Tag: Erin Nicholas

Bookish Travels: September 2026 Destinations

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

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 or visited these destinations.

Countries I visited the most

  • United States
  • England
  • Scotland

States/Provinces/Counties I visited the most:

  • Nebraska
  • Nevada
  • Colorado
  • Idaho
  • Yorkshire

Cities I visited the most:

  • Sapphire Falls
  • Denver
  • Silverlake
  • Harrogate
  • London

United States

Haiti

England

Scotland

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

WWW Wednesday: September 9th, 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, what I recently finished, and what I plan to read from Thursday to Wednesday.

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

What I am currently reading:

You don’t need a cape to be a hero.

One beautiful trend-spotting consultant.
One hot Seattle multimillionaire looking for his soul mate.
They meet first by accident. But when their matchmaker pairs them up, falling in love is anything but accidental.

Jeremy Marino is the kind of guy who runs towards the sound of gunfire, leaping in to help anyone in trouble. His friends call him the accidental hero. He always seems to be at the right place at the right time to save a life.

Crystal Pruitt is the kind of woman who instinctively jumps in to help people in trouble. Her friends call her the accidental heroine. But a cool-hunter like her can’t afford any publicity.

When they meet working to save a trucker from his burning beer truck, the chemistry between them is off the charts. Until Crystal disappears into the gathering crowd, leaving Jeremy wondering if he’ll ever be able to find her again. Was their attraction real or just the heat of the moment?

MR. ACCIDENTAL HERO is book 1 of the Jet City Matchmaker series. This is a standalone novel.

What I recently finished reading:

Bryan Murray always knew that he wanted to come home to Sapphire Falls and settle down with Tessa Sheridan. After all, Tessa’s sweet and kind and beautiful and planning to live in Sapphire Falls forever. Best of all, she’s loved him since kindergarten. She’s the perfect forever girl for him. He just didn’t expect it to all happen quite like this. But a not-so-little tumble down a mountain while biking has turned his life upside down and landed him back at home.

A longtime coach to high level athletes, Bryan knows all about facing obstacles head-on and turning challenges into opportunities. So, things aren’t going exactly the way he planned them– at least Tessa is the same girl who’s just been waiting for him to come home.

Tessa has been saving herself for Bryan in every way. She’s even been saving her pennies so she could move to Colorado to train with him for the marathon trophies she’s got her heart set on–a new passion she’s discovered all because of Bryan. But now he’s messed everything up. Not only is he bartending instead of coaching, but he’s decided to go from a hot, sexy playboy type to sweet romantic boyfriend material. And worst of all, he’s doing it all in Sapphire Falls.

What’s a girl gotta do to get away from her hometown and have an adventure or two? Now that marathon training and hot sex against the shower wall are out of the question with Bryan, Tess has to come up with a new plan to make her dreams, and fantasies, come true. All while being romanced by the only man who’s ever had her heart.

What I plan on reading Thursday through Sunday:

A Fugitive Mate…
Emma Wilkes is on the run from her ex-boyfriend—with a stolen laptop containing evidence of his crimes. When she meets a hot guy in a truck stop bar, she pretends to be his date, hoping to throw her ex’s hit squad off her trail.

A Desperate Alpha…
Alpha wolf Jace Monroe has only weeks to find a true mate and bond with her, or he’ll lose his pack and his territory. To him, the stranger coming on to him is just a delectably curvy distraction from his troubles. But to his wolf, she’s the one.

One Wild Night
So when Emma steals Jace’s motorcycle and vanishes from his motel room in the middle of the night, Jace vows to track her down and find out who she really is—a conniving con woman, or the mate he’s been waiting for all his life.

But can he find her—and persuade her to trust him—before time runs out for both of them?

Silverlake Shifters
Smokin’ hot shifter men with hearts of gold; the strong, passionate women who love them; secrets, lies and danger; naughty, steamy love scenes—and happily ever afters.

Content warning: This book contains naughty language and steamy love scenes, and is intended for adults only.

Silverlake Second

Rafe Connors is spiraling out, taking crazy risks and starting bar fights just to keep his wolf sane. One rainy night he goes too far, and a posse of drunk, pissed-off townies runs him off the road, crashing his motorcycle into a ravine. Left for dead, Rafe is rescued by a mysterious white wolf shifter, who tends his wounds and then disappears.

Terin Whitney has no memory of her childhood, or the trauma that stole her past. Ever since her human protector died, she’s survived on her own. She can’t forget the breathtaking man she saved, but all her instincts tell her she needs to stay out of sight, or the danger she escaped in the past will find her in the present.

When Rafe runs into a group of poachers hunting Terin, he knows he has to find her first. But his wild, mysterious, gentle-seeming lone wolf has a yard full of pit traps and a cache of weapons under her floor—and no intention of leaving her isolated cabin to rely on strangers for protection. Not even if one of them is Rafe.

Rafe will do whatever it takes to win Terin’s trust—and her love. But when the hunters come after her with a vengeance, Terin will have to find the courage to listen to her heart, or risk losing everything.

Silverlake Shifters,—Hot wild shifter men with hearts of gold; the strong, passionate women who love them; secrets, lies and danger—and happily ever afters.

A Dangerous Secret…
As a half-breed wolf shifter, Sophia has spent her whole life convincing her pack that her tiger side doesn’t exist. Only her adopted father, Nash Jenkins, knows the truth: that it’s a dangerous, out-of-control monster—a ticking time bomb that he plans to use to destroy the Silverlake wolf pack from the inside.

A Deal Breaker…
Whether it’s stopping a war or cutting a business deal, Jesse Travis is the Silverlake pack’s go-to negotiator. Negotiating a mating contract between his pack’s Enforcer and the daughter of the powerful Nashville alpha looks like a slam dunk—until Jesse and his wolf fall for Sophia like a ton of bricks.

A Deadly Threat…
No man has ever made Sophia feel the way Jesse does. But if she tells him the truth and turns against her father, Nash will out her as a rogue tiger and give her to the Shifter Council to be put down. So when unexpected danger drives Sophia’s wild side to the surface, Jesse has to tame her tiger and convince her to become the woman he knows she can be—or die trying.

Silverlake Shifters
Smokin’ hot shifter men with hearts of gold; the strong, passionate women who love them; secrets, lies and danger; naughty, steamy love scenes—and happily ever afters.

Content warning: This book contains naughty language and steamy love scenes, and is intended for adults only.

This book was in the box set, SPRING SHIFTERS IN LOVE
Contains explicit hot sex

Sometimes the best things in life are unexpected.

Cheyenne Snow has been given an ultimatum by her pack’s Alpha—who unfortunately is her father. Find a shifter husband in the next four months when he retires, or she’ll be forced to marry the unsavory Chuck Lord. Understanding that the odds of her meeting the deadline are slim, Chey decides to go out with a bang and find a human diversion.

When Dr. Storm Durant comes to Hidden Hills, North Carolina, to take over the practice of a retiring physician, he never excepts to be immediately drawn to the incredibly smart, sensual, and sassy Cheyenne Snow. He can’t even explain the intense attraction, but he willingly participates when she seduces him.

The euphoria is cut dramatically short when Storm finds out that the woman he’s falling for is not only a shifter but is just using him to bide her time until she marries.

Chey knows what she wants, and Storm can give her what she needs, but will it be forever or just a spring fling?

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?—September 7th 2026

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet and share what you have been reading and what you are about to read this 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 everyone. This meme started on J Kaye’s blog and was then hosted by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at The Book Date.

What I am Reading Now

Bryan Murray always knew that he wanted to come home to Sapphire Falls and settle down with Tessa Sheridan. After all, Tessa’s sweet and kind and beautiful and planning to live in Sapphire Falls forever. Best of all, she’s loved him since kindergarten. She’s the perfect forever girl for him. He just didn’t expect it to all happen quite like this. But a not-so-little tumble down a mountain while biking has turned his life upside down and landed him back at home.

A longtime coach to high level athletes, Bryan knows all about facing obstacles head-on and turning challenges into opportunities. So, things aren’t going exactly the way he planned them– at least Tessa is the same girl who’s just been waiting for him to come home.

Tessa has been saving herself for Bryan in every way. She’s even been saving her pennies so she could move to Colorado to train with him for the marathon trophies she’s got her heart set on–a new passion she’s discovered all because of Bryan. But now he’s messed everything up. Not only is he bartending instead of coaching, but he’s decided to go from a hot, sexy playboy type to sweet romantic boyfriend material. And worst of all, he’s doing it all in Sapphire Falls.

What’s a girl gotta do to get away from her hometown and have an adventure or two? Now that marathon training and hot sex against the shower wall are out of the question with Bryan, Tess has to come up with a new plan to make her dreams, and fantasies, come true. All while being romanced by the only man who’s ever had her heart.

What I plan to read Tuesday and Wednesday:

You don’t need a cape to be a hero.

One beautiful trend-spotting consultant.
One hot Seattle multimillionaire looking for his soul mate.
They meet first by accident. But when their matchmaker pairs them up, falling in love is anything but accidental.

Jeremy Marino is the kind of guy who runs towards the sound of gunfire, leaping in to help anyone in trouble. His friends call him the accidental hero. He always seems to be at the right place at the right time to save a life.

Crystal Pruitt is the kind of woman who instinctively jumps in to help people in trouble. Her friends call her the accidental heroine. But a cool-hunter like her can’t afford any publicity.

When they meet working to save a trucker from his burning beer truck, the chemistry between them is off the charts. Until Crystal disappears into the gathering crowd, leaving Jeremy wondering if he’ll ever be able to find her again. Was their attraction real or just the heat of the moment?

MR. ACCIDENTAL HERO is book 1 of the Jet City Matchmaker series. This is a standalone novel.

A Fugitive Mate…
Emma Wilkes is on the run from her ex-boyfriend—with a stolen laptop containing evidence of his crimes. When she meets a hot guy in a truck stop bar, she pretends to be his date, hoping to throw her ex’s hit squad off her trail.

A Desperate Alpha…
Alpha wolf Jace Monroe has only weeks to find a true mate and bond with her, or he’ll lose his pack and his territory. To him, the stranger coming on to him is just a delectably curvy distraction from his troubles. But to his wolf, she’s the one.

One Wild Night
So when Emma steals Jace’s motorcycle and vanishes from his motel room in the middle of the night, Jace vows to track her down and find out who she really is—a conniving con woman, or the mate he’s been waiting for all his life.

But can he find her—and persuade her to trust him—before time runs out for both of them?

Silverlake Shifters
Smokin’ hot shifter men with hearts of gold; the strong, passionate women who love them; secrets, lies and danger; naughty, steamy love scenes—and happily ever afters.

Content warning: This book contains naughty language and steamy love scenes, and is intended for adults only.

WWW Wednesday: September 2nd, 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, what I recently finished, and what I plan to read from Thursday to Wednesday.

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

What I am currently reading:

TJ Bennett knows one thing for certain — being in love isn’t for him. Been there, done that, has the scars to prove it.

But that’s before he meets colorful, sweet, slightly-kooky Hope Daniels.

Hope is only in town temporarily. She simply wants to have a cup of coffee with the father she’s never known. That’s it. She doesn’t need to buy any Father’s Day cards or have a date for any Father-Daughter dances. She just wants to have a conversation with the man who stole her mother’s heart twenty six summers ago in Sapphire Falls.

But when her directions lead her to TJ’s house instead, everything becomes a lot more complicated… and a lot more interesting.

Because there’s nothing like a big gruff introvert to push this extrovert’s let-me-make-it-all-better buttons.

All of TJ’s plans to stay uninvolved and out of her way evaporate quickly and before he knows it, Hope’s got him thinking differently about everything — family, home, heartbreak and maybe, just maybe, the fact that he’s never actually been in love… before now.

What I recently finished reading:

There’s nothing like summertime in Sapphire Falls and Tucker Bennett is looking forward to hosting his best friend’s four young sons for the next three months. This is their first trip to Tuck’s farm since their father’s passing, and he’s fully prepared to step up for the boys. He’s also thrilled by the instant attraction to their aunt Delaney. He’s only ever wanted three things in life—his farm, a wife and kids. He’s already got the farm. Now it looks like Fate has delivered the rest in one complete just-add-dirt-bikes-and-a-new-puppy package.

Delaney Callan is beyond grateful for Tucker’s help while she catches her breath from becoming a sudden surrogate mother to her nephews. And she’s not immune to the sexual tension bouncing between them. But with all her focus on not screwing everything up with her nephews, there’s no time for a relationship, especially with marriage-minded Tucker. Of course, a casual summer fling is something else. After all, it would be a shame to waste a perfectly good barn…

Casual is the last thing Tucker wants. He’s set on taking care of Delaney and the boys, while she’s determined to prove she can go it alone. But she didn’t count on Sapphire Falls, the adorable little town filled with the loving, impossible-to-ignore Bennett family, well-meaning friends and everything four little boys could ever wish for.

What’s Delaney to do when the most impossible-to-ignore Bennett of all shows her the difference between what she needs and what she wants…and he turns out to be both?

If you’re a fan of Booze, bonfires, proposal-inducing pastry and using hay bales as a horizontal surface, this story is for you.

What I plan on reading Thursday through Sunday:

Hailey Conner has been driving Ty Bennett crazy for years. And vice versa.
It’s kind of their thing. But Ty is ready to make their thing into something more. And he’s moved in next door to make it happen.

But is he *really* ready?

Ty loves the confident, sassy, sexy mayor’s Ice Queen act…because he loves making her melt. But he soon finds there’s more underneath all that frostiness. And things are about to come to a full boil…

WARNING: If you’re new to the series, this is *not* the story to start with 🙂 Everyone in the series is mentioned and interact and, well, it’s crazy fun for fans of the series but will be pretty confusing to newcomers. Also, there are spoilers! So, if you want to take a holiday trip to Sapphire Falls for the first time, check out Getting In the Spirit, the first Sapphire Falls Christmas novella! Happy reading!

* * *

It’s just days before Christmas, almost a year since Levi Spencer and Kate Leggot accidentally fell in love in Sapphire Falls, and they want to make it official. Surrounded by friends and family in their adopted hometown, Kate and Levi will marry and celebrate in the town square where they shared their first kiss. It will be absolutely perfect…

Except for the massive snowstorm about to hit town.

Now, thanks to Jack Frost and multiple flight cancellations, Levi and Kate are separated by hundreds of miles. It looks like all the wedding preparations will go to waste.

But Sapphire Falls always looks on the bright side. And they don’t cancel a perfectly good party, even for Jack Frost.

There will be a wedding… the only question is who will be walking down the aisle?

Also book 2.5 in the Love Between Bases series

A fun and flirty crossover novel from bestselling authors, Jennifer Bernard (Love Between the Bases) and Erin Nicholas (Sapphire Falls)!

Caitlyn Murray has never let on that she’s had fantasies about her brother’s friend Eli Anderson for years. She’d do anything for the sexy baseball player who walked away from stardom to stay in Sapphire Falls and take care of his family. But she and Eli are friends. Just friends.

So when her brother hatches a plan to get Eli to the pro baseball try-out for the Kilby Catfish and another chance at his dream, Caitlyn is all in. After all, what’s a little kidnapping among friends?

A spot on the pitcher’s mound for the Catfish isn’t the only tempting thing about the spontaneous road trip. Eli already knows that Caitlyn is as sweet as the candies she makes for the Sapphire Falls bakery, but alone with her overnight in the tiny motel room in Kansas, it’s impossible to resist the urge to take a little taste.

But when that taste leads to falling for the girl next door just as his front door is moving hundreds of miles away, can Eli really have it all? Or do they have too many strikes against them?

Bryan Murray always knew that he wanted to come home to Sapphire Falls and settle down with Tessa Sheridan. After all, Tessa’s sweet and kind and beautiful and planning to live in Sapphire Falls forever. Best of all, she’s loved him since kindergarten. She’s the perfect forever girl for him. He just didn’t expect it to all happen quite like this. But a not-so-little tumble down a mountain while biking has turned his life upside down and landed him back at home.

A longtime coach to high level athletes, Bryan knows all about facing obstacles head-on and turning challenges into opportunities. So, things aren’t going exactly the way he planned them– at least Tessa is the same girl who’s just been waiting for him to come home.

Tessa has been saving herself for Bryan in every way. She’s even been saving her pennies so she could move to Colorado to train with him for the marathon trophies she’s got her heart set on–a new passion she’s discovered all because of Bryan. But now he’s messed everything up. Not only is he bartending instead of coaching, but he’s decided to go from a hot, sexy playboy type to sweet romantic boyfriend material. And worst of all, he’s doing it all in Sapphire Falls.

What’s a girl gotta do to get away from her hometown and have an adventure or two? Now that marathon training and hot sex against the shower wall are out of the question with Bryan, Tess has to come up with a new plan to make her dreams, and fantasies, come true. All while being romanced by the only man who’s ever had her heart.

August 2026 Wrap-Up

Personal Highlights from this month:

  • For the days of July 30th through August 1st
    • Miss R finished the leadership camp. She was invited by the head of the camp to join his Junior Explorers group when she’s 14 (next year). She is very excited to have gotten that invitation!
    • I also confirmed that Miss R will be doing wrestling this school year (not too thrilled about that).
    • Miss R also got thrown off the horse she was riding during her Saturday lesson. She’s fine (some whiplash, a sprained wrist, and a huge bruise on her hip). The horse had gotten stung by a wasp, bucked, and then bolted. She got thrown off when he made a sharp turn. He is also all right (no lasting issues from the sting).
  • For the week of August 2nd through August 8th
    • It is one week until Mr. Z moves into his dorm. We started boxing up stuff that he wasn’t using and will finish packing over the weekend.
    • It was the last week of Miss R doing camp at the barn. She is thankful that she can sleep past 7:30 a.m. lol.
  • For the week of August 9th through August 15th:
    • We moved Mr. Z into his dorm this week. It was uneventful, and he seems to be getting along with his roommate.
    • I did Miss R’s back-to-school shopping (clothes and supplies). We also picked up a few things for Mr. Z (we went back over the weekend to drop off some he forgot).
  • For the week of August 16th through August 22nd:
    • I finally got to try 7 Brew and Guthrie’s Chicken. I loved 7 Brew but was not too fond of Guthrie’s.
    • Mr. Z started classes on the 17th. His first class is also his furthest class (a 5-minute shuttle ride or a 15-minute walk).
    • Miss R has her sneak peek (for school) later on this week. She meets the teachers, gets her schedule, and confirms transportation. We are also talking to the wrestling coach to get a sports physical form.
    • Miss R also got her hair done. She did red chunks with her natural color, brunette. It looks really good.
  • For the week of August 23rd through August 29th
    • School started this week.
    • And since we are on the subject of school, Mr. Z is loving college. He’s acclimated pretty well.
    • Miss R is loving school. The school is doing something different. They are splitting science and social studies into different semesters. Right now, Miss R is in science. Next semester, she will be in social studies. I think it is a good way to get the kids used to that kind of schedule shift for high school.
    • Miss R isn’t loving the bus ride, though. Her route got changed because that driver retired. So, two routes were combined, and they have a new driver. On the first day of school, she was 10 minutes late getting there (they start at 7:20, and the bus got there at 7:30). But it was the ride home that got parents complaining (not me, though). Miss R was dropped off at 3:10ish (her regular time). The rest of the route took almost 1 1/2 hours to drop off because the driver got lost. Thankfully, the assistant principal will be driving with that driver until he gets the hang of the route.

Books I Read:

Monthly Playlist (I use songs featured in the book, if there are any, along with a playlist generated by ChatGPT).

Featured Song of the Month

Bookish Travels: August 2026 Destinations

Bookish Travels

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 most: Texas, Nebraska

Cities I visited the most: San Antonio, London, Dover, Sapphire Falls

United States

England

Scotland

Hati

France

Beat the Backlist 2026—August

Prompts I finished in August

Food brings everyone together—a book about food or featuring food prominently

The female main character is opening a candy shop.

WWW Wednesday: August 26th, 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, what I recently finished, and what I plan to read from Thursday to Wednesday.

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

What I am currently reading:

There’s nothing like summertime in Sapphire Falls and Tucker Bennett is looking forward to hosting his best friend’s four young sons for the next three months. This is their first trip to Tuck’s farm since their father’s passing, and he’s fully prepared to step up for the boys. He’s also thrilled by the instant attraction to their aunt Delaney. He’s only ever wanted three things in life—his farm, a wife and kids. He’s already got the farm. Now it looks like Fate has delivered the rest in one complete just-add-dirt-bikes-and-a-new-puppy package.

Delaney Callan is beyond grateful for Tucker’s help while she catches her breath from becoming a sudden surrogate mother to her nephews. And she’s not immune to the sexual tension bouncing between them. But with all her focus on not screwing everything up with her nephews, there’s no time for a relationship, especially with marriage-minded Tucker. Of course, a casual summer fling is something else. After all, it would be a shame to waste a perfectly good barn…

Casual is the last thing Tucker wants. He’s set on taking care of Delaney and the boys, while she’s determined to prove she can go it alone. But she didn’t count on Sapphire Falls, the adorable little town filled with the loving, impossible-to-ignore Bennett family, well-meaning friends and everything four little boys could ever wish for.

What’s Delaney to do when the most impossible-to-ignore Bennett of all shows her the difference between what she needs and what she wants…and he turns out to be both?

If you’re a fan of Booze, bonfires, proposal-inducing pastry and using hay bales as a horizontal surface, this story is for you.

What I recently finished reading:

Travis Bennett is exactly the kind of guy Lauren Davis has been avoiding for the past nine years. Religiously. Stubbornly. Successfully. She knows too well how easy it is to let lust ruin perfectly laid plans. And a small town farmer with no ambitions beyond the borders of his own cornfield is not going to change her mind. She’s got important stuff to do. Her company is literally working to stop world hunger. Her plans are much bigger than Sapphire Falls. No matter how hot those farmers might be.

The problem is–Lauren is falling in love. With Sapphire Falls. To kick her sudden desire to buy a welcome mat and start baking pies, she asks Travis to help her get over her crush. She wants him to show her what life in the small town is really like behind all the sweetness and sunshine and remind her that there’s no place for French manicures and Gucci heels on the farm.

Travis has everything he wants or needs–a quiet, simple life in his hometown, a successful farm and his friends and family all around. A hoity-toity city chick who looks down on everything from the local coffee to his favorite music is the last girl he wants sticking around. So he agrees to her crazy plan. He can definitely show her the less-than-glitzy, rough-around-the-edges side of Sapphire Falls. In fact, things just might get downright dirty.

You should know that this book contains a hot country boy who talks like a country boy (yep, all the bad words), a sassy city girl who also talks like a country boy sometimes, sexy scenes that don’t leave much to the imagination, references to bisexuality, references to many facets of small town living, and a lot of dirt… of all kinds.

What I plan on reading Thursday through Sunday:

TJ Bennett knows one thing for certain — being in love isn’t for him. Been there, done that, has the scars to prove it.

But that’s before he meets colorful, sweet, slightly-kooky Hope Daniels.

Hope is only in town temporarily. She simply wants to have a cup of coffee with the father she’s never known. That’s it. She doesn’t need to buy any Father’s Day cards or have a date for any Father-Daughter dances. She just wants to have a conversation with the man who stole her mother’s heart twenty six summers ago in Sapphire Falls.

But when her directions lead her to TJ’s house instead, everything becomes a lot more complicated… and a lot more interesting.

Because there’s nothing like a big gruff introvert to push this extrovert’s let-me-make-it-all-better buttons.

All of TJ’s plans to stay uninvolved and out of her way evaporate quickly and before he knows it, Hope’s got him thinking differently about everything — family, home, heartbreak and maybe, just maybe, the fact that he’s never actually been in love… before now.

Hailey Conner has been driving Ty Bennett crazy for years. And vice versa.
It’s kind of their thing. But Ty is ready to make their thing into something more. And he’s moved in next door to make it happen.

But is he *really* ready?

Ty loves the confident, sassy, sexy mayor’s Ice Queen act…because he loves making her melt. But he soon finds there’s more underneath all that frostiness. And things are about to come to a full boil…

WARNING: If you’re new to the series, this is *not* the story to start with 🙂 Everyone in the series is mentioned and interact and, well, it’s crazy fun for fans of the series but will be pretty confusing to newcomers. Also, there are spoilers! So, if you want to take a holiday trip to Sapphire Falls for the first time, check out Getting In the Spirit, the first Sapphire Falls Christmas novella! Happy reading!

* * *

It’s just days before Christmas, almost a year since Levi Spencer and Kate Leggot accidentally fell in love in Sapphire Falls, and they want to make it official. Surrounded by friends and family in their adopted hometown, Kate and Levi will marry and celebrate in the town square where they shared their first kiss. It will be absolutely perfect…

Except for the massive snowstorm about to hit town.

Now, thanks to Jack Frost and multiple flight cancellations, Levi and Kate are separated by hundreds of miles. It looks like all the wedding preparations will go to waste.

But Sapphire Falls always looks on the bright side. And they don’t cancel a perfectly good party, even for Jack Frost.

There will be a wedding… the only question is who will be walking down the aisle?

A fun and flirty crossover novel from bestselling authors, Jennifer Bernard (Love Between the Bases) and Erin Nicholas (Sapphire Falls)!

Caitlyn Murray has never let on that she’s had fantasies about her brother’s friend Eli Anderson for years. She’d do anything for the sexy baseball player who walked away from stardom to stay in Sapphire Falls and take care of his family. But she and Eli are friends. Just friends.

So when her brother hatches a plan to get Eli to the pro baseball try-out for the Kilby Catfish and another chance at his dream, Caitlyn is all in. After all, what’s a little kidnapping among friends?

A spot on the pitcher’s mound for the Catfish isn’t the only tempting thing about the spontaneous road trip. Eli already knows that Caitlyn is as sweet as the candies she makes for the Sapphire Falls bakery, but alone with her overnight in the tiny motel room in Kansas, it’s impossible to resist the urge to take a little taste.

But when that taste leads to falling for the girl next door just as his front door is moving hundreds of miles away, can Eli really have it all? Or do they have too many strikes against them?

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet and share what you have been reading and what you are about to read this 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 everyone. This meme started on J Kaye’s blog and was then hosted by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at The Book Date.

What I am Reading Now

Before I post about the book, I want to say I only read one book last week. Between my son heading off to college and getting my youngest prepared for 7th grade, I haven’t had any time to read.

Phoebe Sherwood is in love with the perfect man. Well, except for the fact that he’s in love with someone else. But Phoebe isn’t the type to let a little detail like that keep her from getting what she wants.

And as she’s plotting how to get him back, she meets the perfect solution—Joe Spencer. The city boy is in town to retrieve his sort-of fiancé—the woman who stole Phoebe’s man— and when he hears Phoebe’s plan to reclaim their respective soul mates, he’s in.

Bright and sparkly. That’s Joe’s first impression of Phoebe. He’s always been attracted to sparkly things—like neon casino signs, sequined evening gowns and Porsches. In fact, his affinity for those things, and the trouble they can cause, are exactly why he’s determined to change his habits and settle down.

But if he’s going to win his girl back, he’s going to need to learn a new way of life. Country line dancing, guzzling homemade moonshine and getting rid of his custom-made suits are what it takes to fit into Sapphire Falls… and he’s got some work to do.

Thank goodness Phoebe is the perfect coach.

And everything will be just fine… as long as they can keep their hands off of each other and remember which hearts they are trying to win over.

What I plan to read Tuesday and Wednesday:

Travis Bennett is exactly the kind of guy Lauren Davis has been avoiding for the past nine years. Religiously. Stubbornly. Successfully. She knows too well how easy it is to let lust ruin perfectly laid plans. And a small town farmer with no ambitions beyond the borders of his own cornfield is not going to change her mind. She’s got important stuff to do. Her company is literally working to stop world hunger. Her plans are much bigger than Sapphire Falls. No matter how hot those farmers might be.

The problem is–Lauren is falling in love. With Sapphire Falls. To kick her sudden desire to buy a welcome mat and start baking pies, she asks Travis to help her get over her crush. She wants him to show her what life in the small town is really like behind all the sweetness and sunshine and remind her that there’s no place for French manicures and Gucci heels on the farm.

Travis has everything he wants or needs–a quiet, simple life in his hometown, a successful farm and his friends and family all around. A hoity-toity city chick who looks down on everything from the local coffee to his favorite music is the last girl he wants sticking around. So he agrees to her crazy plan. He can definitely show her the less-than-glitzy, rough-around-the-edges side of Sapphire Falls. In fact, things just might get downright dirty.

You should know that this book contains a hot country boy who talks like a country boy (yep, all the bad words), a sassy city girl who also talks like a country boy sometimes, sexy scenes that don’t leave much to the imagination, references to bisexuality, references to many facets of small town living, and a lot of dirt… of all kinds.

There’s nothing like summertime in Sapphire Falls and Tucker Bennett is looking forward to hosting his best friend’s four young sons for the next three months. This is their first trip to Tuck’s farm since their father’s passing, and he’s fully prepared to step up for the boys. He’s also thrilled by the instant attraction to their aunt Delaney. He’s only ever wanted three things in life—his farm, a wife and kids. He’s already got the farm. Now it looks like Fate has delivered the rest in one complete just-add-dirt-bikes-and-a-new-puppy package.

Delaney Callan is beyond grateful for Tucker’s help while she catches her breath from becoming a sudden surrogate mother to her nephews. And she’s not immune to the sexual tension bouncing between them. But with all her focus on not screwing everything up with her nephews, there’s no time for a relationship, especially with marriage-minded Tucker. Of course, a casual summer fling is something else. After all, it would be a shame to waste a perfectly good barn…

Casual is the last thing Tucker wants. He’s set on taking care of Delaney and the boys, while she’s determined to prove she can go it alone. But she didn’t count on Sapphire Falls, the adorable little town filled with the loving, impossible-to-ignore Bennett family, well-meaning friends and everything four little boys could ever wish for.

What’s Delaney to do when the most impossible-to-ignore Bennett of all shows her the difference between what she needs and what she wants…and he turns out to be both?

If you’re a fan of Booze, bonfires, proposal-inducing pastry and using hay bales as a horizontal surface, this story is for you.