Category: books

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Christmas in July – Three Holiday Books

I read three Christmas books in July, ranging from sweet to funny.

One Big Happy Family by Susan Mallery was a really fun story about Julie Parker, who is planning a quiet holiday with the younger man she is dating but instead ends up hosting a houseful of family and friends at their holiday cabin. Hilarity ensues as the holiday unfolds and personalities clash.

Christmas at the Little Paris Hotel by Rebecca Raisin is the story of Anais, who has become the owner of a rundown Paris hotel through her divorce settlement. She is working on getting it renovated in time for Christmas with the goal of finding a buyer, but will she change her mind after finding a mysterious hidden set of rooms?

In A Christmas Duet, Debbie Macomber introduces us to Hailey Morgan, an aspiring singer-songwriter who is currently working as a band teacher. To avoid her meddling family, she accepts a friend’s offer to use a family cabin for the holidays. Once there, she meets Jay, the mayor’s son and a former musician, and sparks fly.

I really enjoyed reading some holiday stories during the summer!

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What I’m Reading – August 2026

What I’m Reading Now

Common Goal by Rachel Reid (Game Changers #4) – I am flying through this series of hockey romances.

What I Recently Finished

  • The Spirit of Justice: True Stories of Faith, Race, and Resistance by Jemar Tisby
  • Elizabeth of East Hampton by Audrey Bellezza and Emily Harding (For the Love of Austen #2)
  • Anne of Avenue A by Audrey Bellezza and Emily Harding (For the Love of Austen #3)
  • Nantucket Second Chances by Pamela Kelley
  • A Christmas Duet by Debbie Macomber
  • Christmas at the Little Paris Hotel by Rebecca Raisin
  • One Big Happy Family by Susan Mallery
  • Game Changer by Rachel Reid (Game Changers #1)
  • Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid (Game Changers #2)
  • Tough Guy by Rachel Reid (Game Changers #3)
  • Halloween with Ilya by Rachel Reid (Game Changers #2.4) – short story
  • My Dinner with Hayden by Rachel Reid (Game Changers #2.5) – short story
  • Merry Christmas, Scott & Kip by Rachel Reid (Game Changers #1.5) – short story

What I Added to my TBR

  • Role Model by Rachel Reid (Game Changers #5)
  • The Long Game by Rachel Reid (Game Changers #6)
  • Unrivaled by Rachel Reid (Game Changers #7)
  • Time to Shine by Rachel Reid
  • The Shots You Take by Rachel Reid
  • The Day Our Lives Collided by Laura Pearson
  • Romancing Mr. Tilney by Sara Marks (21st Century Austen #7)
  • I Still Love You by Sara Marks (21st Century Austen #8)

TBR Stats/Goal Updates

  • I currently have 174 books on my TBR. Of these, 9 are nonfiction and 165 are fiction.
  • I have read 49 books so far in 2026. I had reset my goal for the year from 100 to 50, so I am almost there!
  • I have finished 1 nonfiction book so far this year. My goal is 6.
  • Here are some more stats from StoryGraph:
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Week in Review: July 26, 2026

I met with my psychiatrist this week, and we decided I would come off the new med I have been trying out. We are going to give it a few weeks with just the two I was already taking and see how I feel. I am hopeful that things will be okay; it would be nice not to have to try any other meds. I am also very hopeful that I will be less tired soon.

Work is going well. I went into the office on Tuesday to train two new employees. They are not in customer service, so they just needed the basics to be able to use the computer system in their area. I was pretty tired by the end from talking so much, but we had a really productive day.

I got some sad news this week that my library will no longer be offering Hoopla, which is an app that allows you to borrow ebooks and audiobooks as well as movies. I have a bunch of books on my to read list that were only available through that method (as opposed to Libby or as a physical book), and I really wish they had given us more notice so I could have prioritized reading those titles. I picked the one I most wanted to read and am working on reading that before access is cut off at the end of this month.

I found out later that they are offering a new app called Cloud Library. I downloaded it and looked for a bunch of titles from my list, but didn’t find many. I don’t know if that means they haven’t added many titles yet or if they don’t have the types of books I like on that app. The new app does not offer movies, either. Most of the books I want to read are available on Libby, so I am really hoping nothing happens to that avenue for borrowing ebooks.

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Nantucket Second Chances

I don’t buy many books – I usually borrow them from the library using Libby or Hoopla – but Pamela Kelley is an auto-buy author for me. I always enjoy her feel-good stories, which are mostly set on Nantucket and have those fun beachy vibes.

Nantucket Second Chances is about Claire Shipman, who is going through a divorce and returns home to Nantucket to figure out what to do next. Did I mention she has a teenage daughter and is also pregnant again? As the divorce drags on, she decides to start selling her high end bags and shoes to make some extra money. She opens a little shop in the extra space owned by custom furniture maker Cody, and we get to follow along as she builds her business and develops a friendship (and maybe more) with Cody.

This was such a fun read. I really liked the characters, and the story was paced well and had just the right amount of drama for me. Highly recommended!

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For the Love of Austen Series

For the Love of Austen is a series of Austen retellings by Audrey Bellezza and Emily Harding. There are currently three books; I don’t know if more are planned. I think these are such a fun take on Austen, and it is especially clever how they weave the books together by having the characters know each other in various ways.

  • Emma of 83rd Street puts Emma on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and follows her during her final year of grad school.
  • In Elizabeth of East Hampton, we see Elizabeth Bennet as a Hampton native and Will Darcy as a rich summer visitor.
  • In Anne of Avenue A, Anne Elliot finds Freddie Wentworth renting out her childhood apartment after her father is forced to give it up due to his financial circumstances. 

My favorite far and away was Anne of Avenue A. I loved the spins they put on the story, and I was so drawn to the characters. Another thing I appreciate about all three books is that we get to experience the perspective of both main characters; I think it adds a lot to the retellings.

If you are an Austen fan, I would definitely recommend this series!

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Very Hygge Holiday Series

I’m not sure how I came across the two-book series Very Hygge Holiday by Natalie Normann, but I am really glad I did. Normann is a prolific Norwegian author, with over 60 historical romance books published. This series is her first foray into books written in English.

In Summer Island, we meet Londoner Jack Greene, who comes to the island off the coast of Norway after inheriting a farm there. His plan is to sell it as fast as he can, but after experiencing life on the island and meeting Ninni Toft, he has to decide what he wants his future to be.

In Christmas Island, Jack’s sister Holly Greene comes to the island to get away from London while her future as a doctor is being decided. Upon arriving, she meets Tor, a grouchy, bearded recluse, and she is welcomed into the island’s holiday celebrations by the island’s other inhabitants.

I thoroughly enjoyed these books and would definitely recommend checking them out!

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What I’m Reading – July 2026

What I’m Reading Now

Elizabeth of East Hampton by Audrey Bellezza and Emily Harding (For the Love of Austen #2) – I really enjoyed their first book, which was a retelling of Emma. This one is a retelling of Pride & Prejudice, and I like it so far.

What I Recently Finished

  • The Midnight Train by Matt Haig (The Midnight World #2)
  • The Final Target by Nora Roberts
  • The Secrets of Love Story Bridge by Phaedra Patrick
  • Summer Island by Natalie Normann (Very Hygge Holiday #1)
  • Christmas Island by Natalie Normann (Very Hygge Holiday #2)

What I Added to my TBR

  • Live Laugh Love: The Secret History of White Christian Women and the World They Made by Kristin Kobes Du Mez
  • Never Worry About Money Again: By Answering One Question by Jesse Mecham
  • Worse Than Strangers by Kyleigh Leddy

TBR Stats/Goal Updates

  • I currently have 174 books on my TBR. Of these, 10 are nonfiction and 164 are fiction.
  • I have read 36 books so far in 2026. My original goal was 100, but there is no way I am reaching that at this point, so I have changed it to 50. My reading ebbs and flows depending on my mood and circumstances, so I’m fine with making that change.
  • I have not finished any nonfiction books so far in 2026. My goal is 6.
  • Here are some more stats from StoryGraph:
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My Library Tour

My personal library is pretty small, as libraries go. I have gotten rid of a lot of books over the years for various reasons, and for the last several years have consumed books primarily through digital means – either on the Kindle app or through library apps like Libby and Hoopla.

I thought it would be fun to give a little tour of what physical books I do have. Enjoy!

At the top of the first bookshelf, we have the children’s section. The top shelf has the Little House books as well as all of the spinoffs that were written about her daughter, her mother, her grandmother, and her great-grandmother. The second shelf has some Little House books for very young children as well as some other children’s classics.

Next we have the fiction section. This includes some classics and some contemporary, including all of the books written by my favorite Christian author, Jamie Langston Turner. Sitting horizontally is my very small physical TBR.

At the bottom of bookshelf number one are some photo albums from my younger years and my son’s babyhood up until we started using digital cameras. I also have some D&D books, some high school and college yearbooks, and a recipe binder.

The top two shelves of bookshelf number two are actually not books, but DVDs. I used to own just a few movies, but then I decided a few years ago to collect some of the shows and movies that I wanted to have access to outside of streaming services. I also have one game – Animal Crossing for the Nintendo Switch.

The middle two shelves of this bookcase are my nonfiction section. The first shelf has Christian nonfiction books, including several Bibles, and the second shelf has autism-related books and a couple of cookbooks.

The last shelf is actually Michael’s books. He rarely reads but does have a few books he has collected over the years that he wants to keep. He had started collecting Pokemon books but later decided he didn’t want to get any more than the three sets he has now.

I just looked at my Kindle digital content, and I have 310 books and 6 audiobooks on there. On the Libby app, there is a list of 491 books that I have borrowed going back to 2017.

I hope you enjoyed my little tour of my physical book collection!

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The Midnight Train

I read Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library shortly after it came out in 2020 and absolutely loved it, so when he wrote The Midnight Train, a novel set in the same world, I jumped at the chance to read it.

I am not kidding when I say I devoured this book. It has been a while since I read a book this fast, but I did not want to put it down. In this book, we meet Wilbur, who has just died and is now experiencing his life flashing before his eyes. But the form it takes in a train that speeds through his life, stopping at important moments so he can watch them happen and understand them better.

I loved the philosophical nature of this book, as well as the twists and turns it took as Wilbur sees things he wished he had done differently. It was a powerful story, and the ending had me in total tears (which rarely happens to me).

Highly recommended!

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The Anti-Heroes

The Anti-Heroes by Jen Lancaster

Dr. Emily Nichols is a former eco-crusader who has ended up in academia and is not sure how her life got so bland. Her best friend, Liv Bennett, is a real estate agent who is a chronic people pleaser and is not living her best life because of it. When they witness an attempted robbery at their local coffee shop, they are impressed by the bravery of a yoga mom who confronts the thief. Through this experience, they end up in a mysterious class called Fearless, Inc, where the instructor Zeus wants to help them overcome their fears.

The story of women who are stuck in some way and need to find a way to speak their truth and stand up for themselves is not new, but the way the theme is addressed in this novel is so fun and engaging that I found myself eager to pick the book up again each time. There were a lot of humorous moments along with the opportunities for growth that Emily and Liv experience along with the other members of their class.