Valentine Fun

 

National Internet Friends Day

Yet another National day I did not know about. I only found out this morning, thanks to Debra. I was going to write another Friday the 13th post until I saw about this day. Here is some info on the day.

Thursday 13 This Week

Colleen at The Thursday 13 holds a weekly blogging prompt where bloggers make a list of 13 things on Thursdays. The topic is for you to choose. The blog host doesn't have any official graphics to display on the Thursday 13 posts, so I decided to whip one up myself. 🙂  

Random stuff from the Internet this week. BTW, I do not watch the Super Bowl.

 

Spring 2026 Bingo Reading Challenge--Beyond the Bookends

Here is the spring bingo card. It runs from March 1 to May 31.

1. Young Adult Fantasy Romance Books
2. Historical Fiction Book for Middle School (March):
3. British Mystery
4. Fiction Books About Gardening and Gardens
5. Novel About Grief (April):
6. Books With Numbers in the Title
7. Nonfiction Book About Art, Fashion, or Food
8. Book About a Road Trip (May):
9. Books with Unreliable Narrators

13 Things This Week

Colleen at The Thursday 13 holds a weekly blogging prompt where bloggers make a list of 13 things on Thursdays. The topic is for you to choose. The blog host doesn't have any official graphics to display on the Thursday 13 posts, so I decided to whip one up myself. 🙂  

February Bookish Bingo

Here is the new card for February.

My books:

1. Red at the Bone--Jacqueline Woodson (7 squares): Not finished previous month, Library book, Physical book, Not in a series, Book Club Read, Short (under 400 pages), Feminine rage 
2. The Wild Swans--Hans Christian Andersen (2 squares) E-Book, Jealousy
3. The Not-So-Secret Emails of Coco Pinchard--Robert Bryndza (8 squares): Ina  series, Pink on cover, Busy cover design, Free space, Quirky character, Rom-Com, Multi-word title
4. Sounds Like Love--Ashley Poston (3 squares): Audiobook, Female friendship, Trope
5. Camino Island--John Grisham (1 square): Character is a writer
6. The Viscount Who Loved Me--Julia Quinn ( square): Royalty

13 New Author-to-Me Authors I Read in 2025

I'm posting this not just to the Thursday 13 and the Book Discussion Challenge, but also to The Top Ten Tuesday at That Artsy Reader Girl. This is only the second time I've posted to that one, this same topic having come up a year ago at this time.  Even though it's a Top Ten topic, I decided to do them one--or rather, three better!

Here are 13 new-to-me authors I read last year. As usual (with this or any topic) it was hard just choosing that many. I'm sure there were more. These are in no particular order. I'm excluding authors with only one book so far. 

1. Eric Jerome Dickey--The Blackbirds
2. Jenny Colgan--The Bookshop on the Corner
3. Helena Greer--For Never & Always
4. Emily Lloyd-Jones--The Bone Houses
5. Rachel M. Yoldi--Lady Nightmare
6. Michelle Ruiz Keil--Summer in the City of Roses
7. Amanda Foody--The Shadow Game Series
8. Beth Morrey--The Love Story of Missy Carmichel
9. Rachel Pastan--This Side of Married
10. Karol Ruth Silverstein--Cursed
11. Rachel Hanna--The Beach House
12. Kirsten Miller--Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books
13. Tayari Jones--An American Marriage

It's a little hard to say individually how I came across each of these. Some I already had at home, including one I got a local book signing. Others were likely just sudden interest in the book, either o the library shelf or from looking online for books in certain genres. How do you find new-to-you authors?