Monday, March 18, 2024

Review - A Grave Robbery

Title:   A Grave Robbery
Author:  Veronica Speedwell
Series:  Veronica Speedwell #9
Publisher:  Berkley
Genre:   Mystery & Thrillers
Format:  Kindle ARC
No. of Pages:   336
Date of Publication:   March 12, 2024
My Rating:    5 Stars 

DESCRIPTION:

Veronica and Stoker discover that not all fairy tales have happy endings, and some end in murder, in this latest historical mystery from New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award–nominated author Deanna Raybourn.

Lord Rosemorran has purchased a wax figure of a beautiful reclining woman and asks Stoker to incorporate a clockwork mechanism to give the Rosemorran Collection its own Sleeping Beauty in the style of Madame Tussaud’s. But when Stoker goes to cut the mannequin open to insert the mechanism, he makes a gruesome discovery: this is no wax figure. The mannequin is the beautifully preserved body of a young woman who was once very much alive. But who would do such a dreadful thing, and why?

Sleuthing out the answer to this question sets Veronica and Stoker on their wildest adventure yet. From the underground laboratories of scientists experimenting with electricity to resurrect the dead in the vein of Frankenstein to the traveling show where Stoker once toured as an attraction, the gaslit atmosphere of London in October is the perfect setting for this investigation into the unknown. Through it all, the intrepid pair is always one step behind the latest villain—a man who has killed once and will stop at nothing to recover the body of the woman he loved. Will they unmask him in time to save his next victim? Or will they become the latest figures to be immortalized in his collection of horrors?


MY THOUGHTS:
 
Madame Tussaud's was a wax museum that gained popularity in London in 1835. So when Stoker Templeton-Vane is hired by the Earl of Rosemorran to install a clockwork mechanism to Lord Rosemorran's latest acquisition, an exquisite wax mannequin, Stoker is certain he is up to the job. Meanwhile, Stoker's friend, lover and confidante, Veronica Speedwell, would rather be spending her time in her work as a lepidopterist, as butterflies and their habits is Veronica's area of expertise.

From the outset, Stoker is enamored of the wax figure. He can't get over how much the mannequin resembles his beloved Veronica. However, that is not the only shock that Stoker experiences. As Stoker and Veronica soon discover, the mannequin actually contains the wonderfully preserved body of a young woman. This is definitely no ordinary mannequin. Thus, the deducing couple set out to discover the woman's identity, as sleuthing comes quite natural to both of them.

 I have followed the enjoyable Veronica Speedwell series from the very first book, A Curious Beginning. This historical mystery series has been captivating right from the very start. Veronica is a delightful character, and I love how her relationship with Stoker has evolved over the series. I also enjoyed how Veronica's ability to solve crimes has slowly garnered the reluctant respect of the Metropolitan Police. 

Another facet of this story is the history behind wax figures, and other surprising Frankenstein like inclusions. Deanna Raybourn skillfully takes each book in this series into different directions, and always entertains her readers. Quite naturally, I can't wait to see what Veronica and Stoker get into next.

Reviewer's note: This is a series that is best read in order.

Many thanks to Berkley and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

A sixth-generation native Texan, New York Times bestselling author Deanna Raybourn grew up in San Antonio where she met her college sweetheart. She married him on her graduation day and went on to teach high school English and history. During summer vacation at the age of twenty-three, she wrote her first novel, and after three years as a teacher, Deanna left education to have a baby and pursue writing full-time. Fourteen years and many, many rejections after her first novel, she signed two three-book deals with MIRA Books.

Deanna’s debut novel, Silent in the Grave, published in January 2007. The first in the Silent series, the book introduces Lady Julia Grey, an aristocrat bent on investigating the mysterious death of her husband with the help of the enigmatic private enquiry agent Nicholas Brisbane. From the drawing rooms of the aristocracy to a Gypsy camp on Hampstead Heath, Silent in the Grave deftly captures the lush ambience of Victorian London.

The series continues with the second book, Silent in the Sanctuary (January 2008), a classic English country house murder mystery with a few twists and turns for Brisbane and Lady Julia along the way. Silent on the Moor (March 2009), set in a grim manor house on the Yorkshire moors, is the third adventure for Lady Julia and the mysterious Brisbane.

March 2010 saw a departure from the series with the release of The Dead Travel Fast, a mid-Victorian Gothic thriller that features novelist Theodora Lestrange as she leaves the safety and security of her Edinburgh home for the dark woods and haunted castles of Transylvania. Deanna turns once more to Lady Julia and her companions with Dark Road to Darjeeling (October 2010) which features an exotic setting in the foothills of the Himalayas and the introduction of an arch-villain. The fifth book in the series, The Dark Enquiry, follows the return of Lady Julia and Brisbane to London for their most puzzling adventure yet. The Dark Enquiry hit the New York Times Bestseller list the week before its official release in July 2011. The digital exclusive novella Silent Night, published in November 2012, is a bright Christmas adventure set in Julia’s ancestral home in the Sussex countryside.

Deanna’s next release, A Spear of Summer Grass (May 2013), chronicles the adventures of a scandalous flapper heroine in Africa and the lives she changes along the way. It is listed as one of Goodreads’ most highly anticipated books of 2013 and was preceded by Far in the Wilds, an exclusive digital prequel novella (March 2013). A Spear of Summer Grass received a starred review from Library Journal. Deanna carried on the theme of 1920s adventure with City of Jasmine (2014) and Night of a Thousand Stars (2014), but is delighted to return to Victorian London with the September 2015 hardcover release of A Curious Beginning, the first mystery featuring butterfly-hunting sleuth, Veronica Speedwell and her natural historian sidekick, Stoker. Veronica returned in 2017’s A Perilous Undertaking, and A Treacherous Curse, 2018. A Dangerous Collaboration was released in 2019, and book five, A Murderous Relation, is a March 2020 release.

Deanna’s novel Silent in the Grave won the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award for Best First Mystery. The Lady Julia Grey series has been nominated for several other awards, including an Agatha, a Last Laugh, and two Dilys Winns. Dark Road to Darjeeling was also a finalist for the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award for Best Historical Mystery as well as a Romantic Reviews’ finalist for Best Book of 2010. A Treacherous Curse, the third Veronica Speedwell Mystery, was nominated for the 2019 Edgar Award for Best Novel.


Sunday, March 17, 2024

Weekly WrapUp #5

 


The Sunday Post is a blog news meme that is posted here @Caffeinated Reviewer. It is a chance to share news~A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received.  Share news about what is coming up on your blog for the week ahead. Join in weekly, bi-weekly or for a monthly wrap up.  See rules here:  Sunday Post Meme 


*HOW WAS MY WEEK*


As this week begins, as usual I have magnanimous ideas as to what my reading week will look like. But three appointments in three days, the third being day surgery, those ideas had to get set aside. But then, when you see my March reads, especially the three Karen Rose books, I really found myself surprised.

*LAST WEEK ON MY BLOG*


The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine
A Country Wedding Murder by Katie Gayle
Take Two, Birdie Maxwell by Allison Wynn Scotch
Happily Never After by Lynn Painter
Her Last Hour by B. R. Spangler


*WHAT’S ON MY CURRENTLY READING SHELF?*

ALL OF THESE BOOK COVERS ARE DIRECTLY LINKED TO GOODREADS:










As you can see by the book covers just above, I have an ambitious reading week ahead of me. I hope to get all of the blog tour titles in my queue for April read this coming week, as well as a few early April ARCs.

*NEW ARRIVALS/APPROVALS*

ALL OF THESE BOOK COVERS ARE DIRECTLY LINKED TO GOODREADS


*MARCH 2024 READS*



 Here are a couple of screenshots from the Booky iOS app:





*FINAL THOUGHTS*


I ended up having a really good week. As mentioned above, I did have the three appointments in a row, then I did end up also going to the lab on Friday for blood work. As I am homebound, going out four times in one week was no easy feat, but I must get some health issues attended to.

I am really pleased that my reading week went as well as it did. On Thursday I decided to binge read the three Karen Rose ARCs I had in my queue. One is already released, one will be later this month, and the third not until August. But one thing I am trying to do this year is to wipe out authors and/or series that are in my NetGalley queue, so over the course of this year there will be several occurrences where I read the same author more than once in the same month.

I got a Vevor 2000 piece puzzle table for review, and since I have five 2000 piece puzzles in my collection, I plan on breaking in my new board with one these puzzles. Having not completed a 2000 piece puzzle as of yet, I have no idea how long it will take, especially as I will be having major surgery and will be hospitalized a week from Monday.

Lastly, I am sooooo close to finishing my diamond painting! Just a little over a row left. The fun part is that I changed my "release papers" - nonstick papers that protect the sticky canvas - to those personally made for me by a friend and they are smaller than the ones I ordinarily use. So, I am pretty confident that I will finish this up early in the week.



So, here is to a great reading week and a great week in general. See you next Sunday!



Saturday, March 16, 2024

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW - The Last Mrs. Parrish


Title:    The Last Mrs. Parrish
Author Liv Constantine
Series:   Mrs. Parrish #1
Publisher:  Harper Paperbacks
Genre:   Mystery & Thrillers    
Format:  Audiobook
No. of Pages:   416
Length:  12 Hrs
Narrators:  Suzanne Elise Freeman; Meghan Wolf
Date of Publication:   October 17, 2017
My Rating:   5 Stars
DESCRIPTION:

Some women get everything. Some women get everything they deserve.

Amber Patterson is fed up. She’s tired of being a nobody: a plain, invisible woman who blends into the background. She deserves more—a life of money and power like the one blond-haired, blue-eyed goddess Daphne Parrish takes for granted.

To everyone in the exclusive town of Bishops Harbor, Connecticut, Daphne—a socialite and philanthropist—and her real-estate mogul husband, Jackson, are a couple straight out of a fairy tale.

Amber’s envy could eat her alive . . . if she didn't have a plan. Amber uses Daphne’s compassion and caring to insinuate herself into the family’s life—the first step in a meticulous scheme to undermine her. Before long, Amber is Daphne’s closest confidante, traveling to Europe with the Parrishes and their lovely young daughters, and growing closer to Jackson. But a skeleton from her past may undermine everything that Amber has worked towards, and if it is discovered, her well-laid plan may fall to pieces. 

With shocking turns and dark secrets that will keep you guessing until the very end, The Last Mrs. Parrish is a fresh, juicy, and utterly addictive thriller from a diabolically imaginative talent.


MY THOUGHTS:

Envy is the name of the game in a book that definitely proves that I just don't have the time to read all the things. Where have I been when it comes to Liv Constantine and this Reese Witherspoon Sunshine Book Club Pick?! No worries, I already read the upcoming book, The Next Mrs. Parrish, set for release in June. No way was I missing the boat on that one.

Oh, the review...

This absolutely incredible debut was a captivating read from start to finish. Amber Patterson comes across as selfish, manipulative and even cruel - and that is exactly what one learns to expect when reading this book. From the outside looking in, Daphne and Jackson Parrish are the couple who have it all. Well, Amber wants a piece of that pie. No, she wants the whole pie, and that means that she wants to become Mrs. Jackson Parrish and nothing will stop her from getting what she wants. Amber sets a plan in motion in order to get exactly what she wants. What she believes she deserves.

If you want to read a book where you take an instant dislike to a major protagonist, look no further than this book, because Amber fits the bill. There is honestly not much more that can be said about a book that has sold over one million copies. This certainly goes a long way to show that thousands upon thousands of other readers were just as captivated as I was. I couldn't even imagine where this story could go further, and since I had an early reader copy of The Next Mrs. Parrish I was able to find out, and find out I did. 

Since I was very late to the game, I had the delicious benefit of getting this compelling read, The Last Mrs. Parrish, as an audiobook from my library, which was expertly performed by two skilled narrators. Being able to listen to this book brought an already addictive read to life in such a way as I felt as if I was watching an excellently written and well-directed movie. 


ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

About Liv

Liv Constantine is the pen name of sisters Lynne Constantine and Valerie Constantine. Lynne and Valerie are Wall Street Journal and USA Today international bestselling authors with over one and a half million copies sold worldwide. They are Library Reads Hall of Fame authors.  Their books have been translated into 29 languages, are available in 34 countries, and are in development for both television and film.  Their books have been praised by The Washington Post, USA Today, The Sunday Times, People Magazine, and Good Morning America, among many others. Their debut novel, THE LAST MRS. PARRISH, is a Reese Witherspoon Book Club selection.



Lynne
Lynne is a former marketing executive with a master’s degree  from Johns Hopkins University. She has explored coral reefs all over the world, sunken wrecks in the South Pacific, and fallen in love with angelfish in the Caribbean. When Lynne’s not writing, you can find her curled up with her Labrador and Golden Retrievers reading a good book or walking the beach thinking up devious plans for her characters.

Lynne also writes The Jack Logan series under the pen name L.C. Shaw. To learn more about her other books, visit lcshawauthor.com or connect with her on Instagram or Twitter @LCShawAuthor.

Lynne serves as the Vice President, Education and Members Services of International Thriller Writers.

Valerie
Valerie has always loved books and spent many nights reading by the light of her bedside lamp until 3 a.m. She lives with her husband and their brilliant Cavalier King Charles DaVinci.

Early in her career she served as a White House Assistant in the President’s Scheduling and Advance Office planning presidential trips and travel and has visited over forty foreign countries. When she’s not writing, you won’t find her, as she and her husband will be traveling to some faraway destination. Valerie has a degree in English Literature from University of Maryland where she graduated summa cum laude.

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Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Review - A Country Wedding Murder

Title:    A Country Wedding Murder
Author:  Katie Gayle
Series:   Julia Bird Mysteries #5
Publisher:  Bookouture
Genre:   Cozy Mystery
Format:  Kindle ARC
No. of Pages:   238
Date of Publication:   March 13, 2024
My Rating:   5 Stars

DESCRIPTION:

The joyous crowd applauds as the happy couple strides down the aisle. This Cotswolds country wedding has everything – friends and family, beautiful flowers and… murder?

When Julia Bird’s ex-husband Peter and his lovely partner Christopher decide to get married in Berrywick, Julia is delighted – after all, who doesn't love a country wedding? Little does Julia know that normally calm and collected Christopher will turn into a full-on Groomzilla – and that by the end of the night, someone will end up dead.

The morning after the big day, the jolly nuptial mood turns grim when Julia discovers the lifeless body of the caterer, Desmond. Someone locked him in the cold truck and the poor man froze to death. Now looking for a murderer, all eyes are on Christopher who, mid-tantrum, had publicly threatened to kill him. Convinced that Christopher is innocent, Julia vows to find the real culprit.

Julia soon discovers Desmond had a long list of enemies as she races against the clock to clear Christopher’s name. Could his death be the work of the respected wedding planner who was heard exchanging choice words with the victim? Or perhaps it was his wife – ‘til death do them part – who didn’t shed a single tear at his funeral?

But just when Julia thinks she’s cracked the case, her prime suspect is found dead with a knife in their back. Can Julia find the murderer before they strike again?

An utterly gripping, charming cosy mystery set in the English countryside. Fans of M.C. Beaton, Faith Martin and Betty Rowlands will love the Julia Bird Mysteries.

MY THOUGHTS:

Julia Bird is soon to attend the wedding of her ex-husband Peter. With only a few glitches, the wedding takes place and the happy couple look forward to their future together. However, the next morning, the body of the caterer is discovered. His name was Desmond and he was shut in his refrigerator truck for an extended period of time, thus the man froze to death. Definitely foul play and Julia is determined to seek answers. 

Peter's new husband Christopher is one of the very first suspects that the police look into, and Julia is now bound and determined to prove Christopher's innocence, while also finding the actual killer. Just as Julia and the local police close in on the most likely suspect, another murder occurs, and they just might be back at square one. 

While all of this is going on, Julia is delighted that her daughter Jess is in town for the wedding. The two have a lot of time to make up for, and Julia strives to get closer to Jess. Julia and Jess's relationship makes this cozy mystery even more engaging as this adds another layer to a series that has been enjoyable right from the very start. Also, Julia's warm relationship with the local doctor Sean is also nice to read. Oh, this review would be remiss if I were not to mention Jake, Julia's wonderful chocolate Labrador Retriever. It was quite humorous to almost see Jake with a conscience when it came to his loyalty to Julia while clearly enamored with Jess. Yes, a fun story throughout.

Many thanks to Bookouture and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Katie Gayle is the writing partnership of best-selling South African writers, Kate Sidley and Gail Schimmel. Kate and Gail have, between them, written over ten books of various genres, but with Katie Gayle, they both make their debut in the cozy mystery genre. Both Gail and Kate live in Johannesburg, with husbands, children, dogs and cats. Unlike their sleuth Epiphany Bloom, neither of them have ever stolen a cat from the vet.

https://www.facebook.com/KatieGayleWriter
https://twitter.com/KatieGayleBooks

Sign up to be the first to hear about new releases from Katie Gayle here: https://www.bookouture.com/katie-gayle

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

BLOG TOUR - Take Two, Birdie Maxwell

Title:  Take Two, Birdie Maxwell
Author Allison Winn Scotch
Publisher:  Berkley Romance
Genre:   Romance
Format:  Kindle ARC
No. of Pages:   368
Date of Publication:   March 5, 2024
My Rating:   5 Stars
DESCRIPTION:

Hollywood’s biggest rom-com star tries to recover from her damaged reputation by staging her own rom-com and following a lead on a lost love.

Birdie Maxwell thought she’d gotten everything she wanted out of life: fame, adoration, and an A-list Hollywood career. But after an on-set feud goes viral, she leaves L.A. for the one place no one would think to find her: her hometown. There, she’s startled to stumble upon a love letter from a former boyfriend asking for a second chance--but there’s just one problem: the letter was unsigned and she’s not sure which ex sent it. Still, a public reunion with an ex-boyfriend could turn the wave of public opinion back in her favor. Life imitating art. What could go wrong? 

Elliot O’Brien, star reporter, knows life isn’t an actual rom-com. Case in point: He’s spent two decades suppressing his long-simmering feelings for his twin sister’s best friend, Birdie. But with his journalism career cratering and Birdie back in their hometown at the same time he is, he realizes chronicling her search for her long-ago ex may be his opportunity to right some wrongs.

As they hit the road in an ancient RV, Birdie and Elliot retrace her romantic history for clues as to who wrote the letter and come face to face with their own romantic missteps, all while grappling with whether happy endings are found only on the big screen--or whether their own happily-ever-after could be closer than they both ever imagined.


MY THOUGHTS:

A rom-com within a rom-com within a rom-com. Birdie Maxwell. Elliot O’Brien. Both have a need for professional salvation - Birdie, to restore her damaged reputation, Elliot to get back in good graces with his editor and to salvage his career as a reporter. As America's Sweetheart, Birdie always got her guy. However, her acting career is crashing quickly. Elliot is not doing so great himself professionally.
 
At some point, Birdie received an anonymous letter from someone not only saying they are not only her ex, but that they want a second chance. Birdie's publicist Imani knows exactly how to spin this situation to Birdie's advantage. Meanwhile, forced to flee back to her hometown, Birdie reconnects with her best friend Mona. Birdie also runs into Mona's twin brother Elliot, the one man Birdie never once stopped thinking about. As things turn out, Elliot needs to play an advantage as well. Just as Imani wants to use the letter when it comes to Birdie's career, Elliot's editor Francesca has a pitch of her own - or so it seems.

This second-chance romance takes the word trope to a new level. With Imani and Francesca each puppeteering their clients, Birdie and Elliot take flight on a whirlwind jaunt with hopes of finding the author of that anonymous letter. Both of their careers can be catapulted during this search - but there is a catch. And it is a big one at that. Both Birdie and Elliot have real feelings for one another - yet neither is prepared to own up to those feelings.

So, traveling in an old RV, with stop after stop, Birdie and Elliot are revisiting her past loves to see if they authored that letter. With family and friends who have the best of intentions, only time will tell whether or not Birdie and Elliot will find their way to each other, and find the true happiness that has eluded them for nearly two decades.

Do you love tropes as much as I do? Well, then definitely do not pass up Take Two, Birdie Maxwell. This was a truly delightful read, with charming characters and an equally charming plot. This book brought smile after smile to my face, even when I deduced the twist, but the book still gained great favor from me, earning a well-deserved 5 Star rating.

Many thanks to Berkley Romance and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

A little about me…

I had a perfectly normal, wonderful childhood spent in Charlottesville, Virginia and then later, Seattle, where I had a funny slightly-Southern drawl but otherwise found my calling among all the flannel and the grey skies. My mom was a teacher who encouraged us to read a lot (and used to send vocab words in the mail to camp over the summer), so I suppose the seeds of literature, coupled with an active imagination (hello, I could have SO been an actress) led me to one day believe that I could write fiction.

While earning my keep as a freelance magazine writer (all of those "10 Ways to a Better Life" articles you read? I wrote them on every subject, as well as had the good fortune to write hundreds of celebrity profiles, which I genuinely adored and met some amazing and talented people), I tucked away pockets of time toward a novel. Which, four years later, I finally finished. It was terrible. But I wrote another one that proved less so, and now, a decade later, I'm almost a dozen books deep. 

My ninth novel, The Rewind, pitched as THE HANGOVER meets WHEN HARRY MET SALLY, and is a return to my romantic comedy roots, was published November 1, 2022 by Berkley Books. It’s also currently in development at Netflix. (Yay!) My tenth book, Take Two, Birdie Maxwell, pitched as NOTTING HILL meets THE PROPOSAL, will be out in late 2023.  

Other Tidbits

My eighth novel, BETWEEN ME AND YOU, is currently in development with Kerry Washington’s production company and Audible.com. Stay tuned for the romantic comedy podcast in 2023. 

I graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a BA in Honors History and Concentration in Marketing from the Wharton School of Business.

When I'm not planted in front of the computer (go ahead: send me a note!), I'm hiking, running, doing yoga, reading, listening to music, negotiating with my teenagers, or hanging out with my family and our pooches, Hugo and Mr. Peanut.



Review - Happily Never After

Title:   Happily Never After
Author:  Lynn Painter
Publisher:  Berkley 
Genre:   Romance
Format:  Kindle ARC
No. of Pages:   304
Date of Publication:   March 12, 2024
My Rating:   4 Stars

DESCRIPTION:

Their name? The objectors.

Their job? To break off weddings as hired.

Their dilemma? They might just be in love with each other.

When Sophie Steinbeck finds out just before her nuptials that her fiancé has cheated yet again, she desperately wants to call it off. But because her future father-in-law is her dad’s cutthroat boss, she doesn’t want to be the one to do it. Her savior comes in the form of a professional objector, whose purpose is to show up at weddings and proclaim the words no couple (usually) wants to hear at their ceremony: “I object!”

During anti-wedding festivities that night, Sophie learns more about Max the Objector’s job. It makes perfect sense to her: he saves people from wasting their lives, from hurting each other. He’s a modern-day hero. And Sophie wants in.

The two love cynics start working together, going from wedding to wedding, and Sophie’s having more fun than she’s had in ages. She looks forward to every nerve-racking ceremony saving the lovesick souls of the betrothed masses. As Sophie and Max spend more time together, however, they realize that their physical chemistry is off the charts, leading them to dabble in a little hookup session or two—but it’s totally fine, because they definitely do not have feelings for each other. Love doesn’t exist, after all.

And then everything changes. A groom-to-be hires Sophie to object, but his fiancée is the woman who broke Max’s heart. As Max wrestles with whether he can be a party to his ex’s getting hurt, Sophie grapples with the sudden realization that she may have fallen hard for her partner in crime.


MY THOUGHTS:
 
The wedding that did not take place. The Objector. Who or what is The Objector? This is someone named Max who earns quite a pretty penny when the routine question is asked whether or not a wedding should take place. Max makes his objection at Sophie Steinbeck's wedding. As it stands, her fiancé had been cheating on her and she is more than relieved to be able to call off the wedding.

Three months pass and beyond drinks the night the wedding did not take place, Sophie and Max had not seen one another. However, Max has another job as an Objector coming up and needs Sophie to play his second. If she agrees, she can earn a lot of money.

As a friendship grows between Sophie and Max as they work together to stop a few weddings here and there, that friendship grows into more. However, as each of them is completely jaded about love, emotion definitely will not come into play even when the couple get closer and closer. Or will it? After all, sparks won't create real emotional feelings, or so it seems. Lynn Painter has written quite an enjoyable read, one that kept me entertained right from the start.

Many thanks to Berkley and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Lynn Painter lives in Omaha, Nebraska, with her husband and pack of wild kids. She is a community columnist for the Omaha World-Herald, as well as a regular blogger for their parenting section. When she isn’t reading or writing, she can be found eating her feelings and shotgunning cans of Red Bull.


Sunday, March 10, 2024

WEEKLY WRAPUP #4 - 2024

 

The Sunday Post is a blog news meme that is posted here @Caffeinated Reviewer. It is a chance to share news~A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received.  Share news about what is coming up on your blog for the week ahead. Join in weekly, bi-weekly or for a monthly wrap up.  See rules here:  Sunday Post Meme 


*HOW WAS MY WEEK*


This week started off good even though my medication insurance issue didn't get resolved until Thursday, but I was determined to continue my goal of reading at least one book each morning while diamond painting. Another goal that I have is to increase my NetGalley percentage by at least one percent each month, so I am working on mixing up reading current, upcoming and backlog ARCs each week. 


*LAST WEEK ON MY BLOG*


The Sapphire Daughter by Soraya Lane
Along the Shore by Rochelle Alers
The Wrong Family by Tarryn Fisher
Can’t We Be Friends by Denny S. Bryce & Eliza Knight
The Inmate by Freida McFadden
Bye, Baby by Carola Lovering
The New Couple in 5B by Lisa Unger
Leave No Trace by A. J. Landau


*WHAT’S ON MY CURRENTLY READING SHELF?*

ALL OF THESE BOOK COVERS ARE DIRECTLY LINKED TO GOODREADS:





*NEW ARRIVALS/APPROVALS*

ALL OF THESE BOOK COVERS ARE DIRECTLY LINKED TO GOODREADS:


  

 

  

  

    

  


*MARCH 2024 READS*


  



I am also doing a buddy read of Bleak House by Charles Dickens. 


 

*FINAL THOUGHTS*


Despite a couple of my meds being short for a couple of weeks, I count it as a good week. I was able to read ten books, and this was with a lot of napping. I did make great progress on my new diamond painting as well. It is called Family Circus and the artist is Richard Lorenz. The company is Diamond Art Club. I have not worked on jigsaw puzzles all week, although I did receive a 2000 piece puzzle board with drawers to review on my YouTube channel. I do plan on reviewing the puzzle board next week. Here is the diamond painting progress so far:


Did you notice my beautiful cats? They were printed by a friend as a surprise after she scoured my Facebook feed to look for my cat photos. She then printed them on special paper, which we call release papers. These papers protect the canvas as we are working on it. A very thoughtful gift.

Since I am having a couple of surgeries this month - a minor on Wednesday and a very serious one on March 25 - I plan on finishing this diamond painting in the next two weeks.

I had another win this week. My friend Jan Farnsworth has been telling me about a book tracking app called Bookly. I finally gave it a shot and I love how the statistics look.





So, my meds are straight, and I am looking forward to next week. I think the days of two books a day are out of reach right now, but as long as I can read at least one NetGalley ARC each day, I will be happy. I will continue to track my reading with Bookly as it is really nice to see these snapshots. Happy reading everyone!