The First Ten Books I Randomly Grabbed From My Shelves

Item: Falling
Rating: 5
Author: Jana

Posted November 3, 2025 by Jana in Top Ten Tuesday / 13 Comments

Welcome to another TTT! And happy November! I love November! I love that’s it’s getting colder and the days are shorter and I’m looking forward to Thanksgiving and Black Friday shopping and decorating for Christmas! Do you love this time of year as much as I do?

This week’s topic is pretty easy, and it’s more of a game than a prompt that takes a ton of thought. I love these kinds of topics for this reason. Sometimes I’m just not in the mood to think! Anyway, the topic is: The First 10 Books I Randomly Grabbed from My Shelf. For the sake of this prompt, I’m only working with my physical book collection. It’s just easier that way. I have three bookshelves and I closed my eyes, flailed around like a little girl singing “Let it Go”, and wrote down the title I pointed to. If you have a digital library, you can use a random number generator and write down the title of the book that corresponds with the number you generated. Whatever works best for you! You get bonus points if you tell us whether or not you’ve read the book, and what you thought of it if you did!

The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell
I haven’t read this one yet! I planned to this past spooky season, but time got away from me!

Something Wilder by Christina Lauren
This is one of my favorites! I do not recommend the audio, though.

Winter by Marissa Meyer
Another favorite! I love this entire series, but I think this one might be my favorite of the bunch.

A Rogue to Remember by Emily Sullivan
This one sounds really good, and I’m hoping to get to it soon. I love friends to lovers romance, and this one has spies!

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (physical ARC)
Oh yes, I adore this book. I’ve re-read it more than any other book I have! And this ARC is so important to me because a publisher sent it and it made me feel special.

Degrees of Wrong by Anna Scarlett
This is sooooooo good. You know Anna Banks whose written a ton of YA? This is her! This is a sci-fi romance, and I loooooved it. I read it as a bound manuscript and had to buy a paperback when it came out. I’m still wishing for a sequel!

Just One Day by Gayle Forman
AMAZING. I don’t really read YA anymore, but I will never forget how magical this book is.

When He Was Wicked by Julia Quinn
I haven’t read this one yet, but it’s the next one I need to read in the Bridgerton series!

A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer
I really am such a sucker for Beauty and the Beast retellings, and this one is so good! I love the whole trilogy.

Tempt Me at Twilight by Lisa Kleypas
This is not my favorite Kleypas book, nor is it my favorite Kleypas series. I did really enjoy it, though, and gave it 4 stars.

Did you enjoy this prompt? Do you like the idea of doing tasks like this one to build a TTT list?
How did you pick your books for this week’s topic?
How many bookshelves do you have?

Falling by Christina Lauren | Book Review

Posted October 30, 2025 by Jana in Adult Fiction, Book Review / 0 Comments

Falling by Christina Lauren
Series: Scared Sexy Collection #2
Published by Amazon Original Stories on September 23, 2025
Genres: Fantasy, Fantasy Romance, Paranormal, Paranormal Romance, Romance
Pages: 56
Format: eBook
Source: Kindle Unlimited
Add to Goodreads
Buy on Amazon • Buy on Audible

One darkly seductive immortal’s powers of persuasion have worked flawlessly for nine centuries—until he meets the one woman who can resist him—in a wickedly hot short story by New York Times bestselling author Christina Lauren.

Cat should be afraid of Brigan—the devastatingly gorgeous stranger at a Halloween party whose very presence makes everyone else fall at his feet. But while his supernatural allure drives others to mindless obsession, Cat somehow keeps her wits…even as she surrenders to temptation. When this cursed being realizes she alone can see his true nature, one night of searing passion could break a centuries-old spell—or doom them both.

Christina Lauren’s Falling is part of Scared Sexy, a deliciously dark collection of Halloween romance where things that go bump in the night might just steal your heart. These seductive stand-alone stories blend chills and heat in the perfect Halloween treat—each designed to be devoured in one sitting.

Falling was a pleasant surprise! I don’t typically like stories involving fallen angels (or angels at all, actually), but I decided to give this a go for a few reasons:

Christina Lauren. I love them so much.
It’s super, super short and my Goodreads 2025 reading goal could use some help.
It’s available through Kindle Unlimited, so there was seriously no risk.

Honestly, this was way too short! The ending was abrupt, though we had only begun to scratch the surface with these two characters. I wanted more and would have happily read about 200-300 pages about them! But I really enjoyed what I got. The entire story takes place on Halloween night, when our two love interests meet at a Halloween party. Brigan is brooding in the shadows and Cat is one half of a failed couples costume situation because her walnut of a boyfriend is ridiculous. She excuses herself for some air and stumbles across Brigan. The sparks fly immediately. The chemistry between these two is intense. I was just as captivated by them as Cat was by Brigan. And Brigan. Wow. He’s got that dark, bad boy, broodiness that is so intoxicating. His backstory is super interesting and he really brought the otherworldly atmosphere, but not in a way that made me feel uncomfortable or creeped out. He’s a very loving and emotional guy. Christina Lauren… man, these authors know how to write characters and feelings. I can’t believe the punch they packed in a book that’s less than 60 pages. The writing drips with this chilly electricity that I just loved.

Top Ten Halloweeny Things I’ve Never Done

Posted October 27, 2025 by Jana in About Me, Top Ten Tuesday / 24 Comments

Welcome to another TTT! In honor of Halloween being this Friday, this week’s topic is a Halloween freebie! I thought it would be fun to share ten Halloweeny things I’ve never done before! Spoiler alert: almost all of the things on my list are there because I am a scared and anxious person. lol. I love Halloween for the pumpkins, the spoopy (cute spooky fun, not spooky scary) vibes, and the candy. I can’t wait to see what topic you came up with, so I’ll be visiting many blogs this week!

1. I’ve never bobbed for apples.
Even as a child, I guess my fear of germs was strong. Or maybe my fear of drowning? lol.

2. I’ve never gone to a “haunted” attraction.
I’d probably die if a went to a haunted house, haunted corn maze, haunted hay ride, etc. I almost died on the Haunted Mansion ride at Disneyland, so it’s just never going to happen.

3. I’ve never gone to a real haunted place either, like an old house or hotel known for ghost sightings or a spooky town ghost tour.
Truthfully, that would be a million times worse than a fake haunted place!

4. I’ve never gone apple picking.
Now this, I would do. This sounds like a lot of fun! I see no reason to be afraid of an apple orchard unless it’s haunted or has a major bug infestation.

5. I’ve never had a pumpkin spice flavored beverage.
I don’t drink coffee, so it’s not like I’m against the PSL because it’s pumpkin spice. I actually love pumpkin spice, just only in baked goods.

6. I’ve never gone to a murder mystery dinner.
In theory, this could be fun… but my friends know my very well and would do what they could to scare me at least 10 times. lol. These are the friends who sat me in the middle of the couch, covered me with blankets and pillows, surrounded me with their bodies (for protection, naturally), and then watched me watch a scary movie (it was What Lies Beneath, for those wondering. I do not recommend it if you enjoy sleep at all.).

7. I’ve never read a horror novel.
I mean, I’ve read scary books, but my threshold for scary reads is so below average that pretty much nobody I know would think I’ve read a scary book.

8. I’ve never told ghost stories by flashlight.
It will just never happen. Ghost stories keep me up at night no matter how outlandish they might sound.

9. I’ve never participated in a séance.
It’s too scary! I won’t even look in the mirror in the dark because I’m scared Bloody Mary will show up uninvited.

10. I’ve never used a Ouija Board
I will not be inviting that energy into my house, no thank you!

So basically, I’m a major chicken. I’m scared of my own shadow or if the toast pops up out of the toaster before I’m ready. I’m scared of little noises. I’m scared of no noises. I’m really just here to find out when I can start decorating for Christmas.

Ok, so give it to me. I’m excited to hear who is just like me and who thinks
I haven’t actually lived yet without doing some of these things!

What is your number one favorite thing to do at Halloween?

Top Ten Books I Wish I Could Read Again for the First Time

Posted October 13, 2025 by Jana in Top Ten Tuesday / 16 Comments

Welcome to another TTT! This week was originally scheduled to be a non-bookish freebie, but I realized how close it was to the last non-bookish freebie we did. If you’re super on top of it and already wrote your post for this week, post it anyway! If you’d rather do a non-bookish freebie, go for it!

I decided to switch the topic to: Books I Wish I Could Read Again for the First Time. You know those books that are just so fabulous or thrilling or surprising or twisty… or just perfect for you at that moment in your life that you know a re-read would never be the same as the first time? These are the kind of books I’m thinking about today. I will not elaborate on my reasons for choosing these titles because some of them are spoilery, but just know that I don’t think I would enjoy them as much the second time because I’ve either already spoiled them for myself or they are books I read during a different time in my life and I know they would not resonate with me or hit me in the same ways they did when I read them years ago. I have fond memories of them and would love to relive that reading experience, but it’s no longer possible since I’ve either aged out of the target audience or my reading tastes have changed and I probably wouldn’t like them anymore.

1. The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson
2. Lock Every Door by Riley Sager
3. The Only One Left by Riley Sager
4. Catherine and the Pirate by Karen Hawkins
5. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
6. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
7. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
8. Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard
9. Pretend You Don’t See Her by Mary Higgins Clark
10. The Hating Game by Sally Thorne

What’s a book you wish you could read again for the first time?