Living a Joyful Life

  One Christmas Morning –Rachel Greenlaw My Rating: 4 stars My mom saw this book in a store for me and thought I would like it and she was right. The main character is stuck repeating the same day in the body/mind of different women in her life. I really enjoyed this concept.   Once Upon a Holidate –Susan Mallery My Rating: 4 stars I didn’t know this was the 6th book in the series when I picked it up but I think the only thing I missed was the backstory of the other secondary characters in this book. This includes three POV’s… Wynn Beauchene, Garrick McCabe, and Garrick’s grown daughter. I loved this book a-lot.   Anatomy of an Alibi –Ashley Elston My Rating: 5 stars This novel is so good, I could not put it down! I loved everything about it. This was a great thriller/mystery. If you loved First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston, I highly recommend this novel as well. I loved the dual POV’s in this novel.   Heart Life Music –Kenny Chesney My Rati...

  What We're Eating This Week... Monday: Pot stickers, rice, veggies Tuesday: Chicken, sweet potato pie Wednesday: Pasta & meatballs Thursday: Leftovers I'm not sure about the rest of the week. What I'm Reminiscing About... The two trips I took to the Caribbean. I wish I could afford to go to the Caribbean every year because I love the Caribbean ocean so much. What I'm Loving... Spending time with my mom, spending time with my cats, watching sports. What I've Been Up To... Watching lots of sports (NFL football, college football, NBA basketball), reading, watching TV & movies with my mom, filming for my YouTube channel. What I'm Dreading... I always get the blues in January because Christmas and the holiday season go by so fast. To cheer myself up a bit, I make Christmas last as long as possible. I give my Christmas playlist another listen in January, I still watch Christmas movies in January and February, I read a few Christmas books in January. I leave ...

  Currently reading? I haven’t started a new book for 2026 yet.   Your book goal of 2025? 70   How many books read in 2025? 72   Fiction/Non-fiction ratio? 72/0 Favorite book(s) read? 1.          One Golden Summer –Carley Fortune 2.          Rage –Linda Castillo 3.          A First Time for Everything –K.L. Walther 4.          Atmosphere –Taylor Jenkins Reid 5.           Deep End –Ali Hazelwood Least favorite(s)? Mint to Be –Katie Cicatelli-Kuc   Longest title? Dinner With Vampires: Life on a Cult TV Show –Bethany Joy Lenz   Shortest title? I read a few books with a one word title.   How many re-reads? 2   How many audio books? 0   How many of this year’s books were from ...

  What We're Eating This Week... Monday: Quesadilla Tuesday: Pizza Wednesday: Lobster roll Thursday: Corn beef Friday: Leftovers Saturday: Reuben Sunday: Takeout What I'm Reminiscing About... My trips to visit my family when my nephews and nieces were younger. What I'm Loving... Spending time with my mom, cuddles with my cats, watching lots of Christmas movies. What I've Been Up To... Spending time with my mom and cats, reading, filming videos for my Youtube channel, watching lots of football and Christmas movies. What I'm Dreading... How fast the holiday season goes every year. What I'm Working On... My content schedule for my Youtube channel for January. What I'm Excited About... The holiday season, my niece O's birthday, my birthday. What I'm Watching/Reading... Watching: Christmas movies, college football, NFL, The Pitt Reading: I finished my reading goal of reading 70 books. I ended up reading 72 books total. My last blog post I posted was about...

 Here are the books I read in December: Cruel Winter With You -Ali Hazelwood (short story collection) My Rating: 4 stars I thought this was a super cute short story collection and I found myself wishing that each story was a full novel because they were that enjoyable. Merry Ever After -Tessa Bailey (short story collection) My Rating: 3 stars This is another short story collection. I thought these stories were good. We Grant You a Merry Christmas -Morgan Matson (short story) My Rating: 4 stars Morgan Matson is one of my favorite YA authors. I enjoyed this short story so much and I found myself wishing it was a full length novel. The Holidate Switch -Torie Jean My Rating: 4 stars I loved this novel so much. The plot was so much fun and I loved the main characters so much. The Book Feud -Amber Eve My Rating: 4 stars This novel was so good. I enjoyed the second chance love story. The female main character was my favorite character and I loved her relationship with her dad and with t...

  Here are the books I read in November 2025: The Bright Side of Christmas –Morgan Elizabeth My Rating: 3 stars This book was pretty good. For me, I thought they were way too many steamy scenes. I don’t mind a few throughout the book but I felt like there were way too many in this book, for my personal taste. I loved the two main characters and I loved the female main characters relationship with her best friend.   Merrily Ever After: A Christmas Collection for Romance Readers –Catherine Walsh My Rating: 3 stars (really 3.5 stars) I thought this was a super cute collection of story stories. I was actually wishing for an entire book about each story because I thought they were all really good.   We Were Liars –e. Lockhart My Rating: 3 stars, really 3.5 stars This is a re-read for me. I really enjoyed this book. I liked all of the characters.   Family of Liars –e. Lockhart My Rating: 2 stars (really 2.5 stars) I did not enjoy this book as...