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Fall 2026 Updates

It's been a hectic, challenging and fun year to-date. In January I told my family and very close friends that I was at capacity in every way, and in response to that fact my schedule was going to get streamlined, and it has. The Write Women Book Fest era has ended with the charming smaller Women In Fiction Book Fair in August as a final farewell to co-hosting book events.  My blogging hiatus will also continue with occasional updates. A prospective publisher's expectation for every one of their authors to have a social media presence led to my launch of the Blerdy Binge Reader many years ago as a way to share content that felt organic and authentic without causing my inner hermit to experience a psychotic break. Mission mostly accomplished.  Celebrating, promoting and supporting literacy, books, bookish people, events, places and spaces add joy to my life and I will continue doing so, most often with weekly casual read/reading/tbr Instagram posts and co-hosting more episodes o...
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Reading Not Reviewing During Summer Vacay + Book Community Drama!

It's been a busy book season and last weekend's Book Fair at Bel Air was a lovely, successful event and a great way to slide into a pause before co-hosting the Women in Fiction Book Fair at Marietta Historic Site & Museum Saturday, September 19. All tabling spots are filled, but it's free to attend!  thewritewomenbookfest.org/women-in-fiction-book-fair.html    [a rolled up beach umbrella in a clear plastic sleeve and a folded blue beach chair leaning against a rear car tire]  Hat, sunscreen, swimsuits, rash guard, water bottle, snacks, books...  [13 books, from top to bottom: Falling in Love on Sweetwater Lane, A Committee of One, Take Me To Your Leader, Don't Tell Me How It Ends, The Lust Crusade, Extracurricular, Our Ex's Wedding, Love Variations, Chasing the Ring, How Simi Got Her Groom Back, A Curse of Beasts and Magic, Enter the Nightmare, A Cruise to Die For; stacked against a beach towel with a seashells pattern]  Taking some time to rest and rec...

Book Fair at Bel Air 2026 Was Fantastic!!!

Total book event hangover in all of the very best ways today!    ["Book Fair At Bel Air 2026 Reading Is Rad-ical" event tote bag with a graphic of an open book with 3 writing pens upright in the crease] [a mass market paperback book wrapped in plain paper with "adult contemporary romance" and small red, pink, and fuchsia adhesive hearts across the upper half - my blind date with a book donation; book arranged against a black and white paisley tablecloth]  My parents and I enjoyed tabling with our children's book* (that they illustrated) at Book Fair at Bel Air yesterday. It was their 3rd year as an event and their 1st year at APGFCU Arena at Harford Community College. Outstanding in every way. Applications are open until October 1st(?) for 2027. Their tabling fees and terms are reasonable and their team is professional, kind, and so effective.  Always wishing you good health, peace of mind, safety, joy & some pleasure every day  *Being vague to keep my kid-f...

Truth & Consequences + A Never Shrinking TBR List

Bumpy resets and lots of all kinds of drama in these entertaining and provocative reads.  [8 books, from left to right: Ms. Mebel Goes Back to the Chopping Block, Dolly All the Time, This Song Is About Me, An Ordinary Sort of Evil; 4 stacked trade paperback books, 2 showing only the edges of their pages atop Rani Deshpanda Takes the Wheel, Scandal of the Summer]  Ms. Mebel Goes Back to the Chopping Block by Jesse Q. Sutanto  contemporary fiction  Berkley, April 2026  Mebel Tanadi's hilarious, heartfelt journey starts with an unexpected rejection and concludes with a recommitment to an unapologetic acceptance of self, imperfections included. It's a poignant fish-out-of-the-aquarium-into-the-ocean celebration of leaps of faith, fresh starts, self-love, and friendship.  Dolly All the Time by Annabel Monaghan  contemporary romance  G.P. Putnam Sons, May 2026  A little spin on a PG-13 rated version of Pretty Woman (minus any sex workers) with emot...

'Ships Happen on the High Seas, In Closets, Bookstores...

Mentorships, Internships, Allyships, Partnerships, Friendships, Relationships...  [8 books, from left to right: There's Only One Sin in Hollywood, Summer Official, Witch Queen Rising, Love By the Book, The Last Page, Without a Clue, Bloodlust, The Shippers; arranged atop 3 trade paperback books with only the outer page edges showing]  There's Only One Sin in Hollywood by Rasheed Newson  1900s historical fiction  Flatiron Books, June 2026  In three parts (acts?) of immersive sliding timelines filled with actual Hollywood, sociopolitical, cultural facts and notable figures, the character of pragmatic Aaron Touissant narrates his life and that of the tragic film star Xavier C. Barlow, a compelling embodiment of cautionary tales of the exponential risks of being a gay, Black man in the mid-20th century with unsentimental candor. Its similarities to present-day realities are disappointing, but not surprising in this brutally direct fictional memoir.  Books menti...

Swashbuckling & Secrets

Humans are complicated and the characters in this week's reads embody that truth in every way.  [12 books, from left to right: 3 upright books - First Sign of Danger, It Seemed Like a Good Idea, Heir of Whitestone; 2 books with front covers facing forward atop a bookstack - Fire Sword & Sea, Leave Your Mess at Home; a bookstack of 7 books, from top to bottom - Summer Official, Witch Queen Rising, Love Beyond Reasonable Doubt, Mistakes Were Made, then 3 books with only the outer page edges showing]  Fire Sword & Sea by Vanessa Riley  historical fiction  William Morrow, January 2026  This compelling saga reveals layers of identity for Black and Brown women as they improvise strategies to assert their freedom and amass wealth. A cast of characters led by real-life Jacquotte Delahaye and others who are amalgamations of people from the late 17th into the early 18th centuries, make this adventure vibrate with emotional intimacy and personal stakes in a saturat...

Communion Across Time, Space & Genres

A non-religious definition of  communion from Webster's Dictionary: the sharing or exchanging of intimate thoughts and feelings, especially when the exchange is on a mental or spiritual level  [4 books on a tabletop, from left to right: communion: The Female Search for Love, Archangel's Eternity, The Started Ex, The Last Lady B]  communion: The Female Search for Love by bell hooks  non-fiction memoir(ish)  William Morrow, 2002  This third book in the bell hooks Love Trilogy zooms in on the impacts of patriarchy and narrow gendered expectations on individuals, then zooms out to examine the radial effects on romantic relationships, families, friendships, academic and career pursuits, and how it all infiltrates society .  from the preface:  The women in our culture who have the most to teach everyone about the nature of love are the generations of females who learned through feminist struggle and feminist-based therapy that self-love was the key to f...