Updates

Q1 & Q2 Recap 2024

Barnaby's Best Day EverI had every intention of doing a real update this month reflecting on the first two quarters of 2024, but life got in the way, and this wasn’t even published last week like it should’ve been. I’m back dating it though. So, this is the short update that you get which includes:

  • The adorably hilarious photo of Barnaby from January when we were on vacation in the Caribbean. Because he’s a doodle, we generally have him in boots and a jacket/snowsuit so that his hair doesn’t get super matted, so seeing the excitement and freedom of him running in the snow was just such a heartwarming thing for us on vacation.
  • A screen shot of some lovely feedback on a piece of writing from a course I took wrapping up my degree. I graduated in May, and we then went on a two week cruise in Scandinavia, which was fantastic and I loved it and bought so much yarn. But this feedback on a piece gave me the life I needed to get through February-May and graduation!
  • And list of books that I’ve read since my last monthly update. I am VERY slowly making my way through these responses. I was on track to catch up but had to demonetize the blog because WordPress/Jetpack got super greedy and wanted to charge for stats access and the cost of that was significantly more than any kickback I got from being an affiliate. As well as even more ARC’s I should never have said yes to.

Continue reading “Q1 & Q2 Recap 2024”

Books

Book 1,047: Confessions of a Shy Baker – Masaomi Ito

When I went through my massive manga streak while slogging through the Hockey Ever After series, this was one of the ones that was immediately available via my local library. It had older characters who I thought might be nicer to read, there seem to be a lot of high school/university age character manga, with fewer adult and real-world overall.

This is the story of Toshimitsu, a real estate business owner who bakes in his spare time, and Gonta, a care giver, who have been together for some time. The story revolves around their day-to-day lives and the stresses at work (both business and personal) and their ability to relax at home.

Continue reading “Book 1,047: Confessions of a Shy Baker – Masaomi Ito”

Books

Book 1,045: Scoring Position (#2) & 1,046: Winging It (#1) (Hockey Ever After) – Ashlyn Kane & Morgan James

Yes—I accidentally read these out of order. I didn’t realize Winging It was the first in the series and only figured it out 1/3 of the way through Scoring Position so of course I immediately had to download the first and start it right after.

Overall, this series was good, and these first two books were well written, and the stories were engaging, but OMFG they were all entirely way too long, or not well paced. More on that later.

Continue reading “Book 1,045: Scoring Position (#2) & 1,046: Winging It (#1) (Hockey Ever After) – Ashlyn Kane & Morgan James”

Books

Book 1,044: Winning Bracket – Annabeth Albert

In general, Annabeth Albert can do nothing wrong. She’s explored some kinks that weren’t exactly for me, and she’s written a few books that were meh overall, but every one of them contains well written character written romances and this one was no different. Winning Bracket was a bit of your standard nerd/jock trope added in with a bit of friendly competition and long suppressed feelings for each other.

Continue reading “Book 1,044: Winning Bracket – Annabeth Albert”

Books

Book 1,043: Northranger – Rey Terciero & Bre Indigo

I don’t know how I didn’t know about this one sooner. I mean, I do. Life has been incredibly busy and non-stop post-pandemic, and 2022-2024 was a blur of classes and life, which explains how this 2023 release slipped under my radar, but OMG I’m so glad I found it. Terciero takes Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey and turns it into a wonderful MM romance while Bre Indigo does a fantastic job of capturing a Texas ranch in this adaptation.

Continue reading “Book 1,043: Northranger – Rey Terciero & Bre Indigo”