I love series books in general: historical romance, cozies, paranormal, and suspense/thrillers. I used to reread the whole series every single time a new one came out for several of my favourites. Now I pretty much just read the new as they come with a few series rereads thrown in part to make sure I have read the whole series....kids and a transatlantic move seems to equal unread portions of some of my favourite series. Currently rereading....... Cozies The Cat Who........by Lillian Jackson Braun Meg Langslow.......by Donna Andrews Sarah Booth Delaney....by Carolyn Haines Savannah Reid..........by GA McKevett Historical Romances I pretty much read anything by Lorraine Heath, Mary Balogh, Mary Jo Putney, Julia Quinn, Grace Burrowes Absolute favourites are... Sebastian St. Cyr by CS Harris....definitely not cozy but wonderful historical mystery series...needs to be in order The Others series by Anne Bishop.....a wonderful series, sort of a paranormal

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Happy Birthday Angel!!!!

Today my dd turned 19 and she received a very nice Lego set. One of the Architecture ones. :) It wouldn't really be a birthday or xmas without some lego. Sometimes it's a little bag one now they are older but they always get Lego to put together.

I finished Fated https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11737387-fated and am happy to report it really isn't as Dresden Files set in London as I originally thought. It had some really clever bits mixed in. The character Arachnae was particularly fun and this is being said by someone with a spider phobia! I will definitely try the next in this series!

Upthread Laura made a suggestion of London, York, Edinburgh, with the possible addition of Dublin. It could work within your time limit. For example... Day 1. London....I would try and stay at the Premier Inns or Travelodge (book 3 person family room......at Premier Inn that sill give you a good King Sized bed and a slightly narrow twin for Dd.) by Kings Cross Rail Station. First day my aim would be walk to British Library and British Museum. If you still have energy spend the evening looking at Piccadilly, Trafalgar Square, Oxford Street. Day 2 London (you could take an evening train to York or wait until morning) take the tube to Green Park....walk to Buckingham Palace go down the mall past the Horse Guards, past number 10, to Westminster (I would wait and do the Cathedral tour in York unless you really want to) and Parliament. Take Boat Tour to Tower of London. Train to York.....Head to King's Cross for train to York stopping at Simply Food by Marks and Spencer in neighbouring St. Pancreas or similar for a picnic on train. Figure 3 hours. There is a Premier Inn about 2 blocks from York Rail Station. York has lots of hotels either within the walls or right outside so pick a convenient one. ;) Day 3 York.....book your Cathedral tour first thing, walk a portion of the city wall, explore the Shambles, Jorvik, Clifford's Tower, Roman Ruins by Museum and the Museum. Ghost tour if spend the night and a pub meal. If not train to Edinburgh. Day 4 Edinburgh...morning train with better scenery than London/York. Castle, Museum, Royal Mile, Whiskey tour all options. We tend to go with a purpose...dc's looking for JK Rowling sites etc. I have never just been a normal tourist for a whole day there. Laura can do an itinerary of highlights much better. I would fly out in morning. Day 5 Dublin.... shuttle to City Centre from the airport. I have been assured there is much to see and do there but our trip was cancelled and we have never rebooked so no tips. Belfast is spread out so not great without a car but I've been there several times. ;) I have just driven by Dublin. This can all be done on your own. It's pretty whirlwind.

My honest opinion is you are going to have a really hard time doing more than just getting your passport stamped (and you don't even get country stamps anymore) on your own with a whirlwind tour. We waited for two hours just to buy our tickets at Versailles once which blew the whole day, to be honest the trip. But three days in France with our own car is easy for us and not a lifetime event. Your realistic options for a vacation, not a potentially disappointing marathon really probably are one country and a couple of cities or to get professional help. By that I mean buy a tour on a coach/bus. Not my thing but they work. Friends do it all the time. Your tickets to things like Versailles are ready for you when the coach drops you off. You are moved to the next event with tickets.....easy. Some meals are included which cuts down on time too. I love Rick Steves and actually think one of his kids is running a tour business.

I think this book or parts of the series is set in my village. Years ago I kept being asked if I had met the visiting author yet.....finally ran into her in the churchyard and brought her up to the tower for a practice. She was lovely. I bought the book but it never made it off my nightstand. After months there I gave up. Not sure what I did with it. It might be on a bookshelf but I might have given it to the library. Maybe I will actually read it now I have it in Kindle format!

My husband has the same problem......it's funny because ds usually enjoys my choices. I haven't made him watch much Cary Grant lately but when I watch an oldie it normally has intrigue so is good with him. The exception is Ds does not like Miss Marple at all. ;(

Can't wait! :) I'm currently reading Fated https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11737387-fated?ac=1&from_search=true which is a book recently enjoyed by Kareni's Dd. I don't know what I think of it to be honest. It's a book that I keep setting down. It very like Dresden https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/47212.Storm_Front?ac=1&from_search=true set in London so some may love it. I'm not a huge Dresden fan so.....

Ds was probably 12 at the time.....We were out doing a long country walk with another family that we have essentially raised the kids with. It had probably been three weeks since we had been able to walk and DS had gotten a couple inches taller with bigger feet etc. He spontaneously fell three times on that walk. It was a scene out of a comedy show! The first fall terrified the other family but by number three they got it, let the kid pick himself up and move on. The boy was falling over his own giant feet because he wasn't used to having them.....size 13 at 12. Btw, he was always big for age and always clumsy. The last big growth spurt of a foot in a few months was simply the worst of it. The clock thing is just ugg. Dd still has to really think to read a clock with a face and can't estimate distance with any accuracy. Ask her for about 6 inches and she freezes because her mind just can't. Linear Algebra is easy but inches and clocks are hard. She is a gifted artist and her work is proportional always, it's just the inch thing. If she can do it discretely she can use her fingers to measure the amount. We worked for years for by intuition and she just can't.

Congratulations! Also glad to know you enjoyed Lillian Boxfish. I have it on an Overdrive wishlist so eventually....... We never owned The Elf's Hat. Our library owned two copies and we pretty much stored one at our house! Glad she is enjoying the series. Tell her my dd loves it! Speaking of dd she finished the CS Harris very quickly. I haven't started it yet....

Erin, Felix is adorable!

My ds was well over 6 foot at 13. I will admit he was always dropped off with his older sister who still looks 13 at 19. He was always happy because he could blend in when snacks were being eaten etc. People talked to him because they didn't know he was much younger. Dd had more problems and she was closer to the common age her little brother tended to make her accepted! Most assume twins.....

Well I guess I can cross Map of Time off my list! ;) Goodreads is having a mystery/thriller week. Some potentially interesting treads have been started for cozies and series books for anyone who enjoys those genres. I just added several to my wish list and plan to check back and see if the comments add any others to my list. Eta.....I thought someone up thread asked what people plan to read for Emerald in the title. There appear to be many choices this month so I ended up putting requests in for three that my library has that have possibilities....... Emerald Aisle by Ralph McInerny....not the first in the mystery series but an author i've been planning to try. Emerald Embrace by Shannon Drake....the cover is a rather gothic looking romance. Not at all sure about it but wanted alternatives to my mystery. Emerald Windows by Terri Blackstock....another romance by a prolific author I have never read. It's about stained glass windows so another alternative.

Great job to your Dd! I finished DE Stevenson's Vittoria Cottege early this morning. It was absolutely lovely. The first of three and they are comparatively easily available....free to Prime. I gave it five stars. Reminded me of Mrs. Tim in style. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26800128-vittoria-cottage

Between the Wood and the Water is actually the second book in the author's journey. He starts with A Time of Gifts. These books are actually goals for this years reading for me. Both have already spent time in the stack. I doubt May will be the month but definitely this year! Eta I can't seem to make a link work. Robin has it below.

Dd actually did both French and German Clep. They are multiple choice with roughly half being written questions and half being based on listening. I remember her saying it was a variety of accents and voices for the listening which was a relief. She did well and would not consider her German particularly strong. Fyi, The SAT subjects are also multiple choice and you can choose just reading or listening. Dd did the reading for both SAT exams and her score for German was identical (one is out of 80 and the other is 800) and for French the SAT was quite a bit higher. She did get 2 years for each. These AP's are not available to us so no experience.

We frequently run in to people in the UK that announce they can identify North American accents. One guy memorably told me he could even do major cities and was always right with Chicago! Yep, I was Chicago and have at least been there. Haven't met one yet who really could. I suspect people just smile and say they are right.

Amy, I thought of one more that Ds particularly liked. The Elf's Hat https://bookpage.com/reviews/1374-brigitte-weninger-rowe-elfs-hat#.WQU7IzkXYv4 Jane, Thanks for the beautiful photo. I never imagined venus flytraps growing wild in the US. I thought they were from South America for some reason.

I would take a look at the samples either at College Board or at this website.http://www.free-clep-prep.com Eta.....Language exams (at least French) have two recommended credit scores.....the first is the 50 with up to 6 credits recommended, the second was 63? with up to 12 hours recommended. My dc's have done a number of CLEP exams and have had them transferred onto transcripts. In their case their transcripts list the actual exam score for all the exams beside the name of the exam in parenthesis. So the scores do carry forward for some beyond a pass. It's simply a number to most I suspect but that number is the actual score. Also some of the exams have a miniscule pass rate so these are not easy for many. Our exam center had a pass rate sheet out that I picked up. I am not sure how it was calculated data wise (just that center...all exams given etc) but chemistry had a 5 percent pass rate, the lowest. Dd worked really hard studying and managed a 72 but thought it was far harder than her other exams. I would never call a Clep exam easy unless it's for a class that is traditionally considered easy. That pass rate sheet pretty much mirrored how hard a typical University class is in a particular subject as I remember.

Looking forward to recipes...... These aren't new but Commotion in the Ocean and Rumble in the Jungle, a couple of favourites from the dc's reappeared in term of being the free book in the borough's library bag that every little person is given if they visit their local library and get a card. For new to you.....maybe Winnie the Witch? https://www.waterstones.com/product/winnie-the-witch/valerie-thomas/korky-paul/9780192793072. We loved these! I was able to buy them at Borders many years ago.........

Anne Katherine Green's mysteries seem to be quite good and as a bonus I would say more gentle than Christie in terms of preteen readers but it's been awhile. ;) When dd was that age many were free on the kindle and she read several including this one but I don't think I read it. Inspector Gryce was a favourite of hers. I finished the latest book in the China Bayles series by Susan Wittig Albert. The Last Chance Olive Ranch was enjoyable and I learned quite a bit about Olive trees and oil. I also read about huge groups of huge feral pigs in Texas..... tell me that isn't true!

I never would have read the Elephant's Journey if I had I hadn't needed the E. Cannot imagine it on paper. I kept getting lost in pages without breaks on the kindle but think in a paper book having two pages that I had to look at to figure out where I stopped would have been incredibly frustrating.

My dc's liked then too. :lol: In my case I never think of them because my kid's fended for themselves and found them totally on their own. Checked them out without a ripple. :) Nan, Great News!