The following post includes affiliate links. More details here.

This feels weird to type, but I’m going to do it anyway.  Transition seasons are my favorite, that’s right, Fall and Spring.  This feels weird because just a few days ago, I emailed my school system (again) to tell them that change is the worst and they need to stop, because change is hard, but something about the seasons changing is like a balm to my soul.  The leaves are just barely starting to turn in my yard, my kids aren’t sweaty messes after recess (I still see you people who love on kids – you’re doing awesome!), and I’m just almost ready to go pick out a pumpkin.  We’re planning a fall birthday party and knowing we can (probably) have it outside is amazing (even if I don’t want to because no thanks 2020).  I feel like I can survive the last swampy days of summer because they’re starting to get cooler (under 90 degrees in the forecast) and the kids are back in school (dear teachers, you are my favorite people and I’ll do almost anything for you in general, but especially this year). 

Also, special for 2020, we’ve survived six months of a pandemic.  It’s not over, and it’s a milestone I never wanted to live (because I never read about a plague and thought, oh that’d be fun), but here we are and it’s a reason to celebrate survival.  Around here, it should be no surprise that we’re celebrating with books.  In September (yes, we started last week with The Silvered Serpents), we’re going to bring you titles of survival.  This means we will have some heavier themes this month, so if you need an HEA, please keep that in mind and take care of yourself as needed, we’ll be doing the same, but also celebrating some of our characters along the way.  And dear readers if you’re considering a book but concerned about some of the heaviness or the ending, DM us.  We don’t spoil in public, often, but we can help you determine if a book is the right title for you, or for you right now.

~Nikki  

Without further ado, coming soon to Heart.Wants.Books are:

The River by Peter Heller

The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel

The Last Train to Key West by Chanel Cleeton

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

This month also holds a bit of a preview for our witchy October plans (readers, that’s not a clue, it’s just the theme because we love witches!) with Practical Magic coming to you on October 1 and Virtual Book Club on September 18 at 7:30 p.m. CST with  Shelby Mahurin’s debut Serpent & Dove.  We’d love to have you join us as we discuss this book and why Lou says “It’s a dangerous time to be female.”  Dangerous, and oh so fun to read about, and discuss!  

Do I feel like it could possibly be September with all that is going on in the world? No, not really, except in the fact that the sun has decided to release the temperature from “the deepest part of the fiery pit of Hades” to “just laying out next to Hades and Persephone by the fiery pit.” Oh, and that this month my amazingly badass sister and her husband are bringing me the gift of my first niece! We are on baby-watch 2020 and I’m so excited to add some #TeamPink to my #AuntLife! 

I am going to admit to shoulding on a friend early last month when she was already decorating her house with pumpkins and colorful leaves. I said, why don’t you wait until Labor Day before you go whole hog into fall? I feel terrible because she was just needing to have some control over the change in her life, especially with dealing with virtual school and hybrid school, and all the other changes that #backtoschool and 2020 has brought into her life. Well, now, I’m there with her, but it is Labor Day so I held out as long as I could. We have a new house and I’m ready to buy all the fall decorations but Adam and I have agreed to a “No Spend September” in order to get a hold on our new household budget. It’s not that we’re not spending money, guys, it’s just that unless it’s food or 100% needed household items, we’re not spending the money. So, no new fall decor for me until we hit October when I can go full-on Halloween with #noregrets! Basically, this no spend time is saving the dollars for me to go overboard for Halloween this year. So stoked for some witchy times.

Before we can get there, we have to survive September. We’re 7 days into it, and as Nikki stated that’s our alliterative theme for the blog this month. We’re covering heavy bookish survival themes on Thursdays and then our Monday posts are going to dig into ways we can provide (some semblance of) control and calming preparation for times when the shit hits the fan, either in our personal lives or in the world at large. Of course, dear readers, we’re going to attack these topics with our usual humor, sass, and cynicism. Plus, we’re always aiming for at least one session of random belly laughs that might or might not leave us in tears. (Those are the good kind of tears and we heartily approve of that kind of eye moisture.) I’m ready to find a way to thrive in this time of survival and I’m glad you’re joining us on the journey through our reading life. If you want to join us more, plan to join us for #virtualbookclub every six weeks for the rest of the year!

~Ashley