Lethal Kings by Victoria McCombs
October 30, 2025
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Mortal Queens by Victoria McCombs
October 29, 2025
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Top Ten Tuesday: Seasonal Vibes
October 28, 2025
Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Artsy Read Girl.
Each week features a book related topic to spotlight your Top Ten.
Topic:
Seasonal Vibes
Not going to lie, I'm not a Halloween person at all. I don't like jump scares. I look at things logically, and half the time I'm thinking that isn't real and the other time, I'm thinking that isn't scary, it's gross to be gross. Then on top of that dealing with kids that don't like to be scared and trying to keep them calm, I'm more of a Fall person then Halloween. Give me leaves, hot chocolate, the beautiful fall color pallet from August 1st to October 31st ...then it becomes Christmas!
One thing I do like about the Fall Season, it gets darker. It feels more cozy. Fuzzy blankets, fire places (sometimes, we're fighting to get out of the 90's and into fall weather right now), just the snuggliness of the season.
Despite the dislike for spooky stuff in general, I do like reading a decent gothic style read. I like the darker undertones or settings without the creepiness. I usually like to read a lot of light and happy contemporary romances, or intriguing historical fictions, or bright and captivating fantasy, but sometimes, a darker story is needed.
Some of these have already been featured recently, but they just fit so well for this topic, I had to showcase them again.
by Jessica DottaThis series has the classic gothic romance feel that leaves you hooked, needing to know what will happen and how in the heck, did that happen? This is a series I couldn't put down and I recommend to everyone. It leaves you with your jaw on the floor multiple times, never knowing what will be thrown at you next.
The Shepherd King Duologyby Rachel GilligThis series is set in a misty world. The mist is always there, it already has this ominous feel to the story with what is hidden in the mist. Add in the other aspects of mystery, it has a very interesting gothic feel.
by Elizabeth CamdenThis is a historical fiction book, rich in history. The backdrop of this story gives it that moody, kind of greyish, wiped out feeling. Then as the story unfolds and you see what this story is about and how it affects the people, and it to me gives off that gothic feel for me, even though not.
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by Jaime Jo WrightI will say, it's not just these 3 stories from Jaime Jo Wright, but all of her stories. Her books offer such a unique feel when you read them, it's hard not to get caught up in them. These are all duel time line mysteries with just a pinch of the spooky feel, without being spooky-spooky. The mystery is the driving force. It makes you question and the feel of the books really make them all the more fun.
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by Morgan L. BusseSteampunk, ominous mist, purges, sky pirates. It definitively has the more darker vibe, but without the grossness of a horror story this is an interesting sci-fi / mystery. This is a YA read of people surviving high up in the mountains away from a killer mist. The search is on, on how to cure the mist, so people can live freely again, but who wants it to continue?
by Tracy HigleyTracy Higley has written some fabulous ancient history based stories, this is one of them set in the rock city of Petra. This book set in a city of stone with an evil queen plotting, has a very dark feel about it. It's not spooky, but it has an intensity to it. The interesting setting and the ominous feel give it that feel of the season, without the spook.
by John FaubionMystery Thriller read all the way. It's a little older read, so the tech listed is already outdated, but the story was one that left me hooked. It is a creepy ready, because we know things like this have happened. Dateline previews have already shown that! This was such a nail biter at times and the villain is written in such a way, it makes you want to reach through the book.
by Lori LangdonThis is an atmospheric read, perfect for the season. Mystery/ thriller, who-done-it style. Mixed with some romance. This is one of those books that is perfect for the time of the year. It has that darker undertone, but not one that will jump out in your face and then laugh and run away. This is a build up, secrets are uncovered, it leaves you guessing till the reveal.
This week was a bit of a modge-podge of series and stand-alones.
What do you like to read this time of year?
Do you like to read atmospheric stories all year, do you like the atmosphere to fit the time of year for you?
Calling the Matchmaker by Jody Hedlund
October 23, 2025
The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig
October 22, 2025
Top Ten Tuesday: Cozy Reads
October 21, 2025
Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Artsy Read Girl.
Each week features a book related topic to spotlight your Top Ten.
Topic:
✨ Cozy Reads ✨
When you hear the phrase cozy read, what pops into your head?
For me, it’s the kind of story I know will wrap up in a way that feels good. Sure, things happen along the way—there’s drama, some twists, maybe even a tear or two—but it’s not the kind of book that leaves me gasping at a jaw-dropping cliffhanger.
Cozy reads are the ones that make me smile when I close the book. They leave me happy, content, and satisfied. Sometimes there’s a hint of “more to come,” but never the kind that has me pacing the room and stalking Goodreads for the next release date.
Some of these books are first-in-series, some can be read out of order, and some stand alone. But the common thread? They have heart, a little humor, a touch of emotion, and an ending that feels just right.
That’s what cozy means to me: a story that feels like a warm blanket.
To Spark a Match by Jen Turano
Ashton Park by Murray Pura
Love Comes Softly by Janette Oke
The Printed Letter Bookshop by Katherine Reay
Sweet on You by Becky Wade
The Dandelion Field by Kathryn Springer
The Senator's Other Daughter by Stephen Bly
Caught by Surprise by Jen Turano
Diamond in the Rough by Jen Turano
What are your kind of cozy reads? Do you like to read them regularly or do you like them in the cool months when you can read under a soft comfy blanket?
Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Wish I Could Read Again for the First Time
October 14, 2025
Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Artsy Read Girl.
Each week features a book related topic to spotlight your Top Ten.
Topic:
Books I Wish I Could Read Again for the First Time
There are so many books I wish I could experience again for the first time. But honestly, it’s not always that first read that sticks with me—it’s often the re-read that makes the story really come alive. That’s when I notice all the little details I missed the first time.
These are books I’ve absolutely loved—ones I’ve read more than once (and probably more than twice). Sometimes not even just in book form—I’ll read it, then grab the audiobook, and suddenly I’m catching new things all over again.
And it’s funny: sometimes the first book in a series is just “good enough” to keep me going, but then the second one hits and—BAM!—I’m completely hooked. That’s when the story hits me with the wow factor and I find myself thinking, “Holy cow, what just happened?”
The Harry Potter Series
by J.K. Rowling
"Turning the envelope over, his hand trembling, Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger and a snake surrounding a large letter 'H'."
Harry Potter has never even heard of Hogwarts when the letters start dropping on the doormat at number four, Privet Drive. Addressed in green ink on yellowish parchment with a purple seal, they are swiftly confiscated by his grisly aunt and uncle. Then, on Harry's eleventh birthday, a great beetle-eyed giant of a man called Rubeus Hagrid bursts in with some astonishing news: Harry Potter is a wizard, and he has a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. An incredible adventure is about to begin!
The Price of Privilege Trilogy
by Jessica Dotta
The year is 1838, and seventeen-year-old Julia Elliston’s position has never been more fragile. Orphaned and unmarried in a time when women are legal property of their fathers, husbands, and guardians, she finds herself at the mercy of an anonymous guardian who plans to establish her as a servant in far-off Scotland.
With two months to devise a better plan, Julia’s first choice to marry her childhood sweetheart is denied. But when a titled dowager offers to introduce Julia into society, a realm of possibilities opens. However, treachery and deception are as much a part of Victorian society as titles and decorum, and Julia quickly discovers her present is deeply entangled with her mother’s mysterious past. Before she knows what’s happening, Julia finds herself a pawn in a deadly game between two of the country’s most powerful men. With no laws to protect her, she must unravel the secrets on her own. But sometimes truth is elusive and knowledge is deadly.
Against the Tide
by Elizabeth Camden
As a child, Lydia Pallas became all too familiar with uncertainty when it came to the future. Now, she's finally carved out a perfect life for herself--a life of stability and order with no changes, surprises, or chaos of any kind. She adores her apartment overlooking the bustling Boston Harbor, and her skill with languages has landed her a secure position as a translator for the U.S. Navy.
However, it is her talent for translation that brings her into contact with Alexander Banebridge, or "Bane," a man who equally attracts and aggravates her. When Bane hires Lydia to translate a seemingly innocuous collection of European documents, she hesitantly agrees, only to discover she is in over her head.
Just as Bane's charm begins to win her over, Lydia learns he is driven by a secret campaign against some of the most dangerous criminals on the East Coast, compelled by his faith and his past. Bane forbids any involvement on Lydia's part, but when the criminals gain the upper hand, it is Lydia on whom he must depend.
Catching Fire
by Suzanne Collins
Sparks are igniting.
Flames are spreading.
And the Capitol wants revenge.
Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has won the Hunger Games. She and fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark are miraculously still alive. Katniss should be relieved, happy even. After all, she has returned to her family and her longtime friend, Gale. Yet nothing is the way Katniss wishes it to be. Gale holds her at an icy distance. Peeta has turned his back on her completely. And there are whispers of a rebellion against the Capitol—a rebellion that Katniss and Peeta may have helped create.
Much to her shock, Katniss has fueled an unrest that she's afraid she cannot stop. And what scares her even more is that she's not entirely convinced she should try. As time draws near for Katniss and Peeta to visit the districts on the Capitol's cruel Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than ever. If they can't prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that they are lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying.
In Catching Fire, the second novel of the Hunger Games trilogy, Suzanne Collins continues the story of Katniss Everdeen, testing her more than ever before . . . and surprising readers at every turn.
The Pharaoh's Daughter
by Mesu Andrews
“Fear is the most fertile ground for faith.”
“You will be called Anippe, daughter of the Nile. Do you like it?” Without waiting for a reply, she pulls me into her squishy, round tummy for a hug.
I’m trying not to cry. Pharaoh’s daughters don’t cry.
When we make our way down the tiled hall, I try to stop at ummi Kiya’s chamber. I know her spirit has flown yet I long for one more moment. Amenia pushes me past so I keep walking and don’t look back.
Like the waters of the Nile, I will flow.
Anippe has grown up in the shadows of Egypt’s good god Pharaoh, aware that Anubis, god of the afterlife, may take her or her siblings at any moment. She watched him snatch her mother and infant brother during childbirth, a moment which awakens in her a terrible dread of ever bearing a child. Now she is to be become the bride of Sebak, a kind but quick-tempered Captain of Pharaoh Tut’s army. In order to provide Sebak the heir he deserves and yet protect herself from the underworld gods, Anippe must launch a series of deceptions, even involving the Hebrew midwives—women ordered by Tut to drown the sons of their own people in the Nile.
When she finds a baby floating in a basket on the great river, Anippe believes Egypt’s gods have answered her pleas, entrenching her more deeply in deception and placing her and her son Mehy, whom handmaiden Miriam calls Moses, in mortal danger.
As bloodshed and savage politics shift the balance of power in Egypt, the gods reveal their fickle natures and Anippe wonders if her son, a boy of Hebrew blood, could one day become king. Or does the god of her Hebrew servants, the one they call El Shaddai, have a different plan—for them all?
Falling for You
by Becky Wade
Willow Bradford is content taking a break from modeling to run her family's inn until she comes face-to-face with NFL quarterback Corbin Stewart, the man who broke her heart--and wants to win her back. When a decades-old missing-persons case brings them together, they're forced to decide whether they can risk falling for one another all over again.
River of Time Series
by Lisa T. Bergren
What do you do when your knight in shining armor lives, literally, in a different world?
Most American teenagers want a vacation in Italy, but the Betarrini sisters have spent every summer of their lives among the romantic hills with their archaelogist parents. Stuck among the rubble of the medieval castles in rural Tuscany, on yet another hot, dusty archaeological site, Gabi and Lia are bored out of their minds...until Gabi places her hand atop a handprint in an ancient tomb and finds herself in fourteenth-century Italy. And worse yet, in the middle of a fierce battle between knights of two opposing forces.
Suddenly Gabi's summer in Italy is much, much more interesting.
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A Court of Mist & Fury
by Sarah J. Maas
The seductive and stunning #1 New York Times bestselling sequel to Sarah J. Maas's spellbinding A Court of Thorns and Roses .
Feyre has undergone more trials than one human woman can carry in her heart. Though she's now been granted the powers and lifespan of the High Fae, she is haunted by her time Under the Mountain and the terrible deeds she performed to save the lives of Tamlin and his people.
As her marriage to Tamlin approaches, Feyre's hollowness and nightmares consume her. She finds herself split into two different one who upholds her bargain with Rhysand, High Lord of the feared Night Court, and one who lives out her life in the Spring Court with Tamlin. While Feyre navigates a dark web of politics, passion, and dazzling power, a greater evil looms. She might just be the key to stopping it, but only if she can harness her harrowing gifts, heal her fractured soul, and decide how she wishes to shape her future-and the future of a world in turmoil.
Bestselling author Sarah J. Maas's masterful storytelling brings this second book in her dazzling, sexy, action-packed series to new heights.
Dear Mr. Knightley
by Katherine Reay
Dear Mr. Knightley is a contemporary epistolary novel with a delightful dash of Jane Austen.
Samantha Moore survived years of darkness in the foster care system by hiding behind her favorite characters in literature, even adopting their very words. Her fictional friends give her an identity, albeit a borrowed one. But most importantly, they protect her from revealing her true self and encountering more pain.
After college, Samantha receives an extraordinary opportunity. The anonymous “Mr. Knightley” offers her a full scholarship to earn her graduate degree at the prestigious Medill School of Journalism. The sole condition is that Sam write to Mr. Knightley regularly to keep him apprised of her progress.
As Sam’s true identity begins to reveal itself through her letters, her heart begins to soften to those around her—a damaged teenager and fellow inhabitant of Grace House, her classmates at Medill, and, most powerfully, successful novelist Alex Powell. But just as Sam finally begins to trust, she learns that Alex has secrets of his own—secrets that, for better or for worse, make it impossible for Sam to hide behind either her characters or her letters.
Glamorous Illusions
by Lisa T. Bergren
The first book in the Grand Tour series, Glamorous Illusions will take readers on a pilgrimage through Europe-and straight into the soul. It's the summer of 1913 and Cora Kensington's life on the family farm has taken a dark turn. After burying the only father she's ever known, she lost her beau in a tragic accident. Then a stranger comes to call. In one fateful afternoon, Cora discovers that her birth father is a copper king---a man who invites her to tour Europe with her new family. As she travels from England to France, Cora faces the hardships as well as the privileges of assuming the family name. And though now she knows more of her true identity, she soon discovers the journey is only beginning.
What books are ones that you wish that you could read with fresh eyes and unknowing mind of what you are about to journey into?
A Lesson in Propriety by Jen Turano
October 13, 2025
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Two Twisted Crowns by Rachel Gillig
October 10, 2025
One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig
October 9, 2025
Top Ten Tuesday: Satisfying Book Series
October 7, 2025
Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Artsy Read Girl.
Each week features a book related topic to spotlight your Top Ten.
Topic:
This is a tricky prompt, because a series can be so satisfying in so many different ways.
The ones I'm featuring are series that have made me go, oh wow! Or left me feeling happy at the end. Or has just left me blown away by the trail these characters have had to take to get to the end. Something in these series really stuck with me and these are ones I will always suggest because they were good.
Price of Privilege by Jessica Dotta
The year is 1838, and seventeen-year-old Julia Elliston’s position has never been more fragile. Orphaned and unmarried in a time when women are legal property of their fathers, husbands, and guardians, she finds herself at the mercy of an anonymous guardian who plans to establish her as a servant in far-off Scotland.With two months to devise a better plan, Julia’s first choice to marry her childhood sweetheart is denied. But when a titled dowager offers to introduce Julia into society, a realm of possibilities opens. However, treachery and deception are as much a part of Victorian society as titles and decorum, and Julia quickly discovers her present is deeply entangled with her mother’s mysterious past. Before she knows what’s happening, Julia finds herself a pawn in a deadly game between two of the country’s most powerful men. With no laws to protect her, she must unravel the secrets on her own. But sometimes truth is elusive and knowledge is deadly.
Harry Potter by JK Rowling
"Turning the envelope over, his hand trembling, Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger and a snake surrounding a large letter 'H'."
Harry Potter has never even heard of Hogwarts when the letters start dropping on the doormat at number four, Privet Drive. Addressed in green ink on yellowish parchment with a purple seal, they are swiftly confiscated by his grisly aunt and uncle. Then, on Harry's eleventh birthday, a great beetle-eyed giant of a man called Rubeus Hagrid bursts in with some astonishing news: Harry Potter is a wizard, and he has a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. An incredible adventure is about to begin.
The Heroine's Behind the Lines by Jocelynn Green
In Wedded to War, Charlotte chooses a life of service over privilege, just as her childhood friend had done when he became a military doctor. She soon discovers that she's combatting more than just the rebellion by becoming a nurse. Will the two men who love her simply stand by and watch as she fights her own battles? Or will their desire for her wage war on her desire to serve God?
In Widow of Gettysburg, the farm of Union widow Liberty Holloway is disfigured into a Confederate field hospital, bringing her face to face with unspeakable suffering-and a Confederate scout who awakens her long dormant heart. Will Liberty be defined by the tragedy in her life, or will she find a way to triumph over it?
In Yankee in Atlanta, soldier Caitlin McKae wakes up in Atlanta after being wounded in battle. The Georgian doctor who treated her believed Caitlin's only secret was that she had been fighting for the Confederacy disguised as a man. To avoid arrest or worse, Caitlin hides her true identity and makes a new life for herself in Atlanta. When Sherman's troops edge closer to Atlanta, Caitlin tries to escape north, but is arrested on charges of being a spy. Will honor dictate that Caitlin follow the rules, or love demand that she break them?
In Spy of Richmond, Union loyalist Sophie Kent attempts to end the war from within the Confederate capital, but she can't do it alone. As Sophie's spy network grows, she walks a tightrope of deception, using her father's position as newspaper editor and a suitor's position in the ordnance bureau. When her espionage endangers the people she loves, she's forced to make a life-and-death gamble.
Michigan Brides by Jody Hedlund
Michigan, 1883
In Her Darkest Hours, Is He the Man She Needs?
Lily Young longs to find her lost sister or will die trying. Heedless of any danger, she searches logging camps and towns, posing as a photographer's assistant. And then she arrives in Harrison, Michigan--and the sights of Connell McCormick.
Recently widowed Annalisa Werner has the feeling her husband was murdered but can't prove it. Alone with her young daughter in 1881 Michigan, she has six months left to finish raising the money needed to pay back the land contract her husband purchased, and the land is difficult to toil by herself. She needs a husband. With unmarried men scarce, her father sends a letter to his brother in the Old Country, asking him to find Annalisa a groom.
It is 1814 and the British have taken hold of Mackinac Island and its fort, forcing American residents to swear an oath of loyalty to the British crown in order to retain their land. Pierre Durant is a voyageur--a fur trader who left his family home to find freedom and adventure. He's been gone five years and when he returns, his family's farm is at the mercy of the British invaders.
The Shepheard King by Rachel Gillig
Elspeth needs a monster. The monster might be her.
Elspeth Spindle needs more than luck to stay safe in the eerie, mist-locked kingdom of Blunder—she needs a monster. She calls him the Nightmare, an ancient, mercurial spirit trapped in her head. He protects her. He keeps her secrets.
But nothing comes for free, especially magic.
When Elspeth meets a mysterious highwayman on the forest road, her life takes a drastic turn. Thrust into a world of shadow and deception, she joins a dangerous quest to cure Blunder from the dark magic infecting it. And the highwayman? He just so happens to be the King’s nephew, Captain of the most dangerous men in Blunder…and guilty of high treason.
Together they must gather twelve Providence Cards—the keys to the cure. But as the stakes heighten and their undeniable attraction intensifies, Elspeth is forced to face her darkest secret yet: the Nightmare is slowly taking over her mind. And she might not be able to stop him.
The Carthage Chronicles by Lynne Gentry
A modern-day doctor gets trapped in third-century Carthage, Rome, where she uncovers buried secrets, confronts Christian persecution, and battles a deadly epidemic to save the man she loves.
A twenty-first-century doctor. A third-century plague. A love out of time.
First-year resident Dr. Lisbeth Hastings is too busy to take her father’s bizarre summons seriously. But when a tragic mistake puts her career in jeopardy, answering her father’s call seems her only hope of redeeming the devastating failure that her life has become.
While exploring the haunting cave at her father’s archaeological dig, Lisbeth falls through a hidden hole, awakening to find herself the object of a slave auction and the ruins of Roman Carthage inexplicably restored to a thriving metropolis. Is it possible that she’s traveled back in time, and, if so, how can she find her way back home?
Cyprian Thascius believes God called him to rescue the mysterious woman from the slave trader’s cell. What he doesn’t understand is why saving the church of his newfound faith requires him to love a woman whose peculiar ways could get him killed. But who is he to question God?
As their different worlds collide, it sparks an intense attraction that unites Lisbeth and Cyprian in a battle against a deadly epidemic. Even as they confront persecution, uncover buried secrets, and ignite the beginnings of a medical revolution, Roman wrath threatens to separate them forever. Can they find their way to each other through all these obstacles? Or are the eighteen hundred years between them too far of a leap?
Belmont Mansion Series by Tamera Alexander
Plain, practical Eleanor Braddock knows she will never marry, but with a dying soldier's last whisper, she believes her life can still have meaning and determines to find his widow. Impoverished and struggling to care for her ailing father, Eleanor arrives at Belmont Mansion, home of her aunt, Adelicia Acklen, the richest woman in America--and possibly the most demanding, as well. Adelicia insists on finding her niece a husband, but a simple act of kindness leads Eleanor down a far different path--building a home for destitute widows and fatherless children from the Civil War. While Eleanor knows her own heart, she also knows her aunt will never approve of this endeavor.
A master violinist trained in Vienna, Rebekah Carrington manages to wheedle her way into an audition with the maestro at the newly formed Nashville Philharmonic. But women are "far too fragile and frail" for the rigors of an orchestra, and Rebekah's hopes are swiftly dashed because the conductor—determined to leave his mark on the world of classical music—bows to public opinion. To make matters worse, Adelicia Acklen Cheatham, mistress of Belmont Mansion and Rebekah's new employer, agrees with him.
Grand Tour Series by Lisa Tawn Bergen
The Grand Tour Series details the life of Cora Diehl Kensington, a woman of the Montana plains, swept up into a life of riches and privilege. Belatedly finding out a terrible secret about her parentage, Cora struggles to find out who she really is–as a child of God–in the midst of an enlightening, as well as dangerous, trip across Europe.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The thrilling trilogy expertly described by Suzanne Collins. You enter a future world where every year two tributes from each district are thrown into an arena expected to fight to the death or get knocked out by other means. Only one can survive.
What are your series that you could just reread over and over again? Which series makes you feel happy with how the story is told over all?
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