WA friends, vote NO on WA I-001, I-638, and I-645. All 3 of the statewide initiatives!

Get your ballot in the dropbox no later than Tues, Nov 3rd!

#Seattle #WA #Vote #Vote2026

https://youtube.com/shorts/ZRySZb5xRTY

145th read of 2026:

The Key by Jo Morgan Sloan

The anxiety of Tabby not telling Jax who he was was the book's only tension. It kept me reading, especially when I thought Rob might spill the beans out of revenge.

I've had a few post-transition casual acquaintance situations where I've avoided/struggled to be like "hey, it's me." But never someone I was extremely close with or in love with. All those people recognized me instantly.

The anxiety kept me from ever really relaxing into this second-chance romance.

3/5 stars

#Bookstodon #Romancelandia #TransBooks #MMRomance

https://ack.nerdfight.online/notice/BBW6v6AIfcIsttpWT2

I know this might be weird, but website building and maintenance isn't my passion or even something I'd call a hobby. It's more akin to filing taxes. Something I have just enough knowledge and keep it simple enough to do myself.

Do you self-host a small website on WordPress, and are like I think I need to update my PHP? But also, you're not very techy.

Here's what I did:

1. Log in to my WordPress. Make sure I'm on the latest WP version and that all plug-ins are updated. If not updated, update.

2. Log in to my web host. Any web hosting service worth their salt will have a giant banner alert telling you to update the PHP and give you instructions. If not, search their Help guide.

My web host's PHP update page was literally a 1-button option to select a PHP version and an "update" button.

Done.

Hopefully, it's that simple for you too.

#PHP #WordPress

My latest newsletter, where I discuss why my family role as the "smart one" is a misnomer.

https://mailchi.mp/4c0cc6805a4e/issue-109-so-you-think-youre-the-smart-one

Why's my credit card bill so high? Oh, yeah, I took my cat to the vet for inconclusive blood work and also she's fine.

Vote NO on all WA State-wide initiatives, friends.

All brought to your ballot and funded by weirdo Brian Heywood & the "Let's Go Washington" millionaires/billionaires lobby group.

They want to pick your pocket, grope your children, give child abusers more leeway, & defund our state's services.

#WAElex #Seattle #MidTerms

140th read of 2026:

The Pool Boy (Nashville Neighborhood #2) by Nikki Sloane

The homophobia that the back cover copy trades on is nasty. (I’m glad I didn’t read it.) Yes, this book does open with Erika walking in on her cis husband being railed by his (cis male) boss. On her birthday.

Sloane’s unfolding of that story (Erika divorces him), her subsequent romance with Troy, and her relationship fears are not homophobic. She never once has a homophobic panic. Her new relationship fears, stemming from her marriage, center on Troy’s commitment and fidelity. Which, if someone cheats on you, the problem is the cheating, not the gender of the person they cheated on you with.

Erika and Troy's sex was smoking hot. There was longing, desire, and building to feelings all perfectly laid out.

For an age gap, I appreciated how it played out. Including the cringe gross when Troy’s mom (Erika’s best friend) goes on and on about how “this new guy” better sex Erika up. Everyone’s lives were appropriately changed once the relationship became public knowledge.

I wasn’t expecting the country music star angle. I wanted Erika to be a little more involved in the music. I kind of expected Erika and Troy to duet on a song she wrote instead of Troy and definitely-not-Taylor-Swift, which would make more sense for the real world, but we’re in romance world!

Will these two be HEA? Maybe not, but a solid HFN.

4/5 stars

#Bookstodon #ContemporaryRomance #Romancelandia

138th read of 2026:

Love Letters: Vita and Virginia by Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West

Harold, they're lesbians!*

Some human behaviors are entirely unchanging.

Virginia and Vita as writers who always think the other won't like their work, and then they get into a fight the one time Vita doesn't like what Virginia wrote.

Virginia and Vita as lovers who never quite have their fully realized physical passion. But they're obsessed with each other, and Vita declares she's not falling in love. Virginia is also so jealous.

I adored how much Vita loved Orlando, and how vain she was about it.

(*This Harold knew.)

My favorite part is when Vita drops by and misses Virginia, who is out on a walk. Vita says she didn't call beforehand because it's so rude to interrupt life with phone calls! As if dropping by randomly isn't interrupting. IDK, maybe they had this right, and we have it so wrong.

I sniffled at the end, even though it was spoilers for history from 80 years ago that I already knew.

4/5 stars

#Bookstodon #Memoirs #VirginiaWoolf

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Okay I need recommendations for #StarTrek podcasts.

Star Trek podcasts I like/liked: Women at Warp & Starter Trek

Must know about Star Trek & also be smart about the world and media literate. I enjoy humor. I want critical thinking & critique with an underlying love. I don't need celebrity.

Also must actually be listenable in podcast format. I have stuff to do like chores & gardening. I don't want to/can't watch a video.

137th read of 2026:

Fan Service by Robin Jo Margaret

Cute, sweet, fun, and pro sex worker. (The cis human woman is an OnlyFans star.)

I think this is the first monster romance I've read where a monster (minotaur here) is explicitly trans in the way human culture thinks about transness. In this case, a trans guy, and oddly, it was one of the best portrayals of a post-HRT trans masculine body having explicit sex that I've read.

While these three still have a few things to work out, including that the cis male minotaur is aromantic and how that will play out as feelings deepen, I found this ended in a satisfying way on its own.

3/5 stars

#Bookstodon #MonsterRomance

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Do NOT do this. Do NOT give Claude (or any AI) access to your business or personal information. AI will keep and leak your data, unless you have enterprise company money for enterprise plans, but more importantly enterprise money lawyers to sue them.

Wildly irresponsible of Freshbooks, whose main customer base is SMBs and freelancers/contractors.

#NoAI

135th read of 2026:

Slayers, Every One of Us: How One Girl in All the World Showed Us How to Hold On by Jenny Owen Youngs & Kristin Russo 🎧

The whole time I listened, I kept asking myself who the audience is. I’m unsure whether a non-podcast listener would be interested in these two women’s lives. As a podcast listener, I got most everything on offer here from the show itself. I’m sure part of the publication pitch, besides the huge built-in podcast audience, was the (now not happening) Buffy reboot.

I certainly empathized with Kristin’s and Jenny’s journeys. Kristin’s recounting of her miscarriage in particular was probably the best memoir part.

Ironically, my then-girlfriend got me into Buffering with the pitch of two wives who loved Buffy so much they started a podcast and wrote great songs to go along with every episode. She and I split (after 10 years) around the same time Jenny and Kristin did.

I highly recommend the audiobook if you pick this up. You’ll want to hear the incredible episode songs for context.

3/5 stars

#Bookstodon #BuffyTheVampireSlayer #BtVS #Memoir

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134th read of 2026:

And The Crowd Went Wild (Chicago Stars #11) by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

SEP’s character work makes Dancy and Clint absolutely charming and lovable. SEP pulls the forced proximity trope and takes them out of their “regular” lives so they can be Dancy and Clint, not a Hollywood actress and a famous football player. The use of Darcy’s dress was perfect.

Dancy’s arc was extremely solid, but Clint could’ve used more work. She had the sparkling, loud problems, like her light-up dress, but he’s had the deep ones simmering in the background. Ashely’s death from the previous book (Clint’s ex-girlfriend he was suspected of killing, who died in his house) was the most unraveled thread. Seems like a big missed opportunity for his character.

Also, another contemporary romance where I wondered what would really happen when they went back to their regular lives.

3/5 stars

#Bookstodon #Reading #Romancelandia #Romcom

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133rd read of 2026:

Late Eclipses (October Daye #4) by Seanan McGuire

My favorite in this series so far. October finally realizes how she fits into her world and finally seems to learn (a little) how she needs others.

A good mini culmination of the background plots and themes. It allows October to level up as a character and gives this world a tiny realignment for future books.

4/5 stars

#Bookstodon #UrbanFantasy #Fantasy

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132nd read of 2026:

The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon

An incredibly 2016 book that, 10 years later, feels like a time capsule. I loved the YA romance of it all, but not necessarily how everything else was executed.

3/5 stars

#Bookstodon #YABooks #Romancelandia

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131st read:

Trial of the Amazons by Becky Cloonan, Michael Conrad, Stephanie Williams, Vita Ayala, Joëlle Jones, Jordie Bellaire, Laura Braga, Elena Caagrande, Rosi Kampe, Paulina Ganucheau, Alitha E. Martinez, Adriana Melo, Mark Morales, Skylar Patridge, Tamra Bonvillain, Kendall Goode, Romulo Fajardo Jr., Marissa Louise, Pat Brousseau, and Becca Carey

Ultimately all over the place because so many creators are working on it, and there are so many characters. The plot itself is pretty straightforward: close the Doors of Doom and solve Hippolyta's murder.

3/5 stars

#Bookstodon #Comics #WonderWoman

https://ack.nerdfight.online/notice/BB10Jrkw2EDx3ptkau

130th read of 2026:

Delicious (The Marsdens #1) by Sherry Thomas

Filled with longing, yearning, and desire! I loved every moment of it. So many descriptions of Verity’s delicious food that wake Stuart from his resignation and slumber from life's pleasures.

The Cinderella plot is bananas as these two have a one-night stand in an inn with only one bed (of course). He doesn’t know who she is, but she’s the best he’s ever had and the singular obsession that he spends a decade brooding over. She knows who he is because she is his titled, older brother’s cook and previous lover, whom the brother refused to marry.

That’s just Thomas warming up this plot!

Verity’s identity remains hidden from Stuart when he inherits after his brother’s death. Even as she continues on as the household cook and they start an emotional and physical affair! Incredible writing and maneuvering from Thomas for how far she pushes this.

5/5 stars

#Bookstodon #Romancelandia #HistoricalFiction

https://ack.nerdfight.online/notice/BAz5aBW0Rv82Qmb1n6

129th read of 2026:

Nubia & The Amazons (collects #1-6) by Alitha E. Martinez, Stephanie Williams, Vita Ayala, Mark Morales

I liked the story beats and how it showed Nubia as a different leader than Hippolyta. The forgiveness of Medusa and the feminist reassessment worked well for me, even if it was rather 101.

I also liked the creators playing with the Well of Souls. The art and layouts were lovely.

However, the narrative and dialogue were vastly overwritten, with a lot of info-dumping about the Amazons. I can't imagine many new Wonder Woman fans picking this up, and with a little more editing, you could have cut some exposition.

3/5 stars

#Bookstodon #WonderWoman #Comics

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128th read of 2026:

Wonder Woman Vol. 2: Through a Glass Darkly (collects Wonder Woman #780-784; Wonder Woman 2021 Annual #1; and a story from Wonder Woman 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular #1) by Becky Cloonan, Michael W. Conrad, Marcio Takara, Andy MacDonald, Travis Moore, Jim Cheung, Steve Pugh, Tamra Bonvillain, Nick Filardi, Marcelo Maiolo, Vita Ayala, Skylar, Patridge, Romulo Fajardo Jr, Becca Carey, and Pat Brusseau

I read these in single issues. They felt like placeholders waiting for the Trial of the Amazons, and while I'm not sure what the trade collected, the backup stories about the Bana-Mighdall were so much more interesting.

3/5 stars

#Bookstodon #Comics #WonderWoman #Superheroes

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