Tag: book 1

Goodreads Monday: Secret Crush (House of Morgan: Book 1) by Victoria Pinder

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:

Billionaire FBI agent John Morgan returns for his father’s funeral, igniting his interest in his sister’s best friend, and getting them both in danger.

For some, joining the FBI is a long-term goal. For billionaire John Morgan, joining the Bureau is a stepping stone to proving his father is culpable for his sister’s death. After his estranged father dies, John is forced to return home and face the ghosts of his past. But that proves to be more difficult than he ever imagined.

After losing her best friend under inexplicable circumstances, Alice Collins’ world view shifts until her small town sensibilities convinced her to attend Mr. Morgan’s funeral. Soon, the past and the present collide, and Alice is caught in the crosshairs. But when John comes to her aid, it only serves to complicate matters for both of them.

Can a handsome billionaire on a vendetta fall for a small town girl… or does he have something else in mind?

October 2026 Wrap-Up

Personal Highlights from this month:

  • For the week of September 28th through October 3rd:
    • Miss R’s birthday is this week. She turns 13!! We had a party for her on Sunday with her best friends and family.
    • I also took Miss R to an orthopedic doctor this week. I don’t remember if I mentioned it in last month’s post, but she had injured her knee while getting off a ride at a carnival. Three weeks later, it was still hurting her, and I took her to Urgent Care, and they referred her to the orthopedic doctor. He is almost certain that she tore her meniscus (or partially tore it) and has referred her for an MRI. She is also on complete rest, which means: no riding, no climbing stairs, no running until after the MRI.
    • Miss B’s car broke down while she was driving to work in SC (she travels all over GA, SC, NC, and part of TN). BK and I drove 2 hours to help her install a part.
    • Miss B’s car kept breaking down, even though what we installed should have fixed it. She took it to Miss J’s grandfather (who works on cars), and it turned out to be her water pump. He replaced it for her, and just in time, she has a 4-hour drive to Georgia (just outside Atlanta) for this week’s job.
    • I ended up getting sick with an awful head cold.
  • For the week of October 4th through October 10th:
    • And the school fundraiser starts. Miss R brought one home for chorus (puff pastry). The teacher has a goal of $3,000 for supplies, and she told the kids that they need 16 sales each (which realistically won’t happen). So far, 3 people bought from her (her dad and two neighbors). Maybe 3 more people will buy, so we probably did a little better than most… lol.
    • Also, school-related: Miss R was chosen to go to a chorus competition with two other girls. She is thrilled.
  • For the week of October 11th through October 17th:
    • BK went to Texas for a work meeting. Since moving up in the company, he doesn’t travel that much. At one point, he was traveling every week (Tues-Thursday).
    • I went to IKEA with my bestie, Mrs. H, on the 11th. It was a blast, and I found a kitchen table that I am going to buy before Christmas.
    • During the same trip, we also hit up World Market (which I had never been in before), TJ Maxx, and Marshalls.
    • Miss R also went to the barn this week, and it didn’t go as she expected. Her knee was killing her by the time we got home (so we elevated it, alternated ice and heat, and she put her brace on). She also got very sad that she couldn’t ride with her friends.
    • Miss B and Miss J’s apartment ceiling was having issues (it was soft and bulging after an intense rainstorm thanks to Isasias). So, they brought their cats here, and we are keeping them while repairs are made. Their landlord doesn’t know when the drywall or roof people will be there, so we might have them a while. My cats were not happy (lots of hissing, growling, and hiding the first three days).
    • I ended up with a migraine for most of this week. They are getting more common, and I think I need to bring it up with my Dr.
    • First-quarter grades ended this week, and Miss R is on the A/B honor roll.
    • They also gave the kids their first good-grades/good-behavior reward this week. To attend, kids need a grade above a C and no trouble on the bus or at school that resulted in ISS or OSS. Miss R said it was boring, just hanging out in the gym.
  • For the week of October 18th through October 24th:
    • Miss R had her MRI. There was no tear to her meniscus!! We still don’t know whether she’ll need to go to PT or continue with the brace a little longer. But it was very good news!!
    • I took one of my brown tabbies, Vinnie, to the vet on Friday. It was his yearly appointment, and I also wanted advice on some behavioral issues he was having. He got his 3-year rabies shot and had a bad reaction to it. He threw up continuously for 30 minutes (about 20 times) after we got home and then continued puking off/on for the rest of the day. I did let my vet know, and she is making a note in his chart about the reaction. I have never had an animal (cat or dog) react to the rabies shot before.

Week of October 25th through October 31st will be on the November post

Books I Read:

  • The Without series by Aubrey Bondurant: Another quick turnaround with my reading. I went from Regency England to present-day Texas. I have the entire series (3 books) downloaded and cannot wait to read them!!
  • The Emergence series by JT Sawyer: Another quick turnaround. I went from romance to post-apocalyptic zombie horror. So, sorry for the whiplash. I got almost all the books on KU (two free). And talk about perfect timing because I started this series on October 1st!!
  • The Gesa’s Menagerie series by Kaye Draper: And yet another quick turn to a different genre, paranormal romance. I got the first book for free, but I need to buy the rest. So I’m waiting for them to either go on KU or become free.
  • The Night Drop: Resistance in the Wetland by Ian D. Wright: This book takes us back to WWII France and 1960s France in the same area. I haven’t been reading much WWII fiction. Update: I got stuck on this book for a week. Because I was reading it for a challenge, I refused to DNF it. But man, it was very dry and a little boring.
  • Above All Things by Deborah Raney: Another reading-challenge book, and another book I didn’t love. This was a Christian contemporary fiction book. It wasn’t overtly preachy. I also didn’t get closure at the end. Part of the storyline was left unanswered.
  • The Unnaturals series by Jessica Meigs: And we switch to paranormal. I mean, who doesn’t read a paranormal urban fantasy right after a Christian contemporary book… lol. I got the first book in the series (not the prequel, but book 1) for free. I was fortunate that the other 4 books were on KU. I am also reading one of the books for a reading challenge.

Monthly Playlist

Featured Song(s) of the Month

Goodreads Monday: Our Options Have Changed (On Hold: Book 1) by Julia Kent

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:

Having it all is a fantasy, right? Chloe Browne knows all about fantasy. Fantasy is her job. And she’s very, very good at what she does. As director of design for the O Spa chain, a sophisticated women’s club that is trending its way into being the Next Big Thing, Chloe’s ready to take on the world. One baby at a time. Her home study’s done, and she’s about to adopt, a thirty-something single mother by choice. Who needs to put her life on hold for the right guy when the right baby is waiting for her? Besides, talk about fantasy. The right guy? Pfft. Right. And then in walks Nick Grafton, with those commanding sapphire eyes and wavy blonde hair and a sophisticated mouth that only smiles for her. He’s perfect. But the last thing Nick wants is to start fresh with a new baby as his college-age kids fly the coop. A single father for more than fifteen years after his wife walked out on her family, Nick finally tastes freedom. But he likes the taste of Chloe more.

Goodreads Monday: Cuffed (Untouchables MC: Book 1) by Joanna Blake

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:

I’m a bad man with a dark past. She’s innocent in every way. I’m about to break all the rules, just to make her mine.

I’m a Special Agent assigned to take down a notorious biker club. She’s just a girl who’s in the wrong place at the wrong time. But I can’t bend the rules, even if I know she’s innocent.

Casey Jones is a natural beauty with curves that won’t quit. With her big doe eyes and long legs, she’s pure temptation. She’s barely old enough to be working in a place that serves alcohol, but I can’t stop myself from wanting to make her a woman.

My woman.

She’s in the middle of something bad, and too stubborn to see that. But I can’t fight the need to get her into my bed and keep her there.

Now all I want to do is protect her.

Goodreads Monday: Deliver (Deliver: Book 1) by Pam Godwin

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:

His name was Joshua Carter. Now it’s whatever she wants it to be.
She is a Deliverer.
She lures young men and delivers them to be sold. She delivers the strikes that enforce their obedience. She delivers the sexual training that determines their purchase price.
As long as she delivers, the arrangement that protects her family will hold.
Delivering is all she knows.
The one thing she can’t deliver is a captive from slavery.
Until him.
And her stubborn slave thinks he can deliver her…from herself.

Goodreads Monday: Keeping Katie (A Mother’s Heart: Book 1) by Patricia Keelyn

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:

Maura Anderson was out of options.

Her adopted daughter, three-year-old Katie, is her entire world, and no heartless legal system was going to take her baby away. She did what any mother would do. She grabs Katie and runs.

Sheriff Alan Parks believes in the law, following it and enforcing it to the letter. Then Maura Anderson shows up in his small, quiet town, and he knows she’s running from something. At first, he assumes she’s running from someone – an ex-husband or boyfriend – but when she won’t confide in him he starts wondering. Who is this woman who’s captured his heart, and what or who is she afraid of? When he finds the answers, however, a part of him wishes he’d never asked the question. Because how can he help her when he represents what she’s fleeing . . . the law.

September 2026 Wrap-Up

Personal Highlights from this month:

  • For the week of August 31st through September 5th:
    • Miss R is having a better week this week. She made up with both friends, is somewhat used to the 5:30 wake-up time, and is used to her new schedule.
    • Mr. Z got sick. He has the college crud (sore throat/cough). But other than that, he is doing well. His grades are good (aside from a few missing homework assignments); he likes his work, and he is getting along well with his roommate.
    • I am sick of this heat. We’re in the middle of a heat wave, and with the humidity we’re having, it is unbearable out (98 feels like 105-110). Miss R was supposed to have a sleepover at her barn this weekend, but the owner moved it to October… because of the heat. She also said that she canceled lessons (heat is not good for the horses either). I can’t wait for cooler weather.
    • Mr. Z came home from the weekend. He needed a break from school, and it was a long weekend, so we went and got him.
  • For the week of September 6th through September 12th:
    • We dropped Mr. Z back at his dorm, only for him to realize that he had left his backpack here. So we made the hour-long trip back down, grabbed his backpack, and went back up.
    • Miss R went to a fair with a friend on Monday. She had a blast, but towards the end, she fell and cut her leg. She also got motion sickness after a ride and puked beside it.
    • I got a call from Miss R’s ELA teacher. He praised her, said she was a good student, and told me that he thinks she could score a 4 or a 5 on the EOG (end-of-grade testing). He also confirmed that she was in honors ELA.
    • We ended the week not great. I am not going to get into it, but something happened at school, and I had to take Miss R home because she became hysterical. Thankfully, the teachers, guidance counselors, and principal were wonderful!!
  • For the week of September 13th through September 19th:
    • Miss R had an orthodontist appointment. She is one more appointment away from getting a bite plate installed, and I believe she will have to start wearing elastics. She is thrilled (sarcasm).
    • Mr. Z got his first-ever paycheck from his dining hall job. He was thrilled… lol.
    • I tried halal for the first time, and I loved it!!
    • I got a phone call for Miss R’s CTE/Advisory teacher, and she is doing great in that class. I am a little confused as to why the teachers are calling me to give updates (my other two went through the same school, and I never got a phone call). But hey, as long as they’re good phone calls, I’ll take it!!
    • Miss R went to the first school dance of the year. She had a blast.
  • For the week of September 20th through September 26th:
    • BK’s birthday is this week. We (Miss R, Mr. Z, Miss B, Miss J, and I) got him an ice coffee maker. I also picked up pizza stones that go in the oven (he broke his at the beginning of the year).
    • I ended up taking Miss R to urgent care on Thursday. She had fallen getting off a carnival ride and hurt her knee a couple of weeks back. Fast forward to this week, and it is still hurting her. Long story short (and a 3-hour visit), she has a partially torn tendon. She has to wear a brace for a week, do no exercise, and she has to take the elevator at school. She is not thrilled about this.

I will be starting October’s monthly posts on Sunday, September 27th.

Books I Read:

  • Sapphire Falls series by Erin Nicholas: I am continuing this series from August and have 6 left to read. I won’t be finishing the series because some books are either not available on Kindle/Kindle Unlimited or are only available in paperback/Audible. So, I will check back from time to time and grab them when I can.
  • Jet City Matchmaker series by Gina Robinson: I am only reading one book in the series (the first) and have put the rest on the “series I need to finish” shelf on Goodreads (on The StoryGraph, I just don’t log them). Hopefully, they will go on KU or become free at some point.
  • Silverlake Shifters series by Anastasia Wilde: The first book in this series has been on my TBR for about 6-7 years. So, yes, I am happy to be reading it. I am also happy that the other two books in the series were on KU, so I can knock them out.
  • Hidden Hills Shifters series by Vella Day: I have read quite a few books by Vella Day and have enjoyed them all. So, I was a little disappointed when I went on Goodreads and saw that the rest of this series was buy-only (in this economy, I have to watch what I spend, and $3.99 a book is expensive). So, I will be waiting for the rest of the series to either go on KU or go free.
  • The Trust Fund Duet series by Skye Warren: Like Vella Day, I have read quite a few books by Skye Warren. And like the Hidden Hills Shifters series, I am only reading the first book in this series. I’m waiting for the rest of the series to either go on KU or become free.
  • The Other by Marilyn Peake: Finally, a book that is not in a series!! I was so happy when I saw there were zero books attached to it….lmao.
  • The Matchmaking for Wallflowers series by Bianca Blythe: I am only reading 3 of the 6 books. For some reason, half the books are on KU and the others you have to buy. There must be a reason for doing it that way, and I do plan to go back and check whether the books ever return to KU (or, even better, become free). I am also hoping not to carry this series over to October (keeping my fingers crossed that I don’t).

Monthly Playlist

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2g9eMUPJhk11yBw6mD5jsH?si=791236bdfc114d9e&pt=e5d609312f62dcb6906f9b5790da0b2d

Featured Song of the Month

Goodreads Monday: Temptation (Club X: Book 1) by K.M. Scott

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:

The Club X Series, a scorching hot new erotic contemporary romance series by New York Times bestselling author K.M. Scott.

Cassian March, the public face of Tampa’s most exclusive nightspot, Club X, has a great life. Women, sex, and money are his for the taking, and no man indulges his desires more. Life is short, and he plays hard. He lives by only one rule—never let a woman get close.

Olivia Lucas needs a job, and if that means working at a club that specializes in making members’ wildest fantasies come true, then that’s what she’ll do. A girl’s got to pay the rent, right? She never expected to fall for the gorgeous owner of Club X, though, but a man like him would never go for someone like her. Or would he?

Goodreads Monday: The Way We Fall (The Story of Us: Book 1) by Cassia Leo

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:

From New York Times bestselling author Cassia Leo comes a twisted and passionate love story about secrets and lies.

Five pages. A letter holding a secret buried for more than five years. A secret neither of them wanted to know.

Five years after their messy breakup, Houston and Rory are forced to work together opening up a new wine bar. Despite their tragic past, they find themselves once again drawn to each other, unable to deny their potent attraction.

But the secret of the letter hangs like a guillotine over their heads. And soon, Houston finds himself in the same position he was in five years ago, choosing between the truth and the only woman he’s ever loved.

Goodreads Monday: Poison (The Seaclusion: Book 1) by Leanne Davis

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:

On the run from her violent ex-husband, Cassie Reeves will do anything to keep her son safe, even if it means turning to a man she betrayed a decade ago. John Tyler now hates her as much as he once loved her–but Cassie has no choice. John’s quiet life as a small town doctor in Seaclusion, Washington has no place in it for the woman he turned his back on ten years ago. But when Cassie and her son land on his doorstep, he can’t turn them away. The longer she stays, though, the harder it is to remember why he stopped loving her. With her ex-husband closing in, Cassie soon realizes that only she can end what he has started. And as John and Cassie’s mutual attraction reignites, she vows to do anything to protect her son and grab the happiness that has escaped her for so long.