The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 2-16-25

The kittibois have continued to reign in cuteness for another week. This picture is utterly adorable, even though it’s a back view. You can just see the love in that snuggle. (Reminder: objects in photo are proportioned different than they appear. George is actually bigger than Tuna, but all George’s size is in his length, and all of Tuna’s is in his width.)

This week’s books were all good or better. Returning to issues of relative size, especially in comparison to earlier in the year, this week’s Stacking the Shelves is positively ginormous. Check it out and see for yourself!

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book PLUS EVENT-WIDE AMAZON/PAYPAL PRIZE in the January Wellness, Super Bowl & Valentine’s Day Giveaway Event!
$10 Gift Card or $10 Books in the Winter 2024-2025 Seasons of Books Giveaway Hop

Blog Recap:

A- #BookReview: The Serpent Under by Bonnie MacBird
A- #BookReview: The Fourth Consort by Edward Ashton
Grade A #BookReview: Picks and Shovels by Cory Doctorow
B #AudioBookReview: Do Me a Favor by Cathy Yardley
B #AudioBookReview: I Got Abducted by Aliens and Now I’m Trapped in a Rom-Com by Kimberly Lemming + #Excerpt
Stacking the Shelves (640)

Coming This Week:

Presidents’ Day 2025 (#GuestPost by Galen)
The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar (#AudioBookReview)
The Desert Talon by Karin Lowachee (#BookReview)
One Message Remains by Premee Mohamed (#BookReview)
Thaumaturgic Tapas by Tao Wong (#AudioBookReview)

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 2-9-25

This was certainly an excellent reading week, with A+ books to kick off and close out the week. I adored The Silverblood Promise, and it’s the first thing that gave me real readalike feels for In the Shadow of Lightning. Now I’m stuck waiting for book two in BOTH series. That’s ARRGGGHHHH but it’s a good ARRGGGHHHH. Symbiote just plain gave me the chills, not just for the setting but for the whole entire story. I think I’m glad the author left the door open for a second book, because I want to read what happens next while at the same time I don’t want to know what happens next because I expect it to make the Alien movies look like the proverbial ‘Sunday School picnic’ in comparison.

I needed a cuddle after Symbiote – and you might too so consider that a warning – so this week’s (not just) cats picture is of ALL my boys cuddled close, with a blissful Tuna head-washing a rather sleepy George in the shelter of Galen’s slippered feet.

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book PLUS EVENT-WIDE AMAZON/PAYPAL PRIZE in the January Wellness, Super Bowl & Valentine’s Day Giveaway Event!
$10 Gift Card or $10 Books in the Winter 2024-2025 Seasons of Books Giveaway Hop

Blog Recap:

A+ #AudioBookReview: The Silverblood Promise by James Logan
B #BookReview: The Curious Kitten at the Chibineko Kitchen by Yuta Takahashi, translated by Cat Anderson
Grade A #BookReview: Dead in the Frame by Stephen Spotswood
B #BookReview: At the Fount of Creation by Tobi Ogundiran
A+ #BookReview: Symbiote by Michael Nayak
Stacking the Shelves (639)

Coming This Week:

The Serpent Under by Bonnie MacBird (#BookReview)
The Fourth Consort by Edward Ashton (#BookReview)
Picks and Shovels by Cory Doctorow (#BookReview)
Do Me A Favor by Cathy Yardley (#AudioBookReview)
I Got Abducted by Aliens and Now I’m Trapped in a Rom-Com by Kimberly Lemming (#BlogTour #BookReview)

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 2-2-25

Today is Groundhog Day! When did that happen? Not literally, just that it seems like January passed by in the blink of an eye. Maybe half a blink. I’d say something about time flying when you’re having fun, but this month has been a bit more of “Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana,” than it has been fun. Although some of the books have been good and thank goodness for that!

Although, speaking of time flying, I saw when I selected the winner for the Winter Wishes Giveaway Hop that a) I don’t have any more giveaways until early April because both the 1st and the 16th of the months of February and March occur on the weekend AND b) that my FOURTEENTH Annual Blogo-Birthday Celebration is coming up fast! April 4 is just two months away. Time really does also fly when you’re having fun, and I certainly have been having fun with Reading Reality for these past fourteen years!

Howsomever, this week’s cat picture makes it look like Luna isn’t having all that much fun. This is definitely Luna’s serious face. Do you think she knows that she hasn’t been featured since last year? It sure looks like she does and that she is NOT AMUSED by the fact. Not at all.

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book PLUS EVENT-WIDE AMAZON/PAYPAL PRIZE in the January Wellness, Super Bowl & Valentine’s Day Giveaway Event!
$10 Gift Card or $10 Books in the Winter 2024-2025 Seasons of Books Giveaway Hop

Winner Announcements:

The winner of the Winter Wishes Giveaway Hop is Viki S.

Blog Recap:

B #BookReview: A Bird in the Hand by Ann Cleeves
B #AudioBookReview: The Conjurer’s Wife by Sarah Penner
C #BookReview: Beast of the North Woods by Annelise Ryan
A- #BookReview: The Orb of Cairado by Katherine Addison
Grade A #BookReview: Bonded in Death by J.D. Robb
Stacking the Shelves (638)

Coming This Week:

Dead in the Frame by Stephen Spotswood (#BookReview)
The Curious Kitten at the Chibineko Kitchen by Yuta Takahashi, translated by Cat Anderson (#BookReview)
The Silverblood Promise by James Logan (#AudioBookReview)
Symbiote by Michael Nayak (#BookReview)
At the Fount of Creation by Tobi Ogundiran (#BookReview)

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 1-26-25

This week was weird. We got iced in for Tuesday and Wednesday, trapped by “bridge may freeze before roadway” on all sides. Atlanta kind of shut down Tuesday afternoon and stayed that way until Thursday morning. It didn’t snow, much, but it stayed below freezing, and what we got melted just enough to create black ice conditions. Those are fun. NOT. And it made for a strange week.

Things being what they were/are, and not just about the weather, I realized I needed some comfort reads – and probably will for quite some time. But I’ve been looking for some new comfort reads and that search hasn’t gone so well either. It might be me. It’s probably me. But it tasks me quite a bit because I’m really looking for stories to take me far, far away for a bit and that’s not going nearly as well as I’d hoped.

I’d say that this picture represents Tuna and George not worrying about much of anything – but strictly speaking that’s not true as they both get very concerned about things, and it was so cold here that none of the cats were using the catio for a couple of days even though they have their own fur coats to keep them warm.

So the above picture shows them cuddling together for warmth or comfort or a bit of both. What makes it so very much them is that they are both vying for the positions of “big spoon, little spoon” but they are each as big as the other and that part isn’t quite working for either of them!

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Winter Wishes Giveaway Hop
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book PLUS EVENT-WIDE AMAZON/PAYPAL PRIZE in the January Wellness, Super Bowl & Valentine’s Day Giveaway Event!
$10 Gift Card or $10 Books in the Winter 2024-2025 Seasons of Books Giveaway Hop

Blog Recap:

#GuestPost: Martin Luther King Day 2025: Number 21
A- #BookReview: The Hero She Loves by Anna Hackett
B- #BookReview: The Devil’s Due by Bonnie MacBird
B #BookReview: The Baby Dragon Cafe by A.T. Qureshi
Grade A #BookReview: Remember When by Mary Balogh
Stacking the Shelves (637)

Coming This Week:

A Bird in the Hand by Ann Cleeves (#BookReview)
Beast of the North Woods by Annelise Ryan (#BookReview)
The Conjurer’s Wife by Sarah Penner (#AudioBookReview)
The Orb of Cairado by Katherine Addison (#BookReview)
Bonded in Death by J.D. Robb (#BookReview)

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 1-19-25

This was an excellent reading week! Well, it was from my end of things. However, the end of the week went whack in an unexpected and unfortunate way. I was expecting Friday’s post to be The Serpent Under  by Bonnie MacBird for a blog tour from Random Things Tours – and clearly it wasn’t. The tour organizer for Random Things Tours is in hospital and may not be well for a while. I wish her all the best and hope for a speedy recovery. In the meantime, I’m holding onto that review (I really liked the book!) until I hear from her.

Second note, on this coming week’s schedule I have The Baby Dragon Cafe, because I honestly can’t resist the thing. That cover is just adorable and I’m expecting the same from the book inside. I debated whether to review it now or later, because it’s being published both, well, now AND later. The ebook is already out – and it’s only $2.99! The paperback, however, won’t be out until July 1. I have no idea what’s up with that but if, after reading my review you can’t resist, you can get it immediately and dive right in. Or perhaps that should be FLY right in. We’ll see.

Because Hecate has been the featured kitty three out of the past four weeks, I decided it was time to let the boys have their place in the spotlight this week. And so we have this gorgeous picture of Tuna and George, not just together but actually touching and not pretending that the other cat isn’t really the other cat. Although they look a bit disgruntled about it in the picture, they’ve actually become buddies over the last couple of months! Even if they don’t look all that happy about it!

 

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Winter Wishes Giveaway Hop
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book PLUS EVENT-WIDE AMAZON/PAYPAL PRIZE in the January Wellness, Super Bowl & Valentine’s Day Giveaway Event!
$10 Gift Card or $10 Books in the Winter 2024-2025 Seasons of Books Giveaway Hop

Winner Announcements:

The winner of the New Year, New You Giveaway Hop is Angela C.

Blog Recap:

A- #BookReview: The Way Up is Death by Dan Hanks
Grade A #BookReview: Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear by Seanan McGuire
A+ #BookReview: Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor
Winter Wishes Giveaway Hop
January Wellness, Super Bowl & Valentine’s Day Giveaway Event!
Stacking the Shelves (636)

Coming This Week:

Martin Luther King Day 2025: Number 21 (#GuestPost by Galen)
The Hero She Loves by Anna Hackett (#BookReview)
The Devil’s Due by Bonnie MacBird (#BookReview)
The Baby Dragon Cafe by A.T. Qureshi (#BookReview)
Hammajang Luck by Makana Yamamoto (#BookReview)

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 1-12-25

Last week’s picture was of Hecate as the “Girl Cat with a Pearl Earring”, although I didn’t catch the resemblance to the famous painting until a few days later. This week’s cat picture is either Hecate surveying HER domain, or Hecate’s Winter Wonderland. After all, it’s always HERS, even if it’s seldom covered in snow.

We only got about 2 inches of snow here in Atlanta, but it was the heavy wet stuff and it stuck. (There’s a better picture of just how much snow and what it looked like fresh in yesterday’s Stacking the Shelves.) The whole of the ATL shut down in anticipation – which turned out to be a good thing as it doesn’t snow often enough here for there to be any plows or for people to get used to driving in it. (As I write this on Saturday the streets and driveways have already melted but the grass is still snow-covered.)

In the meantime, Hecate is keeping an eye on things just to make certain that the snow doesn’t do anything that she hasn’t given it permission for.

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the New Year New You Giveaway Hop (Ends Wednesday!!!)
$10 Gift Card or $10 Books in the Winter 2024-2025 Seasons of Books Giveaway Hop

Blog Recap:

A- #BookReview: Holmes is Missing by James Patterson and Brian Sitts
A- #BookReview: Blood is Blood by Will Thomas
B+ #BookReview: Rebellious Grace by Jeri Westerson
B #BookReview: See How They Hide by Allison Brennan
A- #AudioBookReview: Free as a Bird by Hailey Edwards
Stacking the Shelves (635)

Coming This Week:

The Way Up is Death by Dan Hanks (#BookReview)
Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear by Seanan McGuire (#BookReview)
The Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor (#BookReview)
Winter Wishes Giveaway Hop
The Serpent Under by Bonnie MacBird (#BlogTour #BookReview)

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 1-5-25

I don’t know about you, but I woke up on January 2 and it felt like someone flipped a switch somewhere, because suddenly after the holiday ‘twilight zone’ life snapped right back to normal. OTOH, I stayed up New Year’s Eve playing videogames instead of partying. There’s still a bit of a hangover, but it’s not nearly as debilitating late the next morning!

Howsomever, Hecate is still looking back wondering WTF at 2024 in her little rearview. Or over her cute but not so little kitty butt. I ask you, is that a face or is that a face? (I wonder if in her little brain, she’s looking back at Tuna’s look from last week and commiserating?)

But the show must go on! After all, there are new and more books to read in 2025, which is always a YAY regardless of what else happens. Although speaking of things happening, it looks like Amazon woke up one morning, remembered that they actually OWNED Goodreads, and decided to start playing with things. I know that Amazon sees all and knows all, but if you’ve linked your Amazon account and your Goodreads account they started combining stuff regarding challenges and display of books read that tells a little too much all in ways that may or may not work for you. They certainly didn’t for me and I had to fix a couple of things to make their ‘fixes’ go away. Hopefully that’s not the shape of things to come for the coming year but I’m not holding my breath. Or as I sometimes say, I wouldn’t bet my own money.

Still and all, HAPPY NEW YEAR and welcome to 2025!

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Books in the Winter 2024-2025 Seasons of Books Giveaway Hop
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the New Year New You Giveaway Hop

Winner Announcements:

The winner of the Dashing December Giveaway Hop is Lisa B.

Blog Recap:

Grade A #BookReview: Unquiet Spirits by Bonnie MacBird
C #AudioBookReview: Merry Ever After by Tessa Bailey
New Year, New You Giveaway Hop
Most Anticipated Books of 2025
A- #BookReview: Shattering Dawn by Jayne Ann Krentz
Stacking the Shelves (634)

Coming This Week:

Holmes is Missing by James Patterson and Brian Sitts (#BookReview)
Rebellious Grace by Jeri Westerson (#BookReview)
The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis (#BookReview)
Blood is Blood by Will Thomas (#BookReview)
Free as a Bird by Hailey Edwards (#AudioBookReview)

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 12-29-24

The very last Sunday Post of 2024. Wednesday starts a new year, 2025. And OMG what a year it’s been and what a year it’s shaping up to be!

Fittingly, today’s cat picture is of someone peering out from safety, looking a bit scared and very concerned, wondering what this coming year is going to bring. The surprising thing about this picture is that the small, adorable, kittenish face actually hides a whole lotta Tuna behind it. (If you’re wondering, we’ll always know it’s Tuna because of the feets. Luna has little white toe shoes on her front feets and white boots on the back. Tuna has all black feets. It’s Tuna – and he’s clearly terribly worried about something. Just look at how big his eyes are!

But it is time to look ahead, even if those looks contain more than a bit of trepidation. This time last year, I was preparing, also with some trepidation, to start posting on Instagram where I’m @reading_reality. This year, it’s time to switch, at least mostly, from Twitter/X to Bluesky and Threads, and posts have already commenced although that endeavor is likely to be a work in progress as I switch from one set of ‘@’ to another. It helps that Bluesky and Threads will both post automagically – a feature that X, well, x-ed out some time ago.

I’m @readingreality.bsky.social on Bluesky and @reading_reality on Threads. And the widgets in the sidebar will be edited to reflect the additions. I’m honestly not sure what to do about Twitter/X, but then again, that’s true of a LOT of people right now.

I didn’t have many reviews this week, but the two I did have were for books that were among the best of the best this year – so that’s all to the good. I confess that I waited to finalize my Best Books post because I was sure that one or the other of this week’s books – if not both as turned out to be the case! – would make that list. I’ll let you in on which books I’m most looking forward to this year later this week.

In the meantime, I hope your holidays have been and continue to be happy ones! Hopefully we’ll be able to put at least Tuna’s worries to rest in the days ahead.

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Books in the Dashing December Giveaway Hop
$10 Gift Card or $10 Books in the Winter 2024-2025 Seasons of Books Giveaway Hop

Winner Announcements:

The winner of the Holiday Giveaway Hop is Elizabeth H.

Blog Recap:

Winter 2024-2025 Seasons of Books Giveaway Hop
A+ #BookReview: Echo by Tracy Clark
Christmas Day 2024: The Cats of Christmas (#GuestPost)
A+ #AudioBookReview: Blood Jade by Julia Vee and Ken Bebelle
Best Books of 2024
Stacking the Shelves (633)

Coming This Week:

Unquiet Spirits by Bonnie MacBird (#BookReview)
Merry Ever After by Tessa Bailey (#AudioBookReview)
New Year, New You Giveaway Hop
Most Anticipated Books of 2025
Shattering Dawn by Jayne Ann Krentz (#BookReview)

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 12-22-24

It’s only three more sleeps until both Christmas and Hanukkah. Are all of your presents wrapped and ready to go? This morning’s cat picture is of Hecate being oh-SO-helpful last weekend while we were wrapping presents. It took repeated applications of the Monster Vacuum to keep the cats off the dining room table long enough to get the job done. Miss Hecate kept popping back up on the table and/or getting underfoot much too quickly after each application – but it did work (mostly) and isn’t she adorable?

Last week’s readings didn’t quite go according to plan. In my head, I thought that the audiobook of Blood Jade was about 10 hours, and that I’d be ready to switch to the text on Wednesday to finish the book in time for a Friday review. My head was in error on both counts. The story is awesome, the narrator is marvelous – Natalie Naudus is one of my faves, especially for stories like this one – but the audio is more like 15 hours and I wasn’t ready at all to give up the fantastic audio in order to listen to the voice in my head who sounds much more like me than a professional narrator.

Very much OTOH, I expected – and I’ve started the book so I know I’m right at least so far – that Echo would be terrific and compelling. But it’s also set in a typical February in Chicago, and I wasn’t quite prepared to face THAT. (I lived in the Chicago area for more than 20 years and February sucks. It’s too damn cold, it’s still much too dark, and spring feels like it’s eons away even if it’s (probably, hopefully) not. Now I’m into the book and I’m sure I’ll get it done if I haven’t already by the time you read this. (I’m writing on Friday.)

One final note on scheduling. Officially, the Winter 2024-2025 Seasons of Books Giveaway Hop started yesterday, so if you want to get in on it immediately hop on over to Versatileer and check it out. Howsomever, I’ll be posting Reading Reality’s entry in the hop tomorrow, on Monday, December 23.

“Just one more thing,” to quote a classic TV detective of yesteryear. This is the last full week of 2024 – as difficult as THAT might be to believe. This year has gone by SO FAST. Nevertheless, 2024 is on its way out the door, which means that it’s time for Reading Reality’s Best Books of 2024 post, coming this very Friday.

There’s LOTS in store here this holiday week. I hope you’ll take a bit of time to stop by and see what’s up! Happy Holidays!

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book PLUS EVENT-WIDE AMAZON/PAYPAL PRIZE in the Holiday Giveaway Event!
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Dashing December Giveaway Hop

Winner Announcements:

The winner of the Fall 2024 Seasons of Books Giveaway Hop is Nancy

Blog Recap:

Dashing December Giveaway Hop
A- #BookReview: Wedgetail by M.L. Buchman
B #AudioBookReview: Merriment and Mayhem by Alexandria Bellefleur
B #BookReview: Miss Amelia’s List by Mercedes Lackey
B #BookReview: Love in Other Worlds edited by Tracy Cooper-Posey
Stacking the Shelves (632)

Coming This Week:

Winter 2024-2025 Seasons of Books Giveaway Hop
Echo by Tracy Clark (#BookReview)
Xmas Day (#GuestPost by Galen)
Blood Jade by Julia Vee and Ken Bebelle (#AudioBookReview)
Best Books of 2024 

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 12-15-24

December is officially, or at least officially-ish, half over. Not that December 31st really counts as December since everyone spends the whole day thinking about that last second when the year ends. I mean, we count down to it like its a rocket liftoff and everything!

This coming week is, more or less, the last normal-ish week until after the New Year – or at least as normal as things ever get at Chez Reading Reality.

Today’s cat picture shows a sort of normal that I’ll admit we weren’t expecting to see. The cat outside looks like he’s asking for some child in the house to come out and play with him. The cat inside is George, looking like he wants to go out and play – or at least figure out how the cat on the outside, who resembles him rather a lot, is related to him. Which he probably is. Because we got George in the neighborhood – George is our pandemic baby – we learned that George’s momcat had lots of littles roaming around the neighborhood. We were told she even had one more litter before she finally got trapped, neutered and released. Still, we know George has a LOT of siblings and niblings (collective term for nieces AND nephews just like siblings is the collective term for brothers AND sisters) running around the subdivision and probably nearby as well, so we’re thinking he’s related to George somehow. We’re pretty sure this handsome fellow is a fellow because he has the jowls of a male cat who either was never neutered or was snipped after maturity.

But no, we’re not letting George out to play. He has plenty of people and kitties and things to play with at home!

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Fall 2024 Seasons of Books Giveaway Hop
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book PLUS EVENT-WIDE AMAZON/PAYPAL PRIZE in the Holiday Giveaway Event!

Blog Recap:

Grade A #BookReview: Mechanize My Hands to War by Erin K. Wagner
B #BookReview: Bayou Book Thief by Ellen Byron
B #AudioBookReview: Cruel Winter with You by Ali Hazelwood
A- #AudioBookReview: Dead as a Dodo by Hailey Edwards
C #AudioBookReview: I Made It Out of Clay by Beth Kander + #Excerpt
Stacking the Shelves (631)

Coming This Week:

Dashing December Giveaway Hop
Wedgetail by M.L. Buchman (#BookReview)
Echo by Tracy Clark (#BookReview)
Miss Amelia’s List by Mercedes Lackey (#BookReview)
Blood Jade by Julia Vee and Ken Bebelle (#AudioBookReview)