Category Archives: Paroxysm of Giggles

Physical books on my October TBR

October 2026 TBR

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Carried Over from Last Month’s TBR

I actually read ALL of the books on my September TBR, so I don’t have anything for this section! Yay!

New Releases

I think for New Releases, I should put them on my TBR as ‘Possibles’ or ‘Bonus’ books, since while I intend to buy them, I may not, or they may not release in enough time for me to pick them up and read them.

Bound and Unbound by Ali Hazelwood
Broken Rival by Tessa Bailey
The Last Goodbye by Laura Pavlov
The Sixth Faction by Veronica Roth
A Married Little Christmas by Abby Jimenez
Christmas Staycation by Meghan Quinn
Bad in Bed by Ali Hazelwood
A Court of Splintered Harmony by Sarah J Maas
Mortal Things by Marie Lu

Bound and Unbound by Ali Hazelwood is a fun bind-up of two dark academia paranormal novellas, and the book itself is set up so you finish reading one novella, then flip the book upside down to read the other – super fun! In Bound, we follow a reluctant art-forger who is being blackmailed by a secretive professor. In Unbound, a 5,000 year old revenant (a supernatural creature or ghost that returns from the dead – I had to look that up) falls for an ER doctor. At this point, I really like Ali Hazelwood’s STEM romances, so I’m likely to pick up all of her releases. Publication date 10/6.

Broken Rival by Tessa Bailey: A girl from 50 years in the future gets stranded in 2026 after time travel is outlawed, and must choose between two brothers – the golden boy sweetheart or the militia commander sworn to hunt her kind. Tessa Bailey is another romance author where I’ve generally really liked all of her books. This one is a bit more sci-fi than the sports romances that I normally read by her, but I’m more than willing to give it a chance. Publication date 10/6.

The Last Goodbye by Laura Pavlov: This is the second book in the Blue Sky Bay series. The publisher surprised me by sending me Book 1 and I really enjoyed it, so I made sure to order this book to continue the series. Briar Sinclair blows into town with a multimillion dollar plan to buy Bass’s restaurant, and their enemies-to-lovers clashes turn into something neither of them planned on. Publication date 10/6.

The Sixth Faction by Veronica Roth: An alternate universe reimagining of Divergent where tragedy strikes at the Choosing Ceremony, Tris makes a different choice, and the whole faction system shifts. This is Book 1 of a new duology. I am so here for this! I loved Divergent and really identified with the character of Tris, especially in the first book. I’m excited to return to this world and see how things may have turned out differently. Publication date 10/6.

A Married Little Christmas by Abby Jimenez: Three feel-good holiday novellas – a fake dating scheme with a high school ex, a zombie Santa diner bet, and a whirlwind wedding in a town called Little Christmas – with bonus recipes and illustrations. This sounds like the perfect read for December, so I will hold off on adding this to my TBR until then. Publication date 10/20.

Christmas Staycation by Meghan Quinn: A spicy holiday rom-com where Taran agrees to a fake engagement with her ex to save Christmas, but her ex’s brother – a cocky, filthy-mouthed baseball player – sees right through it and wants her for himself. This is Book 3 in the Kringletown Christmas series and is another book best read in December. I’m pretty sure you can read them out of order, but I think that I own the first two books and had planned on reading them last year. I should probably put all 3 on my TBR for December. Publication date 10/20.

Bad in Bed by Ali Hazelwood: This is being initially released only as an audiobook – an Amazon Original with a full cast. Doctoral student Billie van Buren, publicly humiliated when her ex trashes her bedroom skills, enlists frenemy Dr. Maxwell Austin for a no-strings confidence reboot that gets complicated. I do plan on reading this one, but I’m not sure if it will be in October. Publication date 10/22 for the audiobook, with the print edition coming out June 2027.

A Court of Splintered Harmony by Sarah J. Maas: This is the sixth book in the ACOTAR series, launching The Valkyrie Cycle. Prythian is fractured after the war with Hybern, and Koschei the Deathless is making his move. I’ve read all of the SJM books in the ACOTAR, Throne of Glass, and Crescent City series, so obviously I’m going to pick up this one as well! The only question is if I get the hardcover, or buy a Kindle version while waiting for the paperback to be released? I have paperback versions of the other ACOTAR books, but hardcovers of the Crescent City series. This book comes out at the end of the month, so I will likely not finish it in October. Publication date 10/27.

Mortal Things by Marie Lu: Rose, a human mercenary bound to Raven the god of Death, is named his heir and must survive trials set by a rival Harbinger – while uncovering a conspiracy among the gods. I really loved Marie Lu’s Warcross duology, so I’m marking this one for a future TBR. Publication date 10/27.

Book Club Picks

The Devil Crept In by Ania Ahlborn
The Gate of the Feral Gods by Matt Dinniman
Hollywood, Ending by John Green

For my brother’s Moon Lit Bookclub selection for October, we will be reading The Devil Crept In by Ania Ahlborn. This is a small town horror novel. When a boy’s best friend vanishes near the woods, the search uncovers something ancient and hungry. I think this one should be read at night for maximum spookiness.

For my brother’s Welcome to the Apocalypse book club, we will be reading The Gate of the Feral Gods by Matt Dinniman, which is the next book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series. I was an absolute gremlin and already read all of the published books in this series, so while his book club keeps chugging through them, I can use my extra reading capacity for other titles!

I don’t always pick up the Let’s PBT ‘Bout Books selection, but this month they are reading Hollywood, Ending by John Green, which I had already pre-ordered for myself, so I might as well read it along with friends! This is John Green’s first adult novel and first fiction in nearly a decade. Two young actors, Kai and Juniper, get cast in an Andy Warhol biopic and must navigate sudden fame, falling in love, and the private cost of a public life. To be honest, I really don’t know much at all about Andy Warhol and probably need to read up on him before reading this book.

Fall and Spooky Themed Reads

Night Witch by Jaymin Eve
Trust Fall by Lynn Painter
Elphie by Gregory Maguire
Apprentice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer
The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty

Night Witch by Jaymin Eve: This is the second book in the Weatherstone College duology. Paisley returns for year two of magic academy, where her explosive bond with sworn-enemy Logan Kingston deepens into a steamy, high-stakes enemies-to-lovers romance. I really enjoyed the first book, Spellcaster, and happy to dive into this book during the spooky time of the year.

Trust Fall by Lynn Painter: Small town Nebraska girl, Julia, inherits a fortune and lands in an NYC brownstone and elite private school, where her handsome tutor Damion is secretly the disinherited great-nephew scheming to win back what’s his. I love the banter in Lynn Painter’s romances! And this book looks so autumnal that I couldn’t resist it. Hopefully, I’ll get to read it somewhere with a great view of bright colored leaves and a hot beverage.

Elphie by Gregory Maguire: A prequel about Elphaba’s childhood – how the girl who would become the Wicked Witch of the West grew up green, gifted, and misunderstood. There’s just something about the Oz stories that captivates me. I read the majority of the L. Frank Baum books in my younger days, and found the Wicked series in early adulthood. Obviously, the play and movies have turned this into a cultural phenomenon, and when I saw that Galinda was being released at the end of September, it motivated me to buy Elphie as well and return to Oz.

Apprentice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer: This is the second book in the Assistant to the Villain series. It has been a while, but I gave the first book five stars and actually own the first four books (the fifth and final book in the series is still to be announced). Evie Sage continues her delightfully unhinged employment under the Villain, with more banter, more chaos, and higher stakes.

The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty: The 1971 horror classic. When 12 year old Regan shows signs of demonic possession, her mother turns to two priests for an exorcism. If you are looking for spooky books to read in October, this is a clear choice. It’s another book that I intend to read at night for maximum spooky vibes.

Final List

My final initial TBR for October consists of 11 books, and 3 bonus books:

  • Bound and Unbound by Ali Hazelwood
  • The Last Goodbye by Laura Pavlov
  • The Sixth Faction by Veronica Roth
  • Bad in Bed by Ali Hazelwood
  • The Devil Crept In by Ania Ahlborn
  • Hollywood, Ending by John Green
  • Night Witch by Jaymin Eve
  • Trust Fall by Lynn Painter
  • Elphie by Gregory Maguire
  • Apprentice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer
  • The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
    — Bonus —
  • Broken Rival by Tessa Bailey
  • A Court of Splintered Harmony by Sarah J. Maas
  • Mortal Things by Marie Lu

Physical books read this month: Threshing Day and Chasing the Rush.

September 2026 Reading Summary

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I felt like this was a pretty steady reading month. I just chugged through the rest of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series and always had something else on deck. 8 books isn’t the most that I’ve read in a month, but I’m happy with the time I spent in my fictional worlds.

TBR Reads

My official September TBR consisted of 2 books. Of those, I have read all 2:

Moss'd in Space by Rebecca Thorne
Chasing the Rush by Lauren Rowe

I enjoyed Moss’d in Space far more than I expected to! It was a really cute story and I loved the sentient spaceship! Torian is desperate to make her way to a planet in her system that may provide a cure for her dying sister, so she spends her life savings on a moss-covered spaceship that may or may not be capable of spaceflight. There were so many lovable characters in this book and I am really eager to read the next book in the series.

Chasing the Rush is the second book in this series and follows the younger brother to the first book’s MMC. There’s also a bit of a family rivalry/enemies-to-lovers situation. I won’t ruin anything, but I will say that I had a suspicion about Luca, because he would often demonstrate being unable to concentrate during meetings, but the plot never really fleshed this out. I had thought that the book was implying that he was a bit neurospicy, but I was a bit disappointed that this was not explained either way, after so many mentions.

I read 1 of the 6 bonus TBR books.

Threshing Day by Rebecca Yarros

I was so happy to receive Threshing Day in the mail; I had pre-ordered it as soon as it was available. It has been some time since I’ve been at Basgiath War College, but it was just like reconnecting with old friends. This novella was interesting because we heard about how 13 riders were matched with their dragons from their POV, but also because Rebecca Yarros had teased us all by stating that we can count on the truth of the stories recounted in this book (and can’t necessarily rely on the truth told in the previous books, since they were written by the scribes).

Final Result after TBR pruning was that I read 2/2 (100%) of my planned books and 17% of my bonus books. I’m happy about that 100%, even though I didn’t really have a lot of books listed as my official TBR! And I beat my bonus book percentage from last month!

Random Reads

My non-planned reads include:

The Butcher's Masquerade by Matt Dinniman
The Eye of the Bedlam Bride by Matt Dinniman
This Inevitable Ruin by Matt Dinniman
The Bucket List Family and the Big Adventure by Garrett Gee
A Parade of Horribles by Matt Dinniman

I finished off the published books in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman this month: The Butcher’s Masquerade, The Eye of the Bedlam Bride, This Inevitable Ruin, and A Parade of Horribles. I won’t ruin the plot of the books, because this series is getting a lot of hype – justified hype – and I hope that more people pick them up.

The Bucket List Family and the Big Adventure was a re-read. I love this family! And this is a super cute story.

My Thoughts on This Month’s Reading

I think this felt like a solid reading month. Some of the DCC books are quite lengthy, but they were so enjoyable and reading them via Kindle always makes me not notice the number of pages as much as a physical book. My average book length this month is 500 pages, which is just wild!

Links to my reviews (on StoryGraph) of each of the books read this month are below, along with my star rating.

  1. The Butcher’s Masquerade (⭐⭐⭐⭐1/4) by Matt Dinniman – Review
  2. Moss’d in Space (⭐⭐⭐⭐1/4) by Rebecca Thorne – Review
  3. The Eye of the Bedlam Bride (⭐⭐⭐⭐1/4) by Matt Dinniman – Review
  4. This Inevitable Ruin (⭐⭐⭐⭐1/4) by Matt Dinniman – Review
  5. The Bucket List Family and the Big Adventure (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐) by Garrett Gee – Review
  6. A Parade of Horribles (⭐⭐⭐⭐1/4) by Matt Dinniman – Review
  7. Chasing the Rush (⭐⭐⭐⭐) by Lauren Rowe – Review
  8. Threshing Day (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐) by Rebecca Yarros – Review
StoryGraph September 2026 Wrap-Up
StoryGraph Wrap-Up Calendar
Ruby Beach, WA

P52.26 – October Delights

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🎃 October’s Theme 🎃

October’s Theme is Mood & Texture. Harvest time, cider mills, and Halloween! Some of the best times of the year!

  • Week 41 (10/5 – 10/11): Something crunchy
    • Something moody
    • Something mysterious
    • A shadowy detail
    • Crisp air vibes
    • Something gooey
    • Stormy weather
  • Week 42 (10/12 – 10/18): Dark and dreary
    • Something whimsical
    • Hot and cold
    • An atmospheric scene
    • A desaturated color palette
    • Cinematic scene
    • An evening ritual
  • Week 43 (10/19 – 10/25): Orange and purple
    • My favorite fall things
    • This scares me
    • Rough texture
    • Cuddly and warm
    • Superstitions observed
    • Life and death
  • Week 44 (10/26 – 11/1): Spooky
    • Creative costume or disguise
    • Trick or treat
    • Family time
    • View from my porch
    • Fall colors
    • Fat animals

September 2026 TBR

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Carried Over from Last Month’s TBR

I actually read ALL of the books on my August TBR, so I don’t have anything for this section! Yay!

New Releases

I think for New Releases, I should put them on my TBR as ‘Possibles’ or ‘Bonus’ books, since while I intend to buy them, I may not, or they may not release in enough time for me to pick them up and read them.

Version 1.0.0

Fake Skating by Lynn Painter is on my list as coming out September 2026, but it appears that it was published last year? I think this is one of those times where a certain edition is published, and maybe it’s the deluxe paperback with sprayed edges that is the September release. I pre-ordered this book, so I shall find out shortly! I adore the banter in Lynn Painter’s books, so I’m quite eager to read this one, as well. Dani and Alec were best friends as kids, but then she had to move away. When she moves back to town, her geeky teen friend has transformed into a hot hockey god. With fake dating in the mix, I’m interested in seeing what kinds of conflicts the author will introduce to add some tension and spice to this friends-to-lovers story. My copy should be here on September 3rd!

Grim Tidings by B.K. Borison is the second book in the Ghosted series after Good Spirits, and follows a grim reaper, Darcy, who is sick of death and is determined to save the next person on her list, and an angel, Gabriel, who is standing in her way. Traditionally in the Catholic Church, November is reserved as the month in which we reflect on the Four Final Things: Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell, so I think I will want to reserve this book for that month. It’s expected to be published on September 15th, but my pre-order isn’t set to arrive until the week after.

I’m a fan of John Green’s work, and even more so after meeting him in person at Go Wild Indy. So, I don’t think anyone is surprised to hear that I pre-ordered his upcoming book as soon as I heard about it. Hollywood, Ending is a love story between two upcoming actors, Kai and Juniper, and also a commentary about the price of fame. It compares their experience to that of Andy Warhol, so I’ll have to do some catching up on that story. It is expected to be released on September 22.

There’s something special about the Wizard of Oz stories, and something a bit nostalgic for me as I read many of the books growing up. In early adulthood, I came across the books by Gregory Maguire and was again transported to Oz, this time finding a new perspective. Galinda is the latest addition to these stories, telling of the childhood of Glinda the Good Witch. This book is due out on September 29.

Probably a book on a lot of people’s Most Anticipated list this year, Threshing Day is a collection of 13 short stories in the Empyrean series and is labeled as book 3.5. It is scheduled for release on September 29. I have a pre-order for this book as well.

Trust Fall by Lynn Painter comes out at the very end of the month, and looks like it will be the perfect cozy October read. Billed as a rags-to-riches romcom, Julia and her family inherits everything from their secretly wealthy next-door neighbor. When they move into his house and she starts attending a prestigious school, she runs into the neighbor’s great-nephew, Damion, who wants to know why the guy he saw as a father-figure left everything to this family.

Book Club Picks

Moss'd in Space by Rebecca Thorne
The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook by Matt Dinniman

For my brother’s Moon Lit Bookclub selection for September, we will be reading Moss’d in Space by Rebecca Thorne. Torian bought an abandoned starship so old, it was covered in moss. When she finally gets it to take flight, she learns that the moss is sentient. The moss also has a grudge against the alien who built the starship. Unfortunately for Torian, they run into this alien, who promptly accuses her of stealing the starship. I voted to read this book this month because it was advertised to fans of All Systems Red and I adore Murderbot!

For my brother’s Welcome to the Apocalypse book club, we will be reading The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook by Matt Dinniman, which Book 3 in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series. I had anticipated that we would likely continue to read this series, so I’m actually quite a bit ahead of schedule for this book club, having just finished reading Book 5. There are three books that are currently published (with, I think, 2 more books to come to finish out the series), and I’ll likely continue reading until I run out of books. My brother has been collecting the paperbacks, and I think that I’ll like to have physical copies for myself, but I haven’t decided if I’d prefer hardcover or paperback versions.

Other Picks

Football season is finally here! So, I will be reading Chasing the Rush by Lauren Rowe. I had been saving this book for this month! It is the sequel to Chasing the Ring, and follows Chelsea, a statistic-loving girl who dreams of being the first female head of analytics for the NFL, and Luca, a player hoping to make the cut with his latest team. Chelsea’s dad is also Luca’s coach, and he gives Chelsea the task of helping Luca out during training camp. What Coach doesn’t know, is that Chelsea and Luca have met before.

Final List

My final initial TBR for March consists of 2 books, and 6 bonus books:

  • Moss’d in Space by Rebecca Thorne
  • Chasing the Rush by Lauren Rowe
    — Bonus —
  • Fake Skating by Lynn Painter
  • Grim Tidings by B.K. Borison
  • Hollywood, Ending by John Green
  • Galinda by Gregory Maguire
  • Threshing Day by Rebecca Yarros
  • Trust Fall by Lynn Painter

What’s on your TBR list for September?

August 2026 Reading Summary

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August was mostly low-key, but highlights included Donald’s and Clint’s birthdays, a work project completing, and attending our first Ed Sheeran concert!

TBR Reads

My official August TBR consisted of 4 books. Of those, I have read all 4:

In Stormy Weather by Chelsea Curto
Resist Me by Kelsie Rae

I’ve been excited about reading In Stormy Weather since I first heard about it and added it to my Anticipated Books spreadsheet. It was a Book of the Month selection, so I acquired a copy that way and it stayed in a prominent position on my desk until I read it. I really liked that Quincy and Sebastian each had valid reasons for their actions and honest thoughts and doubts about their careers. I would even put this one on my re-read shelf.

The best part about The Tempest Blade was that all of the POVs from the series came together to tell the final installment of the series. I appreciated how the author was able to highlight each character’s unique personality and show how this informed their actions.

It’s hard to believe that it was only this month that I cracked into the second book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series. I feel like I’ve been reading them forever. By forever, I mean non-stop like a chain smoker. Carl’s Doomsday Scenario features Carl and Donut’s exploits on the third floor of the dungeon. The first stop is race and class selection. If you’ve ever played DnD before, this is foundational to your whole strategy on playing the game. I appreciate that Carl and Donut were given a chance to see what the dungeon was like before having to decide.

Resist Me is the second book in the Harden Heights series, and was just recently published. I enjoyed it and I liked the dynamic between Ford and June. However, there were some things that were a little … distracting? … to my enjoyment of the story. I’m all for body positivity and showing main characters of all sizes, but this was an odd mixture of June always thinking that she’s less than because of her size, rivals and antagonists always picking on her for her body, and her friends always not understanding and just saying that she doesn’t understand that she’s an absolute smoke show. The other part was the Harden brothers’ finances. Ford is the money guy for their organization, so this was elaborated on more than in the first book. They have an underground betting business, some kind of ties to the company their mother owned, and trust funds that have been frozen by their father. Throughout the book, they are both displaying a lot of disposable income and are also worried about their financial future when their businesses are threatened in different ways. I’m not sure how to reconcile the two. But there is enough intrigue and loose ends to keep me busy and coming back for more.

Random Reads

My non-planned reads include:

Reactivated: Aidan by Charissa Gracyk
All the Wrong Plays by C.W. Farnsworth

On August 1st, Donald and I went to the second annual Pages of Glass: Romancing the Glass City event. The night before, we attended the Meet & Greet event where we had the opportunity to talk with a selection of the authors that were going to be selling their books at the event the next day. Little did Charissa Gracyk know when she sat at our table that she was sitting with two ex-Navy Nukes! She described her books as featuring classic Protector-type male leads who often had military backgrounds. I picked up the first book for two of her series, and started with Reactivated: Oz. It is a mix of a military thriller, a mysterious death, a mysterious organization who did some experimentation on the ex-SEALs, and some paranormal abilities that they had gained via the experiments. The series was available on Kindle Unlimited, so I was able to binge all seven books within the week! They were a solid mix of action and romance with good characterization.

I picked up Not Bad For a Girl at an indie bookstore near the Pages of Glass event. The store, Gathering Volumes, had been mentioned as one of the best indie bookstores in Toledo, so I had wanted to stop by while I was in town. I picked this one up because it followed a girl in IT who works in a male-dominated office and she has to deal with people not taking her ideas seriously due to her sex. (The whole ‘women are “bitchy” with a negative connotation, and men are “assertive” with a positive connotation’ thing – I’ve run into this countless times in my own professional life.) She is moved to a team that works remotely and there’s a incident that leads her team to assuming she’s male. The shenanigans that take place are frankly wilder than I had anticipated!

In All the Wrong Plays, Will was caught up in a scandal involving his team owner’s wife and exiled to a soccer football club in Europe. He’s hoping to do well here so that next season a team in the US will be willing to take him back. It’s one thing to be a great soccer player in the US, but quite another to try and break into an established European football club. Even more difficult is navigating personal relationships when the cute girl you met is the daughter of the new club owner and sister to the team’s star player. Sophia is the only member of her prestigious family who does not care about football whatsoever. She just wants to be a photojournalist, which her family sees as a cute hobby. Unfortunately, her intern assignment is to be the stand-in photographer for her family’s football team when the normal photographer is out on medical leave. Both forced into situations they are not comfortable in, Will and Sophia find each other. I thought this was a really cute story. Technically, it was the second book in the series; the first one covering Sophia’s brother’s romance, but you could read this as a standalone. I agree with some other reviewers that this ending was a little bit rushed, and I would have liked to have seen a bit more of the family dynamics between all the characters in the end.

The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook follows Carl and Donut on the fourth floor of the dungeon, where the have to navigate the tangle that is the floor’s subway system (featuring all kinds of different trains). I think this book has the largest growth in Carl’s capabilities; he becomes more strategic and comes up with some brilliant and unhinged solutions to the challenges of the level. It’s gory and gross at times (all the time), but that’s more than made up for by the fast pace and fun vibe. Carl’s sensitivity to the other crawlers and NPCs make him a very likable character, even when he has to do unspeakable things or make morally grey decisions.

After bingeing the Reactivated series and getting immersed in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, I decided to take a bit of a palate-cleansing break after The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook and pivoted back to romance with This Summer Will Be Different. I’ve been enjoying Carley Fortune’s books and this one is no different. Lucy is our main character and she has a gem of a ride-or-die best friend in Bridget. Bridget is her rock and has been keeping Lucy together through some rough times. Lucy is in full-on maid on honor duty with the last minute details of Bridget’s wedding when Bridget suddenly drops off the radar, then asks Lucy to drop everything and meet her in her childhood home on Prince Edward Island – no reason given. This story is told in two timelines: present and past-catching-up-to-present, where we find out that years ago, Lucy broke one of her BFF’s cardinal rules, Do not fall for my brother. I won’t spoil anything for you, but I will say that I was pleasantly surprised with one of the twists in the book, where Lucy and Felix make a very mature decision about their relationship. I’m also in awe of Lucy’s patience with Bridget. I love my BFF, but guaranteed I would have cornered her down faster and made her tell me why she suddenly needed to blow up our lives right before the wedding.

The Gate of the Feral Gods is – in my opinion – the most chaotic installment so far. There are these bubble things that contain each contain four different biomes: air, land, water, and subterranean. All of the crawlers are divvyed up amongst the 1,000+ bubbles. You can’t go to another biome before you conquer your biome’s castle, and you can’t help out crawlers in other bubbles before you conquer all of the biomes in your own bubble and it “pops.” This book has the same madcap fun and mayhem of the other books in the series, but also is a bit more… of a grind? I haven’t quite put my finger on what it was about this book that was less entertaining than the others. Carl feels more responsibility for the NPCs and their plight feels a bit heavier in this book. I feel that we spend most of our time in one biome, a little bit in another, and next to zero in the other two biomes. Carl has a much better grasp of what’s going on than the reader, and we find out along the way that he’s been doing a lot more scheming and planning off page than you might expect. Do not miss the epilogue.

Ah, The Butcher’s Masquerade. This installment did not disappoint! Mayhem, creativity, and crawlers coming into their own as they face Hunters for the first time on the sixth floor of the dungeon. We finally get to see the outcome of that jaw-dropping epilogue from Book 4. I think what truly made this book special for me was the growth in the relationship between Carl and Donut. So tender and heartfelt. And Mongo is just his own loveable ridiculousness. (If you want to be super technical, I finished this book on September 1st. I could have finished it on August 31, but I wanted to get this blog post written and published on time for once, so I painfully put down my book with less than 100 pages to go and got to writing. You are welcome! The book won’t be counted in my stat’s and I’ll likely include it in next month’s wrap-up post, but I was so close to completion, I wanted to mention it here, too.)

My Thoughts on This Month’s Reading

August brought a lot more of the fantasy/supernatural element to my reading than usual. I enjoyed having a few good series to devour. I know that my media consumption comes in waves; I’ll be really into reading all I can for a while, then really into watching things on YouTube, or become absorbed in a TV series. Eventually, I make my way back to all of my different media habits, but I’ve been enjoying this book-heavy summer so far.

Links to my reviews (on StoryGraph) of each of the books read this month are below, along with my star rating.

  1. Reactivated: Oz (⭐⭐⭐⭐) by Charissa Gracyk – Review
  2. Reactivated: Dom (⭐⭐⭐⭐1/4) by Charissa Gracyk – Review
  3. Reactivated: Jericho (⭐⭐⭐⭐1/4) by Charissa Gracyk – Review
  4. Reactivated: Max (⭐⭐⭐⭐) by Charissa Gracyk – Review
  5. Reactivated: Cassian (⭐⭐⭐⭐1/4) by Charissa Gracyk – Review
  6. Reactivated: Deacon (⭐⭐⭐⭐) by Charissa Gracyk – Review
  7. Reactivated: Aidan (⭐⭐⭐⭐1/4) by Charissa Gracyk – Review
  8. In Stormy Weather (⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2) by Chelsea Curto – Review
  9. Not Bad for a Girl (⭐⭐⭐⭐1/4) by Anastasia Ryan – Review
  10. All the Wrong Plays (⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2) by C.W. Farnsworth – Review
  11. The Tempest Blade (⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2) by Danielle L. Jensen – Review
  12. Carl’s Doomsday Scenario (⭐⭐⭐⭐) by Matt Dinniman – Review
  13. The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook (⭐⭐⭐⭐1/4) by Matt Dinniman – Review
  14. This Summer Will Be Different (⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2) by Carley Fortune – Review
  15. The Gate of the Feral Gods (⭐⭐⭐⭐) by Matt Dinniman – Review
  16. Resist Me (⭐⭐⭐⭐) by Kelsie Rae – Review
Ruby Beach, WA

P52.26 – September Musings

2026, Paroxysm of Giggles, Photography, Project 52

🍂 September’s Theme 🍂

September’s Theme is Transition & Comfort. This is peak planner season! Kids go back to school, work picks up a bit after summer vacations are over, and the air gets just a bit of that autumn crispness!

  • Week 37 (9/7 – 9/13): Makes me think of schooltime
    • Cool tones
    • Something layered
    • A sign of change
    • A hint of autumn
    • On the field
    • Root for the home team
  • Week 38 (9/14 – 9/20): Soft structure
    • Cozy nights
    • A fresh start
    • Being productive
    • Something I learned
    • What peace looks like
    • Making a statement
  • Week 39 (9/21 – 9/27): Harvest time
    • A crisp morning
    • Conquering challenges
    • Comforts of home
    • Guilty pleasure
    • Contrasts
    • Something I’m proud of
  • Week 40 (9/28 – 10/4): Getting down to work
    • So organized
    • Care package
    • Sentimental letters
    • A blast from the past
    • What I’m watching now
    • Subtle warmth

August 2026 TBR

2026, Paroxysm of Giggles, reading, TBR, , , ,

Carried Over from Last Month’s TBR

I want to bring over the two new releases from last month:

In Stormy Weather by Chelsea Curto
Resist Me by Kelsie Rae

In Stormy Weather was introduced in the July TBR, so I won’t rehash the premise, but I did want to talk a little bit about why I’m excited to read this book. I do love a good rivals-to-lovers story, because usually they are familiar enough with each other to have a lively banter. Not only was this a women in STEM romance, but it takes place in Florida (and Quincy lives near Orlando, which is where I was based for my Nuke A school). Donald and I both have ties to Florida, and – as he will attest – I am the girl who is cheering on the hurricane. Not that I want there to be people hurt or property damaged, but I do love a good storm.

Resist Me is the sequel to Ruin Me and I enjoyed the nostalgia for an underground gambling ring romance, if that’s a thing. A little bit of danger spices things up every once in a while. In Ruin Me, we saw a little bit of the start of Ford’s infatuation with June, and I’m ready to see where it goes. I’ll be honest, I keep getting flooded with Kelsie Rae’s ads on social media and they are what made me pick up the first book.

New Releases

This month, there were only two new releases that I pre-ordered:

Adversary to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer
Chasing the Rush by Lauren Rowe

However, I’m not going to be reading either of these in August.

Adversary to the Villain is the fourth book in the Assistant to the Villain series, and while I have the other books in the series, I have not read books 2 or 3 yet. I’m trying not to read the blurb on the back of this book, so I don’t accidentally spoil myself for those books.

Chasing the Rush I am saving for September, since that’s when the NFL football season officially begins and this is a football sports romance. I like to stay on-theme when I can. This is also a second chance romance because Luca and Chelsea met previously when she was a Mathlete going to an event. Something happened and they didn’t actually get into a relationship at that time. Now, she runs into him again when she starts doing statistics for her father’s new team. He’s a player who needs babysitting and Chelsea is saddled with the job.

Book Club Picks

The Tempest Blade by Danielle L. Jensen
Carl's Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman

For my brother’s Moon Lit Bookclub selection for August, we will be reading The Tempest Blade by Danielle L. Jensen. This is the sixth book in The Bridge Kingdom series and I can’t believe the book club is completing an entire series! In this finale, Ahnna is on the run because everyone believes that she killed Good King Eddie. Since it is the final book, we have chapters with POVs from all six of the main characters from the series.

For my brother’s Welcome to the Apocalypse book club, we will be reading Carl’s Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman, which is the sequel to last month’s Dungeon Crawler Carl selection. It picks up where Book 1 left off, with Carl and Donut entering the third floor.

Amazon First Reads and Book of the Month Selections

Generally, I make my Amazon First Reads and Book of the Month selections on the first of the month or close to it. Since I don’t really pay for the Amazon reads, I set them as “Bonus” books on a list I maintain of books I acquire each year. My goal every year is to read all of the books I buy (or at least a decent percentage of them), but I allow myself to skip ones that are free or gifts or books that I buy for Donald.

I totally forgot about making these selections, and by the time I went to BOTM, the window for making August selections had ended. So nothing new to see here for August.

Final List

My final initial TBR for August consists of 2 books:

  • In Stormy Weather by Chelsea Curto
  • Resist Me by Kelsie Rae
  • The Tempest Blade by Danielle L. Jensen
  • Carl’s Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman

July 2026 Reading Summary

2026, Paroxysm of Giggles, reading, , , , ,

In July, I was fully invested in conquering the 22 Silent Book Club locations for the Metro Detroit Summer Passport event. Donald quickly found that if he attended with me, we would generally end up eating at a new-to-us restaurant, so he had NomNom Motivation to attend, and we treated it like a bonus Date Night.

TBR Reads

My official July TBR consisted of 4 books. Of those, I have read all 4:

The Endless War by Danielle L. Jensen
Rocket's Red Glare by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman

The Endless War was okay. It was mostly Zarrah being in prison with some really questionable people and then a whole political mess. I felt that it dragged in places and I just wasn’t feeling the chemistry between Zarrah and Keris (granted their relationship was in a rocky place for much of the book).

Rocket’s Red Glare was a fun read. You follow an ex-Special Forces guy who invites his team to his place on Nantucket for a little R&R after a tour. He has a difficult time getting to his house because a presidential candidate decided to set up his campaign office next door. When the candidate is captured, everyone is a suspect and no one on the island is safe. I had to exercise a fair amount of “suspension of disbelief” for this story, but it was entertaining.

The Twisted Throne is Book 5 in the Bridge Kingdom series and once again we switch protagonists to show Ahnna, King Aren’s twin sister, and James, the brother to Ahnna’s fiancé, William. She is sent to Harendell to fulfill her part of the 15 Year Treaty and hopefully, to get Harendell to provide favorable trade agreements to help the Ithicanian people. There are a lot of court politics and intrigue, and a lot more of Ahnna falling for the “wrong” brother. Surely, that’s not going to cause any problems, right? This was another case where I didn’t particularly want to pick up the book to read it, but once I did, I didn’t put it down for hours.

Dungeon Crawler Carl was a surprise. It was funny and witty and I really liked it! Aliens come to Earth and flatten all of the buildings, squishing most of the people who were not fortunate enough to be outside at the time. For those who are left, they can either become a dungeon crawler and try to be the last person standing who can then reclaim the planet, or die. It’s an absolute comedy of ridiculousness from beginning to end. I really hope that Clint’s book club will continue reading in this series.

I read 0 of the 2 bonus TBR books.

Final Result was that I read 4/4 (100%) of my planned books and 0% of my bonus books. I’m really happy that I could keep up with my brother’s book clubs this month!

Random Reads

My non-planned reads include:

Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood
Mate by Ali Hazelwood
It Seemed Like a Good Idea by Lauren Blakely
The Deal by Elle Kennedy
The Mistake by Elle Kennedy
The Score by Elle Kennedy
The Goal by Elle Kennedy
The Legacy by Elle Kennedy
The Chase by Elle Kennedy
The Risk by Elle Kennedy
The Play by Elle Kennedy
The Play Extended Epilogue by Elle Kennedy
The Dare by Elle Kennedy
The Graham Effect by Elle Kennedy
The Dixon Rule by Elle Kennedy
The Charlie Method by Elle Kennedy
Love Song by Elle Kennedy

I don’t know why it has taken me so long to read Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood. It has women in STEM, and this one involves thermodynamics! Of course, I’m going to love it! Elsie is a brilliant physicist, but is currently is struggling as an adjunct professor spread across three separate campuses. She wins an interview for a position she desperately wants – doing what she loves, a real salary, and health insurance. Unfortunately, one of the people on the hiring committee is the nemesis of the theoretical physics academic world and single-handedly responsible for a huge blow to her mentor’s career and credibility. It was really cute and well done.

Mate is Ali Hazelwood’s sequel to Bride. We are returned to a world where there are vampires and werewolves living in a tense peace. This time, we are following Misery’s best friend, Serena, who recently found out she’s one of the only human-werewolf hybrids. She has a bit of PTSD from the events in Bride and seeks refuge from the world in the Pacific Northwest among Koen’s pack. Her being Koen’s mate doesn’t endear her to his pack. In fact, they see her as a threat to their way of life. It took me a bit to pick up this book, despite having had it on my bookshelf for almost a year. It surprised me in a few ways and there was more to unpack in the story than I had anticipated. Bride seemed to be a bit more fast-paced, and Mate seemed to be more introspective and questioning of characters’ motives.

Lauren Blakely is an author who writes hefty romance novels, and I generally find them pretty entertaining. She tends to write on the spicier side, so buyer beware. It Seemed Like a Good Idea is a cute story about a bodyguard and the girl he is protecting. Although – plot twist! – she’s not the famous person, but her twin sister is. Her sister, Haven, brings her movie crew to the small town where she grew up and filming will be taking place on the lavender farm that Ripley now runs. Banks and his partner are relatively new to the security business, and he really needs this job to go well. Falling in love with his principle is not something that is recommended. This was a good read and I like how it took some common troupes and flipped them just a bit.

Okay…. for this next bit, I’m going to do a bit of consolidating. What happened was I found the Amazon series, Off-Campus, and decided that I wanted to read the book (Hahaha, little did I know there were so many in this universe) before watching it. So, I proceeded to absolutely decimate Elle Kennedy’s series: Off-Campus, Briar U, and Campus Diaries. That took the whole rest of the month, with a brief interlude where I finished The Twisted Throne and Dungeon Crawler Carl. At first look, they seem a bit fluffy, but as I read through them, there was a lot of character development and layers to the issues that came up in the plot that kept me engaged. Also, I love a good family dynasty moment, and the fact that these books came with a family tree and there was a lot of former main character cameos in subsequent books made it so much more enjoyable. I will leave links below to individual reviews for each of the books in case you want to read my thoughts about them, but just a quick warning that if you are reading this post close to the publication date, I may not have completed this part yet.

My Thoughts on This Month’s Reading

Wow. 21 books! That’s a LOT! I regret nothing!

Links to my reviews (on StoryGraph) of each of the books read this month are below, along with my star rating.

  1. The Endless War (⭐⭐⭐1/4) by Danielle L. Jensen – Review
  2. Rocket’s Red Glare (⭐⭐⭐⭐) by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann – Review
  3. Love, Theoretically (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐) by Ali Hazelwood – Review
  4. Mate (⭐⭐⭐⭐) by Ali Hazelwood – Review
  5. It Seemed Like a Good Idea (⭐⭐⭐⭐1/4) by Lauren Blakely – Review
  6. The Deal (⭐⭐⭐⭐1/4) by Elle Kennedy – Review
  7. The Mistake (⭐⭐⭐⭐1/4) by Elle Kennedy – Review
  8. The Score (⭐⭐⭐⭐1/4) by Elle Kennedy – Review
  9. The Twisted Throne (⭐⭐⭐1/4) by Danielle L. Jensen – Review
  10. The Goal (⭐⭐⭐⭐1/4) by Elle Kennedy – Review
  11. Dungeon Crawler Carl (⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2) by Matt Dinniman – Review
  12. The Legacy (⭐⭐⭐⭐1/4) by Elle Kennedy – Review
  13. The Chase (⭐⭐⭐3/4) by Elle Kennedy – Review
  14. The Risk (⭐⭐⭐⭐) by Elle Kennedy – Review
  15. The Play (⭐⭐⭐⭐) by Elle Kennedy – Review
  16. The Play: Extended Epilogue (⭐⭐⭐1/2) by Elle Kennedy – Review
  17. The Dare (⭐⭐⭐⭐) by Elle Kennedy – Review
  18. The Graham Effect (⭐⭐⭐⭐) by Elle Kennedy – Review
  19. The Dixon Rule (⭐⭐⭐⭐1/4) by Elle Kennedy – Review
  20. The Charlie Method (⭐⭐⭐⭐1/4) by Elle Kennedy – Review
  21. Love Song (⭐⭐⭐⭐1/4) by Elle Kennedy – Review
Ruby Beach, WA

P52.26 – August Vibes

2026, Paroxysm of Giggles, Photography, Project 52

🌿 August’s Theme 🌿

August’s Theme is Savor & Thrill. The hot, hot days of summer make us all slow down a bit to stay cool. We also try to milk every last drop of vacation that we can.

  • Week 32 (8/3 – 8/9): Drink it in
    • A moment of still heat
    • Excitement
    • Fast, loud, and bright
    • Vacation feels
    • Endless horizon
    • Small details
  • Week 33 (8/10 – 8/16): Something you notice daily
    • The big picture
    • Quality time
    • Mealtime
    • Wide-eyed
    • Something new
    • Narrow depth of field
  • Week 34 (8/17 – 8/23): Something softened by time
    • An unusual focus
    • Taking a break
    • Belly laugh
    • Warm tones
    • Chaos
    • Not a good idea
  • Week 35 (8/24 – 8/30): Warm neutrals
    • A soft observation
    • Highly recommended
    • Busy, busy, busy
    • That’s alarming
    • Critical thinking
    • A wish
  • Week 36 (8/31 – 9/6): Quiet outdoors
    • Cool pastels
    • An ordinary day
    • This is where I live
    • How I’m feeling
    • A story in a picture
    • The best day of my life

July 2026 TBR

2026, Paroxysm of Giggles, reading, TBR, , , ,

Carried Over from Last Month’s TBR

There are two books that I want to carry over from last month’s TBR:

The Endless War by Danielle L. Jensen
Rocket's Red Glare by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann

The Endless War was a selection for my brother’s book club. I did start reading it in June, but I didn’t manage to finish by the end of the month.

Rocket’s Red Glare just seems like the perfect thing to read on the Fourth of July, so that will be my choice for the day’s reading.

New Releases

Both of the New Releases on my radar for July are going on my TBR as ‘Possibles’ or ‘Bonus’ books, since they will be releasing later in the month.

In Stormy Weather features Quincy and Sebastian, who have been fierce rivals for all of their academic and professional lives. Sebastian also happens to be Quincy’s best friend’s brother and a permanent fixture of her friend group. Sebastian has a high profile job for a news agency, and Quincy has a highly successful social media channel where she uses her PhD to inform the public about weather phenomena. Pursuing a challenge, Sebastian convinces his boss to allow him to spend hurricane season in Florida, throwing him in close proximity to Quincy. This book releases on July 14.

Resist Me by Kelsie Rae is Book 2 in the Harden Heights series. I read the first installment, Ruin Me, which gave me similar vibes to Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire. Ford is one of the Harden brothers who run an underground gambling ring. He crosses paths with June during the events of Ruin Me, develops a crush on her and starts pursuing her. This book releases on July 21.

Book Club Picks

For my brother’s Moon Lit Bookclub selection for July, we will be reading The Twisted Throne by Danielle L. Jensen. This is the fifth book in the Bridge Kingdom series. So far, it’s a bit of an odd experience, where I have resistance to wanting to pick up the book to continue reading, but once I am reading it, I enjoy myself, even though the series is a bit slow and a bit more political than I would prefer.

For my brother’s Welcome to the Apocalypse book club, we will be reading Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman. I have seen how much hype this book has, but I’ve been a bit skeptical. It has been pitched to me as a cross between Blade Runner and a Dungeons & Dragons game.

Final List

My final initial TBR for March consists of 4 books, and 2 bonus books:

  • The Endless War by Danielle L. Jensen
  • Rocket’s Red Glare by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann
  • The Twisted Throne by Danielle L. Jensen
  • Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
    — Bonus —
  • In Stormy Weather by Chelsea Curto
  • Resist Me by Kelsie Rae

What are you reading this month?