Finished “Sirens of the Past” and Cruising to Japan

Cruise #1 to Alaska was great. I loved spending time with my son and daughter-in-law. I especially loved playing bingo and trivia with them. We took two excursions with them, the best being the dog sled summer camp in Juneau. We got to hold puppies! I could definitely cruise with them again. Hopefully they feel the same way about us.

Now Hubby and I are on cruise #2 to Japan. It’s the first sea day and the ocean is rough. We were warned that we may not make some of the Alaskan ports due to weather. Fingers crossed that we do since we’ve never been to one of the ports (Icy Strait Point).

There are a lot of sea days on this cruise (only 7 ports in 18 days—you do the math), so I’m hoping to finish the edits on The Alien’s Change of Heart. Yeah, I know. I should have been done by now. But I had so much fun on cruise #1, that I just never got into writing.

Here’s what I read since my last update:

Book 23

Dates read: September 12-20, 2026
Title: Sirens of the Past
Year of publication: 2021
Author: Aimee Robinson
Genre: Time-travel romance
Series: Spirits Through Time #2
# of Pages: 249
Paper or plastic: Nook
How obtained: Free from B&N
Blurb from book: He thought he was falling into hell...until the voice of an angel offered him redemption.
    Corporal Richard “Dick” Stevens, a foul-mouthed retired soldier who fought in the Great War, learned to make his way by playing the villain. But when a near-death skirmish thrusts him sixty-nine years into the future to 1988, he lands on a horse-breeding farm tended to by a beautiful, feisty woman.
    Camilla Foster spends her days training to be an opera singer while her nights are spent mucking out horse stalls in exchange for free room and board on the farm. Frustration gnaws at Cami since her inheritance would cover the training she’s desperate for, but she can only receive it once she’s married.
    When Dick disrupts her check on the horses one evening, the sexy stranger immediately gets under her skin. She’s determined to brush him off—until he’s employed as the new stable hand and cunningly persuades her into marrying him as a means to his own end.
    Dick is everything Cami despises in a person. But with her dreams on the line, a plot surfacing to end Cami’s career, and a growing attraction to this infuriating mystery man, a marriage of convenience may be the only thing to save them both.
Recommend: Maybe
My thoughts: The cover of this book is sooooooooooooo deceiving. Yeah, the book description says what year it’s set in, but that cover definitely does NOT. I got this book free when B&N used to give their members a free ebook a month, and I picked it because it looked interesting. Instead, I was confused for a good portion of it, and then a ghost shows up. In their POV. Supernatural? Paranormal? Not really. The pacing was slow and the beginning read like a contemporary romance in the “I hate you, I love you” trope (a trope I do not enjoy). Which is why I put a “maybe” under “Recommend.”  But a lot of people LOVE that trope, and if you’re one of them, have at it. Then let me know what you think of it.

Hopefully I enjoy the next book I chose to read. The selection in my Nook isn’t all that extensive, since I prefer to read paper books, and sometimes I wonder, “why did I get that book?” That’s usually when I realized I got it free on B&N. Unfortunately, I didn’t always mark them that way in Goodreads.

Have you ever found a freebie that you enjoyed? I have, but it sure isn’t all that often.

Happy Reading!

Stacy

Finished “Friction” and Cruising to Alaska

Been cruising since September 10 and will dock in Juneau tomorrow afternoon, when our excursion will take us to the dog sledders and…PUPPIES! I’m really looking forward to that. So far the weather has been cool, but dry.

Our time in San Francisco only enhanced my dislike of that city. I can’t believe it now costs $8.50 to cross on a bridge INTO the city. And if you don’t want to pay the toll, you’ll pay it in gas to get around the bay. And it wasn’t the toll so much that bugged us, but that they don’t take cash (or credit) anymore. We had a rental and no way to pay the toll ourselves, so now we’ll probably get hit with fees because we had to rely on the plate reader.

Of course, that’s not the only reason I dislike the city. It’s just too damn crowded. I can’t believe I used to drive to that city to visit my great aunt (all by myself, too!). But that was back in the 70s, before all the freeways were in and around the city. I can’t believe how much traffic is there now. It’s unreal!

Here’s what I read since my last update:

Book 22

Dates read: September 11, 2026
Title: Friction
Year of publication: 2015
Author: Sandra Brown
Genre: Romantic suspense
Series: N/A
# of Pages: 452
Paper or plastic: Mass market paperback
How obtained: Free from a convention
Blurb from book: Following the death of his wife, Crawford Hunt, a Texas Ranger, fell into a downward spiral that left him relegated to desk work and with his five-year-old daughter in the custody of her grandparents. But Crawford has cleaned up his act and now the fate of his family lies with Judge Holly Spencer. Ambitious and confident, Holly temporarily occupies the bench of her recently deceased mentor. With an election upcoming, she must prove herself worthy of making her judgeship permanent. Every decision is high-stakes. When a masked gunman barges into the courtroom during the guardianship hearing, Crawford reacts instinctually, saving Holly from a bullet. But his heroism soon takes on the taint of recklessness. The cloud over him grows even darker after he uncovers a horrifying truth about the courtroom gunman and realizes that the unknown person behind the shooting remains at large—and a threat.
Recommend: Yes
My thoughts: I’m pretty sure I got this book at a book convention. Which one? I have no idea. But the author is well known, so why not take one of her books. Of course, it has taken me this long to actually read it and surprise! I enjoyed it. I could probably read any of her books because I do love romantic suspense. Even if it doesn’t have any “woo-woo” in it. Haha!

Have you ever been to San Francisco? Saw my first Waymo there. Even followed one as I was driving around while Hubby went to get his stamp and our magnet at two of the sites in SF (I wasn’t about to use my phone to pay for street parking—even if I could find a spot to park in). But those cars scare me. I don’t think I’d be brave enough to get in one. Would you?

Happy Reading!

Stacy

Finished “Chance Hotel” and Getting Ready for the Next Trip!

I am tired of getting ready for the next trip. Remind me to NEVER schedule a book signing between two cruises.

Oh wait, that was Hubby who scheduled the second cruise after I had already committed to the book signing.

Oh well… Maybe if the book signing had gone better than it did, I wouldn’t care. But it didn’t and I’m just tired.

Anyway, we fly out to San Francisco tomorrow and plan to visit some National Parks before heading on our next cruise on the 10^th. So today is laundry and packing day.

Yes, I wait until the last minute. Always have. Always will.

Here’s what I read since my last update:

Book 21

Dates read: August 16-31, 2026
Title: Chance Hotel
Year of publication: 2022
Author: Christopher Gorham Calvin
Genre: Paranormal
Series: Chance Hotel #1
# of Pages: 364
Paper or plastic: Nook
How obtained: Free from Barnes & Noble
Blurb from Goodreads: Welcome to the Chance Hotel. Checkout time is… never.
    Jason Chance is running from a toxic marriage and his failures as a father, clutching a bag full of cash he claims isn’t his own. With a storm bearing down, he thought a free room at an isolated hotel was the lucky break he desperately needed. He was wrong.
    Stripped of his car and trapped by an impossible ransom, Jason becomes a prisoner in a building that defies logic. The staff are suspiciously friendly. The elevators seem to have a mind of their own. And somewhere on a hidden thirteenth floor, a monstrous entity waits in the mist. As his exhaustion mounts, Jason’s reality begins to fracture, leaving him to wonder if the horrors around him are real, or just manifestations of his own crumbling mind.
    But his fraying sanity is the least of his worries.
    Caught in a supernatural labyrinth where his every moral failing is being judged, Jason must make an impossible choice: face the shattered life he left behind, or sacrifice his freedom to become a permanent fixture of the Chance Hotel.
Recommend: Yes
My thoughts: I only recommend it because it is not badly written and it did keep my interest, but the genre? I thought at first maybe horror, but it’s not really that. So paranormal it is. It was an okay book, but I didn’t like it enough to bother getting the rest of the series. I really didn’t care for Jason.

So all this traveling has bogged me down where I haven’t been able to get back to the edits on The Alien’s Change of Heart. Was kind of hoping I would be done with it before we left. Looks like I’ll be working on it during our trip. I really want this ready for my NEXT book signing. Having a new book out really helps with sales. At least, that’s what I’m finding out.

Happy Reading!

Stacy

Finished “Book of the Month” and The Eclipse Was Awesome!

The event that caused us to book three cruises (back-to-back-to-back) happened on August 12 and wow! It was awesome! A total solar eclipse.

It happened at 7:24pm GMT, so the sun was at a pretty decent level to watch (without straining your neck!). And seeing it out over the ocean was pretty magical. The sun was shining on the water until…it wasn’t! I’m so glad we were able to witness this event and that the weather cooperated fully, too. Seas were calm and the sky was clear. Perfect!

Would I do it again? Most definitely. It really was something else to experience. Heck, the girl behind me cried. It affects everyone differently. I just think it’s super cool!

Here’s what I read since my last update:

Book 20

Dates read: August 8-16, 2026
Title: Book of the Month
Year of publication: 2024
Author: Jennifer Probst
Genre: Contemporary romance
Series: The Outer Banks #1
# of Pages: 341
Paper or plastic: Nook
How obtained: Free from Barnes & Noble
Blurb from Goodreads: Once the literary world’s golden girl, Aspen Lourde can’t seem to produce another successful book, and the pressure’s on to prove she’s not just a one-hit-wonder. But there’s a catch: her bestseller was a heartbreak hit, straight from her own love life disaster. Without any fresh romantic turmoil to fuel her pen, Aspen needs inspiration quick enough to create a book her agent can sell to her publisher. So she escapes for the summer to the Outer Banks with a plan to live a story worth writing.
    Brick Babel is a romance novelist’s dream: a local heartthrob with a reputation as wild as the horses running free in the town. He’s everything Aspen needs for a muse kickstart—gorgeous, moody, and notoriously unattainable. His affairs are legendary in the small town, and every woman warns her off, including her sister.
    Too bad a good heartbreak is exactly what she needs to meet her deadline.
    But Brick refuses to play the game, rejecting all of her advances. When Aspen hears his tour company is on the verge of bankruptcy, she offers him a deal: fake a whirlwind summer romance, then ditch her, drama guaranteed.
    Desperate to save his grandfather’s business, Brick agrees to the ridiculous deal. What starts as a contractual fling spirals out of control as lines blur and real feelings emerge. Brick’s falling hard, and Aspen’s rethinking her plot twist. The novel might be her ticket back to the top, but at what cost?
Recommend: Yes
My thoughts: I got this book free back when B&N gave their membership a free ebook once a month. I had read some of Probst’s blogs (but not her books), so got this. The cruise seemed to be the perfect time to read it. I enjoyed it okay, but why I picked a contemporary romance when they aren’t my “cup of tea,” I don’t know. But it was cute. And it passed the time nicely. Easy to put down, though.

This batch of cruises is finally coming to an end. Was it too long? Naaah. I’m still enjoying myself. Don’t exactly look forward to that long flight home and then getting all acclimated to Eastern Time again. Ahhh, but we start it all over on Sep 4 when we fly out to San Francisco and prepare for those cruises to Alaska and Japan.

Are we crazy? Probably. But we’re sure enjoying it!

Happy Reading!

Stacy

Finished “Burying the Dead” and Being Disgusted With It

Why can’t authors end their damn book! I mean, sure, they’re writing a series. But why can’t they just end it positively and start the next book negatively? Especially when it appears they won’t write the next book in the series? It’s evil, I tell you. Pure evil.

And I refuse to do that kind of crap.

Here’s what I read since my last update:

Book 19

Dates read: August 1-8, 2026
Title: Burying the Dead
Year of publication: 2022
Author: Kerry Blaisdell
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Series: The Dead Series #4
# of Pages: 268
Paper or plastic: Nook
How obtained: Purchased from Barnes & Noble
Blurb from Goodreads: Sometimes the only way to stop the world from going to Hell is by working with Demons. Hyacinth Finch has one goal: Save her nephew Geordi from this Hell Demon who kidnapped him. But to succeed, she’ll have to work with his demon Mafia relatives, which she swore she’d never do. Worse, she’ll have to make another deal with the High Demons who murdered her. But Geordi’s life is worth it, even if she loses her own humanity in the process. Meanwhile, hyacinth’s ghost boyfriend Eric is wasting away, after being ejected from his “borrowed” body. While digging in his past for something to make him fight for survival, she uncovers secrets that could destroy their relationship. Moreover, her feelings for Geordi’s demon cousin Jason are stronger than ever, though every morally impossible choice she makes drives him farther away. Can she save Eric and Geordi, without losing herself—and Jason—forever?
Recommend: No
My thoughts: I didn’t realize that I “wrote” a review in Goodreads for book 3 before purchasing book 4. Wish I had. I hated the way that book ended and this one ends on a CLIFFHANGER. Four years later there isn’t a book 5. I’m done. I don’t recommend this series to ANYONE.

Cruise #2 is coming to an end. We dock in Dover tomorrow and start cruise #3. Then on Monday we are in France, visiting Normandy. The eclipse will be here before we know it, too! Whoo hoo!

Happy Reading!

Stacy