Bogormen

Title: Family for Beginners
Author: Sarah Morgan
Genre: Chick-lit
Rating: 4.5/5
# pages: 350
Date read: February 2025

New York florist Flora Donovan is living the dream, but her bubbly optimism hides a secret. She’s lonely. Orphaned as a child, she’s never felt like she’s belonged anywhere…until she meets Jack Parker. He’s the first man to ever really see her, and it’s life changing.

Teenager Izzy Parker is holding it together by her fingertips. Since her mother passed away a year ago, looking after her dad and little sister is the only thing that makes Izzy feel safe. Discovering her father has a new girlfriend is her worst nightmare—she is not in the market for a replacement mom. Then her father invites Flora on their summer vacation…

Flora’s heart aches for Izzy, but she badly wants her relationship with Jack to work. As the summer unfolds, Flora must push her own boundaries to discover parts of herself she never knew existed—and to find the family she’s always wanted.


Finally a chick-lit with no third-act breakup, and where people actually communicated! Such a refreshing change! I loved seeing the characters interact, and how they slowly started to understand each other and make the necessary adjustments. I liked that people were oblivious rather than malicious.

The ending was perhaps a tiny bit too twee. But all in all, I loved it :)

Title: Alpha (Ghost Mountain Wolf #1)
Author: Audrey Faye
Genre: Paranormal
Rating: 5/5
# pages: 322
Date read: July 2019, March 2020, August 2021, October 2022, February 2025

A pack broken.
A pup in danger.
A submissive wolf who will fight with her last breath.

Hayden Scott doesn’t know his stroll in the woods is going to start with a backpack full of watermelon and end with him the new alpha of the Ghost Mountain Pack. A very traumatized pack, and those are only the shifters he can see. Too many are missing, hiding in the woods or worse.

His wolf doesn’t care. He has a pack. One with maple-syrup-covered toddlers, a ten-year-old boy who smells like wolf right up until he shifts, and a brave woman with green eyes and serious trust problems who defended her pup with nothing more than a tree branch and sheer guts.

The walk ahead won’t be easy, but he has a list:
-- Burn down the den.
-- Deal with the evil still stalking the woods.
-- Call Mom.


I'd been hesitant to start reading this because while I typically LOVE Audrey Faye's writing, I've never really been a fan of shape shifters.

However, there are exceptions to every rule, and I ought really have known better. I finally picked this up when I needed some light reading for my vacation as Audrey Faye usually delivers that quite nicely. I think it took me about 5 (cell-phone sized) pages to get absolutely positively thoroughly HOOKED! This is her best work since the witches, and in fact it is INCREDIBLY similar to the witches in both atmosphere and character interactions. Granted, this necessarily has some significantly darker moments, but Audrey Faye's amazing gift in writing relationships and human interactions shines through bright and clear from the very beginning.

I laughed out loud on numerous occasions. I cried on at least one. I grew to love the characters. I never wanted the book to end. There were some elements I would have liked elaborated on (e.g. the dominants in the woods), but I trust Audrey Faye's pacing, that we'll get to hear more about them in the later books.

WHY did it take me so long to get started on this series? Of course, the good thing is that this means I now have another two books waiting for me. Excellent!

Title: Briar's Book (The Healing in the Vines) Author: Tamora Pierce Genre: YA, fantasy Rating: 7/10 # pages: 221 Date read: April 2008, September 2010, October 2019

The stunning conclusion to the Circle of Magic quartet finds the young mages Sandry, Daja, Tris, and Briar facing their greatest challenge yet... a devastating plague that is sweeping Emelan.


Tamora Pierce has learned her lesson and stopped trying to write from too many points of view at the same time, which is definitely a good thing. I like the descriptions of Crane's workshop and the explanations of how everybody works to find a cure for the blue pox.