Bookish Travels: January 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 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: The United States, England

States/Provinces I visited the most: New Mexico, Texas, Colorado, Oregon, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Vermont, North Carolina, Massachusetts, California

Cities I visited the most: Austin, Crowe Lake, Roswell, Portland, Atlanta, Jackson,Pittsburgh,Cold Hollow, Durham


United States

California (Modesto), Washington (Fort Lewis, Elk Grove)
New York (New York City)
Colorado (Montezuma County, Dolores), New Mexico (Counselor)
New Mexico (Fort Sumner)
Arizona (Rim Vista, Phoenix)
New Mexico (Baldo, Roswell), Texas (Austin, Crowe Lake)
Texas (Austin, Crowe Lake, Brownstone), Utah, Nevada (Roswell), Colorado, Oregon (Portland)
Oregon (Portland), Idaho, Nevada (Roswell), Texas (Austin)
Texas (Austin, Catacomb), Georgia (Atlanta), Louisiana (Monroe), Mississippi (Jackson), Alabama (Birmingham), New Mexico (Roswell)
Texas (Austin), Georgia (Atlanta), Mississippi (Jackson), Ohio (Columbus), Alabama (Montgomery)
Texas (Dallas, Gladtow), Mississippi (Little Rock), Tennessee (Memphis), Kentucky (Lexington), Colorado (Marlin), Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh)
Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh), Massachusetts (Worcester, Boston)
Texas (Austin), West Virginia (Charleston), Kentucky
Puerto Rico (San Juan)
Vermont (Cold Hollow)
Vermont (Cold Hollow)
North Carolina (Durham), Vermont (Cold Hollow)
North Carolina (Durham), Vermont (Cold Hollow)
Vermont (Cold Hollow), Massachusetts
California (Catalina Island (Avalon), Caldwell)
California (Los Angeles, Fresno), New Mexico (Jamestown), Texas (Amarillo), Arkansas (Fort Smith), Missouri (Kansas City), Minnesota (Minneapolis), Vermont (White River Junction, Brandon)
Colorado (Colorado Springs, Limon, Woodland Park, Walden)
Georgia (Alessandra)
Georgia (Alessandra)

Afghanistan


Bermuda

Hamilton

England

Dexford, Cliffburn
Birmingham, London

Scotland

Aviemore

Nepal

Mustang Valley

Falkland Islands

Port Stanley

Nambia

Elksberg

Netherlands

Limburg, Maria Hoop

Bavaria

Pfälzerwald

Czechoslovakia


Norway


Shetland Islands

Lerwick

Canada

Montreal

Australia

Victoria (Melbourne, Hanley)

January 2026 Wrap-Up


Personal Highlights from this month:

  • Started the New Year off with a bang. Vinnie (one of my cats) got bitten by Loki (another one of my cats). An abscess formed (unknown to me), then burst, and after a couple of days’ wait (it burst on a Friday night, the vet wasn’t open until Monday). I got him to the vet on Monday, and he had an infection along with the start of cellulitis. Poor guy was put on antibiotics and pain killers :(.
  • The next week, we took Tony (our orange-and-white cat) to the vet. He has allergies and developed a hot spot under his ear. In a week, it grew super large, and his itching was getting dangerously close to his eye. The vet thought it was ear mites (none), then ear infections (none), and finally settled on a flea allergy. She gave him flea-and-tick medication (we used Pet Armour, but she said OTC wouldn’t work), a shot of antibiotics, a shot of steroids, and oral steroids. The oral steroids are working (no itching), but the hot spot looks awful.
  • Mr. Z started his internship this month. He is doing IT at a local hospital. He was supposed to do it last semester, but they couldn’t place him. This is also an honors class for him. I love it because he will gain real-world experience in a job.
  • We got hit with a pretty bad winter storm at the end of the month.

Reading Highlights from this month:

  • I read and finished Hunting Justice by P.L. Clark. It was a very cut-and-dry revenge story with a sub storyline of the main male character having PTSD. I left this book feeling a little underwhelmed because everything was wrapped up too quickly.
  • I reread The Descendant by Ally Capraro. I enjoyed the storyline. But I do wish the author had gone into more detail about the Lapo and the Xemlix’s war. I am sure more is explained in book 2, but it isn’t linked on The StoryGraph or Goodreads, so I guess I will wait(and yes, I know I can Google, but I am lazy… lol).
  • I read the first two books of The Society Lost series (The Shepherd and Betrayal). They were pretty good books, and I am looking forward to reading the rest of the series.
  • I read and finished Deadly Deceit by Karen Randau. This book was all over the place, and I mean that in a good way. It went from an implied terrorist mass shooting to internal crimes committed against a Marine to a cover-up by a US Senator (sounds familiar, huh) to crimes committed during war by Marines in Iraq. Also, add in corrupt cops and kidnapping, and it was nuts, and I loved the journey. I am a little disappointed that the other books aren’t on Kindle and will be watching for them.
  • I finished Missing – Dead or Alive by Peter Martin. I found this to be a predictable mystery/thriller until the middle of the book. There was a huge plot twist, and then the surprises just kept coming. By the end of the book, I was invested because it had changed so much and because of what had happened.
  • I finished The Cascade series (Survive, Rescue, Mutant, Conflict, Siege, Outpost, Beyond, and Salvation). This was a great series to read. The books were fairly short (between 150-250 pages each). The plots moved fast, and the author had no qualms about killing off long-term characters. I will definitely be rereading these books!!
  • I read book 1 of The Forsaken Series (Unknown) by Phil Price. While I liked the book, I found the constant jumping between characters and places a little overwhelming. I will read the rest of the series when it becomes free or goes on KU.
  • I finished reading the Cold Hollow Mystery series (Cold Hollow, Weaving the Web, The Maestro, Vengeance, and The Butcher). I wasn’t expecting to like this series as much as I did. The author believed in putting her main characters in peril, and she wasn’t shy about killing off unpleasant characters. I would highly recommend this series.
  • I finished reading book 1 of The Criminally Insane series (Bad Karma). It was OK. I wish the author had focused more on Agnes’s belief that she was Trey’s reincarnated lover. I do plan on reading the other books in the series (Red Angel and Night Cage) if they ever go on KU.
  • I finished reading Flash Drive by Peter C. Foster. It was alright. The plotline was predictable until the last half of the book. Then the author threw in some doozies of plotline twists. I don’t think I will reread this book.
  • I finished reading Final Masquerade by Cindy Davis. This was another OK book for me. I honestly thought that Paige was losing it for 90% of the book. But the end proved me wrong. I also thought that Chris (who was OK to cause numerous accidents with his truck) was either part of the conspiracy or with the law. I’m neutral about rereading this book.
  • I read and finished Broken by Brooke Linford. It was a very fast-paced book. It was also a little predictable. I wasn’t a huge fan of Amanda or Lucas, but neither of them deserved what was happening to them.
  • I finished the first book of the Colorado Chapters (What Survives of Us) by Kathy Miner. I enjoyed reading this book and will be looking for the rest of the series to show up on KU.
  • I read and finished The Alessandra Chronicles (The Solitary Apocolypse, Let the Devil In, A Greater Evil) by Jeff Haws. This was a fast-paced, very scary take on epidemics and the fallout. I finished the entire series in 2 days.

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

Clear Your TBR (2026 Edition)—January

Prompts I finished in January


A romance related book—Uh, it’s getting hot in here


A pink book


A book you bought a long time ago—It deserves to be read

Bought in 2016

You Decide (Free Choice)


Finish that one series—You know which one I am talking about


You Decide (free choice)


You Decide (free choice)


You Decide (Free Choice)


A black cover


A scary or spooky book


Read a book with 200-400 pages

Book has 364 pages

That one book—The one on your last shelf in the back, with the dust on top.

Has been on my TBR since 2018

A book in your native language

English

An anticpated 2-Star read

Beat the Backlist 2026—January

Prompts I finished in January


Genre Bender—combines 2+ genres together

Romance, Science Fiction and Fantasy

End of an era—last book in a series


10s, 10s, 10s across the board—title has 10+ words


Spooky scary skeletons—the book fits any part of the prompt

Spooky and scary

Locked Away—Someone/Something is under lock and key

The main female character was locked in a hospital for the criminally insane.

A game of cat or mouse—Cover features a cat or a mouse, or the story is like a cat and mouse game

The storyline is a cat-and-mouse game

Faking It—at least 1 character is pretending in some way

The main female character changed her identity

All the Colors—rainbow cover (has at least 4 rainbow colors)


I reject your reality—a speculative fiction book

Popsugar 2026 Reading Challenge—January


Prompts I finished in January


A book featuring a character with a hidden past

The main female character’s past was hidden in order to keep her safe

A book less than 260 pages

Book is 188 pages

A book that you were hoping that would fit into a prompt but doesn’t

2026 ABC Challenge—January

Prompts I finished in January


D


S


Bonus—All Alliteration (Every word in the title begins with the same letter)


M


Bonus—Mononymous (books with one word titles)


U


C


B


F


W

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.

The Descendant (Guardians of the Worlds: Book 1) by Ally Capraro

The Descendant (Guardians of the Worlds Book 1) by [Capraro, Ally]

Publisher: Capraro Press

Date of Publication: March 29th, 2016

Genre: Romance, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Young Adult, Action

Series: Guardians of the Worlds

The Beginning—Book 0.5

The Descendant – Book 1

The Enchantress—Book 2

Purchase Links: Amazon

Goodreads Synopsis:

Possessed villains. Intriguing guardians. Multiple worlds.
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.

˃˃˃ The Series
“The Descendant” is the first YA sci-fi/fantasy romance novel in the “Guardians of the Worlds” series. It features fast paced action, side-splitting comedy and out of this world romance.


If you are looking for the perfect pool/beach/laying in the sun on a cruise ship book, this is it.

I enjoyed reading The Descendant, even if it did annoy me in some spots. All the people, including the aliens, were gorgeous. Ava, Chloe, Victor, Barry, and Meldrick, are all good-looking. I was looking for someone who wasn’t model material in this book but didn’t find anyone. But hey, more eye candy for me to imagine.

I liked Ava’s character. She seemed a little needy and fell into Instalove easily. She was sweet and naive, and I could see us being friends. She seemed to need someone to protect her from the Barry’s in life, so I didn’t care for Chloe at first. She wasn’t there for her.

When she met Meldrick in a dream, she did what any sane person would have done and went to a shrink. When that didn’t work, she went to an alternative shrink. I was dying laughing during that scene. Whenever I see the phrase “beautiful soul,” I will forever think of Glenn Wiley.

Speaking of Meldrick Richglow. He came off as stalkerish in the beginning. Coming into a girl’s dream is weird, and it will make said girl run to a shrink.

Lord Slith is an evil alien who wants to take over Earth. To open the portal between his realm and Earth, he has to fuel it with fear. Which he has no problem getting from Earth. He is after Ava because he believes that she is the girl from the prophecy.

The ending of this story was good. I wasn’t expecting the twist that was put in there and wanted to cry. The author left it open for the next book.

I would recommend The Descendant to anyone over 16. There is no sex and some violence


If you enjoyed reading The Descendant, you will enjoy these books: