2025 Book Round Up

This year hasn't been my worst year in terms of numbers. That award goes to 2023 with 55 books. This year I had 60 books read (or listened to) including five re-reads on my birthday. Unfortunately, I have 54 reviews to write (some from 2024 *cringe*), so you'll see nearly all without links for now. Eeek! 

2025 has been another year to remember. Mostly in a good way. My brothers and I sold the family farm (very sad) and I used my inheritance to pay for my divorce and do some major renovations to my house. From February until November we've had work going on and while it's been very stressful, it has turned out gorgeous. I absolutely love what's been done! And hopefully, 2026 means I will have more time to read. AND write reviews. 

Anyway, 60. Not as bad a year as I thought I would have only because I listened to audiobooks from Chirp when driving my son to and from work. About 45 minutes a day (M-F and some Saturdays) when I'm alone in the car. Then Anna started working at the same place in October and my audiobook listening went down to nothing. Except when he had to go in early and she didn't.

33 audiobooks

7 tour books (BBNYA & The Write Reads)

It's been a pretty good year in terms of quality, 

with 42 of the 60 rated 4 bites or above.

5 bites ~ 14

4 bites and a nibble ~ 17

4 bites ~ 11

Friday Featured Spotlight ~ The Write Reads Blog Tour - The Tortured Kingdom by Bryan Asher

Amazon US | Amazon CA | Amazon UK

Friday Featured Spotlight ~ TWR Blog Tour: Fallen Knight by Ceril N. Domace

 

Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon CA

Friday Featured Spotlight ~ TWR Ultimate Blog Tour: The Legendary Mo Seto

Amazon US | Other Buy Links

The Legendary Mo Seto ~ Book Tour Review

Mo Seto, martial arts movie star! Has a nice ring to it doesn't it? If only there wasn't a height restriction to audition. But 12-year-old Modesty (Mo) Seto has never let her height get in the way before, not when she became a black belt, or when she fought the meanest boy in her class, and she's not going to let it stop her this time! Now if only she can figure out a way to grow five inches and fool everyone at the auditions... Join Mo on an adventure (and audition) of a lifetime and find out if powerful things really do come in small packages!

Skyfleet ~ Book Review

 

When the skies turn deadly, a young heroine must rise from the ashes...

Twelve-year-old Amberley Jain has faced incredible challenges since the crash that took her parents and paralysed her legs. Now, with her best friend Ricardo Lopez about to be sent away and a swarm of mutated insects closing in on the Skyfleet base, the stakes have never been higher. Something monstrous is driving the mutabugs north from the contaminated meteor site known as the Cauldron, and the only plane capable of stopping it - the Firehawk - lies in pieces in the hangar.

Determined to honour her parents' legacy, Amberley hatches a daring plan. With Ricardo's help, they stow away on a supply train, trading his most treasured possession for the parts needed to repair the Firehawk. After secret test flights, the legendary jet is ready for action. Now, Amberley and Ricardo must confront the deadly swarm and save their home, discovering their inner strength and the true meaning of friendship along the way.

Skyfleet: March of the Mutabugs is a thrilling tale of adventure and resilience, perfect for middle-grade readers.

BBNYA2024 Semi-Finalist Spotlight ~ Wings So Soft by Dani Finn

 

Can love bloom in war’s darkest hour?

Mara and her owl work surveillance to keep Kuppham safe, but the news on the Stream is grim. The humans are coming, and she and her owl will soon be in the line of fire. Her once-vibrant city is a ghost town, with little to distract her as she waits for the skin-covered hordes to overrun the Maer capital.

Until one day, this timid little artificer wanders into the aerie, asking to watch her owl land over and over.

Uffrin makes owls powered by clockwork and magic to guard the great automatons on the northern front. He visits the aerie to study the owls’ flight mechanics, but it’s the owl handler who captures his attention. So gentle, so in control, with quick eyes that seem to stay with his all the time.

Amid the looming clouds of war, hearts intertwine and feathers fly, but duty soon flings these two lovebirds apart. If the war goes as badly as everyone seems to fear, how will they ever find each other again?

Love might be the only thing that saves them.

Fly away from your troubles with this standalone fantasy romance, part of the Time Before trio. It’s steamy, with over 150 kisses, and includes a picnic in the park, a date in a basement speakeasy, and a secret mountain lake far from the ravages of war.

Content This book is intended for adult readers only. It includes depictions of wartime violence, drinking, drug use, and explicit, consensual sex scenes.

Friday Featured Spotlight ~ TWR Ultimate Blog Tour: Kavithri

 

Amazon US | Amazon UK

The Legendary Mo Seto ~ Book Review

Mo Seto, martial arts movie star! Has a nice ring to it doesn't it? If only there wasn't a height restriction to audition. But 12-year-old Modesty (Mo) Seto has never let her height get in the way before, not when she became a black belt, or when she fought the meanest boy in her class, and she's not going to let it stop her this time! Now if only she can figure out a way to grow five inches and fool everyone at the auditions... Join Mo on an adventure (and audition) of a lifetime and find out if powerful things really do come in small packages!

BBNYA2023 Blog Tour ~ 5th Place Finalist ~ The Templar Sword

Noah is a typical teenager with a very atypical dream – becoming a modern-day Knight Templar. His estranged father, a senior commander within the Order, is dead set against it.

An ancient sword has been missing for centuries. Recovering it would prove Noah's worth to his father and earn him a place at the Clearview Templar Academy.

When he stumbles across a Renaissance painting that holds a clue to the sword’s location, Noah’s dream seems within reach. As the death toll quickly mounts, it becomes apparent that others are hunting the sword – for far more evil ends. The future of the Templars, very much like Noah’s, is at stake.

Together with his friend Viggo and mischievously attractive Isabelle, Noah embarks on the deadliest quest of his life. The sword’s dangerous trail will take them from the canals of Venice, to the spires of Seville, to a gripping showdown in the underwater caves of the Caribbean.

The Legendary Mo Seto ~ Spotlight

Mo Seto, martial arts movie star! Has a nice ring to it doesn't it? If only there wasn't a height restriction to audition. But 12-year-old Modesty (Mo) Seto has never let her height get in the way before, not when she became a black belt, or when she fought the meanest boy in her class, and she's not going to let it stop her this time! Now if only she can figure out a way to grow five inches and fool everyone at the auditions... Join Mo on an adventure (and audition) of a lifetime and find out if powerful things really do come in small packages!

The Renegade Akseli Cyborg

Too many years of hunting psychotic vampires night after night have left Rachel with a desperate need for change. So when the opportunity to travel across the galaxy aboard a Lasaran warship to a utopian planet arises, the powerful Immortal Guardian jumps at the chance. Rachel eagerly looks forward to making a fresh start… until an enemy attacks and she ends up alone in an escape pod so far from alliance-occupied space that no one can hear her communications. No one except a renegade cyborg who shouldn’t exist.

After a grueling, hard-fought rebellion, Wonick and his cyborg brethren settled on a distant planet, where they’ve finally carved out a peaceful existence. The Aldebarian Alliance believes every Akseli cyborg died long ago. And battle-weary cyborg leader Wonick is determined to prevent anyone from discovering otherwise, knowing such would spark the fiercest manhunt in the galaxy. Yet when he hears Rachel’s communications, temptation drives him to speak to her, sparking friendship and a longing for a very different future.

Rachel finds Wonick even more appealing when she meets him in person, and the friendship they’ve formed soon deepens into love as the cyborgs—no more immune to her fun-loving, laughter-inducing nature than Wonick—cautiously welcome her into the fold. But the warriors’ unbridled ability to collect intel uncovers a secret the enemy has guarded for decades, one that compels them to embark upon a mission fraught with danger.

If they succeed, they may end the enemy’s attempts to conquer the galaxy once and for all.

If they fail, it could cost Wonick and Rachel everything.

The Renegade Akseli Cyborg Spotlight

𝗗𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹 𝗶𝗻 𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝙔𝙤𝙧𝙠 𝙏𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿 𝗗𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲 𝗗𝘂𝘃𝗮𝗹𝗹’𝘀 𝗳𝗮𝘀𝘁-𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗱, 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗼𝘂𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲-𝗳𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗔𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗯𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗔𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀!

2023 Book RoundUp

 

This year has been my worst year yet in terms of numbers. 55 books read (or listened to) including two re-reads on my birthday and 3 re-listens of audiobooks when my husband decided he wanted to listen to the Orphan X series by Gregg Hurwitz after I had already listened to 4 books and he listened to book 2 with me. 

2023 has been a year to remember and not in a good way. I spent countless hours driving from our home in North Carolina to my childhood home in Ohio (8 hrs one way) when mom was going through chemo and then after she died in July, I was there about every other weekend helping my brothers and sis-in-law sort through 55 yrs worth of stuff on the farm. Luckily, we had done quite a lot of that after dad died in 2018. But it was still a fuckton of work. And exhausting. But it's done. 

Anyway, 55. That is my lowest number since I've been keeping track (2012). I've essentially read 1 book for every year I've been on this planet which I think is an interesting way to look at it. I have several reviews yet to write and they will be indicated by RTC.

Wild Court

A secret organisation is losing the battle to maintain the empathy levels that sustain the planet’s protective barriers against the nightmare worlds.

A young aristocrat safeguards a terrible secret, sponsoring an archaeology graduate obsessed with biblical artifacts. An all-knowing orphan worshiped by a cult joins a textbook exemplar of toxic masculinity and an introverted librarian. Together with a retired demon hunter, they’ll face the apocalypse.

Rogue Darkness

Immortal Guardians have hunted and slain psychotic vampires for thousands of years. Now someone is hunting them. Humanity remains oblivious to the existence of immortals, vampires, and gifted ones, so how does this rising nemesis even know who they are and where to find them? Could it be the machinations of an old nemesis—one they thought they defeated? Or is this something new? Because unlike the foes they’ve faced in the past, this one doesn’t just target immortals. He targets those who are near and dear to them.

A gifted one under the Immortal Guardians’ protection, Nicole has worked hard to land her dream job—that of an Immortal Guardian’s Second or mortal guard—and loves working with Sean. He’s smart. He’s funny. And despite the sometimes dark existence he leads, the two of them laugh a lot. Years spent as a special ops soldier prepared Nicole well, enabling her to keep Sean safe despite his tendency to dive headlong into danger. But can it keep her safe? The enemy they face is determined and shrewd. Uncovering his identity may require new methods of engagement and force her to take a few risks.

Sean hasn’t been immortal long, but he knows the rules. And according to the rules, Nicole is off-limits. She’s his Second. His guard. His best friend. The one person who knows him better than anyone else. Though he loves every minute he spends with her, friendship is all they can ever have... isn’t it? Sean soon begins to question that as the two of them engage in a deadly cat-and-mouse game with the enemy, one that will reveal the true depth of their feelings for each other and drive him to abandon the rules altogether.

Rogue Darkness Release Day Blitz

The next exciting novel in Dianne Duvall's Immortal Guardians series is out today! Grab your copy of Rogue Darkness at one of your favorite online retailers! Keep reading to find out more about this can't-put-down paranormal romance, and for your chance to win in the tour-wide giveaway!  

Rogue Darkness Spotlight

We are so excited to share with our readers the next exciting novel in Dianne Duvall's Immortal Guardians series! Keep reading to find out more and for your chance to win in the tour-wide giveaway! Rogue Darkness releases June 13th, grab your copy today at one of your favorite online retailers!   

Dusk

Two years have passed since Kael and Alessia discovered Xirra, but despite providing an unexpected source of help, political tensions between Lyran cities have deepened. The Xirran philosophy of hope is causing rifts between the townships, and the two explorers unexpectedly find themselves at the heart of a controversial cult. Worse yet, one of the monstrous creatures from Carthusian, the ever-changing city-ship, seems to have been sighted in Vulpes, Lyra’s farming city.

With new enemies coming from unexpected places, Alhambro is determined to understand how the thinnings link universes, dispatching Vega’s best car crews across space, commissioning Basteel and Slyph to investigate the strange creature in Vulpes. At the same time, Kael and Alessia embark on a vital mission to cross a forbidden asteroid, an abandoned planet previously home to a super-advanced race and into the unknown.

As a new, hostile species capable of traversing the thinnings emerges, it seems that the sun is setting on Lyra for the very last time.

A Hard Day for a Hangover

Some people greet the day with open arms. Sheriff Sunshine Vicram would rather give it a hearty shove and get back into bed, because there’s just too much going on right now. There’s a series of women going missing, and Sunny feels powerless to stop it. There’s her persistent and awesomely-rebellious daughter Auri, who’s out to singlehandedly become Del Sol’s youngest and fiercest investigator. And then there’s drama with Levi Ravinder—the guy she’s loved and lusted after for years. The guy who might just be her one and only. The guy who comes from a family of disingenuous vipers looking to oust him—and Sunshine—for good.

Like we said, the new day can take a hike.