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Keri Houchin

Keri Houchin


Keri Houchin is a writer, doodler, and crafter.

She has a BA in Cross-Cultural Studies from Howard Payne University. She has written for traditional print media and websites as a contributor and ghostwriter since 2009. She has been a freelance features writer for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and its affiliated properties, assistant editor at Suburban Newspapers, and a contributor for numerous small publications.

Her fiction includes a blend of fantasy, horror, and speculative stories that explore the things that haunt us and how we confront them. She is a member of the Writers’ League of Texas.

When not writing, she is probably reading or listening to vinyl. She lives in the Dallas Fort Worth area with her family and two little dogs with big mouths. Keri can be reached via email at keri.houchin @ yahoo .com

Follow @KeriHouchin on Instagram

What I finished reading in May! Body Count, by Co What I finished reading in May!

Body Count, by Codie Crowley
The Staircase in the Woods, by Chuck Wendig
The Isle in the Silver Sea, by Tasha Siri
Doe, by Rebecca Barrow
Cemetery Boys, by Aiden Thomas
The Monsters We Made, by Peyton June
Dead Things Are Closer Than They Appear, by Robin Wasley
Deadly Education, by Naomi Novak
The Titan’s Curse, by Rick Riordan

This month actually started slow and I can’t believe I read 9 books. Listening to audiobooks while doing boring tasks for the win!

What did you read in May? Have you read any of these books?
Last year I made and shared my summer reading list Last year I made and shared my summer reading list. I read over half of them! But it got me thinking about how I get so excited for new books coming out, and of course I can’t read them all, so inevitably some get set aside for months or years.

Maybe you do the same?

There are, while I’m typing this, 701 books on my Goodreads ‘want to read’ list, 43 books saved in my library app, and 11 audiobooks in my Audible queue.

So this year my summer reading list is all books that are not new. Books I didn’t get around to yet. It’s a reminder to whoever needs to hear it that we don’t have to read books when they are published. That whenever we get to them, they’re new to us.

My list is also a mix of YA, adult, and different genres. So the algorithm will love that. LOL

Romance:
Gwen and Art Are Not in Love, by Lex Croucher
Amelia, if Only, by Becky Albertalli
Accomplice to the Villain, by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

Sci-fi:
Hell’s Heart, by Alexis Hall
Platform Decay, by Martha Wells
The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin
A Closed and Common Orbit, by Becky Chambers

Fantasy:
Legendborn, by Tracy Deonn
This Princess Kills Monsters, by Ry Herman
All the Stars and Teeth, by Adalyn Grace

Horror:
The Dead of Summer, by Ryan La Sala
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, by Stephen Graham Jones
A Box Full of Darkness, by Simone St. James
Bury Your Gays, by Chuck Tingle

Will I read all of these before September? Probably not. Where should I start? Have you read any of these?
It’s dark and rainy today and all I want to do is It’s dark and rainy today and all I want to do is rearrange my bookshelf. (A close reader might remember that I just did that, like, a month ago.)
Raise your hand if your tbr is out of control. 👋 Raise your hand if your tbr is out of control. 👋

I’ve been extra busy with work and haven’t read as much this month. But swipe to see to NetGalley queue. So many books I’m excited about! I can’t resist clicking the ‘read now’ button when something I want to read comes up.

Which book would you pick up first?? Have you read any of these already?
Whelp, May has mostly been kind of chilly. I'm not Whelp, May has mostly been kind of chilly. I'm not ready for it to be a hundred degrees outside, but I could really go for cold-drink-on-the-patio weather.

This week on One Mama's Daily Drama, I shared a watermelon slush recipe: 1 cup diced watermelon + 1/2 cup ice + 1 ounce simple syrup.

You can easily swap the melon for your favorite fruit. But this color is pretty great, right?
Teen summer jobs used to be a right of passage (th Teen summer jobs used to be a right of passage (though it’s starting to feel like a thing of the past). Still, it’s a great plot device whether you like to read horror or romance. And of course, on either side of the coin, there are things that are going to go wrong!

Here are a few YA books with summer jobs that I enjoyed.

Books featured:
If We Were a Movie by Zakiya N Jamal
A Misfortune of Lake Monsters by Nicole M Wolverton
Golden Boys by Phil Stamper
You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron

Did you have a summer job as a teen? What did you do?

Writing

One Mama’s Daily Drama (family lifestyle blog, est. 2009)

Backyard Summer Camp (kids’ activity blog, est. 2020)

Ideas for the Home by Kenarry (lifestyle contributor, 2018-2022)

Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Multitasking Mom’s Survival Guide (Chicken Soup for the Soul Publishing, LLC, 2014)

From the Heart: A collection of Stories and Poems from the Front Lines of Parenting (WFC Books, 2010)

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