Book Review: Nasa's Pioneer and Voyager Missions: : The History and Legacy of the First Space Probes to Explore the Outer Solar System and Beyond

  So, I feel... funny about reading a book written by  "Charles Rivers Editors" 

But I did read it,  and to be completely fair, it was... fine. 

My 2026 theme for reading is outer space, and as I was looking at my local library's selections for Space and beyond, this popped up. 

As an audio book it looked to be about 3 hours long, so I thought, why not.   I had some concerns that this would be some sort of AI generated mess, but realized it was put out in 2019 so it is LESS likely to be that. 

It felt like listening to someone read me the encyclopedia. There were literal lists of tools put into orbit on these missions.  It contained none of the excitement or joy or any feeling that the teams working on these missions must have involved. It did however, contain a large amount of information about these missions, which was very educational to me. 

And additionally, I learned about the Slingshot effect - or gravity assist, used to make these missions a success. 

 I admit, I didn't entirely understand it from this book, but a few youtube videos later, I got the gist of it, and I can say now that I think a lot of folks out there writing Space based romances, should maybe possibly pick up some of these, very short and not extremely exciting summaries. This one detail alone, would make so many of these novels- so many that involve space travel- so much more realistic and also kind of cool- - I mean - THE SLINGSHOT EFFECT?  that title is  made for a romance novel.  

Will I be purposely perusing the Charles River Editor's multiple short volumes on a variety of topics?

NOT A CHANCE.  

This was frankly, an accident on my part.  It worked for me, as I feel I gained a lot of info in a short amount of time, but... as a reading experience, it was not particularly interesting. 

STATS

First Published :2019

Pages: 144

Available as an Audio Book :  Yes (~ 3 hr) 

Trigger Warnings: Some discussion of political events occurring around the same time as these missions, discussion of Presidential assassination (Kennedy) 

Not a full list, please read responsibly. 

Book Review Crow Lake By Mary Lawson

   This was an audiobook I picked up via  NetGalley/Brilliance publishing. 

Crow Lake  seemed to fit in with my water theme perfectly. I did not realize this was basically off the backlist, but it seems it was originally published in 2002, so though it is with a new narration by Amelia Sargisson, I think I can still consider it a "beat the back-list" novel! 

This was a debut novel for Mary Lawson!  This is a story set in the Canadian Shield region of Northern Ontario

he story is centered around Kate coming home for her nephew's birthday celebration. As she travels, readers are taken on a journey through memory of her childhood growing up in the Canadian Shield area of Ontario in a farming family. Kate and her brother's were suddenly orphaned, and this event altered their life trajectories. As the youngest Kate was very attached to her brother Matt who loves nature and shapes her own interests, as she becomes a zoologist as an adult. Set against the background of Crow Lake - a small town where everyone knew everyone, the tightly told drama unfolds. As Kate returns home, she must face the facts that she can return to the people she loves, but that they , like her, are not static and things have changed, for better and for worse.

I enjoyed this novel. The writing was direct and elegant in it's simplicity. Amelia Sargisson is the narrator, and she narrated in a clear voice that did not detract from the story line. I felt immediately immersed, within the narration.

This book is sort of quintessential literary fiction. It read a bit like historical fiction at this point, having been first published in 2003. For me the main theme might be how "you can't go home again" and of course, while, one can almost always return to a physical home location, the setting and the persons associated with home are never static..

 This would be an EXCELLENT choice for Book clubs! 

STATS

First Published :2002

Pages: 320

Available as an Audio Book :  Yes (8 hr 34 min) 

Trigger Warnings: mental health, parental death

Not a full list, please read responsibly. 

 

 

2025 Reading Wrap Up

 I had an AMAZING reading year in 2025. 

The rest of the year was, not at all amazing, but I am very glad I landed a new job in this very tough market. It was Fate, Kismet or Providence, I suppose. 

 As far reading. 

My Final Total number of Books Read is a whopping 207

This is unprecedented for me, and I feel I need to add in a caveat that a few of these were really more "short stories" that were packaged as books. 

That said, I still traversed multiple worlds through books and I had a great time doing it.  I enjoyed book clubs and book buddies and meeting readers of all sorts all year long! 

My 2026 Theme was Water.  I read books about the way water changed history, the way our climate is affecting water, oceans, rivers and storms. I've read books which had little to do with water, but had water in the title, and some having everything to do with water that did not initially even hint at it. 

Total Water Books:  39  or 18%

I have to admit, I had a lot of DNF's I am not sure that in the end, I loved my water theme, but I definitely read several books in translation that had water titles and that broadened my perspectives. 

Total Books with Diverse authors and themes: 

Diverse Author/Theme: 65  or 34%  

So, next year, I'm going to try to up that a bit.  I have to admit I'm not starting off too strong in that realm, so feel free to fire off some suggestions. 

Books in Translation: 14  Just 7% 

Soooo, will be looking for more books in translation. I've started on one already but I know I really have to keep on that metric if I want to include more. 

Overall, I feel like this was a fairly successful year. I am hopeful that next years reading theme of Outer Space will find me reading a lot on the topic, and the fact that there are loads of Space based romance will help.  While there is water based romance, I am not really one for people in love hanging out by the pool books, so it didn't seem to bump up the numbers. 

Next year I think I will also track what I complete on Audiobook and which reads are advanced copies from publishers!   I have a load of them over at Net Galley so lets see how that goes! 

 I've stayed at that 33% of reads being diverse reads, so for 2026, I'm going to modestly aim for 40%

As for Books in translation - whew.  Maybe 20% 

What are your reading goals? Do you seek out a certain type of author or book?  How do you choose!  

 

 

Book Review Love Galaxy By Sierra Branham

 It's kind of a lucky coincidence that the first book I finished this year fits fairly well into my new 2026 theme of "Outer Space" 

I did start it some time ago, but since it was an advanced reader copy in E book form, it took me... some time to read.  Eyeballs. 

This book is coming out in May 2026, so you may want to pre-order it if it strikes your fancy.  I was attracted to this amazing cover, and I am a sucker for Space Opera.  This is a book for young adults, and I think it will be most meaningful for those aged 15-18.  As an old adult, I enjoyed this read. 

Many Many Thanks to DAW Astra House publishing for the Advanced E copy. 

Interestingly, the UK cover looks like:

    Which do you prefer?  I'm definitely for cover one in this case. 

    Without any spoilers- Our protagonist is Artemis, or Temmi- who's a whip-smart and "world weary"  young lady working as a trash collector on a poisoned planet. She's got a plan but that plan isn't exactly working. A chance encounter lands her on an intergalactic dating show where royals and other political personages from their empire find matches.  This year, contestants are dating the twin Prince and Princess. Artemis is brought on as a personality,  and she's not sure about this, but feels she could leverage this opportunity.  She soon learns that there's a lot more going on than just sailing dates on the beach. Everyone has an angle, and she's not sure she will survive. 

     There's a lot to love in this Sci-Fi Fantasy thriller with murder, and mayhem, angst and yearning among contestants, and loads of reality show style drama. 

As a debut for Young adults, this is a stunner.  Branham captures the things that capture the imagination of the young adult reader without teetering into the "adultier"  adult issues which would be less accessible or appropriate. This is a fine line to walk and she's really nailed it. 

    As a Sci-Fi novel the world building is a bit weak.  This tends to fall more into a novel that has a space background, but doesn't quite immerse the reader in that world.  As an example, at one point our main character refers to a mouse and a lion- both creatures that clearly do not exist in the setting- so it would be unlikely to be the first things popping into a spacers head.  This sort of thing took me right out of the outer space world, but probably won't bother other readers.  

My second observation is that the pacing was a bit... uneven. The beginning hooked me right away, but then it took me a few weeks to read the next section as it sort of dragged on and on with a myriad of details about the dating show, contestants, dates and apparel choices. There is a reader that will LOVE this section, but that reader wasn't me, I was at a point about halfway through the book where I was hoping things would just "wrap up" and suddenly when I was about at the 3/4 mark, things changed and we jumped, warp speed into a total adventure not involving beach dates, or snarky contestants and I was entranced.  The ending, is a BRUTAL cliffhanger. 

Will I read the next book- YES yes and YES.  I am actually very excited and hopeful and can't wait to see what happens next for Temmi and her crew.  Like any good reality show- I have THEORIES. Lots of theories.  

SO... I'm going to need you all to read this one so we can make those predictions. 

PRH notes that this book will be perfect for readers who enjoy Everina Maxwell, and as a reader who loves Maxwell's novels, I agree. 

STATS

First Published :May 2026

Pages: 416

Available as an Audio Book : Hopefully! 

Trigger Warnings: Environmental issues, alcohol use, drug use, murder, unintentional murder, stealing, cheating, Not a full list - please read responsibly.

2026 Bookish In's and outs!

   We all know it's a New Year! 

We have a new 2026 Color from Pantone - frankly speaking, I hope Cloud Dancer has a pit of a purple or blue tinge, but no, the name is much nicer than the varied shade of white color. 

Here's  to a bland off white new year that we are going to pretend is amazing, right then....

What are some things that are IN for me for 2026? 

In terms of my reading? 

 Things that I'm going to continue to do  or try to incorporate into my reading. 

1. I'm going to continue to read diversely. Across genres. I'm going to continue to read Indie authors, and authors that don't look like me, or love like me, or live like me. I'm also going to pick up some books written by folks who do look, live, and love like me, because balance is important. 

2. I'm going to continue to read socially.  I'm going to continue my book clubs and buddy reads. I'm going to continue to post about and chat about books! 

3. Read on themes.  Using the themes in past years has really led me to discover new books and ideas, so of course I want to continue that. 

4. DNF  whenever I feel the need.  I do not understand slogging through a bad book when there are so many good ones out there. 

Vachon, J., photographer. (1938) Newspaper reading room of public library. Omaha, Nebraska. Nebraska Douglas County United States Omaha, 1938. Nov. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2017762724/.

Things I'm going to try NOT to do in 2026:

1. Overconsumption of ARCs on NetGalley.  I get offered a lot of ARCs. Initially this was so flattering I took all of them!  Now I try to be more selective, but still occasionally find myself basically "adding to cart:" on ARCs, making it hard to get them all reviewed in a timely manner.  I sometimes also do this with the library taking home 8 books- instead of the two I will probably finish in the loan period. I am especially going to limit my Non Audio arcs, because my eye issues make me a slower reader than a listener.

2. Avoid Social Media Hot Takes.  When a creator is in need of content, It's a pretty common thing to see them throw up a post about "AUDIO-books are reading" which then almost always garners a bunch of others jumping in the comments to discuss, and other creators then posting the same "hot take" hoping for similar views.  I'm going to not participate.  I won't post these true lukewarm takes, and I won't be reposting, commenting or discussing them. I'm hoping to promote more unique content this way.  We shall see. I love a good HOT TAKE, but "audiobooks are reading" is about the coldest Hot take there is out there. 

What are your plans for 2026 for reading?