Have you heard that old joke: Honey, the secret to happiness is to find you a man who’s good around the house. Find a man who takes you out on dates and has a good time. Find a man who’s good in bed. Find a man who shares your values in life. And most importantly of all, don’t let them find out about each other! It’s a joke, of course, but there is a sub-genre of romance that exists on…
In the grand tradition of the new year, let’s do some tidying, list making, and wrapping up the previous year. Number Of Books I Read in 2025: A respectable 66 new books. My goal for the past few years has been 80, so we’re creeping up little by little to that goal. I don’t want to startle it. We’re sneaking up on it slowly. Number of Re-Reads: at least 80 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ and probably more. Surrounded by horrors as we have…
In the grand tradition of the new year, let’s do some tidying, list making, and wrapping up the previous year. Number Of Books I Read in 2024: A somewhat respectable 55 new books Number of Re-Reads: at least 55 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ and probably more. My reading goal is usually 100 new-to-me books, and as many re-reads as my heart desires. Turns out in 2024 my heart desired more predictable books than unfamiliar new ones. It has to do with my neurodivergent…
In the grand tradition of the new year, let’s do some wrapping-up of last year. Wrap-ups for everyone! Wrap some presents. Wrap-up your post-holiday shopping. Write lots of wrap-up lists. Wrap-up small, misbehaving children Krampus style to mail to . . . haha . . . ooops. Don’t do that. Got carried away there. Number Of Books I Read: A very respectable 123 I lowered my reading goal the last two years to 100, and that’s been much more do-able.…
My Favorite (?) Character Deaths Calling them my favorite is both very true and completely misleading. That sensation of a heart being yanked out, stomped on, and smushed back in still smarting is one every bookworm knows. And alhough ‘like’ is a strong word for that feeling . . . it’s definitely something I’d recommend. Just so you can suffer with me. Okay. If we’re going to do this, let us get in the properly devastated mindset first: Now that…
Isn’t it the best when those mischievous feelings sneak up and, WHAM, catch our protagonist upside the head? It’s the literary equivalent to the ‘suddenly; squirrel!’ humor trick and I can’t get enough of watching it play out. Our characters are happily spatting [this is a theme I really like so I read a lot of enemies to lovers, get used to that trope showing up everywhere in my rec posts ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ] all while one of them is insistent…
To preface this list: I try hard to stay away from bashing bad books. In the first place, I wouldn’t like it done to my books. That shit hurts. Second, I might meet the actual author some day, and that would be awkward AF. Can you picture it at a convention? Me: “Oh, hi, you’re [author]? You must be the one who wrote [this book, which I totally trashed in a review].” Poor Author: “Yep, that’s me. So you’ve read…
In the grand tradition of December, let’s do some wrapping up. Wrap some presents. Wrap-up your post-holiday shopping. Write lots of wrap-up lists. Wrap-up small, misbehaving children Krampus style to mail to . . . haha . . . ooops. Don’t do that. Got carried away there. Number Of Books I Read: A very respectable 174 I kept my goal of 200, despite knowing that was stupidly unrealistic with me going back to work full time. And indeed, my reading…
This trope flavor du jour starts with a firm, succulent base of Brooding Big Bad. Spicy hints of Shades of Grey add to the morality, while robust kicks of Standoffish, Blunt, and Guarded finish the dish for a well-rounded palate. The discerning reader will love the fact that this character absolutely has no time for anyone in the world . . . except for that one, special someone they can’t resist. They are secretly (OH so secretly) soft and protective…
Quick internet search tells me that a nerd is defined as; “a person seen as overly intellectual, obsessive, introverted, interested in obscure or not-popular things, and lacking social skills.” Basically? I am ALL OF THOSE THINGS. It’s like the internet knows my life!* *Dear NSA Agent skimming my blog: please do spend some quality time with my trope rec posts. I promise you will need reading material because my life is very boring and these books are more fun. Also…