Hi friends!

It's the very last day of July which means...it's almost time to discuss JADE CITY by Fonda Lee!

My schedule is a bit wonky as I've returned home from San Diego Comic-Con and set up a plethora of doctor appointments so we're all going to have an extra week to read before our discussion. The livestream will be on Thursday, August 6th, at 9:45am CST!

As for our August book club pick...I'm looking forward to something spooky. 👻

My friend Jess at The Hexed Library is hosting her annual Summer Scare Readathon! It takes place from August 7th to 16th and she has a host of fun reading prompts:

(There are also some Instagram prompts and cute reading wrap-up templates linked in her announcement video, too!)

Shopping my own shelves a bit, I found a selection of books I'm interested in reading during the challenge. :)

Although, from all the readathons I've participated in, I know I need to give myself at least three books for each category since I rely so heavily on my mood for what I want to read. So I'll be sure to post the full list later!

See you all on the 6th (and earlier, in my super spoiler-y reading vlog)! :)

Happy first day of summer, friends! ☀️

A couple weeks ago, I took a quick trip to Las Vegas with my mom and sisters-in-law. And we did Vegas right. We saw The Empire Strips Back (a burlesque comedy show that I simply cannot recommend enough), used my grandma's old gambling method to come home with some extra cash (...like $20, lol), and had brunch in the Eiffel Tower!

Best of all, we got in a lot of hours by the pool. I've officially hit the 109 page mark in this story so I feel confident announcing our first ever book club pick:

It's JADE CITY by Fonda Lee!!!

I talked about this elsewhere before, but now I feel really good about this book. I'm fully invested. I'm on the ride. I'm excited to see where Fonda Lee takes me.

(Double the pools, double the fun.)

I'll be attending San Diego Comic-Con this year (and announcing some exciting news while I'm there 👀) so we won't have our LIVE book club discussion until after I'm home! Tentatively our chat is scheduled for Wednesday, July 29th, but I'll post before then with a confirmation and link. :)

Also! Expect a reading vlog of this book to be released a couple days before. This copy has traveled with me to Alaska and Vegas, so maybe I'll have to show it San Diego, too, lolol.

Thanks everyone and happy reading!

Hello friends!

I'm home. I'm home. After one week, two cities, and four different bookstores, I'm home from my very first book tour.

There hasn't been enough time to recalibrate that this incredible life is, somehow, my reality. So instead, I'd like to chat about books. Specifically! All the books I bought while on tour. :)

Because that was one of the most delightful parts of the trip. Getting to meet so many new-to-me faces and explore new-to-me places. And what friendlier faces and places than at independent bookstores???

Here's a look at my fifteen best purchases:

(Samwise is also happy I'm home so he can become the star of all my pictures again.)

(I'm so ready to cozy up and get my puzzle on, perhaps with an audiobook for company.)

Please excuse the preponderance of stats I'm about to throw at you. The books I bought were:

• 53% hardcover vs. 47% paperback

• 80% new-to-me stories (since I bought a copy of my own book, Becca's book that I beta read, and the Agatha Christie classic)

• 20% nonfiction (Now Departing, How to Write Erotica, and The Haves and Have-Yachts)

• From 7 different independent bookstores (Liz's Book Bar, Love & Legends, Mysterious Bookshop, The Fountain Bookshop, Books Are Magic, The Ripped Bodice, and McNally Jackson Books)

• 20% Fantasy (Jade City, Burn the Sea, Graceless Heart), 20% Romance (Love Bites, The Princess and the P.I., Gwen and Art Are Not In Love), 7% Contemporary (Superfan), 7% Horror (Thrall), and 26% Mystery/Thriller (The Ending Writes Itself, And Then There Were None, Grandma's Little Secret, and my book, Thanks For Watching)

I'd love to get a stat on how many of the books have death as a central theme or plot point, but I might need to wait until I read them all. 👀 Dare I guess 50%???

One of these stories is also going to be our first ever book club pick, coming in May! I am so very excited. (And I'll give you a hint: it's in the ~fantasy~ category.)

Thanks, Story Scouts! Chat with you as soon as I've finished recovering from all the travel. In the meantime, happy reading! 📖