1st Quarter 2026 Book Review

Oops, I let the first quarter of the year get away from me, and I haven't talked about books once! I read too many books to do a post about all of them, so I thought it would be fun to do a summary of my favorites and least favorites. If I can get my act together I do want to go back to monthly reviews, but no promises. I am on Goodreads and also post my books to my Instagram stories so if you want to see everything I've read, let me know!

I read 39 books in January, February, and March. 7 of them I gave 5 stars to. As I was looking at my spreadsheet {because yes, I have a spreadsheet}, I was a little surprised that SIX of the seven are non-fiction/memoirs! I always talk about loving 'chick lit' - and I do - but my stats are showing I gave the best ratings to real stories.

For the worst books I read during this period of time, sadly, they all fall somewhat into the category of romance - fantasy romance, YA romance, and a rom com. Am I getting pickier? I don't know!

I will say I've been struggling with Nora Roberts for awhile {she used to be a go to author for me} - I think she is just recycling ideas and not for the better. I had also been told 'The Summer I Turned Pretty' series was not as good as Jenny's Han's other series, but man, I wasn't expecting it to be as annoying as it turned out to be. And I've really enjoyed Jesse Q. Sutanto's Vera Wong series, but I will NOT be continuing with this series, boo.

I can't finish this quarter without giving a shout-out to the Game Changers series. I read 5 of the 6 books in 2026, and I loved all of it! They were all 4 star reads {with The Long Game getting 5 stars}. Who doesn't love a queer hockey series? The second book, Heated Rivalry, was released as a show at the end of 2025 and took the world by storm. I cannot wait for the 2nd season!

And there you have it! My first quarter of 2026 in books!

2025 Books By the Numbers

I didn't do monthly book reviews this year, but did update this space with my favorites through July. I want to finish out my thoughts on favorites for the year and also share my stats for 2025. I read 134 books - my highest number ever, yay! My average rating was 3.89. 

I absolutely ADORED 2 series this year. Heartstopper and The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion stole my heart, and I'm so glad neither of them are done! These 2 are the TOP top tOp of my list for 2025, I am smitten.

I read so many good memoirs this year, but I would say these were my favorite.

My biggest categories of books were historical fiction and romance - no one is surprised.

My favorite romances {which I included historical romance, rom coms, and romantasy}:

Favorite historical fiction:

     

Now for some nerdy stats!

Author Gender - 82% women and 18% male - not surprising

Diversity - 31% diverse authors {BIPOC, LGBTQ, Jewish authors}

Type - 48% eBook, 41% audiobook, 11% physical

2026 is already starting off with a bang, I love the promise of a new year of reading!

Pause in Programming for BOOK TALK!

Since I'm at the halfway point of the year in catching up on the blog, I thought it was time to take a little pause and talk books! It is too overwhelming to think about posting about all the books I've read so far - I'm almost to 90 books. So I thought I could share my favorites through now, and I can restart doing book reviews soon!

First up, the Heartstopper series by Alice Oseman! It's a YA graphic novel series, but I loved it so much. OMG, I am obsessed with this. Also watched the Netflix show and it was fantastic too. Not so patiently awaiting the last book which has been made into a movie - both coming out in 2026.

I also read some really great memoirs. I did all of these as audiobooks because I love hearing the authors narrate their own stories. These all made me laugh and/or cry. 

   

             

       

Another great Fantasy series I started this year. I've read the 3 books that are out, 4th {and final} book to come! The Kindred's Curse series by Penn Cole. The first book was a little on the slower side, but I really liked the 2nd book and loved the 3rd.

These were both some really great historical fiction. The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead looks at the actual underground railroad but with a sci-fi twist. It was so, so good but also VERY hard. I've loved Dances with Wolves the movie SO MUCH and can't believe I've never read the book. I remedied that this year and am so glad I did, it was fantastic!

And these were my favorite fiction books so far. One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune is the second book about 2 brothers. The first was Every Summer After and I'm so glad I got to be back with this family! The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy by Brigitte Knightley is a debut book by a woman who wrote the most amazing Dramione fan fiction that I read last year {Draco Malfoy and the Mortifying Ordeal of Falling in Love}, and I was super excited to read this. I would say it isn't as good as her fan fiction, but I really enjoyed it AND there will be a sequel, yay!

I do share all my reads on Goodreads and in my Instagram stories if you ever want more details on what I've done so far this year! But I do plan on getting back to more detailed reviews.

Blame It On Mexico!

June was a busy month but oh so fun! As I was looking through pictures we packed in so much fun stuff. This will be a fun walk down memory lane. {grin}

On June 1, I went with a group of friends to see Katherine Center speak. I love all her books and think she is just precious. She lives in Texas and always comes to our little indy bookstore. 

Chatting with her after her talk, she is so sweet!

Then Brent and I took a quick 3-night trip to Mexico with his cousin Philip's family and some of their friends. We had a great time - spent lots of time in the resort pools, had some really great meals, and took a great trip out on a catamaran. 

Early flights = a quick nap in the hotel! Ha!

Nothing like family that are also great friends!

June included lots of Gus love OF COURSE. He also got really sick at the end of the month {some failed diet changes} and gave us a big scare. But nothing like a day at the vet getting IV fluids and meds and costing us $850 to make him all better. {grin}

I'm going to do a separate post for my parents' anniversary party which happened in the middle of June. We had such a blast and 50 years of marriage deserves its own shoutout!

The weekend after the party, we traveled to Houston for the annual LJA Stockholders dinner - this is always a highlight of the year because we always go with great friends! This year we didn't stay a second night but went swimming on Friday night at Derek and Dez's house {after a stop for bathing suits at Buc-ee's ha}. Some friends from high school were in town with their newest baby, so we wanted some snuggles with Mark Falcon!

My AmpedUp instructor friend, Lina, turned 50 in June, and we went to a fun place called Game On to play tv game shows with a group of friends! [Spoiler alert - we did this for my birthday too!] We had such a blast! Lina's husband made us a spring roll DIY bar, and we had a great time together. He got seriously injured a few days later in a freak accident, so I'm very glad we got to spend time with him too, and I'm so glad he is doing better now.

The whole crew

I love lazy mornings in the summer! Also love our new patio furniture.

Little Bit got her braces [Round 1] off at the end of June! She was so happy!

Sheesh, I am shocked at how much we did this month as I continue to type this all out! We also had our Girl Scout end-of-year reward trip. The girls voted to go to Kalahari. Paige is transferring into our troop, so she got to go too. She was SO thrilled - she was sobbing that she couldn't go and it worked out for her to go! Made my mama heart so full.

We rushed home from Kalahari to change clothes and turn around and go to the Dell Diamond - literally across the street from Kalahari - for Brent's summer event at the Round Rock Express baseball game.

Being silly with the fun glasses...and tired Drew! {grin}

And we closed out the month with Trent's birthday! He had a fun day of video games and lounging around enjoying a summer birthday. We went out to eat for burgers at a small, local restaurant with both sets of grandparents. [I got a picture of him but won't post it.] He also took 3 of his friends to Kalahari the next week. So wild that he was old enough for us to just drop him off and pick him up!

Since he doesn't like me posting pictures of him NOW...

let's look at baby Trent! GAAAAAH!