Month: January 2026

February TBR

Posted January 30, 2026 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 0 Comments

My monthly TBR feature here shows my progress based on last month’s TBR, my plans for this month, and anything else I might be thinking about from a reading perspective. Sometimes I feature a little poll at the bottom so you guys can help me figure out a certain title I should read from a group of books. February TBR I did a great job of reading from my TBR in January – I think it was the first time I read all six books featured on the little TBR graphic I post on Instagram. I have just one review copy to move over to February and a new release I want to read this month too. Review Copies I did a really good job of reading my January review copies – minus one, which was an end-of-the-month release – and have four review copies for February. I’m excited about all of these ones and do hope to read them all in the month! Owned/Physical Copies I have a lot of review copies that are on my Kindle, so that means most of the physical books I pick up in February need to be a different genre. I have MY HUSBAND’S WIFE left from last month. I’ve been in the mood to read some fantasy soon and I read a lot of novellas in January to set me up to read less this month, so perhaps I finally get to THE PRISONER’S THRONE or THE ORNITHOLOGIST’S FIELD GUIDE TO […]

Recent Reads | The Ghostwriter and Anatomy of an Alibi

Posted January 29, 2026 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

I realized I forgot to review this one last year for some reason. I really try to keep track of all the full-length novels I read on the blog so here’s my delayed reaction to this one! I was intrigued by the premise of this and luckily it was incredibly addicting to read. The book follows a couple of timelines and POVs. The Taylor family suffers a major loss in 1975 when two siblings are murdered and suspicion surrounds the remaining sibling, Vincent. He turns into a successful horror writer and eventually decides to write a memoir. His daughter Olivia is a ghostwriter and he refuses to work with anyone else. Cue Olivia’s return home to her complicated relationship with her father and a potential reveal that she is his daughter, something she’s kept secret her entire career. I enjoyed seeing some footage – for lack of a better word, you’ll see if you read it – of the 1975 timeline along with Olivia interacting with her father in present day. I thought the book was incredibly interesting while reading it but didn’t really think it would stick with me too much. Looking back, not a ton happens? There were a couple of twists but for some reason I really thought it was going to be full of them. The plot was generally intriguing and I’m glad I picked it up! Our book club overall really enjoyed this one as well, which was nice. I’ll definitely be curious to read […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #484: Bookish Discoveries

Posted January 27, 2026 / Goals & Planning, Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 5 Comments

Bookish Discoveries of 2025 Top Ten Tuesdays were started by The Broke and the Bookish and are now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, where we make lists of our top ten books (or something else!) based on that week’s prompt. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here. Book links bring you to Goodreads or my review. This TTT is meant to feature our bookish discoveries of the previous year, which can include new-to-you authors you discovered, new genres you learned you like, new bookish resources you found, friends you made, local bookshops you found, a book club you joined, etc. New-to-Me Authors These are the fifteen new-to-me authors that I plan to read more books from. I really enjoyed all of these (lowest rating is three stars, but I’m intrigued enough to read more). There were probably less than five new authors that I don’t plan to read from again, so that’s definitely a win! Bookish Discoveries Reading an hour a day keeps me on track I’m someone who likes to have goals but doesn’t really like rigidity. It’s hard to explain. I started #75booked at the tail end of last year because I was behind on my Goodreads challenge by a few books and needed to lock in. I decided reading for an hour a day was the best middle-ground between challenging myself and being realistic. I have a couple weeks left of the challenge, so it was nice to bring that energy to start […]

2026 Review Copies

Posted January 26, 2026 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 0 Comments

I’ve got some great review copies on deck for 2026. At the time of writing this, I have one January book left to read and am otherwise on track with January releases! Here’s what I’ve got so far to look forward to for the year.

Recent Reads | Wild Dark Shore and A Curious Beginning

Posted January 22, 2026 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

This is a book I’ve been very intimidated by but was determined to read at some point. I’ve found that I always enjoy literary mysteries more than I expect to, so this was somewhat of a pleasant surprised (but also expected in some ways). The book follows a tight cast of characters in a remote area, which was incredibly atmospheric. I knew I wanted to read this one in the winter given the chilly Antarctica location. Rowan washes ashore the remote island currently inhabited by the Salt family. How did she get there? What or who is she looking for? Dom and his three kids appear to be hiding secrets of their own as well. There were a lot of little mysteries but this was by no means a fast-paced thriller. Emphasis on the “literary” in “literary mystery.” There was a heavy scientific / climate change element to this book that I appreciated. The Salt family are the only remaining people/scientists on this island protecting the seed bank and have only a few weeks left before they move back to a mainland. Each of the kids has a special interest area, whether its whales or biology or penguins, and it was cool to see how their life was on the island. Again, super atmospheric – I felt like I could picture everything (and would love to see this as a movie!). I really loved the writing style and would be eager to read more by McConaghy, if I can pluck […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #483: Goals

Posted January 20, 2026 / Goals & Planning, Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 1 Comment

2026 Goals Top Ten Tuesdays were started by The Broke and the Bookish and are now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, where we make lists of our top ten books (or something else!) based on that week’s prompt. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here. Book links bring you to Goodreads or my review. I plan on reading 100 books this year. Yes, I’m back closer to the olden days on my blog. I don’t think I’ll ever read 150-180 books again but I really would like to read a couple of books per week at this point. I thought it would be fun to see my progress – the highs and lows of the last few years. I started my blog in 2014 midway through the year so the 91 books I read were actually from like June to December, which is wild. I was pretty jacked up about reading for a few years and always read over 100 books, usually more than 150, until Covid happened. I barely squeaked out 100 books and decided to go with a lower amount for the following couple of years. I got my mojo back in 2023 and 2024 before kind of crashing again this year. 100 may be optimistic but I decided I will reduce my goal if needed at the end of Q1 and not give myself too much shit for it. Along with this specific number of books, here’s what I’m hoping to accomplish: Spend more […]

Authors I Must Read for the First Time in 2026

Posted January 16, 2026 / Discussions, Features / 0 Comments

I actually started to draft this post with authors for 2026, thinking it would be a fun idea… and realized I did this exact post last year. As a result, I’m going to update on my success rate from 2025 and then share the authors I hope to read in 2026 below. How Many Did I Read from 2025? I had nine authors on my list last year including the book I assumed I’d read by them. I ended up reading 6 out of 9 authors, but only 3 of those 6 books were the ones I chose. I really enjoyed A KILLING COLD and PARENTS WEEKEND for my first experiences with Kate Alice Marshall and Alex Finlay, but I didn’t enjoy my first Shari Lapena. I will probably read more of hers to see if this was a fluke though… As for the authors I read but chose different books for, a couple of them ended up being random holiday novellas! I wanted to read Richard Osman but apparently thought I’d try his new series first. The new movie version of THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB on Netflix inspired me to just read his OG, so that’s what I did! The other two authors – Lisa Unger and Ali Brady – released Christmas/Hanukkah novellas that I ended up reading to finish off the year… very much not part of the plan, but still some exposure to their writing styles. The three authors I didn’t get around to were Stephen King, Brandon […]

Blog Tour Review: The Lust Crusade

Posted January 14, 2026 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

I’ve been a big fan of Segura’s companion series so far. The concept of a romantic adventure story is just too fun to pass up, and all of them have worked really well for me! This one was slightly different in setup with the same bones: an archaeologist falls in love while looking for something historically groundbreaking. In this installment, Theo was presumed dead a year ago when his boat was found capsized in Greece. His best friend’s sister, Dani, is one of the many people left devastated; she’s had feelings for him her entire life and now she can never act on them. She decides to book a trip to Greece to finally get out of the country when suddenly she sees a man who looks like Theo. She learns he’s alive and has been kidnapped, forced to look for the Eye of the Minotaur for an evil man (we’re all familiar with at this point in the series. When Dani gets captured too, she’s able to use her research skills as a librarian to help Theo find the Eye. There were a lot of great tropes in here, like brother’s best friend, fake dating engagement, only one bed… you name it. I love a “second chance romance” as well. Both of the characters had feelings for each other but never acted on them and it was a very believable setup from a romance perspective (maybe not an overall plot perspective… these adventures are always over the top but […]

2026 Series Goals & TBR

Posted January 8, 2026 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 0 Comments

I wrote a post a few years ago about some series I was hoping to read/finish before the end of 2023. I was just filling out my book journal for 2026 and decided to share something similar for the full year. I am still using the spreadsheet I developed a way to track all of my series, which has continued to be helpful as I plan what to read. Started in 2025, Next Book in 2026 I started three series that came out with book one in 2025 and am eager to continue in 2026 with their second installment. ALCHEMY OF SECRETS second book doesn’t have a release date on Goodreads but I believe it will be this year. THE ACADEMY and GOOD SPIRITS both have sequels confirmed for this upcoming fall and I can guarantee I’ll be reading both as soon as possible. (Note I usually include the cover of the next book to read but these haven’t been released yet!) Started This Year, Backlist to Continue I finally read THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB because the movie came out and really enjoyed it. I hope to progress in this series (there are now five books out) this year. I can’t promise reading beyond book two, but that’s the main goal at a minimum. Same could be said for the Veronica Speedwell books; I really enjoyed A CURIOUS BEGINNING and would love to read 1-2 more this year since it’s a long series with TEN books as of now. Started […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #482: Best of 2025

Posted January 6, 2026 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 0 Comments

Best Books I Read in 2025 Top Ten Tuesdays were started by The Broke and the Bookish and are now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, where we make lists of our top ten books (or something else!) based on that week’s prompt. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here. Book links bring you to Goodreads or my review. I managed to keep this nice and even with 10 five-star reads last year. I had like 12 books that were 4.5 stars but chose another top ten of those below. It’s hard to really pick an overall favorite. I’ll say that ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK stuck with me the very most, along with ATMOSPHERE. BEG, BORROW, OR STEAL was my favorite romance/contemporary fiction of the year and WILD DARK SHORE was such an immersive nearly-final book of 2025.