Can't-Wait Wednesday: Wild and Wrangled

Can't-Wait Wednesday is hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings and helps us spotlight upcoming releases we're eagerly anticipating!

Wild and Wrangled (Rebel Blue Ranch #4)

Lyla Sage

Expected publication date: April 15, 2025

She’s the one that got away. He’s the one that never let her go.

From the bestselling author of Done and Dusted and Swift and Saddled, the next book in the Rebel Blue Ranch series, a small town romance in which past lovers get a second chance to rediscover what they lost.

Camille Ashwood had always loved a plan. Her latest was her best yet. She was going to get married so she could secure her daughter’s future, get her overbearing parents off her back, and finally start building her own life in small town Meadowlark, Wyoming. Easy, right?

But when her groom doesn’t show up to the wedding, Cam’s life is turned upside down—she doesn’t even have a place to live. That is, until she finds out the house she’s loved since high school is available to rent. There’s only one problem: the neighbor.

Dusty Tucker has spent nearly all of his adult life running. Running from what, though? More like who: Cam Ashwood. But ever since he returned home last year, the girl who was his first, well, everything has become a woman seemingly determined to keep him at arm’s length. And he was okay with that—at least, that’s what he kept telling himself. She was getting married, after all. But now she’s single and living next door. Dusty wants to show her that they can be friends, and that he can stay put.

Despite her best attempts to stay far away from Dusty Tucker, Cam realizes that being close to him is like slipping on her favorite jeans. Easy. Comfortable. That is until past wounds start to open and feelings—both old and new—wreak havoc. Nearly ten years after they first met, Dusty and Cam begin to wonder if their first love can also be their last. And this time, will it be forever? - from Goodreads

Month in Review: March 2025

 
March was a busy month for us.  Henry finished up the winter session of music classes and then started the spring session a couple weeks later.  We had a lot of nice weather, so we spent as much time at the playground as we could!  We spent an afternoon at the zoo with a few of Henry's cousins - we hadn't all gotten together in awhile, so that was nice.  I have somehow already reached my five-year anniversary at work, and the partners rewarded me with a lovely note and a Barnes & Noble gift card, which I immediately ran out to spend!  Henry had his first dentist appointment and it didn't go as well as I'd hoped it would, so #momfail on my part!  Henry is in his "why?" era, but doesn't limit it to just "why" questions - he is constantly asking us who did this, where are we going, how big is that... Honestly, I don't even have answers for him half the time!  He is fully entrenched in "threenager" behavior (tantrums, pushing limits, etc.) but at the same time, he's also super affectionate, asking for hugs and kisses and to be held, so I guess I can't complain too much!

The Books

The House Across the Lake // Astor // The Second Mrs. Astor // The Paris Novel

Business Casual // The Family Experiment // A Queen's Game // The Princess and the Scoundrel

The Posts and Reviews

Recent Reads

Can't-Wait Wednesday: Cold Eternity

Fiction/Nonfiction Quick Reviews: The Astor Edition

Michele's Monday Picks #65

Recent Reads

Henry's Shelves #9

Recent Reads

Michele's Monday Picks #66

How are you doing?

* This post contains affiliate links; I earn a small commission on qualifying purchases, at no cost to you.

Michele's Monday Picks #66

Angela is so generous to let me pop in with my little series, Michele’s Monday Picks!  I’m not a blogger or bookstagrammer, but I love getting excited about new releases with the rest of you.  Here I’ll be sharing new books I’m really looking forward to!

******************************************************************

 

The Geographer’s Map to Romance

By India Holton

Expected Publication: April 8, 2025

From Goodreads:

Geography professors in a failed marriage of convenience inconveniently reconnect for an emergency mission in this swoony historical-fantasy rom-com.

Professor Elodie Tarrant is an expert in magic disasters. Nothing fazes her--except her own personal disaster, that is: Professor Gabriel Tarrant, the grumpy, unfriendly man she married for convenience a year ago, whom she secretly loves.

Gabriel is also an expert in magic disasters. And nothing fazes him either--except the walking, talking tornado that is his wife. They've been estranged since shortly after their wedding day, but that hasn't stopped him from stoically pining for her.

When magic erupts in a small Welsh village, threatening catastrophe for the rest of England, Elodie and Gabriel are accidentally both assigned to the case. With the fate of the country in their hands, they must come together as a team in the face of perilous conditions like explosions, domesticated goats, and only one bed. But this is easier said than done. After all, there's no navigational guide for the geography of the heart.

India Holton is one of my top auto-buy authors. Do you think you’ll be picking this one up?

Recent Reads

 Business Casual by B.K. Borison (2024)

Nova and Charlie are total opposites but find themselves attracted to each other.  A one-night stand isn't enough for the two, but could they really find a way to make it work?  And is that what they really want?  I read the first book in this series a couple years but not the ones in between, so I kind of feel like I was missing something when it came to Charlie and Nova within the friend group.  Charlie is a flirt, but is he really serious about anything?  I enjoyed the parts about Nova opening her new tattoo shop and her reasons for it, but I don't know that I totally bought this relationship.  And don't get me started on that cheesy ending - yikes!  3 stars

The Family Experiment by John Marrs (2024)

In the near future, most people cannot afford to start a family, but virtual children, using AI, are becoming all the rage.  A new reality show follows several families as they raise a virtual child from birth to 18 years in just nine months, with the eventual winner choosing to keep their virtual child or take money to potentially start a family in the real world.  This is another offering from John Marrs that offers an eerily plausible look at the future, and I do appreciate how he ties some of his books into the same universe, with callbacks to other books.  The family aspect of this one is so emotionally charged, and I think many aspects of this story will resonate with readers.  Of course, it wouldn't be a John Marrs book without some shady characters and lots of twists and turns.  I guess my only complaint would be that his books are feeling a little formulaic.  4 stars

* This post contains affiliate links; I earn a small commission on qualifying purchases, at no cost to you.

Henry's Shelves #9

 

Hi, all!  I'm back today with another edition of Henry's Shelves.  It's been awhile since I shared what our little guy has enjoyed reading, and this one is definitely all about the hot air balloons!  He's (still) obsessed with them and wanted to read all about them in January.  Thankfully I was able to find quite a few to fit the bill, many of which are featured here, along with a couple other books that have been on repeat in our house.  We've also been enjoying our trips to the library!

The Great Balloon Hullaballoo // And Away We Go! // Curious George and the Hot Air Balloon

 Hot Air // Penguin's Big Adventure // How Do Dinosaurs Say I Love You?

5-Minute Spidey and His Amazing Friends Stories // Don't Push the Button! // Hot Air Henry

Have you read any of these?

* This post contains affiliate links; I earn a small commission on qualifying purchases, at no cost to you.

Recent Reads

 The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager (2023)

Casey spends her time at her family's lake house by spying on the people living in the house across the water - but when the wife disappears, Casey becomes obsessed with trying to figure out what happened to her.  The first half of this book felt very cliche - the drunk, unreliable narrator using binoculars to watch her neighbors, convinced something nefarious is going on.  It didn't feel fresh or new, but it wasn't necessarily bad.  Then, the second half took a strange, supernatural twist, and that's where Sager lost me.  It was a bit surprising but unfortunately didn't work for me at all.  3 stars

The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl (2024)

After her mother's death, Stella travels to Paris.  At first, Stella is careful and cautious, but after impulsively purchasing a beautiful dress, Stella discovers a whole new side to Paris - and herself.  Reichl's memoir Save Me the Plums was a favorite of mine a couple years, so I was excited to read a fiction book from her.  I love a Paris setting and no one writes about food like Reichl does - and Stella eats a lot of fabulous meals.  Stella meets a lot of new people during her time in France, solves an artistic mystery, and opens herself up more than she ever dreamed she could.  The story felt a little twee to me, as things just keep working out for Stella in kind of unbelievable ways, and I just never felt as invested in the story as I wanted to be.  3 stars

* This post contains affiliate links; I earn a small commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you.

Michele's Monday Picks #65

Angela is so generous to let me pop in with my little series, Michele’s Monday Picks!  I’m not a blogger or bookstagrammer, but I love getting excited about new releases with the rest of you.  Here I’ll be sharing new books I’m really looking forward to!

****************************************************************

 

Gifted and Talented

By Olivie Blake

Expected Publication: April 1, 2025

From Goodreads:

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six comes the story of three siblings who, upon the death of their father, are forced to reckon with their long-festering rivalries, dangerous abilities, and the crushing weight of all their unrealized adolescent potential.

Where there’s a will, there’s a war.

Thayer Wren, the brilliant CEO of Wrenfare Magitech and so-called father of modern technology, is dead. Any one of his three telepathically and electrokinetically gifted children would be a plausible inheritor to the Wrenfare throne.

Or at least, so they like to think.

Meredith, textbook accomplished eldest daughter and the head of her own groundbreaking biotech company, has recently cured mental illness. You're welcome! If only her father's fortune wasn't her last hope for keeping her journalist ex-boyfriend from exposing what she really is: a total fraud.

Arthur, second-youngest congressman in history, fights the good fight every day of his life. And yet, his wife might be leaving him, and he's losing his re-election campaign. But his dead father’s approval in the form of a seat on the Wrenfare throne might just turn his sinking ship around.

Eilidh, once the world's most famous ballerina, has spent the last five years as a run-of-the-mill marketing executive at her father’s company after a life-altering injury put an end to her prodigious career. She might be lacking in accolades compared to her siblings, but if her father left her everything, it would finally validate her worth—by confirming she'd been his favorite all along.

On the pipeline of gifted kid to clinically depressed adult, nobody wins—but which Wren will come out on top?

This blurb gave me Umbrella Academy vibes. Do you think you’ll be picking this one up?