A Week of Warmth, Sports, and Second Chances

This week took us from cozy classrooms to competitive fields, with plenty of tenderness in between. We leaned into a few authors we love and discovered stories that stuck with us long after the last page.

We opened the week with a trio from M. A. Wardell. Teacher of the Year set the tone with its warm, character-driven charm, the kind of read that makes you root for everyone involved. We followed it with Mistletoe and Mishigas, a festive, heartfelt outing that balanced humor with genuine emotion, and rounded out our Wardell stretch with Napkins and Other Distractions, a shorter piece that still managed to deliver plenty of feeling albeit our least favorite of the series.

Midweek, we shifted gears with Lucky Hart. Cross the Line and Make the Play brought us the competitive energy and slow-burn tension we crave, pairing athletic drama with the kind of connection that keeps you turning pages.

As the week wound down, Zan Hough delivered Blindsighted, a unique read that offered something a little different from the rest of our lineup. You may need to suspend disbelief a bit for Blindsighted. The book could have used some time with an editor to refine the plot and improve character interactions and dialogue. We closed out Saturday with Goodbye Paradise by Sarina Bowen, a story of two young men leaving a sheltered world behind and building something new together.

Seven books, plenty of heart, and a reading week we'd happily repeat. See you next week.