Week of September 22, 2025

This week has been on the calendar for a really long time. It’s been marked with a big “X”, and it has finally come and gone.

Heading into 2025, Ross and I knew we each had some medical issues that we needed to address. I had some post-menopausal bleeding that was abnormal and I had to stop my HRT treatments as a precaution and have a biopsy to make sure that it wasn’t anything truly worrisome. I dealt with all of that in the spring and my biopsy came back negative, thank goodness. Meanwhile, Ross has been dealing with an autoimmune illness called polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) since May of 2023 and has been on prednisone since then in an effort to suppress his symptoms and put that illness into remission. (He’s almost there!) But in late 2024, during one of his routine labs, his PSA score came back elevated. So he knew going into 2025 that there would be more to deal with regarding his PSA. And all spring and summer he went through multiple rounds of bloodwork, an MRI, and a biopsy, only to find out that his results were positive for prostate cancer. ☹️ So we knew that some form of treatment for him was on the horizon for 2025, it was just a matter of what treatment he would choose and when it would be. And here we are - it’s treatment time.

This week marks Ross’s 65th birthday and it marks the week that he had surgery to remove his cancer-riddled prostate. Both are memorable events, and both are worth celebrating. We have a startling number of friends who have undergone the exact same surgery for prostate cancer, all of whom are alive and well and cancer free to tell us their stories, so that is certainly encouraging. We also have a number of friends who have undergone treatment for other types of cancers, and have provided an amazing stream of positive support through all of our stress surrounding this whole process. We recognize that, if someone had to choose a type of cancer to get, prostate cancer is probably a good one to choose as it’s generally slow growing and very localized. But the entire diagnosis of “cancer” is frightening no matter what, and we’re incredibly grateful for the support we’ve had through all of it.

So as of this writing, Ross has had the surgery, he is home, he’s recovering, and everything went well. And best of all, he’s cancer free. 🙂 I didn’t feel the need to talk about his diagnosis prior to this event because, well, there wasn’t much to say except that this would be happening and we were all pretty stressed about it. But now that his surgery is in the rearview mirror, we can all breath so much easier. So now as he recovers, he’ll catch up on some shows that he queued up, and I’ll settle in to read in between playing nursemaid to him, and life moves on. And we count our many, many blessings.

• As always, here’s my rating scale for your information:

  ⭐️ Did not like this book, would not recommend. Lots of errors, plot holes, not worth the effort to read, most likely didn’t finish. But I’m giving this author a single star for making the effort to publish a book. Not everyone’s even gotten that far, so yay for you.

  ⭐️⭐️ Didn’t really like it, multiple issues with style, plot, syntax or characters. Most likely forced myself to finish it. Would consider other books by the same author but I might have to be convinced.

  ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Enjoyed the book. Perhaps there were issues with plot or style but it was an enjoyable read. I could see recommending it if it were of a specific genre or trope or series. Most of what I read could easily fall into this category and I’d be a happy camper.

  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This was a good book. Like a really good book. I will think about this book when I’m finished, and there’s a really good chance I’ll buy it for my personal library if it was a KU read. I’d recommend it to other readers of the same genre or trope. I’ll definitely search out other books by this author, probably as soon as I’m finished reading.

  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Wow. Just wow. Amazing book, amazing story. If there were flaws in the book I’m completely overlooking them because in my mind the book was sheer perfection. I didn’t want the book to end and I’m immediately adding it to my favorites and my re-read pile. And if there’s an audio version I might have to buy that, too. I have a book hangover, I miss the characters, and I feel actual, physical loss in my life when this book is finished.

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

1. Someone Like You, by Lyla Dane ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

   Kindle Unlimited, 286 pages.

   Genre/tropes: MM romance, Mental Health

   After re-reading Never Let Me Go by Lyla Dane last week, I thought I’d give the first book in the interconnected series a try. This follows Brody and Isaac, who play a part in the 2nd book, and tells the story of how they got together. This book fell far short of the 2nd one for me in terms of the depth of character and the intensity of the story. This was a sweet love story but nothing about it stood out that much, especially when I compare it to the other one. I liked these characters, but I had trouble reconciling them together, honestly.

2. Flagrant Foul, by Jesse H. Reign ⭐️⭐️

   Kindle Unlimited, 435 pages.

   Genre/tropes: MM romance, sports romance, brother’s best friend, slow burn

   Nah. This one didn’t work, either. Much like book #2 in this series, I didn’t care for this one either. I liked Sev as a character, but Teddy flipped back and forth from angry alpha male energy to twink energy way too often for me and I couldn’t keep up. I couldn’t figure out his character at all and I didn’t like it. There are way better books out there - don’t bother with this one.

3. The Porch Pact, Chantal Warywoda ⭐️⭐️⭐️

   Kindle Unlimited, 365 pages.

   Genre/tropes: Romance, women’s fiction

   A follower of our ‘Let Me Call My Mom’ podcast dropped me a line on Instagram and suggested this book to me, so I decided to give it a go. (Thanks for the suggestion, Taylor!) Main character, Amy, newly divorced and about to turn 40, explores the wild world of dating in this enjoyable book. Though I personally can’t even begin to comprehend the concept of the “porch pact” that Amy set with her friends (as many dates as possible over the course of two weeks), it made the book entertaining. But I didn’t like to see Amy fail in other areas of her life in order to date as many men as possible. Anyhow, this was a cute read, definitely provided lots of cringeworthy dating horror stories, and had a unique plot.

4. The Rom-Commers, by Katherine Center ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

   Kindle Unlimited, 325 pages

   Genre/tropes: Contemporary Romance

   Katherine Center is one of my favorites. The banter between characters is always good, and the stories always resonate with me in some way. I especially liked Emma’s dedication to her family, to her writing, and her infatuation with love stories. 🙂 Charlie is a deeply flawed human, who has been abandoned by women at very critical times in his life, and he doesn’t “believe in love” which leads Emma to have to prove him wrong in order to write a quality screenplay together. The conflict of their styles is compelling and I found their story enjoyable to read. Another successful pairing by this author.

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