When I was a girl, September meant cooler days and nights, pulling my cold-weather clothes out of storage in the basement, and snuggling under blankets as the days slowly grew shorter. But now, as a middle-aged, perimenopausal woman, it's all about cranking down the A/C and trying to survive some of the hottest days of the summer. And I am not impressed. Which is why when, on the eve of a forecasted triple-digit day, the motor on our A/C unit died, the household gave a collective groan. Ma Ingalls might have survived summer in a covered wagon while wearing an insane number of clothing layers, but I prefer my creature comforts and not sweating to death while trying to sleep. Hot flashes are bad enough with air conditioning, let alone without it.
In the end, the A/C was repaired, the days chilled out a bit, and I still managed to enjoy a few Pumpkin Spiced Lattes (hot) while waiting for true autumn to arrive and grace us with its presence.
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| Photo by C.G. Koens onethousandpens.blogspot.com |
In the meantime, I've been attempting to work through some more of my TBR stacks (both paper and ebook), and take advantage of the last couple of months of my Audible trial (one book each month for four months - conclusion: I'm still not a fan of audiobooks). I fell far short of my goal for the month (as you can see below) due to some life circumstances and the inability to focus, so I settled on a couple of very light weight books to fill the gap, neither of which I'm writing home about, but it's still better than nothing (a motto that I'm fast embracing in life).
- Charming Artemis by Sarah M. Eden - ⭐⭐⭐ I started this series back in the spring (while looking for books for my youngest teen daughter to read - she's totally into romance at the moment, but it's hard to find stuff that's appropriate!), but I got fed up after four books of basically the same thing (longing looks, annoyance with the one person you know they're going to end up with, awkward conversations where you just want to grab them and yell, "SPIT IT OUT!!", etc.). I took a break for the summer, but after showing Seeking Persephone to three of my teens after the three-episode movie came out on Amazon, I decided to finish the book series. In short, it was a nice ending, a lighthearted little book, easy to read, enjoyable. Nothing deep, nothing noteworthy (though it is very clean), but good for when you just need a little pick-me-up story. And I have no qualms letting my younger teen daughter read it. One word of warning (if it bothers you)...I did discover that the author is LDS, though there is absolutely no religion in these stories (or the movie). {Amazon Associates Link}
- Always Be My Pumpkin by Linda McEvoy - ⭐ Yes, you see that correctly. Just one star. The "heat" index on this was a bit high for me. I got this for free through the Kindle First Reads program, and the write up made it sound a little more tame than the reality. If sex in books doesn't bother you, then this won't be an issue for you. However...I cannot, in good conscience, recommend this if you are looking for a cozy romance (along the lines of the Lancaster family series). While those are romantic without the sex, this book offers more than a little in the closed-door bedroom department. I ended up skimming one whole section due to the more graphic details offered. Sex aside, the writing was just okay, the character development was thin, and the premise of a cozy fall festival and pumpkin spice Irish town fell short of my expectations. Turns out, I'm more of a "Miss-Read-Village-Fete" kind of fall reader. So the one-star rating is as much for me (it not being my preferred genre) as it is for the book. I'd also like to add that I've read clean books that frustrated me just as much with their characters' inability to communicate and propensity to jump to conclusions. (NOTE: It's one of the reasons I really enjoy Emma M. Lion, because of the caliber of the writing.)
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