One of the biggest highlights of the past week was that I had the opportunity to attend an event as a VIP for the launch of The Kitchen Quadrant: The Unofficial Fourth Wing Cookbook by . The event was fantastic and I’ll be sharing a separate post all about it because I’m running out of room in today’s newsletter!

I ended up with an extra copy because I also preordered it, so let me know if I should run a giveaway for my extra copy.

Fun fact: my name is in print in the acknowledgements because I was part of the recipe tester team!!

• We finally decorated our house for Halloween! Our kiddo loves Halloween as much as we do and had the best time helping us put everything out.

• We went to a wine membership pick-up party this weekend. It’s always fun to try their wine and food pairings and bring home a case of wine. Proud mama that our kiddo is starting to be better behaved when we go out and we managed to have a nice time together.

Favorite purchase from the past week:

• I recently got back into puzzles and treated myself to a large lazy Susan puzzle board. It’s made such a big difference for puzzling and I think it was worth the splurge.

• My husband experimented and made stovetop popcorn with garlic and salt - it got a little burnt towards the bottom but it was absolutely delicious and we’ll definitely be experimenting more.

• While I’m mentally in fall mode, I’m still clinging on to summer dinners. We’ve been doing Caprese salads and I love how easy and delicious they are. That said, I’m almost ready for soup season! If you have a favorite soup or stew recipe, let me know in the comments!

Finished Reading in September

1. A Match Made in Fall | Not for me

2. The Pumpkin Vice Cafe (Out Sept. 29th) | Loved it! Great fall cozy mystery

Currently Reading

• 📖 Half City (Harker Academy #1) by Kate Golden | Sprayed edge paperback gifted from Berkley Romance | ✨ Absolutely LOVING it and will immediately dive into book 2

• 📱 An Unlikely Coven by A.M Kvita | ebook purchased | ✨ Enjoying it

• 🎧 All the Time in the World by Cara Bastone | Audiobook included in Audible | ✨ Fun books like this are why I continue to keep an Audible subscription

Next Up on the TBR

• For a local book club pick: I Hope This Email Finds You in HeII - and thrilled to have received a copy from Berkley!

• I snagged a preordered copy of Between the Chapters by a bit early! Super excited for this upcoming new release.

• I preordered a ton of books in the B&N 25% off sale. I just can’t help myself, it’s such a great time to support my favorite authors at a discount. This time around I ordered 7 books and 3 coloring books.

• My September Berkley Romance box arrived on Saturday filled with 11 books! It’s by far one of the BEST things I get every month and I literally do a happy dance every time it comes. I still pinch myself that I continue to be including in their mailings and sincerely hope they never stop. | Click here for a link to all the September releases on my radar

Tuesday, September 15th:

• Blue Jean Summer | Berkley

• Doomsdate | Dell

• If Not You | Berkley

• A Study in Sparkling | Atria

• The Sugar Maple Inn | Dell

• I want to make at least one recipe from the new Fourth Wing cookbook this week! I’ve marked a few that feel easy for beginners that I’ll start with.

• I want, no I NEED to make a bigger dent in getting the piles of books out of my office. I did a major unhaul off my shelves a while ago but now I need to find new homes for those books. If you’re interested in shopping my shelves, message me on Pango @TheJoyfulBookBlogger for a steep special substack reader discount. I honestly just want them out and re-homed to someone that will read them!

• Inspired by Pippi Post: I want to do some festive drawings on a few mirrors and windows in our house. More to come and we’ll see how it goes.

What’s something that brought you joy this past week?

Wishing you a week filled with good books and joyful moments.

xoxo, Arielle

Many items are affiliate linked at no cost to you.

✨ The September holiday list has been posted - filled with fun reasons to celebrate this month

✨ One of my favorite bookstagrammers @ladies.getting.lit just created a substack Cassidy Krogulski and I’m already obsessed. I highly recommend giving it a look. I have three words to intrigue you: The Book Cartel

✨ Work in Progress: I’m working away on a massive Autumn recommended reading list. Hoping to finish it up soon to share!

✨ 📱 A Match Made in Fall by Melissa Baldwin | ⭐️⭐️💫 it wasn’t for me | Cozy fall rom-com - hockey romance with Hallmark (sweet no spice) vibes | Available in KU

✨ 📖 The Pumpkin Vice Cafe by Ellie Alexander - Out 9/29/26 | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ loved it! | Cozy mystery in Ashland, Oregon in Fall - give me all the pumpkin everything! | Paperback arc gifted from Minotaur Books

✨ 📱 An Unlikely Coven by A.M. Kvita | purchased an ebook copy for $0.99

✨ 🎧 All The Time in The World by Cara Bastone | Available in Audible

✨ 📖 Half City (#1) by Kate Golden | Paperback gifted from Ace via Berkley Romance

✨ It’s a big pub day and I’ll post about everything on my radar soon but I want to call special attention to A Guide to the Kitchen Quadrant:  The Unofficial Fourth Wing Cookbook by Chelsea Cole

✨I received notification that I was accepted into the Page Street reviewer program and got to request September and October Nonficiton releases. There’s so many amazing new craft and food books coming in the next two months and I can’t wait to share about them all!

✨ I got an email from Wednesday Books that I was selected to receive a full set of the new deluxe editions of the House of Night series by P.C. Cast 💀😍

✨ The September selections in my book subscriptions were somewhat underwhelming. I thought about skipping this month for all of them (Allurial, BoTM, and Aardvark), which would be a first for me. However, I changed my mind and ordered one from Allurial, skipped Aardvark, and am contemplating skipping BoTM too if they don’t have a mid-month release that interests me.

New Books Releasing Tuesday Sept. 8th

• Burn of the Everflame

• Disenchanted

• A Guide to the Kitchen Quadrant

• Fall Into Place

• Hexy Beast

• Level Up for Love

• Love Felt Like This

• The Mystic and the Missing Girl

• Receipts From the Bookshop

• With All My Haunted Heart

✨ Much About Love - silly and over the top (even for hallmark) but it was fun.

✨ Continuing to love Ted Lasso.

✨ Continuing to watch Lanterns. Still undecided if I’m enjoying it.

✨ Continuing to watch House of Stassi. She can be dramatic but I truly think she’s a good person. Team Stassi here.

✨ Finished the latest season of Love is Blind UK.

✨ I was inspired by all of the yummy fall treats that have been popping up in my feed, plus all the baked goods in The Pumpkin Vice Cafe (Out 9/29) had my mouth-watering.

✨ Tried a recipe for baked apple croissants from Feeding Tiny Bellies and they were a BIG hit in my house! 👩🏽‍🍳Word of the (now) wise: there is a difference between Phyllo Dough Pastry Sheets and Puff Pastry Sheets - you want the puff pastry ones! 😅😆

✨ Made a 9.5 lb pork shoulder in the Le Creuset for pulled pork for tacos. Froze a few bags for easy meals. So delicious!!

✨ Yesterday evening I decided to do something I’ve been meaning to do for ages — I cleaned out our kitchen pantry. I tossed stale and expired food and reorganized a little bit. How do we let our pantries get so bad sometimes? Most of what I tossed expired 1-2 years ago but I had a few things that expired before my kiddo was born and she’s 3. 😅😆

✨ My kiddo’s 6 month dental apt - interested to see how well we’ve actually been doing on keeping her teeth clean with brushing. She loves her Spidey battery operated toothbrush but it’s hard to tell how well the teeth are getting brushed.

✨ Unboxing all the lovely (mostly Halloween) goodies I bought from Epilogue Book Co.

✨ Attending a highly anticipated cookbook launch event. Photos, thoughts, and recipe notes to come!

✨ Dealing with the aftermath of a massive book unhaul. Deciding on what to post on Pango and what to donate to the local friends of the donate bookstores

✨ Impatiently (but respectfully) waiting for @DeltaRiseCo to post the Halloween and Fall launch. Do I need more earrings? Nope, not at all, but you can bet that I’ll be ordering one of just about everything. 💸😅😆 Use JOYFUL15 in the shop 💕

✨ Can you believe I haven’t decorated the house for Halloween yet?! Solo-parenting over the holiday weekend was fun but required a lot more energy than when there’s two of us, so decorating was not on my to-do list.

What’s something that brought you joy this past week?

Wishing you a week filled with good books and joyful moments.

xoxo, Arielle

The weather is quickly settling down from sunny Summer days and I’m so excited for the crisp Fall days that are on the horizon. My Summer reading quickly transitioned in August to SummerWeen and now that the ‘ber months are officially here, I’m running full steam ahead with Halloween and Fall reads. Bring on the sweater weather, cozy days, fireplace evenings, and soup season!!

We’re already two thirds of the way through the year?! It’s true what they say, the days are long but the years are short.

Scroll down to see a list of daily holidays, monthly celebrations, and more.

Coming soon: an autumn reading list filled with recommendations and tbr inspiration.

As always, I love getting recommendations to continue my efforts of reading more diversely. Let me know if there’s a book you’ve loved recently that you’d recommend!

At no cost to you I may receive a commission for items purchased through links. Many of the books featured on my blog are received as gifted copies from publishers, all opinions shared are my own.

In Case You Missed It…

Recent weekly updates | highlight vibes

• August 31st: Dahlias galore!

• August 24th: Book club event

• August 17th: Book mail & mini reviews

Recent bookish posts:

• The Beauty of Blank Bookshelves

Recent book reviews:

• Review: The Book Witch

• Review: She’s Up to No Good

• Review: Maybe a Note Would Help

• Review: The Ordeals

• Review: Dessert Can Save the World

If I’ve encouraged you to purchase a copy of any of the books I’ve read, please consider using my affiliate links to help support my blogging costs and reading habits.

Check out all the books I’ve read in 2026 here: ShopMy Shelves

Friendly reminder that a paid subscription costs less than a latte once a month. If this post brings you joy, I’d appreciate if you would offer your support!

September’s holiday lists:

What did you enjoy celebrating in August? What are you most looking forward to in September?

If you enjoy reading my posts, show your support & let me know you enjoy my work: leave me a comment below, upgrade or gift a paid subscription, or screenshot & share your favorite bits on your Instagram stories and tag me! @TheJoyfulBookBlogger

With joy from the stacks

Sharing a day late - got caught up with a busy Monday and forgot to post!

A paid subscription costs less than a latte once a month. If my writing brings you joy, I’d appreciate you supporting my work!

Reading:

✨ Finished 3 books in the last week - one in each format. Just finished the audio yesterday, still deciding on which audio to start next. I tend to choose nonfiction memoirs narrated by the author but I’m also in a witchy Fall mood…

✨ Currently reading: I’m officially in Fall mode

Building and narrowing down my TBR

✨ I got some amazing books in the past week or so but I also did a major unhaul recently and need to start letting go of them. Part of me wants to list and sell them on pango to make a little bit of my money back but the other part of me just wants it out and to get the space in my office back.

✨ I was very excited to discover that I could pause my Everand subscription for a few months! I’m super backed up on my credits and wasn’t planning to renew - BUT their subscription model is an unlock to give access while you have a membership, and if you cancel you lose access to those books. Not a fan of the subscription model but very glad that I won’t lose access to my unlocked books before I make time to read them.

Watching:

✨ Love Finds You - Ahhhhh it’s officially Hallmark movie season!

✨ Started watching the latest season of Love is Blind UK - it’s some entertaining ‘reality’!

✨ Movie: watched Don’t Say Good Luck on Netflix and man oh man was it a tear jerker. Made me feel all the feels and it was so good.

✨ The Last Sunrise - beautiful scenery, also a tear jerker

✨ Continuing to enjoy Ted Lasso& Lanterns

Other highlights. Some pictured, some not:

✨ We got a magnetic calendar for our kiddo and she LOVES it!

✨ We visited the Swan Island Dahlia farm and the flowers are beautiful. They also had a special display called the Bloom Room that was absolutely breathtaking. I didn’t get to explore that for as long as I would’ve liked - yay for being a toddler mom - but it was beautiful and I’m glad I got to see it!

What’s coming up this week:

✨ My feed has been filled with all things Fall and I’m here for it! I’ve been inspired by Feeding Tiny Bellies and have a few apple recipes I want to try this week.

✨ I’ll be attempting to flex my will power when all of the Labor Day sales flood my feed this week. But also keeping my eye open for a few larger items we’ve been needing/wanting.

If you enjoy this blog: leave me a comment below, upgrade your subscription, or screenshot & share your favorite bits on your Instagram stories and tag me! @TheJoyfulBookBlogger

With joy from the stacks

At no cost to you I may receive a commission for items purchased through links.

A paid subscription costs less than a latte once a month. If my writing brings you joy, I’d appreciate you supporting my work!

Reading:

✨ Devoured Arcana Academy in 4 days so that I could have it completed for the Romantasy book club event I attended. It was the first time I’ve attended a book club event in over 5 years since I moved to Oregon and it was such a lovely event! Wrote up a Substack blog post to share my thoughts.

✨ Currently reading a few books, one of each: witchy, fiction, romance, and memoir.

Building my TBR:

✨Now that August is quickly coming to an end, I’m ready to launch into a full magical and witchy mood! I started compiling a list of recommendations that I’ve loved and realized my TBR was seriously lacking from a diversity and BIPOC perspective. Cue to me deep diving on Instagram to find mire BIPOC authors — and I’m happy to save I’ve updated a collection of magical picks to consider. Check it out here!

Watching:

✨  Watched Camp Rock 3 and my younger self loved how fun it was!

✨ Watched Busboys and lost a few brain cells, wouldn’t recommend it

✨ Watching House of Stassi - one of the few “reality” shows I watch. It’s mostly a dramatic sh*t show but I also really love Stassi.   

✨ Continuing to enjoy Ted Lasso

✨ Continuing to watch Lanterns - appreciate that it’s more gritty and less cartoonish than the movie.

✨ Impatiently waiting for Supergirl and Spiderman to be available to stream for free.

Other highlights. Some pictured, some not:

✨ Personal achievement: I hit the 300 class milestone at my local Barre3 studio. I joined about 5 years ago and took a membership pause during postpartum - so I’ve averaged 60 classes a year with 5 per month. The past 6 months I’ve really kicked it up though and have been going about 3 times a week!

✨ Wayfair items arrived throughout the week- apologies to my husband for bringing in building projects for him 😆 but it all looks so good! We replaced a few light fixtures downstairs, added a cabinet to our family room, and a narrow bookshelf to our upstairs hallway. Next problem, getting rid of all the large boxes everything came in and disposing of our old light fixtures circa the early aughts.

✨ Enjoyed dinner at a new-to-us spot and it was delicious!!

✨ Went in for my 6 month dental cleaning. No new cavities but I need 2 restoration cavities.

✨ Clinique order arrived. They have a cute floral Rifle Paper Co Gift With Purchase going on right now and I couldn’t  resist. It was good timing as I’ve been needing a new mascara and had been wanting to try their even better skincare line for discoloration.

✨ Attended a toddler birthday party our kiddo was invited to. It was paw patrol themed and the kids all had a great time. It’s such a fun age when everyone is included and the kids are all friendly and play well with each other.

What’s coming up this week:

✨ Getting two cavities refilled. They called it restorative cavities - apparently being almost 40 and having really old fillings means that some of them start needing to be replaced. 😅

✨ September is almost here - be on the lookout for my monthly holiday lists soon!

✨ Giving consideration to what kind of agenda I want for next year. I’m not great at updating mine on a regular basis but I do enjoy having a physical one. I’d also love to keep an ongoing annual planner as more of a memory book for my kiddo. So I’m trying to find a good format for that to include notable events and track milestones and monthly highlights.

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With joy from the stacks

At no cost to you I may receive a commission for items purchased through links.

I started sharing these on Instagram a while back, but I tend to write a lot and Instagram has a word limit. Decided my substack was the best route for not being so limited on sharing all my thoughts. Hope you find some tidbits that bring some joy into your life too!

A paid subscription costs less than a latte once a month. If my writing brings you joy, I’d appreciate you supporting my work! This post may contain affiliate links.

Reading:

✨ Finished reading two books, enjoyed both: Wild Goose Chase and Bad Girl Reputation

✨ Received lots of book mail - August Berkley Romance, a new Atria release, and a surprise from Wednesday books along with my August book subscription picks.

✨ Got 6 children’s books for my kiddo for only $3 at a local friends of the library book nook

Watching:

✨ Tv: still loving Tad Lasso

✨ Movie: You, Me & Tuscany (thought it was much better than the reviews)

✨ Movie: If You Were The Last (quirky and thought-provoking)

✨ TV: started Lanterns (not fully invested yet but will likely continue as they’re released)

Other highlights. Some pictured, some not:

✨ Tried a delicious new-to-us sushi spot

✨ Attended an annual Barre3 in the park event - always fun to go, great energy!

✨ Decorating the house: Bought two faux floral vases from Home Goods. Also got two Halloween decorations that I couldn’t pass up - how cute is this ghost boo cut out that kids can take a photo behind?! I exerted restraint and didn’t buy a whole slew of stuff I wanted! Oh the will power.

✨ Mounds of laundry were done this week following our trip from the week before. Took a few days to unpack my suitcase and I forgot how nice it always feels to get everything cleaned up after traveling.

✨ Starting to feel much better with the antibiotic. My entire skull hurt from the sinus pressure, which was a new one for me.

✨ Some really sweet moments with our kiddo this week. The moments that make your mama heart melt and have an appreciation for what an awesome person your kid is growing into.

✨🐾Scroll to the end: see if you can spot two kitties

What’s coming up this week:

✨ Currently reading a few books - but pausing all to read and finish Arcana Academy before Thursday afternoon for a book club event!

✨ Finally sat down to browse Wayfair for some new light fixtures for downstairs (entry, dining, living, kitchen). Ordered a few things I’m really excited about that will be arriving later this week. Next up from here will be a few more pieces of furniture and decor for the house. And YES, new bookshelves will be bought!

If you enjoy this blog: leave me a comment below, upgrade your subscription, or screenshot & share your favorite bits on your Instagram stories and tag me! @TheJoyfulBookBlogger

With joy from the stacks

At no cost to you I may receive a commission for items purchased through links.

Happy Augtober to my fellow SummerWeen fans! Apologies for sharing this a few days late; I unplugged while I was on vacation for a week and am now getting back into the swing of things.

One highlight from our trip was taking my kiddo to the library to check out books for the first time. I wanted to make sure she was old enough to not tear the books apart and it was fun to share this bookish first during our trip to visit Nana.

Note to self: add The Bakery Dragon and It’s Fall to her wishlist, such cute stories! Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse was a cute story as well but was a really long one for bedtime stories.

The weather may be sunny and warm but my Summer reading is quickly turning to all the SummerWeen vibes and I love it. As much as I love Halloween and Fall, I’m not loving the orange skies and smoky air right now. Fingers crossed the Oregon and Washington fires 🔥 are quickly contained and I’m keeping lots of hope in my heart for those in the affected areas.

I know I say this every month, but how are we already more than halfway through the year?! It’s true what they say, the days are long but the years are short.

Scroll down to see a list of daily holidays, monthly celebrations, and more. Last month I included a list of content post ideas to make your bookish brainstorming easier - let me know if you want to start seeing those every month.

As always, I love getting recommendations to continue my efforts of reading more diversely. Let me know if there’s a book you’ve loved recently that you’d recommend!

At no cost to you I may receive a commission for items purchased through links. Many of the books featured on my blog are received as gifted copies from publishers, all opinions shared are my own.

ICYMI - Recent bookish posts:

• The Beauty of Blank Bookshelves

ICYMI - Recent book reviews:

• Review: The Book Witch

• Review: She’s Up to No Good

• Review: Maybe a Note Would Help

• Review: The Ordeals

• Review: Dessert Can Save the World

If I’ve encouraged you to purchase a copy of any of the books I’ve read, please consider using my affiliate links to help support my blogging costs and reading habits.

Check out all the books I’ve read in 2026 here: ShopMy Shelves

Friendly reminder that a paid subscription costs less than a latte once a month. If this post brings you joy, I’d appreciate if you would offer your support!

August’s holiday lists:

What did you enjoy celebrating in July? What are you most looking forward to in August?

If you enjoy reading my posts, show your support & let me know you enjoy my work: leave me a comment below, upgrade or gift a paid subscription, or screenshot & share your favorite bits on your Instagram stories and tag me! @TheJoyfulBookBlogger

With joy from the stacks

I know I say this every month, but how on earth is it already July?! How are we already halfway through 2026?! It’s true what they say, the days are long but the years are short. The first half of the year flew by but they were filled with lots of fun moments and milestones in our house. As always, there’s tons of fun holidays to celebrate this month - hello America 250!

Bookish-wise I’m looking forward to celebrating Summer and enjoying beach reads before I go full tilt into SummerWeen mode. I’m hoping to see some great recommendations to continue my efforts of reading more diversely. Let me know if there’s a book you’ve loved recently that you’d recommend!

At no cost to you I may receive a commission for items purchased through links. Many of the books featured on my blog are received as gifted copies from publishers, all opinions shared are my own.

ICYMI - Recent bookish posts:

• The Beauty of Blank Bookshelves

ICYMI - Recent book reviews:

• Review: The Book Witch

• Review: She’s Up to No Good

• Review: Maybe a Note Would Help

• Review: The Ordeals

• Review: Dessert Can Save the World

If I’ve encouraged you to purchase a copy of any of the books I’ve read, please consider using my affiliate links to help support my blogging costs and reading habits.

Check out all the books I’ve read so far in 2026 here: TheJoyfulBookBlogger on Amazon

Friendly reminder that a paid subscription costs less than a latte once a month. If this post brings you joy, I appreciate you supporting my work!

July’s holiday lists:

What did you enjoy celebrating in June? What are you most looking forward to in July?

July booksta post ideas:

One of my favorite things about celebrating all the fun and silly holidays is being able to inspire others to celebrate too! I realized the list I share every month is comprehensive and compact, and thought it would be fun to start sharing bookish ideas on what to post about on social media. Brainstorming done easy for y’all!

If you enjoy reading my posts, show your support & let me know you enjoy my work: leave me a comment below, upgrade or gift a paid subscription, or screenshot & share your favorite bits on your Instagram stories and tag me! @TheJoyfulBookBlogger

With joy from the stacks

Check out all the books I’ve read so far in 2026 here: TheJoyfulBookBlogger on Amazon

📖 The Book Witch by Meg Shaffer | Hardback copy gifted from the publisher - opinions my own

🔗 Amazon | B&N | Bookshop.org | Target

At no cost to you I may receive a commission for items purchased through links.

Quick take: A new forever favorite and a prime example of why Meg Shaffer has earned a spot on my auto-buy favorite author list. The writing is humorous, entertaining, intriguing, clever, and thoughtful. Genre-bending but full stop wonderful and magical. A love letter to the ways books can change us and the importance of the written word.

There’s too many wonderful quotes to share them all but let me just say, my book is tabbed and annotated to the gills and I wholeheartedly recommend it! This book is worthy of being annotated in pen, which is my ultimate stamp of honor.

⭐️ 5/5 stars - loved it

A paid subscription costs less than a latte once a month. If my writing brings you joy, I’d appreciate you supporting my work!

If you enjoy reading my reviews: leave me a comment below, upgrade (or gift) a paid subscription, or screenshot & share your favorite bits on your Instagram stories and tag me! @TheJoyfulBookBlogger

With joy from the stacks

5 Star Favorite ✨ She’s Up to No Good by ✨

Quick Take: Absolutely loved this book so much! I’m not usually a fan of dual-timeline with a bit of historical fiction but her writing is so relatable and downright hilarious that I find myself loving everything she writes. I’m making my way through her backlist and strongly recommend her books if you haven’t read them yet!

⭐️ Rating: 5/5 stars - new forever favorite

🔖 She’s Up To No Good • Available on Kindle Unlimited

A paid subscription costs less than a latte once a month. If my writing brings you joy, I’d appreciate you supporting my work!

If you enjoy reading my reviews: leave me a comment below, upgrade (or gift) a paid subscription, or screenshot & share your favorite bits on your Instagram stories and tag me! @TheJoyfulBookBlogger

With joy from the stacks

At no cost to you I may receive a commission for items purchased through links.

📖 A Very Punchable Face by Colin Jost

At no cost to you I may receive a commission for items purchased through links.

Quick take: All the stars! I listened to the audiobook which was narrated by the author. This made me laugh out loud throughout the ENTIRE book. My husband even popped his head into the room when I started listening to find out what was going on. 100% recommend listening to the audiobook, but as Colin Jost recommends, buy the book too.

⭐️ 5/5 stars - loved it!

Other Notes:

• The audiobook had me chuckling to myself right from the get go and it just kept going.

• Random tidbit: he didn’t learn to speak until he was 4!

• Self-deprecating, beating the bullies to the punch.

• Absolutely hilarious. Does the limit exist for how many times an adult can poop their pants?! You just might find out while reading this book.

A paid subscription costs less than a latte once a month. If my writing brings you joy, I’d appreciate you supporting my work!

If you enjoy reading my reviews: leave me a comment below, upgrade (or gift) a paid subscription, or screenshot & share your favorite bits on your Instagram stories and tag me! @TheJoyfulBookBlogger

With joy from the stacks

At no cost to you I may receive a commission for items purchased through links.

📖 All of Us Monsters by E. Barbee

Quick take: Lovely indie Romantasy debut by an author that I highly recommend checking out! Perfect for fans of no spice but amazing slow burn chemistry. Touches on political tyranny and rebellion and bravery - embracing the good in people even when they’re different than you.

⭐️ 5/5 stars - loved it

• Beautiful author’s dedication

• Tropes: fake engagement, werewolf paranormal, prophecy, journey/quest vibes, slow burn, touch her and die jealousy vibes

• Made me cry ugly tears - it packed an emotional punch

• Book 1 in a new series; ends with a cliff hanger - impatiently waiting for book 2!

• Available in Kindle Unlimited (but the physical book has beautiful illustrations and a fun map inside!)

Proceed with caution ⚠️

• Adopted family, (somewhat mild off-page) domestic abuse

A paid subscription costs less than a latte once a month. If my writing brings you joy, I’d appreciate you supporting my work!

I had the opportunity to meet the author on Indie Bookstore Day at a local bookshop in Camas, WA and snagged a beautiful signed copy. One of the many reasons I love living in the PNW is having access to the bookish world and getting to meet authors in person!

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With joy from the stacks

At no cost to you I may receive a commission for items purchased through links. I received a copy of this book for free but opinions are all my own.

📖 Good Joy, Bad Joy by Mikki Brammer

Quick take: I absolutely devoured this book - it’s so good and I highly recommend it! It made me giggle out loud and it made me cry ugly tears, so needless to say, this was emotionally engaging and receives a glowing 5 star rating from me.

⭐️ 5/5 loved it!

Other Notes:

• Main character is 89

• Nonlinear timeline - goes in order of oldest to most current, mixed with current

• Emotional & reflective: Made me laugh out loud and it made me 😂 😭

• Good vs bad, authenticity and being your true self

Proceed with caution ⚠️⚠️

• Infidelity, cancer, grief, divorce

A paid subscription costs less than a latte once a month. If my writing brings you joy, I’d appreciate you supporting my work!

If you enjoy reading my reviews, there are a few ways to show your support & let me know you enjoy my work: leave me a comment below, upgrade (or gift) a paid subscription, or screenshot & share your favorite bits on your Instagram stories and tag me! @TheJoyfulBookBlogger

With joy from the stacks

Apologies for sending out the holiday list a bit late, I was off enjoying my birthday yesterday and it was lovely taking some time to myself.

I know I say this every month, but how on earth is it already June?! It’s true what they say, the days are long but the years are short. The first few months flew by but they were filled with tons of fun moments and milestones in our house. As always, there’s tons of fun holidays to celebrate this month.

Bookish-wise I’m looking forward to celebrating Pride month and a few cultural month celebrations as well (Portuguese and Caribbean-American), so I’m hoping to see some great recommendations to continue my efforts of reading more diversely.

At no cost to you I may receive a commission for items purchased through links. Many of the books featured on my blog are received as gifted copies from publishers, all opinions shared are my own.

ICYMI - Recent bookish posts:

• The Beauty of Blank Bookshelves

ICYMI - Recent book reviews:

• Review: Maybe a Note Would Help

• Review: The Ordeals

• Review: Dessert Can Save the World

If I’ve encouraged you to purchase a copy of any of the books I’ve read, please consider using my affiliate links to help support my blogging costs and reading habits.

Check out all the books I’ve read so far in 2026 here: TheJoyfulBookBlogger on Amazon

Friendly reminder that a paid subscription costs less than a latte once a month. If this post brings you joy, I appreciate you supporting my work!

June’s holiday lists:

What did you enjoy celebrating in May? What are you most looking forward to in June?

If you enjoy reading my posts, show your support & let me know you enjoy my work: leave me a comment below, upgrade or gift a paid subscription, or screenshot & share your favorite bits on your Instagram stories and tag me! @TheJoyfulBookBlogger

With joy from the stacks

Check out all the books I’ve read so far in 2026 here: TheJoyfulBookBlogger on Amazon

The juxtaposition of unread books amongst old (and new) favorites on the filled shelves nearby. Stories that were lovingly written, waiting to be picked up, enjoyed, and cherished. Stories that were dreamt up, drawn out, and labored over. Stories that will engage, inspire, and ruin in the best way.

Blank shelves are like a fresh canvas waiting for that first flick of paint.

I love that I can rearrange my shelves and contemplate and plan out where my books will all live. Do I refresh what I already have by arranging my fiction alphabetically by publisher and then alphabetically by author within, do I go classic with alphabetizing by author only, or do I go full whimsical and create a rainbow of spines? The last one is visually stunning but would make it too difficult to find anything. 

I'm leaning towards organizing my fiction alphabetically by publisher, my nonfiction by genre, and because I enjoy having my up next TBR shelf in rainbow order, I think I'll keep that going as well. Essentially a refresh of the system I had in place that worked until my shelves began overflowing into bookish chaos. But then I think that classic alphabetical by author only would make the most sense. And do I mix in my subscription books form Book of the Month, Allurial, and Aardvark? Do I keep a separate display section for winter holidays and halloween witchy books? Do I keep a display section with sprayed edges? Oh decisions, decisions.

On the flipside of working on creating a beautifully refreshed library, I now have a dozen piles of books waiting to be sold or donated -- to be more precise I have about 26 dozen books now begging to be rehomed. I blame all of this on the need for spring cleaning that recently hit me. I’ve already donated a stack to my local friends of the library but I’ve still got a ridiculous amount of books to get through. (Thinking of doing a Substack share giveaway for a small stack… let me know if you’d be interested!) Although it's given me more work to do, I do appreciate that it pushed me to purge books I know I'll never get around to reading, giving them a new home and a new opportunity to be read and enjoyed.

Q: How do you have your bookshelves organized?

With joy from the stacks

A paid subscription costs less than a latte once a month. If my writing brings you joy, I’d appreciate you supporting my work!

If you enjoy reading my reviews please let me know: leave me a comment below, upgrade (or gift) a paid subscription, or screenshot & share your favorite bits on your Instagram stories and tag me! @TheJoyfulBookBlogger

How is it already May?! It’s true what they say, the days are long but the years are short. The first few months flew by but they were filled with tons of fun moments and milestones in our house. As always, there’s tons of fun holidays to celebrate this month.

Bookish-wise I’m looking forward to celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month and celebrating Jewish authors and Jewish joy!

At no cost to you I may receive a commission for items purchased through links. Many of the books featured on my blog are received as gifted copies from publishers, all opinions shared are my own.

ICYMI: Links to recent book reviews:

• Review: Maybe a Note Would Help

• Review: The Ordeals

• Review: Dessert Can Save the World

If I’ve encouraged you to purchase a copy of any of the books I’ve read, please consider using my affiliate links to help support my blogging costs and reading habits.

Check out all the books I’ve read so far in 2026 here: TheJoyfulBookBlogger on Amazon

Friendly reminder that a paid subscription costs less than a latte once a month. If this post brings you joy, I appreciate you supporting my work!

May’s holiday lists:

What did you enjoy celebrating in April? What are you most looking forward to in May?

If you enjoy reading my posts, show your support & let me know you enjoy my work: leave me a comment below, upgrade or gift a paid subscription, or screenshot & share your favorite bits on your Instagram stories and tag me! @TheJoyfulBookBlogger

With joy from the stacks

Check out all the books I’ve read so far in 2026 here: TheJoyfulBookBlogger on Amazon

I’ve always believed in the power of a handwritten note and was delighted to discover this book. The title and cover alone drew me in and the description made this an auto preorder for me!

At no cost to you I may receive a commission for items purchased through links. I received a copy of this book for free but opinions are all my own.

📖 Maybe a Note Would Help by Kristen Tremonti Reiter

✍🏼 Pub Date: 4.28.26 | 165 Pages | Published by SheWritesPress

⭐️ Rating: 5/5

Quick Take: I loved it! I’m feeling so inspired by this book. Part memoir, part note writing guide, full stop inspirational. It’s a must read for anyone looking to make stronger connections with the loved ones in their lives.

Reading this made me reminisce and unlocked old memories; I used to be much better about sending thank you’s and notes to friends and family and I’d really like to get back into that.

So much of this books spoke to my soul and I’m excited to reignite my love of hand-written notes. I’m also planning to get back into journaling, though I think I’ll continue to journal digitally and then print them out into a book. I type almost as fast as I think and I write fairly slow and somewhat messy.

A paid subscription costs less than a latte once a month. If my writing brings you joy, I’d appreciate you supporting my work!

🤔 Do you enjoy sending/receiving hand-written notes? Who was the last person you wrote a note to and what was the occasion?

🔖 Hand written notes • nonfiction • annotated books

If you enjoy reading my reviews, there are a few ways to show your support & let me know you enjoy my work: leave me a comment below, upgrade (or gift) a paid subscription, or screenshot & share your favorite bits on your Instagram stories and tag me! @TheJoyfulBookBlogger

With joy from the stacks

How on earth are we already in the second quarter of the year?! The first few months flew by and I can hardly believe it’s already April. As always, there’s tons of fun holidays to celebrate this month. I’ll start with a wrap up of last month’s reading then I’ll get into all the reasons to celebrate this month.

March by the numbers:

• Books Read: 4

• Format: 2 print, 1 ebook, 1 audio

• New to me authors: 2

• Books in a series: 1

• DNF’s: 1

2026 so far (as of the end of March)

• Books Read: 17

• Format: 8 print | 5 ebook | 4 audio

• Fiction: 13 / Nonfiction: 4

At no cost to you I may receive a commission for items purchased through links. Many of the books featured on my blog are received as gifted copies from publishers, all opinions shared are my own.

Finished Reading - March 2026

March was a slower reading month for me but it was a high quality successful month - I loved all the books I read; 3 new 5 stars and one 4.5 read. I’m also more than halfway through a few books, so I imagine April will be a much busier reading month from a finished book perspective. I’m also trying to be more mindful of screen time to have more reading time — I’m laughing at myself while I type up this post on my phone, but hey it’s better than watching tv!

ICYMI: Links to recent book reviews:

• Review: The Ordeals

• Review: Dessert Can Save the World

If I’ve encouraged you to purchase a copy of any of the books I’ve read, please consider using my affiliate links to help support my blogging costs and reading habits.

Check out all the books I’ve read so far in 2026 here: TheJoyfulBookBlogger on Amazon

Friendly reminder that a paid subscription costs less than a latte once a month. If this post brings you joy, I appreciate you supporting my work!

April’s holiday lists:

What did you enjoy celebrating in March? What are you most looking forward to in April?

If you enjoy reading my posts, show your support & let me know you enjoy my work: leave me a comment below, upgrade or gift a paid subscription, or screenshot & share your favorite bits on your Instagram stories and tag me! @TheJoyfulBookBlogger

With joy from the stacks

Check out all the books I’ve read so far in 2026 here: TheJoyfulBookBlogger on Amazon

I wasn’t very active here on Substack in March and as I’m drafting up my April holiday post, I realize I never shared the March list. I shared it on Instagram but completely forgot to share it here too. Back-dating and sharing in case anyone likes to print them and place in your agenda the way I do!

February by the numbers:

• Books Read: 5

• Format: 2 print, 2 ebook, 1 audio

• New to me authors: 1

• Books in a series: 2

• DNF’s: none

2026 so far (as of the end of February)

• Books Read: 13

• Format: 5 print | 5 ebook | 3 audio

• Fiction: 9 / Nonfiction: 4

At no cost to you I may receive a commission for items purchased through links. Many of the books featured on my blog are received as gifted copies from publishers, all opinions shared are my own.

Finished Reading - February 2026

ICYMI: Links to recent book reviews:

• Review: The Ordeals

• Review: Dessert Can Save the World

If I’ve encouraged you to purchase a copy of any of the books I’ve read, please consider using my affiliate links to help support my blogging costs and reading habits.

Check out all the books I’ve read so far in 2026 here: TheJoyfulBookBlogger on Amazon

Friendly reminder that a paid subscription costs less than a latte once a month. If this post brings you joy, I appreciate you supporting my work!

March’s holiday lists:

What did you enjoy celebrating in March?

If you enjoy reading my posts, show your support & let me know you enjoy my work: leave me a comment below, upgrade or gift a paid subscription, or screenshot & share your favorite bits on your Instagram stories and tag me! @TheJoyfulBookBlogger

With joy from the stacks

Check out all the books I’ve read so far in 2026 here: TheJoyfulBookBlogger on Amazon

In case you missed it, Heated Rivalry is EVERYWHERE and people are obsessed with the show and the actors - for good reason, have you seen HudCon?! 🔥😳😍 Important note; the show is based on the Game Changers series and the first book is Game Changer, not Heated Rivalry. I prefer to read a series in order so I’m glad I checked before stating this!

At no cost to you I may receive a commission for items purchased through links.

📱 Game Changer by Rachel Reid (Heated Rivalry #1) ✨ ebook unlocked in Everand

⭐️ Rating: 4.5 stars, loved it!

🔗 Amazon | B&N | Bookshop | Libro.fm | Target | The Storygraph

Quick take: I used my first Everand unlock of the year on the ebook and loved it! I enjoyed it so much that I’m planning to use my monthly Everand unlock on the rest of the series and will eventually plan to buy physical copies if they do special editions or as a special boxed set once the full series is complete.

Read if you like (notes, tropes, & thoughts):

🔥 Super steamy

🔥 MM main character romance

🏒 Sports romance - hockey

🧋 Meet cute involving blueberry smoothies

🌈 Closeted to coming out

💕 Favorite supporting characters: Scott’s teammate Greg Huff, Kip’s best friend Elena

A paid subscription costs less than a latte once a month. If my writing brings you joy, I’d appreciate you supporting my work!

Favorite Quotes:

Check out my Substack blog for more bookish content, miscellaneous notes, and joyful finds!

If you enjoy reading my reviews, there are a few ways to show your support & let me know you enjoy my work: leave me a comment below, upgrade (or gift) a paid subscription, or screenshot & share your favorite bits on your Instagram stories and tag me! @TheJoyfulBookBlogger

With joy from the stacks