Recent Reads

A Killer Getaway by Sienna Sharpe (2025) 

Every summer, Lily travels to a luxury resort in the Caribbean to work as a lifeguard.  And every summer, someone at the resort dies.  This year, though, a journalist is asking questions about the deaths, and as much as Lily is attracted to him, she also doesn't want to get caught.  This was such an interesting read!  It's part mystery, part thriller, and part romance - a little bit of everything!  I loved getting to know Lily and her reasons for returning to the island each year.  She's been through a lot, and she wants to stop toxic people from continuing to hurt others.  But Daniel is intent on finding out what's going on at the resort.  I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see what would happen - would Lily get caught?  Would she and Daniel get a happily ever after?  4.5 stars

Crash Landing by Annie McQuaid (2025)

Exes Piper and Wyatt are on their way to a destination wedding when their private plane crash lands on a deserted island.  When the two have to rely on each other to survive, will all their old feelings come flooding back?  I had such high hopes for this one, but unfortunately it was a letdown.  I love the premise, the fact that they only have each other on this deserted island, but the execution was painful.  The writing was clumsy and clunky; the characters were immature.  It felt like the author couldn't pin down who Wyatt was - was he a stoic hero or a giddy little boy?  Even the flashbacks to their high school relationship were disappointing - their romance was so short-lived, it was cringey to think that Piper was still so hung up on it.  I get that teenagers make a big deal out of everything, but it felt like overkill.  I did enjoy the survival stuff, and Piper did grow a lot over the course of the story, finally admitting to herself and her parents that medical school was not the road she wanted to go down.  But overall, this was not the book for me.  3 stars

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

Blogger Love!

Since I haven't done it in awhile and we are so close to Valentine's Day, I thought it would be nice to spread some love about the book blogging community and share some of my favorite bloggers!  I'm so grateful to be a part of this book blogging community - there's so much love and support, and this is just a small list (in no particular order) of some wonderful people!

Christina at Confessions of a Book Addict

 

Sam at We Live and Breathe Books

Aj at Read All The Things!

Stephanie at Bookfever

Alicia at A Kernel of Nonsense

Lindsey at Lindsey Reads

Jordan at Forever Lost in Literature

Erin at Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs

Kay at Kay's Reading Life

Happy (early) Valentine's Day!

Recent Reads: The Amsterdam Edition

 What Happens in Amsterdam by Rachel Lynn Solomon (2025)

Dani heads to Amsterdam to hopefully get a fresh start in life but doesn't expect to run into Wouter, the foreign exchange student hosted by her family years earlier and who also ended up being her first love.  Their relationship didn't end well, but now Wouter has a proposition for Dani - if they get married, she'll get to stay in Amsterdam and he'll inherit his family's historic house along the canal.  Although they mean to stay professional about it, old feelings start bubbling up.  While I normally don't get on board with second chance romances, I liked this one.  Dani and Wouter were so young when they first dated, and now they're all grown up and very different people.  Yet, they still seem to understand each other.  However, my favorite part of the book was the "trip" to Amsterdam we got to take.  You can definitely tell that Solomon loves living there in real life and was eager for Dani to learn all about it.  4 stars

The Expat Affair by Kimberly Belle (2025)

Two women are drawn into the Amsterdam diamond industry when an employee of a prestigious diamond house is found murdered.  One woman is the one-night stand who was there during the murder; the other is the wife of the dead man's boss.  Who killed Xander, and where are the missing diamonds?  This was an interesting mystery - the inside look at the diamond industry was fascinating.  I liked that we got to see two different sides of the story with chapters from both Rayna (the one-night stand) and Willow (the wife).  I did find the pacing a bit slow and the reveals were too drawn out, but there were definitely lots of twists and turns and the ending did surprise me.  4 stars

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

Month in Review: January 2026

 

January was a fairly quiet month.  We all went back to school and work after a nice break.  Work for me was busy as we had a deadline this month that I was involved in.  A big snowstorm dropped almost a foot of snow on us, which is still hanging around because it has been bitterly cold and nothing is melting!  The highlight of the month was a family trip to Medieval Times - our knight didn't win, but we all had a blast!

The Books

And Then There Was You // When the Moon Hits Your Eye // Pitcher Perfect // A Queen's Match

One Italian Summer // Any Trope But You // The Family // The Wager

What Happens in Amsterdam // The Expat Affair

The Posts

My Favorite Books of 2025!

2025 Reading Year in Review!

2025 Goals Recap

Michele's Monday Picks #86

Michele's 2025 Reading Wrap-Up!

Henry's Shelves #10: New Additions

2026 Goals

Fiction/Nonfiction Quick Reviews: The Tudor Edition

Michele's Monday Picks #87

Can't-Wait Wednesday: She Made Herself a Monster

Recent Reads

Indie Bookstore Spotlight: Charter Books

Recent Reads

How are you doing?

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Michele's Monday Picks #88

 Angela is so generous to let me pop in with my 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!

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Racing Hearts

By Ann Adams

Expected Publication: February 10, 2026

From Goodreads:

When a competitive rower’s losing streak threatens her Olympic dreams, she must train for the summer with a hometown coach to win it all back in this irresistible opposites-attract romance. 

Katherine Parker doesn’t just dream of rowing in the Olympics. She has a carefully crafted plan. With a strict training schedule, a meticulous diet, and no one else in her boat to slow her down, she’s as good as gold.

Then her boyfriend breaks up with her at the starting line of a big race and Kath comes in dead last. She’s swiftly kicked off the team and out of the Olympic Training Center—the only place she’s ever felt at home.

With one shot to win back her spot, Kath returns to her hometown to train with a new coach. The upside? Coach Adrian is hot. The downside? Instead of letting Kath follow her own training regimen, Adrian pushes her outside her comfort zone, urging her to try new things and let go of control.

With her Olympic dreams on the line, Kath will have to choose: stick to her perfect plan, or find out if the key to winning—and happiness—is to embrace the part of rowing that makes it fun, one sweaty, sexy training session at a time.

I don’t choose a lot of contemporary romance for this series, but the rowing aspect sounded fun to me! Do you think you’ll be picking this one up?

Recent Reads

Any Trope But You by Victoria Lavine (2025)

Margot is a romance author facing backlash after her "Happily Never After" document is released to the public.  She heads to Alaska to work on a murder mystery and there she meets Forrest, who helps run the resort with his father.  Although there are sparks, both try to avoid an entanglement, until it becomes impossible not to.  This was a cute read that managed to mix in some serious topics; I enjoyed the way the author played with romance tropes and how Margot couldn't escape them.  Forrest did seem like the perfect guy and they kept finding themselves in some cliche situations.  I liked how Forrest really seemed to understand Margot and they bonded over their family members being ill.  But while there was a lot of tongue-in-cheek humor at romance novels, I wish this one hadn't succumbed to some of the more tired romance tropes, like the third-act break-up.  Overall, though, this was a fun read!  4 stars

The Family by Naomi Krupitsky (2022)

Sofia and Antonia are best friends growing up in NYC in the 1930s and 1940s.  Their fathers are both also in the mafia.  When Antonia's father "disappears" one night, their lives are forever changed.  I thought this was an interesting read - Antonia and Sofia are so different but forever linked by their fathers' jobs.  The story follows the girls from childhood to marriage and motherhood.  Their relationship ebbs and flows through the years, especially after Antonia's father's disappearance, and we see the girls questioning the family business and their roles in it and also what they envision for their own lives.  The third-person POV allows us to be with both girls and also other characters as the book goes on, and the writing style is quite elegant and ethereal.  That being said, I often had to stop and remind myself which character I was reading about and the story moves quite slowly.  4 stars

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

Indie Bookstore Spotlight: Charter Books

We recently took a family trip to Newport, Rhode Island, so you know my sister and I had to check out a local indie bookstore!  Enter Charter Books, which opened in 2020 and is located in the downtown historic district.  The outside is classic and beautiful, and this aesthetic follows inside!

The inside is warm and inviting, with beautiful wood shelves and floors, and seems to go on forever!  There is a large selection of fiction books right when you walk in, and if you go all the way to the back, you'll find an extensive children's section.  My sister was really impressed with their middle grade selection!

The children's section features these adorable reading nooks, decorated with sea life and flowers.  I love that kids get these lovely spaces to check out their books in.

The store continues on a lower level, and along the staircase, visiting authors have signed the walls - I just happened to notice the signatures of Team W, including one of my favorite authors, Beatriz Williams!

The downstairs level is a little more utilitarian, but still offers a lot!  About half of the shelves downstairs are nonfiction and the rest are a continuation of fiction.  

I snagged a book about local Newport history for myself and a board book about lighthouses for Henry, who is still absolutely obsessed with them!  If you ever take a trip to Newport, definitely check out Charter Books!