It was an especially challenging week last week with more of the same expected this week so here's a lighthearted post about bookmarks and their noble duty of preventing crimes against books, like creased, folded and bent pages.   [6 actual bookmarks and 5 improvised bookmarks: East City Book Shop, Old Town Books, "Black History Month", Prince George's County Memorial Library System, Anne Arundel County Public Library, 5 clothing tags from assorted brands, "Welcome to the Library" with welcome in various languages]  Bookmarks from bookstores, libraries, as event swag from authors are lovely charming, useful in placeholding function and advertising. And then there are the interesting, eye-catching tags that always make me think, "This would make a perfect bookmark!" even though I already own more bookmarks than needed for at least two lifetimes.  This week's reading indulgences  [a book stack with 5 books from top to bottom: The Queen's Spad...

Lingering h oliday vibes roll into the Valentine's Day weekend love fest.  [3 books face-up from left to right, then down: One Big Happy Family, A Novel Christmas, Sleeping with the Frenemy; all arranged against a backdrop of hearts gift wrap]  A Novel Christmas by Charity Shane'  contemporary romance  Black Odyssey Media, September 2024  Writer's block has romance author Saira Wright feeling bah-humbug when her publisher commands her to write a holiday romance. Enter volunteer firefighter Dorian Black, new neighbor and landlord, and Christmas magic ignites while addressing grief and healthy, joyous ways of moving forward.  Sleeping with the Frenemy (Vega Family #3) by Natalie Cana  contemporary romance  Mira, October 2024  In this adversaries-with-previous-benefits second chance love story Sofia and Leo get unsolicited help from charming meddlesome senior citizens, a fur baby, circumstances beyond their control, and chemistry that smokes off...

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 ...