Margot's Got Money Troubles Comes to TV, The Black Rose in Iowa Goes Online-Only, Obituary for Sophie Kinsella, I'll Meet You There in Cedar Rapids, IA, Obit Note for Joanna Trollope, Mobile Bookstore in Seattle, Book Lounge Opens in St Pete, FL, The Glass Maker by Tracy Chevalier, The Marriage Method by Mimi Matthews, Between Sisters by Kristin Hannah, and The Bookshop Below by Georgia Summers

Season's Greetings, people of the book. I'm sorry that I've been so remiss in posting to this blog, but on December 4, my husband died of alcoholism and organ failure at St Francis Hospital. During the prior months, he had been delusional and abusive, doing things that harmed not only himself but also terrorized his wife (me) and our son. So this month we've had to deal with tons of paperwork, arrangements for his cremation after his usable tissue and corneas were harvested, and wrestling with all the debt he left behind and all the secret accounts he opened due to paranoia and Korsakoff Syndrome that he developed toward the end of his life. So my grief has been leavened with relief that he is no longer tortured in body and mind with the effects of 40 plus years of heavy drinking. Rest in peace, finally, my husband of 28 years. Here's some news and reviews that have been gathering dust during the chaos of these past months.

 

 This looks like a wonderful series, especially for fans of some of these stellar actors.

I can hardly wait for the premier in the spring.

 

TV: Margo's Got Money Troubles

Apple TV has revealed the premiere date and shared a sneak peek

(via Variety) at its upcoming series Margo's Got Money Troubles,

based on the bestselling novel by Rufi Thorpe. Starring and executive

produced by Elle Fanning and Michelle Pfeiffer, the eight-episode series

will premiere globally on April 15, 2026 with three episodes, followed

by a new one each Wednesday through May 20.

The cast also includes Nick Offerman, Thaddea Graham, Marcia Gay Harden, Greg Kinnear, Michael Angarano, Rico Nasty, and Lindsey Normington. The project is from A24 and David E. Kelley, who serves as showrunner, writer, and executive producer. Dearbhla Walsh directs the pilot and will be an executive producer. Additional directors include Kate Herron and Alice Seabright.

The story: "Margo's Got Money Troubles is a bold, heartwarming and

comedic family drama following recent college dropout and aspiring

writer, Margo (Fanning), the daughter of an ex-Hooter's waitress

(Pfeiffer), and ex-pro wrestler (Offerman), as she's forced to make her

way with a new baby, a mounting pile of bills and a dwindling amount of

ways to pay them."

Though I'm saddened to hear that this bookstore has had to give up their location, I'm glad that they still have an online presence.

 

The Black Rose, West Branch, Iowa, Goes Online-Only

The Black Rose, a bookstore and cocktail lounge in West Branch, Iowa, has closed its bricks-and-mortar store and switched to an online-only business model, Little Village reported.

Owner Ashley Kofoed made the announcement on social media

on Sunday, writing: "This chapter was full of beauty, struggle,

laughter, long nights, and unforgettable moments--but like all stories,

it has reached its natural end. But endings are not the same as

disappearance. The Black Rose lives on--just in a different form."

Going forward, the Black Rose will continue to sell books online,

including blind dates with a book, special boxes, holiday drops, and

curated collections.

The bookstore and bar, which sold new and used titles, food, and craft

cocktails, opened earlier this year.

"Thank you for being part of this journey--whether you've visited once,

visited often, or found us from miles away through a screen," Kofoed

wrote. "The love you've shown us has meant more than you know. This

isn't a goodbye. It's a page turn."

Sophie Kinsella's books were like champagne, bubbly and light, but still with a warming, festive impact. RIP.

 

Obituary Note: Madeleine Wickham (Sophie Kinsella)

British author Madeleine Wickham, better known for her pen name Sophie Kinsella and bestselling novel Confessions of a Shopaholic, died December 10. She was 55. The Guardian reported that Wickham, "dubbed 'the queen of romantic comedy' by novelist Jojo Moyes, wrote more than 30 books for adults, children and teenagers, which have sold more than 45 million copies."

Wickham studied music at New College, Oxford, before switching to

philosophy, politics anI'll d economics. After graduation, she became a

financial journalist, but said she found the job dull. She wrote The

Tennis Party, her first novel, at 24.

"My overriding concern was that I didn't write the autobiographical

first novel," she told the Guardian in 2012. "I was so, so determined

not to write about a 24-year-old journalist. It was going to have male

characters, and middle-aged people, so I could say, look, I'm not just

writing about my life, I'm a real author."

She went on to write six more novels under her own name between 1995 and

2001, including Cocktails for Three, The Wedding Girl, Sleeping

Arrangements, and The Gatecrasher.

Wickham submitted her first manuscript written as Sophie Kinsella, The

Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic, without revealing her identity to her

publishers. The Guardian noted that the novel--published as Confessions

of a Shopaholic in some countries--was released in 2000 and became the

first of 10 installments in the Shopaholic series, with the first and

second novels being adapted into films.

Beginning in 2003, she wrote standalone novels as Sophie Kinsella,

including Can You Keep a Secret?, The Undomestic Goddess, Remember Me?, and, most recently, The Burnout (2023). She also created the children's

book series Mummy Fairy and Me, published between 2018 and 2020, as well as a YA novel, Finding Audrey (2015).

My mom is from a small town near Cedar Rapids, and she went into nurses training in a hospital in Cedar Rapids, where she met my father in 1957. I would love to visit this bookstore, it sounds lovely.

 

I'll Meet You There Opens in Cedar Rapids, Iowa

I'll Meet You There Bookstore and Coffee Shop has opened

in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Homegrown Iowan reported.

Located at 62 16th Ave. SW in the city's Czech Village neighborhood,

I'll Meet You There opened on Monday with a starting inventory of around

1,200 titles. Books are available for all ages, and the store features

comfortable seating and a children's corner. The coffee shop side of the

business is not yet open, but should be up and running within the next

week or two. It will serve tea, coffee, energy drinks, and assorted

pastries.

Store owners and sisters Lindsay McGrath and Jaymie McGrath named the

bookstore in honor of their mother, Mary Kay McGrath, who died in 2024.

She was an entrepreneur and property owner who helped revitalize Czech

Village; in 2018 she bought eight flood-damaged buildings in the

neighborhood and turned them into a candy store, ice cream shop, cafe,

and other businesses. "I'll meet you there" was a phrase she often said.

"From what I'm told, Mary Kay had always wanted to see a bookstore down

here," store manager Lucy Steele told Homegrown Iowan. "They felt the

time was right to honor her and do that."

I remember reading The Rector's Wife back when I was a teenager. RIP to a wonderful British cozy author.

 

Obituary Note: Joanna Trollope

Joanna Trollope, author of more than 30 novels "whose portrayals of British domestic life made her one of the nation's most widely read authors," died on December 11 at age 82, the Guardian reported. "Her early works, written under the pseudonym Caroline Harvey, were historical romances, but from the mid-1980s onward, she turned to contemporary fiction, a shift that would

define her reputation."

The Guardian observed that Trollope's breakthrough came with novels

"including The Rector's Wife, which in 1991 knocked leading authors off

the top of the charts, and later works including A Village Affair and

Mum & Dad, which tackled issues ranging from infidelity, remarriage,

parenthood and adoption to the strains on the so-called 'sandwich

generation' caring for both their children and their parents...

"Throughout the 1990s and '00s, she produced a succession of

bestsellers, including A Village Affair, Next of Kin, Other People's

Children and Marrying the Mistress. Many were adapted for television,

bringing her stories to an even wider audience. Explaining her success,

she said in a 1993 interview: 'I think my books are just the dear old

traditional novel making a quiet comeback.' "

A fifth-generation niece of author Anthony Trollope, she was honored

with an OBE in 1996 and later a CBE for services to literature.

Some criticized her for writing "Aga Sagas," middle-brow romances set in

the English countryside, but Trollope disputed the "patronising"

categorization, saying, "Actually, the novels are quite subversive,

quite bleak." The Guardian added, "Rather than fairytale versions of

domestic life, her books were praised by critics for their honest

reflections of ordinary people's dilemmas, addressing themes of broken

families, difficult relationships, love and betrayal."

Trollope's literary agent, James Gill, said, "It is with great sadness

that we learn of the passing of Joanna Trollope, one of our most

cherished, acclaimed and widely enjoyed novelists. Joanna will be

mourned by her children, grandchildren, family, her countless friends

and--of course--her readers."

I hope to get a chance to shop for books at this mobile bookstore, as it will remind me of the library bus that used to come around in some of the small towns in Iowa that I lived in as a child. Always a great time to be had looking for titles on a bus.

 

Lost the Plot Mobile Bookstore Hits the Road in Seattle

Lost the Plot mobile bookstore officially rolled out just before the holiday season to serve the greater Seattle, Wash., area with pop-ups, book swaps, crafting events, author signings, and more. Although the bookseller has been hosting pop-ups and events since last July, the fully finished converted

delivery truck hit the road just before Thanksgiving.

"Rooted in the belief that stories help us connect, the

bookstore-on-wheels brings bookish events, casual social gatherings, and

curated reads to breweries, markets, and local businesses throughout the

region," owner and founder Ashley Hoffman noted, adding that Lost the

Plot "transforms everyday spaces into hubs of community and curiosity.

Its shelves hold a carefully curated selection of adult fiction and

bookish items, with nearly all titles written by women, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+,

and/or disabled authors."

"I'm so glad that reading has become more popular again," said Hoffman.

"BookTok has brought so many new readers into the fold, but the stories

that get the most visibility still tend to come from a narrow group of

voices. I believe that immersing ourselves in diverse stories makes us

better, more empathetic people. With Lost the Plot, my goal is simple:

drive around the Puget Sound and help people discover their new favorite

books, especially the ones they might never stumble upon otherwise."

Based just north of Seattle, the mobile bookstore brings bookish events

and community-centered experiences to the Greater Seattle, Tacoma,

Everett, and Eastside areas. With a goal of creating welcoming,

low-pressure spaces where readers can gather, discover new stories, and

connect, Hoffman said "the response so far has reinforced something I

know many booksellers are seeing: readers are seeking connection just as

much as they're seeking books."

Wow, drinks and snacks and games AND books? Heavenly! If I still lived in St Pete, I'd be running to visit this new book lounge!

 

The Book Lounge Opens in St. Petersburg, Fla.

The Book Lounge, a bookstore and wine bar

in St. Petersburg, Fla., opened last month, the Gabber reported. Located at 631 Central Ave. in a 1,600-square-foot space, the Book Lounge carries mostly fiction titles with an emphasis on romance and fantasy. The bar sells wine and a variety of non-alcoholic drinks along with charcuterie boards and other small bites. The store also features board games and card games.

The Book Lounge is owned by mother/daughter team Natalya Calleja and

Pamela Calleja. The bookstore's earliest iteration was a blind date with

a book business that Pamela Calleja launched last year.

They held a ribbon cutting on November 8 that featured giveaways and

prizes and free bookish bags for the first 100 customers.

"As we celebrate our ribbon cutting, Pamela and I feel deeply grateful,"

Natalya Calleja wrote at the time. "This journey has been full of hard

work, long days, and lessons learned. None of it would have been

possible without the people who helped us along the way."

The Glass Maker by Tracy Chevalier is a historical slightly romantic novel with a paranormal time-traveling aspect that goes from odd to truly bizarre, and is never explained fully. Here's the blurb: 

“This charming fable is at once a love story that skips through six centuries, and also a love song to the timeless craft of glassmaking. Chevalier probes the fierce rivalries and enduring loyalties of Murano's glass dynasties, capturing the roar of the furnace, the sweat on the skin, and the glittering beauty of Venetian glass.” – Geraldine Brooks, author 

From the bestselling historical novelist, a rich, transporting story that follows a family of glassmakers from the height of Renaissance-era Italy to the present day.

It is 1486 and Venice is a wealthy, opulent center for trade. Orsola Rosso is the eldest daughter in a family of glassblowers on Murano, the island revered for the craft. As a woman, she is not meant to work with glass—but she has the hands for it, the heart, and a vision. When her father dies, she teaches herself to make glass beads in secret, and her work supports the Rosso family fortunes.

Skipping like a stone through the centuries, in a Venice where time moves as slowly as molten glass, we follow Orsola and her family as they live through creative triumph and heartbreaking loss, from a plague devastating Venice to Continental soldiers stripping its palazzos bare, from the domination of Murano and its maestros to the transformation of the city of trade into a city of tourists. In every era, the Rosso women ensure that their work, and their bonds, endure.

Chevalier is a master of her own craft, and The Glassmaker is as inventive as it is spellbinding: a mesmerizing portrait of a woman, a family, and a city as everlasting as their glass.

While I was fascinated to read about the history of family glassblowers and their traditions in Murano, Italy, I was jarred by the plot "skipping" forward over 600 years every few chapters, while the main character and her family don't age more than a handful of years, and are seemingly immune to the changes that time brings to the world, including wars and technological innovations. We, the readers, are supposed to believe that Orsola and her family live the way that they've always lived, and created glassworks as they always have, from the 15th century through to the 21st century. I just don't think, even living on an island, that it is possible to survive everything from the bubonic plague to COVID 19 without some kind of vaccination or "magic" to keep you alive. Especially while the world moves on around you, as it does here. Orsola finally realizes, in the end, that her one great love, whom she's not seen for 600 plus years, (he moved away from Murano) has been long dead, and that he sends a many times great grandson to Murano to meet her because she's a family legend. This grandson doesn't question why Orsola's still alive, but he does let her know that the glass dolphins she's received over the years from her former love have been made by successive family members, and not her guy, for centuries. So the book ends on a sad note, but still doesn't explain why Orsola and her family, many grandchildren and some contemporaries, have managed to survive and not age for so long. Still, I found the insights into glassmaking fascinating, and I was invested in the Rosso's shop and their endeavors to make a quality product. I'd give this bizarre novel a B-, and recommend it to anyone interested in Venetian glassmaking over the centuries.

 

The Marriage Method by Mimi Matthews is historical romantic fiction novel with plenty of witty banter and a lot of intrigue (and a mystery), as well as some sizzling romantic tension between the two main characters, who are forced by propriety into a marriage that ends up being a swift route to an actual love match. Here's the blurb: 

The Academy always comes first . . . which makes marriage to its most formidable adversary an exceedingly inconvenient arrangement.

Well removed from London’s more curious eyes, the Benevolent Academy for the Betterment of Young Ladies strives toward one clandestine goal: to distract, disrupt, and discredit men in power who would seek to harm the advancement of women—by appropriate means, of course.

When intrepid newspaper editor Miles Quincey starts to question the school’s intentions, the Academy appoints Penelope “Nell” Trewlove, one of their brightest graduates, to put this nuisance to rest. An easy enough mission, she supposes. Or it would be, if Miles wasn’t so fascinating—too fascinating to resist—and if Nell’s visit to London didn’t perfectly coincide with the murder of one of Miles’s reporters.

When the inexorable claws of fate trap Nell and Miles in a compromising situation, they agree to an arrangement that will save their reputations while enabling them to investigate the story that led to a man’s death, as well as the surprising chemistry between them

As is inevitable in most period pieces with romance, the male protagonist is a slender thread away from being a complete jerk and a bounder, who normally wouldn't be fit to lick the boots of the female protagonist, Nell, who is educated, well rounded in self defense techniques and spycraft (and saucy and smart enough to be worth 20 of Miles sneering newspapermen). However, eventually Miles comes to see her sterling value as a person and an Academy graduate, though she never reveals all of the Academy secrets that Miles is so anxious to publish in his newspaper to discredit the women trained therein. (Men are always great misogynists in historical fiction, especially the Victorians, which is ironic considering there's a woman on the throne in England). The prose was sleek and the plot swift and fascinating. I'd give this smart, fast paced novel an A-, and recommend it to anyone who likes spicy Victorian heroines.

 

Between Sisters by Kristin Hannah is a contemporary romantic women's fiction novel, full of warmth and the tenuousness of family ties. Here's the blurb:  "Hannah [brings] snap and a lot of warmth to a familiar lesson: that contentment comes from accepting each other’s flaws.”—People

Years ago, Meghann Dontess made a terrible choice that cost her everything, including the love of her sister, Claire. Now, Meghann is a highly successful attorney who doesn’t believe in intimacy—until she meets the one man who can change her mind. Claire Cavenaugh has fallen in love for the first time in her life. As her wedding day approaches, she prepares to face her strong-willed older sister. Reunited after more than two decades apart, these two women who believe they have nothing in common will try to become what they never were: a family.

Tender, funny, bittersweet, and moving, Between Sisters skillfully explores the profound joys and sorrows shared by sisters, the mistakes made in the name of love, and the promise of redemption—all beautifully told by author Kristin Hannah.
I enjoyed Meg and Claire's journey back to being sisters and making a family for each other, as well as finding love again. I thought that Hannah's prose was, as usual, sterling and stalwart, and her plot moved along at a clipped pace, though this book could have used a serious editor to slash out some of the padding in the nearly 500 pages. I'd give it a B, and recommend it to anyone who believes in second chances, especially after a cancer diagnosis.

 

The Bookshop Below by Georgia Summers  is a gorgeously produced book that attracted me as a reader and as someone who appreciates graphic artists and their work. The novel itself is an adventurous romantasy with dark and strange undertones that will keep most readers on edge. Here's the blurb: 

Below the streets of London, a secret network of magical bookshops has existed for millennia. But they’re slowly disappearing, and no one knows why. Only one dishonored bookseller can uncover the truth and rewrite her story—in this spellbinding standalone fantasy novel from the author of The City of Stardust. 

If you want a story that will change your life, Chiron’s bookshop is where you go. For those lucky enough to grace its doors, it’s a glimpse into a world of powerful bargains and deadly ink magic.

For Cassandra Fairfax, it’s a reminder of everything she lost, when Chiron kicked her out and all but shuttered the shop. Since then, she’s used her skills in less ethical ways, trading stolen books and magical readings to wealthy playboys and unscrupulous collectors. 

Then Chiron dies under mysterious circumstances. And if Cassandra knows anything, it’s this: the bookshop must always have an owner.

But she's not the only one interested. There's Lowell Sharpe, a dark-eyed, regrettably handsome bookseller she can't seem to stop bumping into; rival owners who threaten Cassandra from the shadows; and, of course, Chiron's murderer, who is still on the loose. 

As Cassandra tries to uncover the secrets her mentor left behind, a sinister force threatens to unravel the world of the magical bookshops entirely.

 I'm not sure why Summers felt the need to add the dark and sinister aspect of this book, and give it a horrific edge, but I wasn't expecting that and was disappointed by the murderous and deadly atmosphere that took the book away from its interesting adventures and into grim murder mystery territory. It also made the plot murky and dangerous, but not in a way that was readily apparent. Hence, I found the confusing prose and the odd plot off putting, and at one point I considered not finishing the book because it was seemingly going nowhere. Eventually things picked up and resolved, but the author makes you work for it, which is not something I look for in books that are supposed to be entertaining. Hence I'd give this lovely but disappointing tome a B-, and only recommend it to those who like "Dark and Grim" fantasy novels with lots of bizarre loose ends in the plot.