This week’s prompt: Do you set a monthly budget for books? If yes, what amount? Have you ever exceeded your limit? I don’t have a monthly budget for books specifically, but I’m trying not to spend money that doesn’t need to be spent. So I have subscriptions for audiobooks, but other than that I try READ MORE
Author: RAIN CITY READS
WEDNESDAY BLOGGING CHALLENGE | FAVOURITE THINGS TO DO IN THE SUMMER
Well, there’s what I’d like to do in summer, and what I can do in summer. There is some overlap, but not as much as I’d like! What I’d like to do in summer is travel a little bit, spend time going to beaches or camping or swimming in lakes, having picnics and enjoy evenings READ MORE
TOP TEN TUESDAY | BOOKISH WISHES
There’s always a long list of books I want… and it’s constantly being added to! Because it’s a little overwhelming to just try to figure out which books from the never-ending TBR to include, I’m going to narrow it down to my current top area of interest – books on gardening, nature, animals and how READ MORE
LINK-UP | IT’S MONDAY! WHAT ARE YOU READING?
I missed last week, but managed to throw most of this together on my borrowed computer time and I’m now trying to finish it on my phone! So I’ll keep it brief. Just Shelved Garlic & the Vampire by Bree Paulsen The Witch Boy by Molly Ostertag Really enjoyed both of these. Put sequels READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | EIGHT PERFECT MURDERS – PETER SWANSON
I was intrigued by the premise of this book, partly because I’m a book blogger, and partly just because it involves books and a bookstore. It’s about a a bookseller, Malcolm (Mal) Kershaw, and a blog post he wrote years ago in which he listed the top eight books featuring a perfect murder. It was READ MORE
BEYOND THE BOOKS | TECHNICAL ISSUES
Hello all! I’m just posting a little note out of my regular scheduled content to fill you in on my current situation. I have had two events happen in the last week that may affect my blogging – one may even lead to me not being able to post as much or at all for READ MORE
BOOK BLOGGER HOP | HOW DO I SIDESTEP SPOILERS IN REVIEWS?
This week’s prompt: How do you strike a balance between providing enough information to pique readers’ interest without giving away too many spoilers in your reviews? This is an interesting prompt, because it’s the perennial problem when writing reviews. Here’s the issue. Without sharing all the information about the plot, you can’t really talk about READ MORE
WEDNESDAY BLOGGING CHALLENGE | FAVOURITE BOOK COVERS
I have so many book covers I love, that this is going to be nearly impossible to choose! I’m just going to take the lazy route and find a couple in my images that hop out and include them… but there are always more! Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley Animal Farm READ MORE
TOP TEN TUESDAY | GARDENING BOOKS, PODCASTS AND TV SHOWS
This week’s prompt is “Summer Freebie,” so I have decided to write about gardening, nature and animal-related media I’ve been enjoying – books, podcasts, and TV shows – as well as some books I’d like to read soon. I have cycles of interest throughout the year. In the autumn and winter I enjoy crocheting, baking READ MORE
QUARTERLY WRAP-UP | SPRING 2025
The last few months have been quite the rollercoaster ride in my life. I’ve had my car broken into and my purse stolen, my medical conditions have been worse than they’ve been in a few years so I’m both dealing with that and worrying a lot about what it means going forward. My family are READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | I FOUND YOU – LISA JEWELL
I picked borrowed this from the library after reading We Were Never Here and The Paris Apartment and enjoying the fast pace of thrillers. This one was a little slower than those, but in a good way that I enjoyed. It all begins when Alice, a single mum who has her own struggles paying the READ MORE
BOOK BLOGGER HOP | BLOGGERS WHO QUIT
This week’s prompt: Have you ever wondered why a passionate book blogger might suddenly stop posting or delete their blog without notice? I have wondered this, I’ve also mourned this, repeatedly. I don’t deal well with change, and I don’t like when I get used to something existing that helps me feel calm and safe READ MORE
WEDNESDAY BLOGGING CHALLENGE | BOOKS THAT NEED A SEQUEL
There are lots of books that need a sequel because they left questions unanswered or because they dealt with a story that doesn’t have a neat end. But then there are the books I just enjoyed so much I’d love to read more. Not even necessarily a sequel, but something connected – the backstory of READ MORE
TOP TEN TUESDAY | ANIMAL COMPANIONS IN BOOKS
I love this prompt! I love animals, and they can be such wonderful companions. They ask so little of us, and yet they offer us so much. Love, companionship, comfort, joy, loyalty. So when there’s a book that includes one of these wonderful relationships between an animal and a person, it always feels very special. READ MORE
LINK-UP | IT’S MONDAY! WHAT ARE YOU READING?
Another busy week! But in a good way – we had another birthday, my kid had a couple of fun field trips, and we had a bit of unscheduled time off home school because by the end of the week, we were quite frankly knackered. So my kid got to spend a lot of time READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | BEFORE WE WERE INNOCENT – ELLA BERMAN
I borrowed this from the library on another of my whims, mostly because I’ve had some good luck with Reese’s Book Club picks in the past, and this was another one. It’s a combo of psychological thriller/mystery and friendship drama. It straddles two time periods, both including two of the main characters – Joni and READ MORE
BOOK BLOGGER HOP | IF MY BOOK MANIA WERE A SONG…
This week’s prompt: A songwriter composes a song about your love for books. What would the song’s title be? I don’t have a title, but I do know that it would be a long song. All about undying devotion, gratitude, loyalty and something to do with knowing when you know. Maybe there’d be a bit READ MORE
WEDNESDAY BLOGGING CHALLENGE | LESSONS I LEARNED FROM A BOOK CHARACTER
This is a tough one, because it’s hard to pick a specific character. I feel like reading in general has taught me so many important lessons, and most of those lessons were brought to me by several different characters from different books by different authors at different times. So I’ll list a few, but there READ MORE