The other places we stopped (right in the middle of our day) was Babcock State Park.

There was a decent amount of color there, although nowhere near peak.

So! Adorable!

We stopped at several state parks on Friday, two of which have some lovely river views.

We were a tad bit late for good light at Carnifex Ferry, but none-the-less it’s a lovely view of the Gauley River.

There was a bit of color, but nowhere near as much as there should have been for mid-October.

We stopped by Hawk’s Nest earlier in the day, and saw a different portion of the New River.

We also went down into the New River Gorge. They were getting ready for Bridge Day, and there wasn’t very much color, even if it was a lovely view.

I taught in Charleston on Friday, so we decided to take the super scenic route home, and ended up on a road we hadn’t taken before, and got to visit two new neat places!

Kanawha Falls

Cathedral Falls

There are people in this picture, for perspective.

Saturday was supposed to rain, plus my aunt was coming in, so we did our hiking on Friday, which turned out to be a perfect choice.

Checked what the leaf color was supposed to be, so headed back down to the Canaan / Blackwater Falls area.

Canaan Valley State Park: Blackwater River Trail

Blackwater Falls

Table Rock

I’m creating a class on Facebook, and am looking for pictures to go with the various scandals and problems I’m discussing. So I thought I’d look for some of the artwork that FB had banned because it showed breasts.

What I discovered is that there were a LOT of painters who had apparently never seen a naked woman.

Or even paid any attention to the female form.

You’ll have to forgive me that these are not actually flower pictures, but rather pictures that happen to contain colorful leaves.

A burden I’m sure, but you’ll have to live with it.

We went to Canaan Valley State Park, the Blackwater Canyon, and Blackwater Falls State Park. We didn’t do any serious hiking, because I wanted to see what fall color there was. (Not a whole lot, but there was some.)

Blackwater River Rail Trail

Douglas Falls

Pendleton Creek

Blackwater River Trail (Canaan)

Here it is October. Except it doesn’t feel like October because it’s NINETY BLOODY DEGREES here.

ahem.

Let us begin again.

We’re now in the last quarter of the year, and I’m once again reading a ridiculous number of book, but that’s ok. Sometimes it’s too hot to leave the house. Sometimes I need a break from house projects (which reminds me, I should really start writing those up to post here). So of course I read books.

What did I really like this month?

I am really loving Talia Hibbert. I read her Just for Him series, although I started with the novella, Work for It, which is a M/M story that concludes the series. Then I went back to start the series and of that, my favorite was Undone by the Ex-Con. The hero in that one was particularly interesting, for reasons that are uncovered as you read the story.

Although I’ve had it for months, I finally read Josh Lanyon‘s Come Unto These Yellow Sands, which is stand alone. I’d been hesitate to read it, because one of the main characters is an addict (clean six years) and I thought that might be difficult to read. It was difficult, but it was also very rewarding.

All of the above are boinking books.

The other book was Ada Maria Soto’s His Quiet Agent, which I thought was a spy / mystery story, but is actually a romance. The story itself was fascinating–especially since it’s an Ace romance. It’s quite unlike other things I’ve been reading, but I immediately got the novella that followed this story. (It was not a stand-alone story, but still enjoyable.)

Mystery, LGBT

Come Unto These Yellow Sands (2011) Josh Lanyon (Rating: 8.5/10)
The Mystery of the Moving Image (2018) C.S. Poe (Rating: 8/10)
Skin and Bone (2019) TA Moore (Rating: 7.5/10)

Romance, Supernatural Fantasy

Sapphire Flames (2019) Ilona Andrews (Rating: 7/10)
Among the Living (2006) Jordan Castillo Price (Rating: 6.5/10) (PsyCop)

Romance

Can’t Escape Love (2019) Alyssa Cole
Just for Him
Bad for the Boss (2017) Talia Hibbert (Rating: 6.5/10)
Undone by the Ex-Con (2018) Talia Hibbert (Rating: 8.5/10)
Sweet on the Greek (2018) Talia Hibbert (Rating: 8/10)

Romance, LGBT

Agency
His Quiet Agent (2017) Ada Maria Soto (Rating: 8.5/10)
Merlin in the Library (2018) Ada Maria Soto (Rating: 7.5/10)
Work for It (2019) Talia Hibbert (Rating: 8.5/10)
Sympathy: MM Romance with a Hint of Magic (2009) Jordan Castillo Price (Rating: 7/10)
American Dreamer (2019) Adriana Herrera () Adriana Herrera (Rating: 7/10)

Romance, Historical

The Rat-Catcher’s Daughter (2019) K.J. Charles (Rating: 7.5/10)
The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics (2019) Olivia Waite (Rating: 5.5/10)

Mystery, Supernatural

Snake Agent (2005) Liz Williams (Rating: 8/10)

Mystery, Historical

Murder on Amsterdam Avenue (2015) Victoria Thompson (Rating: 7/10)

And now… THE NUMBERS!

eBook: 18
Re-read: 2

Yup. All eBooks. And only two re-reads.

Genres

Fantasy: 3
Mystery: 5
Romance: 16
Boinking: 10

Romance heavy fantasy light this month. Probably because I read most of the mysteries I had in my kindle TBR folder (I still have approximately a million other mysteries TBR, these were just ones I was pretty sure I was in the mood for).

Authors

Female: 12
Initials: 3
Male Pseudonym: 1
Joint: 1

Female writers remain significantly ahead, with no books by solo male authors this month. Which is fine.

Characters

Male: 11
Female: 3
Ensemble: 4
White: 13
Minority: 8
Minority 2ndary: 5
Straight: 6
LGBTQ: 12
LGBTQ 2ndary: 2

Oh, here’s where all the males are! Pretty heavily white, but at least the casts were diverse.

And those are the books of September. Did you read anything particularly good this month?