Author Archives: Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

The Monday Check-In ~ 1/20/2025

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My Monday tradition, including a look back and a look ahead — what I read last week, what new books came my way, and what books are keeping me busy right now. Plus a smattering of other stuff too.

Life.

Hurray for long weekends! I’m so happy to have an extra day off — even if I am going to spend it running around on errands and taking care of the odds and ends I otherwise never seem to have time for.

This past week has been mostly work and projects at home, although I did get out to dance a few times, which always makes me happy.

In kitty news… Benji is ridiculously obsessed with this little bird toy, and we’re all ridiculously obsessed with watching him.

Goodreads and Kindle.

Will these sites never stop giving me (and all of us) headaches? Kindle now syncs with Goodreads challenges… but it doesn’t actually work correctly. When I finish reading a Kindle book, my Kindle marks it as read, and now adds it to my Goodreads challenge automatically — but meanwhile, it also gets added via Goodreads when I update the book there. This means that each book I finish ends up counted twice, and then I have to go back into the challenge and delete the duplicates.

Not the end of the world, but it’s annoying, and only started with the latest so-called improvement to Kindle functionality. Argh.

Blogging.

For those who chimed in last week about the WordPress bug causing copied posts to not save correctly… still not fixed. Even as I’m typing this post, I can see that the post title has already reverted itself back to the previous title.

Bookish love.

Stumbling across this meme made me unreasonable happy this week.

What did I read during the last week?

We Love the Nightlife by Rachel Koller Croft: My first 5-star read of 2025! My review is here.

My Rosebud Boy by Rainbow Rowell: This is kind of like an AU fanfic… except it’s written by the author! This alternate-world story about Simon and Baz is sweet and romantic and lovely. Note: It was originally published in 2022 as part of a special limited offer, and has been next to impossible to track down. Someone shared a link to a PDF version with me, so I thought I’d pass it along: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dedpN_lSzLdP_K9PwZEjl215gNM9_hyN/view. (I’m wondering how legit it is to share the link, but since the book isn’t available for sale anywhere, it’s not depriving anyone of the income.)

Pop culture & TV:

Welp, that’s a wrap on season 7 of Outlander! The finale was well-done in many ways, yet the episode ends with a head-scratcher of a cliffhanger. Why, Outlander, why?

Has anyone else watched Deadloch (Prime Video)? I’ve watched three of the six episodes so far — really enjoyable. Check out the trailer!

On a lighter note, All Creatures Great and Small is back for a new season, and it’s just the bit of cheer and sweetness I needed!

Fresh Catch:

No new books this week.

What will I be reading during the coming week?

Currently in my hands:

The Bones Beneath My Skin by TJ Klune: Loving it so far! I’d hoped to make more progress over the weekend, but life got busy. I should find time to finish either today or tomorrow.

Next up:

The Life Impossible by Matt Haig: My book group’s pick for January. As usual, I’m behind schedule! Our discussion is later this week.

Now playing via audiobook:

This Summer Will Be Different by Carley Fortune: I’ve loved every one of this author’s audiobooks, and this book is no exception. Getting close to the end!

Ongoing reads:

My book group’s classic read is Mansfield Park by Jane Austen. We’re reading and discussing two chapters per week. Progress: 24%. Up next: Chapters 12 and 13.

What will you be reading this week?

So many books, so little time…

boy1

Book Review: We Love the Nightlife by Rachel Koller Croft

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Title: We Love the Nightlife
Author: Rachel Koller Croft
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: August 20, 2024
Length: 378 pages
Genre: Horror/fantasy
Source: Library
Rating:

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Locked in a toxic female friendship, two vampires careen toward catastrophe in this dark and dazzling page-turner, set amidst London’s glittering disco scene.

London 1979. Two women with a deep love for disco meet one fateful night on the dance floor, changing the course of both their lives forever. Nicola, a beautiful and brooding vampire for nearly two centuries, can’t resist fun-loving and feisty Amber from America, ultimately offering an eternity together where the glamour of nightlife always takes center stage.

But not all is what it seems.

Nearly fifty years later, after an unexpected betrayal, Amber wants out from under Nicola’s thumb, but it won’t be so simple to break up this festering friendship when she learns others have done the same—and wound up dead. 

Sensing Amber’s restlessness and in one last play to keep her close, Nicola proposes they open a nightclub of their very own, hearkening back to their best days as dancing queens. Amber agrees but she’s secretly hatching a dangerous escape plan. And if she fails…the party is over for good.

Did I know I needed a book about disco-loving vampires? Well, no. But clearly, I did… because I totally fell for this book.

I should have known the party was over when she casually suggested killing my husband back in 1981.

Amber is the life of the party in London, 1979, living it up on the dance floors of the most exclusive discos — gorgeous, young, magnetic. She’s certainly caught Nicola’s attention. Nicola is lonely, loves disco, and needs a new companion, and Amber would be perfect… so long as the idea of fangs and drinking blood doesn’t scare her away.

God, was there anything more irresistible than a brand-new gal pal?

At first, Nicola and Amber’s life together is blissful. Nightly parties, dancing perfectly in sync, never too far from the glitter and the spotlight.

[…] we used to be the stars of each other’s shows. She was obsessed with me; I was obsessed with her. And we lived for the nightlife. For disco. For the sweetness of my fresh youth that she stole from me, when I didn’t yet understand the entirety of what she’d taken.

Eventually, though, the thrill wears off, especially once Amber starts to realize just how much and how often Nicola has betrayed her trust, as she isolates her, keeps her dependent, and keeps her distracted with shiny clothes, dance music, and endless luxuries.

Written with chapters alternating between now (told from Amber’s perspective) and the duo’s past (told from Nicola’s perspective), we see their tangled lives move from a fun-loving, live-in-the-moment ethos to a more desperate dynamic, still amazing on the surface, but brimming with scheming and manipulation behind every move.

Tonally, there are plenty of moments of silliness and pop culture fangirling, from the Donna Summers-inspired catchphrases Amber and Nicola use to show affection (“toot toot”, “beep beep”) to the Spice Girls soundtrack playing in the background of a memorable turning. And while Amber eventually gets serious and gets down to some deadly plotting of her own, she still manages to show her inner party girl:

When she smiles at me, I see her fangs have sprouted for the first time. They’re adorable!

I honestly loved this book from start to finish. This isn’t particularly deep or literary fiction… but it absolutely captured my attention and never let go. An unexpected twist toward the end simply stopped me in my tracks. Perhaps other, more astute readers might have seen it coming, but I was gobsmacked. And delighted — I’ve read enough books with twists that I think I’ve become a bit jaded and hard to surprise in some ways, but We Love the Nightlife nails it.

Besides being a terrific vampire story (with disco!! can’t stress the disco element enough!), you can also see We Love the Nightlife as a cautionary tale about codependent friends. Vampire element aside, the ways in which Nicola and Amber manipulate and subtly undermine one another while also holding tight and eliminating outside distractions, all in the name of being BFFs, could be true of non-supernatural friendships as well. The blood and fangs set them apart, but the ways they hurt one another are not to vampires.

The writing in We Love the Nightlife is delicious, dark when it needs to be dark, but also full of humor and lusciously described scenes of dancing and music and the 70s-era scene. It’s utterly engaging, and also bleak and scary when the tension ramps up and the big, explosive ending gets closer.

I enjoyed every bit of We Love the Nightlife, and now want to check out the author’s previous novel, Stone Cold Fox. Highly recommended, so long as you don’t mind blood splatters on your glittery disco ball.

Top Ten Tuesday & Top 5 Tuesday: Bookish Goals for 2025

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It’s Tuesday… the listiest day of the week!

I enjoy two different Tuesday memes, and once again, their topics align this week — so I’m linking up with both.

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Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Bookish Goals for 2025, with the prompt: How many books do you want to read this year? Are you hoping to read outside your comfort zone? Are there books you meant to read last year but never got to? Are there new-to-you authors you’re hoping to read?

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Meeghan Reads — and the topic is Top 5 bookish resolutions for 2025, with the prompt: What are 5 bookish resolutions you want to achieve in 2025? Any reading challenges you will be signing up for? Or would you like to focus on a specific genre or diversity to read more from? (Click here to see Meeghan’s upcoming T5T topics for January – March)

Isn’t it great when Tuesday topics fit together? I’m not necessarily answering their specific prompt questions — focusing more on my reading and book-shelving habits than on the specific books I want to read. (And not that much has changed from this time last year — I could probably just copy and paste my entire post from 2024 and call it a day!)

My goals are less about numbers, genres, or challenges. Instead, I’ll talk about my intentions: I intend to improve some of my reading and bookish habits, although my focus may shift during the year. Below are goals (intentions) that I’ll try to keep in mind as 2025 rolls along.

Read whatever I feel like, as much as I can. I say this every year… and every year it’s worth repeating! I’m always happiest when I read without a plan. It’s a wonderful feeling! Apart from ARCs and book group books, this is the approach that works for me… which is why I tend not to participate in very few (if any) reading challenges.

Keep ARC requests manageable, and keep up with the ARCs I’ve committed to. I’m a little over-extended for the first few months of 2025, but once I read all my February and March ARCs, my commitments should be much more under control. I intend to slow down on requesting any additional ARCs, other than ARCs for books I intend to read upon release no matter what.

Plan ahead to make time for my book group books. We have our book-of-the-month picks all set for 2025, and I’d like to be more thoughtful about planning my reading time so I include these books without feeling pressure or worrying about deadlines.

Commit to reading (or sampling) my priority series for 2025, which I highlighted in my series-to-read post for this year.

Keep my Goodreads challenge goal realistic. I’ve ended up exceeding my Goodreads challenge goal during each of the past several years, but that has a lot to do with including graphic novels and children’s books in the mix. Which is great, and I love when that happens, but I don’t want to assume it’ll be true every year. I’m starting with a more modest number to keep the pressure off and allow time for reading bigger books too, if I feel like it. And if I find myself ahead of target by mid-year, I can always adjust to a more ambitious goal.

Remember to note the format of the books I read. This isn’t a big deal, but I’ve been noticing that I tend to read certain genres via audiobook and others via print, and I probably should say which is which in my reviews. Not that it truly matters, but the audio experience can be very different than the print experience, and even just for my own reference, I’d like to be more consistent about classifying books correctly.

Continue finding time for classics. I’ve been participating in the Classics Club spins for the past couple of years, which I love — but I have a big list of classics yet to read, and I’d like to carve out some time for at least one or two outside of the “spin cycle”.

Continue to pare down the number of physical books on my shelves, and be mindful about which I keep and which I send on their way. 2024 was the year where one of my dreams came true, and I finally installed my very own Little Free Library. I’ve begun sorting my many, many books into keepers and non-keepers. For the ones I no longer feel the need to own, I’m trying to sell the ones in best condition on Pango Books, and most of the others are going into the LFL.

Do a big audiobook reread: I’ve been wanting to do an audio re-read of the Green Creek series by TJ Klune. I haven’t started yet — the books are long, and I only want to start when I know I’ll have both the time and the focus to listen to the four books in the series straight through.

What are your bookish goals for 2025? Whatever they may be… wishing you lots of bookish delights!

The Monday Check-In ~ 1/13/2025

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My Monday tradition, including a look back and a look ahead — what I read last week, what new books came my way, and what books are keeping me busy right now. Plus a smattering of other stuff too.

Life.

It’s been a return to busy-ness — work is back at full swing, and I’ve had lots of little errands and projects keeping me on the run outside of work. Thankfully, we had clear blue skies over the weekend, so I was able to enjoy a couple of long walks and some outdoor reading time. (Give me a comfy chair on the back porch, a big iced coffee, and a good book, and I’m a very happy camper.)

Reading habits.

Speaking of my reading life, I shared my annual post about series I plan (or hope) to read in 2025. You can check it out here — I’d love to hear reactions and recommendations!

Also, just a general observation: I’ve been realizing that I tend to read books in the romance genre via audiobook, much more so than any other genre. I guess I like light, upbeats listens, and save heavier topics or more complicated reading for print? This isn’t an absolute rule or anything, just a pattern I’ve noticed. (How about you? Do you gravitate toward certain formats for certain genres?)

Blogging.

A new weird bug has popped up for me in WordPress these past few weeks. To start a new post, I typically copy an existing post, then edit the title and go from there. As of about two weeks ago, after I edit the title and hit save, the post title reverts to the original title, although the post itself is saved as a new draft. I find that I have to exit the post and use the Quick Edit option to get the title to stick. The body of the post saves just fine; it’s just the title that refuses to stick. Anyone else experiencing this?

Little Free Library update.

Awwwww. I went out for a walk yesterday, and when I got back, I saw that my LFL was filled with new books — a whole slew of kids’ books, including a bunch of Raina Telgemeier books! It made me happy.

What did I read during the last week?

The Thorns Remain by JJA Harwood: Finished at the end of last week. Really good! My review is here.

The Christmas You Found Me by Sarah Morgenthaler: Like a Hallmark Christmas movie in book form — sweet, predictable, cozy, guaranteed happy ending. (And yes, I enjoyed it!) My review is here.

The Apology by Jimin Han: My book group’s most recent discussion book — parts of the story really fascinated me, and then I lost interest during the second half. Still, there was a lot to discuss, and overall I’m glad I read it.

The Truth According to Ember by Danica Nava: A rom-com notable for its indigenous representation, but the office romance elements made me cringe. My review is here.

Pop culture & TV:

I watched The Substance this past week. Whoa… so gross and disturbing, but also weird and bizarre and fascinating. I totally get all the buzz about Demi Moore — she’s phenomenal in this movie! It’s super gory (I watched certain scenes while peeking through my fingers), and definitely not for anyone squeamish, but it certainly had an impact. It’s been days, and I’m still thinking about it.

Fresh Catch:

My pretty new hardcover edition of Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear arrived this week! This is the 10th book in the Wayward Children series, and it’s a great one! I reviewed it earlier this month; see my thoughts here.

What will I be reading during the coming week?

Currently in my hands:

We Love the Nightlife by Rachel Koller Croft: How could I resist a disco-themed vampire book?

Now playing via audiobook:

This Summer Will Be Different by Carley Fortune: I’m planning to start this audiobook today! I loved the last two books by this author, and can’t wait to dive in.

Ongoing reads:

My book group’s classic read is Mansfield Park by Jane Austen. We’re reading and discussing two chapters per week. Progress: 20%. Up next: Chapters 10 and 11.

What will you be reading this week?

So many books, so little time…

boy1

Audiobook Review: The Truth According to Ember by Danica Nava

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Title: The Truth According to Ember
Author: Danica Nava
Narrators: Siena East
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: August 6, 2024
Print length: 343 pages
Audio length: 9 hours 8 minutes
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Library
Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

A Chickasaw woman who can’t catch a break serves up a little white lie that snowballs into much more in this witty and irresistible rom-com by debut author Danica Nava.

Ember Lee Cardinal has not always been a liar—well, not for anything that counted at least. But her job search is not going well and when her resumé is rejected for the thirty-seventh time, she takes matters into her own hands. She gets “creative” listing her qualifications and answers the ethnicity question on applications with a lie—a half-lie, technically. No one wanted Native American Ember, but white Ember has just landed her dream accounting job on Park Avenue (Oklahoma City, that is).

Accountant Ember thrives in corporate life—and her love life seems to be looking up too: Danuwoa Colson, the IT guy and fellow Native who caught her eye on her first day, seems to actually be interested in her too. Despite her unease over the no-dating policy at work, they start to see each other secretly, which somehow makes it even hotter? But when they’re caught in a compromising position on a work trip, a scheming colleague blackmails Ember, threatening to expose their relationship. As the manipulation continues to grow, so do Ember’s lies. She must make the hard decision to either stay silent or finally tell the truth, which could cost her everything.

The Truth According to Ember generated a lot of buzz in 2024, notably for being one of the lone examples of a rom-com written by a Native American author and with indigenous characters in the lead roles, rather than being relegated to secondary/supporting character status.

This story of a woman resorting lies to change her life has a lot of charm and a nice flow, but very questionable choices and actions drag it down and make it hard to truly root for the main character.

Ember works a dead end job at a bowling alley, lost the money she’d been saving toward her education when her brother skipped out on bail, and keeps getting rejected from every job she applies to. She’s taken accounting classes at the community college and dreams of becoming an accountant, but can’t seem to get her foot in the door. Fed up, she pads her resume with a degree she hasn’t earned and work experience that she doesn’t actually have, and ends up getting not just an interview, but a job.

Hired as an accounting assistant for a tech company, Ember is elated about finally breaking into the corporate world. Once she starts getting her paychecks, she fully intends to continue taking classes and getting the degree she claims to have. Meanwhile, she’s a quick learner — she doesn’t actually know how to do most of the work her job entails, but after quickly googling how to use QuickBooks, she’s on her way.

Complicating things at the office is the super hot IT guy — a gorgeous man named Danuwoa (who allows himself to be called Dan in the office, since no one seems capable of learning his actual name). Ember is smitten, and and the feeling seems to be mutual, but since the company has a strict no dating policy, he’s off-limits… or is he?

As Ember and Donuwoa begin secretly seeing each other and Ember gets a surprise promotion into an interim role as executive assistant to the CEO, the lies she’s told are a ticking timebomb. If the truth comes out, she’ll imperil not only her own job, but Donuwoa’s as well.

I should pause here to stay that because of my “day job” — I work in HR — this book made my brain hurt in so many ways. When she lies on her resume and lies about her job skills, I wanted to scream. But also, during her interview, the HR rep not only asks non-work questions but also basically comments on how hot Donuwoa is when he walks by. Just, no. No, no, no.

So clearly, I am not the best person to assess this book. There is quite a bit to enjoy, especially the observations on racism and sexism in the workplace, even when the worst offenders believe themselves (and declare themselves) to be “woke”. The vibe between Ember and Donuwoa is flirty and sexy, and they have great chemistry. Donuwoa is almost too perfect, kind, caring, understanding, and an amazing big brother to his sister Walela, who herself is all kinds of awesome.

I appreciated Ember finally coming to certain realizations about looking to community for support and not having to do everything on her own. Obviously, she also learns some major lessons about honesty, in her work life and in her relationships, once her lies catch up with her and blow up in her face.

Still, the workplace lies and poor judgement (like hooking up in a supply closet) made it hard for me to enjoy the book as a whole, and when Ember’s lies spread to not being up front with Donuwoa about what’s happening, I lost most of my sympathy for Ember.

I’m glad I gave The Truth According to Ember a try, and did appreciate many aspects of the setting, the challenges faced by the characters, and the dynamics between Ember and her friends and family, as well as her connection with Donuwoa. However, the problematic issues repeatedly took me out of the story and prevented me from fully feeling immersed.

[Note to self: Maybe HR professionals just shouldn’t read books about workplace romances… ]

Reading goals: Series to read in 2025

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Here we are, approaching the middle of January — and that means it’s time for me to think about my plans for reading series in the coming year.

Each January, I typically identify a few series that I want to prioritize in the coming year. At the moment, I only have one in mind that I know I want to read a lot of, or maybe even read all the way through to the end.

Meanwhile, there are a few series (completed or ongoing) that I’d like to at least start. If I like the first book, maybe I’ll decide to keep going… but in any case, I hope to sample a few series starters and then see how I feel.

My priority series to read in 2025 will be:

Rockton series by Kelley Armstrong: I read the first book late in 2024, and can’t wait to clear my reading obligation pile a bit so I can start bingeing more books in this series.

If I somehow manage to get through the remaining six books, I’ll likely want to start the follow-up series, Haven’s Rock… but that’s a big if, and I’m not going to plan on that right now.

Other series to sample or binge in 2025:

The Mary books (Lady Janies series) by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows: I’ve now read the three Jane books, and would like to get to all three of the Mary books in 2025… but so long as I read at least one, I’ll feel pretty good.

Green Rider series by Kristen Britain: I’m planning to read the first book, and if all goes well, I hope to continue. I have high hopes — I’ve heard good things!

A pair of duologies round out my list for now — I’ve been wanting to get to these, and hope that 2025 will be the year when I make it happen.

The Stolen Heir duology by Holly Black: Technically, only one of these would be new to me. I read The Stolen Heir when it was first released, but I’d need to do a re-read before reading The Prisoner’s Throne.

Gilded duology by Marissa Meyer: I own hardcover editions of both books (don’t ask!), but have yet to pick them up. Maybe audio will be the way to go.

The “maybe” books:

And now, all my “maybe” choices — these are all series starters that I’m interested in. Maybe I’ll get to some of these in 2025, and then maybe I’ll want to read more from the same series… or maybe not. In any case, here are the other series starters that I’m considering this year, including several that are holdovers from 2024:

  • Something Fabulous by Alexis Hall
  • Pines by Blake Crouch
  • Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
  • Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier
  • Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey (because I feel like I absolutely should have read the Valdemar books by now)
  • Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky (which, yes, has been on my series-to-read list for several years now, but I haven’t given up!)
  • Clean Sweep by Ilona Andrews (one of my holdovers — so if it doesn’t happen in 2025, it’s probably never going to happen)
  • Never Fall for Your Fiancé (Merriwell Sisters, #1) by Virginia Heath
  • Virgin River by Robyn Carr (because I’ve watched every season of the Netflix show, and it’s probably time to check out the original story)
  • Dragonflight (Dragonriders of Pern, #1) by Anne McCaffrey (because how have I made it this far in my reading life without ever trying this series?)

Are you planning to start any new series this year? If you’ve read any of the series on my list for 2025, please let me know what you thought and if you have any recommendations!

Book Review: The Christmas You Found Me by Sarah Morgenthaler

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Title: The Christmas You Found Me
Author: Sarah Morgenthaler
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Publication date: September 24, 2024
Length: 304 pages
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Library
Rating:

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Sarah Morgenthaler is back with a heart-mending contemporary romance featuring a single dad you’ll fall for; a satisfying slow burn love affair; found family you’ll root for; small town holiday magic; and all the quirky animals and snowy rustic scenes your heart desires.

Sienna Naples’s family has taken care of their wild Idaho land for generations and Sienna can’t imagine any other life. But at Christmastime, with her parents gone and her painful marriage finally over, it’s full of memories…and incredibly lonely. Until a tall, handsome stranger and a little girl walk into her life and suddenly the holidays are alive again.

When single father Guy Maple shows up as the result of an ad meant to be a joke, the handsome Montana construction worker isn’t joking. Money is tight this Christmas, and Guy’s four-year-old daughter Emma has stage-five chronic kidney disease. She needs a kidney transplant, but if Guy can’t prove that he can afford Emma’s anti-rejection medications, his daughter isn’t going to stay on the transplant list. Guy’s willing to do anything, including marrying a stranger, to keep her safe. It’s an impulsive marriage of convenience, and Sienna knows this isn’t real, no matter how much she adores Emma, how well Guy fits in to the ranching life—or how much light and laughter is coming into their lives as a result. But the more time she spends with her new family, the more she fears losing the fragile, feisty little girl and the kind, devoted, hard-working, incredibly attractive man who is her husband—but is it only in name?

When you pick up a holiday romance, certain things are for certain: Christmas spirit, lots of cookies and twinkling lights, and a happy ending. The Christmas You Found Me provides all of these ingredients… but adds in moments of near-tragedy and oodles of tears too. (But no fear! It’s not a spoiler — just look at that cover! — to promise that all will be well in the end.)

On the day Sienna’s divorce is final, her best friend Jess publishes an add in the local paper:

Wanted: Husband for Hire

Temp to full-time position, based on satisfactory job performance.

Eligibility requirements: Ability to lift, push, or pull 50 pounds. Willingness to perform ranch work in extreme weather without whining. Experience with livestock a plus. Broad shoulders preferred.

Benefits include medical, dental, 401(k) matching. Salary negotiable.

Current husbands need not apply. (Previous husbands of Sienna Naples are ineligible for the position.)

And sure, Jess means it to be a cute joke to lift Sienna’s spirits and get the entire (tiny) Idaho town to laugh along with Sienna… but the ad leads to a few random propositions, and one sincere applicant.

When Sienna reluctantly agrees to meet Guy Maple, she already feels bad. She’s not actually looking to hire a husband, after all. But then she gets a good look at Guy — a hot, attractive, polite, but apparently underfed man with a desperate air to him. He’s embarrassed but determined: if there’s any chance this job is a real thing, he wants it. Guy is a single dad with an adorable 4-year-old daughter who’s in end-stage kidney failure. Dialysis multiple times a week isn’t enough any more; she needs a new kidney, or she won’t survive.

Health insurance isn’t the problem, but money is. Because of their ongoing medical crisis, Guy is only able to work short-term gigs, and has no family to fall back on for assistance. Emma absolutely qualifies for a kidney donation based on her medical condition, but to stay on the transplant list, Guy has to be able to demonstrate the financial means to afford the ongoing anti-rejection medication that will be required… and he can’t.

Sienna’s heart breaks hearing him talk about his daughter, but she really isn’t looking to hire a husband. Except later that night, thinking about Guy and Emma, she realizes she really could help. Sure, she’s cash-poor at the moment, having lost most liquid assets in the divorce, but she’s kept her beautiful family ranch and some livestock. The value of the property would more than meet the financial requirements for Emma… so not quite believing what she’s doing, Sienna calls Guy and offers to marry him the next day.

What Sienna doesn’t count on is how lovable Emma is and how much of a sweetheart Guy turns out to be. When she realizes they’re living out of a seedy motel while he looks for local work, she insists they move in with her at the ranch. Et voila! Insta-family… and before long, insta-love as well.

Super cute scenes of family time at the ranch, Emma bonding with Sienna’s dog and mule, and Guy doing his workouts in the kitchen ensue. It’s all quite adorable, but Emma’s dire health looms large. When a medical crisis arrives right on Christmas Eve, well… even a curmudgeon like me had to fight to remain dry-eyed. (I lost that battle…)

The Christmas You Found Me is a sweet, romantic story — but extreme suspension of disbelief is required if you want to enjoy it. I was more than willing to go along with it all and let the love and holiday spirit float me along, but seriously, some story elements are a bit hard to swallow:

  • If an unattractive man had approached Sienna with the exact same circumstances, would she have considered marrying him?
  • It’s lucky for Sienna that the husband-for-hire turned out to be the sweetest, most respectful, most supportive man on the planet.
  • Absolutely no stepmother/stepdaughter adjustment phase — the insta-love aspect applies 100% to Sienna and Emma’s relationship.
  • As they enter the courthouse to get married, Sienna agrees to change her last name! Which she never did during her first (real) marriage! Because her family has a longstanding history in the region and the Naples name means something! But okay, she’ll change it for the guy she met less than 24 hours earlier.

Things work out much too perfectly… but that was okay with me, for the most part. Reading The Christmas You Found Me is like partaking in a Hallmark Christmas movie in book form. You can predict the plot beats all the way through, and you know more or less what some of the important elements will be — but it still feels like a nice holiday treat to sit back and enjoy.

I’d read Sarah Morgenthaler’s previous trilogy of books (the Moose Springs series, set in small-town Alaska). This author does a great job presenting heartwarming rural, rustic life, capturing the quirky traditions, hard-working locals, and a sense of a community that’s really there for one another. Reading her books makes me yearn for a cabin of my own, with cozy flannel, a warm fireplace, and fluffy socks.

Overall, I enjoyed The Christmas You Found Me. Realistic? Nope. A bit predictable? Yup. But also, romantic and sentimental and satisfying in a very cozy, wintery sort of way. I’d happily read more about these characters and their Idaho ranch.

Note: Goodreads lists The Christmas You Found Me as book #1 in the Heart of the Wilderness series. I’m curious to see where the series might go — more about Sienna’s friends and neighbors? Or unconnected wilderness-based Christmas romances? I guess we’ll have to wait and find out!

Book Review: The Thorns Remain by JJA Harwood

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Title: The Thorns Remain
Author: JJA Harwood
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Publication date: February 23, 2023
Length: 416 pages
Genre: Fantasy
Source: Purchased
Rating:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

A dance with the fae will change everything

1919. In a highland village forgotten by the world, harvest season is over and the young who remain after war and flu have ravaged the village will soon head south to make something of themselves.

Moira Jean and her friends head to the forest for a last night of laughter before parting ways. Moira Jean is being left behind. She had plans to leave once – but her lover died in France and with him, her future. The friends light a fire, sing and dance. But with every twirl about the flames, strange new dancers thread between them, music streaming from the trees.

The fae are here.

Suddenly Moira Jean finds herself all alone, her friends spirited away. The iron medal of her lost love, pinned to her dress, protected her from magic.

For the Fae feel forgotten too. Lead by the darkly handsome Lord of the Fae, they are out to make themselves known once more. Moira Jean must enter into a bargain with the Lord to save her friends – and fast, for the longer one spends with the Fae, the less like themselves they are upon return. If Moira Jean cannot save her friends before Beltane, they will be lost forever…

Completely bewitching, threaded with Highland charm and sparkling with dark romance, this is a fairytale that will carry you away.

In The Thorns Remain, the boundary between a small Highlands community and the world of the Fae is breached one fateful night, with devastating consequences for all involved… and only one young woman with the ability to set things right.

It’s 1919, and the small town of Brudonnock is teetering on the brink of extinction. Too many young men have been lost to war or the flu pandemic; others of the younger population have left for new lives in Glasgow or Edinburgh or beyond. Those who remain work nonstop, sunup to sundown, to plow and harvest and keep their families fed, dreading the day when the estate owners will decide to turn them all out and force them from their cottages.

Moira Jean is our main character, a young woman mourning the loss of her true love Angus. Childhood sweethearts who grew up together and got engaged before he departed for war, they’d intended to marry as soon as he returned home, but despite surviving the war itself, he was killed by the flu before they were reunited. As the story opens, Moira Jean lives with her mother, the village healer, and works around the clock on the daily chores of village life, with Angus never far from her mind.

When the villagers learn that they’ve been given a reprieve from a feared eviction for one more year, Moira Jean and her friends decide to let loose for once and celebrate. They sneak off into the forest to drink, sing, and dance, but their dance is joined by strangers. Only Moira Jean, clutching Angus’s iron medal, can see that something is wrong and that these others aren’t actually people. When she wakes the next day, she discovers that her five friends are all gone — but no one else in Brudonnock realizes that they’re missing. For everyone but Moira Jean, false memories are firmly in place, and the missing friends are either traveling or away for work in the cities.

Moira Jean is scared and desperate, and returns to the forest to seek her friends. There, she finds the lord of the Land Under the Hill, whom she refers to as the Dreamer; a ruler of the Fae, who is both terrifying and mesmerizing. He seems fascinated by Moira Jean and her resistance to his glamours, and offers her a bargain: He’ll trade her for the return of her friends — but what he wants in exchange is difficult and costly, and there’s no guarantee that the people who come back will be in the same condition as when they left.

While the remote setting of Brudonnock gives old-timey vibes, it’s important to remember that the story is set in the years following the First World War. The village lacks electricity, running water, and other conveniences, but these do exist in the broader world. The effects of the war are evident on every page: The young men who still live in Brudonnock are all physically changed by the war or illness in some way, and too much of the village’s population has been brutally lost.

It’s no wonder, then, that the world of the Fae seems so enticing to those who have been taken.

‘It was wonderful,’ Callum said again, still breathless. ‘No one wanted for anything. Nothing hurt. There was no work. No war. There was only dancing and feasting and singing – oh, Moira Jean. It was everything I hoped the world would be.’

Even Moira Jean, who can see through the enchantments, can’t help but be tempted by a world that can be whatever she wishes — a place where she can be warm, and well-fed, free from back-breaking work and the constant fear of disease and injury.

At times, especially in the first half of the book, The Thorns Remain felt slow to me — but I think some of that is due to one of my pet peeves when it comes to book formatting. The Thorns Remain is divided into five parts, but within those parts, there are no chapters. Books without chapter breaks really frustrate me, especially because I typically read on a Kindle, and the chapter lengths help me track my progress. This isn’t an unusually long book, but the format makes it feel that way.

I will say that by the second half of the book, the storytelling pace picks up as the stakes get higher, the danger mounts, and Moira Jean’s situation becomes even more precarious. She’s forced to take risks for the sake of her community, even when the enchantment at play turns the village against her. Her strength and determination are remarkable, but she’s never made out to be some sort of superhero: She’s just a village girl who’s determined to do right by her family and friends, because they need her and she’s the only one who knows it.

I originally picked up a copy of The Thorns Remain on a whim after seeing it on a bookstore shelf. I hadn’t heard of it before, but the cover and the synopsis drew me in right away. I’ve had this book on my shelves for over a year now, and I’m so glad I took advantage of my holiday reading time to finally pick it up.

The Thorns Remain is a beautifully written blend of the fantastical and the day-to-day. Moira Jean is a terrific main character: She’s an ordinary person who’s thrust into an illogical, unreal reality, and chooses to take the difficult path of fighting for her friends rather than running away or giving into the lures of magic.

There’s an action-packed climax and an ending that’s just right. The Thorns Remain is both a fantasy story and a moving, introspective meditation on the horrors of war and its aftermath. It’s a thoughtful, descriptive, and emotional story, and it’s simply too good to miss!

Top Ten Tuesday: Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the First Half of 2025

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Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the First Half of 2025.

Despite good intentions (read more from my shelves! request fewer ARCs!), I find myself with an absolute TON of ARCs and preorders for new books releasing over the next few months. Yes, I’m looking forward to reading them all (that’s why I requested/ordered them!), but it feels like a lot to keep up with, no matter how amazing they’ll all be.

Still — I really am excited about reading these upcoming new releases!

Here are (just some of) the books I can’t wait to read in the first half of 2025:

Listed in order of release date:

  1. The Sirens by Emilia Hart (3/4/2025)
  2. The Tomb of Dragons (Cemeteries of Amalo, #3) by Katherine Addison (3/11/2025)
  3. The Martian Contingency (Lady Astronaut, #4) by Mary Robinette Kowal (3/18/2025)
  4. When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi (3/25/2025)
  5. Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez (4/1/2025)
  6. Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry (4/22/2025)
  7. Overgrowth by Mira Grant (5/6/2025)
  8. Death at a Highland Wedding (A Rip Through Time, #4) by Kelley Armstrong (5/20/2025)
  9. Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid (6/3/2025)
  10. The Battle of the Bookstores by Ali Brady (6/3/2024)
  11. One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune (5/22/2025)

Yes, that’s eleven, not ten: I just couldn’t decide which one to drop!

What upcoming new releases are you most excited for? If you wrote a TTT post, please share your link!

The Monday Check-In ~ 1/6/2025

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My Monday tradition, including a look back and a look ahead — what I read last week, what new books came my way, and what books are keeping me busy right now. Plus a smattering of other stuff too.

Life.

Happy New Year!

It’s the first Monday of the new year… so it’s back to work for most of us. Sigh… the holiday feeling had to end eventually! I hope everyone had a festive New Year celebration and found time to relax, enjoy, and read over the holidays!

At my house, we had out-of-town guests, including my daughter and her fiancé, and local friends threw them a shower while they were here. So lovely to have happy reasons to gather and celebrate!

Celebrating Hanukkah with our extended family was really terrific, with multiple days and nights of candles, singing, gifts, and games.

Little Free Library update:

My husband decided that my LFL wouldn’t stand up to another storm like the last one we had, and so he dug a hole, poured cement, and made my little library a whole lot more stable! It’s now back in business, and I’ve been happy to see more books coming and going.

Someone actually took the big, fat readers’ encyclopedia for Shakespeare and some acting-lesson books! (Although no one has grabbed the Insurance Law book that showed up recently… wonder why?) Meanwhile, I’m still weeding through some boxes of books that I had stored away, and I’ll be using them to restock over the coming weeks.

It’s so nice to have my LFL back!

What did I read during the last week?

The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst: Sweet cozy fantasy. See below for the review link!

Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune: My last book of 2024! I wrote a two-fer review post for this book plus The Spellshop; read it here.

Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear (Wayward Children, #10) by Seanan McGuire: A brilliant addition to the ongoing Wayward Children series — I just loved this one. My review is here.

The Thorns Remain by JJA Harwood: Finished late Sunday; review to follow. This was a good one!

Pop culture & TV:

With so much going on, I’ve barely had time for TV — which is fine! I’ve been keeping up with new Outlander episodes, but that’s about it. This week’s was a doozy, and there’s just one more to go!

Fresh Catch:

No new books this week.

What will I be reading during the coming week?

Currently in my hands:

The Apology by Jimin Han: My book group discussion of this book is later this week, and I’m late getting started! I’m hoping to finish in time for our get-together.

Now playing via audiobook:

The Christmas You Found Me by Sarah Morgenthaler: My listening time has been pretty limited lately, but I finally made progress over the weekend. This holiday romance is tugging at my heartstrings! I should be able to listen to the last few chapters by mid-week.

Ongoing reads:

My book group’s classic read is Mansfield Park by Jane Austen. We’re reading and discussing two chapters per week. We’re starting back up this week after a break for the holidays. Progress: 15%. Up next: Chapters 8 and 9.

What will you be reading this week?

So many books, so little time…

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