Spooky Season, Spooky Things

At this point I'm updating this blog to show proof of life because 

IT IS STILL A HUNDRED DEGREES OUT IN OCTOBER

Fen's why is it still so hot face

Now our weather is usually *a little* behind the seasonal trend but this is a little ridiculous. At this point I'm trying to manifest fall by buying, eating, and doing all the spooky, pumpkin spiced shit. 

Exhibit A: My spooky season book haul!

 

Exhibit B: Various pumpkin spiced goodies.

The Tate's were SO. GOOD. The Oreo's were just ok.

Exhibit C: Spooky mugs that I should be drinking hot chocolate out of. *Note the flowers that are STILL BLOOMING in the back. Which honestly is one of the few pluses to the weather being wacky.

Exhibit D: Spooky visitors! 

I couldn't help summon the Anti-Hero ghost when the Eras started touring again.

Exhibit E: Witchcraft! Familiar included! 

Alas, none of these things helped with the weather! 😭

In non-spooky news we celebrated the anniversaries of our sweet, wild, fluffy pups.

Miss Sugar, Princess Pants celebrated two years with us! 

Fen celebrated three years with us! 

They both wished for cooler weather 😉

 

The Night We Lost Him by Laura Dave

Earlier this year I thrifted a copy of The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave. Mysteries are not typically the first book I reach for but I had been hearing about the netflix adaptation so I picked it up. I am always a proponent of reading the book first because the book is always better. 

That was my first dip into the Laura Dave world and I wanted more! I went to preorder her next book The Night We Lost Him and was excited to see that she would be doing a signing nearby. That's how I ended up meeting Laura and getting my book signed this past weekend. 

The signing was at a place called Little Saint hosted by Copperfield Books. Little Saint is a pretty cool venue. It's a restaurant and coffee shop on the bottom and upstairs has a stage where they often have music. 

Julia Claiborne Johnson moderated with Laura Dave and it was such a fun time! They both had me cracking up and played off each other so well. Hearing about the "behind the scenes" to their books was so neat. It was also really interesting getting to hear from and author about what it's like having their book adapted to film and that whole process. I unfortunately hadn't read Julia's book before but definitely left with a copy. Can't wait to dive into her book and some of Laura's older books!

Photo dump: garden update!

It's hard to believe that today is the first day of fall when it's still over a 100° here and there's no fall weather in sight. The whole summer was hot, hot, hot! 

This made for a pretty interesting and challenging year in the garden. The down side to all that heat was of course needing to babysit and water every chance we got. However, the plus side is that here we are in September and our garden is still producing with no end in sight. 

By far my favorite thing this summer has been the flower patch. What started from seed and a fight (sorry babylove) grew into the prettiest little zen garden. 
The sunflowers dominated the seed mix but some hardy cosmos and zinnias helped add some color to the mix. I loved seeing how just this addition attracted so much life to it. The insects, lizards, birds and bees has all been really happy. Walking down the road all you hear is the buzz, buzz, buzz of happy little bees. The only sad part is that my sunflower blooms didn't seem to last as long- must be the varietal? 

Next year I'll have to look into a longer lasting bloom. I also want to plant a separate row of zinnias  that don't have to compete with the sunflowers. 

Alas, here's a photo dump of the garden from this season 🌻

 

Booked up

Note to self: you could always take a moment in between books it update your reading log.... or at least more than once every 5 months 🙃

Well I'm here now and here's what I've read since April (yikes!)

36. The Identicals by Elin Hilderbrand

37. The Castaways (Nantucket, #2) by Elin Hilderbrand

38. Red Rising (Red Rising Saga, #1) by Pierce Brown

39. A Summer Affair (Nantucket, #1) by Elin Hilderbrand

40. The Rumor by Elin Hilderbrand

41. Here's to Us by Elin Hilderbrand

42. The Perfect Couple (Nantucket, #3) by Elin Hilderbrand

43. Ruthless Vows (Letters of Enchantment, #2) by Rebecca Ross

44. Funny Story by Emily Henry

45. Swan Song (Nantucket, #4) by Elin Hilderbrand

46. Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood

47. A Far Wilder Magic by Allison Saft

48. Just for the Summer (Part of Your World, #3) by Abby Jimenez

49. So We Meet Again by Suzanne Park

50. One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston

51. Dating Dr. Dil (If Shakespeare Was an Auntie, #1) by Nisha Sharma

52. The Guest List by Lucy Foley

53. Thank You for Listening by Julia  Whelan

54. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

55. The Fastest Way to Fall by Denise  Williams

56. Icebreaker (UCMH, #1) by Hannah  Grace

57. Wildfire (Maple Hills, #2) by Hannah  Grace

58. Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult

59. Local Woman Missing by Mary Kubica

60. The Deja Glitch by Holly   James

61. Nothing but the Truth by Holly   James

62. What Happens in Paradise (Paradise, #2) by Elin Hilderbrand

63. Fangirl Down (Big Shots, #1) by Tessa Bailey

64. Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle

65. Name Your Price by Holly   James

66. The Inheritance Games (The Inheritance Games, #1) by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

67. The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center

68. Done and Dusted (Rebel Blue Ranch, #1) by Lyla Sage

69. Summer Romance by Annabel Monaghan

70. This Summer Will Be Different by Carley Fortune

71. Happily Never After by Lynn Painter

72. Margo's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe

73. Swift and Saddled (Rebel Blue Ranch, #2) by Lyla Sage

74. Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood

75. Daydream (Maple Hills, #3) by Hannah  Grace

76. The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave

77. Payback's a Witch (The Witches of Thistle Grove, #1) by Lana Harper

78. If I Never Met You by Mhairi McFarlane

79. We Were Never Here by Andrea Bartz

80. This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub

81. Just Last Night by Mhairi McFarlane

82. How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang

83. The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren

84. Don't You Forget About Me by Mhairi McFarlane

85. The Ex Hex (The Ex Hex, #1) by Erin Sterling

86. The Hawthorne Legacy (The Inheritance Games, #2) by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

87. A Novel Love Story by Ashley Poston

Name Your Price by Holly James

One of the things about small town living is you get pretty accustomed having to go "to the next big town" to get what you want. 

Shopping? Next big town.

Health care? Next big town.

Emergency Vet? Next big town.

So much so, that the next big town is often where my search for something starts. So imagine my surprise when I was looking at upcoming author events and saw one happening right at my local bookstore. Needless to say I was ecstatic! I reserved my spot and preordered the book right there and then.

Until that moment I hadn't heard of Holly James so I picked up her first two books and dove in. Holly is a Romance/Fiction writer that lives in LA but guess what? She grew up in my small town. My local bookstore was her bookstore growing up! How cool is that?

I devoured her first two books while waiting for the third to release. Nothing But the Truth and The Déjà Glitch are both light-hearted fun reads. Both of these had a little magical aspect to them that I really enjoyed. 

I picked up Name Your Price right on release day (thank you local bookstore!) and jumped right in. It was different from her first two books as there was no magical aspect to it at all but it was a little on the spicier side. 🌶️ This book also had a lot of heart to it and I loved the daughter/granddaughter relationship we got to see. 

The book signing turned out to be so fun. First, when I walked into the bookshop I felt like I had just crashed a family reunion. A lot of Holly's family and friends are still in the area and they turned out to support her. It was so cute and sweet! I really enjoyed getting to hear about what the writing and publication process is like for her. Kudos to any authors out there- it does not sound like it's for the faint of heart! Holly was nice and generously signed all three of my books. And she's a Swifite! 🫶It was so funny to ask her about this book being spicier and what it's like to have your family reading it..... awkwaaaard. Just skip that chapter grandma!

It was such a fun little event and I was excited to hear details for her next book coming out in 2025. Can't wait! 

Aug 10