It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Mailbox Monday - Jan 1

Welcome to It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Mailbox Monday.   

 

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. It's a great post to organize yourself. It's an opportunity to visit and comment, and er... add to that ever growing TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme started with J Kaye's Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date.   

Happy New Year, everyone! Welcome to the first Monday of 2024. How long do you think it will be before you stop writing 2023 on everything?

I worked a limited schedule between Christmas and today, but by tomorrow I will be back focused on real estate. Spent some time getting organized for 2024 and need to finalize my business plan. 

During the break, I edited my NaNoWriMo project and sent it out to a couple of beta readers. Market research and query letter are next, so that once all the edits are done, I will have a plan for submissions. I also wrote my latest Love Comes Softly fanfiction story. That makes three. You can find them at Fanfiction.net if you're interested.

In my reading world, I finished this one, so my January 17th review will be on time. It is already posted on Goodreads if you want to read the review earlier. 

I finished the following middle grade book on Saturday. My review appears here. That will be my last read of the year. I read 70 of the planned 60 books. Not bad considering how busy work and life were in 2023. 

I need to add this one into my reading schedule. 

As usual this time of year, I do my best to organize my reading. I created my 2024 TBR spreadsheet. That list has 314 titles on it; some I owe reviews on, but most are books I've bought or won and want to read. 

My free Kindle book spreadsheet sits at 692 books. Some have been featured at Shelf Control (when I participated) or First Chapter Review. I also started eliminating books from my list that are no longer of interest or not available. I'll continue to whittle down the list this year, including my Goodreads list. My "Want to Read" list sits at 801. We both know that isn't happening. 

The Christmas Year Round blog got a slow start in 2023. While I posted a lot and promoted it, the traffic isn't outstanding. Book giveaways seem to be the most popular. That blog was on a break between Christmas and today, but tomorrow will feature a Christmas movie review.  

Upcoming virtual book tours:

• A Yellow House in the Mountains by Glenn Hileman - January 17 (review)
• Civil Twilight by Anique Taylor - January 23 (guest post)
• The Location Shoot by Patricia Leavy - January 31 (interview)  

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

An author contacted me about a new release coming in January. I downloaded the NetGalley copy of this one.

I reached out to the author of this next book and requested to read it. 

I'm sure we will talk more about 2024 in the days ahead and all our plans. Please feel free to share if you have already settled what you're doing. And if you're wondering what others are reading for their first book of 2024, you can check out Sheila at Book Journey's post here.

Wishing you all a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? - Sep 14

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. It's a great post to organize yourself. It's an opportunity to visit and comment, and er... add to that ever growing TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme started with J Kaye's Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date.

Happy Monday! I hope you had a nice weekend. Prayers go out to anyone in the Pacific Northwest who is impacted by these horrible fires. One of my author friends is sleeping with her clothes on tonight, their important belongings packed in case they need to evacuate. Gosh, I wish 2020 ushered in some relief and kindness for the last few months of the year.

My mind has been on many things, so Saturday was the first night I had a chance to sit down and read. I am halfway through this book.

I need to start this next one soon.

My review for this next one will appear at An Imperfect Christian Mom on September 30.

I picked up this one from the publisher's website.

I also saw Karen White posted on Facebook that she typed THE END on her latest Tradd Street book due out in 2021. So, now I really want to read the only book in that series I haven't opened yet.

I am determined to read more Christmas books this year. Wish me luck!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? - Jan 6

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. It's a great post to organize yourself. It's an opportunity to visit and comment, and er... add to that ever growing TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme started with J Kaye's Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date.

Welcome to the first It's Monday! What Are You Reading? post of 2020. I hope you enjoyed your holidays. Ours were wonderful. Now, it's back to the real world and work will be crazy this week. The Lil' Princess goes back to school on Tuesday, too, so schedules are coming back after a few weeks of playing it by ear.

I read this book by a local author over the holidays. Look for my review this week.

I started this one, but it wasn't doing it for me, so I put it aside. 

Do you ever wonder why you buy certain books or request some books for review? Maybe they sounded interesting once, but when you pull them out of the pile you scratch your head wondering why it is even there. This is the year I'm not reading books I don't enjoy. This summer, The Book Connection will be 15 years old. I've earned putting aside books that don't suit my tastes or that I can't get into. My litmus test will be three chapters. If I'm not liking it by then, it's being donated to the library book sale.

Right now, I'm reading this one from Charlotte Hubbard. I love her books, so I'm hoping for another great read.

I owe reviews to authors for 16 books, but I'm not sure one of those will be the next book I read. You've seen the list, so I won't share it again. I just feel like I need to be kind to myself this year. I will get them read, but not sure when.

Have you made any changes to your reading schedule this year? What is the first book you plan to read or have started reading? What is one book you're looking forward to?

Here's to a year of great books!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? - Aug 19

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. It's a great post to organize yourself. It's an opportunity to visit and comment, and er... add to that ever growing TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme started with J Kaye's Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date.

We are back in MA. So, the extra little vacation was nice--a little bit of rain, but still enjoyed the beach and spending time together. The drive home was a bit scary. While driving on 113 North, a car speeding the wrong way (southbound) at about 80 miles an hour drove down the lane next to us. Had to call the state police, hoping they caught up with him before he hurt himself or someone else. Really put the guardian angel to work that night.

Other than that little adventure, things went well. We enjoyed our time away, and now I can prepare for my mother-in-law to come stay with us for a while.

Finished these two while we were away:

I'm also reading this one:

I'll have a few more for reviews after that:

Then I really need to focus on these:

After that, I just want to pick something from the pile and read it because I can--no deadline, no have to finish it, no reason to read it other than that I want to.

How is your reading week shaping up? Anything good you've read that I should know about?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? - July 22

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. It's a great post to organize yourself. It's an opportunity to visit and comment, and er... add to that ever growing TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme started with J Kaye's Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date.


Where has the month gone? I swear, we were just leaving on vacation. Now we are heading into the last week two weeks of July. I hope you're having a great summer.

Two new books arrived this week.

I am working on finishing this one:

Poor Marilla needs to be put aside so I can focus on book reviews. 

I started this one yesterday. My review is due August 19: 

Up next will need to be this one for review:

That's it from me. What are you reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? - June 17

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. It's a great post to organize yourself. It's an opportunity to visit and comment, and er... add to that ever growing TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme started with J Kaye's Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date.

Welcome back to Monday. I hope all those dads and granddads had a nice Father's Day. We got together with family on Sunday, so my father-in-law and his two boys could have dinner together.

Work was unexpectedly busy this past week, so I didn't read as much as I would have liked. However, I did manage to review these two:

 Right now,  I am reading these two books:

I downloaded this book to read one day. It was a Kindle freebie for a while. It's the first book in Marilyn Meredith's Tempe Crabtree Mystery Series. I've loved this series since I started it, but I came in somewhere in the middle. I want to go back and read the previous ones.

I still have these that I need to review:

I am getting closer to being caught up, but it still might take me a while; especially with my devices on the fritz. 

What are you reading right now? Have you picked up anything outside of your usual genres lately? What is a summer read you are looking forward to diving into?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? - May 27

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. It's a great post to organize yourself. It's an opportunity to visit and comment, and er... add to that ever growing TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme started with J Kaye's Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date.

Happy Memorial Day! Hope you're taking some time off while we recognize and honor the sacrifice of those who gave their all to protect freedom around the world. I've spent the last two days in the yard getting things cleaned up and ready for new mulch. It was almost 4 pm before I realized this is our wedding anniversary. Whoops!

Not a ton of reading going on, but I might have some time next week. Here is what I am reading right now.

This new one is for a review I have coming up in June.

I also need to review this one in June.

Some of these might come on vacation with me.

After that, I want to tackle some of the business books I bought recently. Not sure how much I want to drag down south with me. 

How do you decide which books to bring on vacation? Do you use vacation time to catch up on reviews or only read for pleasure?