Love is often messy and hard work.  True, healthy, fulfilling love that endures, grows, and strengthens is worth the effort.  [a small heart-shaped chocolate cake decorated with a curving vine next to a smaller pink heart]    [a book stack of 4 books from top to bottom: Love Delayed, No Ordinary Duchess, Earl Crush, The Real Body Manual: Your Visual Guide to Health & Wellness]  The Real Body Manual: Your Visual Guide to Health & Wellness by Nancy Redd  non-fiction health and science  Avery, October 2024  Although the target audience is young people who are entering puberty, an introduction, seven sections named according to the areas and functions they address, a "final word" followed by the author bio, acknowledgments, notes, credits, and an index work together with numerous photographs to inform readers from puberty to most seasoned adulthood about what's happening with their bodies. Parents, guardians, and trusted adult mentors will all...

No reviews this week as binge reading for pure pleasure helps me cope with life's insanity. Also, a few days ago something happened at the grocery store that amused and encouraged me. [3 books being held on the edge of a person's hand, from top to bottom: A Novel Christmas by Charity Shane', The House at Watch Hill by Karen Marie Moning, One Big Happy Family by Susan Mallery; all 3 against a "love" & hearts patterned background]    [the back of a man standing with a woman's large handbag on his shoulder while leaning against a countertop in a grocery store; he's standing under a "restrooms" sign hanging from the ceiling]  From the "tell me you've been together a long time without telling me you've been together a long time" files:  On my way out of my local grocery store, the man shown above accepted the handbag hanging over his shoulder from a woman who then walked into the ladies restroom; no words were exchanged although ...

Have read & will read books  [5 books, from left to right: front hardcover up of Murder in Berkeley Square; paperback spines up of Love Delayed, The Wingman, Love You a Latke, I'll Be Gone for Christmas]  Murder in Berkeley Square (Lady Worthing #3) by Vanessa Riley  historical mystery  Kensington Books, September 2024  An array of privileged people snowed in together with a killer tests Lady Worthing's and her fellow sleuth's powers of deduction in this lively installment that offers twists, turns, and reversals of fortune. Shocking departures and arrivals also included. As always, the author's (research) notes provide insightful context.  [bookstack of 3 paperbacks: Under Loch and Key, Mr. Nice Spy, Twisted Knight]  Under Loch and Key by Lana Ferguson  contemporary romance with supernatural elements   Berkley, December 2024  In addition to an irresistible combatants-to-lovers romance, Keyanna and Lachlan's love story offers re...

In each of the following books characters tap into their freedom to choose who they will become and how they'll move forward with their lives despite significant opposition.   [a bookstack of 5 titles from top to bottom: Deja Brew, Bad Witches, Magical Meet Cute, How to Help a Hungry Werewolf, American Ghoul]  American Ghoul by Michelle McGill-Vargas  historical speculative literary fiction  Blackstone Publishing, September 2024  Hard choices often generate unintended consequences and Lavinia's choices create collateral damage for herself and others. Is she a reliable narrator of her journey? Maybe or maybe not. A mash-up of The 1619 Project meets Interview with the Vampire and a supernatural Thelma and Louise. Sly levity makes the heavy themes less crushing. Insightful sociopolitical observations track a continuum from the racist, sexist, classist past to the real-life present. Racial slurs of the time included.  [printing note: My borrowed library ha...

  [an ornate small round picture frame with a paint brush angled across it, a camouflage fishing hat under a wristwatch next to a closed pocket journal with an ink pen on top of it]  Puck & Prejudice (Rink Meets Regency #1) by Lia Riley  contemporary historical mashup romance  Avon, November 2024  Contemporary sports romance + Regency historical romance + time travel = reading joy.  From chapter 5:  The moments of chemistry happened when and where there was some kind of alchemy in the blend of personality and atmosphere.  Lizzy and Austin's love story offers readers the best mix of engaging characters, multiple tropes, and nods to Jane Austen at a brisk pace that supports the humor, tenderness, and layered emotional substance.  Rules for Second Chances by Maggie North  contemporary romance/women's fiction  St. Martin's Griffin, June 2024  When marching to the beat of her own drum leaves Liz feeling out of step with her husb...

These books deal with trauma, its aftermath, healing, and renewal.  [front cover art for BAD SEED: The Midnight Cries of an Island Girl, A Novel by Cherry Dawn Fagbemi; a night scene with a starry sky above a home with its exterior and interior lights shining on the first floor]  BAD SEED: The Midnight Cries of an Island Girl by Cherry Dawn Fagbemi  contemporary fiction  November 2024  "Montego Bay was where I should have died in the summer of 1985."  And with that first sentence, Vivienne Pearson's harrowing saga of being haunted by the resurgence of disturbing memories of past events relevant to her present life and choices starts a compelling tale of heavy themes and dangerous circumstances. It's a potent blend of mystery, thriller, family conflict, social commentary, and romance.  Vivienne confronts her confusion, devastating heartache, alienation and more as she navigates a series of traumas in order to heal and to reclaim herself and her life....