Tuesday, February 3, 2026
Top Ten Tuesday - Authors I Discovered in 2025
Hello, dear readers! Today I decided to go with a different prompt from Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl, and since I missed last week’s TTT, I'm going with my favorite new-to-me author discoveries of 2025. Happy Tuesday!
Saturday, January 31, 2026
Review - Life’s Too Short
AUTHOR: Abby Jimenez
NARRATORS: Christine Lakin and Zachary Webber
RATING: ★★★★
Summary (from Goodreads): When Vanessa Price quit her job to pursue her dream of traveling the globe, she wasn't expecting to gain millions of YouTube followers who shared her joy of seizing every moment. For her, living each day to its fullest isn't just a motto. Her mother and sister never saw the age of 30, and Vanessa doesn't want to take anything for granted.
But after her half-sister suddenly leaves Vanessa in custody of her infant daughter, life goes from "daily adventure" to "next-level bad" (now with bonus baby vomit in hair). The last person Vanessa expects to show up offering help is the hot lawyer next door, Adrian Copeland. After all, she barely knows him. No one warned her that he was the Secret Baby Tamer or that she'd be spending a whole lot of time with him and his geriatric Chihuahua.
Now she's feeling things she's vowed not to feel. Because the only thing worse than falling for Adrian is finding a little hope for a future she may never see.
REVIEW: If you haven’t noticed yet, I’ve been on an Abby Jimenez kick lately, and I’ve been having so much fun with it. It’s good to switch things up every once in a while, you know? I’ll get back to my historical fiction soon, but right now I'm just enjoying all the laughter and love of rom-coms. Jimenez has jumped right up there on my favorite rom-com author list alongside Lucy Score and Christina Lauren, and the main reason I’ve listened to a lot of her books lately is because I adore the narrators, especially Zachary Webber. I would happily listen to that man read Old McDonald Had a Farm over and over again and be perfectly content. He has a very sexy voice, and when he does women’s voices it is SO hilarious. Life’s too Short is a great book, and as with all of Jimenez’s books, it packs a ton of emotions. One minute you could be laughing your butt off, and in the next breath you could be crying. The heroine, Vanessa, has a family history of people dying young from ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), and she worries this may be her fate too, especially when she starts showing the symptoms, so she’s determined to live her life to the fullest. The hero, Adrian, is a strait-laced, very Type A personality lawyer, and Vanessa helps him loosen up and have fun. They’re adorable together, and the secondary characters are lovable too. I would highly recommend Life’s too Short, especially the audiobook version.
Tuesday, January 20, 2026
Top Ten Tuesday - Goals for 2026
📗 READING GOALS: I would love to read four books a month, but I don’t know how attainable that will be, so we’ll see. I’ve already read four books this month so it’s a start.
🖊️ WRITING GOALS: One of my two words for 2026 is AMBITION. I just recently started writing again, and my goal for this year is to submit my manuscript to Harlequin for their Love Inspired line. I have almost 28,000 of the 55,000 word requirement so I’m getting there, slowly but surely.
🏠 HOME IMPROVEMENT GOALS: My biggest home improvement goal this year is to turn one of our three bedrooms into a home office.
📚 LITTLE FREE LIBRARY GOALS: I plan on repainting the Sullivan Book Nook within the next couple of months. I’ve had it since December 2021, and it’s past time for a refresh.
❤️ MARRIAGE GOALS: My other word for 2026 is ADVENTURE. Our youngest son got married last week, so my husband and I are officially empty nesters. We’ll celebrate our 32nd wedding anniversary on January 29th, and we want to start planning more adventures. Just the two of us. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy either. We just want to get out and explore new places and have some fun.
What are your goals for 2026?
Monday, January 19, 2026
Sullivan Book Nook LFL January Update
Received some book donations (THANK YOU), and here’s a look at what’s available now. 📚
Friday, January 16, 2026
Review - Just for the Summer
AUTHOR: Abby Jimenez
NARRATORS: Christine Lakin and Zachary Webber
RATING: ★★★★
Summary (from Goodreads): Justin has a curse, and thanks to a Reddit thread, it's now all over the internet. Every woman he dates goes on to find their soul mate the second they break up. When a woman slides into his DMs with the same problem, they come up with a plan: They'll date each other and break up. Their curses will cancel each other’s out, and they’ll both go on to find the love of their lives. It’s a bonkers idea… and it just might work.
Emma hadn't planned that her next assignment as a traveling nurse would be in Minnesota, but she and her best friend agree that dating Justin is too good of an opportunity to pass up, especially when they get to rent an adorable cottage on a private island on Lake Minnetonka.
It's supposed to be a quick fling, just for the summer. But when Emma's toxic mother shows up and Justin has to assume guardianship of his three siblings, they're suddenly navigating a lot more than they expected--including catching real feelings for each other. What if this time Fate has actually brought the perfect pair together?
REVIEW: Man…this was a tough one. Don’t get me wrong - I actually LOVED this book, but there were parts of it that hit a little too close to home. I could sympathize with the main character, Emma, in so many ways, and I went through all the emotions while listening to/reading this beautiful story. I laughed. I gasped. I cried. I really admire Abby Jimenez for tackling such tough subjects, like childhood trauma and dysfunctional families, and I would highly recommend this book to everyone, especially the audiobook version. The narrators are incredible, and I lost count of the many times I literally laughed out loud listening to Zachary Webber, especially when he portrayed drunk Leigh and Christine. It was so funny I even went back and replayed it a couple more times. I will definitely seek out more of his audiobooks in the very near future.
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