This post is linked to Sunday Post, Staking the Shelves, Sunday Salon, and #IMWAYR

October was pretty quiet. I got to hang out with my buddy while his family was away for the month. I’ve been watching him and his late brother since moving to Japan over 5 years ago. I spent a lot of rainy days this past month cuddling on the couch with him while I read. Unfortunately, shortly after his family returned last week, he stopped eating, and passed away. So, this week has been pretty hard on me. I’ve cried just about every day, but I don’t know if it’s truly hit me that I will no longer go to his house to hang out with him while his family is away.

I also got ready for my mom to come and visit for the month of November. We’ve been out here for over 5 years with no visitors, so the spare bedroom sort of turned into a huge closet for all the things I don’t know where to put. So it’s been a fun couple of weeks going through everything and either finding it a more permanent home, or donating it. It’s totally worth it though. My mom has never been to Japan and I haven’t seen her in a couple of years. So, I’m really excited for her trip.

This month has been pretty good for my reading and blogging. I feel like I’m finally starting to get into the grove of things again. Unfortunately, I think I threw away my blogging planner binder. I got it over a decade ago when I started blogging. I’m a visual person, and digital calendars just don’t stick with me. So I had a physical one that I wrote upcoming review posts, and tour posts on so that I could quickly glance at my planner and see if I had any missing dates for the month, or if I was about to double book myself. Because I hadn’t been active in blogging for a few years after moving out here, I worry that my lack of being able to find it means that I threw it away.

Continue reading Quiet Rainy Days That Ended in a Heavy Heart →

This week’s question is

Do you run more than one blog? If so, how do you manage your time?

Continue reading Blogging Through the Years: From Recipe Experiments to Romance Reads →

This post is linked to Sunday Post, Staking the Shelves, Sunday Salon, and #IMWAYR

September was probably one of the better months of the year for me.

Life slowed down a bit. I was no longer going to the vet every week with my rescue foster. A cat, whom I’ve had since March and has needed a lot of hands on care. Since his health finally started to improve and we got into a rhythm,  I was able to relax a bit more.

Continue reading 40 Going On 14 →

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

There are a lot of books on my Goodreads TBR, but I know that I cannot realistically read them all in one season. So, I chose books that were either books I will be reading for the book clubs that I’m in, books I received for review purposes, books that I’m excited to read, and a few indie author purchases I’m excited to get in the mail. Each book cover will take you to the book’s page in case you want to read more about each book.

Continue reading Top Ten Books on My Fall 2026 To-Read List →

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

I had the amazing opportunity to attend the RT Book Lovers Convention before it ended, and it was probably the best experience I’ve ever had as a book blogger.

I loved sitting in on all the panels and listening to authors break down how they create their characters and build entire worlds with nothing but words. The mix of fun activities, like playing bingo and card games with other bloggers, readers, and authors, was a great way to break the ice and meet people.

Continue reading Top Ten Author’s I’ve Met →

This post is linked to Sunday Post, Staking the Shelves, Sunday Salon, and #IMWAYR

This month we saw two typhoons. So, needless to say, I was able to get quite a bit of reading in.

Every summer I take part in a summer reading challenge with my friend and her circle of people. There’s usually a theme to the overall challenge, and there are 18 book categories. Things like “a book published before you were born”, “a book published this year”, “a new to you author”, etc. Every year I fail to finish the challenge, but not this year. This year I finally finished the challenge with time to spare since it ends Labor Day weekend.

I’m honestly surprised I read all the categories since some are things like thriller or mystery, and those aren’t really my genre. Somehow I made it work, found a book that would interest me, and got through it.

Below is the list of book categories and the books I read for each slot.

Continue reading Mission Accomplished: Finishing My Summer Reading Challenge →

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

It seems like lately the font for book titles is more whimsical, but I didn’t just want to showcase new books that everyone is seeing on their social media accounts. I wanted to show off some of my favorite books from throughout the years. Some of these books may be over a decade old – books that a lot of people might not have heard of.

If you click on the covers it will take you to my review for each of the books. 

This post is linked to Sunday Post, Staking the Shelves, Sunday Salon, and #IMWAYR

As I predicted, it’s been a very active summer. We’ve already had 3 typhoons head our way since June 1st, with another heading our way this weekend. The incoming typhoon was listed as a Cat 5 level typhoon. So this week will be spent watching the weather, and preparing the house. Needless to say, due to the high temperature and humidity, the choppy waters, and the constant vigilance of what’s developing out in the ocean, we haven’t done much of anything this summer. We already had one trip cut short when we tried to travel right before typhoon season started, only to have a typhoon arrive on opening day. So, this summer may be less fun in the sun, and more indoors with a book. Not that I’m complaining. After taking a few years off due to school, I have enjoyed catching up on all the books I’ve been wanting to read.

This month I took a break from going through my TBR on Goodreads. I read The Cursed King and Kamisama Kiss, but that was about it. I was starting to get burnt out because the books were just not bangers for me. I can’t say it was because I wasn’t in the mood for them, because I was. I just had a hard time with the characters, the writing style, or sometimes the story as a whole, and in the end it left me wanting more. So, instead of completely burning out and needing a break from reading all together, I decided to shift my focus to my summer reading challenge, catching up on my book club reading, and took a walk through the library and snatched up a few books that caught my eye. Oh and I also signed up for a couple of ARC’s that I’m excited to read. So, thankfully, I was able to divert myself away from a reading slump.

Continue reading Typhoons & TBRs →

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

Today I’m going through my TBR and listing some of the books that I’m most interested in reading, that were written by author’s I’ve never read before. A lot of these books are by debut authors or authors who are indie-published and may not be big household names…. yet.

This post is linked to Sunday Post, Staking the Shelves, Sunday Salon, and #IMWAYR

I did a deep dive into my Goodreads TBR list this month, to go through all the books and delete ones I don’t plan to read. I have had books sitting on my TBR for over a decade. A DECADE!!! Books that I saw and thought, “That looks like a good book” but then never actually purchased it or read it. It’s safe to say that some of those books are no longer of interest to me. Most were YA, and while I still enjoy reading YA, it’s not my primary genre anymore.

So, I went through my list, and any books that I immediately went “meh” over, got the boot. Books that are not available on KU or at my library, that I was not willing to pay money for, got the the boot. I was able to knock out almost half of the books on my TBR. What was once a TBR of over 200 books is now a list of 109 books. It’s still a bit overwhelming, but I feel like it’s more manageable… as long as I don’t go crazy adding books to it again.

Therefor, I have decided that I will spend this summer going through and reading my TBR one book at a time. I won’t push myself to read anything that I’m not feeling, but I do feel like I need to give these books a chance. So many of these books have so few reviews and ratings, and I want to give them a chance to find readers. The book I’m currently reading only has 4,000 ratings on Goodreads.

So, it’s time to brush off my TBR and start giving these books a chance in the spotlight.

Continue reading Dusting Off the Digital Bookshelf →