The final Caturday of this year has to start on a purrfect note. It feels deserved. This day matters to us. Of course, every Caturday matters to us, but this one - this last one - feels special. We want to make sure that it goes well, that we enter into the new year on the right paw, with a pawsitive attitude. We have our resolutions, and although we know that we will most likely not get each and every one, this is one that we can promise ourselves that we will do. We will begin every Caturday in the new year the way that it should - by making you guys our weekly Caturday meowgazine.
This meowgazine is full of the best of the best - the most viral cat tweets of the week, the funniest cat memes that people couldn't stop sharing, the wholesome cat stories that captured people's attention and hearts. Catching up on all of this purrfect content is our way to give ourselves the kickstart of purrfection that we need on a Caturday. And in that way, this Caturday is no different. Five minutes of scrolling through this feline pawsomeness, and the last Caturday of the year will be yours to conquer.
Fanfic, Sense8 (tv), Wolfgang & Capheus, Bonding over having loyal (and loud) childhood besties
Dec. 27th, 2025 06:44 amAuthor: MerricatB
Fandom: Sense8 (tv)
Pairing/Characters: Wolfgang Bogdanow & Capheus Onyango
Rating/Category: Teen
Prompt: Sense8 (tv), Wolfgang & Capheus, Bonding over having loyal (and loud) childhood besties
Spoilers: Whole series
Summary: While visiting Capheus on an especially costly trip to Nairobi, Wolfgang reflects on the similarities between their childhood friends.
Notes/Warnings: N/A
Read on AO3
More holiday reading and a December meme prompt
Dec. 27th, 2025 02:14 pm( Another December talking meme prompt and response )
Other than the very low-effort books I mentioned in my previous post, I've read very little, although I am working my way through The Story of A New Name, the second book in Elena Ferrante's acclaimed Neapolitan quartet, and finding it as excellent as the first. This book covers our narrator's late teens and early adulthood, with that same mix of tightly observed specificity (the impoverished residents of a single block of apartments in 1960s Naples) and more universally relatable observations on the excruciating experiences of being a young woman.
I also read Motherland (Julia Ioffe), a memoir-history in the mode of Jung Chang's Wild Swans which follows the author's family through four generations of the twentieth century in what are now Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia. Being Jewish people in that part of the world during the Holocaust, World War II, and the Soviet Union's existence and collapse was obviously not easy, and Ioffe's various ancestors navigated these treacherous waters with ingenuity, resilience, and persistence. As well as being a family history, Ioffe attempts in the book to write a social history of 'Russian' women (inverted commas very much needed, because she has a frustrating habit of treating 'Russian' as synonymous with 'other regions of the Russian empire,' 'Soviet', and so on), from the birth of the Soviet Union to current times. Here, although she highlights some extraordinary people and episodes in history, I feel the book is weaker, because (other than the women of her own family), she focuses for the most part on elites — wives of Soviet leaders, Stalin's daughter, wives and mistresses of Putin and his oligarchs, Yulia Navalnaya, and so on — and although her thesis is that such women offer a sort of mirror into the changing society, I can't help but feel that they're not exactly representative.
And that's it in terms of reading for now. I picked up a couple of silly sounding romantasy ebooks, I've still got two Rosemary Sutcliff books out from the library, and Matthias returned from today's grocery shopping with an unexpected book gift for me, but I'm not sure how many of these I'll make it through before the year's end. In any case, my focus is still the Yuletide collection at the moment.
Challenge 30 - Results
Dec. 27th, 2025 05:05 amThank you very much to all the participants & voters.
The votes tally if needed is in the comments of the voting post.
Challenge 30 Just the Caps 3
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WINNERS
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Three French Hens
Dec. 27th, 2025 06:51 amWhen I went out in the morning, it was dry, but the sky was...leaden, to borrow a novel term. (Nobody ever calls the sky "leaden" in real life.) After I got my purchases stashed away, I came back to my desk for a while. I had an email from Book Outlet that they were having a sale, and one of the books on sale was one that I had been planning to pick up for months at B&N (which we still haven't made it to, and probably, at this point, won't). Let's see, $8.00 online or $20.00 in the store...which is the better deal.... Yeah, so I spent forty-five minutes or so putting together a book order and bought as many books as I would have on a trip to B&N, but for half the price, so yay. And it means I'll have a package in the mail in a few days.
Then I hopped onto the Kohl's site because I had Kohl's Cash. I filled a cart with clearance items, including a birthday present for Dad (whose birthday is about a month off) and a clear plastic tube for storing wrapping paper. I added pumpkins that I had been eyeing at Halloween, and Christmas decorations, and candle holders, and chocolates (only to find that they don't ship the chocolates). And then I emptied the cart out because I only had $20 in Kohl's Cash and didn't really need all of that stuff. In the end, I bought the gift for Dad and the wrapping paper tube, which together came to $19.49, so all I had to pay for them was the shipping, and I still have 51 cents in Kohl's Cash. Which amuses me greatly.
And then...it was naptime. Were there cats involved? Yes.
I was contemplating going to the new bookstore, yesterday, but then the weather started, and when I saw the ice glazing the windows, I decided that my couch was a nice place to be. I spent the rest of the day (except when making meals and cleaning up after) under a blankie and one or more cats reading. I have made serious headway into the fourth Malloreon book (Sorceress of Darshiva). If I did nothing else for the rest of my vacation, I would finish the series. Unfortunately, I do need to do some things. My house is a pit, and it definitely needs some cleaning and organizing. Deciding where to start is going to be a problem, though. Maybe I'll start with the back room. That really just needs a bit of tidying and to have the boxes that I saved for possible shipping to Auntie and Nuncle collapsed and moved to the recycling bin. Though...not until the ice in the driveway melts.
I am very glad I went out yesterday for groceries so that I don't have to do it this morning.
I have email from Mom this morning saying that they found another gift for me under the tree and that they will either deliver it or I can come get it. Probably I should go get it, but they also go right past my street when they go to the shop, so....
Today, I am going to start with a list of everything I hope to accomplish during my vacation. Some of it is simple enough, like reorganizing my DVD storage binders to include the disks that I have bought since the last time I did that (which was probably last December, now that I think on it). I am debating separating movies out into categories, instead of organizing alphabetically by title, but I still think alphabetical is the way to go, even though it means massively reorganizing sometimes. I did separate out the superhero movies, though; they have their own binder now.
Some of my projects are a little larger, like clean out the separate room in the basement where all of the To Keep stuff got piled, and where the workbench is, because I still want to teach myself book binding and the workbench is a better option than the dining room table or my crafting desk upstairs in Spare Oom. Which is also a project, because Spare Oom and my papercrafting supplies is a separate disaster, and could possibly take me all week on its own to fix.
My office, too, needs work. It's terribly cluttered in here.
The library is another days-long project, because I still have boxes of Grama's paperwork piled in there, almost five years after her death, and that closet also needs major cleaning. (How is it five years?)
So, yeah. Now that I've had a day off, it's time to get busy. Unfortunately.
I would really prefer to just spend my vacation reading and writing and crafting.
Fight Challenge: Babylon 5: Illegal Actions
Dec. 27th, 2025 10:56 amTitle: Illegal Actions
Fandom: Babylon 5
Author:
Characters: Sheridan.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 200
Spoilers/Setting: No Surrender, No Retreat.
Summary: Sheridan can’t stand idly by while Earth Alliance destroyers fire on unarmed ships full of refugees.
Content Notes: None needed.
Written For: Challenge 501: Amnesty 83, using Challenge 83: Fight.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Babylon 5, or the characters. They belong to J. Michael Straczynski.
A/N: Double drabble.
25 Frumpy Funny Felines to Hold You Over Until the New Year
Dec. 27th, 2025 02:00 amIt's that special time of year again. That time between Christmas and New Years where we have no idea what to do with ourselves… So here are some cat memes!
We started our year with cat memes, we filled the entire year with cat memes, and we are going to end it the same way. With cat memes! As you can see, we love cat memes. This kind of content is the only thing keeping the Internet a bearable place to exist in. With all the Ai slop, angry trolls, and just general darkness, the Internet loses sight of its original allure. And that was wholesomeness. But guess what? It's not gone, it's just under all that other stuff. But we are here to provide you with it. It's almost a lost art finding and sharing the best cat memes on the internet, but somebody has to do it.
What are we supposed to do between now and New Years Eve anyway? We're all just sitting here, at our parent's house, in our childhood homes, getting work emails that just say they want to circle back in 2026, and nobody has any plans. I suppose this is the time of the year to recharge before getting absolutely black out on New Years Eve… But we don't wanna do that! We want to laugh and say "awwww" to cute cats. Are we crazy for that? Don't answer that because we don't care! Being crazy about cats is a green flag in our book.
Not every Christmas gift comes wrapped in festive paper and adorned with a bow. Sometimes the greatest gift of all comes in a package that's fur-covered and smol, like a cute little kitten with a button nose and small paws. How about five feline babies? What a sight! So young they had no concept of how to use their claws, and with a warm winter fire inside, these kittens became the purrfect holiday gift when a cat lover made the ultimate sacrifice to save the whole litter of babies.
'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring… Except for five kitten newborns wriggling on the cold driveway.
Kitten meows are the cutest, most devastatingly heartbreaking sounds in the world. At kitties call out into the void, their little voices can be heard for miles by a well-trained cat lover, and for many of us who are constantly surveying the neighborhood for wayward felines, this call for help is a call to action. Meowing for help, these five kittens had just been born into a cold and freezing world. Left alone briefly when their mama scampered into the snow-covered bushes, a cat lover discovered a shivering collection of littermates, eyes barely open in the blizzard-like wind. Instead of prioritizing her holiday festivities, this cat lover canceled everything, putting the lives, safety, and warm whiskers of these kittens in her holiday schedule instead.
Mewing for mama, these kittens got a bipedal human surrogate for their first few hours of life, until the impawssible happened and their biomom came rushing back to cuddle in front of the Christmas fire as well. Drawn by the warmth and love of a human home, these kittens and their mother will never know the harshness of the outside world again.
For it's pawtentially a Christmas miracle that they survived their first night, but an even bigger gift to live the rest of their nine lives as pampered indoor kitties, loving every meowment of sunshine through the window, windless nights, and an assortment of warm beds to choose from every evening.
Whatcha Reading? December 2025, Part Two
Dec. 27th, 2025 09:00 am
This year is coming to a close! Here’s what we’re reading during the last week of December:
Lara: I’m catching up with Nalini Singh’s Guild Hunter series. I’m currently reading Archangel’s Lineage. ( A | BN | K | AB ) I’m desperately sad that this series will be coming to an end in May. It’s been a stalwart comfort for years.
Amanda: My Romance TBR Takedown board had me landing on “new series.” I’m starting my Alice Coldbreath journey with Her Baseborn Bridegroom, ( A ) which is book one in the Vawdrey Brothers series.
Sarah: I am reading The Astral Library by Kate Quinn – I’ll be interviewing her for the podcast. It’s catnip for people who love stories about being inside books.
Shana: I’m rereading Common Goal by Rachel Reid. It’s the only book in the Game Changers series I actually own, probably because I love the older bisexual hero. Someday my Heated Rivalry hold will come in, after 63 other people read it.
Amanda: I thought you read them, Shana? I remember you reviewing Long Game. Or is my memory shot?
Shana: Your memory is perfect, as always! I have read all of the series, I’m just doing a reread since I’m obsessed with the show.Amanda: It sounds like your hold will come in just as season two starts.
Shana: And by then I will have moved on to a new obsession and won’t be in the mood to read the book.
Elyse: I’m reading Mother Mary Comes to Me ( A | BN | K | AB ) which is a memoir by Arundhati Roy. It’s really beautifully written and I’m a sucker for a book about complicated relationships with moms.
Claudia: I am so curious about that book. The mom sounds terrible to the daughter but great to the world.
Kiki I’m listening to The Victorian City: Everyday Life in Dickens’ London by Judith Flanders ( A | BN | K | AB ) which is a great companion while I’m semi-frantically trying to finish a cross stitch for my best friend’s wedding ceremony Monday! I’ve learned a lot about omnibuses and the intricacies of the mail coach system so far. I’ve been having a hard time falling into romance lately, and I feel like this is a good pivot: still historical, so I’m feeling immersed, but no plot that I have to buy in to.
Whatcha reading to end 2025? Let us know in the comments!
Fannish 50
Dec. 27th, 2025 11:03 amPhilosophical Questions: Government
Dec. 27th, 2025 02:32 amDo you think there will ever be a global government? If a world government did come to power, assuming it wasn’t particularly cruel or evil, would it be a good or bad thing?
( Read more... )
December Days 02025 #26: Rocks
Dec. 26th, 2025 11:15 pm( 26: Rocks )
Our Favorite Reads of 2025
Dec. 27th, 2025 08:00 am
For our favorite reads, we had to choose one favorite read of 2025, but everyone is allowed two bonus picks for books not released this year. However, we typically have a few rulebreakers!
Here are our favorites of the year! We’d also love to hear about your best read of 2025!
Ladies in Hating
Author: Alexandra Vasti
Released: September 23, 2025 by St. Martin's Griffin
Genre: Gothic, Historical: European, LGBTQIA, Romance
Series: Belvoir's Library #3
A pair of Gothic novelists trade rivalry for love in this swoony, steamy, sapphic Regency by USA Today bestselling author Alexandra Vasti.
Celebrated authoress Lady Georgiana Cleeve has achieved fame and fortune. Unfortunately, she’s also acquired an the enigmatic Lady Darling, whose spine-tingling plots appear to be pulled straight from Georgiana’s own manuscripts. What’s a stubborn, steely writer to do? Unmask her rival, of course.
But unmasking doesn’t go according to plan—because Lady Darling is actually Cat Lacey, the butler’s daughter and object of Georgiana’s very secret, very embarrassing teenage infatuation.
Cat Lacey has spent a decade clawing her family out of poverty. The last thing she needs is to be distracted by the stunning(ly pretentious) Lady Georgiana Cleeve. But Cat can’t seem to escape her infuriatingly beautiful rival—including at the eerie manor where they both plan to set their next books. The plot unexpectedly thickens, however, when the novelists find themselves trapped in the manor together. In between ghostly moans and spectral staff, Cat and Georgiana come face-to-face with real the scorching passion that’s been haunting their rivalry all along.
Sarah: I got to have Alexandra on the podcast twice this year to talk about the trilogy, and so I’m pretty spoiled. Not in the “I found out the ending” kind of way, but in the “I’ve been indulged with a truly opulent amount of history that makes the trilogy a more sumptuous reading experience” way. Worldbuilding, like comedy, is grounded and enhanced by detail and specificity, and the world of the two characters, the conflicts between and around them, and the charm of the whole series is precise in its elegance. Loved it.
Tara: Okay, I’m cheating a tiny bit because this book was also published this year, but it was another true standout for me. While I was drawn by the premise, with two rival gothic novel writers finding their HEA together, the true magic was in seeing them grow while experiencing traditional elements of gothic fiction.
Stone and Sky
Author: Ben Aaronovitch
Released: July 8, 2025 by DAW
Genre: Mystery/Thriller, Urban Fantasy
Series: Rivers of London #10
“This isn’t London. The rules are different up here…”
All Detective Constable Peter Grant wanted was a nice holiday up in Scotland.
He’ll need one once this is over…
check.
some.
sort of – but that’s not the only thing in the sky…
Sarah: I’ve said before this series is the one exception to some general policies I have about reading: I generally don’t like books about cops, and I don’t like books where characters of color are written by a White person. I have enjoyed many of the books in this series, and I particularly like the audiobooks, so listening to Kobna Holdbrook-Smith and Shvorne Marks narrate was an extra treat. This book does have a romance of sorts in it – a queer one, too – and some of the plot points reflect current events in an eerie way, but I was so happy while I was listening to it. This book and “What Abigail Did That Summer” are probably my favorites in the series. It’s talking foxes, after all.
Never Over
Author: Clare Gilmore
Released: October 28, 2025 by St. Martin's Griffin
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Romance
A swoony second-chance romance where facing the one who broke your heart could be the thing that makes your dream come true.
Twenty-five-year-old Paige Lancaster is one contract away from earning a living doing her favorite thing in the world: writing songs. But when a music industry professional suggests she might be holding back with her lyrics to lessen the heartbreak of an old flame, Paige doubts if her music is ready to be heard.
In a rare, impulsive move, Paige contacts Liam Bishop after four years of no contact to ask him for a small favor: date her, and then re-break her heart, all so she can remember what those big, songworthy emotions felt like. And since Liam is the one who first set Paige on this career path, he hesitantly agrees.
Across three months of Liam’s summer work travel, the exes are forced to share hotel beds, rehash the past, and date in the present, all while navigating the building attraction between them they both swore was the one line of their agreement they wouldn’t cross.
But when it becomes near impossible not to act on their rippling chemistry, and as ever intensifying feelings blur the lines of what’s actually real and what’s driven by the music, Paige and Liam will both have to decide what’s more important: art for the sake of it, or love over everything.
Amanda: This book made me eat so much crow! It took two things in romance I typically avoid: characters who work in music and a second chance romance. There is so much pining and yearning and forced proximity. If you love emotional angst and obstacles, this is amazing. I also think if you like Cara Bastone’s books, this might work well for you, though it’s a little lighter on traumatic themes.
Villains Are Destined to Die, Vol. 1
Author: SUOL
Released: November 8, 2022 by Ize Press
Genre: Manga, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy
Series: Villains Are Destined to Die #1
Playing Daughter of the Duke’s Super Love Project as the easy mode heroine, Ivonne, makes charming the male characters a breeze. But once you switch to hard mode and step into the shoes of Penelope, the misunderstood villain, it’s nearly impossible to even stay alive! So imagine the shock of suddenly waking up in Penelope’s body—you know right away that your life is on the line. With love interests who will kill you if their affection meters drop too low and the inability to speak without choosing from pre-selected dialogue, it quickly becomes clear that Penelope’s chances have been rigged from the start—and this villain might just be destined to die!
Amanda: I started reading this as a webtoon, but I am both impatient and impulsive. With over 150 chapters and one free chapter read a day, I was bereft that I couldn’t marathon this one until my eyeballs fell out of my head. Thankfully, there are eight volumes in paperback format in beautiful full color. The art is gorgeous and the concept is so fun. The only way this could be better is if it were a “why choose” book where she gets to be with everyone.
Jane Austen’s Bookshelf
Author: Rebecca Romney
Released: February 18, 2025 by Simon & Schuster
Genre: Nonfiction
From rare book dealer and guest star of the hit show Pawn Stars, a page-turning literary adventure that introduces readers to the women writers who inspired Jane Austen—and investigates why their books have disappeared from our shelves.
Long before she was a rare book dealer, Rebecca Romney was a devoted reader of Jane Austen. She loved that Austen’s books took the lives of women seriously, explored relationships with wit and confidence, and always, allowed for the possibility of a happy ending. She read and reread them, often wishing Austen wrote just one more.
But Austen wasn’t a lone genius. She wrote at a time of great experimentation for women writers—and clues about those women, and the exceptional books they wrote, are sprinkled like breadcrumbs throughout Austen’s work. Every character in Northanger Abbey who isn’t a boor sings the praises of Ann Radcliffe. The play that causes such a stir in Mansfield Park is a real one by the playwright Elizabeth Inchbald. In fact, the phrase “pride and prejudice” came from Frances Burney’s second novel Cecilia. The women that populated Jane Austen’s bookshelf profoundly influenced her work; Austen looked up to them, passionately discussed their books with her friends, and used an appreciation of their books as a litmus test for whether someone had good taste. So where had these women gone? Why hadn’t Romney—despite her training—ever read them? Or, in some cases, even heard of them? And why were they no longer embraced as part of the wider literary canon?
Jane Austen’s Bookshelf investigates the disappearance of Austen’s heroes—women writers who were erased from the Western canon—to reveal who they were, what they meant to Austen, and how they were forgotten. Each chapter profiles a different writer including Frances Burney, Ann Radcliffe, Charlotte Lennox, Charlotte Smith, Hannah More, Elizabeth Inchbald, Hester Lynch Thrale Piozzi, and Maria Edgeworth—and recounts Romney’s experience reading them, finding rare copies of their works, and drawing on connections between their words and Austen’s. Romney collects the once-famed works of these forgotten writers, physically recreating Austen’s bookshelf and making a convincing case for why these books should be placed back on the to-be-read pile of all book lovers today. Jane Austen’s Bookshelf will encourage you to look beyond assigned reading lists, question who decides what belongs there, and build your very own collection of favorite novels.
Carrie: This is an amazing nonfiction book about the women who wrote novels in the Georgian period who Jane Austen would have read or at least known of. Entertaining, informative, and changed the way I think about the literary landscape of that time!
War for the Oaks
Author: Emma Bull
Released: July 1, 1987 by Ace
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Acclaimed by critics and readers on its first publication in 1987, winner of the Locus Award for Best First Novel, Emma Bull’s War for the Oaks is one of the novels that has defined modern urban fantasy.
Eddi McCandry sings rock and roll. But her boyfriend just dumped her, her band just broke up, and life could hardly be worse. Then, walking home through downtown Minneapolis on a dark night, she finds herself drafted into an invisible war between the faerie folk. Now, more than her own survival is at risk—and her own preferences, musical and personal, are very much beside the point.
By turns tough and lyrical, fabulous and down-to-earth, War for the Oaks is a fantasy novel that’s as much about this world as about the other one. It’s about real love and loyalty, about real music and musicians, about false glamour and true art. It will change the way you hear and see your own daily life.
Carrie: I re-read The War for the Oaks by Emma Bull for about the 1,000th time since I first read it in high school and not only is it just as good as every other time but, if possible, it’s even better. I find new things to delight in it every time.
The Botanist’s Assistant
Author: Peggy Townsend
Released: November 18, 2025 by Berkley
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
A murder in the science lab shatters a woman’s quiet and ordered life when she decides she must solve the crime herself in this entertaining and uplifting mystery.
Plenty of people consider Margaret Finch odd. Six-feet-tall and big-boned, she lives alone in a small cabin in the woods, drives a 20-year-old truck, and schedules her life so precisely you can tell the time and day of the week by the chore she is doing and what she is wearing. But the same attributes that cause her to be labeled eccentric—an obsessive attention to detail and the ability to organize almost anything—make her invaluable in her job as Research Assistant II to a talented and charismatic botanist.
It’s those very same qualities, however, that also turn Margaret into a target after a surprising death shakes the small university where she works. Even as authorities claim the death appears to be from natural causes, Margaret fears it might be something a murder born of jealousy and dark secrets. With the aid of a newly hired and enigmatic night custodian, Margaret finds herself thrust into the role of detective, forcing her to consider that she may not be able to find the killer before the killer finds her.
With a cast of quirky and likeable characters that one won’t soon forget, The Botanist’s Assistant is a delightful story of perseverance and the power in all of us to survive.
Lara: I read some fantastic books this year and there are about three real standouts, but this one is something special. So quiet, so good and so strong. I adored every second with this book.
The Bone King and the Starling
Author: Elizabeth Stephens
Released: March 19, 2025
Genre: Historical: European, Novella, Romance
They call him the bone king.
A massive, beast of a male who worships the gods and is all too willing to provide them their sacrifices. Human sacrifices. He and his warriors have come to visit Winterbren, a poor little village on the outskirts of Wrath and my home.
I’ve never been more grateful to be a thrall, for my low status will ensure that I remain outside of his notice. But when he requests — nay, requires — a willing female to warm his furs for the duration of his stay, his selection falls to me. All I can do is pray to the gods that I survive the night…
And beg the bone king for mercy.
This book contains dark themes, including a Black woman in the position of thrall, graphic depictions of torture, non-con, and discussions of early childhood abuse. A full list of warnings can be found on my website.
Shana’s 2025 pick!
This Could Be Us
Author: Kennedy Ryan
Released: March 5, 2024 by Forever
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Romance
Series: Skyland #2
“Heart-searing, sensual, and life affirming.” ―EMILY HENRY, #1 New York Times bestselling author
Soledad Barnes has her life all planned out. Because, of course, she does. She plans everything. She designs everything. She fixes everything. She’s a domestic goddess who’s never met a party she couldn’t host or a charge she couldn’t lead. The one with all the answers and the perfect vinaigrette for that summer salad. But none of her varied talents can save her when catastrophe strikes, and the life she built with the man who was supposed to be her forever, goes poof in a cloud of betrayal and disillusion.
But there is no time to pout or sulk, or even grieve the life she lost. She’s too busy keeping a roof over her daughters’ heads and food on the table. And in the process of saving them all, Soledad rediscovers herself. From the ashes of a life burned to the ground, something bold and new can rise.
But then an unlikely man enters the picture—the forbidden one, the one she shouldn’t want but can’t seem to resist. She’s lost it all before and refuses to repeat her mistakes. Can she trust him? Can she trust herself?
After all she’s lost . . .and found . . .can she be brave enough to make room for what could be?
For fans of Tia Williams and Colleen Hoover comes a deeply moving and personal novel about sacrifice, self-reliance, and finding true happiness from “one of the finest romance writers of our age.” ―Entertainment Weekly
Shana’s bonus pick!
Hen Fever
Author: Olivia Waite
Released: December 11, 2022
Genre: Historical: European, LGBTQIA, Romance
Lydia Wraxhall is on her best behavior every day of the year—except one: the annual Bickerton Christmas Poultry Show. On that day she brushes her birds, sharpens her tongue, and engages in the closest thing the village knows to war.
Harriet Boyne is a soldier’s widow reeling from the worst years of her life. She and her friends have inherited a manor on the village outskirts, and Harriet is looking forward to a quiet holiday far from the anguish of the battlefield.
But a dispute over a flock of loose chickens — a rare local breed, which Lydia thinks could be champions and Harriet thinks could be delicious — draws Harriet into the competition under Lydia’s grudging guidance. Harriet’s frozen heart is thawed by Lydia’s gentleness, and lonely Lydia blossoms under Harriet’s keen regard. But the day of the poultry show is fast approaching, and everyone’s drawing up battle lines. And in the contest between secret love and public glory, there can only be one winner.
Shana’s bonus pick!
Discovering Nicola
Author: Clare Ashton
Released: May 1, 2025
Genre: Contemporary Romance, LGBTQIA, Romance
Series: Oxford Romance #3
Sparks fly between Nicola Albright KC and Geeta Sachdeva, but not the good kind. They’re the sort that leave small fires, devastation, and everyone peeping between their fingers at arrogant lawyer, Nicola, on one side, and everyone’s favourite mum, Geeta, on the other.
Yet when both are divorced and at a new stage in life, they find themselves living within glowering distance of each other, in beautiful Iffley Village, Oxford. Reluctantly they call a truce and try to make friends. It’s tricky though, when there’s more than one reason they’ve circled and snapped for years.
For a start, Geeta’s lawyer daughter, Olivia, idolises the eminent King’s Counsel barrister, to eye rolls from Geeta. And to Nicola’s annoyance, her own daughter, Charlotte, has always turned to perfect mama Geeta for comfort and understanding. Animosity between the two is a given.
Until they force themselves to be nice to each other, that is, and then they’re compelled to question everything…
Tara: I don’t think I knew how much I needed to read a romance with two women in their fifties falling in love. Even better, two women who couldn’t stand each other! While the subject matter wasn’t always easy, this book was so refreshing and it left me with that big dreamy sigh that only comes from the most special stories.
Photos: Lights on the Prairie Part 2
Dec. 26th, 2025 11:52 pm( Walk with me ... )
Photos: Lights on the Prairie Part 1
Dec. 26th, 2025 11:04 pmHere there be spoilers...
( Walk with me ... )










