Happy Tuesday! Holly and I are glad you’re here for Hello Monday on a Tuesday. If you blogged today, be sure to link up at the end of this post. I usually share the books I’ve read on the last Tuesday of the month, so I am going to share them and some fun from our weekend.

I am linking up with Joanne and Dara for Share Your Shelf so be sure to check it out on the first Thursday of next month for other great bookish posts. I read a lot of books this month, most of them are children’s books that are great for readers in grades 3-5. I only read 2 adult books and they were both great with twists at the end. No spoilers here but wow!!

The Insomniacs by Allison Winn Scotch ☀️☀️☀️☀️

I have been a fan of all of Allison Winn Scotch’s books and this was no exception. I thought it was a little slow to start, but she started to reveal more about each character I was all in. The four insomniacs, Sybil, Zeke, Betty, and Julian meet in an online chat for insomniacs and realize they live relatively close to each other. They decide to meet at a local diner where Betty works. The friendship develops slowly until one of the members is missing. Then the remaining insomniacs dive in to each other’s lives to find out what happened and why. I was a little surprised to learn the connection and the full story of each person’s past. I thought it was a good way to pass my time! **Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!**

Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke ☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️

This book has gotten a lot of hype and I am not surprised. Natalie is an influencer that lives on Yesteryear Ranch and shares her life with her millions followers. Well, she shares highlights of her life. She manages not to show her nannies, producer, farmhands, pesticides, microwaves, and purchased groceries. She is very successfully living as a tradwife. When she wakes up in the 1800s one morning, she finds that the life she’s parading all over her Instagram is much harder. The author jumps around in time to share Natalie’s life growing up, in college, and her early married life. Natalie is rather unreliable and not very likeable either, but I couldn’t put it down. I was completely surprised by the ending and cannot wait for more of my friends to read it so we can chat!

Children’s Books

I read two books from the same series to review for our school library. The series is The Witches of Brooklyn and I read Spell of a Time (4th) and Curse and Reverse (5th) by Sophie Escabasse.

For the past few years, I have volunteer for a committe where we pick 10 books for our county’s Battle of the Books. We select from the 20 nominees for our state’s book award in the 3rd grade – 5th grade category. So, here we are again the two months where I read as many of the twenty books as I can. As a reminder, I do not give a rating for children’s books. I am an elementary school librarian in a county with many book challenges, so I do not feel comfortable publishing them here. It stinks, but that is the way it is these days. Here are the books I read this month:

The Trouble with Heroes by Kate Messner / I’m a Dumbo Octopus by Anne Lambelet / The Puzzling Fate of Millicent Graves by Dora M. Mitchell / Creaky Acres by Calista Brill / Growing Home by Beth Ferry / Diary of a Nature Nerd by Tiffany Everett / Octopus Moon by Bobbie Pyron / Creature Clinic by Gavin Aung Than / Jupiter Nettle and the Seven Schools of Magic by Sangu Mandanna / Speak Up, Santiago by Julia Anta / The Secret of Moonrise Manor by Stephanie Bearce / Will’s Race for Home by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Currently Reading: The MASH Up by Laura Marie Meyers

You can always checkout what I’ve been reading on my Books 2026 page. I have all of my yearly reading pages linked here if you want to see what I’ve been reading for the last 8 years.

The weather this weekend was great for reading and not so great for Memorial Day Weekend activities. We started the weekend with Jack’s golf team party on Friday night. It was cold and rainy, but we had a great time. Coach talked about the winning season and said something lovely about each boy. Jack had fun with his buddies and Jeff and I enjoyed our time with the parents.

Jack had a golf tournament on Saturday and Sunday that ended up getting canceled because there was too much rain!

Luke had an 8 am soccer game on Saturday so we were up and at ’em. It was cold and raining but that is not enough to cancel a game on a turf field. The boys played well, but lost 1-0. They had another game at 3:30 so we headed home to warm up and rest. I sat down to fold some laundry and woke up THREE HOURS LATER!! I could not even believe that happened. I never ever take a nap, but I have been burning the candles at both ends for a few weeks so I guess it caught up with me. Luckily, the boys seem rested for their second game and won! We came home and had soup and grilled cheese for dinner. It was that cold!

Jack got a haircut from his friend that is in a cosmetology program at school on Saturday. He hung out with his friends after church on Sunday and then met some other friends to play pickleball for a while. I felt like I hardly saw him this weekend!

Luke and I went to Trader Joe’s and breakfast on Sunday before his semi-final soccer game. Unfortunately, they came up short in the game. We made pizza for dinner. Have you tried Trader Joe’s take and bake pizza crust? It’s delicious!!

We woke up Monday to more rain! It cleared a bit so Jeff and I went to the pool to get a little work done. We saw some friends there and it was great to catch up! Then we went to a friends’ BBQ for a little while and the sun tried to come out! We even saw a few peeks of blue sky!!

I was hoping to have my Summer Beach Reads list ready to publish today, but I did not get it finished. Please be on the lookout for it soon! We have 13 days of school left and I am ready for Summer Beach Reading!! We have a short week but it is going to be a busy one. The boys have exams, I have two evening commitments at the pool, Jack has a movie showcase for one of his classes, and I have play day at school. May is always so full of good stuff!

Thank you if you are still reading after that long post!! If you blogged today, or yesterday, be sure to link up for Hello Monday! Please let me know if you’ve read any of the books I read this month. Have a great day full of sunshine and books!!

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