"Rescue Me" by Susan May Warren

It's two romances for the price of one in Susan May Warren's Rescue Me, and I wouldn't have it any other way!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (1-30-17)

After telling you about my incredibly busy reading week in my last check-in, I went on to read hardly anything last week! This is due in large part to my trial subscription of the PixL Movie Channel. I recently wrote about PixL on my other blog—PixL has the rights to many older movies that aired on Hallmark, and they also put out originals. Some are good, some are middling, and some are pretty terrible ... and I've been watching them all! My favorites (so far!) of the ones I hadn't seen before are Letter Never Sent and Romantically Speaking. No one would accuse them of being ground-breaking or unique films, but they're fun. I have to decide by Sunday if I'm going to keep my YouTube subscription to PixL ... so I may not get much reading done this week, either!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (1-23-17)

Happy Monday! So the good news from last week's ice storm is that the wind didn't pick up like predicted, and I only lost some skinny branches—no damage to any of my property! Then the weather really mellowed out for a few days. We had an absolutely beautiful Saturday with temps in the 50's, so my mom and I got out for our first walk of the year.

"An Uncommon Courtship" by Kristi Ann Hunter

As has been well established, marriage of convenience stories are my favorite. I probably wouldn't have picked up An Uncommon Courtship had it not been a marriage of convenience story ... and I would have been missing out on a series I'm sure I'm going to love.

Stacking the Shelves (1-21-17)

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly linkup hosted by Tynga's Reviews. It's all about the new books accumulated over the week. As it's been many weeks since I've participated, I'm going to highlight some of the books I've gotten over the last month.

"The Kill Fee" by Fiona Veitch Smith

Intrepid journalist Poppy Denby is back, this time investigating the theft of a Fabergé egg and, eventually, murder.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (1-16-17)

Happy Monday! We're in the middle of a massive ice storm. So far, I've had several small branches break off trees, and I lost internet for about two hours. Not too bad, considering some of the forecasts were predicting major power outages ... though I guess we're not completely out of the woods yet. The weather man is saying that increased winds tonight could cause more branches to fall ... just so they stay off of my house and car! On the upside, I didn't have to go to work today, and we have a 10 a.m. start tomorrow (I still have hope that school will eventually be cancelled). I hope the weather's a bit nicer where you live!

"Beyond Belief" by Jenna Miscavige Hill

You've probably noticed by now that I'm a bit fascinated by Scientology—not with the "religion" itself, but with the stories of those who have left. Jenna Miscavige Hill is one such person, only her story is a bit different from the others I've heard because of her family: her uncle is the current Scientology leader, David Miscavige.

Best of the Bunch: December 2016

As has become my pattern of late, I'm posting my Best of the Bunch for December well into January! (And yes, I still have a Top Ten of 2016 coming ... I'm just woefully behind!)

Though not every book was a 4-1/2 or 5 star read, I did like every single book I reviewed in December ... it was a very good reading month!

"Never Forget" by Jody Hedlund

Oh, my. Let me just ask, where is my Nathaniel Winthrop? One of my fellow book bloggers likes to talk about her book boyfriends. Well, I'd like to make Nathaniel, hero of Never Forget, mine!

Top Ten Tuesday: 2016 Releases I Meant To Read But Didn't

Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic from The Broke & The Bookish goes nicely with the Mount TBR reading challenge I'm doing this year. The official topic is "Top Ten 2016 Releases I Meant To Read But Didn't Get To (But TOTALLY Plan To)" ... but I'm going to adapt it to Top Ten 2016 Releases I Own But Haven't Read Yet.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (1-9-17)

Happy Monday! We're now fully back into the swing of things following the holidays ... doesn't it feel like Christmas was a long time ago? My winter is looking a little different than normal—for the first time since 2004, I'm not coaching high school speech. After 12 seasons, I decided it was time to quit. Our team's first meet was last Saturday, and I can't even express how thrilled I was to be sleeping in instead of getting up at 4:30 a.m.! I'm hoping this change means a much healthier and happier Becky throughout the winter :-)

"The Innkeeper of Ivy Hill" by Julie Klassen

I love Regency-set (and slightly later) movies, television series, and books that take place in villages and focus on a variety of characters. Lawana Blackwell's Gresham Chronicles, the Cranford miniseries, and the TV show Lark Rise to Candleford are some of my favorites, and now Julie Klassen's new Tales from Ivy Hill series is joining the ranks of these village-set tales. Book one, The Innkeeper of Ivy Hill, recently released, and if it's any indication, this series is destined to become one of my favorites!

2017 Reading Challenges: Introduction

I read a lot. That's a shocking statement to no one. I mainly read books that I've gotten for review, yet I still can't help buying books, too. One of my goals for 2017 is to actually read the books I buy. To help me out with that, I've joined two reading challenges: Mount TBR (hosted by My Reader's Block) and Read the Books You Buy (hosted by The Book Date).

As far as Modern Mrs. Darcy's challenge, which I attempted last year, I think I'll just see how the books I'm already reading fit into the challenge. I know that's not how it's intended, but it's better than not participating at all!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (1-2-17)

Happy New Year! The blog has been pretty quiet over the last week because my whole family was home for Christmas, and my sister and her husband stayed through Thursday ... so I had things other than blogging on my mind!

I did read quite a bit though—I actually read two books, started two others, and listened to an entire audiobook!