Just as things are getting back to normal . . .

Nine books for the month of October. I'm back on track baby! Only four more books and I'm back on track to reach my goal of 100 books for 2023! Nothing's going to stop me---

Oh, wait . . . it's November? Time to delve into the self-imposed torture that is NaNoWriMo? Well, there goes my goal . . .

Still, I can be happy about the progress I made in October. I read some pretty spectacular books this last month.

I succumbed to the pressure and finally picked up Fourth Wing. While I absolutely hate the term 'Romantasy,' I did enjoy this book and I'm looking forward to book two.

Elena Armas redeemed herself with The Long Game. I fell in love with her debut novel, The Spanish Love Deception two years ago, but had a difficult time with The American Roommate Experiment.

While I can't nail down an absolute favorite for the month, I will say that, once again I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Katherine Center. If you follow the kind of books I read (ie. the RH/Why Choose book to the left of Hello Stranger) you would understand why I would not typically enjoy Center's pristinely 'clean' romance. Even despite predicting how the story would play out early on, it was a joy to watch the characters evolve. I continue to recommend her Body Guard to my husband who runs a book club through his library. This one will also be added to the list.

Speaking of dear hubby's book club, that's how I came to read the Richard Osman series. I'm a huge Osman fan, having a fairly unhealthy addiction to British panel shows. I look forward to discussing The Bullet that Missed with a bunch of elderly ladies later this month. I also plan on cheating and reading the fourth and final book of the series relatively soon, rather than wait for the book club to pick it.

Corinne Michaels was my happy new discovery this month, while Silver, Tomforde and Young were old favorites that I raced to pick up. I highly recommend all their books.

So, now to focus on November. Writing-wise, I finished the second draft of Avery and Zeke's story two days before the start of NaNoWriMo, so there was little prep time. Therefore, I've decided to cheat a little and do a rewrite. I did draft one of Maggie's story for the 2020 NaNo. It's the follow-up to Breaking the Curse, and at first I wasn't feeling too enthused about diving back into that world. But on day two of the month, I'm over five thousand words in and loving it. We all know I love a good age gap read. Now I get to write one. Maggie's only experience with romance is through the beloved novels she grew up reading. All that changes when she decides it's time for her to step into the role of heroine.

Now, this doesn't mean I'm giving up reading. I'm currently midway through three titles. I just know it's going to be a busy month. Wish me luck!

Cheers,

CJ