As expected, I did not finish or stop reading in August, but as tends to happen- my attention was diverted elsewhere. While I didn’t stop reading, ending the year with 24 physical books read and 62 books read on kindle, there were plenty of bumps along the road this year. They say things happen in threes: my basement flooded from an unseen window that had dry wall in front of it, my car transmission went out 5 hours into a 7 hour trip (luckily before crossing any borders!), and my most beautiful love at first sight cat, Abby, lost her battle with kidney disease in September.

Abby is the only reason my husband believes in love at first sight. She was a cat that only ever wanted, liked, or cared about one person and I was quite blessed to be her person. She is the cat that you see on the header of this website. She had been on medication for a long time, and ended up in the hospital for a while, including a short stay in the ICU. We found out that she had the rarest blood type of cats, making it impossible to get her a blood transfusion. Luckily, she managed to do alright when she came home with a plethora of drugs, continual vet visits, and unconditional love. She would have stayed with me forever if she could, and she’ll always have a chunk of my heart. She had her own chair in my office next to my desk, and I still haven’t had the heart to remove it.

After Abby life continued, and Dakota the paint horse ended up needing his eye removed. He had needed the emergency vet out thrice, eye drops five times, and had already had a big blind spot in that eye since before I had even been in to horses. He had an interesting bandage for a while, and he has since healed up and is ready for more ground work adventures, so long as they involve tricks. Tricks means treats, so naturally he’s a fan.

A bit longer than a month after Abby the most curious thing happened–a fully intact male cat appeared at the barn, where there is a strict NO CATS policy. I had thought I was crazy hearing cat cries, but it turns out that there was one! My husband and I had just put in an application for a kitten the day before, but when this little boy came over and rubbed all over me, talking nonstop I instantly video called my husband. We caught him and brought him to the vet where he had no microchip, posted about him and no replies, so he is the cat of destiny and belongs with us. His name is Samuel L. M. F. Jackson, and yes, that M. F. stands for exactly what you think it does (Leroy for short). While life was surely crazy this year, there is always something that shines despite the darkness. Between a new (used) car, a cat that will salsa dance with me, and new books on the horizon (stay tuned!) I look forward to embracing positivity, adventures, and a productive and brilliant 2026.

But hey, what about the book reviews?!

Yeah… there are about 24 kindle book reviews I need to catch up on from last year before I can start with this year’s, and several paper books to boot! Be prepared for the entry of Manga to the book reviews! While I was very struck by the idea that instead of doing 24+ separate posts and driving everyone batty, I could have posted three times: the kindle book recap, the paper book recap, and my best of 2025, that would make it very hard to search/read in the future so unfortunately we will have my once a year intensive posting to catch up (why does this seem like an annual thing?!)