It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?—January 19th, 2026

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? a place to meet and share what you have been and are about to be reading over the week. It’s a great post to organize yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit, comment, and add to your groaning TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme started on J Kaye’s blog and then was hosted by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at The Book Date.

Jen Vincent, Teach Mentor Texts, and Kellee of Unleashing Readers decided to give It’s Monday! a kid-lit focus. If you read and review books in children’s literature – picture books, chapter books, middle-grade novels, young adult novels, or anything in those genres – join them.


What I am Reading Now

Every Sunday afternoon for almost a year she strolls into the parking lot where you work and drives away in a car share. Every Sunday evening she brings it back. Until one day, when the car comes back, but she doesn’t. A stranger wearing cargo pants and an attitude shows up in her place. After he leaves, you find her bag and all her possessions in the trunk. You realize that wherever she is, she has nothing but the clothes on her back.

What do you do? You don’t know her well, but you know she disappeared. You’re afraid she’s been harmed, but no-one believes you. You think you know who’s responsible, but then that guy turns up dead. And when the cops open an investigation, you are their prime suspect in the murder.

Erstwhile taxi driver Alex Ryan is the guy in the parking lot. Sexy bank executive Chantal Dorval is the mystery woman. Who kidnapped her? Is she alive or dead? Who killed Cargo Pants? And why? Ryan sets out to answer these questions, to find Chantal and exonerate himself. But the more he learns about her life, the more disturbing secrets he discovers, and the more suspects he turns up. And the more the police are convinced he’s guilty.

Flash Drive is action-packed and sexually-charged. It deals with contemporary themes such as substance abuse, alternate lifestyles, and social media privacy issues. It will appeal to readers of the work of Gillian Flynn, Robert Galbraith (JKR), or Harlan Coben.


What I am reading Monday and Tuesday:

Paige sees her fiancé murder his associate. And he knows she saw. Paige Carmichael must’ve had a premonition that her life was about to take a turn for the worse.One of the books she read was How to Change your Identity and Hide from Anyone.Then she saw her fiancé murder his best friend and associate. And call in one of his flunkies to remove the body. This wasn’t what she signed up for when she agreed to marry Stefano Santangelo. Sure, she knew he was in the mob, but he’d sworn it was numbers running and things like that.Not about to leave the four-year relationship without something to show for it, Paige takes one of his precious antique coins and $750K from his safe, and runs. She changes her hair, her walk, the kinds of foods she eats. Yet, he keeps finding her.One day she meets Christian Charles Beauchamps. Her savior. He’s driving a truck to make money to open a landscaping business. He’s handsome and charming, and eventually convinces her to confide in him.But when she sees him whispering to a suspicious bearded guy, she takes off again–with all of them hot on her tail.Can Paige finally escape Stefano’s grasp and have a normal life?She doesn’t want to be next, so she runs, taking $750K from his safe.

When Amanda bumps into a strange man, she thinks nothing of it until she sees him again. And again. Wherever she goes, even at home – he’s there.

She tries to ignore him. But he doesn’t like to be ignored.

Amanda doesn’t know who to turn to. She’s just met Lucas, a man her friends believe is perfect. While she can’t deny her attraction to him, demons from her past and present continue to haunt her. And she’s not the only one with secrets.

What follows is a desperate escape from the city, where she’s forced to confront her past, deal with her growing feelings for Lucas, and fight for a future she’s just beginning to believe in.

Is she strong enough to survive?

Goodreads Monday: The Spider Catcher (Redemption: Book 1) by A.L. Tyler

This is a weekly meme in which anyone can choose and highlight a random book from their Goodreads TBR. It was formerly featured on LaurensPageTurners and was taken over by Budget Tales Book Blog.


Goodreads Synopsis

Some family trees are pretty twisted and too thorny to touch. Ember Gillespie was sent away from the island of Tulukaruk when she was only a child. Now returning as a teenager, she’s finding that the life she idealized from afar is actually a living nightmare, complete with a deranged family that is trying to drive her away and a town full of creepy people. Her only refuge from the constant strain comes from the subtle and mysterious Acton, who has taken her under his wing, and a dark friendship that seems to have the potential to ignite into romance. The only thing more shocking than her family’s rejection is the reason they want her leave. Her sister, Thalia, confesses that the town is inhabited by demons. Their mother believes that Acton is particularly dangerous and bent on revenge. Ember knows her mother is crazy. But as she starts losing her memories and waking up to strange notes that she’s left herself, she begins to believe her mother may also be right.

WWW Wednesday: January 14th, 2026

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

Here is what I am reading, recently finished, and plan to read from Thursday to Wednesday.

Let me know if you have read or plan to read any of these books!!

Happy Reading!


What I am currently reading:

A great or distinguished figure in any sphere. Grim The personification of death. Combine these two and place them in the small mountain town of Cold Hollow. Sit back and watch the mayhem unfold as sinister dealings are in the air again. There are new arrivals, job placements, and housing to arrange, but with Mayor Myrna Bradbury busy with wedding planning and her fiancé’s family arriving in town, will she be able to keep up with the machinations? When a young girl goes missing, Myrna begins to strategize again, only to be stopped by “The Maestro.” Heads on a pike, inventive uses for nail files, garrotes, and twisted nursery rhymes all play a part in book three of the tooth-rattling Cold Hollow series. Grab your copy today!


What I recently finished reading:

“The sun is shining, birds are chirping, and people are dying.” Life is not always perfect in the town of Cold Hollow, but with Mayor Myrna Bradbury at the helm, it might be someday. When a batch of newly paroled convicts arrives to take up residence in the small town, disappearances of longtime townsfolk begin, gruesome human remains are found, and a government inspection is looming on the horizon. Time is of the essence as Myrna and the new chief of police are thrust into an investigation the likes of which they had never imagined. Welcome to Cold Hollow, the place where the fun never ends. Grab your copy today and enjoy!


What I plan on reading Thursday through Sunday:

Deadly Delilah is back and there’s hell to pay.

When the mayor of Cold Hollow and her husband are kidnapped and held for ransom, two families join forces to rescue them. Will they survive a treacherous hike to the mountain range caves in the midst of a nor’easter? Delilah returns in this installment and her dark side is teetering on the edge. What will happen to the Gillette’s and their extended family? Will the unknown enemy lurking in town be the Maestro’s downfall, or will he emerge victorious and hold his family within his grasp in time for the holidays? Find out about the tug of war in Book Four of the Cold Hollow Mystery series today.

A Butcher, a Baker, and a Cadaver Maker walk into a bar…who comes out alive? You never know in the twisted town of Cold Hollow, but you know it’s not going to be an ordinary day when you receive half a human face in the mail. Mayor Myrna Gillette and Chief Hanover are at it again when an unwanted visitor, bent on revenge, refuses to leave their town. With arsonists, the Mafia, and murderers to keep in check, Myrna is determined to keep her pleasant town intact while protecting its citizens. Grab your copy of The Butcher, the fifth and final book of the Cold Hollow Mysteries, today!

“I’m coming for you. You will never escape me.” She’s the most dangerous inmate in the hospital for the criminally insane…and she just broke out. When Trey Campbell takes his family to Catalina Island, his escaped patient leaves a trail of bodies behind as she hunts for her one true love – from a previous life.

Every Sunday afternoon for almost a year she strolls into the parking lot where you work and drives away in a car share. Every Sunday evening she brings it back. Until one day, when the car comes back, but she doesn’t. A stranger wearing cargo pants and an attitude shows up in her place. After he leaves, you find her bag and all her possessions in the trunk. You realize that wherever she is, she has nothing but the clothes on her back.

What do you do? You don’t know her well, but you know she disappeared. You’re afraid she’s been harmed, but no-one believes you. You think you know who’s responsible, but then that guy turns up dead. And when the cops open an investigation, you are their prime suspect in the murder.

Erstwhile taxi driver Alex Ryan is the guy in the parking lot. Sexy bank executive Chantal Dorval is the mystery woman. Who kidnapped her? Is she alive or dead? Who killed Cargo Pants? And why? Ryan sets out to answer these questions, to find Chantal and exonerate himself. But the more he learns about her life, the more disturbing secrets he discovers, and the more suspects he turns up. And the more the police are convinced he’s guilty.

Flash Drive is action-packed and sexually-charged. It deals with contemporary themes such as substance abuse, alternate lifestyles, and social media privacy issues. It will appeal to readers of the work of Gillian Flynn, Robert Galbraith (JKR), or Harlan Coben.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?—January 12th, 2026

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? a place to meet and share what you have been and are about to be reading over the week. It’s a great post to organize yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit, comment, and add to your groaning TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme started on J Kaye’s blog and then was hosted by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at The Book Date.

Jen Vincent, Teach Mentor Texts, and Kellee of Unleashing Readers decided to give It’s Monday! a kid-lit focus. If you read and review books in children’s literature – picture books, chapter books, middle-grade novels, young adult novels, or anything in those genres – join them.


What I am Reading Now

Would you survive?

The Barner family relocates to Cold Hollow, a small town nestled in a Vermont mountain range. They find it to be quite charming and the inhabitants endearing, except for a few residents. Odd laws are enforced, confrontations begin, and insanity reigns as a madman sits upon his imaginary throne, trying to keep the threads of his dream from unraveling. Will Sophia and Angus Barner be able to protect their children from the malevolence that lurks within the small township? With a corrupt police force in place, will vigilante justice come into play? How many disturbing murders have to happen for things to change? This the story of Cold Hollow, a place you’ll never want to visit.

A suspenseful thriller that will satisfy your love for small town mysteries. Get your copy today!


What I am reading Monday and Tuesday:

“The sun is shining, birds are chirping, and people are dying.” Life is not always perfect in the town of Cold Hollow, but with Mayor Myrna Bradbury at the helm, it might be someday. When a batch of newly paroled convicts arrives to take up residence in the small town, disappearances of longtime townsfolk begin, gruesome human remains are found, and a government inspection is looming on the horizon. Time is of the essence as Myrna and the new chief of police are thrust into an investigation the likes of which they had never imagined. Welcome to Cold Hollow, the place where the fun never ends. 

A great or distinguished figure in any sphere. Grim The personification of death. Combine these two and place them in the small mountain town of Cold Hollow. Sit back and watch the mayhem unfold as sinister dealings are in the air again. There are new arrivals, job placements, and housing to arrange, but with Mayor Myrna Bradbury busy with wedding planning and her fiancé’s family arriving in town, will she be able to keep up with the machinations? When a young girl goes missing, Myrna begins to strategize again, only to be stopped by “The Maestro.” Heads on a pike, inventive uses for nail files, garrotes, and twisted nursery rhymes all play a part in book three of the tooth-rattling Cold Hollow series.

Goodreads Monday: Shadow of a Life (Soul Savers: Book 1) by Tifani Clark

This is a weekly meme in which anyone can choose and highlight a random book from their Goodreads TBR. It was formerly featured on LaurensPageTurners and was taken over by Budget Tales Book Blog.


Goodreads Synopsis:

Jamie Peters plans to spend the summer before her junior year with her nose stuck in a book—not saving lost souls. Usually the girl that blends into the crowd, Jamie’s world is turned upside down when a mysterious ghost begins to follow her.

But Sophia isn’t just any ghost.

A hundred years earlier, Sophia’s disappearance sparked a national unsolved mystery. Jamie knew the legends surrounding Sophia’s disappearance, but never dreamed she’d find out what really happened . . . or that her family had something to do with Sophia’s disappearance.

Determined to set Sophia free, Jamie blows the dust off her family’s past and unearths clues to save Sophia’s soul. She enlists the help of childhood friend—and secret crush—Peter Ashby as she sets off on a dangerous quest to find a missing map. Spending the night in a graveyard, crawling through a dilapidated barn, and staring down the barrel of a gun aren’t enough to deter Jamie. But can she find the answers she needs before another ghost gets revenge on her and Sophia?

WWW Wednesday: January 7th, 2026

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

Here is what I am reading, recently finished, and plan to read from Thursday to Wednesday.

Let me know if you have read or plan to read any of these books!!

Happy Reading!


What I am currently reading:

The continuing saga of a band of military survivors trying to survive in a world destroyed by unknown creatures.

Abbey goes to her home city looking for answers, while others are transported to a place strangely familiar.


What I recently finished reading:

The continuing saga of a band of military survivors trying to survive in a world destroyed by unknown creatures.

With the battle for the camp behind them, Zach and Abbey set out on their journey to Boston, but quickly run into a world dealing with the Cascade in its own unique way.


What I plan on reading Thursday through Sunday:

The continuing saga of a band of military survivors trying to survive in a world destroyed by unknown creatures.

As the beings from another world try to correct their mistake, the humans must do what they can to survive while also battling their own kind.

It happens every year. A select few disappear, never to return.

From The Falkland Islands to the Himalayas, Puerto Rico to England – people are vanishing without trace or explanation. A young man who’s lost everything stumbles across an ancient secret.

Can he unlock the mystery? Will he find those who need him?

…can he escape the Unknown?

Would you survive?

The Barner family relocates to Cold Hollow, a small town nestled in a Vermont mountain range. They find it to be quite charming and the inhabitants endearing, except for a few residents. Odd laws are enforced, confrontations begin, and insanity reigns as a madman sits upon his imaginary throne, trying to keep the threads of his dream from unraveling. Will Sophia and Angus Barner be able to protect their children from the malevolence that lurks within the small township? With a corrupt police force in place, will vigilante justice come into play? How many disturbing murders have to happen for things to change? This the story of Cold Hollow, a place you’ll never want to visit.

“The sun is shining, birds are chirping, and people are dying.” Life is not always perfect in the town of Cold Hollow, but with Mayor Myrna Bradbury at the helm, it might be someday. When a batch of newly paroled convicts arrives to take up residence in the small town, disappearances of longtime townsfolk begin, gruesome human remains are found, and a government inspection is looming on the horizon. Time is of the essence as Myrna and the new chief of police are thrust into an investigation the likes of which they had never imagined. Welcome to Cold Hollow, the place where the fun never ends. Grab your copy today and enjoy!

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?—January 5th, 2026

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? a place to meet and share what you have been and are about to be reading over the week. It’s a great post to organize yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit, comment, and add to your groaning TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme started on J Kaye’s blog and then was hosted by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at The Book Date.

Jen Vincent, Teach Mentor Texts, and Kellee of Unleashing Readers decided to give It’s Monday! a kid-lit focus. If you read and review books in children’s literature – picture books, chapter books, middle-grade novels, young adult novels, or anything in those genres – join them.


What I am Reading Now

Being locked in a military cell was Zach’s world, until the world ended.

A group of ex-military try to survive and make sense of a post-apocalyptic world destroyed by unimaginable creatures, while dealing with their own dark pasts.


What I am reading Monday and Tuesday:

Rescuing what’s left of humanity while being hunted by creatures that shouldn’t exist.

A group of ex-military having made it to the salvation of the Austin camp, team up once again to go back out and rescue eighteen thousand people from across the country.

The continuing saga of a band of military survivors trying to survive in a world destroyed by unknown creatures.

Having made it to Portland, they are tasked to help bring children and the ill back to the safety of camp Bravo, while the mystery of what happened to the world grows deeper.

Goodreads Monday: A Demon Bound (Imp: Book 1) by Debra Dunbar

This is a weekly meme in which anyone can choose and highlight a random book from their Goodreads TBR. It was formerly featured on LaurensPageTurners and was taken over by Budget Tales Book Blog.


Goodreads Synopsis:

Imps just wanna have fun.

All Samantha Martin wants to do is drink beer by the pool, play mischievous pranks on the humans, and get her hot neighbor in the sack—oh, and avoid the angels who won’t hesitate to execute her on sight.

But when her naughty hellhound lands her in trouble and she’s blackmailed into catching a killer, Sam finds herself in the crosshairs of the very beings that want her dead. Run to Hel and give up all the earthly pleasures she’s learned to love? Stay and face a certain death? Or use her impish wiles to and hope to survive?

WARNING: This completed series has laugh-out loud antics, an OCD werewolf, and a sexy angel. Get ready to binge read!

Bookish Travels: December 2025 Destinations

I saw this meme on It’s All About Books and decided to do it once a month. Many thanks to Yvonne for initially posting this!!

This post is exactly what it says: the places I travel to in books each month.

Enjoy my travels, and please let me know if you have read these books.


Countries I visited the most: United States, England

States/Provinces I visited the mostIllinois, Florida

Cities I visited the most: Chicago, London, Rosewood


United States

Missouri (Kansas City), Illinois (Chicago), California (Napa Valley)
Illinois (Chicago), Alabama (Birmingham), Tennessee (Chattanooga)
Florida (Rosewood)
Nevada (Las Vegas)
Florida (Rosewood)
Florida (Rosewood)
North Carolina (Rome)

China (during the Opium Wars)

Linhua, Changsha, Canton, Shanghai, Wuhan

England

London
London
London
London
London
London
London
London
London
London
London
London
London
London
London
London
London
London
London
London
London
London
London

WWW Wednesday: December 31st, 2025

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

Here is what I am reading, recently finished, and plan to read from Thursday to Wednesday.

Let me know if you have read or plan to read any of these books!!

Happy Reading!


What I am currently reading:

Possessed villains. Intriguing guardians. Multiple words.
Ava Davenport is in the midst of her wedding preparations when her world is thrown upside down by a night visitor. He has a mind blowing message and Ava can’t keep her mind off it and… off him.

˃˃˃ The Contact
When she can no longer tell the difference between dreams and reality, she visits a shrink and a shaman. But when neither of them truly understand her, Ava gets closer with her visitor who explains why she is the most sought after person in all the worlds.

˃˃˃ The Descendant
Ava is not a regular human. She possesses abilities no other being in any world can imagine. She is the key to the evil Xemlix plan of enslaving Earth.

After being almost captured by the cruel villains, she is rescued by Meldrick Richglow, her night visitor, and she crosses the portal to the Lapo civilization, the land of milk and honey, where she is safe, but not for long.

The evil Xemlix are terrorizing Earth and can only be defeated with Ava’s supernatural abilities, which haven’t yet awakened.


What I recently finished reading:

While serving in the army in Afghanistan, Michael Cooper is informed that his wife and child are dead, killed in a store robbery in Modesto, California.The police have no leads, and while Mike finishes his tour and his enlistment, the case goes cold.Eight months after his families death, he returns to Modesto determined to hunt for justice.It’s up to Michael and his friends to track down the elusive killers and bring them to justice. If they can.


What I plan on reading Thursday through Sunday:

From the author of Breaking the Beast, the award-winning thriller, Erebus, and The New Homefront Series comes The Shepherd: Society Lost, Volume One, the first installment of the four-book Society Lost Series.

The Shepherd is the first installment of the post-apocalyptic and dystopian thrill ride of the Society Lost Series! If you like SHTF, TEOTWAWKI, vigilante justice, prepper, dystopian, post-apocalyptic tales filled with action, adventure, tragedy, and triumph, join Jessie Townsend as he and his family struggle in a collapsing and uncertain world.

The Shepherd: Society Lost, is an action-packed post-apocalyptic thrill ride detailing the struggles of former Sheriff Jessie Townsend as he and his family seek shelter from a crumbling world with a self-sufficient life on a homestead deep in the Rocky Mountains.

Sanctuary soon becomes what he meant to escape, peaceful bliss slipping into desperation and despair in the aftermath of events that shook the foundations that shaped our world to the core.

An unholy alliance of conspirators had sought the collapse of our civilization in order to rebuild and reclaim it as their own. Never truly intending to coexist, the unlikely allies found their courses diverging, leading to a struggle that dealt the final death blows to our society. In the absence of the order and structure of our modern civilization, evil, suffering, and chaos were unleashed throughout the world.

As the post-collapse struggles of the outside world begin to threaten Jessie’s mountain hideaway, a return to the world he left behind becomes a chance for redemption and survival in—a society lost.

Betrayal is the second installment of the post-apocalyptic and dystopian thrill ride of the Society Lost Series! If you like SHTF, TEOTWAWKI, vigilante justice, prepper, dystopian, post-apocalyptic tales filled with action, adventure, tragedy, and triumph, join Jessie Townsend as the struggles in his collapsing world continue.

After leaving Spence and the rescued girls with Jӧrgen and the remainder of his group, former Sheriff Jessie Townsend traveled the new and unforgiving world alone and on foot, continuing his quest to find his sister.

Still suffering tremendously from his tragic loss, Jessie walked the Earth as a prisoner of his own thoughts. Armed with his trusty old Colt Single Action Army pistol and an AR-10 platform rifle, Jessie was ready for whatever violence that may come his way. Although each of his days had a purpose, continuing on his quest that may or may not end before his death, Jessie felt a certain level of emotional numbness that only being alone could provide him.

Jessie found solitude in his empty heart—solitude that he felt he desperately needed—but not a day went by when he didn’t think back to those whom he had encountered along the way. In this mad and twisted world, devoid of law, order, and the civility that people around the world had come to expect as the norm prior to the great collapse, Jessie knew that there were still good people out there. Good people who would have to face the evil that this lawless and dangerous new world had spawned once the walls of society came crumbling down around them.

As his travels took him east past the Rocky Mountains and through the desert southwest, Jessie encountered the scene of a recent ambush near Fort Sumner, New Mexico. Appearing to him that children may have been involved, he could not simply pass on by without investigating further. Putting his former tactical and law-enforcement skills to use, he soon became both the hunter and the hunted as he resolved to impose justice on those who would betray others in their own quest for power. What his enemies would soon come to realize, however, is that you should never underestimate a man with nothing to lose—especially a man with an unquenched thirst for vengeance—in a society lost.

A cocoon of naiveté shatters on Rita Warren’s thirtieth wedding anniversary, when a terrorist murders her ex-Marine husband Jared and thirteen other movie goers.

Ensnarled in a cover-up that puts her in an assassin’s crosshairs, Rita must unravel a web of lies and connections that date back to Jared’s service in the Iraq war – before a mysterious kidnapper returns Rita’s daughter Zoe one body part at a time.

This fast-paced thriller is one you won’t want to put down from beginning to end.

When Tim, Maria and Bob’s fourteen year old apparently model son goes missing, they are baffled and distraught. A police investigation reveals Tim wasn’t quite the son they thought he was. Frantic attempts to find him fail, and when their quest becomes an obsession this causes problems between them. But they never give up, and are determined to find him DEAD OR ALIVE, even though it may cost them dear.