Tag: reading

I Didn’t Do It

By Jaime Lynn Hendricks

I couldn’t wait to read this book. I had such high hopes.

Summary:

A story about writers at a thriller writer’s conference and there is a murder. What’s not to love?

I loved the premise. One of the nominees is found stabbed to death the day before the big ceremony announcing the winner.

Four authors are targeted by someone on Twitter. It looks as if one of them is guilty of murdering Kristen Bailey.

One is a narcissistic rising star, one is a fellow nominee for the award, one is a big author whose star is fading out, and one is a newbie that no one really knows anything about.

Clues slowly emerge. The newbie has been stalking Kristen. It was so bad Kristen had a restraining order.

The fellow nominee’s boyfriend is sleeping with Kristen.

The fading star collaborated on a book with Kristen that would have been his comeback and the newbie attempted to make it look like she had a one-night stand with the fading star.

The Tweets start making the four authors question each other. One by one, they begin to think each of them could be the killer. They start becoming paranoid but for their own reasons, mainly publicity, they refuse to go to the authorities. They think they can figure it out. Why not, they are all thriller writers.

It all builds up to a climax at the end that wasn’t totally expected.

Review:

Usually, the first thing that attracts me to a book is the cover. I didn’t like this cover, but I did like the premise.

It was well written. The plot was interesting.

It did feel like I was attending a writer’s conference. They do have that clique atmosphere. I have attended many writer’s conferences over the years, mainly for the writer’s workshops and it is exciting to be sitting in a workshop and have an author you love presenting. Most authors are friendly but some you know not to approach. I can see where the wrong personalities could clash, and this book did portray that aspect of conferences convincingly.

I couldn’t get myself to like any of the characters. They were all pretty much a hot mess, except Mike Brooks. He seemed to be the most believable.

I am not sure why this book didn’t satisfy me. I think the climax was a little underwhelming. We find out what really happened and then at the end is another little surprise. (I can’t say more without spoilers.)

This book was written with moments of humor. I like that but I wonder if the humor sometimes dampened the suspense. It sometimes felt like the author was really working to get that laugh. I got the humor, but I never had a laugh out loud moment.

Because most of the story was told through social media, it felt like there wasn’t that much action. Instead of following the characters through the story, I felt like I was a voyeur looking over their shoulders as they read what was happening on their phones. I think that is what made me not enjoy this read so much.

It is an interesting concept, and I would advise anyone who likes thrillers, stories about writers, and murder to read it. It wasn’t bad but it just wasn’t as much fun as I had hoped it would be.

I rated this book 3 stars.

This is rare for a three-star review for me, but I plan to keep it and read it again someday. Maybe it was more when I read it than what I read. I will also look for other books by this new-to-me author.

Title: I Didn’t Do It

Author: Jaime Lynn Hendricks

Year Published: May 23, 2023

Category: Mystery

Pages: 312 hardcover

Rating: Goodreads 3.93

Setting: A hotel in New York City

I did see that there is an interview with this author on a YouTube channel. I plan to watch it. I am not sure about my rating, and I am thinking if I hear more about how she came about writing this book, it might make more sense to me. I am thinking most of my writer friends would enjoy this book. Even though I couldn’t give it a 4- or 5-star rating, I did enjoy reading it. It is worth a read, and I think it might make you feel better about missing out on writers’ conferences in the past few years.

Do you write? Have you ever attended a writer’s conference? Did you enjoy it? Could you see a murder there?

Now off in search of my next read,

Virginia

Where Did My Books Take Me in May?

“Reading usually precedes writing. And the impulse to write is almost always fired by reading. Reading, the love of reading, is what makes you dream of becoming a writer.” – Susan Sontag

Why do you read?

I read for entertainment, and I read to escape.

I am a mood reader. I don’t do well with a to-be-read list. I won’t follow it. I read whatever I am in the mood to read at that moment. Luckily, I have a pretty big selection of books to choose from. I am trying to get more books read now that I am retired and have more time. I would like to start utilizing the Library more.

I had a productive reading month. The past few days I have kind of fizzled out but most of the month, I always had a book or two to read.

I read seven books in May. All were mysteries.

The Agathas by Karen Glasgow – I gave it 5 stars.

The Last Word by Taylor Adams – I gave it 5 stars.

Rose Cottage by Mary Stewart – I gave it 4 stars.

The Housemaid by Freida McFadden – I gave it 4 stars.

The Lost Women of Lost Lake (Jane Lawless #19) – I gave it 3 stars.

Silence for the Dead by Simone St James – I gave it 4 stars.

K is for Killers by Sue Grafton – I gave it 3 stars.

The star rating here is mine. I’m not sure how others rate them. A three or above is good for me. A three could be a book I enjoyed but I doubt I would read again. Mainly because I have so many books to read.

A four means I really liked it and would probably read it again someday.

A five is the holy grail for me. If I rated, it a five it means I felt it could someday be a classic for readers in the future.

It also is how I felt at the time and that too could change if I chose to re-read it. I think it is similar to when you go back to your childhood home as an adult. Everything always looks smaller. Re-reading could be like that and I could wonder how I ever rated it the first time.

Everyone has different interests. I may have rated a book that you felt was a five star or a one star and I rated it three. That is okay. It’s all each reader’s own perspective.

How do you decide if a book is worth keeping or re-reading? Do you re-read or keep books?

If you want to see my full review of these books, just click on the dates in the May calendar on my blog and it will direct you to all my May 2023 book reviews.

Now to answer – where did I go in May?

For the Agatha’s it was Castle Cove, California. – I am guessing that is a fictional town.

The Last Word – was on the coast of Washington State

Rose Cottage – was Todhall, England. Even though there is a Todhall England, I thought I read somewhere where the author did make it a fictional one for the book. For this one, I also travelled back in time.

The Housemaid – was the Winchester Home. I don’t think I got what state this was located in. It is not the famous haunted Winchester Mansion in California.

The Lost Women of Lost Lake – was Minnesota.

Silence for the Dead – was Portis House – a mental hospital in England. I believe this was fictional. This too involved time travel for me, as a reader.

K is for Killer – Santa Teresa, California

Out of all these locations this month, I have actually travelled to California and Minnesota so it’s easier to imagine those settings. So those are the places I escaped to this month in books. Where did you go with your reading in May?

As of May 30th – My blog visitors for May came from the United States, Finland, United Kingdom, Poland, Canada, Germany, Ireland and Chezia.

So far, my most popular post for 2023 is still – What I Read in January with 107 views. Let’s see if we can break that record. I am doubting that will happen in May but there is hope for June. If you enjoy reading my blog and know other like-minded readers, please suggest your friends check it out, subscribe, and like. I would really appreciate it.

Do you have a book you think I need to read? Let me know in the comments. What are you reading in June?

Until next time – happy reading,

Virginia

K is for Killer

“Kinsey is one of the most persuasive of the new female operatives…She’s refreshingly free of gender cliches. Grafton, who is a very witty writer, has also given her sleuth a nice sense of humor – and a set of Wonder Woman sheets to prove it.” Boston Herald

by Sue Grafton

This is an older series. This book was written in 1994 but I loved it from the beginning. I just never finished reading all of them.

Since I am a mood reader and I do want to finish this series, I have been attempting to read one a month from A-Y. Sadly Sue Grafton passed away before she could finish the last book in the series. I felt sad with her passing and I felt sad because she came so close to finishing the series.

Summary:

K is for Killer is the story of Lorna Kepler’s death. Her body had been discovered weeks after her death and the medical examiner wasn’t able to determine how she died. Lorna’s mother, Janice, believed it was murder.

Janice knocks on Kinsey’s office door one night and assumes Kinsey is the receptionist. Janice doesn’t know that Kinsey is a one-woman detective agency. Kinsey reluctantly agrees to do a little investigating before she commits to working on the case.

Kinsey discovers that there were several people who might benefit by Lorna’s death. She also finds out that Lorna is involved in some illegal and dangerous activity. The more Kinsey learns about Lorna, the more she wants answers too.

As Kinsey gets closer to solving the case, she stirs up some interest from people she’d rather not get involved with. A couple of thugs grabbed her and dragged her into the back seat of a limousine. The guy tells her he is an attorney representing someone else and explains why they need to know what happened to Lorna. Kinsey isn’t sure the attorney isn’t the guy Lorna was involved with.

Kinsey gets some help from Danielle, a friend of Lorna’s and Cheney a cop. She eventually puts all the pieces together and solves the case at the end.

Review:

This wasn’t my favorite Sue Grafton book. Most of them grab my interest and drag me through the alleys and old motel rooms along with Kinsey as she investigates. This one wore me out. Kinsey spent most of the book working through the night. She’d make appointments with people at maybe 1:00 or 2:00 o’clock in the morning. I found that hard to believe sometimes. Then she would drag her butt home at 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning and sleep all day. She kept talking about her body adjusting to the time change. Mine struggled with it. I sometimes felt tired for her.

Henry and Will were out East and Kinsey didn’t spend much time at the Hungarian lady’s restaurant. I missed some of those characters. She did meet a DJ, Hector, and his dog that I thought were interesting characters. Also, she made friends with one of Lorna’s hooker friends Danielle who sat Kinsey down and gave her a good haircut. At first, I thought Danielle was obnoxious when she showed up at Kinsey’s place and started looking through her kitchen cupboards and drawers. I had a hard time picturing Kinsey letting her do that.

There were times, I felt like someone else wrote this book. It felt off compared to Grafton’s previous books. I guess if I read through a memoir or biography, something may pop up to explain why the writing didn’t feel the same. I do have a couple books about Sue Grafton. I guess this gives me a good reason to move them up in my to be read pile.

With that said, it was a slow read in the beginning but as I got further into the story, I did finally get hooked. It usually happens sooner for me in her books. By the time I was hooked I did need to know what happened and the remainder of the book flew by.

This was an enjoyable read. I did give it 3 stars only because I felt the beginning was slow but I would recommend it to anyone who has been reading the series. I feel committed to completing the series. I do love the characters, the setting, and her story lines. I would love to go to visit, see her mini-home, and eat some of Henry’s fresh baked cinnamon rolls.

Title: K is for Killer

Author: Sue Grafton

Year Published: 1994

Category: Mystery

Pages: 292

Rating: Goodreads 3.98

Setting: Santa Teresa, CA

Coming Soon: What Did I Read in May?

I hope you’re enjoying the Spring/Summer like weather. I have been moving more and it feels good. I hope to get out to visit more bookstores soon. A friend invited me to join her to visit a newer bookstore in Ames, IA and then visit Reiman Gardens in Ames also. I have never been to Reiman but from what I can tell it has plants and butterflies and some art work? My friend is a volunteer there and we talked about doing this before. Now I just need to do it.

Have you made plans this summer to get out more? Are you reading or are you in a slump? Do you have any suggestions for books I should read? I did win another Goodreads book. Lisa Jackson’s The Last Sinner. I haven’t received it yet but I plan to read it fairly soon so I can review it.

The book I plan to read next is about a writer who goes to a Thriller writer’s conference and there is a murder. Writers, books, conference, murder, what’s not to like?

Happy Reading,

Virginia

Rose Cottage

By Mary Stewart

A young woman returns to her childhood home to find it filled with secrets and mysteries. Can she unravel the clues, and will it leave her in a better place than when she escaped so many years ago?

I chose Rose Cottage to read because I had been reading so many thrillers recently that I needed something different.

I enjoy thrillers but I enjoy a variety of genres and need to switch it up occasionally. I have noticed some reviewers refer to a palate cleanser when they switch up their reading choices.

In my early twenties, I discovered Mary Stewart with her Merlin trilogy. At the time I had watched a few movies inspired by the Arthur Legend and this trilogy made an impression. I didn’t complete reading those books, but I did like the first one. I think it was when my kids were small, and I got busy and distracted.  I have since purchased them. I plan to read and re-read them soon. I hope they hold up to my memory.

 I did discover her other more gothic suspense novels at that time also. They usually involve traveling around the world to exotic places. I have purchased several new editions of those books as well.

So, between reading newer titles, I will be reviewing backlist books of Mary Stewart and many other authors. If a book is good, it doesn’t matter when it was written and hopefully, I can introduce a few to new readers.

Summary:

Rose Cottage is the story of Kate Herrick, a young widow who returns to her hometown when her grandmother requests to see her. It is the summer of 1947, and her grandmother had an injury and after recovering, she moved to a home in Scotland and needs Kate to go to Rose Cottage where Kate grew up to arrange moving her grandmother’s personal items.

There are a few mysteries surrounding Kate. Her mother left her to be raised by her grandmother when she was a small child. Her mother died in a car crash, and she never revealed to anyone who Kate’s father was. Kate’s grandmother is all the family she has.

She reconnects with old friends and there is a hint that the cottage is haunted and that some of the neighbors are witches.

While searching for some important papers for her grandmother, she uncovers secrets and betrayals. She follows the loose threads to discover the truth.

This novel was first published in 1997 and was a major bestseller. The back cover says it was the last and most mature novel from one of Britain’s greatest writers.

Review:

As I stated earlier, this read was a palate cleanser because of all the heart stopping thrillers I have been reading. It was enjoyable but I do think some of her earlier romantic suspense novels were better. I am a curious reader, and it did hook me, so I continued until the end. The author told the story with a gradual increase of suspense. It fed me enough information that I needed to keep reading. I also cared about the characters and wanted to see it through to the end.

The setting is described as a small village in England, and the description uses all your senses. The scent of roses, the prick of a finger as it bleeds after touching a thorn, the sound of birds singing. You experience the story, in the thatched roof cottage, in front of the fireplace, sipping your tea, waiting for a mystery to unfold.

I enjoyed the book because I think it brought back good memories of when I first read Mary Stewart. I would recommend it to anyone who likes gothic suspense. I rated it 3.5 stars.

Title: Rose Cottage

Author: Mary Stewart

Year Published: 1997

Category: Mystery, Suspense

Pages: 240

Rating: Goodreads 3.71

Setting: Todhall, England

About the Author:

Mary Stewart has published 20 novels, including the Merlin trilogy (The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills, and The Last Enchantment), Nine Coaches Waiting, The Ivy Tree, Thornyhold, The Moon-Spinners, and My Brother Michael.

Mary Stewart passed away at 97 on May 9, 2014.

Have you ever read Mary Stewart? If so, what are your thoughts? Do you have a favorite?

My reading streak continues. Looks like May will be another good reading month for me.

Since this blog is book related, do you have suggestions for anything else you would like me to do with this blog? Do you enjoy my book reviews? I hope to fit in with other content, including author interviews with a newer format and some book tours very soon. I will also write little snippets that might be of interest to other bibliophiles.

Coming soon:

A book review of The Housemaid by Freida McFadden.

Happy Reading,

Virginia

This Book Was So Good, I Finished It in a Day

The premise of this book is – what happens when a reviewer gives a one-star review and suspects that the author might be stalking her?

I can’t speak for all book reviewers, but I feel like I must give an honest review of each book. I also don’t want to discourage or malign an author. So far, I have never given a one-star review.

I have given a two-star review once but never a one-star review. To be honest, I didn’t feel good about the two-star review either. If I struggle to finish a book, it will go on my DNF shelf on Goodreads. It might be something I am just not in the mood to read right now or it might be something I never want to see again.

Thankfully we don’t all have the same tastes, and I may not like something that someone else loves, that is fine.

If I did give a bad review, I would hope that I could do it in a constructive way that was not personal.

If it sounds like I might be a little paranoid about giving a bad review, you might be right and it’s all because of reading this book.

Summary:

Emma Carpenter is house sitting in a lake home on an isolated beach in Washington state with her dog, hiding out. She spends her days reading cheap e-books. Either .99 cent or free because that is all her budget will allow. We don’t know why she is hiding out. When she isn’t reading, she is communicating with her only neighbor who lives a quarter of a mile away.

They communicate with white boards and nautical telescopes. They play a lot of hangman. Deek the old neighbor guy always wins. Deek is curious about Emma and invites her to meet in person and have some tea. She declines.

We know that Emma is depressed, and she keeps a backpack handy, filled with rocks. She also dreams about walking out into the waves with that backpack on and drowning herself.

If things weren’t bad enough. Deek recommends a book to Emma called Murder Mountain. She reads it and it is the worst book she has ever read. Now Emma has never written a book review before but because she is not in a good place, she writes a scathing review.

Shortly after she receives a response from the author who orders her to take the review down. She refuses. He responds with a few scathing remarks as well. She deletes their conversation and figures that’s the end of that.

If that was the only thing she had to worry about, she would be okay but lately she has been finding it hard to sleep. She has woken up a couple times in the past few nights and she swears she saw someone standing in her bedroom, watching her.

She sometimes hears the second bathroom toilet flush when she knows she is the only one there. And the owner’s teenage son’s room is just creepy.

When the motion detector lights start going off at night and Deek’s ring camera catches a man with a devil mask Emma starts feeling less safe. Deek contacts Jules, the home’s owner and Jules lets Emma know that she ordered a stun gun to be delivered.

Eventually we find out what is going on but that last quarter of the book had so many twists that I kept thinking I had it figured out but then something totally unexpected happened again and again.

I read this book in one day so you can guess that I was up late. I literally had heart palpitations so bad, I had to put it down and finish it in the morning. It was like that feeling you get when you are on a roller coaster going down that first big hill. You can’t wait to go down it, but you wonder if you will survive. Since I wear an Apple watch, trust me, I checked my heart rate, and I had reason to be concerned.

Review:

This is one of two books I’ve read so far this year, that I have said were my favorite books and to be honest it is still a toss-up, but I think this one may be inching into first place. I literally could not put this book down until I had finished it and then I felt bad it was over. This is one that I will read again. I gave this book five stars.

If you are looking for escape and you love a little mystery, suspense and tension, you really should read this book. I had never heard of this author, but I am so glad that I have now. Look forward to his backlist. He will probably become an automatic buy for me now.

Title: The Last Word

Author: Taylor Adams

Published: April 25, 2023

Category: Mystery Thriller

Pages: 340

Rating: Goodreads rated 3.97 stars

Setting: Washington Coast

About the Author:

I don’t have a lot of information about Taylor Adams. Here is the bio on the back of this book:

Taylor Adams is the author of several acclaimed thrillers including Hairpin Bridge and No Exit. No Exit has been published in thirty-two languages and was recently released as a Hulu Original film. Adams lives in Washington State.

I watched a couple of YouTube video interviews. He is married with a child, and he writes full-time. Also, he used his own dog, Laika’s name as Emma Carpenter’s dog. He originally planned to use it as a place holder until he could decide on a name but then changed his mind and decided to keep his dog in the book.

Coming Soon:

I have read so many good books this month and I have so many more to read. My next review will be Rose Cottage – by Mary Stewart.

I attended another AVID (Authors Visiting in Des Moines) book event this week. The author was Emily St John Mandel. Her most recent book is Sea of Tranquility. It is not a genre I generally read (metaphysical speculative fiction) but I did purchase it and will review later. Barack Obama included the novel on his list of favorite books of 2022. Those events are always fun. They usually draw a few hundred people. They are held at the downtown library and this week the weather was warm. The authors usually talk about their writing routines and sometimes about what inspires them. I always leave anxious to get back to my own projects.

I hope you find time this week to read and write and I look forward to sharing more information soon.

Virginia

What Did I Read in April?

This is going to be a quick message to review what I read in April.

Mystery:

Explosive Eighteen by Janet Evanovich – I gave it 4 stars

Sinister Spring by Agatha Christie – 4 stars

The Shop on Royal Street by Karen White – 3 stars

Classic:

Anne of Green Gables by L M Montgomery – 5 stars

Historical Fiction:

After Anne by Logan Steiner – 3 stars

Non-Fiction:

All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot – 4 stars

If you are new to my blog, the reviews for these books can be found under their genre in the menu on the side. All except After Anne – I will be reviewing that one this Friday. Those reviews will summarize the book and explain why I rated each book the way that I did.

For April my visitors came not only from the United States but also, Ireland, Canada, Germany, France, India, Taiwan, China, Philippines, and Japan.

If you are like me, I enjoy a little bit of stats information. So far this year, my most popular post was – What I read in January. It had 107 views.

I appreciate all of my visitors to this site. I currently have 419 subscribers and I would love to see that number explode. If you know anyone else who might be interested in So Many Books, you can direct them to Virginia-Gruver.com.

May you find yourself lost in a book soon,

Virginia

The Lost Apothecary

How Many Books Have I Read This Year?

Are any of them your favorites?

The Lost Apothecary is the last book I read for March and I do look forward to reading more from this author. This novel is set in London with a duel timeline. Caroline, in the present time, arrives in London to celebrate her tenth wedding anniversary alone. We learn early on that she recently found out that her husband had cheated on her. She had received the trip as a gift from her parents so without explaining anything to them decided she needed some time alone. Caroline had a degree in history that her husband had discouraged her from taking advantage of. She’d found herself stuck in an unfulfilling book keeping job for her family. As soon as she arrives in London she is approached by someone who asks if she would like to go mudlarking with a group. Mudlarking is where you sift among the mud alongside the Thames River looking for historical treasures. While doing so, she finds an old Apothecary jar. She starts to research the jar and discovers there had been an Apothecary Shop owner accused of murder in the 1700’s.

The second timeline takes us to the Apothecary shop in the past and we learn that the shop started out dispensing homeopathic medicines for women. We soon learn more about life for women in that time period and how some came to the shop for remedies for abusive, cheating husbands, lovers, and other family members.

The characters are well developed and I did come to care about them both in the past and in current time. The author expertly weaved the timelines together to show how Caroline becomes a suspect for a crime in the present time much like Nellie, the character from the past, but needs to know what exactly happened in the past to help prove her own innocence.

I gave this book a 4 star rating while Goodreads currently shows it at 3.76 stars. I have already purchased the second book by this author – The London Séance Society and I look forward to reading it.

Now onto my stats for the quarter:

I have read seven books in March, six books in February, and 3 books in January, with sixteen books so far for the year. All were books I own and one was an audio book. They were in the following genres:

Romance 2

Mystery 9

Memoir -1

Biography -1

Horror -3

My 5 star ratings for the first quarter are:

The Stolen Book of Evelyn Aubrey – Serena Burdick

Agatha Christie: An Elusive Woman – Lucy Worsley

Risky Biscuits (Sugar and Spice, # 2) – Mary Lee Ashford

Death on the Nile – Agatha Christie

J is for Judgment – Sue Grafton

Finlay Donovan is Killing it – Elle Cosimano

The Moving Finger – Agatha Christie

I had a great first quarter for reading – Seven out of sixteen books I rated 5 star. These are my ratings and I may have rated some books lower than you but that is fine. Everyone has their own tastes about reading. I also think it has to do with what my mood is at the time. I might read the same book at a later date and give it a different star rating. I have rated some books by adding a half star. Going forward, I think I will either round them up or down, depending on how much I actually enjoyed them.

I continue to read mostly mystery but I plan to add a few classics this year as well as maybe a sci-fi or fantasy. There is an author coming to talk at an Avid event this month who has a pretty popular book out that I might not have chosen on my own to read. I will let you know more when I make up my mind about either reading it or attending that event, since I really have not been a fan of that genre.

It has been kind of eye opening to review my reading so far. I plan to do this again at the end of June. I am having a hard time deciding what my most favorite book has been so far. I think it is a tie between Finlay Donovan is Killing it and The Stolen Book of Evelyn Aubrey. Guess we will see what it is next quarter.

Hope this post finds you all well and safe from this wild ride spring has hit us with, so far. It will soon even out with more warmer days than cool. On those less comfortable days it gives me pleasure to curl up with another good book.

Happy Saturday and until next time,

Virginia

A Beginner’s Guide to Murder

March Mystery #6

This is the first book by Rosalind Stopps for me. I was pulled in by the first line – “We had known him for two days when we decided to kill him.” Then when I realized the main characters are older women, I had to read it. It you like watching British mysteries/detective shows, I think you will enjoy this story.

Grace, Meg, and Daphne are just getting to know each other in a coffee shop when a young woman obviously distressed runs into the shop asking for help. They send her off to the restroom as an intimidating male enters the shop looking for her. They decide unanimously to help Nina, the young woman.

As the women work together for the same cause, we slowly learn more about their personal stories.

They find out the Nina is a victim of human trafficking but before they can do much about it, she is pulled out of a vehicle and taken away. The three women along with an ex-con, a couple who will kill for hire and some homeless people work together to get Nina back.

I thoroughly enjoyed this read and would read more from this author. Goodreads gave 3.47 stars while I gave it 4.

Do you enjoy British television? If so, what shows do you watch? I can’t put my finger on why this book reminds me of British television, can’t think of a show that it reminds me of but it is set in London and though I can’t hear the accents, I seemed to know they were speaking with an accent while reading it. Obviously, I watch too much British television, or maybe not.

Other book related news:

I will be attending a local Book Festival Saturday by working the Sisters in Crime booth for an hour and then I hope to go see the Sarah Penner talk. Sarah is the author of my current read, The Lost Apothecary. So far, it is a great read. I will share more when I review this book soon. I am hopeful that I will score her latest book at the festival. Sarah is also the opening author for the Des Moines Public Library Avid event for this year. More to come about that in a future post.

Just found out that a few indie bookstores are having a cookie crawl today. So off to check out books and get cookies.

Hope your day is joyful and you are able to relax with a good read.

Until next time,

Virginia

February Reads 2023

My Goodreads goal for the year is 40 books and February was good for my goal. I managed to read six books and since this is the 28th, there is a possibility I might finish a seventh. Since I am not positive I will finish the last book, I will leave it out of this post and count it toward March.

Booktubers read romance in February so I did include a couple. I am following some of the Booktuber’s monthly themes but will add other genres to spice it up. I tend to be a mood reader. All of my books came from my home library and that is another one of my goals, to get through my to be reads. How do you choose to read a book?

I started out the month reading a biography about Agatha Christie written by Lucy Worsley. You can find Lucy doing documentaries on PBS or Masterpiece. I had seen a few about English history and the witch trials and enjoyed her work so when I saw she’d written a biography about one of my favorite authors it was a given that I would read it. The book is 363 pages full of information about Agatha’s life. She did have a section about the time that Agatha disappeared. It wasn’t anything startlingly new but the information was written in a warm style that almost felt like I was reading a novel. If you have an interest in Agatha Christie, I would highly recommend this book. I have a few more I hope to read about Agatha later this year. I would give this one 4.5 stars.

My next book was a romance – Beach Read by Emily Henry. I had heard a couple other Booktubers talk about this being their favorite book so I had to read it even though I had recently purchased a more recent Emily Henry romance that now sits on my shelf. This story was about Augustus Everett, a literary fiction writer and January Andrews, a romance writer. January’s father died recently and left a lake home to her. When she goes to sort through his stuff, she discovers that her father had been living a second life with another woman. While January is trying to digest that information, she finds herself in a slump with her writing. That is also when she discovers her famous author, August living next door. The book has quirky characters and a budding romance. It was an entertaining book but I can’t say it was my favorite but that may be because even though I used to read a lot of romance many years ago, I haven’t consistently read them recently. I have had stories from the past that touched my heart and made me cry. I can’t say that this story did that for me. Even though I am giving it a 3 star, I would still recommend it as an interesting read. It is definitely a good example of a modern romance. I guess I will have to read a few more to see if the modern authors have eliminated the heart felt emotion I remember from the past. Do you read romance? What do you recommend?

The third book on my list this month is How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix. I have to admit this is my first Grady Hendrix novel but I have picked up his earlier one The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires. I just never crossed that line and purchased it. This one intrigued me because I used to be a Realtor and had a little experience with a haunted listing or two. This was an enjoyable read. It was about a couple of siblings whose parents died in a car accident, leaving their home to be sold by the sister and brother. The two siblings had not been close over the past several years so they had to work through their own issues until they could trust each other enough to deal with the haunted property. I don’t want to give too much away but the mother was a puppeteer so there were some scary puppets and dolls in the house. It was an enjoyable read. It wasn’t as scary as I had hoped it would be but it entertained. I would recommend this one to anyone who likes a little supernatural and again quirky characters. I would give this one four stars.

The fourth book I read was a cozy mystery written by a friend of mine. Risky Biscuits by Mary Lee Ashford. This was an enjoyable read. Set in small town Iowa, the protagonist and her friend publish those cookbooks used by different organizations to raise money for charitable causes. This series is called the Sugar & Spice Mysteries. There are three in the series and this is the second. Sugar Calloway is a former magazine editor and in this story their newest project is a fundraiser organized by the St. Ignatius Crack of Dawn Book Club, famous for their all-you-can eat biscuits and gravy events. The back cover says – When a group member is found dead. Sugar and Spice’s priorities change from raising dough to figuring out who put murder on the menu. This series has a cozy Murder She Wrote feel but set in a small town in Iowa. I wish this publisher had given this series another chance. Mary Lee’s writing flows so well and I loved the premise of this series. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves cozy mysteries. I know we will see more from this author in the future and I will keep you posted when something new is available. I am giving this one 5 stars because this is one of my keepers and will give this a re-read.

The fifth book on my list is another romance – Better than Fiction by Alexa Martin. This book is set in Colorado. The protagonist is Drew Young, she was named after her father. Her grandmother, who she was very close to, owned a book store. Drew spent a great deal of time there helping her grandmother even though she calls herself a book hater who doesn’t read. So when her granny dies, it seemed pretty obvious why she left the store to Drew who is also feeling guilty because though she loves the bookstore, she’s had to give up her passion for photography. As she mopes through life, a book group of old ladies called the Dirty Birds. I loved that group of women. If I could give any advice, I would have liked to see more of their story in this book but I guess I read enough to make me interested. When the Dirty Birds invite Jasper Williams – a sexy male romance author – to come talk, sparks fly between Jasper and Drew. As the story goes, Jasper helps Drew become a reader and Drew takes Jasper around Colorado to get background information for the setting of his next book. Well if you read romances, you know there will be a happy ever after and there is. It is an enjoyable read and I would give this book 4 stars.

The last book on my list for February is Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie. This was a re-read and I plan to do a post next week going into more detail about this book and maybe a couple of screen adaptations, so for now I will say that I do enjoy most of Agatha’s work and this is one of her more popular stories. I am giving this book 4.5 stars and will probably read it again one day.

Next month is Mystery March and since my favorite genre is mystery I anticipate another good month.

What do you enjoy reading? Have you read any of these books and if so, what are your thoughts. I would love to hear from you.

Until next time,

Virginia

What I Read in January

2023 is starting out to be a good reading year. I always read but I don’t usually set a reading goal. This year, I did. I re-connected with Goodreads and set a goal of 40 books this year. Compared to many Booktubers that really isn’t as impressive as most of them but that’s okay. I want to continue to enjoy reading and not make it feel like a chore. If you are on Goodreads, let’s connect. I do like to follow friends to see other people’s interests.

I am trying to buy fewer books. My home library is packed with books and I need to get busy reading them. I have spent some time this month organizing my book shelves. Maybe when I post my February reads I will post a picture of my main book shelves in the family room. I do have a small book case in my office and a credenza full of books too but I have been weeding through my boxes of books and paring them down. I want to get to the point where I limit my books to what actually fit on my book shelves. One side are books read and the other are books to read. I even alphabetized my books read. I didn’t feel the need to alphabetize the books I need to read. I think it’s more fun to just peruse the books to find my next read.

How organized are you about your books? If you are, how do you do it? I’d really like to know.

Before I let this post get too long, here are my reviews for the three books I read in January.

The first was – The Stolen Book of Evelyn Aubrey by Serena Burdick.

This was the first book I’ve read by this author. Her voice was easy to read and her way of telling the story kept me motivated to keep going. It was told in two timelines – England 1898 and California 2006. Abigail from 2006 was in search of her father’s identity after her mother’s death. This search leads her to England when she discovers her great-great grandmother was the author Evelyn Aubrey. She meets distant relatives who help her discover her family’s curse and secrets. I would recommend this one if you like to read novels about writers. I believe I gave this book 4 stars.

My second book of the month was the newest Louise Penny. My bookshelf of read books shows that I own all of her novels and she is one of my favorites. This one is – A World of Curiosities. It is set in Three Pines, the fictional small Canadian village where most of her books are set. Read a few of her books and you will understand why everyone wants to visit Three Pines. The village is populated with quirky characters that you will grow to love. This book is about a couple of siblings who come to Three Pines during a celebration and Inspector Gamache becomes concerned about their presence in the village. Inspector Gamache is the head of homicide for the Surete. As the series has evolved, he has now moved himself and his wife to Three Pines. He’d been involved in a murder case surrounding the two siblings when they were children and he doesn’t totally feel comfortable with their appearance. This story is told using two timelines, the present as well as when the murder happened in the past. It was a good read, as all of her books are but I didn’t enjoy this one as much as I have some in the past. This one was a little darker than previous books but I would still recommend it. I believe I gave this one 4 stars.

The third book I read in January was non-fiction. I don’t read as much non-fiction as I do fiction but I plan to add more this year. This book was – Spare. What can I say? I have always been curious about the Royals. Especially since one of my cousins did a family tree many years ago and traced my mother’s family back to 1600 Kent, England. The oldest couple he was able to find were named Spencer. So who knows, I may be distantly related to Princess Diane. I guess I was drawn to read this book partly because of all the attention it got and from watching the first episode of his Netflix interview. (I do need to finish watching that show.) His ghost writer did a decent job of telling Harry’s story. At times it felt like reading a novel. Some of the stuff he disclosed might make some people blush but from what I have seen of Harry’s personality, I wasn’t surprised that he revealed it. If you have a similar interest in the royals and would like to know more about what their lives are really like, I would recommend this book. I gave this book 4 stars.

In all honesty, if it had been possible, I would have rated these books somewhere between 4-5 stars. 3-4 star books are all worth reading by my method. I try to limit 5 stars to books I definitely will be reading more than once and I feel could become classics. I enjoyed all of them. They helped me through a few cold wintry days inside with my tea or hot chocolate, and a warm blanket where I could occasionally glance outside and watch it snow.

I hope you enjoyed my reviews. Let me know what you are reading. Even though I have so many books to read, I am always open for suggestions. Do you set reading goals? If so, what is your goal for this year?

Look forward to chatting again later,

Until then, keep reading.

Virginia

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