September Hopefuls TBR (2026)

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I, uh… Well, I need to confess something. If you’ve followed me, especially those who follow me on bookstagram, you might know that last year was a difficult year for me. For my family, and for a friends’ family who we’ve known for year. Their child choose to run away soon after their eighteenth birthday, a sudden decision that we hadn’t even considered or expected until just a couple of weeks before it happened. I had been struggling before that, life has seasons, and some are more difficult than others. But that marked a point in my life that affected my reading, and that’s where this confessing is found. I’ve struggled to keep up. To read all the books I had signed up to review, to get the books read and reviewed in time for the blog tours. To keep up with all the requests I had agreed to with authors. I still have several that I had fully intended to read on time last year, starting around August…I also dove in so deep that I ended up doing five beta reads in just a few weeks time…which understandable led to burnout. Then again reading nearly ten books in a month’s time, not books I’d even have normally read, but because the challenge offered compensation, and I was being pressured to make money by a disgruntled family member… So, after a near mental breakdown, I once again found myself recklessly thrown into a challenge for all the wrong reasons.

After that, God reminded me of some things…but more than anything. I need to come clean. The things, things I told myself were simple, not really sins, not really anything that would hurt anyone, that only I am affected… All lies. I’ve been a liar for a while now, and while I try to do my best, and am as honest as possible when actually communicating with others…it’s what I don’t get around to saying that’s the problem. I was lost in the tides of burnout, emotional and mental fatigue, and a new wave of depression…It was all too much. I shut down, and instead of reaching out and contacting the authors, of of explaining the situation and coming clean then and there, here I am, nearly a year later… Still not able to fulfill my promises, and still not free of the commitments and blog tours.

This is something I’ve now actively working on fixing. I’ve been passively reading those books I had agreed to, slowly reading one or two when I had a spare moment. But in the last month or so, I’ve started intentionally prioritizing these commitments. I’m trying to read new eARCs as soon as they arrive, and reading one previous one’s when not reading the upcoming releases. I’m only signing up for specific authors and books that I know I’m caught up on the series and reading to read immediately. I’ve backed off on blog tours and am finishing up those I’ve agreed to before, but plan to take a break, and only sharing promo posts until I’m in a better place. I’ve been trying to get more organized, and had started that process last year, but when everything blew up in June, it took me nearly nine months to pull myself back out of the hole and start making any real progress again. I’m still not there, but with God’s help, I’m slowly moving that way. He has been helping me to remove any iniquity and hidden sins as I continue to seek and reflect on His Word, and to listen better to Him and His leading. This is part of that. I’m not sure who will read this, who will care, and why this is how I’m supposed to share this, maybe this is just a start, but I want to be more honest, in all areas of my life. I’ve come a long way, and am not who I was just a few years ago. I thank God for that, especially recently with some reminders of just how far I had fallen, but I’m also not where I should be. May this season find me closer to God, and this is a part of that process.

“Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”
(James 5:16)

“Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.”
(Hosea 10:12)

“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”
(Galations 6:7)

Moving Forward:

What Now?

Below are a few of the books I’m focusing on this month. As the holiday season approaches, I also plan to schedule many of my posts, and to avoid social media for the most part. I don’t celebrate in the world’s holidays, only keeping the feast days laid out in the Bible, and have taken to distancing myself from social media in favor of prayer and reflection on God’s Word instead. (I’m far from perfect, and often I spend more time procrastinating and wasting than actually reading the Word, but I have gotten better at being slightly more constant lately, all thanks to God’s mercy and grace.)

This month, I’m finishing out a few more of the blog tours that I had signed up previously, and have added a few of the earlier eARCs that I missed deadlines for. Two are upcoming new releases, one I know I’ll get an eARC for, and the the other the only sign-up I plan to agree to this month. With the fall feasts season upon us, September is often a busy month, so I have no idea how many books I’ll get to, but this list is those most pressing right now. I also hope that the time away from internet/scrolling SM might help, haha. It usually does.

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The Ballerina’s Bargain by Lorri Dudley (Printed ARC) –

I will actually have two posts for this one. It’s my next planned read, and sound like an interesting story. Many of these are new to me authors, this book included. Once I’ve finished these, I plan to finish up series, and reading the eARCs I already had waiting on my, and not reading as many blog tour books for a while.

Sparks of Hope by Avrie Swan (Printed ARC) –

I was on the tour for the previous book, and have been wanting to read this series…I’m going to read this one so that I can review it for the tour post, but then I plan to go back and read the rest of the series.

A Bride in the Wilderness by E.J. Ashmore (eARC) –

This one’s an ebook, so I can read it whole reading one of the print books. This is how I’ve been reading a little more in recent months, between ebooks, printed, and audiobooks it allows my mind a different experience and I can listen to audiobooks while writing posts like this, which helps!

High Exposure by Kelly Borjas (eARC) –

I…this was a moment of weakness. I was asked my one of the tour hosts I work with if I’d be interested in reviewing this one. *Sigh* I have since informed them that I don’t plan to take on more reviews right now, but I will be trying to read this one soon.

A Whim and a Prayer by Julie Lessman (eARC) –

Likewise, I probably should not have even agreed to this one, but here we are…

Murders in the Marquee by Dana Mentink (eARC) –

This one is a little different. I had talked to the author about an interview last year, and she asked me if I’d be willing to review this one closer to release instead. I ended up signing up for the blog tour too, but it’s one I had already agreed to, so it works out for both of us this time, and you all get a fun review out of it too! ^.^

Wounds and Rescues by Kathleen Rouser (eARC) –

Why do I do this to myself… This is the hazard of having blog tour sign-ups that close out two months before the actual tour. I love that, in theory, but it also means that when it comes time to read and post…I’m often kicking myself. SMH.

Throne of the Heavens by Connilyn Cossette (eARC/Printed) –

I’m aware that the above and this one are all my priority reads. The books after this will be dropped and pushed down the line if I can’t get to these first. I know that I’ll love this one, and as it is the last in the series, it also helps in that aspect too. Still, it’s a busy month, so…I’m beginning to see why God insisted that this post be where I shared my confession about being behind on reading, and on…fudging and faking some of the reviews to make the blog tour deadlines. It’s a horrible habit that I developed a decade ago when I first started my book blog, and ended up overwhelmed with too many books and not enough time to read them all…Especially when authors began harassing me directly and demanding reviews, almost instantly… I always write my own reviews (no ai) but I still admit that I have reviewed books that I hadn’t read, or that I’d only skimmed. I try to read as many as possible, and go back to update the review(s) when possible, but…It still makes me a liar and fraud, and for that I’m sorry. It’s wrong, and must stop. Can you forgive me?

A Rebel’s Storm by Sara Blackard (eARC) –

I’ve enjoyed this series, and look forward to this story! But…again I have to finish the blog tour requests first, so I need to read it soon, but I’m not sure if I’ll have time with how busy this month is already shaping up to be. God willing, we’ll see.

Wild Light by Ivy Emerson (KU) –

I wouldn’t have KU, and usually only get it very rarely, when a deal aligns with my schedule. I ended up grabbing a deal on both KU and Audible to help me catch up on some reading and to whittle down my TBR, which it is helping, but with all the blog tours, well… I’ve thought about reading the review requests and blog tour books that are already out and available on KU, so maybe that’s what I’ll start doing?

SEAL of Refuge by Jessica Ashley (eARC – Pending) –

I recently caught up on this series, and I know eARCs come out this month. I normally would wait to read this one, but it’s the last in the series, and after that I can move on without having is waiting on me…I’m not sure if I’m the only one, but I used to struggle to finish a series, being terrified after a traumatic reaction to reading a trilogy and loving up all the way up until the last book, which systematically undid EVERYTHING that I had loved up to that point, and destroyed my trust and corrupted the whole series for me at the same time…I avoided reading the final book in a series, especially series I loved/my favorites, for ten years. Recently, in the last few years I’ve worked on this and have mostly conquered this fear, but it still threatens to insist that I delay reading potentially ‘difficult’ books, or those I might now love, and last books the any series are also a bit troublesome. I find that if I don’t read them right away, I’m prone to putting them off for years still…Another confession, I suppose, but true and something I’ve struggled with and have been working on getting better about.

Brother’s Promise by Dani Madison (eARC – Pending – Debut) –

This is the one new-to-me author I’m planning to sign-up for this month. Her eARC sign-ups are opening next week, and this one sounds a lot like some of the other books that I have loved so much in the last year, and is the one expectation I plan to make to my rule. I suspect this is going to be an emotional read, but also sounds like the kind of book I’ve connected most to recently.

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