Shannon Kay /Now (Summer 2026 Edition)

Currently

Summertime is here! The kids are out of school, and we've been enjoying our time off.

Updated July 18, 2026

Recently

Disneyland

My family had a great Summer Vacation day at Disneyland. I'm hoping to compile my trip log into a blog post soon.

July 8, 2026

Family

I've been married to Jerrod for 17 years. Jerrod works for Blizzard Entertainment as a software engineer focused on iOS development. Our kids are Guinevere(15), Caspian(9), and Beatrix(7)

• Guinevere has finished middle school! She performed in The Nutcracker in December 2025, and Grease Jr with her school in January. She had a fantastic third season of middle school show choir competitions. (Check out their award-winning set!) She will start high school in August, and will continue doing show choir in high school. 
• Caspian finished third grade. He loves video games, especially Mario and Minecraft. He was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in February 2024 and was diagnosed with Celiac Disease in November 2025. 
• Beatrix has finished first grade. She was in her school play, Peter Pan, in January. She loves playing with dolls and drawing, and is starting to play more video games with Caspian. Beatrix was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in November 2025 and Celiac Disease in February 2026.
• I (Shannon) volunteer at the kids' schools. This year I volunteered with the school play for the elementary and middle schools. I also served on the board of the vocal music boosters at Guinevere's middle school for the last three years. I look forward to supporting performing arts education at the high school next year.

Watching

This summer, I've been able to watch a few movies with my daughter(15) that had been "on our list" to watch together.

• Independence Day (1996)
• Legally Blonde (2001) - I'm happy to report this remains a perfect movie. Maybe even better than my younger self realized.
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

Books

I've been able to read lots of great books so far this summer. Several had been sitting on my shelf waiting to become the perfect summer read, and there were even some that I had planned to read in a previous summer and hadn't gotten to yet.

My Summer 2026 Reads so far...

• Blood Bound by Ellis Hunter
• The Keeper of Magical Things by Julie Leong
• Drama by Raina Telgemeier 🎭 review on goodreads
• The Unicorn Hunters by Katherine Arden 🦄 review on my blog
• The Faraway Inn by Sarah Beth Durst
• How to Write a Love Story by Catherine Walsh
• Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
• The Amalfi Curse by Sarah Penner
• Mrs. Nash's Ashes by Sarah Adler

Wicked Powers Prep

The Last King of Faerie, the first book in Cassandra Clare's newest(final?) Shadowhunter series, The Wicket Powers, is expected to release November 3, 2026. Here's the re-read I have planned to prepare for this new book. Will I make it? Time will tell! The new book is supposed to take place after The Dark Artifices and center the characters Kit, Ty, and Dru, with Ash being featured as well. I took that into account when choosing what I want to re-read.

The Last King of Faerie Anticipation Reread

• Reading - Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy - Shorts released February 17-November 17, 2015. Volume of shorts released November 15, 2016.
• The Lost Book of the White (September 1, 2020) - Takes place after Tales from Shadowhunter Academy
• Lady Midnight (The Dark Artifices Book 1) (March 8, 2016)
• Lord of Shadows (The Dark Artifices Book 2) (May 23, 2017)
• Queen of Air and Darkness (The Dark Artifices Book 3) (December 4, 2018)
• Ghosts of the Shadow Market (June 4, 2019)
  • Through Blood, Through Fire (Kit)
  • The Lost World (Kit, Ty, Dru)
  • Forever Fallen (Kit, Ash)