Book a Week 2022 - BW13: Happy Birthday Dana Stabenow

[Robin M]

“Science fiction is the agent provocateur of literature.” ~ Dana Stabenow

Happy Sunday my dears. During my web wanderings, I found out today, March the 27^th, is author Dana Stabenow's birthday.  I checked out her blog and read an article about How My Mother and Josephine Tey Led me into a Life of Crime. Given I'd recently read Tey's A Daughter of Time, I was drawn in.  I was fascinated by Stabenow's tale of discovering Nancy Drew in the library and the start of her reading journey. Lots of interesting authors, some I've read, some I haven't yet. Stabenow is a prolific writer and has written forty novels during her writing career beginning with a couple of science fiction novels and segueing into writing murder mysteries.  

It just so happens, one of the dusty books on my eshelves is Dana Stabenow's A Cold Day for Murder, book number one in the 22 book Kate Shugak mystery series.  I think I bought it back in 2014 around the time I was enamored with freezing cold settings and read Nevada Barr's Winter Study and bought a bunch of other titles with snow in them, some of which I had yet to read.  Somehow I overlooked Stabenow's book so in honor of her birthday, I'll be reading it this week.  

Learn more about Stabenow from The Thrill Begins: Meet Your Heroes - Dana Stabenow and PBS AK Alaska podcast Dana Stabenow talks about her latest crime novel, her writing career and her support for women writers and what books Stabenow likes to read with Poison Pen's Dana Stabenows Distractions. 

A to Z and Back again - Our letter and word of the week are M and Murder (Obviously... LOL!)

 

Link to book week 12

Visit  52 Books in 52 Weeks where you can find all the information on the annual, mini and perpetual challenges.  

Edited March 27, 2022 by Robin M

[Robin M]

Looks like I’m on E for Author and I by Title.  Decided to reread Ice Hunt by James Rollins since just finished his fantasy thriller The Starless Crown and nothing else on my shelves strikes my fancy.  I love his writing. Debating between Louise Erdrich’s The Round House and Elizabeth Chadwick’s Lady of the English.

 Continuing my read of books about books and currently reading The Bookshop of Second Chances by Jackie Fraser which is enjoyable so far.

 “Thea Mottram is having a bad month. Her husband of nearly twenty years has just left her for one of her friends, and she is let go from her office job--on Valentine's Day, of all days. Bewildered and completely lost, Thea doesn't know what to do. But when she learns that a distant great uncle in Scotland has passed away, leaving her his home and a hefty antique book collection, she decides to leave Sussex for a few weeks. Escaping to a small coastal town where no one knows her seems to be exactly what she needs.

Almost instantly, Thea becomes enamored with the quaint cottage, comforted by its cozy rooms and shaggy, tulip-covered lawn. The locals in nearby Baldochrie are just as warm, quirky, and inviting. The only person she can't seem to win over is bookshop owner Edward Maltravers, to whom she hopes to sell her uncle's antique novel collection. His gruff attitude--fueled by an infamous, long-standing feud with his brother, a local lord--tests Thea's patience. But bickering with Edward proves oddly refreshing and exciting, leading Thea to develop feelings she hasn't felt in a long time. As she follows a thrilling yet terrifying impulse to stay in Scotland indefinitely, Thea realizes that her new life may quickly become just as complicated as the one she was running from.”

 We watched the original Dune tonight with Kyle McLaughlin which was excellent since it's been so long I didn't remember a thing so like watching for the very first time. James enjoyed and is looking forward to watching the remake. 

Edited March 27, 2022 by Robin M

[Negin]

My reading has been all over the place. I'm reading a few books at the same time, and hope to have at least one of them finished by next week.

 

[Mothersweets]

I read The Revenant by Michael Punke this week. The story of mountain man Hugh Glass being mauled by a grizzly and his survival is fascinating. Terrific writing and I found it much better(and different) than the movie.

 

[mumto2]

Thank you for the thread, Robin.

I saw the featured author, Dana Stabenow, and remembered how much I used to love those books.  I read the first dozen or so as they hit the shelves and loved them.  I will be interested to hear what you think of the first in the series.

Speaking of series I have read for decades I read Jonathan Kellerman’s 37th book in his Alex Delaware series last week.  I always enjoy these and have to say City of the Dead was entertaining.  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58081924-city-of-the-dead

Yesterday I spent my afternoon finishing Neil Lancaster’s The Blood Tide.  It’s the second in a new series set in Scotland.  I enjoyed it and am looking forward to more in the series. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58778863-the-blood-tide. If anyone else is interested in this series make sure you start with the first book Dead Man’s Grave as the background is needed.

Last night I sort of accidentally started a book by a Grandmother of crime I had not heard of in my research, Seeley Regester.   I literally stumbled over this book in Overdrive while hunting for something else.  Seeley was one of the pen names of Metta  Victoria Fuller Victor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metta_Victoria_Fuller_Victor who wrote the first American Detective novels starting in the 1860’s.  The Library of Congress is reprinting crime novels from its collection and her bookThe Dead Letter is one of them. https://www.loc.gov/publish/general/catalog/crimeclassics.html  I glanced at a page and was hooked which rarely happens in terms of my stack….I go through it quite methodically!

The Dead Letter…….blurb from LoC

When Henry Moreland is found dead, Richard Redfield, an old family friend, vows to bring Henry’s killer to justice. Together with a legendary detective named Mr. Burton, he embarks on a mission to find the murderer. When suspicion turns to Richard himself, he leaves to work in the Dead Letter Office in Washington, DC. Then a mysterious letter from the past turns up, and a new hunt begins. This 1860s twisting tale is the first full-length American detective novel.

[Kareni]

Some bookish posts ~

Character-Driven Novels I Couldn't Put Down - Sarah's Bookshelves

Good Things Come in Small Packages: The Fabulous Flight by Robert Lawson

Jo Walton’s Reading List: February 2022

Six Wintry SFF Romances That Will Melt Your Heart

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

I continued my reread and enjoyed revisiting Murder in Shadow (The Doyle and Acton Murder Series Book 6) by Anne Cleeland.

Regards,

Kareni

[mumto2]

I forgot to mention my Golden Age book from last week.  My personal plan for the crime spree is to read at least one of these gems most weeks and last week was a new to me author, Anthony Berkeley.  The Wintringham Mystery is a repackaged and recently re released from it's original title of Cicely Disappears which is a book my research popped up a few times.😉. It was originally serialized in a British publication with prize money going to whoever solved it first.  Even Agatha had a go! 😂. His May aim was to make sure no one guessed the villain and it was a surprise.  This one had a strong romantic twist which naturally I enjoyed.  Here is an interesting blog post https://theinvisibleevent.com/2022/01/06/the-wintringham-mystery-anthony-berkeley/ and thanks to it being a new release I was able to listen to it via my library.  

[Kareni]

And I reread with pleasure Murder in Misdirection (The Doyle and Acton Scotland Yard series Book 7) by Anne Cleeland.

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

I stepped off my reread-athon to read The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch. I'd describe this as a mix of science fiction/time travel and mystery with a lot of gore. It was an interesting read but not a book I'm likely to reread.

"Shannon Moss is part of a clandestine division within the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. In western Pennsylvania, 1997, she is assigned to solve the murder of a Navy SEAL's family—and to locate his vanished teenage daughter. Though she can't share the information with conventional law enforcement, Moss discovers that the missing SEAL was an astronaut aboard the spaceship U.S.S. Libra—a ship assumed lost to the currents of Deep Time. Moss knows first-hand the mental trauma of time-travel and believes the SEAL's experience with the future has triggered this violence.

Determined to find the missing girl and driven by a troubling connection from her own past, Moss travels ahead in time to explore possible versions of the future, seeking evidence to crack the present-day case. To her horror, the future reveals that it's not only the fate of a family that hinges on her work, for what she witnesses rising over time's horizon and hurtling toward the present is the Terminus: the terrifying and cataclysmic end of humanity itself."

Regards,

Kareni

[Robin M]

Someone, I forget who, told me about the book vlogger Merphy Napier and thanks to the person who did, I’ve been enjoying her vlogs . I started reading Andrea Stewarts fantasy novel Bone Shards Daughter which  Merphy went gaga over it last year.  Enjoying it so far.

“The emperor’s reign has lasted for decades, his mastery of bone shard magic powering the animal-like constructs that maintain law and order. But now his rule is failing, and revolution is sweeping across the Empire’s many islands.

Lin is the emperor’s daughter and spends her days trapped in a palace of locked doors and dark secrets. When her father refuses to recognise her as heir to the throne, she vows to prove her worth by mastering the forbidden art of bone shard magic.

Yet such power carries a great cost, and when the revolution reaches the gates of the palace, Lin must decide how far she is willing to go to claim her birthright – and save her people.”

For my books on books reading an unusual story set in Hell – The Library of the Unwritten by A.J. Hackwith.

“Many years ago, Claire was named Head Librarian of the Unwritten Wing– a neutral space in Hell where all the stories unfinished by their authors reside. Her job consists mainly of repairing and organizing books, but also of keeping an eye on restless stories that risk materializing as characters and escaping the library. When a Hero escapes from his book and goes in search of his author, Claire must track and capture him with the help of former muse and current assistant Brevity and nervous demon courier Leto.

But what should have been a simple retrieval goes horrifyingly wrong when the terrifyingly angelic Ramiel attacks them, convinced that they hold the Devil’s Bible. The text of the Devil’s Bible is a powerful weapon in the power struggle between Heaven and Hell, so it falls to the librarians to find a book with the power to reshape the boundaries between Heaven, Hell….and Earth.”

Started reading both in between James Rollins Ice Hunt. Stabenow’s waiting in the wings. (Poor girl)

Finished the Book of Second Chances and totally loved it. The two main characters are older, a curmudgeonly bookseller and a 40 + woman on the verge of divorce, both with lots of baggage, try to figure out their lives.  Will write a review soon.

 

[Vintage81]

24 minutes ago, Robin M said:

Someone, I forget who, told me about the book vlogger Merphy Napier and thanks to the person who did, I’ve been enjoying her vlogs . I started reading Andrea Stewarts fantasy novel Bone Shards Daughter which  Merphy went gaga over it last year.  Enjoying it so far.

That might have been me. ☺️ I posted her video in one of these threads about how she despises the word “undulating” in books! 

I’m glad you’re enjoying her videos. She’s one of my favorites. 😊

[mumto2]

The Library of the Unwritten sounds really good @Robin M

I finished The Dead Letter yesterday and have to say that it was much more of a page turner in the sense that it moved quickly compared to Wilkie Collins serialized books from the same era.  I liked it quite a bit…….it had intrigue but to some degree most readers had to know from close to the beginning who the villain likely was.  It was just a question of if he would be exposed.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54221456-the-dead-letter

[Robin M]

2 hours ago, Vintage81 said:

That might have been me. ☺️ I posted her video in one of these threads about how she despises the word “undulating” in books! 

I’m glad you’re enjoying her videos. She’s one of my favorites. 😊

Yeah! Thank you so much for turning me on to her. Has lead to rabbit trails, looking at other vloggers. So much fun! 

[Lady Florida.]

I finished three books since my last update:

The Woman They Could Not Silence - This was very good. I believe I've heard of Elizabeth Packard before but I had no idea how important her work was. Another example of influential women getting lost to history. Four stars because sometimes the writing was a little dry and also because I'm very picky when giving five stars to a book. Highly recommend.

Queen Victoria: Twenty Four Days That Changed Her Life - An enjoyable audio book but one I'd only recommend if you're interested in the British royal family and/or Queen Victoria.

The Merchant's House -  The first in a police procedural series mentioned by @mumto2 a few weeks ago. Not bad but not great. I'll read more in this series when I can't find something to read. This was first published in 1998 and it shows in some of the late 20th century sensibilities (which we thought were progressive at the time but really weren't).

Currently reading:

Fatal Remedies - #8 in the Commissario Brunetti series by Donna Leon. It's been a while since I read one of these partly because of the way they all seem to end. In true Italian style, the endings are often unsatisfying. The bad guys aren't rounded up and jailed which I know is unrealistic but that's how I like my police procedurals to end. One thing I do like about this series is that Guido Brunetti has a normal home life. He and his wife sometimes argue but clearly love each other. Their two teenagers get moody but are good kids. I really dislike the divorced, hard drinking, brooding detectives in many of these types of novels. I think that's what I liked about The Merchant's House too. The inspector has a normal home life. Not perfect but normal.

Troilus and Cressida - part of my personal Shakespeare challenge. I confess this isn't an easy one to get through mostly because it's about Achilles' reluctance to fight Hector and that's not a favorite tale of mine. The love story of the title characters seems to be a side story.. 

I started Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883. I'm not far into it yet but it's interesting so far.

I think I'm going to abandon The Song of Simon de Montfort. I already renewed it once and only have one renewal left but have not been reading it. I might put it on my finish-another-time shelf on GR rather than abandoning it completely.

[Lady Florida.]

I rarely do challenges but decided to join this Alphabet Soup challenge. Unlike our BaW challenge you can do the letters in any order. Each letter is a spoonful from the soup and like the soup the letters are random. I looked through my books read this year and chose some for the letters listed. You can (and should) drop The and A if they're the first word in a title. For Q, X, and Z the letter can be anywhere in the title, but I actually read a Q book title.

A - All About Me, Mel Brooks
B - Before His Time: The Untold Story of Harry T Moore, America's First Civil Rights Martyr, Ben Green
D- The Dark Vineyard, Martin Walker
E - Empire of Pain, Patrick Radden Keefe
F - Finding Nouf, Zoe Ferraris
H - Hotel Scarface: Where Cocaine Cowboys Partied and Plotted to Control Miami, Roben Farzad
I - Indian Horse, Richard Wagamese
M - Mythos, Stephen Fry
Q - Queen Victoria: Twenty Four Days That Changed Her Life
V - The Vanishing Man, Charles Finch
W - The Woman They Could Not Silence, Kate Moore

Edited March 30, 2022 by Lady Florida.

[Kareni]

I finished two more books in my Acton and Doyle series reread and enjoyed them both ~ Murder in Spite and Murder in Just Cause both by Anne Cleeland.

Regards,

Kareni

[SKL]

Hi guys!  It's been a while.

I've been working through Autism in Heels by Jennifer Cook O'Toole (IIRC).

I'm having a love-hate relationship with this book.

On the one hand, I see myself (and family members) in it so much.  But there are 2 things that keep bugging me.  1) Her written train of thought is like my silent brain gymnastics.  Apparently we're both people whose minds never stop racing and hopping around in logical-only-to-us directions.  It's not easy to read that, especially when your brain is doing its own different dance the whole time.  2) She's kinda braggy.  I mean most of the book is her telling us how good she is at everything, and then feeling attacked by the fact that society calls that boasting.  😛

So I'm maybe 2/3 done with this book, which isn't bad, considering all the deadlines I've had to meet in March.

Another thing - more and more, I see one of my daughters in this book.  Not the one I used to suspect of being on the spectrum ... the other kid.  I feel like she should read this kind of book and see if it helps her.  But I'd rather find a book that's easier to read.  Just lay out the concepts without going on and on and on about every thought and feeling.  I might ask a general question about this on the board.  An intro to ASD for [undiagnosed] girls who may be on the spectrum.

Edited March 31, 2022 by SKL

[Kareni]

For today only (March 31), you can fill your e-reader (Kindle, Nook, Kobo, Apple Books or Google Play) with over 750 FREE romance reads. Check out the selections being offered by hundreds of talented authors, all searchable by category.

https://www.romancebookworms.com

Regards,

Kareni

[Storygirl]

I finished the new Joe Pickett novel by C. J. Box. I've read all of his books and enjoy them. Though they have dark and violent elements, his characters have nuance -- the villains usually have some good traits, and the good guys have struggles and don't always make ideal choices. I've seen both of the current TV series based on Box's novels, and the Joe Pickett series does a better job, in my opinion, of capturing the tone of the books. Big Sky is almost unrelentingly dark, and I'm not sure I will keep watching it after this season.

S -- Shadows Reel by C.J. Box is, right off the bat, not one of my favorites of his novels, but after I let it sit in my mind for awhile, I may like it more. There is a dual plotline; while Joe looks into a murder and helps his librarian wife figure out what to do with an unusual and sinister library donation, his friend Nate ventures off to retrieve his falcons from the man who stole them, planning to exact revenge. This dual plot made each part of the story seem slighter than a typical plot line of the series, and since Nate's violent vigilante justice is my least favorite part of the series, I wasn't enamored by those sections. The story has a tie-in to the antifa events in the news back in 2020. The donation is a Nazi scrapbook, which is a real item that Box created this story around. He includes links to the scrapbook in the epilogue, but I didn't look.

[Storygirl]

I also finished two audiobooks.

My Grandmother Told Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman. My sister, aunt, and cousin are fans of Backman and have recommended this book to me for years, so I finally listened to it on audio. Not a huge fan, but it's not the type of book that I normally gravitate toward. I'm sure some of you have read it. A seven-year-old girl is given a mission by her grandmother after the grandmother's death, to deliver messages to some people, who all end up being the other residents of their small apartment building. In the process, the girl gets to know them and learns about her grandmother's past. I may have liked it better in print than on audio, because the narrator's voice affected my opinion. I found the main character to be too precocious, and the traits in the characters that I seemed expected to admire were not actually all that admirable to me. It also really grated that one of the characters was referred to as "the boy with the syndrome" as if someone with a disability didn't deserve to have an actual name. Too contrived and precious for my taste. Now, if my relatives ask about it, I'll have to think about how to tell them that I didn't really like one of their favorite books.

The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan. I'm not a romance reader, but I'm trying to branch out, and I'm drawn toward books about books, so I gave it a try. I really liked it, but probably because the romance was a more minor part of the story. When librarian Nina's branch of the library closes and she loses her job, she travels to Scotland to look at a large van for sale, with the idea of turning it into a mobile bookshop. As she works out her new venture, she finds a new community and makes connections that she didn't expect. It was a fun read.

[Kareni]

Last month, my book group read author Jane Harper's first book, The Dry. I liked it so elected to read the author's second book which I also enjoyed.

Force of Nature: A Novel by Jane Harper

"When five colleagues are forced to go on a corporate retreat in the wilderness, they reluctantly pick up their backpacks and start walking down the muddy path.

But one of the women doesn’t come out of the woods. And each of her companions tells a slightly different story about what happened.

Federal Police Agent Aaron Falk has a keen interest in the whereabouts of the missing hiker. In an investigation that takes him deep into isolated forest, Falk discovers secrets lurking in the mountains, and a tangled web of personal and professional friendship, suspicion, and betrayal among the hikers. But did that lead to murder?"

Regards,

Kareni

[Storygirl]

I hope Jane Harper writes more books with Aaron Falk. Her last few have been about other people, which is fine -- I liked them all, except for the last one -- but I do enjoy following a character through multiple books, and I think there is more to tell regarding Falk's story.

[Kareni]

5 hours ago, Storygirl said:

I hope Jane Harper writes more books with Aaron Falk. Her last few have been about other people, which is fine -- I liked them all, except for the last one -- but I do enjoy following a character through multiple books, and I think there is more to tell regarding Falk's story.

I, too, would happily read more books featuring Falk.

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

Act quickly if interested!

For today only (March 31), you can stuff your e-reader (Kindle, Nook, Kobo, Apple Books or Google Play) with over 750 FREE romance reads. Check out the selections being offered by hundreds of talented authors, all searchable by category.

www.romancebookworms.com

Regards,
Kareni

[Robin M]

My reading slowed way down this month and I completed six books, sort of  finished one, and stopped halfway through another.  

1. Super Powereds Year Four - Drew Hayes (Science Fiction, 1019)
2. Daughter of Time (#5 Inspector Grant) - Josephine Tey (HF, 206)
3. Hidden Palace #2 Golem & the Jinni - Helene Wecker (H Fantasy, 472)
4. Leviathan Wakes - J.A. Corey (Science Fiction, e)  
5. Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula Le Guin (Science fiction, dnf)
6. Bookshop at Water's End - Patti Callahan Henry (Literary Fiction, e)
7. Bookshop of Second Chances - Jackie Fraser (Contemporary Romance, e)
8. The Starless Crown (#1 Moon Fall) - James Rollins (Fantasy, 560)

 

Super Powered is a great series and however much I'd like to compare it to Harry Potter, there really is no comparison. These are college age kids, each with a special super power, no wands, who learn how to use their powers amidst the angst of college and real life battles.  It will be well worth reading again. 

 

Tey's Daughter of Time is a unique story involving history and how it can be perceived or easily wrong, depending on the book telling the tale.

 

The Hidden Palace is a wonderful tale interwoven with several different narrators and is full of history, drama, and magic. I loved escaping into their world and will definitely read it again at some point.

 

In The Bookshop at Water's End, everyone down to the children had baggage of some sort and it was an emotional story which I usually wouldn't enjoy but the writing was so well done, it pulled me into the characters lives, rooting for them all the way. 

 

The Bookshop of Second Chances was set in Scotland and  Edward, a curmudgeonly bookseller who is 40 ish and Thea, a 40 + woman on the verge of divorce, both with lots of baggage, who may or may  not like each other, lives become intertwined more than they imagine and makes for a beautiful story.

 

James Rollins has done it again and this time with fantasy in The Starless Crown in which several characters come together over the course of the book to join together in a quest to save the world. An abandoned baby found in a swamp, bats, prophecies, darkness, a thief, a bronze statue, a fallen prince, wolves, a broken soldier, horrible villains who will do anything including burning entire towns to get what they want, sky ships and battles. Our poor characters are given no time to rest, hunted and chased, from peril to peril. A thrilling story I couldn't put down. Definitely a reread when the rest of the series comes out. 

 

 

How do you sort of finish a book?  I unfortunately didn't enjoy Corey's Leviathan Wakes as the characters rubbed me the wrong way and I read halfway, lost interest, skipped to the ending to see what happened.  I also didn't enjoy Le Guin's Left Hand of Darkness, decided life is too short to keep reading when the writing isn't grabbing me and decided to shelve the book.  Happily, the rest of my reads were excellent. 

 

I'm still reading more science fiction and fantasy with a historical fiction thrown in. I seem to be getting more into emotional contemporary fiction so we'll see how long that lasts.  At least I cleared some dusty books from both my physical and eshelves. Looking forward to seeing what April brings as I'm in the midst of several books at the moment.  

 

My book buying ban is still in affect and no matter how much I want to go to Barnes and Noble, I’ve been good. However, my amazon wishlist is growing and growing.

 

Edited April 1, 2022 by Robin M

[Robin M]

2 hours ago, Kareni said:

Act quickly if interested!

For today only (March 31), you can stuff your e-reader (Kindle, Nook, Kobo, Apple Books or Google Play) with over 750 FREE romance reads. Check out the selections being offered by hundreds of talented authors, all searchable by category.

www.romancebookworms.com

Regards,
Kareni

La la la la. Covering my eyes! 

[Vintage81]

I’ve read five books since my last update, but I don’t feel all that accomplished…

• The Blackbird Girls by Anne Blankman - This was a great book. It was told from the perspective of three POVs…two girls whose fathers worked at the Chernobyl nuclear plant, and one of the girl’s grandmother. The book started with the girls escaping the disaster in Pripyat and going to live with the grandmother, but it also covered so many more things. The grandmother is also Jewish and fled Kiev during WWII. This book brought up the events that happened in Babi Yar as well, which was just recently brought up in the news. There was so much to discuss with my girls…things from past and present. 5 stars
• Shipped by Angie Hockman - a romcom about two people competing for the same job, forced to go on a cruise vacation together….and we all know what happens! It was okay, nothing spectacular. 3 stars 
• The other three books were for school…Mansa Musa and the Empire of Mali, The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai (these were for our study of ancient Africa), and I Survived the Eruption of Mt. St. Helens (for our US geography study). All were 4 stars

I’m currently reading Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. It’s okay, but it’s putting me into a reading slump and I don’t know why…it’s not a bad book. I just never feel like reading it. 😆 Hopefully I can get through the last half soon and on to some new stuff! 

[Kareni]

I finished a reread of yet another Acton and Doyle book which I enjoyed once again ~ Murder in the Blood by Anne Cleeland

I also read a contemporary paranormal romance, Mind Magic (The Triad of Magic series Book 1) by Macy Blake. This was pleasant but not a book I'm likely to reread. (Adult content)

"According to the rules, Simon Osborne should ignore the children’s cries for help. After all, they’re werewolf cubs, and he’s an apprentice mage. But for once in his life, Simon breaks the rules and rescues the cubs, saving them from a demon intent on draining them of their magic.

Of course, all actions have consequences, and Simon’s bold move earns him the displeasure of his peers and the attention of the cubs’ alpha, a man named Gray Townsend.

The last thing Gray needs is a mage in his life, but Simon did save his son. Since Simon is now a friend of the pack, Gray doesn’t have much choice about it—or the forbidden attraction that goes along with it. Unfortunately for the alpha, he needs Simon’s help to track down the demon behind the kidnappings—before it strikes again. Simon and Gray must join forces to protect the pack, even as they struggle to resist the temptation that threatens to destroy them both."

Regards,

Kareni

[Storygirl]

1 hour ago, Vintage81 said:

I’ve read five books since my last update, but I don’t feel all that accomplished…

• The Blackbird Girls by Anne Blankman - This was a great book. It was told from the perspective of three POVs…two girls whose fathers worked at the Chernobyl nuclear plant, and one of the girl’s grandmother. The book started with the girls escaping the disaster in Pripyat and going to live with the grandmother, but it also covered so many more things. The grandmother is also Jewish and fled Kiev during WWII. This book brought up the events that happened in Babi Yar as well, which was just recently brought up in the news. There was so much to discuss with my girls…things from past and present. 5 stars
• Shipped by Angie Hockman - a romcom about two people competing for the same job, forced to go on a cruise vacation together….and we all know what happens! It was okay, nothing spectacular. 3 stars 
• The other three books were for school…Mansa Musa and the Empire of Mali, The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai (these were for our study of ancient Africa), and I Survived the Eruption of Mt. St. Helens (for our US geography study). All were 4 stars

I’m currently reading Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. It’s okay, but it’s putting me into a reading slump and I don’t know why…it’s not a bad book. I just never feel like reading it. 😆 Hopefully I can get through the last half soon and on to some new stuff! 

I felt this way about Pachinko. I so wanted to like it, but I found it mostly a slog. I think it's because I kept wanting something to happen in a dramatic arc, but really just one moment after another happened, until the end.  The story gave me an understanding of Korean-Japanese history that I didn't have previously, but the characters that I wanted to be invested in didn't pull me in enough. I'm not sure why it's so beloved.

[melmichigan]

A Cold Day for Murder is only $0.99 on kindle with $1.99 to add audible. 🙂 Thanks @Robin M

[Robin M]

On 3/30/2022 at 11:29 AM, Lady Florida. said:

I rarely do challenges but decided to join this Alphabet Soup challenge. Unlike our BaW challenge you can do the letters in any order. Each letter is a spoonful from the soup and like the soup the letters are random.

How neat! I like that idea, a spoonful from the soup.  Although I started to read in alpha order. I've managed to read a few out of order.  LOL! 

 

On 3/31/2022 at 8:23 AM, SKL said:

Hi guys!  It's been a while.

I've been working through Autism in Heels by Jennifer Cook O'Toole (IIRC).

I'm having a love-hate relationship with this book.

On the one hand, I see myself (and family members) in it so much.

Sounds interesting. For all the psychology and special needs books I read to assist us on our journey, I recognized myself, as well as different members of our family, which made for interesting discussions when we had family get togethers.  Our two technicians have decided they are on the autism spectrum, which they came up with on their own, recognizing it in themselves, from hearing about James.  The one book that I recognized myself in was Upside Down Brilliance 

[Laurel-in-CA]

On 3/31/2022 at 9:34 AM, Storygirl said:

I finished the new Joe Pickett novel by C. J. Box. I've read all of his books and enjoy them. Though they have dark and violent elements, his characters have nuance -- the villains usually have some good traits, and the good guys have struggles and don't always make ideal choices. I've seen both of the current TV series based on Box's novels, and the Joe Pickett series does a better job, in my opinion, of capturing the tone of the books. Big Sky is almost unrelentingly dark, and I'm not sure I will keep watching it after this season.

S -- Shadows Reel by C.J. Box is, right off the bat, not one of my favorites of his novels, but after I let it sit in my mind for awhile, I may like it more. There is a dual plotline; while Joe looks into a murder and helps his librarian wife figure out what to do with an unusual and sinister library donation, his friend Nate ventures off to retrieve his falcons from the man who stole them, planning to exact revenge. This dual plot made each part of the story seem slighter than a typical plot line of the series, and since Nate's violent vigilante justice is my least favorite part of the series, I wasn't enamored by those sections. The story has a tie-in to the antifa events in the news back in 2020. The donation is a Nazi scrapbook, which is a real item that Box created this story around. He includes links to the scrapbook in the epilogue, but I didn't look.

I just finished Shadows Reel myself and it was just...too short. I liked that the historical stuff was based on real people, but it just didn't seem to have the suspense of some of his other books. Bit disappointed.

I felt the same way about Shadow Mage by Kate Elliott, which I read this week -- too short. In her case, I think it may be an intro to another series of books that will further develop the fantasy world, but I found it unsatisfying.

I read a couple of Connie Berry's Kate Hamilton mysteries, set in England, with a heroine who is an antiques dealer from the US meeting up with a detective from Sussex and figuring out whether they can build a life together....along with solving several mysteries. I enjoyed these.

Taking a non-fiction break, I'm reading Japanese Farm Food by Nancy Singleton Hachisu. She's from the SF Bay area, married a Japanese farmer and has stayed active in the foodie scene. The recipes are simple and straightforward. I would make more of them if I wasn't cooking for a family that includes soy and peanut and sesame allergies!! But I spent a summer in Japan years ago and it's a bit nostalgic for me.

 

[Kareni]

1 hour ago, Laurel-in-CA said:

I read a couple of Connie Berry's Kate Hamilton mysteries, set in England, with a heroine who is an antiques dealer from the US meeting up with a detective from Sussex and figuring out whether they can build a life together....along with solving several mysteries. I enjoyed these.

This does sound good. Curiously, my library has books two and three but not the first. Hmmph!

Regards,

Kareni

[Robin M]

Week 14 is live.