We’re quickly approaching the end of quarter one of 2026 (how in the hell is that even possible)!!Where are you at in your reading goal and what’s been your standout read of the year thus far?💭

Do you ever look at the books that you have read in your profile, and just think: I gotta make this color palette clearer or something 🫩

I just realized that I love dark covers, like in general. Also in notebooks, movies or whatever. So when you check some of the books i've read is like: black, black, black, random purple, black....and lets not even talk about my ARCS requests. Call me crazy but I am trying to push my eye out of it's comfort zone.

(And yes, it doesn't help when I'm reading a book in a yellow edition and I discover that the edition that is on Pagebound is...take a guess 😄)

So unfortunately I live in the Midwest and we get tornados a lot. We’re under a warning right now. We also do not have a basement I do not know why the area I live in, barely anyone has basements here.

So we come to a friends house and what I’ve learned in my recent experience of panicking to get to a friends is that I bring my kindle. Not because I am going to read bc I’m not, I’m gonna watch the radar. But I bring it to save it 🤣🤣🤣 just in case my house gets swept away I want to make sure I have my kindle.

Does anyone else do this? 😅 what would you make sure to bring other than pets and family obviously.

I find myself coming back to this quest everytime I sense a reading slump approaching and without fail, the books on this quest manage to pull me out of a slump. I am a romantic at heart so I love reading about charatcers falling in love. But I often find that Romantasy (and SFF that put too much emphasis on the romance), sometimes create plot points for the express purpose of causing angst for our love interests. While that's not necessarily a bad thing, I personally find subplot romance to feel a bit more natural and true to how people really fall in love and build connections through shared experiences and values.

So what draws you to books with romantic subplots? What about this genre appeals to you and how does it compare to SFF with more/less romance? What is the sweet spot for you?

(edit for typos)

Is anyone else completely bothered by their books not being the same height?

Most of my paperbacks (with the exception of like 2 books) are all the same height, but my hardcovers are all over the place! There are some that are a taller height and some that are closer to the paperback size but just a bit taller. Even the ones in the same height group are all very slightly different!

And don't even get me started on graphic novels! I love my graphic novels so much but I only have two that are the same height and width!

Do you prefer your books to all be the same height or do you like the variety? And do you prefer shorter or taller books?