Header image stating "Foxtrot Firefly: History, Tea, and Books" with images of hot tea on either side.

Upcoming Book Releases

There are a lot of good books coming out this year, and I always find myself needing to take a minute and write them all down in my planner so that I don’t forget about them. So here, as always, is my list from my Bookshop.org store front so that you can mark them on your calendar too. Now, because I know that I tend to limit myself to romance and mystery (not because I mean to, but because those are the ones I am personally drawn to and will likely finish), I have also […]

2023: My Year in Books

This year I read 82 books (unless something gets finished in the next 48 hours… which I doubt). Of those, 76 were romance novels. On some level, I have been coming to grips with the fact that romance has just become my go-to genre. But I also feel like a lot of the romance novels I’ve read recently have tried to be more diverse. They’ve tried tackling topics that you don’t necessarily expect to find in romance. There’s been discussion of neurodiversity, deafness, loss of mobility, gender inequality, and so much more. My goal this […]

2023 Mid-Point Reading Checkpoint

I managed to hit my mid-point goal of 36 books over the long weekend, so while it isn’t exactly the mid-point of the year, I figure it’s close enough. That being said, having hit the 36 book mark a full month ahead of schedule, I’m pretty pleased with my progress this year. My reading total took a bit of a hit when I only finished 1 book in the month of February. So far, romance novels have absolutely dominated my reading list. (I have only finished 3 books that were not romance novels.) The books […]

Coming in November: A World of Curiosities

Looking forward to November? I definitely am. And not just because of Thanksgiving, and fall, and the onset of winter on the heels of fall, but because Louise Penny’s new book will be coming out. I had set a goal for myself this year to read every single one of Louise Penny’s books. I got hooked on the first one and just could not put them down. By June 13th, I had finished my goal. Well, September 1st is tomorrow, but if you similarly have some catching up to do on Armand Gamache’s adventures and […]

Header image stating "Foxtrot Firefly: History, Tea, and Books" with images of hot tea on either side.

New Year, Same Old Goals

Happy 2022! Or at least… Well, lets hope for turning over a new leaf. I can’t say that 2021 didn’t bring about some interesting changes to my life, or that those weren’t amazing changes. But change is a double-sided coin. My child was born at the beginning of the year, and as prepared for that as I felt, there were definitely moments. Childcare being too expensive and (as I continue to feel) dangerous for the unvaccinated, I found myself trying to pull off the Herculean task of working from home with a baby on my […]

An Overabundance of Alices

Is it just me or is the name “Alice” in just about everything I’ve been reading recently? I was looking over this website and happened to notice that the name Alice wanted to leap from every other page. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, After Alice, The Alice Network, Alice in The Glittering Hour. And that’s just the book references. We can go further back than just recently as well: Alice shows up as a name in quite a few things – including Twilight. I mean, I like the name Alice. I do. Some of my favorite […]

2019 in Books: The Full Rundown

Since 2019 (as described in my last post) was the year of the book, I wanted to do a full rundown of everything I read this year. I read so many books I couldn’t put down – and I’m not even sure I’ve actually got them all on this list, but I think I’ve got most of them. So here we go: Currently Reading: The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett The Shortest Day: Murder at the Revels by Jane Langton Best of the Lot: My Favorites Shout by Laurie Halse Anderson The Beekeeper’s Apprentice by […]

The Secret Sisterhood of Tortall & Tamora Pierce

There is one book series that most women in my generation – the older end of the millennial generation – have read. It’s the secret book language that we can all speak, and know inside out. And they’re books that we keep pushing the younger millennials to read, too. These are the books by Tamora Pierce. All of them a extremely empowering, particularly to women. However, my love has always come back to her Tortall stories. “At the end of the road – we’ll see. We’re bound for the capital of Tortall-“ The girl’s face […]