a handsome banker, happens to...

Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez

Spice Rating: 4

Butcher and Blackbird by Brynne Weaver

Spice Rating: 5 1/2 (due to all the murder)When a chance encounter sparks an unlikely bond between rival murderers Sloane and Rowan, they find something...

Isaac's Storm by Erik Larson

September 8, 1900, began innocently in the seaside town of Galveston, Texas. Even Isaac Cline, resident meteorologist for the U.S. Weather Bureau failed to...

Currently #10

Reading: I’m almost finished with the current Nerdy Bookish Friends pick Annie Bot by Sierra Greer. I can’t say that I’m enjoying it, but it is interesting.

Music Monday - While She Sleeps "To the Flowers"

A YouTube discovery for me. Loving the sound.

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do. This afternoon, her planet was invaded.      The year is 2575, and two...

Ghost Station by S.A. Barnes

Another proper space horror adventure! I really enjoyed Barnes’s previous book Dead Silence and was hoping with would be another good horror adventure....

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

The Morningside by Téa Obreht

There’s the world you can see. And then there’s the one you can’t. Welcome to the Morningside.After being expelled from their ancestral home in a...

Blood by Jen Gunter

Most women can expect to have hundreds of periods in a lifetime. So why is real information so hard to find? Despite its significance, most education about...

Music Monday - Dead Poet Society "Running in Circles"

A new discovery for me. Loving this more pop-rock sound.

Life Right Now #15

As I look outside my window: Clear and bright. Thankfully the temperatures have decreased slightly…

Kaiju: Battlefield Surgeon by Matt Dinniman

It had seemed like a dream offer. Paint a mural. $15,000. How could Duke not jump at the chance?

Poison by Sarah Pinborough

Meet handsome prince, the jealous queen, and the beautiful girl as you’ve never seen them before . . . Sarah Pinborough’s charming, provocative, and adult spin...

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and is, shortly afterward, told what project she’ll be working on. A recently...

Horror Hotel by Victoria Fulton and Faith McClaren

I spied this on a library featured shelf and immediately snatched it. I was hoping of a creepy fun ghost adventure. And that’s exactly what I got! We dive...

Currently #9

Reading: I’m slowly making my way through Blood by Jen Gunter. Just like one of her previous books, The Vagina Bible, I am learning so much! A must read.

Homeschool W32-34: We Made It!

We finally made it through our regular year of curriculum. We never really stop schooling, but we have finished with this year’s big curriculum pieces. For the...

Music Monday - Nothing More "If It Doesn't Hurt"

And some new music for Nothing More. Apparently it’s the season for new music!

Life Right Now #14

As I look outside my window: The big storm has rolled through this morning. I think the sun is now trying to come back out and shine.

June 2024 Life Goals

Let’s check in on May’s goals and my progress.

May 2024 Wrap-up

May TBR Pile (18/20):

Bookshop Cinderella by Laura Lee Guhrke

Spice Rating: 4.5

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

Diavola by Jennifer Thorne

Anna has two rules for the annual Pace family destination vacations: Tread lightly and survive.It isn’t easy when she’s the only one in the family who doesn’t...

Currently #8

Reading: Finally diving into The Morningside by Téa Obreht. This is one of the retreat book club selections and I’m leading the discussions. I wanted to read...

Music Monday - Black Veil Brides "Bleeders"

Always up for new Black Veil Brides music.

Life Right Now #13

Right now I am: I still need to decide what to make for brunch. Maybe coconut banana bread?

The Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn and Janie Chang

San Francisco, 1906. In a city bustling with newly minted millionaires and scheming upstarts, two very different women hope to change their fortunes: Gemma, a...

The Casanova by TL Swan

Spice Rating: 5

A Long Time Coming by Meghan Quinn

Spice Meter:  5

Music Monday - I'm With Her "Hannah Hunt"

A folk cover of a Vampire Weekend song. Love it!

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.In a dark and dusty...

The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders

"If you control our sleep, then you can own our dreams... And from there, it's easy to control our entire lives."January is a dying planet—divided between a...

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher

After their terrifying ordeal at the Usher manor, Alex Easton feels as if they just survived another war. All they crave is rest, routine, and sunshine, but...

Funny Story by Emily Henry

Daphne always loved the way her fiancé Peter told their story. How they met (on a blustery day), fell in love (over an errant hat), and moved back to his...

Music Monday - Hozier "Too Sweet"

I seriously love his sound for when I want something not metal.

A Letter to the Luminous Deep by Sylvie Cathrall

A beautiful discovery outside the window of her underwater home prompts the reclusive E. to begin a correspondence with renowned scholar Henerey Clel. The...

The Kraken's Sacrifice by Katee Robert

Spice Rating: 6

To Desire a Devil by Elizabeth Hoyt

Spice Rating: 5

Currently #7

Reading: I’ve been diving into A Letter to the Luminous Deep by Sylvie Cathrall. I really been loving the atmosphere and the mystery of this book.

Homeschool W30-31: Nearing the End...

A’s ELA and Math

Life Right Now #12

Right now I am: heading out to lead a meeting for our new homeschool academic coop. Hoping the conversation goes well.

Unmasking Autism by Devon Price

A recommendation from a friend who has been finding this book life changing. I was most intrigued to see how this book could help me understand my autistic...

To Beguile a Beast by Elizabeth Hoyt

Spice Rating: 5

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

May 2024 Life Goals

Let’s check in on April’s goals and my progress.

April 2024 Wrap-up

April TBR Pile (19/21):

The Eye of the Bedlam Bride by Matt Dinniman

A pantheon of forgotten gods. An old grudge between a talk show host, an heiress, and the man they shattered along the way. A rapidly deteriorating AI system....

To Seduce a Sinner by Elizabeth Hoyt

Spice Rating: 5

Witnerset Hollow by Jonathan Edward Durham

Everyone has wanted their favorite book to be real, if only for a moment. Everyone has wished to meet their favorite characters, if only for a day. But be...

The Takeover by TL Swan

Spice Rating: 5

Homeschool W29: Rain Rain Go Away

We had a week of schedule changes and weather issues. We rescheduled the park playdate for the next day. Unfortunately coop could not be rescheduled and we had...

Life Right Now #11

On my bedside table: Winterset Hollow by Jonathan Edward Durham; Unmasking Autism by Devon Price

The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler

Moscow has resurrected the mammoth. But someone must teach them how to be mammoths, or they are doomed to die out again.Dr. Damira Khismatullina, an expert in...

Three Eight One by Aliya Whiteley

In January 2314, Rowena Savalas – a curator of the vast archive of the twenty-first century’s primitive internet – stumbles upon a story posted in the summer...

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

Maine, 1789: When the Kennebec River freezes, entombing a man in the ice, Martha Ballard is summoned to examine the body and determine cause of death. As a...

Homeschool W28: We Took It Easy

We ended up taking it a bit easy this week. My body was in a lot of pain, so I eased off our workload. Instead, we spent more time with some easy activities.

Life Right Now #10

Right now I am: Prepping for brunch. I’m think about making Pecan Pie Pound Cake with eggs and bacon.

Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave

A book club selection this month. I was pulled in by the summary. It’s been awhile since I have read a good World War II novel and I had hoped that this would...

Empty Smiles by Katherine Arden

It’s been three months since Ollie made a daring deal with the smiling man to save those she loved, and then vanished without a trace. The smiling man promised...

To Taste Temptation by Elizabeth Hoyt

Spice Rating:

Lore Olympus Vol. 5 by Rachel Smythe

I still really love this series, but it’s hitting a bit of a low point I think. The will-they-won’t-they portion is feeling a bit tired. And I’m not very happy...

Homeschool W27: Two Weeks of Relaxed Yet Productive School

A’s ELA, Math, and Science

Life Right Now #9

As I look outside my window: It’s windy but at least the sun has come back out.

A Tale Dark & Grimm by Adam Gidwitz

In this mischievous and utterly original debut, Hansel and Gretel walk out of their own story and into eight other classic Grimm-inspired tales. As readers...

The Housemaid by Freida McFadden

“Welcome to the family,” Nina Winchester says as I shake her elegant, manicured hand. I smile politely, gazing around the marble hallway. Working here is my...

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White

Mors vincit omnia. Death conquers all.London, 1883. The Veil between the living and dead has thinned. Violet-eyed mediums commune with spirits under the...

Currently #6

Reading: Diving into The Housemaid by Freida McFadden for upcoming book club. It’s a thriller, but I’m actually enjoying it right now.

April 2024 Life Goals

Let’s check in on March’s goals and my progress.

March 2024 Wrap-up

March TBR Pile (25/31):

2024 Reading Challenges Update #1

I’m back to employing reading challenges to help direct my reading this year. Let’s check in with my progress of all the challenges I am attempting this year.

Toil & Trouble by Lisa Kröger and Melanie R. Anderson

Meet the mystical women and nonbinary people from US history who found strength through the supernatural—and those who are still forging the way today. From...

A Guest in the House by Emily Carroll

After many lonely years, Abby’s just gotten married. She met her new husband―a recently widowed dentist―when he arrived in town with his young daughter,...

The Murmur of Bees by Sofia Segovia

From the day that old Nana Reja found a baby abandoned under a bridge, the life of a small Mexican town forever changed. Disfigured and covered in a blanket of...

Dark Waters by Katherine Arden

Until next time. That was chilling promise made to Ollie, Coco and Brian after they outsmarted the smiling man at Mount Hemlock Resort. And as the trio knows,...

Reckless by Anne Stuart

Spice Rating: 5

Homeschool W26: Activities Rearranged Our Schedule

Q’s ELA

Life Right Now #8

As I look outside my window: Sunny and bright but pretty cold. March’s weather is all over the place per usual.

Ruthless by Anne Stuart

Spice Rating: 5

The One Hundred Nights of Hero by Isabel Greenberg

In the Empire of Migdal Bavel, Cherry is married to Jerome, a wicked man who makes a diabolical wager with his friend Manfred: if Manfred can seduce Cherry in...

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

Two Wars and a Wedding by Lauren Willig

September 1896: An aspiring archaeologist, Smith College graduate Betsy Hayes travels to Athens, desperate to break into the male-dominated field of...

Bride by Ali Hazelwood

Spice Rating: 5

Homeschool W24-25: Still trucking along...

We ended up taking a bit of a break for W24. All three of us were a bit burned out and needed to scale back our school work to reenergize. For W25, we were...

Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett

Emily Wilde is a genius scholar of faerie folklore—she just wrote the world’s first comprehensive of encylopaedia of faeries. She’s learned many of the secrets...

So Not Meant to Be by Meghan Quinn

Spice Meter:  5

The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud

A sinister Problem has occurred in London: all nature of ghosts, haunts, spirits, and specters are appearing throughout the city, and they aren't exactly...

What Stalks Among Us by Sarah Hollowell

Best friends and high school seniors Sadie and Logan make their first mistake when they ditch their end-of-year field trip to the amusement park in favor of...

Currently #5

Reading: I grabbed the new Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett and I am so in love with it! There’s an element of cozy fantasy in this...

Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge

When Rachelle was fifteen she was good—apprenticed to her aunt and in training to protect her village from dark magic. But she was also reckless—straying from...

Worst Best Man by Lucy Score

Spice Rating: 5

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino

At the moment when Voyager 1 is launched into space carrying its famous golden record, a baby of unusual perception is born to a single mother in Philadelphia....

Love Everlasting Vol. 1 and Vol. 2

From multiple Eisner Award winning writer Tom King and up-and-coming artist Elsa Charretier comes the first volume of a thrilling, genre-bending romance/horror...

Homeschool W23: Ready for a Break!

Our week went well and we accomplished a lot of school work. But, I couldn’t shake the feeling that we needed a bit of a break. Makes sense in the we haven’t...

Music Monday - Saint Asonia feat. John Cooper "Wolf"

A collaboration that I didn’t think I needed, but apparently I did. I love Adam’s voice and it is really well matched to John’s voice.

Life Right Now #7

As I look outside my window: It’s super clear outside and supposed to be almost 70 degrees, but windy. We’re having book club outdoors instead of stuck in a...

The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. by Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland

When Melisande Stokes, an expert in linguistics and languages, accidently meets military intelligence operator Tristan Lyons in a hallway at Harvard...

March 2024 Life Goals

Let’s check in on February’s goals and my progress.

February 2024 Wrap-up

February TBR Pile (26/28):

Chaos Terminal by Mur Lafferty

.Finally grabbed the second book in the Midsolar Murders series and enjoyed it. I must say that for a portion of this book, I was very annoyed by the lack of...

Mimi's Tales of Terror by Junji Ito

University student Mimi and her boyfriend Naoto encounter one chilling mystery after another. There’s the enigmatic neighbor woman dressed in black from head...

Currently #4

Reading: I finally got the second Midsolar Murders book, Chaos Terminal, by Mur Lafferty. I’m really digging these murders in space books.

Homeschool W22: Two Great Weeks of School and Activities

Art and music time!

Music Monday - Alkaline Trio "Versions of You"

Another band back together and making new music. Love it!

Life Right Now #6

As I look outside my window: Bright and clear with just a bit of cool temps.

Sellout by Dan Ozzi

Punk rock found itself at a crossroads in the mid-90’s. After indie favorite Nirvana catapulted into the mainstream with its unexpected phenomenon, Nevermind,...

Midnight Ruin by Katee Robert

Spice Rating: 8

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

A Fragile Enchantment by Allison Saft

Niamh Ó Conchobhair has never let herself long for more. The magic in her blood that lets her stitch emotions and memories into fabric is the same magic that...

Mislaid in Parts Half-Known by Seanan McGuire

Antsy is the latest student to pass through the doors at Eleanor West's School for Wayward Children.When the school’s (literally irresistible) mean girl...

Music Monday - Green Day "One Eyed Bastard"

So excited that Green Day is back making music. Still love them 30 years after discovering them.

Life Right Now #5

Right now I am: Taking a break from a very busy day.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith

Complete with romance, heartbreak, swordfights, cannibalism, and thousands of rotting corpses, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is an audacious retelling of...

Hunt on Dark Water by Katee Robert

Evelyn is a witch with a perfect storm of impulses: terrible taste in bed partners, sticky fingers, and a lust for danger. After she steals from her vampire ex...

The Butcher's Masquerade by Matt Dinniman

Attention. Attention. The gates are down. The hunters are loose.Run, Run, Run. A lush jungle teeming with danger. Savage dinosaurs seeking blood. A fallen...

Thirty Nights with a Highland Husband by Melissa Maybe

Scotland, 1272. Connor MacKiernan, a descendant of the Fae Prince, is a warrior who lives only for honor and duty. Though he’s vowed never to marry, that’s...

Malamander by Thomas Taylor

It’s winter in the town of Eerie-on-Sea, where the mist is thick and the salt spray is rattling the windows of the Grand Nautilus Hotel. Inside, young Herbert...

Currently #3

Reading: A Fragile Enchantment by Allison Saft. I picked up this fantasy Regency-inspired young adult novel. I’m only a few chapters in, but it is entertaining...

Homeschool W20-21: Finding Our Groove Finally!

My example project

Music Monday - Bring Me the Horizon feat. Babymetal "Kingslayer"

Another amazing collaboration!

The Paleontologist by Luke Dumas

Curator of paleontology Dr. Simon Nealy never expected to return to his Pennsylvania hometown, let alone the Hawthorne Museum of Natural History. He was just a...

Life Right Now #4

As I look outside my window:

Dead Voices by Katherine Arden

Having survived sinister scarecrows and the malevolent smiling man in Small Spaces, newly minted best friends Ollie, Coco, and Brian are ready to spend a...

Haunted Holiday by Kiersten White

And we come to the end of the Sinister Summer series! And it was utterly delightful! I loved this play on A Series of Unfortunate Events with references to...

Untouchable by Talia Hibbert

Spice Meter: 5

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

A Holly Jolly Ever After by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone

Spice Rating: 5Kallum Liebermanis the funny one™. As the arguably lesser of the three former members of the boy band INK, he enjoyed his fifteen minutes of...

System Collapse by Martha Wells

Am I making it worse? I think I'm making it worse.Following the events in Network Effect, the Barish-Estranza corporation has sent rescue ships to a...

Music Monday - Within Temptation "Bleed Out"

Apparently I’ve really been into women led hard rock bands lately.

Confetti Realms

Found this slim graphic novel on a library list for Fairy Tale books. I grabbed it and sped through in an afternoon. This is a beautiful little story about...

Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells

No, I didn't kill the dead human. If I had, I wouldn't dump the body in the station mall.When Murderbot discovers a dead body on Preservation Station, it knows...

The Last One by Will Dean

I’m not usually a thriller person. I find them way too predictable and silly. But I heard good things about this one and was intrigued by the last person on a...

February 2024 Life Goals

Let’s check in on January’s goals and my progress.

January 2024 Wrap-up

January TBR Pile (31/31):

Currently #2

Reading: I picked up The Last One by Will Dean for my Clock Reading Challenge. I’m not usually into thrillers, but I was intrigued by this one.

Homeschool W19: Back to Normal Somehow

The snow storms finally calmed down and we got back outside for some activities. Unfortunately, coop was cancelled due to a scheduling issue with the city. But...

Music Monday - Apocalyptica feat. Elize Ryd "What We're Up Against"

I always love to see the collaborations from Apocalyptica and other artists. This one caught my ear.

Life Right Now #3

As I look outside my window: The sun has finally decided to make a bit of a comeback after multiple days without it.

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel. Childless, they are drifting apart -- he breaking under the...

Mr. Fixer Upper by Lucy Score

Spice Rating: 5

The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott

At the height of the Cold War, Irina, a young Russian-American secretary, is plucked from the CIA typing pool and given the assignment of a lifetime. Her...

The Gate of the Feral Gods by Matt Dinniman

New Achievement! Total, Utter Failure.

Homeschool W18: More Cancelled Activities

The weather threw us for another loop and we had to cancel a variety of activities this week. On the flip side, we got a ton of random school bookwork done...

Music Monday - Sum 41 "Rise Up"

Throwback band for this week! Loving this new song. Bringing my punk days to the forefront.

Life Right Now #2

As I look outside my window: It looks bright and sunny, but I know that it’s still very very cold.

Raiders of the Lost Heart by Jo Segura

Archaeologist Dr. Socorro “Corrie” Mejía has a bone to pick. Literally. It’s been Corrie’s life goal to lead an expedition deep into the Mexican jungle in...

Strands of Bronze and Gold by Jane Nickerson

Last year I read a great Bluebeard retelling (T. Kingfisher’s The Seventh Bride), so I had to go looking for another one. I found a ton of short stories in...

The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook by Matt Dinniman

Welcome to the Gun Show!

Teach Me by Olivia Dade

Their lesson plans didn’t include love. But that’s about to change…When Martin Krause arrives at Rose Owens’s high school, she’s determined to remain chilly...

Damaged Goods by Talia Hibbert

Spice Meter: 5

A Girl Like Her by Talia Hibbert

Spice Meter: 5

The Magician by Rebecca Serle

A mother-to-be is awed by her own mother’s chaotic and unknowable approach to life and its natural mysteries in a smart, witty, and whimsical story by the New...

Signal Moon by Kate Quinn

Yorkshire, 1943. Lily Baines, a bright young debutante increasingly ground down by an endless war, has traded in her white gloves for a set of headphones. It’s...

Under Her Skin by Adriana Anders

Spice Meter: 5

Currently #1

Reading: I dove into next month’s book club selection, The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott, and I’m very intrigued by the Cold War historical fiction.

Homeschool W17: Winter Arrived with a Vengeance

After a few weeks of light schoolwork and complete break, we were back at it last week with a full curriculum load. We had planned on chemistry class, a field...

Music Monday - Liliac "Heaven and Hell"

Random found this band on YouTube. That voice is just absolutely amazing!

Carl's Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman

"The training levels have concluded. Now the games may truly begin."

Life Right Now #1

As I look outside my window: Everything is white. That last winter storm dropped a ton more snow and the wind hasn’t let up. The below zero temperatures are...

The Fortune Hunter by Daisy Goodwin

Empress Elizabeth of Austria, known as Sisi, is the Princess Diana of nineteenth-century Europe. Famously beautiful, as captured in a portrait with diamond...

Mrs. Sherlock Holmes by Brad Ricca

Mrs. Sherlock Holmes tells the true story of Mrs. Grace Humiston, the detective and lawyer who turned her back on New York society life to become one of the...

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

Plodding. That’s the one word that comes to mind in attempting a review of this book. I just couldn’t seem to stay engaged in the story or the characters. Most...

Do Your Worst by Rosie Danan

Spice Meter: 5

Share Your Stuff, I'll Go First by Laura Tremaine

In spite of the hyper-connected culture we live in today, women still feel shamed for oversharing and being publicly vulnerable. And no matter how many friends...

2024 Reading Challenges

Another year, another attempt at reading challenges. Once again, I’m going to try to complete a variety of challenges. At the same time, I really want to keep...

Timekeeper by Tara Sim

“I was in an accident. I got out. I'm safe now.” An alternate Victorian world controlled by clock towers, where a damaged clock can fracture time—and a...

2024 Goals and Resolutions

House Goals/Resolutions

Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman

The apocalypse will be televised!

2023 Reading Challenges Roundup: Completed and Failed

For 2023, I brought back reading challenges into my life. Let’s see which ones I actually finished.

January 2024 Life Goals

Let’s check in on December’s goals and my progress.

2023 Wrap-up

Favorite Books of the Year:

Christmas Bucket List Finish

We didn’t finish this list, but I’m very much okay with that this year. We needed to take everything a little easier this year. I’m grateful for the slower...

December 2023 Wrap-up

December TBR Pilev (22/25):

Falling for the Rockstar at Christmas by Lyndsey Gallagher

Spice Meter: 5

Under the Smokestrewn Sky by A. Deborah Baker

Since stumbling from their world into the Up and Under, Avery and Zib have walked the improbable road across forests, seas and skies, finding friends in the...

The Stopover by TL Swan

I was upgraded to first class on a flight from London to New York. The food, champagne, and service were impeccable. The blue-eyed man sitting next to me,...

Blue Sky Cowboy Christmas by Joanne Kennedy

Spice Meter: 4

A Not So Meet Cute by Meghan Quinn

Spice Meter:  5

Miss Kane's Christmas by Caroline Mickelson

Spice Meter: 1

That Kind of Guy by Talia Hibbert

Spice Meter: 5

Homeschool W16: We're Ready for a Break!

We are definitely ready for Christmas break! It’s been a hectic couple of weeks to finish this semester and I’m ready to be done for a bit. We ended up...

The Worst Christmas Ever? by Rebecca Paulinyi

Spice Meter: 4

Life Right Now #38

As I look outside my window:

The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe by Kij Johnson

Professor Vellitt Boe teaches at the prestigious Ulthar Women’s College. When one of her most gifted students elopes with a dreamer from the waking world,...

Christmas Bucket List Update

Another Christmas season is upon us! Time for another bucket list. Let’s see what I’m hoping to do this year:

A Winter in New York by Josie Silver

Spice Rating: 2

Magical Midlife Madness by KF Breene

"Happily Ever After" wasn't supposed to come with a do-over option. But when my husband of twenty years packs up and heads for greener pastures and my son...

White Lie Christmas by Karla Doyle

Spice Meter: 5

Currently #23

Reading: I’m deep into Holiday Romances. I always love to end my year with some light-hearted holiday themed romances.

Gray Hair Don't Care by Karen Booth

Spice Rating: 5

Love in a Blizzard by Britney M. Mills

Spice Meter: 2

The Christmas Fix by Lucy Score

Spice Rating: 5

Bad Bachelor by Stefanie London

Spice Meter : 5

A Holiday by Gaslight by Mimi Matthews

Spice Meter: 1

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

Whalefall by Daniel Kraus

Jay Gardiner has given himself a fool’s errand—to find the remains of his deceased father in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Monastery Beach. He knows it’s...

Counting the Cost by Jill Duggar

Jill and Derick knew a normal life wasn’t possible for them. As a star on the popular TLC reality show 19 Kids and Counting, Jill grew up in front of viewers...

Homeschool W14-15: Thanksgiving Break was Needed

The Fox stories

Music Monday - Beartooth "Might Love Myself"

Another good one from Beartooth!

Life Right Now #35

As I look outside my window: It’s pretty gray and dreary today. And I think the temps are going to hover in the 30s. It’s definitely an inside day.

Snowed In for Christmas by Jaqueline Snowe

Spice Rating: 5

December 2023 Life Goals

Let’s check in on November’s goals and my progress.

Christmas Bucket List

Another Christmas season is upon us! Time for another bucket list. Let’s see what I’m hoping to do this year:

Fall Bucket List Finish

My favorite season of the year. Decent showing this year, even if I decided to slow everything down and rest this season.

November 2023 Wrap-up

November TBR Pile (21/27):

Role Playing by Cathy Yardley

Spice Rating: 5

Starter Villain by John Scalzi

Charlie's life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub...

Currently #22

Reading: I’m in between two books at the moment. I picked Whalefall by Daniel Kraus as my lighter thrillers and Bad Bachelor by Stephanie London as a potential...

Music Monday - The Word Alive "No Way Out"

Another song I can’t get out of my head.

Life Right Now #34

As I look outside my window: Very gray and dark after our snow last night.

Randomize by Andy Weir

In the near future, if Vegas games are ingeniously scam-proof, then the heists have to be too, in this imaginative and whip-smart story by the New York Times...

The Last Conversation by Paul Tremblay

What’s more frightening: Not knowing who you are? Or finding out? A Bram Stoker Award–winning author explores the answer in a chilling story about identity and...

You Have Arrived at Your Destination by Amor Towles

Nature or nurture? Neither. Discover a bold new way to raise a child in this unsettling story of the near future by the New York Times bestselling author of A...

Emergency Skin by NK Jemisin

What will become of our self-destructed planet? The answer shatters all expectations in this subversive speculation from the Hugo Award–winning author of the...

Summer Frost by Blake Crouch

A video game developer becomes obsessed with a willful character in her new project, in a mind-bending exploration of what it means to be human by the New York...

Ark by Veronica Roth

On the eve of Earth’s destruction, a young scientist discovers something too precious to lose, in a story of cataclysm and hope by the #1 New York Times...

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

The Wake-up Call by Beth O'Leary

Spice Rating: 3

Underground Airlines by Ben H. Winters

I was intrigued by this alternative history, but ended up really disappointed in the execution. The main issue is that I am uncertain as to the point of this...

Homeschool W13: Coop Problems are Taking a toll

We love our coop. I love the creation of a community and the opportunities we have with them. But... there have been a few hiccups lately that have really...

Music Monday - Awake at Last feat. Spencer Charnas "The Change"

Not exactly sure why, but I can’t get this song out my head lately.

A Delicate Deception by Cat Sebastian

Spice Rating: 5

The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers

I don’t quite know how to explain this book and why I enjoyed it. It’s a weird meandering trip through a strange land that reveres books and authors above all...

Wicked All Night by Jeaniene Frost

Spice Rating: 5

Unlikeable Female Characters by Anna Bogutskaya

Female characters throughout history have been burdened by the moral trap that is likeability. Any woman who dares to reveal her messy side has been treated as...

Currently #21

Reading: So close to finishing The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers for Nerdy Bookish Friends book club. It’s such a weird book but I am enjoying it.

Homeschool W12: Not Much Book Work Happened...

Another week full of activities that impeded on our book work. We managed to find two mornings to focus on book work. In looking at the next week, we’re going...

Music Monday - Bad Omens "The Death of Peace of Mind"

I keep going back to Bad Omens… Guess I’m really digging their sound.

Life Right Now #33

As I look outside my window: After weeks where our backyard tree stayed green with just a tinge of red on one side. In two days, all of the leaves dropped. I...

Fall Bucket List Update #2

My favorite season of the year. We’re diving into the spooky season and planning on soaking up all the fall fun.

Wicked Bite by Jeaniene Frost

Spice Rating: 5

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

Find Him Where You Left Him Dead by Kristen Simmons

Four years ago, five kids started a game. Not all of them survived.Now, at the end of their senior year of high school, the survivors—Owen, Madeline, Emerson,...

The September House by Carissa Orlando

When Margaret and her husband Hal bought the large Victorian house on Hawthorn Street—for sale at a surprisingly reasonable price—they couldn’t believe they...

Homeschool W11: Back to a Semblance of Normal

Art and Music Books

Music Monday - Lacey Sturm feat. Lindsey Stirling "Breathe with Me"

Two powerhouses together! I love it!

Life Right Now #32

As I look outside my window: The temperatures have increased and we’re back to the high 50s and low 60s.

Shades of Wicked by Jeaniene Frost

Spice Rating: 6

The Dragon's Bride by Katee Robert

Spice Rating: 6

Brutal Prince by Sophie Lark

Spice Rating: 5

November 2023 Life Goals

Let’s check in on October’s goals and my progress.

October 2023 Wrap-up

October TBR Pile (25/26):

Homeschool W10: What Happened to My Weeks?

This is actually a recap of two weeks: one normal week and one flex week. But, I’m really asking myself, What happened to my weeks? Everything seemed to just...

Music Monday - Portugal The Man "Doubt"

Oh. Great new song from them!

Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott

The Yaga siblings—Bellatine, a young woodworker, and Isaac, a wayfaring street performer and con artist—have been estranged since childhood, separated both by...

Life Right Now #31

As I look outside my window: It’s very cloudy and currently 30 degrees. Quite a turn from the highs in the 80s from a week and a half ago. I had really hoped...

Goblin by Josh Malerman

Goblin seems like any other ordinary small town. But with the master storyteller Josh Malerman as your tour guide, you’ll discover the secrets that hide behind...

The Thorns Remain by JJA Harwood

1919. In a Highland village forgotten by the world, the young people who remain after war and flu will soon head south to make something of themselves.

The Prince and the Apocalypse by Kara McDowell

Spice Rating: 3

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

White Cat by Holly Black

The first in a trilogy, this gritty, fast-paced fantasy is rife with the unexpected. Cassel comes from a shady, magical family of con artists and grifters. He...

Those We Drown by Amy Goldsmith

It should have been the trip of a lifetime.When Liv lands an all-expenses-paid opportunity to study aboard the luxury cruise ship The Eosfor a semester, she...

Starling House by Alix E. Harrow

I dream sometimes about a house I’ve never seen….Opal is a lot of things—orphan, high school dropout, full-time cynic and part-time cashier—but above all,...

Music Monday - K. Flay feat. Vic Fuentes "Irish Goodbye"

Oh, what a collaboration! I’m so digging this song this week.

Preacher Vol. 1

Jesse Custer was just a small-town preacher in Texas... until his congregation was flattened by powers beyond his control and the Preacher became imbued with...

Life Right Now #30

As I look outside my window: It’s bright and sunny and going to be pretty warm today. I would like the fall temps back please.

Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw

A Heian-era mansion stands abandoned, its foundations resting on the bones of a bride and its walls packed with the remains of the girls sacrificed to keep her...

Fall Bucket List Update #1

My favorite season of the year. We’re diving into the spooky season and planning on soaking up all the fall fun.

The Ghost Tree by Christina Henry

When the bodies of two girls are found torn apart in the town of Smiths Hollow, Lauren is surprised, but she also expects that the police won't find the...

Savage Appetites by Rachel Monroe

In Savage Appetites, Rachel Monroe links four criminal roles—Detective, Victim, Defender, and Killer—to four true stories about women driven by obsession. From...

Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas

As the daughter of a rancher in 1840s Mexico, Nena knows a thing or two about monsters—her home has long been threatened by tensions with Anglo settlers from...

Currently #20

Reading: I started Starling House by Alix E. Harrow. Loving this haunted house story.

Homeschool W8-9: Two Busy Weeks Complete with a Birthday Party

Q’s Monday ELA, Math, and History

Music Monday - Pierce the Veil feat. Chloe Moriondo "12 Fractures"

Oh yes! Loving this new collaboration. Apparently I’m on a bit of an emo kick lately.

Life Right Now #29

Right now I am: Grabbing my sweater to head on out to the coop steering committee meeting. This will be our first one and I’m excited to start chatting about...

Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher

This isn't the kind of fairytale where the princess marries a prince.It's the one where she kills him.Marra never wanted to be a hero. As the shy,...

The Seventh Bride by T. Kingfisher

Young Rhea is a miller’s daughter of low birth, so she is understandably surprised when a mysterious nobleman, Lord Crevan, shows up on her doorstep and...

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

Beanstalker and Other Hilarious Scarytales by Kiersten White

Once upon a time, a girl skipped into the forest and became a zombie.Wait, no, that's not how this story is supposed to go. Let's try again.Once upon a time, a...

Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie

Fade to Black is the newest hit ghost hunting reality TV show. Led by husband and wife team Matt and Claire Kirklin, it delivers weekly hauntings investigated...

Music Monday - Spiritbox "Jaded"

Very much into this newer song by Spiritbox. I love how the singer can change her voice so much.

This Delicious Death by Kayla Cottingham

Two years ago, a small percentage of population underwent a transformation known as the Hollowing. Those affected were only able to survive by consuming human...

Girls of Brackenhill by Kate Moretti

When Hannah Maloney’s aunt dies in a car accident, she returns to her family’s castle in the Catskills and the epicenter of a childhood trauma: her sister’s...

In the Fire by Jeaniene Frost

In the explosive finale to New York Times bestselling author Jeaniene Frost’s Night Prince series, Vlad is in danger of losing his bride to an enemy whose...

Eat the Rich by Sarah Gailey

WELCOME TO CRESTFALL BLUFFS! With law school and her whole life ahead of her, Joey plans to spend the summer with her boyfriend Astor at his seemingly perfect...

A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas

Up until this volume, I adored this series. I loved seeing Feyre find her place and make a family. I loved the political dealings between all the factions. I...

Currently #19

Reading: I picked up Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie from a list of truly terrifying novels and it’s living up to its reputation. Very, very spooky read for...

Homeschool W7: An Exhausting Week

Math & ELA Monday

Music Monday - blink-182 "More Than You Know"

Finally, we get new music Mark, Tom, and Travis. I’m so excited about their new album!

October 2023 Life Goals

Let’s check in on September’s goals and my progress.

September 2023 Wrap-up

September TBR Pile (28/29):

The Boyfriend Candidate by Ashley Winstead

Spice Rating: 5

Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher

There's a princess trapped in a tower. This isn't her story.Meet Toadling. On the day of her birth, she was stolen from her family by the fairies, but she grew...

The Haunting of Winchester Mansion by Alexandria Clarke

CW: Child death

Harry's Trees by Jon Cohen

Thirty-four-year-old Harry Crane works as an analyst for the US Forest Service. When his wife dies suddenly, Harry, despairing, retreats north to lose himself...

Homeschool W6: Heading into Our Busy Season

And lots of play areas.

Music Monday - Holly Humberstone feat. d4vd "Superbloodmoon"

Great mixing of voices and styles, but too short!

Mister Magic by Kiersten White

Thirty years after a tragic accident shut down production of the classic children’s program Mister Magic, the five surviving cast members have done their best...

Life Right Now #28

As I look outside my window: The sun is back out after yesterday’s clouds. But the temps are staying lower, so it should be just about perfect.

Fall Bucket List

My favorite season of the year. We’re diving into the spooky season and planning on soaking up all the fall fun.

Bound by Flames by Jeaniene Frost

Spice Rating: 5

The Kingdom of Prep by Maggie Bullock

Once upon a time, a no-frills J.Crew rollneck sweater held an almost mystical power—or at least it felt that way. The story of J.Crew is the story of the...

Summer Bucket List Finish

Illness and travel really impacted our bucket list this year.

Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala

When Lila Macapagal moves back home to recover from a horrible breakup, her life seems to be following all the typical rom-com tropes. She's tasked with saving...

The Islands of Elsewhere by Heather Fawcett

Not many kids have an island in their backyard, but suddenly, the Snolly sisters have three. They’re staying at Granddaddy’s seaside property for the summer,...

Cruel Seduction by Katee Robert

Spice Rating: 8

Currently #18

Reading: I was disappointed by my current Kindle read, so I picked up Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher. Loving this weird and fractured fairy tale story.

Music Monday - Coheed and Cambria "Ladders of Supremacy"

Loving this new epic song.

The Bodyguard by Katherine Center

Spice Rating: 4

Timeline by Michael Crichton

In an Arizona desert, a man wanders in a daze, speaking words that make no sense. Within twenty-four hours he is dead, his body swiftly cremated by his only...

Up from the Grave by Jeaniene Frost

Spice Meter: 5 (albeit one with a vampire)The Grave Ends Here.Lately, life has been unnaturally calm for vampires Cat Crawfield and her husband Bones.  They...

Once & Future Vol. 5

WIt’s the day before Christmas and the Kings all converge on Excalibur, each determined to be the true ruler. Chaos arises! What if no one has the strength to...

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

Lore Olympus Vol. 4 by Rachel Smythe

Oh I am obsessed with this series! I just love this fresh take on the Hades and Persephone story. Even more than their story, all of the side characters really...

Cinders by Michelle D. Argyle

Cinderella's happily-ever-after isn't turning out the way she expected. With her fairy godmother imprisoned in the castle and a mysterious stranger haunting...

Twice Tempted by Jeaniene Frost

Spice Rating: 5

Homeschool W5: Ready for a Calm Week

A strange week. I had everything planned out and then our plans on Thursday and Friday drastically changed. It really threw me off a bit.

Music Monday - Nita Strauss feat. Lilith Czar "Monster"

Seriously, this new Nita Strauss may be my new favorite. Every song is amazing!

The International House of Dereliction by Jacqueline Davies

Ten-year-old Alice is moving for the eleventh time.

Life Right Now #27

As I look outside my window: The clouds are back but thankfully the temperatures are where they should be for this time of year. I’m totally ready for fall...

The Changeling King by Ethan M. Aldridge

After years of pretending to be human, the changeling Edmund Carter has assumed his rightful role as Cinder, king of the World Below. But not everyone at the...

Estranged by Ethan M. Aldridge

Edmund and the Childe were swapped at birth. Now Edmund lives in secret as a changeling in the World Above, his fae powers hidden from his unsuspecting parents...

The Things We Make by Bill Hammack

For millennia, humans have used one simple method to solve problems. Whether it's planting crops, building skyscrapers, developing photographs, or designing...

56 Days by Catherine Ryan Howard

No one even knew they were together. Now one of them is dead.

Once Burned by Jeaniene Frost

Spice Rating: 5 (but with vampires)

Currently #17

Reading: Nerdy Bookish Friends is reading Timeline by Michael Crichton this month. I’ve never actually read this one. Interested to see how it goes.

Homeschool W4: We Went Somewhere Every Day This Week!

We ended up leaving the house every day this week and I very much disliked it. We did managed to cover most of our planned curriculum for the week including a...

Music Monday - Nita Strauss feat. Chris Motionless "Digital Bullets"

Another Nita Strauss banger… this time with Chris from Motionless in White.

Life Right Now #26

As I look outside my window:

2023 Reading Challenges Update #3

I’m back to employing reading challenges to help direct my reading this year. Let’s check in with my progress of all the challenges I am attempting this year....

September 2023 Life Goals

Let’s check in on August’s goals and my progress.

August 2023 Wrap-up

August TBR Pile (23/23):

Menacing Manor by Kiersten White

Oh that was utterly delightful! I loved the ensemble within this volume. We get to see how many of the kids work tougher to solve the mystery of their parents’...

One Grave at a Time by Jeaniene Frost

Spice Meter: 5 (albeit one with a vampire)Having narrowly averted an (under)world war, Cat Crawfield wants nothing morethan a little downtime with her vampire...

Homeschool W3: A Week Indoors

The temperatures soared past 100 degrees almost every single day this past week. We even had to cancel coop because of the high heat. And so, we ended up...

Music Monday - Nita Strauss feat. Dorothy "Victorious"

A Guitar master and a rock goddess together for a great song!

Life Right Now #25

As I look outside my window: Another sunny and bright day, but thankfully a lot cooler than this past week.

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

Another decent, but not my favorite book that we’ve read for the Nerdy Bookish Friends book club. I had heard of this book mentioned in sci-fi circles as an...

Camp Creepy by Kiersten White

If you are looking for a series that dupes A Series of Unfortunate Events is some clever ways, pick this one up! I absolutely adore this creepy mystery series....

A Duke in Disguise by Cat Sebastian

Spice Rating: 5

The First Bright Thing by JR Dawson

Ringmaster — Rin, to those who know her best — can jump to different moments in time as easily as her wife, Odette, soars from bar to bar on the trapeze. And...

Currently #16

Reading: I’m continuing with Jeaniene Frost’s Night Huntress series. I hope to finish it soon-ish. Maybe by October.

Homeschool W2: Another Over Scheduled Week

Our second week and I, once again, over scheduled our curriculum. It’s going to take me a few weeks to settle into a good sustainable routine, but we will get...

Music Monday - Billie Eilish "What Was I Made For"

Seriously, I love her voice…

Summer Bucket List Update #2

I missed making this post last week as I was in the middle of a medical issue. But I’m back and feeling a bit better, so let’s see what we have on our summer...

Life Right Now #24

As I look outside my window: It’s bright and sunny and the temperatures are going to be so high today. Hopefully, I can stay cool.

The Deep by Nick Cutter

A strange plague called the ‘Gets is decimating humanity on a global scale. It causes people to forget—small things at first, like where they left their keys,...

The Keeper of Night by Kylie Lee Baker

Death is her destiny.Half British Reaper, half Japanese Shinigami, Ren Scarborough has been collecting souls in the London streets for centuries. Expected to...

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang

In Chinese, the word for America, Mei Guo, translates directly to “beautiful country.” Yet when seven-year-old Qian arrives in New York City in 1994 full of...

Break Your Glass Slippers by Amanda Lovelace

amanda lovelace, the bestselling & award-winning author of the “women are some kind of magic” poetry series, presents a new companion series, “you are your own...

Homeschool W1: Full Force into Another Year!

Arthur started 4th grade and Quentin started 1st grade this Monday. Of course, I over scheduled us and overestimated how much curriculum we would actually get...

Music Monday - Dua Lipa "Dance the Night"

Sometimes I just really need a good pop song to groove to. And this really hits the spot.

Life Right Now #23

As I look outside my window: It rained again last night. And it’s still pretty wet this morning. Glad it happened on a home day and not a park playdate day.

Happily Never After by Jeaniene Frost

Spice Meter: 5 (albeit one with a vampire)Isabella Spaga is about to reluctantly walk down the aisle with Mr. Dangerously Wrong…but not if dashing vampire...

Vampiric Vacation by Kiersten White

The library finally got the rest of this series for me to enjoy. I loved the first one and couldn’t wait to dive into the rest. The series reminds me a lot of...

Wrapped Up in You by Jill Shalvis

Spice Rating: 5

The Haunting of Alejandra by V. Castro

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this horror novel, but found that it very very scary. Not in a jump scare way at all, but in a “this is too close to...

Unmasked by the Marquess by Cat Sebastian

Spice Rating: 5

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by KJ Charles

Spice Rating: 5

Currently #15

Reading: I picked up another old BOTM selection from my Unread Shelf and started reading The Keeper of Night by Kylie Lee Baker. I’m only a few chapters in and...

Music Monday - Linkin Park "Massive"

I really miss Chester’s voice.

Life Right Now #22

As I look outside my window: It’s overcast and a bit drizzly. Definitely a change from the days of sun and 90 degrees last week.

Playing for Keeps by Jill Shalvis

If you’re planning on falling in love…

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

As one of the few witches in Britain, Mika Moon knows she has to hide her magic, keep her head down, and stay away from other witches so their powers don’t...

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

Hey, Hun by Emily Lynn Paulson

The eye-opening, funny, and dangerous personal story of author Emily Lynn Paulson rising to the top of the pyramid in the multilevel marketing (MLM) world,...

August 2023 Life Goals

Let’s check in on July’s goals and my progress.

We're Homeschooling - Year 4! Planning and Schedule

So now I have the supplies, it’s time to start planning and gathering everything I want to do. I’m a Type A planner that always feels better with a good plan...

Music Monday - Matchbox Twenty "Don't Get Me Wrong"

Blast for my high school/college years! I can’t believe Matchbox Twenty is back with new music. Love it.

July 2023 Wrap-up

July TBR Pile (21/27):

Silent Came the Monster by Amy Hill Hearth

“Sharks are as timid as rabbits,” says a superintendent of the Coast Guard, dismissing the possibility that a shark could be the culprit in an unprecedented...

Beautiful Darkness by Fabien Vehlmann and Kerascoët

Newly homeless, a group of fairies find themselves trying to adapt to their new life in the forest. As they dodge dangers from both without and within,...

Immortality by Dana Schwartz

Hazel Sinnett is alone and half-convinced the events of the year before—the immortality, Beecham’s vial—were a figment of her imagination. She doesn’t even...

Wasted Words by Staci Hart

Spice Rating: 5

Eternal Kiss of Darkness by Jeaniene Frost

Spice Meter: 5 (albeit with a vampire)

Pathogenesis by Jonathan Kennedy

According to the accepted narrative of progress, humans have thrived thanks to their brains and brawn, collectively bending the arc of history. But in this...

Currently #14

Reading: I think summer is the perfect time to read Silent Came the Monster by Amy Hill Hearth. It’s a fictionalized account of the shark attack off of New...

Music Monday - Walk the Moon "Giants"

Sometimes I need some pop in my life. This really hit the spot.

Life Right Now #21

On my bedside table: Anatomy and Immortality by Dana Schwartz

Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron

It's 200 years after Cinderella found her prince, but the fairy tale is over. Teen girls are now required to appear at the Annual Ball, where the men of the...

The Bees by Laline Paull

The Handmaid’s Tale meets The Hunger Games in this brilliantly imagined debut set in an ancient culture where only the queen may breed and deformity means...

Camp Red Moon by R.L. Stine

Camp nights or camp frights?

Summer Bucket List Update #1

I missed making this post last week as I was in the middle of a medical issue. But I’m back and feeling a bit better, so let’s see what we have on our summer...

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

Sister, Maiden, Monster by Lucy A. Snyder

A virus tears across the globe, transforming its victims in nightmarish ways. As the world collapses, dark forces pull a small group of women together.Erin,...

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

An astonishing technique for recovering and cloning dinosaur DNA has been discovered. Now humankind’s most thrilling fantasies have come true. Creatures...

We're Homeschooling - Year 4! Our Curriculum First Grade

We’re ready for another year of homeschooling! In fact, it’s our fourth year of homeschooling and we’ve found our groove. We’re continuing with most of the...

We're Homeschooling - Year 4! Our Curriculum 4th Grade

We’re ready for another year of homeschooling! In fact, it’s our fourth year of homeschooling and we’ve found our groove. We’re continuing with most of the...

Music Monday - Queens of the Stone Age "Emotion Sickness"

Very reminiscent of their older stuff, but with a new edge. Digging it!

Life Right Now #20

On my bedside table: Anatomy by Dana Schwartz (reread for book club); Pathogenesis by Jonathan Kennedy

Adult Assembly Required by Abbi Waxman

When Laura Costello moves to Los Angeles, trying to escape an overprotective family and the haunting memories of a terrible accident, she doesn’t expect to be...

This Side of the Grave by Jeaniene Frost

Spice Meter: 5 (albeit one with a vampire)Danger waits on both sides of the grave.

Love Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood

Spice Rating: 5The many lives of theoretical physicist Elsie Hannaway have finally caught up with her. By day, she’s an adjunct professor, toiling away at...

The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer

Make a wish. . . .Lucy Hart knows better than anyone what it’s like to grow up without parents who loved her. In a childhood marked by neglect and loneliness,...

Currently #13

Reading: Making my way through Adult Assembly Required by Abbi Waxman for our July book club selection. I loved The Bookish Life of Nina Hill and this is a...

Music Monday - The Warning "More"

Reminiscent of the 90s. Loving this song right now.

The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher

When Mouse’s dad asks her to clean out her dead grandmother's house, she says yes. After all, how bad could it be?Answer: pretty bad. Grandma was a hoarder,...

Life Right Now #19

On my bedside table: The Bees by Laline Paull; Adult Assembly Required by Abbi Waxman

Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez

Spice Meter: 4

The Widow of Pale Harbor by Hester Fox

Maine, 1846. Gabriel Stone is desperate to escape the ghosts that haunt him in Massachusetts after his wife’s death, so he moves to Maine, taking a position as...

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

Spells for Forgetting by Adrienne Young

Emery Blackwood’s life changed forever the night her best friend was found dead and the love of her life, August Salt, was accused of murdering her. Years...

Currently #12

Reading: The Widow of Pale Harbor by Hester Fox; I thought it was going to be a moody ghost story, but I don’t think there’s going to be anything actually...

Tread of Angels by Rebecca Roanhorse

The year is 1883 and the mining town of Goetia is booming as prospectors from near and far come to mine the powerful new element Divinity from the high...

Music Monday - Bring Me the Horizon feat. Ed Sheeran "Bad Habits"

This is the mash-up of artists that I needed this week. Love how BMTH made the song their own.

July 2023 Life Goals

Let’s check in on June’s goals and my progress. Despite a big medical issue towards the end of the month, I managed to hit all of my goals.

June 2023 Wrap-up

June TBR Pile (24/26):

Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings

A fierce dispute among the Gods and the theft of a powerful Orb leaves the World divided into five kingdoms. Young Garion, with his "Aunt Pol" and an elderly...

Don't Turn Out the Lights

Flesh-hungry ogres? Brains full of spiders? Haunted houses you can’t escape? This collection of 35 terrifying stories from the Horror Writers Association has...

The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick

It’s America in 1962. Slavery is legal once again. The few Jews who still survive hide under assumed names. In this world, we meet characters like Frank Frink,...

Starship Titanic by Douglas Adams and Terry Jones

In this thoroughly satisfying and completely disorienting novel based on a story line by Douglas Adams (author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), Terry...

Summer Bucket List

I missed making this post last week as I was in the middle of a medical issue. But I’m back and feeling a bit better, so let’s see what we have on our summer...

The Curator by Owen King

It begins in an unnamed city nicknamed “the Fairest”, it is distinguished by many things from the river fair to the mountains that split the municipality in...

Music Monday - Illenium feat. Motionless in White "Nothing Ever After"

Such a great collaboration! The mix of music styles of masterful.

Icebreaker by Hannah Grace

Spice Rating: 5

The Duchess Takes a Husband by Harper St. George

Spice Rating: 5Despite her illustrious title, Camille, Duchess of Hereford, remains what she has always been—a pariah. Though her title means she’s technically...

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also...

Spring Bucket List Finish

Another season, another bucket list. Our main goal is to get out in nature weekly.

Great Goddesses by Nikita Gill

With lyrical prose and striking verse, beloved poet Nikita Gill (Fierce Fairytales, Wild Embers) uses the history of Ancient Greece and beyond to explore and...

Music Monday - Corey Taylor "Beyond"

New music from the frontman of Slipknot and Stone Sour. Loving this new sound!

Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes

They will fear you and flee you and call you a monster.

Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen

Down a narrow alley in the small coastal town of Mallow Island, South Carolina, lies a stunning cobblestone building comprised of five apartments. It's called...

Happy Place by Emily Henry

Steam Rating: 4

The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker

Chava is a golem, a creature made of clay by a disgraced rabbi knowledgeable in the ways of dark Kabbalistic magic. She serves as the wife to a Polish merchant...

Ship Wrecked by Olivia Dade

Maria’s one-night-stand—the thick-thighed, sexy Viking of a man she left without a word or a note—just reappeared. Apparently, Peter’s her surly Gods of the...

Currently #11

Reading: I grabbed an ebook loan of Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. I’ve heard so many great things about this action packed fantasy. I’m only about 60 pages...

Music Monday - Ghost "Phantom of the Opera"

Absolutely adore this cover the Iron Maiden song. It’s a great nod to the original, but with their own spin on it.

Silver People by Margarita Engle

One hundred years ago, the world celebrated the opening of the Panama Canal, which connected the world’s two largest oceans and signaled America’s emergence as...

Several People are Typing by Calvin Kasulke

Gerald, a mid-level employee of a New York–based public relations firm has been uploaded into the company’s internal Slack channels—at least his consciousness...

The Queer Principles of Kit Webb by Cat Sebastian

Spice Rating: 6

Paradise-1 by David Wellington

Paradise-1. Earth’s first deep space colony. For thousands of people, it was an opportunity for a new life. Until it went dark.No communication has been...

The Secret Service of Tea and Treason by India Holton

Spice Rating: 4Known as Agent A, Alice is the top operative within the Agency of Undercover Note Takers, a secret government intelligence group that is...

Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes by Jonathan Auxier

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Night Gardener, Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes is the utterly beguiling tale of a ten-year-old blind...

Homeschool W34-35: And We're Done!

As we hit May, our school curriculum plan starts to wind down a bit. We wrapped up a ton of curriculum pieces and transitioned to our summer plans.

Music Monday - Asking Alexandria "Dark Void"

Oh this one was a banger! Seriously definitely need to put it on heavy rotation.

House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson

Marion Shaw has been raised in the slums, where want and deprivation are all she know. Despite longing to leave the city and its miseries, she has no real hope...

2023 Reading Challenges Update #2

I’m back to employing reading challenges to help direct my reading this year. Let’s check in with my progress of all the challenges I am attempting this year....

June 2023 Life Goals

Let’s check in on May’s goals and my progress.

May 2023 Wrap-up

May TBR Pile (21/24):

Venmo by Cherie Dimaline

Métis millennial Lucky St. James is barely hanging on when she learns she’ll be evicted from the tiny Toronto apartment she shares with her cantankerous but...

Currently #10

Reading: I grabbed Paradise-1 by David Wellington off the new books shelf. I was hoping for a horror filled scifi adventure and I’m definitely getting that...

Music Monday - Daughtry feat. Lazy Hale "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)"

This cover just really hits the spot this week. Absolutely love the update of one of my favorite songs.

Life Right Now #17

On my bedside table: The Secret Society of Tea and Treason by India Holton; Paradise-1 by David Wellington

Miss Benson's Beetle by Rachel Joyce

She’s going too far to go it alone.   It is 1950. London is still reeling from World War II, and Margery Benson, a schoolteacher and spinster, is trying to get...

A Tempest at Sea by Sherry Thomas

After feigning her own death in Cornwall to escape from Moriarty’s perilous attention, Charlotte Holmes goes into hiding. But then she receives a tempting...

Barbarian Lover by Ruby Dixon

Spice Rating: 6

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

The Library of the Unwritten by AJ Hackwith

Many years ago, Claire was named Head Librarian of the Unwritten Wing-- a neutral space in Hell where all the stories unfinished by their authors reside. Her...

Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club by J. Ryan Stradal

Mariel Prager needs a break. Her husband Ned is having an identity crisis, her spunky, beloved restaurant is bleeding money by the day, and her mother Florence...

Homeschool W33: Sliding Into Summer

As we hit May, our school curriculum plan starts to wind down a bit. We are schooling through the summer, but I ease up our big curriculum and focus on smaller...

Music Monday - I Prevail "Deep End"

Really digging this new song from I Prevail. I’m definitely on a hard rock kick lately.

Stone Heart by Katee Robert

Spice Rating: 4

Life Right Now #16

As I look outside my window: Very clear. Thankfully the smoke from the Canadian wildfires has moved out the area. It was super hazy the other day. Not to...

How to Fake It in Hollywood by Ava Wilder

Spice Rating: 4

Spring Bucket List Update #2

Another season, another bucket list. Our main goal is to get out in nature weekly.

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett

Cambridge professor Emily Wilde is good at many things: She is the foremost expert on the study of faeries. She is a genius scholar and a meticulous researcher...

The Fine Print by Lauren Asher

Spice Rating: 5

Currently #9

Reading: A Tempest at Sea by Sherry Thomas - I finally got the next Lady Sherlock book and am absolutely loving it!

Homeschool W32: Our Year is Winding Down!

As we hit May, our school curriculum plan starts to wind down a bit. We are schooling through the summer, but I ease up our big curriculum and focus on smaller...

Music Monday - Saint Asonia "Devastate"

And another new song… Really digging this new song. I need to go and download this album immediately.

Life Right Now #15

As I look outside my window:

Forest Walking by Peter Wohlleben

When you walk in the woods, do you use all five senses to explore your surroundings? For most of us, the answer is no—but when we do, a walk in the woods can...

Cinders & Sparrows by Stefan Bachmann

When a scarecrow climbs over the garden wall, delivering twelve-year-old orphan Zita Brydgeborn a letter saying she has inherited a distant castle, she jumps...

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

Arch-Conspirator by Veronica Roth

“I’m cursed, haven’t you heard?”Outside the last city on Earth, the planet is a wasteland. Without the Archive, where the genes of the dead are stored,...

When in Rome by Sarah Adams

Spice Rating: 3

Homeschool W31: We had a Spring Walk in the Rain

A smallish week in terms of school work, but a full week full of activities and errands.

Music Monday - Pierce the Veil "Emergency Contact"

A new Pierce the Veil song! Woohoo! Totally into this song right now.

A Year in the Woods by Torbjørn Ekelund

As nature becomes ever more precious, we all want to spend more time appreciating it. But time is often hard to come by. And how do we appreciate nature...

The Siren of Sussex by Mimi Matthews

Spice Rating: 2Evelyn Maltravers understands exactly how little she's worth on the marriage mart. As an incurable bluestocking from a family tumbling swiftly...

A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher

"Mom seems off." Her brother's words echo in Sam Montgomery's ear as she turns onto the quiet North Carolina street where their mother lives alone.She brushes...

May 2023 Life Goals

Let’s check in on April’s goals and my progress.

Currently #8

Reading: After a disappointing historical romance, I wanted something a bit more fun. I’ve picked up When in Rome by Sarah Adams and so far, it’s hitting the...

Homeschool W30: Pain Flares Disrupt the Schedule

This wrap up is another one with a Flex Week and a regular week all wrapped into one. Unfortunately, I had a massive pain flare during the regular week that...

April 2023 Wrap-up

April TBR Pile (16/27):

Crossings by Alex Landragin

On the brink of the Nazi occupation of Paris, a German-Jewish bookbinder stumbles across a manuscript called Crossings. It has three narratives, each as...

First Drop of Crimson by Jeaniene Frost

Spice Meter: 5 (albeit with a vampire)

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

The Crane Husband by Kelly Barnhill

“Mothers fly away like migrating birds. This is why farmers have daughters.”A fifteen-year-old teenager is the backbone of her small Midwestern family,...

The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher

Pray they are hungry.Kara finds the words in the mysterious bunker that she’s discovered behind a hole in the wall of her uncle’s house. Freshly divorced and...

Music Monday - Demi Lovato "Still Alive"

Another banger from the Scream VI soundtrack. Love the cameos from Spencer and Mike.

Life Right Now #14

On my bedside table: The Crane Husband by Kelly Barnhill; Crossings by Alex Landrigan

Come as You Are by Emily Nagoski

For much of the 20th and 21st centuries, women’s sexuality was an uncharted territory in science, studied far less frequently—and far less seriously—than its...

Destined for an Early Grave by Jeaniene Frost

Spice Meter: 5 (albeit one with a vampire)Her deadly dreams leave her in grave danger

Spring Bucket List Update #1

Another season, another bucket list. Our main goal is to get out in nature weekly.

Currently #7

Reading: Tackling The Library of the Unwritten by AJ Hackwith for next month’s book club selection. It’s an interesting fantasy novel, but I’ve been moving...

Homeschool W29: So Much Outside Time!

On the schoolwork front, we had a normal week. Outside of the table work, we spent a lot of time outside. It was great to take advantage of the great weather...

Music Monday - Mike Shinoda feat. Kailee Morgue "In My Head"

Apparently the new Scream movie has a great soundtrack. This is the perfect song for me.

Life Right Now #13

As I look outside my window: It’s cold, windy, cloudy, and rainy. After temps in the 80s this past week, we’ve dropped back to around 40 degrees for this...

Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez

Spice Meter: 4

The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal

On a cold spring night in 1952, a huge meteorite fell to earth and obliterated much of the east coast of the United States, including Washington D.C. The...

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

A Touch of Darkness by Scarlett St. Clair

Spice Meter: 5

Homeschool W28: Distracted By Our Foster Chicks

With our foster chickens, our school time was greatly decreased. They were just too entertaining to hang out with. Plus we had to farm/nature walks and our...

Music Monday - Arctic Monkeys "Sculptures of Anything Goes"

To follow up with last week’s Music Monday. I’m very into this new song from AM.

Life Right Now #12

As I look outside my window: There are Easter Eggs all over our yard, just waiting for the boys to notice and go get them.

The Dark King by Gina L. Maxwell

Spice Meter: 6

The Night Ship by Jess Kidd

1629: A newly orphaned young girl named Mayken is bound for the Dutch East Indies on the Batavia, one of the greatest ships of the Dutch Golden Age. Curious...

The Vampire Villain by Melody Raven

Spice Rating: 5 (albeit with a vampire)

Radiant Sin by Katee Robert

Spice Rating: 5

Currently #6

Reading: The Night Ship by Jess Kidd - I’m actually reading a book off of my Unread Shelf. It’s interesting, but a bit sad and slow.

Homeschool W27: Finally Spring has Come!

The temperature finally went above 60 degrees for a great day out and about. We took off the rest of Thursday in favor of joining friends at the park. As such,...

Music Monday - Dua Lipa and Arctic Monkeys "Do I Wanna Know"

This is a fan mashup of these two groups doing the Arctic Monkeys, but it was just so magical that I had to add it.

Life Right Now #11

As I look outside my window:

April 2023 Life Goals

Let’s check in on March’s goals and my progress.

2023 Reading Challenges Update #1

I’m back to employing reading challenges to help direct my reading this year. Let’s check in with my progress of all the challenges I am attempting this year....

March 2023 Wrap

March TBR Pile (22/29):

The Getaway by Lamar Giles

Jay is living his best life at Karloff Country, one of the world’s most famous resorts. He’s got his family, his crew, and an incredible after-school job at...

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

Hot Winter Nights by Jill Shalvis

Who needs mistletoe?

Weyward by Emilia Hart

I am a Weyward, and wild inside. 2019: Under cover of darkness, Kate flees London for ramshackle Weyward Cottage, inherited from a great aunt she barely...

Homeschool W26: The Wind Chill Killed Our Winter Hike

We had a Flex Week (so needed this time around) and a normal week in the past two weeks. Beyond the actual teaching, I’ve been thinking about and planning for...

Music Monday - boygenius "Souvenir"

Another older song that I just rediscovered. Love it!

You Just Need to Lose Weight by Aubrey Gordon

Finally, I got Gordon’s follow up to her first book. I had really been excited about this volume and make no mistake, this is a great book. It just fell a...

Life Right Now #10

Right now I am: Needing to get brunch started soon. And I would like to work on my craft project before my zoom book club later today.

The Drift by C.J. Tudor

Hannah awakens to carnage, all mangled metal and shattered glass. Evacuated from a secluded boarding school during a snowstorm, her coach careered off the...

The Score by Elle Kennedy

Spice Meter: 5

The Thousandth Floor by Katharine McGee

New York City as you’ve never seen it before. A thousand-story tower stretching into the sky. A glittering vision of the future, where anything is possible—if...

Acid for the Children by Flea

In Acid for the Children, Flea takes readers on a deeply personal and revealing tour of his formative years, spanning from Australia to the New York City...

Currently #5

Reading: I picked up The Drift by CJ Tudor after a recommendation from my favorite book podcast. It is definitely a thrill ride!

Music Monday - First Aid Kit "Emmylou"

An old song, but I recently rediscovered it and am totally in love again.

Spring Bucket List

Another season, another bucket list. Our main goal is to get out in nature weekly.

Winter Bucket List Finish

Not quite the showing I was hoping for, but we did get out and about a ton this season.

The Light in Hidden Places by Sharon Cameron

One knock at the door, and Stefania has a choice to make...

What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat by Aubrey Gordon

Not a happy book by any definition, but a very important book to read. A lot of what is covered in these pages has been mentioned on Gordon’s podcast...

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

My Killer Vacation by Tessa Bailey

It was supposed to be a relaxing vacation in sweet, sunny Cape Cod—just Taylor and her beloved brother—but discovering a corpse in their rental house has...

The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald

This one was a slog! I absolutely adore The Great Gatsby, and was wanting to cover Fitzgerald’s other major works. Everything about this one feels so clunky....

Homeschool W25: Mad Scramble Disrupted My Life

(See my Low later on to explain the title of this post.) In general, we flew through a ton of curriculum. In fact, I’m getting a little concern that we are...

Music Monday - Fall Out Boy "Love from the Other Side"

New music from Fall Out Boy! It feels like it’s 2007, but I’m totally here for it!

Life Right Now #9

On my bedside table: My Killer Vacation by Tessa Bailey; Acid for the Children by Flea

The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler

Rumors begin to spread of a dangerous species of hyperintelligent octopus that may have developed its own language and culture. The marine biologist Dr. Ha...

About that Kiss by Jill Shalvis

When love drives you crazy . . .

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi

Once upon a time, a man who believed in fairy tales married a beautiful, mysterious woman named Indigo Maxwell-Casteñada. He was a scholar of myths. She was...

Currently #4

Reading: The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler - I’m so in deep into this science fiction adventure. It’s so good.

Homeschool W24: Quite a Normal Week

It was a simple normal week. Nothing too out of the ordinary or special. But sometimes, that’s exactly what we need. We need the routine and the ordinary.

Music Monday - Talk "Run Away to Mars"

There’s something about the voice that really draws me in. I could listen to this song on repeat.

Life Right Now #8

As I look outside my window: It’s bright and sunny and going to be in the low 60s today.

The Stranded by Sarah Daniels

Welcome to the Arcadia.

Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty

The Currently Reading Podcast and Schuler Books made me pick up this book! I was very intrigued by a murder mystery on a space station that only a few human...

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

March 2023 Life Goals

Let’s check in on February’s goals and my progress.

February 2023 Wrap

February TBR Pile (24/27):

Hook, Line, and Sinker by Tessa Bailey

Spice Rating: 5King crab fisherman Fox Thornton has a reputation as a sexy, carefree flirt. Everyone knows he’s a guaranteed good time—in bed and out—and...

Homeschool W23: A Super Cold Week Caused Some Cancellations...

We were excited to start our week off with a bowling date and wanted to continue the fun with other activities. Unfortunately, we got hit with an ice storm...

Music Monday - Miley Cyrus "Flowers"

I’m so digging Miley’s new song. It’s strong and amazing!

Winter Bucket List Update #2

Entering into another winter bucket list.

Life Right Now #7

As I look outside my window: Bright and sunny and just a bit chilly. Looks like a lovely day.

The Mistake by Elle Kennedy

Spice Meter: 5

Death in the Air by Kate Winkler Dawson

Overall, this was a fairly interesting history narrative that failed due to clarity of writing. I was intrigued by the juxtaposition between a literal serial...

Timemaster by Robert L. Forward

This was a recommendation from J that ended up really not landing for me at all. I was intrigued by the science included in this book. We get some interesting...

Come as You Are by Jess K. Hardy

Such a beautiful contemporary romance. I am completely head over heels for this one. We get mature protagonists, true communication, very hot sexy scenes, past...

Babel by R.F. Huang

1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek,...

Holiday Wishes by Jill Shalvis

Spice Rating: 5

Currently #3

Reading: In the middle of Death in the Air by Kate Winkler Dawson. It’s a narrative history weaving together the killer 1952 London smog and a serial killer....

Homeschool W22: We Caught Up with Our Week!

We had a Flex Week and a regular week encompassing the last two weeks. Adding Flex Weeks into our yearly schedule has been a game changer! They allow us to...

Music Monday - All Time Low "Tell Me I'm Alive"

And a new All Time Low song! My 2000s Emo heart is loving this!

Life Right Now #6

As I look outside my window: It’s bright and sunny and going to get fairly warm today. All that snow we got on Thursday is quickly disappearing… I would have...

Chasing Christmas Eve by Jill Shalvis

Spice Rating: 5

Accidentally on Purpose by Jill Shalvis

Spice Rating; 5

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

Sweet Little Lies by Jill Shalvis

Spice Rating: 5

Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

I gave this book three stars on the strength of the actual historical story alone. I just had so many issues with the characters and construction of the plot...

Music Monday - The Fray "Heartless"

A very old cover, but I just rediscovered it. It’s just so good!

Life Right Now #5

On my bedside table: Sweet Little Lies by Jill Shalvis; The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler

Never Rescue a Rogue by Virginia Heath

Spice Meter: 4Diana Merriwell and Giles Sinclair only tolerate one another for the sake of their nearest and dearest. Everyone believes that the two of them...

Well Traveled by Jen DeLuca

Spice Rating: 4

A Merry Little Meet Cute by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone

Spice Rating: 7Bee Hobbes (aka Bianca Von Honey) has a successful career as a plus-size adult film star. With a huge following and two supportive moms, Bee...

A Lush and Seething Hell by John Hornor Jacobs

Bringing together his acclaimed novella The Sea Dreams It Is the Sky and an all-new short novel My Heart Struck Sorrow, John Hornor Jacobs turns his fertile...

Snow, Glass, Apples

A chilling fantasy retelling of the Snow White fairy tale by New York Times bestselling creators Neil Gaiman and Colleen Doran!A not-so-evil queen is terrified...

Currently #2

Reading: Babel by R.F. Kuang - We’re reading this for my Nerdy Bookish Friends buddy read and it’s amazing so far. Definitely speculative fiction mixed with...

Homeschool W21: And Now I Have a Cold!

Another week with basically no photos. I think I need to set a few reminders.

Music Monday - Pierce the Veil "Even When I'm Not with You"

A new song from Pierce the Veil! I’m so excited!

Never Fall for Your Fiancée by Virginia Heath

Spice Rating: 4The last thing Hugh Standish, Earl of Fareham, ever wants is a wife. Unfortunately for him, his mother is determined to find him one, even from...

Life Right Now #4

Right now I am: Taking a moment before brunch and then heading out to the theatre with the family. We are going to see Dragons and Mythical Beasts at the...

Lost in the Moment and Found by Seanan McGuire

Welcome to the Shop Where the Lost Things Go.If you ever lost a sock, you’ll find it here.If you ever wondered about a favorite toy from childhood... it’s...

Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack

It’s been a year since a violent Viking terrorized the small village of Zmeyreka and Anya and her foolish friend Ivan saved a friendly dragon from being...

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

February 2023 Life Goals

Let’s check in on January’s goals and my progress.

January 2023 Wrap

January TBR Pile (25/29):

Priest by Sierra Simone

Spice Meter: 8 (for the taboo nature of the pairing)

Homeschool W20: Getting Back into Our Routine

Another week with basically no photos.

Music Monday - Dorothy "Black Sheep"

Her voice is just so amazing!

Winter Bucket List Update #1

Entering into another winter bucket list.

Life Right Now #3

As I look outside my window: It looks pretty out there, but I know that it’s very very cold this weekend.

The Dire King by William Ritter

The fate of the world is in the hands of detective of the supernatural R. F. Jackaby and his intrepid assistant, Abigail Rook. An evil king is turning ancient...

The Dollhouse Family

On Alice's sixth birthday, her dying great-aunt sent her the birthday gift she never knew she always wanted: a big, beautiful 19th-century dollhouse, complete...

Lady Mechanika Vol. 7

In a Victorian asylum full of grotesque inmates, sadistic guards, and a fanatical doctor, a young lady wakes to find her arms and legs have been replaced with...

At Grave's End by Jeaniene Frost

Spice Meter: 5 (albeit one with a vampire)It should be the best time of half-vampire Cat Crawfield's life. With her undead lover Bones at her side, she's...

It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey

Spice Meter: 5 Piper Bellinger is fashionable, influential, and her reputation as a wild child means the paparazzi are constantly on her heels. When too much...

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

Anya and the Dragon by Sofiya Pasternack

Anya and the Dragon is the story of fantasy and mayhem in tenth century Eastern Europe, where headstrong eleven-year-old Anya is a daughter of the only Jewish...

Lore Olympus Vol. 3 by Rachel Smythe

Another wonderful collection of Smythe’s story of love between Hades and Persephone. It was lovely to revisit the story even though I have read farther in the...

A Literary Education by Emily Cook

Finally borrowed this from a friend and read it in one sitting. We are eclectic homeschoolers, but a big part of that is Charlotte Mason philosophy. I love the...

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn’t...

Homeschool W18-19: It's Been a Strange Two Weeks...

We started off the spring semester with a normal week. And then, I had a minor outpatient surgery that knocked me back an entire week. So it was more like a 1...

Music Monday - Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Burning"

Somehow I missed this song completely until I caught it on the radio a week ago. Really love them!

The Me You Love in the Dark by Skottie Young and Jorge Corona

Writer SKOTTIE YOUNG (I HATE FAIRYLAND, DEADPOOL, STRANGE ACADEMY) and artist JORGE CORONA (NO. 1 WITH A BULLET, SUPER SONS, FEATHERS) follow up their...

Life Right Now #2

Right now I am: Deciding what to make for brunch. J picked up some cinnamon rolls, but I’m debating on bacon or sausage to go with them and eggs.

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

The Nerdy Bookish Friends club started 2023 with this behemoth! And what a story it was. I will admit that it took my about 100 pages to really get into the...

One Foot in the Grave by Jeaniene Frost

Spice Meter: 5 (albeit one with a vampire)You can run from the grave, but you can't hide . . .

Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost

Spice Meter: 5 (albeit one with vampires)Half-vampire Catherine Crawfield is going after the undead with a vengeance, hoping that one of these deadbeats is her...

The End and Other Beginnings by Veronica Roth

In these six stories, Veronica Roth reaches into the unknown and draws forth something startlingly familiar and profoundly beautiful.

Currently #1

Reading: I started the Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost on Saturday. And I’m totally going to keep reading the series. Fun and full of action!

Paradise Falls by Keith O'Brien

Such a hard book to read, and yet I was very interested in it when the book published. One of my book clubs chose this to read and I dove in after the...

Life Right Now #1

Right now I am: Mentally preparing myself for book club later today. One last activity for the week!

Ghostly Echoes by William Ritter

Jenny Cavanaugh, the ghostly lady of 926 Augur Lane, has enlisted the services of her detective-agency tenants to solve a decade-old murder—her own. Abigail...

The Deal by Elle Kennedy

Spice Meter: 5She’s about to make a deal with the college bad boy…Hannah Wells has finally found someone who turns her on. But while she might be confident in...

2023 Reading Challenges

2023 Reading Challenges

Misadventures of a Curvy Girl by Sierra Simone

Spice Meter: 8For the first time in her life, Ireland Mills is happy with her body. No more fad diets, no more hiding from every camera in the room, no more...

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

Ducks by Kate Beaton

CW: Sexual harassment, rape

2023 Goals and Resolutions

House Goals/Resolutions

Court of the Vampire Queen by Katie Robert

Spice Meter: 8Three Powerfully Alluring Vampire Men

2022 Reading Challenges Roundup: Completed and Failed

For 2022, I ended up throwing out any outside reading challenges. I focused more on mood reading and attempting to just go where my reading thoughts take me. I...

January 2023 Life Goals

Let’s check in on December’s goals and my progress.

2022 Wrap-up

Favorite Books of the Year:

Winter Bucket List

Entering into another winter bucket list.

Christmas Bucket List Final

Another Christmas season is upon us! Time for another bucket list: We ended up not getting to everything, but I think we had a great Christmas season this year!

December 2022 Wrap

December TBR Pile (27):

Bad Boy for Christmas by Layla Valentine

HER:There I was, reeling from the biggest disaster of my life, with my PR career in smithereens, I was bracing myself for the worst Christmas ever. Then I saw...

The Highlander's Holiday Wife by Vanessa Kelly

It’s Christmastime in Edinburgh, but Lady Samantha Penwith’s secret mission takes no holiday: the Highlands-born lass vows to find the assailants who murdered...

Fake It for Christmas by Layla Valentine

HER:Billionaires just aren’t like the rest of us, are they?No sooner has my boss requested my assistance at a winter wedding, we’re boarding a private jet to...

Stuck Together for Christmas by Layla Valentine

For the first time in years, I was excited about the holidays, A week of sun, sea and luxury, curtesy of my newly loaded brother. I should have known there’d...

The Librarian Spy by Madeline Martin

Ava thought her job as a librarian at the Library of Congress would mean a quiet, routine existence. But an unexpected offer from the US military has brought...

The Highlander's Irish Bride by Vanessa Kelly

Miss Kathleen Calvert may be the daughter of an Irish aristocrat, but she has no intention of acting like one. All she desires is to return to her family’s...

The Christmas Swap by Melody Carlson

A very chaste romance for today’s read. I was intrigued by the plot and I really did like West. Unfortunately, all the other characters are so incredibly...

One Snowy Night by Jill Shalvis

Hours stuck in a truck with the dead sexy Max sounds like a fate worse than death (not), but Rory’s out of options. She’s had a crush on Max since high school...

Snowpiercer Vol. 3

On a future, frozen Earth, humanity has been packed onto self-sustaining trains, doomed to circumnavigate the globe until the end of the interminable ice age -...

The Trouble with Mistletoe by Jill Shalvis

Willa Davis is wrangling puppies when Keane Winters stalks into her pet shop with frustration in his chocolate-brown eyes and a pink bedazzled cat carrier in...

Snowpiercer Vol. 2

In a harsh, uncompromisingly cold future where Earth has succumbed to treacherously low temperatures, the last remaining members of humanity travel on a train...

A Magical New York Christmas by Anita Hughs

Started out strong, but then became incredibly repetitive and pretty boring. I don’t think I really enjoy the mistaken identity trope; too much lying and...

All I Want for Christmas by Maggie Knox

Another standout Holiday romance pick for this year! I enjoyed Maggie Knox’s (actually a writing team) book from last year, The Holiday Swap. But this one was...

Just Like Magic by Sarah Hogle

This might just be my favorite Holiday romance of all time! I absolutely adored this wacky combo of Scrooged and a Hallmark movie. Bettie is whirlwind of chaos...

Homeschool W17: It's Christmas Break!

We’ve officially finished the fall semester! It had its ups and downs, just like every semester, but I feel really good about what we accomplished. We’re on to...

Music Monday - Sleeping with Sirens feat. Royal & the Serpent "Be Happy"

Seriously, this song. So good!

Life Right Now #37

Right now I am: Reading a few comic trades before getting brunch ready.

Window Shopping by Tessa Bailey

Okay, this is my second Tessa Bailey book and I really don’t think that she is the author for me. The book started interesting with a great setting of an...

Christmas Bucket List - Update

Another Christmas season is upon us! Time for another bucket list:

The Highlander's English Bride by Vanessa Kelly

Lady Sabrina Bell has never been so embarrassed in her life. Not only did her new suitor fail to appear for their morning rendezvous in Hyde Park, but a thief...

Whiteout by Various

As the city grinds to a halt, twelve teens band together to help a friend pull off the most epic apology of her life. But will they be able to make it happen,...

You're a Mean One, Matthew Prince by Timothy Janovsky

It's bad enough he's stuck in some festive winter wonderland—it's even worse that he has to share space with Hector Martinez, an obnoxiously attractive local...

Homeschool W16: Winding Down the Semester

We only have one more official week for the fall semester and we’re definitely ready for a break. This week was full of random appointments with less schooling...

Music Monday - Black Veil Brides "Saviour II"

One of my favorite bands still.

The Highlander's Christmas Bride by Vanessa Kelly

Being thrown over by the man she expected to marry was humiliating enough. Now that Donella Haddon, grandniece of the Earl of Riddick, has also proven a...

Wallbanger by Alice Clayton

Caroline Reynolds has a fantastic new apartment in San Francisco, a Kitchen Aid mixer to die for, and no O (and we’re not talking Oprah here, folks). She has a...

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

The Christmas Clash by Suzanne Park

But it turns out the mall is about to be sold to a developer and demolished for condos. Eviction notices are being handed out right before Christmas. Their...

Lovelight Farms by B.K. Borison

A decent contemporary romance with good main characters. While some of Stella’s insecurities got a bit annoying by the end of the book, I was still on board...

Currently #22

Reading: You’re a Mean One, Matthew Prince by Timothy Janovsky. I’m fully into my holiday romances for the month.

Homeschool W15: Turkey Day and the Start of Christmas

We had a break week for Thanksgiving and a normal week. But with the start of December, our activities increased dramatically. The amount of actual schoolwork...

Music Monday - Asking Alexandria "See What's on the Inside"

Still just love their sound so much.

Life Right Now #36

As I look outside my window: Bright and sunny, but pretty cold. At least it’s warmer than yesterday.

The Fourth Suit by Neil Patrick Harris

I finally made it to the conclusion of this series and it was definitely worth the wait. We finally get to unmask Kallagan. But more importantly, all the...

Snowpiercer Vol. 1

In a harsh, uncompromisingly cold future where Earth has succumbed to treacherously low temperatures, the last remaining members of humanity travel on a train...

Snowpiercer The Prequel Part 2

After the extinction event that caused the new ice age, the train Snowpiercer travels perpetually around the globe, with the last survivors of humanity...

Snowpiercer The Prequel Part 1

The Snowpiercer saga continues with this brand new story by original artist Jean-Marc Rochette and Eisner nominated writer, Matz. Set before the extinction...

December 2022 Life Goals

Let’s check in on November’s goals and my progress.

Christmas Bucket List

Another Christmas season is upon us! Time for another bucket list:

Fall Bucket List Final

My favorite season of the year. We’re diving into the spooky season and planning on soaking up all the fall fun.

November 2022 Wrap

November TBR Pile (24/29):

The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill

Next up on the TBR pile:

Eternal Empire Vol. 2

In the concluding arc of this fantasy epic, Tair and Rion use their fire power to try to take down the Empire, while the Eternal Empress plots to use the duo...

Eternal Empire Vol. 1

JONATHAN LUNA (ALEX + ADA, THE SWORD, Spider-Woman: Origin) and SARAH VAUGHN (ALEX + ADA, Deadman: Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love, Ruined) return with ETERNAL...

The Low Low Woods by Carmen Maria Machado

There's something in the woods...Shudder-to-Think, Pennsylvania, has been on fire for years. The woods are full of rabbits with human eyes, a deer woman who...

Music Monday - The Pretty Reckless "25"

Not a new song, but The Pretty Reckless did just release an album of B-sides and special versions of past songs. I really like this one when it came out, but...

I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

Jennette McCurdy was six years old when she had her first acting audition. Her mother’s dream was for her only daughter to become a star, and Jennette would do...

The Lady Tempts an Heir by Harper St. George

The best book out the series so far! I absolutely loved this story of a fake engagement turned real feelings all wrapped up in the history of Helena and Max’s...

The Midwife's Revolt by Jodi Daynard

Alone in a new town, Lizzie grieves privately but takes comfort in her deepening friendship with Abigail Adams. Soon, word spreads of Lizzie’s extraordinary...

The Highlander Who Protected Me by Vanessa Kelly

Lady Ainsley Matthews, heiress and darling of the ton, was expected to make a magnificent match. Instead she’s hiding on a remote Scottish estate, terrified...

Small Spaces by Katherine Arden

After suffering a tragic loss, eleven-year-old Ollie who only finds solace in books discovers a chilling ghost story about a girl named Beth, the two brothers...

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But...

Bridge of Souls by Victoria Schwab

And with that, Cassidy’s story comes to a close (or does it?). With this book, we do get a conclusion to the big mystery that was set up in the second book in...

Currently #21

Reading: Finishing The Highlander Who Protected Me by Vanessa Kelly. I picked up this series because two out of the five books are Christmas themed. Just about...

Homeschool W14: Airplanes, Bingo, and DNA

J left for a work trip from Wednesday to Friday, which always makes our week feel a bit strange. The theme of the week was lazy schooling. We get our usual...

Music Monday - First Aid Kit "Palomino"

Another group that I’ve rediscovered this month. I’ve always loved their sound. Definitely downloading the new album.

Life Right Now #35

Right now I am: Gathering my library books for a run to the closest branch once they open this afternoon. I’m also making our grocery list (never-ending).

The Devil and the Heiress by Harper St. George

A decent follow-up to the first book in the series. I enjoyed Christian throughout the book, but I must say that Violet wasn’t really my favorite. She was just...

Sunshine by Robin McKinley

There hadn't been any trouble out at the lake in years. Sunshine just needed a spot where she could be alone with her thoughts for a minute. But then the...

Once & Future Vol. 4

WAR OF THE KINGS!Bridgette, Duncan, and Rose, – along with the entirety of Britain – are dragged into the Otherworld. It's a land of predatory monsters and...

Mrs. Caliban by Rachel Ingalls

In the quiet suburbs, while Dorothy is doing chores and waiting for her husband to come home from work, not in the least anticipating romance, she hears a...

Homeschool W13: Ummm... It was an uneventful week.

It felt like a weird week, but we did manage to get a good chunk of schooling done.

Music Monday - Angel Haze feat. Sia "Battle Cry"

An older song, but I just rediscovered Angel Haze. I really like her sound. Reading to my Apple Music.

Life Right Now #34

As I look outside my window: it look nice and sunny out, but

Fall Bucket List Update #2

My favorite season of the year. We’re diving into the spooky season and planning on soaking up all the fall fun.

Fairy Tale by Stephen King

Charlie Reade looks like a regular high school kid, great at baseball and football, a decent student. But he carries a heavy load. His mom was killed in a...

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

This book was so hyped up to me that I was pretty disappointed by the actual thing. We start off strong with two orphaned teens deciding to risk their lives to...

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

Comfort me with Apples by Catherynne M. Valente

Sophia was made for him. Her perfect husband. She can feel it in her bones. He is perfect. Their home together in Arcadia Gardens is perfect. Everything is...

Currently #20

Reading: I’m getting closer to finishing Fairy Tale by Stephen King for a my Nerdy Bookish Friends book club. Overall, it’s been good, but King is a bit too...

Homeschool W12: Halloween is My Favorite Holiday!

We settled into a calm and relaxed week of school. We didn’t run around everywhere, but focused on a few activities with our coop friends

Music Monday - Motionless in White "Werewolf"

I completely missed that fact that MIW put out a new music video on Halloween. This is hands-down my favorite song on the album and I’m super excited that...

Life Right Now #33

On my bedside table: Comfort Me with Apples by Catherynne M. Valente; Mrs. Caliban by Rachel Ingersoll

Tunnel of Bones by Victoria Schwab

Another good volume in this spooky middle grade series. I loved the change of location to Paris. We get to visit some iconic locations as Cassidy’s parents...

The Lost Vampire Prince by Melody Raven

Nicolas is the embodiment of royalty. Strong. Powerful. Deadly. The only thing he's missing is his throne.Decades ago a vampire mutiny murdered his father and...

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

When Alex Easton, a retired soldier, receives word that their childhood friend Madeline Usher is dying, they race to the ancestral home of the Ushers in the...

November 2022 Life Goals

Let’s check in on October’s goals and my progress.

Homeschool W11: All the Fall Fun!

Another combo post of a Flex Week and the regular week. These Flex Weeks are really working out well for my compulsion to schedule and check off boxes. We fit...

October 2022 Wrap