Melanie/Mel

I baked cheddar jalapeño scones today and I’ve come to the realization that I like eating scones but I do not enjoy baking scones. They turned out well but are not especially pretty to look at so I’ll not be posting any pics. Also, grating frozen butter is a lot harder than it looks on GBBO.

Started Body of Evidence by Rachel Grant via audio on my morning walk and the book opens with the FMC being sentenced to execution by a firing squad in North Korea for spying and I accidentally walked longer than I intended bc of this book and almost ended up being late for school drop off.

I've thoroughly enjoyed both of the books in Ally Carter's Kiss, Merry, Kill series and if you've ever watched the Knives Out movies and thought to yourself, "wow, I wish these had some romance in it!", then this is what you're looking for. Holiday centric romance with a big ol' mystery subplot.

It’s raining hard all day which is good, our state is in a perpetual drought but this does mean I cannot take my doggies for a walk which is also mental health care for me. I do have a treadmill at home but I don’t love using that and yes, I absolutely get that these are first world problems.

Turns out, I AM susceptible to peer pressure.

Alright, gonna try something, if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. I have an extra copy of one of my favorite contemporary romances, The Ex Vows by Jessica Joyce, to gift. To enter, comment with the last 5 star book you read. Will pick a winner Friday. Gonna limit it to U.S. residents (sorry)!

This ad is quite the self-own.

The day has come. I got a date for housing court about my back rent for 11/16. IF I can get my back rent paid before then, I should be in the clear. Please help. All I want to not live in this constant fear: ko-fi.com/A356F63/goal...

Subho Bijoya to all who celebrate!

My FB memories popped up with a post involving a person I am no longer friends with, in real life or on social media. That was maybe the hardest friendship breakup of my life, a thing that we don’t often talk about. Romantic breakups, sure. But friendship breakups are also really heartbreaking.

My husband and daughter are rooting for the Valkyries bc they are geographically the closest WNBA team to us but I would be delighted if the Dream and specifically Angel Reese won a championship.

I have posted thrice today and all 3 times were sports related. 😳

Watching the WNBA finals and just learned that one of the commentators covering the game is also a co-owner of one of the teams playing in this game and that’s…weird, right? Like that seems like it would be a conflict?

Also I see a lot of people asking for the entire medical staff of that NFL team to be fired and I’m not saying they shouldn’t be held accountable but is it possible that they were also just following orders from people higher up the food chain who should ALSO be held accountable.

I say this as someone who is neither a football expert nor a medical expert but he didn’t sleep bc sleep was a risk but…going out and playing a sport where he is routinely at risk of being tackled by 300 lb. men was deemed safe??

Blinks. Blinks again.

This is just outstanding. Tommy never stood a chance.

THIS PART. I ended up passing out and needing a blood transfusion after delivering my now 16 year old. It was a routine pregnancy up until it suddenly wasn’t.

Fleetwood Mac’s Go Your Own Way - the lyrics coupled with the events that prompted the writing of that song. (It’s a banger of a song, though).

Sometimes, a person* just needs to write a ranty 2 star review on goodreads and get all their feelings out. *It’s me, I’m the person.

LOLOLOL somewhere, Scaramucci and Liz Truss just breathed a huge sigh of relief. www.nbcnews.com/politics/whi...

I liked this book so much, I even managed to write a smexy review for it. smexybooks.com/2026/10/revi...

Simmer down Telegraph, you don’t have to try so hard to sell me on it, I was already planning on watching this movie.

I regret to inform everyone, I have finished every book Toni Anderson has published. So, I guess now I just wait until her next release, which will be in 2027.

I know who Dan Levy is. Unfortunately, I’ve now learned who this other person is and I’d like to return to a timeline where I only knew who Dan Levy was.

I'm a big fan of this author and this was charming and cute and also sexy (steamy interlude in a tree house). It was dual POV and I read it via audio and the dual narration was also great.

My kid turned 16 yesterday (16!!!) and I baked her a 2 layer chocolate cake.

Imagine living in a country where watching an actual firing squad execute a man is deemed acceptable but watching Stephen Colbert host a late night chat show is considered a bridge too far. Well, I guess we don’t have to imagine, that is our current hellscape.

Me obsessively refreshing my email and NetGalley to see if Berkley has approved my Jessica Joyce arc yet.

This was really cute!

This was really cute!!

An absolute banger of a book. I am sad that I have to now wait a whole year for the next book in the series. I have had such a good time this year reading so much of this author.