Week of February 2, 2026

This was a good week of reading for me. I finished Saint on audio and loved loved LOVED it. As I alluded to before, Jacob Morgan’s narration was spectacular, but Sierra Simone’s writing just clicked with me. I’m honestly at a loss as to what exactly it was about this book that I loved so much. I think it was the irreverent nature of it all, of a man trying to dedicate his life to the church and to his spirituality but realizing that his love for another human was simply too strong to ignore. The emotions and the passion that came through in the audio surrounding his struggle to figure this out and to come to terms with it were so stunning. I’m not a religious person in my own life, but I found this story utterly compelling and I absolutely loved the lyrical way this story unfolded. I had read other books by this author, on my Kindle not on audio, and none of them resonated with me in the same way this one did.

After I finished Saint, I read a couple of lighter books and then picked up a Kristan Higgins book, On Second Thought. And once again, she didn’t let me down. Her books are never light, but somehow they handle topics like the death of a spouse in such a way that it doesn’t feel like you’re slogging through mud. Higgins will always end up on my ‘favorites’ list and this book was indeed no different. Highly recommend. And once this one was done, I thought I’d grab a little fluffy MM romance and picked up Heart by Jesse Reign. Fluffy? NOT! Wow, the angst and the yearning and the passion in this one was off the charts. It was amazing. If I had a criticism of the book it’s of my own making - I figured out too soon what the plot twist was going to be far too early on in the book, so I was in my own head about how the story was going to fall apart long before the actual fall occurred. So I was reading far too much doom and gloom into what was actually a glorious love story. Once I got past the actual twist in the book and saw how it played out I was able to settle down and go back and re-visit the romance and enjoy it for what it was. [This is my own anxious nature getting in the way of letting the story unfold naturally - once I figure out a plot twist I have zero patience.]

Does anyone else do this? Do you take clues from the book and try to figure out who the “bad guy” is or what the “third act breakup” part of the plot will be before you get to that part of the book? I do it all the time. It’s a form of anxiety, I’m well aware, but I can’t seem to stop my brain from doing it. I do it with movies and TV shows, too, which is probably why I never enjoyed them too much either. It’s also probably why I try to stay in the happier, lighter genres of romance so that I don’t have too much negative energy in the books I read. I always try to find something with a HEA because my brain couldn’t handle it any other way. But sometimes, like with this book Heart, if I figure out too early what I think the plot twist will be, that’s all I can focus on and I read the book to get to that plot twist in order to see if I’m right or not instead of reading the book for what it is. It’s not until I prove myself right or wrong that I can then go back and enjoy what I’ve read for what it truly was. Don’t be like me - let yourself truly escape into the book and shut your brain off. I wish I could!

Thanks for joining me this week! Let’s dive in!

1. The Widow, by John Grisham ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

2. Saint, by Sierra Simone ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (audio)

3. The Best Men, by Sarina Bowen ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

4. Jumping Jude, by Lucy Lennox ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

5. On Second Thought, by Kristan Higgins ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

6. Heart, by Jesse H. Reign ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

7. Falling For Gracie, by Susan Mallery ⭐️⭐️

That’s it for this week! As always, you can keep up with all of my reading on my Goodreads if you want to. https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/12921106-karen

Love, Karen