2 Bloggers 1 Series - Wild Iris Ridge (Hope's Crossing #7)

 

One more down and only one more left!  Stormi and I decided to read the next installment of Hope's Crossing this month as it leaves us with only one left.  That one happens to be a Christmas title, so we decided to celebrate Christmas in July next month with it.  So read on for my thoughts on this one and then hop over to Storm Reads to see what Stormi had to say.

TITLE: Wild Iris Ridge (Hope's Crossing #7)

AUTHOR: RayAnne Thayne

PUBLISHER: HQN Books

PUBLISHING DATE: July 24, 2014

PAGES: 352   

SOURCE: Library

FROM GOODREADS: Lucy Drake and Brendan Caine have only one thing in common… 

And it's likely to tear them apart. Because it was Brendan's late wife, Jessie—and Lucy's best friend—who'd brought them together in the first place. And since Jessie's passing, Brendan's been distracted by his two little ones…and the memory of an explosive kiss with Lucy years before his marriage. Still, he'll steer clear of her. She's always been trouble with a capital T. 

Lucy couldn't wait to shed her small-town roots for the big city. But now that she's back in Hope's Crossing to take care of the Queen Anne home her late aunt has left her, she figures seeing Brendan Caine again is no big deal. After all, she'd managed to resist the handsome fire chief once before, but clearly the embers of their attraction are still smoldering…

MY THOUGHTS: While this book definitely wasn't my favorite of the series, it is still a strong contender and overall, I enjoyed Lucy and Brandon's story.

Lucy has lost her hi-tech job and returned to Hope's Crossing to get things back on track.  She inherited her Aunt's home when she recently passed and she plan on turning it into a bed and breakfast, a dream of both her aunt and cousin.  While Lucy couldn't wait to leave Hope's Crossing when she was young, she finds some comfort she didn't expect coming back.  However, she has to deal with Brandon. Brandon broke her heart when she was a teen and married her cousin.  When her cousin passed it childbirth, it left Brandon alone to raise the two remaining children.  He and Lucy never got along during his marriage but of course she wants to spend more time with the kids and that means seeing more of Brandon as well.

Brandon is one of the brothers of the large Caine family who plays a big role in this series.  Thus, seeing him also meant getting glimpses of other past characters as well.  While I felt this this story both dragged out in places and then rushed the romance too fast, it was still a quick read. I enjoyed the kids as well which isn't always the case in books.  

One extra thing I can't forget is that Lucy, Brandon and the kids end up rescuing two puppies from a dumpster one evening.  When it happens, Lucy has her troublesome young sister staying with her for a few weeks which was rocky to say the least.  But each family takes a puppy, and these cute balls of fur end up bring everyone closer together.

It's nice to be almost done with another series, although this one does have another spin-off series which ties in.  After a short break, I'm sure you'll eventually see me reviewing that one as well.  If you love small-town low-spice romances and family drama, this is assuredly a series to consider picking up.

MY RATING: 4 PAWS

Feed Your TBR - Summer of Horror 2026 Edition

 

Can't Wait Wednesday, which I have adapted to better suit my blog as "Feed Your TBR" is a weekly meme hosted at Wishful Endings to spotlight highly anticipated books.  It is based on the Waiting on Wednesday meme which used to be hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

Also, since it is Summer of Horror, each week I will be trying to do one horror and one horror pick - at least through August.  So enjoy!

September 1, 2026

FROM GOODREADS: Thea Winter has been stolen. She's the other side of the changeling story, and she's been raised by a hobgoblin named Mudge, who taught her wildcraft, how to know when the coin-sith would attack and how to get one to show its belly. Unfortunately, Mudge didn't teach Thea how to stay out of trouble. Which is why she's facing an unwanted marriage of convenience.

Or would be, but her spouse bolted. Now she has to hunt down Devan J. Fenelon, but she's been saddled with a taciturn, humorless hunter known as Winter's Hound. He answers only to his cousin, and she's not looking forward to this quest at all.

Kerboros has never known freedom. His life is an endless series of ceaseless commands from his reprehensible cousin, Lord Liskaal. Since his father's failed rebellion, Kerboros has been permitted to survive only as an example to others, an object lesson as to how far one may fall. Certainly, he has his own hidden dreams and secret schemes, but they're not what anyone would expect. What he wants most, he will most likely never attain.

But then, he receives his next assignment. Escort Thea Winter, protect her during the search. And it's a glorious torment to travel with her.

She is sunshine. He is shadow.

Their love is forbidden, but when irresistible force sweeps up an immovable object, the resulting reaction might be magical…

WHY I CAN'T WAIT: Forbidden love, magic and a gorgeous cover!  Also, I've read several by this author before and have always enjoyed her.

October 13, 2026

FROM GOODREADS: They called her a nightmare, so she became one.

Haven Powers has spent years trying to disappear. Once a loud, troublemaking girl who defied every expectation in her small town of Friendship, Texas, now she’s learned to hide her fire behind a quiet receptionist’s smile. It’s safer that way—for her, and for everyone else.

When an unsettling encounter with her predatory boss cracks open the tightly locked box inside her, Haven dreams a terrifying dream about him, only to wake up and discover it’s come true; he’s dead. Desperate to gain control of this deadly power once and for all, Haven returns home.

Welcomed suspiciously with open arms, Haven is immediately met with the ghosts of her past. Under the suffocating pressure of the town and her family who believe obedience is next to godliness, Haven soon finds herself on a path to revenge. She’ll show them what happens when the girl they called too much, too loud, too everything, finally lets her demons loose.

WHY I CAN'T WAIT: The first line of the synopsis had me hooked.

WHAT BOOK CAN'T YOU WAIT FOR THIS WEEK???

 

This Woman's Lists Had Lists!

TITLE: Femme Feral

AUTHOR: Sam Beckbessinger

PUBLISHER: Penguin Books

PUBLISHING DATE: April 09, 2026

PAGES: 384   

SOURCE: ARC

FROM GOODREADS: The head of a company she started from the ground-up, the worried mother of a troublingly secretive daughter, and the wife of an easy-going man who always has her picking up the slack—Ellie is already juggling too much. So, it's an inconvenient time to find herself beset by strange physical changes: hair sprouting in new places, running hot, trouble sleeping, losing time, finding bloodstains in all her clothing. And underneath it all, a boiling rage that threatens to disrupt the life she's worked so hard to build. 

Her doctor diagnoses perimenopause. But it's another twenty-eight-day cycle that's taking hold, one that involves fur, teeth, and a not-insignificant amount of howling at the moon—and that gifts Ellie incredible strength and speed. Her new power's thrilling, as is releasing the anger she’s suppressed for years—especially as it turns out that there are some problems that can be solved with violence: The terrible new hire who is sabotaging her careful plans. The creep who's stalking her daughter. Only, the beast within isn't easy to control, and its bloody trail is getting harder to hide. With an obsessive hunter on her trail and a growing fear of what she's becoming, Ellie must find a way to yoke her fury before she tears through the people she loves. 

A deeply gratifying, highly addictive and provocative read, Femme Feral is an exhilarating expression of feminine rage, with a warning: If you swallow your anger, it's sure to come back with a bite.

MY THOUGHTS: I would like to see a finished copy of this book because I ran into problems with the formatting of my digital arc which I feel greatly impacted my enjoyment and it was so severe it even impacted my overall rating which rarely happens.  My copy read as one long 384 chapter.  And there are some multiple POVs in some areas of the book that I often didn't pick up on until I was a paragraph or two in which made for some very disjointed reading (and later a game at the end where I would see how quickly I could tell who was narrating).

Ellie is contently married, caring for a daughter with a history of anorexia and a father--in-law who has moved in due to medical issues, including dementia.  She also has a very prominent job in the tech industry for a business that runs and launches updates to a very popular wellness/meditation app.  Ellie is trying to juggle everything and does so by carefully orchestrated lists.  All of Ellie's lists made me overwhelmed so I can only imagine how her life felt.

Ellie gets passed over for a promotion about the same time she starts losing time and starts experiencing some health concerns.  She isn't sleeping well, is having hot flashes, is more quick-tempered than usual, and is experiencing massive hair growth.  Her doctor snubs it all off as perimenopause, but Ellie starts to think it's something more - especially when she awakens to find her neighbors fluffy dog clogging her downstairs bathroom drain.

Around town, pets are coming up missing.  An elderly lady recently lost her cat and given she had very little else to live for, she starts investigating what is happening in the neighborhood.  The local cops think she has lost her mind, and her Facebook group is questioning her mental capacities.  However, she is determined to unearth the culprit. I actually enjoyed reading from this POV more than Ellie because despite her problems, which I get, she was rather unlikeable.  

Overall, I just found this book middle of the line. While referencing a few things in writing this review, I guess the author has admitted to using ChatGPT to write a lot of it.  I don't use that a lot but it sure might explain some of the disjointedness.  If you pick this one up, just know there are actually werewolves but also a lot of descriptive animal deaths.  

MY RATING: 3 PAWS

Feed Your TBR - Green City Wars

 

Can't Wait Wednesday, which I have adapted to better suit my blog as "Feed Your TBR" is a weekly meme hosted at Wishful Endings to spotlight highly anticipated books.  It is based on the Waiting on Wednesday meme which used to be hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

June 23, 2026

FROM GOODREADS: In the solar cities of the future, the humans relax in the sun and the animals work in the shadows. Genetically engineered Little Helpers, serving humanity—unseen, unheard.

Meet Skotch. Racoon, P.I.—Yours for a few buttons as long as the job isn't too illegal, whatever that means.

A mouse has gone missing. Normally this wouldn't raise any hackles, nor any alarms, but this mouse has something that everyone seems to want, though nobody appears particularly eager to say what that something is.

The fee is good—perhaps too good. Certainly not something Skotch can easily turn down.

If only Skotch can work out where the mouse is hiding, what he's hiding, and why his secrets are upsetting a lot of animals caught up in the Green City wars.

WHY I CAN'T WAIT: I actually just stumbled across this book yesterday and my ears perked up when I heard a nod toward "Hollow Kingdom," one of my favorite books ever.  I need to meet Skotch and I love an animal-centric tale. I've also heard good things about this author but most of his books are too sci-fi for me but this seems like something I could get on board with.  

WHAT BOOK CAN'T YOU WAIT FOR THIS WEEK???

It's the End of the World and I Feel Fine???

TITLE: We Burned So Bright

AUTHOR: T.J. Klune

PUBLISHER: Tor Books

PUBLISHING DATE: April 28, 2026

PAGES: 176   

SOURCE: Library

FROM GOODREADS: The road stretched out before them. No other cars, just the headlights on the blacktop. Above, the cracked moon in a kaleidoscope sky….

Husbands Don and Rodney have lived a good long life. Together they’ve experienced the highest highs of love and family, and lows so low that they felt like the end of the world. 

Now, the world is ending for real. A wandering black hole is coming for Earth and in a month everything and everyone they’ve ever known will be gone. 

Suddenly, after 40 years together, Don and Rodney are out of time. They’re in a race against the clock to make it from Maine to Washington State to take care of some unfinished business before it’s all over. 

On the road they meet those who refuse to believe death is coming and those who rush to meet it. But there are also people living their final days as best they know how—impromptu weddings, bright burning bonfires, shared meals, and new friends. 

And as the black hole draws near, among ball lightning and under a cracked moon in a kaleidoscope sky, Don and Rodney will look back on their lives and ask if their best was good enough. 

Is it enough to burn bright if nothing comes from the ashes?

MY THOUGHTS: Having absolutely adored two previous works by this author and given he created one of my favorite characters ever (I'm looking at you Lucy), I knew I had to read this short novella. I'm glad I did.

The story centers around Don and Rodney, who have been married for over 40 years.  There is a black hole which is rapidly approaching Earth and everyone has known for over a year that the end is near.  Don and Rodney have one last task they want to complete before it is too late, so they hop into their old RV to travel across the US.  Pretty early on it is pretty evident what the task is but I don't want to be any more specific as it could be viewed as a spoiler.

Along the way, they encounter all sorts of individuals, including some hippies in a field in Ohio, a young lady on a farm who are making sure her loved one don't suffer while waiting, and a nice old woman who manages to help them make the last few miles of their trip. As they travel, the reader learns a lot about Don and Rodney and how this marriage of opposites has managed to last so long. 

I loved everything about this book.  Don and Rodney are two totally different people but together, they are beautifully cohesive. At times their journey is laid-back, and you see some sparks of fun and other times, it is stressful and their survival instincts really kick in.    

For me, reading a Klune book is like wrapping up in a warm blanket on a cool evening and being comforted by a glass of whiskey.  And only Klune could make the end of the world be both scary and gratifying.  While the world ending is an awful thing to ponder, I honestly think there would be an immense amount of comfort of everyone going at once.  While reading this book, I thought about it a lot and believe I could handle it if my loved ones and my pups all embraced each other and went out at the same time.  Hats off to Klune for delivering such a diverse, thought-provoking book!

MY RATING: 5 PAWS

Summer of Horror 2026 Kickoff Post!

 

Last year was the first year Tammy hosted the Summer of Horror and I'm so happy she is doing it again!  I've been waiting for her kickoff post and want to share it with as many people as possible.  I love Tammy's blog and I love horror so what could be more perfect?  Hop over to her site for all the details.  It is pretty lowkey with no real challenges just loads of fun where you can tap into your own creativity.  Below I am posting some books sitting on my Pile of Possibilities.  I also want to do some themed recommendations/cover posts as well as posting about some horror movies and even some music which I think has haunted vibes.  

As you can see, there is a definite summer slasher vibe.  Hope I don't burn out on them but if I do, I have plenty of backups.  

Do you know of any books I should add to my possibility pile??? And let me know if you are participating so I can check out your blog.

2 Bloggers 1 Book - Stage Fright

My friend Stormi always participates in Middle Grade May, so I had her pick a MG "horror" book for us to buddy read and this is what she came up with. It was a cute, quick read which I ended up enjoying quite a bit.  So read on for my thoughts and then hop over to Storm Reads to see what Stormi thought.

 

TITLE: Stage Fright

AUTHOR: Wendy Parris

PUBLISHER: Delacourt Press

PUBLISHING DATE: September 27, 2024

PAGES:    

SOURCE: Library

FROM GOODREADS: When Avery returns to her hometown after moving away a year earlier, she is hoping to jump back into her friend group as if nothing’s changed. Unfortunately, new interests, secret crushes, and changing dynamics get in her way. To reunite her BFFs, she suggests they host a séance at an abandoned theater that was the site of a horrible tragedy. What starts as a fun outing, soon becomes a fight for survival after the group gets locked in…and discovers they’re not alone.

MY THOUGHTS: My friend Stormi always participates in Middle Grade May, so I had her pick a MG "horror" book for us to buddy read and this is what she came up with. It was a cute, quick read which I ended up enjoying quite a bit.  

Avery is returning to her hometown to spend a few weeks with her friends.  She desperately missed them the past school year and can't wait to catch up.  However, when she arrives, she learns that even though they missed her to, they have all seemed to move on and Avery feels left behind.  All the activities she looked forward to they seem to have outgrown.  As a nod to a mystery game they used to play, Avery suggests they go to the abandoned theatre in town and have a seance to summon the ghost of a young girl who died there who allegedly still haunts the place. They end up getting trapped and soon learn they might not be alone.  Things get pretty intense for these preteens, and they start to wonder if they will all get out alive.

It was cool to see how the author managed to make this book spooky enough for the target population and also address some heavier topics the friend encountered growing up and moving on.  In the end, they realized how much they have grown, but how much they still need each other, and I think a lot of kids who enjoy spookier tales would really love this.  There weren't a lot of books like this when I was young, probably why I started reading Stephen King at age ten, so sometimes it is fun to go back and pick one up. 

MY RATING: 3 PAWS