Week of January 12, 2026

There was no new episode of our Let Me Call My Mom Podcast this week, despite having LOTS to talk about with Tori’s engagement last week. She completely lost her voice at her engagement party and was headed out of town on vacation as of Thursday and it wasn’t worth it to try and squeeze an episode out of her. Her poor voice needed the rest. But for those of you that listen, we for sure will have a new episode next week and we’ll cover all of the engagement excitement - we’ve been dying to talk about it!

I’ve been so looking forward to listening to more of Saint on audio, but I have run out of listening hours on Spotify! So I have to wait until next week to catch up with that book, which is really frustrating. I was loving that book and now I’m out of my groove. There has to be a better way to do this. I’m being far too frugal to spring for Audible again, but I think I’m going to have to do it. I go back and forth… so without listening to anything this week, I did hop on my walking pad quite a bit with my iPad propped up in front of me and I read. A lot. I plowed through the 3 Jewel E. Ann books listed below back to back to back all on Tuesday into Wednesday while I was walking. It was cold out so I knocked out 8 miles indoors instead while I walked and read. So although I’m absolutely not limiting my reading, I am making progress on my movement goal a bit! Progress is progress, right?

I’ve talked about Luke Bateman before - are any of you following him on TikTok or Instagram? Or maybe even listen to his podcast or follow his Substack? I follow him everywhere. I adore the way he talks about books in general, but he’s just caught up with the Heated Rivalry craze as Australia was a little bit behind the US with the release of the show, and his review of the show was absolute perfection. He’s such a gem of a human, and I urge you to follow his channels if you don’t already. His joy is contagious in the best possible way. And his review of the show, coming from a straight man, is utterly perfect. I never had a son, but if I did, I’d want him to be just like Luke ❤️

1. Galaxies and Oceans, by N.R. Walker ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

2. After All This Time, by Marina Pirlimpou ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

3. Sunday Morning, by Jewel E. Ann ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

4. The Apple Tree, by Jewel E. Ann ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

5. A Good Book, by Jewel E. Ann ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

6. Love Me Whole, by Nicky James ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

7. Zone Entry, by Maia Kinley ⭐️⭐️.5

8. Off Script, by Ivy Vera Gray ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

9. Wicked Little Darling, by Lyla Dane ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Wow, wow, wow. Love Me Whole by Nicky James is my first 5⭐️ book of 2026. Years ago, before I was in college, I read the book The Minds of Billy Milligan, by Daniel Keyes, and that was my first introduction into what is now called dissociative identity disorder (DID). I found it completely fascinating and spurred my interest in psychology, which became one of my two majors in college. But this book by Nicky James brings DID into an entirely new realm (even though it’s fiction) by incorporating Oryn and his 5 other personalities into a romantic relationship with Vaughn. It was so so so well done. As a reader, I could actually get a feel for each of the different personalities as they appeared, and I could feel for Vaughn as he struggled to connect with each of Oryn’s personalities, since they were all part of the one man that he was falling for. And I could feel Vaughn’s exhaustion, seeing as he was actually “dating” 6 men and not just 1, which isn’t something anyone really bargains for when they enter a romantic relationship. It was a wonderful story of patience, of understanding, of trust. It was a fascinating read, and very touching.

The Sunday Morning series by Jewel E. Ann, 3 books that I blazed through while I was walking, were all entertaining as well. This author is one of my favorites as her books are always entertaining with good banter and good MF story lines. The main female characters in each of these books were all sisters and daughters of the small town pastor. And each ended up rebelling against their strict moral upbringing in one way or another. My only criticism with each of these is that the characters are young and as such they are sassy and a bit naive, and it’s hard to take them at face value when I’m reading these books as a 58 year old woman. But I enjoyed the MMC in each book very much - this author doesn’t pander with the alpha male nonsense in these books and each of these men falls hard for his woman in a very swoon-worthy way. They were charming books, and should be read in order.

And finally, Wicked Little Darling by Lyla Dane was a strong finish to the week for me. Lyla Dane’s MM book Never Let Me Go was one of my absolute favorites and I had high hopes when I saw a new release was out. This one didn’t disappoint, although the ending didn’t quite resonate the same way. Dakota and Reese were both wonderfully broken and damaged and hurt and found solace in each other in the most perfect way. I loved that these two characters adored each other’s physical anomalies, and that Dakota wore his honesty and his vulnerability like a badge of honor. Reese’s story was heartbreaking and his inability to trust that anyone would have his best interest at heart was hard to read. The best part of this story? The overall writing is top tier, just like Dane usually writes. The yearning, the shudders, the complete adoration that Dakota had for Reese, whom he called “his pocket demon,” was superb.

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