I’m just going to leave this here. Some will remember the first time they encountered the crew of the Enterprise. Others know them from reruns. I was there for Classic Trek… and all the rest.
Live Long and Prosper, old friends. Memories linger long after loved ones are gone.
I’ve hit publish on the last ARC for Keeper Bookshelf for April 2023.
It’s always a satisfying moment, but also that moment when I take a look at my TBR or the other books that still need to be reviewed and… well, then I sigh, for there sometimes aren’t enough hours in the day for all I need to do.
For the rest of April, I’ll be putting up some overdue reviews. A few of them will seem out of season to some, but then I can read a Christmas Romance at any time of the year. 🙂
If you don’t want to, then I sincerely hope that you’ll just mute @keeperbookshelf on Twitter instead of unfollowing me… who knows, maybe someday you’ll want to read thoughts on romance novels once again.
This is a post that I will place on all three of my websites for it’s the same message to my various readers and visitors to Keeper Bookshelf or Shifter Haven or Happily Ever After Romance. All are owned and created by the same person — Me.
As another year comes to a close we often reflect back… but I’m going to go only about 10 days that have changed so much about my life in ways that I’ll be discovering in the coming weeks. I’m careful of what I share personally online but this is a message that I feel is important and might help someone else.
Last week I had a fall, I wasn’t badly injured but looking back that was a defining event. Recently I was admitted to the hospital with bilateral pneumonia and it was discovered at that time that I was dealing with some heart issues as well. At my age, beyond retirement, that’s not something you really want to hear – but it was pretty loud and clear that I needed to pay attention to my own health. Which I will be doing intensely over the next few weeks. I’m not done with this life yet so I’m going to take the steps needed to ensure that I wake up every morning for as long as possible.
In light of this, I’m going to be cutting back a bit on the number of books I’m reading and reviewing for these websites. To authors that I’ve promised reviews, they will still be delivered the timing will be off, but I’m not going back on my word. My life, my health is worth the investment of time to take care of it – and if that isn’t understood, well then, I don’t know what else to say.
I will always love Romance Novels across so many genres… but right now I have to be realistic about what my personal future may hold. I’m far from done reading and reviewing what I love, I just may do it less often for a hopefully small period of time. 🙂
Changes are inevitable in life whether in the physical world… or in the world we create within our computers. Change happens and we go with a new flow.
Keeper Bookshelf has been around for more than a decade now (how did that time get away from me) and it’s always been a combination of my enjoyment of several far different genres of Romance novels. That isn’t going to change any time soon. It’s the base from which I built this website.
I’ve chosen to close a website of mine (Paranormal-y Romantic) that focused on Paranormal Romance in various genres. I’ve made the choice to combine that site with Keeper Bookshelf, you won’t see much difference really. I’ll still be posting reviews of books I’ve read in a wide swath of genres… but you may see a few more Paranormal Romance posts as I move some of those posts (where there are ongoing series) over here.
No big deal, just something you might notice is all. 🙂
I don’t care if you’re young or old – or your sexual orientation… when I think of true love this song says it all:
How did it get to be December 4th? Wasn’t it just… June? *sigh* Well, despite my wishes it is indeed the final month of 2021 and time for some reflection and, perhaps even more importantly, some plans on how to approach 2022 a bit wiser, and more thoughtful of a rare commodity — time.
I could come up with all types of reasons as to why time got so badly away from me this year. But, truthfully, why bother because time did get away, I didn’t accomplish half of what I’d hoped to not only online but in my home life as well. No excuses, I simply let the upheaval that COVID has had on all of us, some major life changes, and frankly, the fact that I just put things off until later when I could deal with or had the time to deal with “whatever” I’d dropped the ball on have too much of an impact on my time, my emotions, my energy, and my confidence. It’s really that simple.
The rest of December will be spent trying to get somewhat caught up on the blog(s) hoping for a clean slate to begin the new year. I know that’s probably not completely possible but it is a goal that I can be working toward in the meantime. At least, getting that huge “to-do” pile lowered just a bit to manageable would be a relief.
I believe in 2022 I’ll be requesting ARCs less frequently, keeping a stricter reading schedule will help with that and I can always add additional ARCs onto my schedule as time opens up.
I’m going to allow for more personal enjoyments that aren’t the least bit book-related. I know, shocking isn’t it? I want to tend to my collection of plants a bit better — to stop replacing plants that I’ve managed to kill and keep them healthy enough to last years (as I once upon a time was able to do). I’d like to get back into gaming a bit more. Oh, I’ve dipped back into my World of Warcraft addiction, but in 2022 I’d like to try some newer games that stretch my comfort zone a bit.
The truth is — I’m approaching a milestone birthday, and that’s reminded me more sharply of time passing than anything else. After all, my own mother passed away at my soon-to-be age plus three months. I’m very aware of that, and it’s playing a bit of havoc with my emotions, my brain won’t shut down about the upcoming timing. Do I think that I have any chance of following in her footsteps? Honestly, no. But that doesn’t stop the “what ifs” from playing around with my emotions now does it?
So, I believe Keeper Bookshelf is going to be a gift that I give to myself in 2022 but on another level. I’ll never walk away from this blog, I love reading far too much. But I can (and will) stop agonizing over time as much as I’m doing right now. I’ll still be giving you my thoughts on new releases, but they’ll be on books that I really want to read instead of ones that I feel I “should” read to make some other invisible entity happy.
There will probably be another year-ending post the last week of December to outline how the year went book-wise and will, hopefully, go into the new year. But for now, I’m off to get some reviews up, do some reading, putter with my plants a bit, and maybe this afternoon spend some time in Azeroth. Sounds like a plan to me. 🙂
Another crazy week in paradise! Kinda. Sorta.
This post has been shared on The Sunday Post, a weekly recap from so many amazing blogs is hosted by Kimberly over at Caffeinated Reviewer.
This word link and the graphic will take you to The Sunday Post for this week – enjoy. 🙂
Well. Whewww! *plops into a chair exhausted* Yes, still unpacking boxes, finding places to put things, and basically making this new house our home – but that’s certainly not a bad thing, simply a time-consuming thing. How I envy people who can move and have their home set up – completely – in a few days! What is the secret? I seem to keep rearranging because I don’t like where I put something… then have to go back and start all over again! And don’t get me started on drawers! I have a huge kitchen now, with an island, and tons and tons of drawers on one wall. Why is that a problem? It’s not… I just can’t remember what I put in those drawers so it’s a puzzle finding things for now. 🙂
So, on to the important things — books. 🙂
I’ve made my monthly Harlequin haul for review over on my Happily Ever After Romance blog – I should do a Sunday Post for that, too, but it seems a bit overkill to take up two spaces on Kimberly’s list. I picked up a few new-to-me authors, but they certainly aren’t new to everyone. I got Nicki Night’s Intimate Negotiations and Oh. My. Goodness. How in the world have I missed this author before now? She writes an amazing, believable romance that had me hanging on to my Kindle hoping that the characters would make the right choices. Now, I need to go to the backlist and get caught up!
For Keeper Bookshelf I picked up Heather Graham’s newest Krewe of Hunters release, The Forbidden – I’ve been addicted to this series for so long now and it still keeps my attention riveted to the book and keeps getting better over time, in my opinion. I still have so many NetGalley reviews to get caught up on but I couldn’t resist two Christmas romances (I never can pass by a Christmas romance).
Until next week – I hope all your reading has a happy ending… or at least a good one. 🙂
Another crazy week in paradise! Kinda. Sorta.
This post has been shared on The Sunday Post, a weekly recap from so many amazing blogs is hosted by Kimberly over at Caffeinated Reviewer.
This word link and the graphic will take you to The Sunday Post for this week – enjoy. 🙂
Well. Whewww! *plops into a chair exhausted*
News that hasn’t been shared a lot previously is that in the last couple of months we have been house hunting, found the house we wanted (and could afford), waited impatiently for all the will we get the mortgage madness to pass… finally got the thumbs-up, then the closing a few weeks ago. This past Wednesday we finally moved into a house that is ours, no landlord popping around being an annoying pest – all ours.
Of course, nothing goes smoothly so we found ourselves with 1/4th of our stuff moved when the movers “ran out of time and had to go to their next job”… WTH???? So instead of a chaos-filled moving day which we expected, we ended up scrambling to get friends to help move the rest of the house in vans… and it was not pretty, at all. But we have an amazing circle of friends and people who care so it got done, eventually. And that company will be dealt with for their actions. Really? Who in the world schedules another job after telling the customer that you paid for X amount of hours, but don’t worry if it goes over that time we’ll simply add on the additional hours it takes… and then just leaves with enough time to offload at our new home and then simply go away with the job not even half done??? I don’t think we even had time to be properly furious (that came later) because we had to figure out a way to get moved since our lease was up on that day… we had to get out, no other options. But it got done, thanks to people who do care, so I guess in the end that’s what matters most.
So, needless to say, but my reviewing has gone down drastically – I’ve read on breaks and such but getting those reviews up was sporadic at best. Something I need to apologize for. Yet, the major chaos is behind us, unpacking has begun, my computer, Kindle, and all my notes on what I have read are firmly in place to start again.
What an absolutely mind-boggling couple of months! But, we are home, maybe not a forever home, yet it’s all ours for the next few years to create an atmosphere that works for us and I’m loving that fact. I’m a homeowner! Yay!
Aside from my monthly Harlequin purchases (which are reviewed over on my Happily Ever After Romance blog) I haven’t picked up much for this blog because, honestly, I have so many NetGalley reviews that need to go up and those need to take priority over everything else. Maybe something will catch my eye this week as I post reviews – that’s always when I do my spontaneous book shopping. 🙂
This post has turned into a “sorry I went missing but this is why” kinda tale with little to do with books… but they will come, next week, promise. Until then I hope you have a fantastic reading week filled with interesting books. And if you’re in the USA — Happy Fourth of July!!
I really, really need to clean out my e-reader (COYER) – it’s overloaded beyond what I’m comfortable with these days. Time. It’s always never enough time in the day. But… the Spring session of the COYER 2021 challenge is perfect to dip my feet back into this reading challenge once again.
To join, to learn the “rules”, or simply find a great community here’s the link to the Spring Season of Coyer (it’s also on the graphic over there <–)
In short, if you have any of those *free* series starter books on your e-reader (and I think most readers certainly do) then you’re perfect for this reading challenge – and it only gets better from there as any e-book under $2 or Audio or Physical book under $5 qualifies… and those 99¢ books add up, right?
Follow the link, check out the Spring season “rules” and have some fun while you make space on your e-reader for even more books – because, honestly, we all know that we won’t stop downloading books any time soon. *wink*
Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga’s Reviews and Reading Reality. If you’d like to take part simply click on those links or the graphic to discover what this fun event is all about. (the graphic will take you to Reading Reality’s home page)
I don’t know about you but 2020/the start of 2021 has been quite an experience around here. Living in a bubble might be a great escape for a week or so… but my family has been at it for a year now – and it’s getting old, real old. But then – surviving this pandemic is the ultimate goal so I shouldn’t really be complaining, right? Just as soon as the vaccine is available for me and my son you’d best bet we’re heading out of the bubble for that… until then we continue to live remotely, trying to keep our sanity intact.
I’ve done a lot of reading, escape/pleasure reading, and ARCs. I’ve cut back a lot on requests for ARCs recently because, honestly, I often find myself in a dark place, more like a depression I’m certain, where writing up those reviews isn’t happening as quickly as I’d like. I hate going back on my word, so I’ve cut back a lot. I’m sure I’ll dive back in one day to far too many books to keep up with, but that day isn’t right now. I don’t think I’m the only one feeling this way either so… hang in there, we’ll get to the other side of this one day.
Like most Americans (and, I’m sure others across the globe) I’ve spent the first week of 2021 crying my eyes out in disbelief, in anger, in frustration, and, in fear.
I want to say that this is not my America… but I’m no longer certain that statement is true.
I’ve done little more than doom-scroll through Twitter, watched endless, pain-filled hours of breaking news (and then the rewatching of the same). Not much else happened beyond reacting to the horror unfolding before my (and the nation’s, the world’s) eyes.
But.
I cannot stay in this state of mind any longer. It’s time to get back to work, back to doing what I enjoy… and that involves escaping into other worlds. Once enjoyable, right now necessary for my sanity as a way to pass the time, and stop thinking of what is happening to my nation, my home right now. I am sad beyond belief — but if I continue in this mindset then evil wins, and that cannot be allowed to happen.
I hope you are finding your own unique, individual way to cope with the events of January 6, 2021, and beyond. As an American I know “we” are better than this, “we” will get beyond what was done – yet, as in all things horrible, we must not forget what was tried, what was done. Otherwise, we learned nothing.
Take care of yourself today. Then get back out there and live your life.