Three star review, originally posted here on September 25th, 2025 This is a good book to read 2 days before your period starts. That is, if you are like me and find yourself crying at cheesy commercials, wondering WTF is wrong with you and why is every cheesy thing tearing you to bits, then realizing, … More Goodreads Review: Wish You Well by David Baldacci
Four star review, originally posted here on August 29th, 2025: This book was highly recommended to me by my lovely spouse as the perfect book for escapism. He never recommends books to me, but was adamant about this one after several discussions we’ve had recently about trying to find books that really suck us in. … More Goodreads Review: Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
Five star review, originally posted here on August 29th, 2025: This was fantastic. An absolutely perfect work of non-fiction. This book is just non-stop animal facts, and they’re all fucking fascinating. It took several days before I broke myself of the habit of contacting my poor husband with constant weird animal facts. “Let me tell … More Goodreads Review: Bitch: On the Female of the Species by Lucy Cooke
Here’s my HelgaWithoutTheH Official Best of 2023 List: 1. Montgomery Riverfront Brawl That’s it. That’s the full list. We might as well have ended the year right there, cuz dang that was epic.
MIKE (as I’m bundling up to shovel snow): Don’t have a heart attack out there. That’s what they’re always warning old men about when they go shovel snow. ME: Do you think I qualify as an “old man?” MIKE: You’re no spring chicken. The romance with this guy.
I’ve hit a milestone. I’ve always hated people who run races in costumes, mostly out of pure jealousy that they’re having such a good time while running makes me so miserable. Well… today I joined the ranks of those joyful smug assholes. But look, I paid money for that Halloween costume and needed to squeeze … More Facebook Post: November 28, 2024
Today I went on a solo trail run. It’s the first solo trail run I’ve managed to squeeze in in almost a year. And the most incredible thing happened… I RAN WITH A FOX. It appeared as a copper streak on the trail ahead of me, but disappeared as fast as it appeared around a … More Facebook Post: May 26, 2025
On this day every year, I usually skim our wedding album looking for a cool photo of me and Mike Hoard to post up next to a shot of us celebrating our anniversary. But this year as I was skimming the album, a bittersweet thought hit me. Several of the people in these photos are … More Facebook Post: August 18, 2025
Just returned from a fantastic beach trip with my family. We were too busy having fun to pull out the camera, so here’s an artistic reenactment of my personal highlight:
Five star review, originally published here on August 22nd, 2025. It’s been a long time since I last read an academic book for fun. But I’m glad that I jumped back in, because this book was fantastic. I read a LOT of academic books about transnational crime, mafias, global justice systems, etc. back in my … More Goodreads Review: Terror in Transition : Leadership in Terrorist Organizations by Tricia Bacon and Elizabeth Grimm
Helga without the H 