A Surprise Fall Fest Weekend
and a few recent romance reads
Happy Saturday, my friends! I just realized that I now have a pile of romance reads that I have finished recently and not shared with you ~ I’ll be sharing a few today and more on Tuesday ☺ Before that, though, a bit about my surprise fall-fest last weekend!
Wow,
would be SO PROUD OF ME, because last weekend was a pretty spontaneous fall fest at our house and it was a treat, despite my post-vaccine exhaustion1. Most of the family went to a wonderful apple orchard on Saturday and picked apples and bought (and then ate) ALL of the apple baked goods. When we got home I took a fall-themed (ha!) nap and later, the senior and his girlfriend surprised us by bringing home pumpkins for all the teens to carve. I observed this activity2 from my comfy deck chair and roasted the seeds for immediate devouring.I then made it through the first five episodes of Over the Garden Wall with the girls before falling asleep on the couch. They were impressed that I made it that far, as was I. It was my first time watching it (their gazillionth) and I loved it!
On Sunday, the oldest made apple gingersnaps and I assisted by eating them and then cleaning up a lot of the mess afterwards ☺ And to continue the theme, just LOOK at what I came home to on Tuesday after school ……… maybe I won’t let her leave again??
This weekend is a play performance weekend (Ghostlight!) for the youngest, with performances on Friday night, Saturday afternoon and Saturday night ~ these are always intense weekends around here!
Would you like even more chatty musings on midlife, even more book recommendations, and exclusive downloads and book collections delivered right to your inbox each week? These are all benefits of a paid subscription to this newsletter ~ please do consider becoming a supporter!
Recent Romance Reads
Before I share today’s books, I need to tell you about a new-to-me newsletter that made me so happy when I learned about it last weekend! Despite me not using TikTok at. all. and sometimes getting very frustrated with BookTok’s influence on the publishing industry, I am loving the Romancing the Throne newsletter by
. If you love the romance genre, whether or not you are on BookTok, you really should subscribe! Her analyses of the small town ranch romance niche and hockey romance were so fun to read, and I’m looking forward to more of her work! If I haven’t convinced you yet, perhaps Alyssa’s About page will?Now, on to the books!
The Rivals of Casper Road by Roan Parrish ~ if you’re looking for a perfect Halloween romance3, THIS IS IT! I love this series from Parrish, and although this story is a few books in, you can 100% just jump right in here. This m/m romance has so much feeling and depth and great mental health representation.
Nevermore Bookstore by Kerrigan Byrne and Cynthia St. Aubin surprised me with its great chronic illness and PTSD representation and I adored the small town and bookshop settings and fall-ish vibes. There were a few spots so silly and OTT that I literally gasped while listening, but overall, this was a fun series to discover on Hoopla with decent narration ~ I’m excited to listen to more stories (Brewbies and Bazaar Girls) set in this world.
Wild Eyes by Elsie Silver ~ I enjoyed this second installment in the Rose Hill series, but I didn’t love it quite as much as Wild Love, and I’ve finally realized why. It focused too much on just the main characters, and not enough on all the lovable and quirky family members and quirky townspeople I fell in love with in Wild Love. I need depth of place and cast, and this one didn’t fully deliver on that front. It was still great on audio though, and I’m very excited for Wild Side in March!
Have you read any amazing romance titles lately? Please do share!
You may also enjoy ……….
That’s all for this week ~ thanks for reading!
I love to hear from readers, so please do reach out to me with questions or feedback at mindfullibrarian@substack.com . You can always just reply to this email if you are reading in your inbox, or hit the comment button if reading on the web or the app! If we aren’t already connected on Goodreads, I would love to see you there as well.
I got the flu and COVID shots and SCIENCE IS AMAZING AND EVERYONE SHOULD GET VACCINATED but also they tend to kick my ass for a day or so afterwards. Both can be true.
I’m very much enjoying this season of life in which I observe a lot of the holiday activities but don’t actually have to DO them. I detest the gooeyness of pumpkin-innards!
I have bit my tongue and tied my hands to avoid ranting about the majority-terrible Halloween / hyperseasonal genre fiction I read in an attempt to do a roundup for you - seriously, I’m proud of myself for not doing a rant piece. The Rivals of Casper Road is the one and only gem!
Oh what a joyful newsletter--I laughed so hard at the opener. :o) In many ways, it's easier to be seasonal with littles because of their enthusiasm, so the older we and the children get, it's important to keep going. What a wonderful weekend.
Great book recs as always (*takes notes) and immediately following the romance newsletter.
Thanks for introducing me to Alyssa's Substack. Running to read those articles now. Seems like you had a very festive weekend! I read Morbidly Yours by Ivy Fairbanks this month and really enjoyed it! I was hoping it would have more paranormal or fall vibes but it didn't. Still, a fun romance with lots of great representation.