Every year, Spotify does their Wrapped summaries at the beginning of December, telling their users what songs and artists they listened to the most, along with other interesting listeners facts. They do the same for the artists, telling them their most popular songs, and where the majority of their listeners are from. This year, I saw authors and readers doing the same sort of thing, but about books. I found the template they used on Canva, and decided to make one for myself. So, if you didn't see my Wrapped on social media, here it is. Though I've added a few more tidbits here. Enjoy!

Above are my goals for 2024, none of which I accomplished. With Left On Earth, I contemplated over and over whether to make it a novella or a short story. And I wrote it as both throughout the year. In the end, I decided to make it a longer short story, but I still have a lot of writing to do for it. I plan to continue working on that story this year. With 3 Secrets, I did get some more words into the story, but it is not finished yet. I hope to finish it this year. I did work on the plot for 2 Fans, but only the first half. Not sure if I'll get to that story this year.

Though I didn't accomplish the goals I set at the beginning of 2024, I did have two book releases, and write a total of 84,415 words that doesn't include the words I removed during edits. Those words were between Once Upon a Dance Club Wish, Lion's Crossing, and my three works in progress I mention below.

2024 releases:
Fox Trapped (Shifter Towers book seven)
Once Upon a Dance Club Wish (City Wishes & Enchanted Dreams book one)

Coming in 2025:
Lion's Crossing (Shifter Towers book eight) - will be available for pre-order soon
Plus more to come!

My current works in progress are:
1. City Wishes & Enchanted Dreams book two
2. Romance Tales from the Quadrants book two (working title 3 Secrets)
3. Dystopian short story (working title Left On Earth)

I also asked for the rights back to four of my older stories. I've been wanting to do this for a while, but didn't know if I would have the time to revise/rewrite them and republish them. But it is my goal to work on them this year along with my other WIPs.

Authors are not only supposed to write, but they're supposed to read, too. In 2024, it was not only my goal to write more, but also to read more. I'm a slow reader, so I set a goal of 24 books for the year. Two a month. In 2024, i surpassed that goal, reading 31 books. There were many I started but did not finish. Because I'm a slow reader, I don't have time to push through books that don't intrigue me. I never mention these books or review them, as they simply weren't meant for me. But I did read a lot of great books, the longest one being 448 pages, and the second longest at 447 pages. Plus, I tried the Fold Reading Challenge to diversity my reading. It was a great way to find many new authors and read from a variety of settings, cultures, and view points. There is another Fold Reading Challenge this year, which looks fabulous! I will not being doing it, as I already have a diverse collection of books waiting on my physical and digital bookshelves for me to read. So, my goal this year is to get through them. I'm hoping to read at least 30, though hopefully more. Plus, there are some upcoming releases that I have pre-ordered, and many more on my wish list waiting for their release.

2025 Books Pre-Ordered:
You Started It by Jackie Khalilieh - May 20
Titan of the Stars by E.K. Johnston - May 27

Here's a recap of the books I read in 2024 (in the order I read them):
All of them were great reads, but my top 12 are in bold.
Polaris Rising by Jessie Mihalik
Gaza Writes Back Edited by Refaat Alareer
The Jackal by Erin E. Adams
All Systems Red by Martha Wells
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong
The Red Palace by June Hur
His Ducking Alpha Dragon by Lorelei M. Hart
TJ Powar Has Something to Prove by Jesmeen Kaur Deo
The Mis-Arrangement of Sana Saeed by Noreen Mughees
One of Us Knows by Alyssa Cole
Deadly Cure by Mahi Cheshire
The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
Snowglobe by Soyoung Park
Bad Cree by Jessica Johns
Road to Ruin by Hana Lee
Missing White Woman by Kellye Gerrett
Pretty Furious by E.K. Johnston
Delivered to My Tigers by Mazzy J. March
Midwife to Destiny by Nana Prah
So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole
Toward Eternity by Anton Hur
Love in the Air by Mariah Ankenman
Dead Sound by Anise Eden
The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White
Blood Sisters by Vanessa Lillie
Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes
Love, Lies, and Cherry Pie by Jackie Lau
Sensory: Life on the Spectrum Edited by Bex Ollerton
Full Speed to a Crash Landing by Beth Revis
Escape Velocity by Victor Manibo

What were your favorite reads of 2024?

I have many goals for 2025, many of which I already mentioned. I will be posting them in a separate post on social media, but I'll recap what I already mentioned...

• Lion's Crossing to release in February
• finish City Wishes & Enchanted Dreams book two and submit for publishing
• finish Romance Tales from the Quadrants book two and submit for publishing
• work on Dystopian short story
• Revise/Rewrite four formerly published stories and republish them

Thank you for all your support over the last year!

Below are the books that I read in December and my thoughts on each. 

I tried to do the Fold Reading Challenge to diversify my reading this year, but didn't meet the December challenge. It definitely made a difference in my reading, and I plan to continue to read diversely while tackling the pile of books I have n my shelves, both digital and physical.

Today's Teaser Tuesday is from the third book in my Alien Next Door series, Alien Attraction. The FMC of this story, Rachel, is the daughter of Luke and Rachel from Alien Adoration, and sister to Adam from Alien Admirer. This story is a little more action-packed than the first two. Read and excerpt from Alien Attraction below...

​Soul mate. The one person Angela would marry, spend the rest of her life with. Did she have one somewhere on this planet, or was she destined to spend the rest of her life alone?

Holding the crystal orb passed down to her by her father over a year earlier, she willed it to give her a sign, flash red or blue. Or any other color for all she cared. The extraterrestrial sphere hadn’t provided any guidance in her life decisions as it had her father and brother, hadn’t shared its thoughts on the two guys she’d dated since moving to the city, not even whether she should stay there. Had the battery died? Or was she too human to make it work? Her brother Adam, had told her to be thankful she shared little of the extraterrestrial DNA, that her life would be easier. Instead, she didn’t fit in. Anywhere.

The last few years had been brutal as she waited to locate her one true love, especially after Adam had married Sera. Angela had given up on all the guys she’d gone to high school with, none of them interested in anything other than drinking and one-night stands. Moving far from home had been the best decision she’d made in her life, but hadn’t brought her any closer to finding love.

Tempted to slam the orb on the floor and smash it to pieces, she instead tucked it into a nest of tissue paper inside a cardboard box. Next time she drove the four-hour trip to visit her family, she would return it to her father and give up on the idea of celestial intervention. After fitting the lid on top, she shoved the box into the rear of her bedroom closet. No point in leaving it out for another year to collect dust.

With a sigh, she plodded over to the bay view window in the main room of her tiny apartment, the only saving grace to being on the fifteenth floor. She picked up her plum-colored pillow and plopped onto the matching foam seat. Glancing across the city, she gazed at the setting sun, the end of another day on her own. Growing up, she’d never imagined living so far from her parents, in a city full of concrete, steel, glass, and people. So many people. Yet, she failed to make a connection with very many of them, save for the sweet old lady next door who had passed away from a heart attack a month earlier. Angela didn’t regret her decision to move though, not when the friends she’d grown up with were alcoholics, or in prison for dealing drugs.

Knock, knock.

She jumped. Except for her former neighbor, no one visited her. Plus, the building had a controlled entrance, so anyone who did decide to pop over had to call up first.

The sound came again. She rushed to the entrance, curious as to who stood on the other side. No one at work had mentioned stopping by. Heck, she was lucky if her co-workers remembered her name for an entire day.

Peeking through the peephole, she gasped. A guy. And a damn hot one from what she could tell through the tiny hole. Shoulder-length brown hair, a prominent nose, and radiant green eyes. Though his scowl left her wanting to sneak away from the entrance and pretend she wasn’t at home.

When he raised his fist to knock again, a burst of courage swept through her. She yanked the door open before he made contact. “Can I help you?”

He jumped, his scowl momentarily gone. “You’re Angela Jones?”

“Yes....” How did he know her name when she’d never met him before? Usually it was the other way around. People knew her face, but couldn’t get her name right if their lives depended on it.

The stranger held out a couple of envelopes. “I believe this is your mail. Seems the postal carrier put them in my box instead of yours.”

She took them from him. “Thank you.” Maybe it was a good thing the mail lady kept mixing up Angela’s box in the lobby with the one next to hers. That was how she’d ended up meeting sweet Mrs. Kersley, her neighbor before the handsome man in front of her had moved in. She could get to know him better. “You.... You’re new here, right? Would you like to come in for coffee?”

“No.” He furrowed his brows, looking even more disgusted than he had through the peephole. “See that this mix up doesn’t happen again. I don’t want this to be a daily trip. I have better things to do.”

What an asshole! Like she had any control over which slot her mail ended up in. As he turned away, she slammed the door behind him. The mail snafu had happened for as long as she’d lived there. Mrs. Kersley hadn’t minded bringing the misdirected letters and packages to her. She would often make extra food and invite her for dinner when the older woman did stop by. Angela doubted the same would ever happen with Mr. Too Busy. Time to get the computer out and switch everything to e-billing with the hopes of never running into him again.

With a huff, she headed back to the window. Lights flickered to her left. She spun toward her bedroom, where blue and red beams danced across her walls and ceiling. What the hell?

A few cautious steps and she reached the entrance. Peeking inside, she searched for the source of the luminescence. Inside her closet, the box she’d tucked in the back corner less than an hour earlier, lay on its side, with the orb in the middle of the floor, lighting up her bedroom like a disco ball. What had caused it to fall over? And why was it flashing two colors? According to her father and Adam, it pulsed with lights of red or blue, not both. Knowing Angela’s luck, the orb had little life remaining, giving one last show before it finally died.
​
Shaking her head, she picked up the extraterrestrial object, not at all surprised it stopped flashing with her touch. Why would it start working for her after so many years anyway? Stupid ball. She tossed it in the box and used her foot to shove it to the far corner of her closet. Time to face the fact she lived alone in the big city, with no help from anyone or anything. And when her work contract expired in a few weeks, she would consider moving elsewhere rather than sign a new offer of employment. Because she had no chance of stumbling upon her soul mate here, not when people chose to ignore her rather than invite her to group events. Didn’t seem to matter she carried more human DNA than Adam.