This month has been quite interesting, it flew by so quickly. We started the month with 100 degree temps and now we are in the 60-70’s, so its kinda been a ride in weather temps. September is also the start of the Football season, so all Football fans are loving this month right now. I do love Football, but only college these days, I lost my interest in Pro after Covid. My brother got sealed this month (and only those that are LDS probably know what that really means, but in our religious terms it just means that it finalized their marriage and is a religious ceremony, where as in the summer they had a more of a civil ceremony and it happens in one of our temples—basically it means they got married for eternity and not just this life in our beliefs so its a pretty important step). I did get my apartment all decorated for Autumn.

As for the blog and my reading life, it was a solid month better than last month but not the best reading month I have had this year. But still pretty solid with close to 40 books read. I got a little moody in my reading this month which affected some of my reading plans. Sometimes being a off and on mood reader can be such a trial. haha But I am enjoying not reviewing every book I read on the blog. Its still an adjustment and I have had to battle some inner turmoil over it, I feel like I am lacking as a book blogger, but it has reduced my stress and anxiety levels. I still do reviews just more to the point small reviews on Goodreads. I did clean up my TBR list on Goodreads and the other book sites like LibraryThing, StoryGraph and Literal Club. I started a new “recommend it” feature this month and I hope you have had fun with it so far. I also completed my Goodreads reading challenge as it was set for 300 books, so my goal to read for the end of the year is 450, we shall see if I can make it haha

My Goals for October: Clean up the HEA book database Pages on the site, read 50 books, and work on organizing my shelves on book tracking sites.

Reading Stats

Books Read

Top Books of the Month

Finally divorced from a violently abusive man, Carmen Wolfe is ready to enjoy life again, but not ready to love again. During a performance of Native American song and dance she attends at a new casino near her Michigan hometown, a live wolf named Caesar, who is part of the act, disobeys its trainer and sits down beside Carmen’s aisle seat and refuses to budge. He glares at Carmen with wild, yellow eyes, leaving her terrified and afraid to move.

Worried about the dangerous situation, lead dancer Benjamin Red Wolf Colter, a lawyer for the Lakota (Oglala Sioux), leaves the stage to calm the tense moment. He urges Caesar back to his cage and apologizes to Carmen, but once he returns to South Dakota, Ben cannot stop thinking about the beautiful woman he met in Michigan. Heartbroken over his wife and unborn son, who were killed in an assassination attempt on his life, Ben believes that the incident with Caesar means the wolf spirit has chosen Carmen as the woman who can put an end to his grief and teach him to love again.

Carmen, too, cannot ignore the sizzling attraction she and Ben shared in that first fateful meeting. She stays in touch, and soon a deeper relationship leads her to South Dakota. Can these two overcome past tragedies? Can Carmen learn to trust again? And can she live with the fact that someone still wants Ben Colter dead?

The haunting lure of the South Dakota Badlands holds all the answers.

This is a book that was highly anticipated all year, I was reached out to by the author directly on it, and I know how much research went into writing it. It’s also her first CONTEMPORARY romance which was amazing to see. Not many authors can transfer from genres, but she did an incredible job. It was addicting, intense and so beautiful.

New York Times Bestselling author Nalini Singh takes us into the dangerous, haunting world of archangels…and a love that is legend.

For thousands of years, the passion between Alexander, Archangel of Persia, and Zanaya, Queen of the Nile, burned furious and bright, seemingly without end. But to be an archangel is to be bound to power violent and demanding. Driven by its primal energy, Alexander and Zanaya fought as fiercely as they loved. Locked in an endless cycle of devotion and heartbreak, it is only Zanaya’s decision to Sleep that ends their love story.

Eons later, it is the Cascade of Death that wakens them both. The passion between them a flame that yet burns, Alexander and Zanaya stand together in one last battle against the ultimate darkness. But even a warrior archangel cannot win every war. Alexander’s scream shatters the world as Zanaya falls, broken and silent…only to rise again in a miracle that may be a devastating curse. For is it truly the Queen of the Nile who has been resurrected?

Only one thing is clear: this is the last beat of their passionate, angry dance. The final song for Alexander and his Zani…

This one was so DANG good! It had so much character depth, and is more of a epic love type of tale so we see lots of years that this couple is together. It was so interesting seeing more history backdrop of the world and it had me in my feels all the way through. Fans of the series will be in love with this one!

A Sensual, Powerful, And Thought Provoking Tarzan Retelling

Eden Matthews stumbled upon the discovery of a lifetime while photographing wildlife deep in the heart of Africa…

A gorgeous god of a man living in the wilds of the African jungle among a family of gorillas…

When he saves her life she’s compelled to uncover the man’s tragic past and the fate which led him to grow up in the wild.

But Eden soon learns she can take man from the wild, but she can’t take the wild out of the man…

When her savage savior soon shows her just want he wants of her…her sensual surrender, she finds she can’t resist him teaching her how to love…in the wild.

I haven’t read many Tarzan retellings in fact there is only one I have done before and that was by Sawyer Bennett. But it could hardly compare to this one which is a real life retelling. This one was so beautiful and just perfect in every way! And it has the most darling Cinnamon Roll hero. And if you love the Tarzan film, then this one you will fall in love with! I guarantee it.

Honorable Mentions

How was your reading month? Did you have any successes or failures? What book was the most memorable for you? Let me know in the comments below!