So, the observant among you may have noticed …

I’ve been gone for a little while.

No need to worry. I haven’t wandered through any hidden doorways to other worlds or been whisked away by a cranky, and frankly confused, dragon. Although, how cool would that be?

Of course, that’s not to say that a lot hasn’t happened.

I’ll just give you the highlights:

ღ  I thought I was suffering early onset menopause. Turns out I was pregnant. Who knew?

ღ  My neighbor had open-heart surgery and could no longer care for his animals, so I had about 20 cats and 3 dogs suddenly dumped on me. Death by cat was a real worry for a while. It’s not as great as it sounds, trust me.

ღ  My grandmother got sick, and I became the sole caregiver for her and my grandfather.

ღ My husband decided I had “too many books” (is that even a thing?) and made me go through and empty some shelves to make room for all the new books I bought. Okay, he may have had a point. But don’t tell him I said that.

ღ  Hubby and I celebrated our ninth anniversary of mutual torture. Some call it marriage.

ღ  My grandmother died. (Sorry it turned dark fast but here! I have cookies! *throws cookies at you*) **

ღ  I miscarried.

ღ  I finished a book. Which happened all of today, but I like to end lists on a happy note. I’m pretty sure there’s a rule somewhere that says that. Or there should be.

**The cookies are gluten-free. If I have to suffer, so do you.

Needless to say, I’ve spent the past few months grieving.

Everything happened so fast and out of the blue. My grandmother went into the hospital on April 27 for aggravated pressure fractures in her spine. She turned 84 in the hospital on May 2, and we found out on May 7 that she was dying. She passed the day before Mother’s Day, which really put a damper on pretty much everything.

Two weeks after that, I found out I had my second missed miscarriage.

Despite everything, though, I am okay.

Or as well as can be expected. I’ve had a wonderful support system, and I took the time I needed for myself and my family, and while we’re still in the grieving process, we are, in fact, healing.

On to something else because, jeez, that’s all depressing and I’m pretty sure no one came here to be depressed.

Here, have a picture of a kitty, because kitties make everything better! This is Gremlin, the only one of her litter to survive, and we weren’t sure she was going to, because she was only a pound, infested with fleas, and horribly malnourished when we found her a few weeks ago. She is now two pounds of fierceness, claws, clumsiness, and a bad attitude. But we love her anyway.

Let’s talk about reading.

I’ve done it. Oh, good, now we’ve got that out of the way. I actually have a lot of great books that I’m looking forward to talking about.

Like the Arc of a Scythe books, which I’m pretty sure have completely and utterly destroyed me and my ability to adult.

I have no review for this yet, because I have no WORDS, and as a writer, this is alarming.

This is where a pretty picture of Scythe would go, except that my husband stole it. And by that, I mean I forcefully shoved it at him and told him to read it. And he is, because the poor man has to live with me.

Instead, you’ll have to settle for all the other lovelies I’ve added to my TBR shelf, which I will not photograph because: 1. It’s horribly disorganized and chaotic; 2. I’m afraid if I do that, that might just be the final push it needs to become sentient and eat me. Also, most of these are Kindle books, which isn’t any less exciting, I promise.

I also bought three months of Kindle Unlimited …

on the day my grandmother ended up being admitted to the hospital. Because I have impeccable timing. I have one month left, but I am determined to read all the books, darn it.

Did I also mention that I had an anthology release?

It may have gotten lost in the swirling chaos that became my life, but I did! With a bunch of other very talented writers. And I’m still not sure how I managed to get squished in with them, but I’m going to just hope no one notices and pretend I belong?

I feel like I’ve missed so much the past two months, so tell me about your favorite book you’ve read recently. Any particularly amazing reads that I should absolutely check out?