Title: A Winter of White Ash (A Desert of Bleeding Sand #2) Author: Lucia Damisa Publisher: Darkan Press Publication date: August 29, 2025 Genre: Fantasy A Winter of White Ash is the second in the A Desert of Bleeding Sand African-inspired fantasy series. It follows military students Zair and Dathan as they fight to protect their King and Queen and their country, often finding their missions conflicting with each other’s, even as they fall in love.

One of the things I want to do when it comes to reading is to have a clear reason why I want to read a book. With that goal in mind, I’ve decided to start a new series here where I spend Wednesdays sharing the why since I have nothing better planned for Wednesdays. I hope you enjoy! Title: The Book Witch…

Buried in one of my Weekly Highlights posts I mentioned finishing editing my current manuscript and looking for readers. It's currently in the hands of a couple of people, and I'll be getting it to a couple more soon. But I'd also love feedback from other people I "know" who don't actually know me and aren't tempted to be kind.

Briana and Krysta at Pages Unbound are hosting a fantasy discussion meme this year called Fantasy with Friends. Since fantasy is my favorite genre, I thought it would be fun to take part. This week, their question is: What do you think of the current trend for cozy fantasy? Why do you think it is currently so popular? What makes a good cozy fantasy?

At Home I have not much to report here this week. It was a quiet one, though the weather went from chilly (for us) to warm with winds. My wildflowers are growing like crazy, and now I'm getting some I haven't managed to identify yet. But I guess that's what I get for combining two wildflower seed packets with other flower seeds I had lying around.

Title: A Midnight Pastry Shop called Hwawoldang Author: Lee Onhwa Publisher: William Morrow Publication date: January 13, 2026 Genre: Magical Realism Translated from Korean, A Midnight Pastry Shop called Hwawoldang is a bittersweet story of life, death, loss, and love. Similar to other Asian translated novels like The Dallergut Dream Department Store and The Kamogawa Food Detectives, this one follows a central story while each chapter also gives a secondary character the chance to tell their story.

One of the things I want to do when it comes to reading is to have a clear reason why I want to read a book. With that goal in mind, I’ve decided to start a new series here where I spend Wednesdays sharing the why since I have nothing better planned for Wednesdays. I hope you enjoy! Title: Let Time Fly (Stone Shed #3)

Title: Make It Out Alive (Quinn & Costa Thriller #7) Author: Allison Brennan Publisher: Hanover Square Press Publication date: January 27, 2026 Genre: Thriller Make It Out Alive is the 7th in the Quinn & Costa Thriller series. It follows the FBI’s Mobile Response Team headed by Matt Costa as they travel around the country and help smaller communities solve murders.

Briana and Krysta at Pages Unbound are hosting a fantasy discussion meme this year called Fantasy with Friends. Since fantasy is my favorite genre, I thought it would be fun to take part. This week, their question is: What do you think makes compelling world building in fantasy? Does the world building have to be detailed and logical to draw readers in, or can readers can captivated by world building even if, upon refletction, it doesn’t always make sense?

At Home Home has actually been quite nice lately. The kids were off on Monday in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and they definitely took advantage by being very active. They both also decided to tidy their rooms on their own, which was a nice surprise. Lately, they've been more interested in playing hide and seek and Scrabble and spending time with Mom and Dad than playing on their devices, so, while it's been loud and sometimes chaotic, I really enjoy getting face to face time with my kids.

Title: The Elsewhere Express Author: Samantha Sotto Yambao Publisher: Del Rey Publication date: January 20, 2026 Genre: Fantasy I was mostly drawn to this one because I liked the whimsical, dreamy quality to her first book, Water Moon. It was whimsical with a sharp edge and a fascinating world. But the story was lost in the world building and the romance was half-baked, at best.

One of the things I want to do when it comes to reading is to have a clear reason why I want to read a book. With that goal in mind, I’ve decided to start a new series here where I spend Wednesdays sharing the why since I have nothing better planned for Wednesdays. I hope you enjoy! Title: Finlat Donovan Rolls the Dice (Finlay Donovan #4)

Title: Tell-Tale Treats (Magical Fortune Cookie #3) Author: Jennifer J. Chow Publisher: Minotaur Books Publication date: January 27, 2026 Genre: Cozy Mystery Tell-Tale Treats is the third in the Magical Fortune Cookie culinary cozy mystery series. It follows magical baker Felicity and her boyfriend Kelvin, a florist, as they solve murder mysteries in the small town of Pixie, California in Northern California.

Briana and Krysta at Pages Unbound are hosting a fantasy discussion meme this year called Fantasy with Friends. Since fantasy is my favorite genre, I thought it would be fun to take part. This week, their question is: What do you think of romantasy as a category? What makes something romantasy vs. a fantasy book with a romance? I...do not like romantasy.

At Home Let's see, I managed to survive a two-month house project that was supposed to take 10 days, a 3 week winter break, an insane amount of rain, and now some fun Santa Ana winds. All that since Halloween. I somehow have part of my sanity intact, though 2026 is already threatening to destroy the rest. Oh well. This was my kids' first week back to school, and I'm glad it's gone smoothly.

Title: Alice with a Why Author: Anna James Publisher: Flamingo Books Publication date: January 6, 2026 Genre: Middle Grade, Fantasy This will be a fun two-sided review, one from me and one from my daughter. Alice with a Why is a Middle Grade book following the granddaughter of Alice, of Wonderland fame, as she falls into a pond and ends up in a world she thought her grandmother had made up.

One of the things I want to do when it comes to reading is to have a clear reason why I want to read a book. With that goal in mind, I've decided to start a new series here where I spend Wednesdays sharing the why since I have nothing better planned for Wednesdays. I hope you enjoy! Title: A Night of Falling Stars (A Desert of Bleeding Sand #3)

Title: Mayhem on the Marzipan Express (A Claire Walker Mystery #2) Author: Rebecca Connolly Publisher: Shadow Mountain Publication date: January 6, 2026 Genre: Cozy Mystery It’s back to baking and romance and murder mystery solving, but on a train, as we return to the almost too sweet romance of Claire and Jonny. At first glance, they seem like a mismatched pair.

Every year I take two or three weeks off for the end of year holidays, especially since my kids have three weeks off from school, but it's been a couple years since I did a proper back into blogging post. Honestly, it's been a couple of years since I've really felt invested in this blog. I've never contemplated stopping, but I think I just grew tired of doing the same things year after year.

I haven't done a Weekly Highlights post since Halloween. November was kind of a mess, so blogging just got shoved off the stove. I meant to have a December Curated Bookshelf, but that obviously didn't happen. So, what happened? Well, we bought a house back in April and have been slowly fixing it up since. We're still in the midst of our latest project.

My favorite genres are Science Fiction and Fantasy, Women's Fiction and Romance, and Mystery and Thriller, but I also enjoy books in other genres as well as books that blend genres. Since the latter don't neatly slot into one of the three genres I focus on at the end of the year, I decided to start sharing my favorite read in a genre other than those listed above.

This is the 3rd year I've struggled with science fiction and fantasy. I don't really enjoy romantasy (too much romance for my tastes), and cozy fantasy just doesn't have the high stakes and twists and turns I adore in the fantasy I read, so that already cut down the number of SFF books I was interested in. This year, I read 21 plus one short story I would solidly consider to be SFF, not counting the genre blending books.

This year was, once again, not a good one for Women's Fiction and Romance for me. I haven't found myself picking up too many of these for the past couple of years, and I wonder if that's because of the rise of romantasy, a genre I am not keen on at all. Or maybe I'm too picky when it comes to women's fiction,\ and romance just isn't my cup of tea right now.

This year was, once again, not a good one for Women's Fiction and Romance for me. I haven't found myself picking up too many of these for the past couple of years, and I wonder if that's because of the rise of romantasy, a genre I am not keen on at all. Or maybe I'm too picky when it comes to women's fiction,\ and romance just isn't my cup of tea right now.

Title: Red Storm (An Elliot Adams Short Story) Author: Bradley James Publisher: Brad Blooman Publication date: October 3, 2025 Genre: Science Fiction Red Storm serves as a prequel to the Aftermath science fiction series, detailing an adventure from Elliot Adams’ life before he stumbled on a colony inside our moon and embarked on an adventure of a lifetime. Here, Elliot is on Mars as a storm overtakes him and two colleagues, and their survival is up to him.