Heather's Abode

October 2026 Reading Round-Up

Posted on November 7, 2026 | Leave a comment

My favorite book this month

This month, I really loved some of these books (Wickhills, Backwoods Banshee, Yield Under Great Persuasion, and The Killing of a Chestnut Tree) and really hated two of them (A Fae in Finance and Terrestrial History). This fall, I’ve unintentionally read several sequels without having read their first books: I Punched an Alien and Now We’re in Couple’s Therapy, The Silent Appeal, This Knight Topples Empires, and Homeward for a Spell. Only the first of these required having read the first book in the series.

Not sure what to make of my reading trends right now. I have been craving gentle stories, caring narrators, and competent protagonists.

Books I COMPLETED

I’ve included snippets from my reviews and additional thoughts.

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Top Ten Tuesday: One-Word Reviews

Posted on November 3, 2026 | Leave a comment

Top Ten Tuesdays prompt for November 3: One-Word Reviews for the Last Ten Books I Read

Choosing one word for some of these books was very difficult. In a couple of cases, I ended up describing how I felt after finishing them.

This Knight Topples Empires: A Minor Character on a Major Quest by Ry Herman

Genderfun

The Killing of a Chestnut Tree by Oliver K. Langmead

Gentleness

A Fae in Finance by Juliet Brooks – unsatisfying

Unsatisfying

The Bishop of Durham Attempts to Surrender the City by Susannah Clarke

Dream-like

Wickhills by Premee Mohammed

Squeeeeeeee

The Silent Appeal by Janice Hallett

Solid

Yield Under Great Persuasion by Alexandra Rowland

Restorative

Backwoods Banshee by David R. Slayton

Satisfying

Dog Wizard by Barbara Hambly

Done

I Punched an Alien and Now We’re in Couples Therapy – by Kimberly Lemming

Effortful

Wow, most of these books are from series. Wickhills and Yield are standalones. Fae and Tree are both the first books in a series. Oddly enough, I jumped into reading a few book 2s (Knight, Silent, and Alien) without having read their book 1s. It usually doesn’t matter so much with romances and mysteries. However. I initially DNF’d Alien because it does require reading I Got Abducted by Aliens and Now I’m Trapped in a Rom-Com first.

Let’s Talk Bookish: Organzing Ebooks

Posted on October 23, 2026 | Leave a comment

Today I came across a Let’s Talk Bookish prompt for September 2026:

Prompts: How do you manage your digital library (Kindle, Kobo, etc.)—do you delete books you won’t read, or do you let them pile up? Do you feel less guilty about owning too many digital books versus physical ones? Which is harder to let go of: a well-loved physical book or a purchased e-book?

It has inspired me to revisit this draft, add an update, and post it even though it is a month late.

Looking for Alternatives

When I couldn’t find a couple of ebooks that I knew–KNEW–that I had, I realized that I absolutely needed to have an up-to-date list or catalog of my ebooks. Especially since there are so many different platforms that come and go. (Goodbye, Aldiko, I wish I could remember which books I had downloaded in your app. Fortunately, I think they were mostly public domain books.)

And then I purchased another ebook Humble Bundle.

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