Lonesome Dove Comes to TV, Reading With Ann Aguirre, Paper Ghosts by Sarah Addison Allen, The Hocus Pocus Handbook by Ann Aguirre, The Last Restaurant in Paris by Lily Graham, Level Up for Love by Leonora Woods, and Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz

Welcome to the third week of September, and falls chill is already in the air. I've been feeling pretty awful, but now that I have a weekly appointment for paracentisis, I'm trying to get myself used to dealing with the after-effects and the pain meds that I've got to take to deal with my gut and knee pain. Fingers crossed that my second visit to an ortho doc will provide me with answers, or at least a way to get some answers, so I don't have to spend the rest of my life on narcotic pain medication and using a cane or walker to get around. I'm a tough old bird, and my 65 year old body is really challenging me right now. Anyway, here's some tidbits and more than a few reviews.

 

I remember reading this book decades ago, and being surprised at how much I liked it...I believe I even gave a copy to my Western-fiction loving grandpa Lang. I hope that this new series lives up to the book.

 

TV: Lonesome Dove

 

Netflix has green lighted Lonesome Dove, a limited series based on Larry McMurtry's classic novel. Deadline reported that the indie studio Teton Ridge Entertainment "had previously announced acquisition of the rights to the Lonesome Dove literary franchise for film and television. It brought in Kazan and Stuart to write the adaptation and took the package out in late April. By early May, in a very competitive situation, Lonesome Dove had landed at Netflix with a straight-to-series order."

The project is envisioned as an ongoing series. Lonesome Dove was

previously adapted as a hit 1989 CBS miniseries, starring Robert Duvall

and Tommy Lee Jones. It won a Peabody, seven Emmys, and two Golden

Globes. Subsequent books in the Lonesome Dove series were also adapted

into miniseries.

Kazan and Stuart were co-showrunners for Netflix's upcoming East of Eden

series, based on John Steinbeck's novel and written by Kazan. Starring

Florence Pugh, that project premieres October 1.

"After our singular experience on East of Eden, we are thrilled to be

teaming with Netflix again, along with Teton Ridge Entertainment, to

bring Larry McMurtry's western classic to life," Kazan and Stuart said

in a statement. "We come to this material with love and respect, and

can't wait to hit the trail with Gus and Call and the rest of these

beloved characters. Yee-haw."

Jinny Howe, Netflix head of scripted series, U.S., Canada, Australia,

and New Zealand, said, "Lonesome Dove is one of the great American

stories, and there was no question we wanted to follow Zoe and Jeb

wherever they went next. After East of Eden, we know exactly what

they're capable of--the depth of character, the sweep of place, the

emotional precision. This material deserves that level of care. In their

hands, it's going to be something extraordinary. We're excited to

partner with Teton Ridge to bring this legendary story to life."

I've read most everything Ann has written, especially her science fiction and science fiction/romance hybrids, which are surprisingly steamy. I just finished her latest, The Hocus Pocus Handbook, a couple of days ago, and I was surprised at how slow the pace was and how disagreeable the characters were. Still, I didn't chuck it when the going got tough. I enjoyed reading about her reading past and her favorite books, however, and I feel like if we ever met we'd have a lot in common to chat about.

Reading with... Ann Aguirre

Ann Aguirre is the author of numerous bestselling adult and YA novels. She volunteers regularly and is enrolled in graduate school for clinical mental health counseling. The Hocus Pocus Handbook (Sourcebooks Casablanca, September 1, 2026) features a sunshine-shadow slow burn, an unforgettable found family, and a world lush with wildcraft magic. It's a cozy fae fantasy romance perfect for fans of Heather Fawcett's Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries and T. Kingfisher.

On your nightstand now:

My reading is quite eclectic these days. I'm reading Man's Search for

Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl for grad school, and I suspect that text

requires no introduction from me. Incredibly powerful. I have The Deep

by Alma Katsu playing whenever I'm in a vehicle. Alma's books make me

feel like I'm swimming through deep water and struggling to catch my

breath. I am also reading The Fallen Fruit by Shawntelle Madison, and

she's both a good friend and a tremendously talented writer. The Fallen

Fruit is tender, clever, brilliant, and heartfelt, and I am nibbling the

story rather than devouring it to make it last longer.

Favorite book when you were a child:

Oh gosh. Picking just one will be tough, as I was a voracious reader.

But it has to be A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. That book

opened the door to so many possibilities because Meg was allowed to be

who she was. She didn't need to be smaller or quieter or less than

herself to make friends and go on adventures. That book means a great

deal to me, even to this day.

Your top five authors:

Since I tend to be a mood reader, it depends. But writers I return to

include Kate Elliott, Skyla Dawn Cameron, Beverly Jenkins, Sharon Shinn,

and Courtney Milan. Those are listed in no particular order; I mentioned

them as I thought of them. Kate Elliott offers something to love for all

fantasy readers. I am obsessed with the Waverly Jones mystery series by

Skyla Dawn Cameron. Beverly Jenkins has so many gorgeous romances, but

most people are drawn in by Indigo and stay for the sparkling backlist.

As for Sharon Shinn, I'll talk about her more in a bit. Finally,

Courtney Milan writes historical romances that are lush and addictive.

Book you've faked reading:

I have a degree in English literature, which means it would be more

fruitful to ask what books by old white men that I did not fake reading.

But seriously, I couldn't finish a darn thing by Thomas Hardy. I was

supposed to read multiple books, including Tess of the d'Urbervilles.

Even the synopsis for that one aggravates me.

Book you're an evangelist for:

First, some backstory: A long while ago, I boldly proclaimed, "I do not

like vampire stories." People would name titles and I would shake my

head. "Read it. Not for me." Famous vampires. Funny vampires. Scary

vampires. Sexy vampires. None of them sparkled in my eyes. Then one

reader finally recommended a book I hadn't read. Sunshine by Robin

McKinley. I could write an entire post about this book. I inhaled it and

desperately wanted more. After that, I discovered more vampire books

that I could enjoy, but Sunshine was the gateway novel. Now imagine me

in reader forums: Think you don't like vampire stories? Try Sunshine!

Book you've bought for the cover:

Lovely covers work. If a book has sufficient dazzle, I want to put a

physical copy on my shelf. The last two books to wow me in that regard

were Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett and The

Crescent Moon Tearoom by Stacy Sivinski. Both of these books exude a

delicate prettiness and cozy charm, and they're both on my mantel right

now.

Book you hid from your parents:

Anything with sex in it, including multiple library books by Judy Blume;

Wifey and Forever spring to mind. I had to dig deep for this next one,

but my best friend and I also acquired a movie tie-in novel for a film

called Little Darlings by Sonia Pilcer. We read the story long before we

were allowed to watch R-rated movies.

Book that changed your life:

Earlier, I promised to talk more about Sharon Shinn. I encountered The

Shape-Changer's Wife in the basement of a gaming shop in Muncie, Ind. I

spent my last few dollars buying it and loved it so much that I even

read her bio. I saw that Shinn was a woman living in the Midwest.

Nothing about her background made me think she was already famous or had connections prior to selling her book. Before, I had been told "you have

to know people" or "only famous people get book deals." Seeing her book

made me believe I could do it too. I became a huge fan and bought

everything she published as I wrote my own material. When I finally sold

my first book in 2007, I marshaled my courage and e-mailed her.

Readers, she blurbed me.

Favorite line from a book:

I was a precocious reader, and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë was my

first classic--at the age of eight. That year, I also read multiple

titles by Charles Dickens and Alexandre Dumas, who was, I confess, a

little grim for young Ann. I read with a pocket dictionary nearby,

earnestly looking up unfamiliar words, and it was one of the best things

I have ever done for my brain. For that reason alone, I must quote Jane

Eyre, because I was so wildly impressed with Jane's fierce spirit: "I am

no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an

independent will, which I now exert to leave you."

Five books you'll never part with:

Four signed books by Sharon Shinn: Royal Airs, Troubled Waters, Unquiet

Land, and Jeweled Fire. These have personal notes inscribed and they

mean the world to me. As I mentioned before, I was a fan first and then

we became colleagues. Now, decades on, I consider her a friend as well,

and I feel so lucky to have received the benefit of her wisdom and

generosity. The other title is less personal but no less invaluable for

other reasons. My updated copy of Merriam-Webster's dictionary remains

as critical to me today as it was when I was eight.

Book you most want to read again for the first time:

This is a great question! As a kid, I was so enthralled by The

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, and I wish I could

return to that moment and experience the wonder all over again.

Book that made you realize writing is a job:

In elementary school, I won a writing competition and went to regionals,

where I met Shel Silverstein. He read to us from Where the Sidewalk

Ends, and it occurred to me that he probably got paid to write that

book. He might even be getting paid to read to us. Which meant writing

was a job, a job that I could do also. From that moment on, I never

wanted to do anything else.

Paper Ghosts by Sarah Addison Allen is a magical realism ghost story that reads a lot like the original Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman. I've long stated that SAA is the Southern version of Hoffman, with both writing superb prose about spooky subjects and the women who have to deal with them. Here's the blurb: Part ghost story, part love story and steeped in magical realism, Paper Ghosts will transport you to a place where old secrets echo through the years and love finds a way of bringing us home.

Every family has its secrets . . .The Wester women live inside theirs.

For decades, the women of Wester House have unsettled and fascinated their small, timeless North Carolina town. Their home is full of whispers, old griefs, and uncanny knowing. But when Willamena Wester reaches out to the granddaughter she once pushed away, long-buried truths begin to stir.

1976: Restless young Willamena falls for a stranded musician who brings freedom and the promise of another life to her carefully controlled world. Their brief, incandescent love story promises to escape the pull of the Wester legacy until Willamena makes a fateful choice that changes her life forever.

Present day: Returning home is the last thing Bailey Wester wants. Yet as she reconnects with Willamena, the grandmother she feared, Bailey begins to understand the love, heartbreak, and impossible choices that shaped the women in her family and realizes the past may not have been trying to haunt them after all. A luminous novel filled with Sarah Addison Allen’s stunning prose and signature blend of romance, Southern charm, and wonder, Paper Ghosts reminds us that in order to have the future we really want, sometimes we need to live with the past, and not let go of it.

 

 Because I'm from the same era as Wills Wester, I enjoyed her part of the story the most, though I definitely understood how the women who came after her had such a difficult time with their ghost-seeing skills and their dealings with evil men. I love that SAA always champions women in her novels, just like Hoffman does, because there are so few authors who do that anymore. Most make excuses for rapists and pedophile men, and blame the victimized women involved because of the baked in misogyny in society. As I said before, this books plot moves at a rather sedate pace, and while the prose is wonderful, you have to be patient for the payoff, because SAA makes you wait for it. I'd give this novel a B+ and recommend it to anyone who likes Alice Hoffman's witchy magical realism. 

 

The Hocus Pocus Handbook by Ann Aguirre is a cozy witchy rom com that will thrill readers with its fast pace and fascinating characters. Here's the blurb: 

From author Ann Aguirre comes a cozy fae fantasy romance featuring a sunshine-shadow slow burn, a grumpy-but-secretly-tender love interest, an unforgettable found family, and a world lush with wildcraft magic. Perfect for fans of T. Kingfisher and Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries.

Thea Winter didn't choose to be a changeling ― stolen from the mortal world as a baby, raised in the wildlands by a hobgoblin named Mudge who taught her everything worth knowing. How to read the weather in a crow's wing. How to barter with brownies. How to stay alive in a world of capricious fae courts. What Mudge couldn't teach her was how to stay out of trouble. Which is why she's entangled in a objectionable marriage of convenience.

Or would be, but her spouse bolted. Now she has to hunt down Devan J. Fenelon, but she's been saddled with a taciturn, humorless hunter known as Winter's Hound. He answers only to his cousin, and she's not looking forward to this quest at all. 

Kerboros has survived the Winter Court by being exactly what they made him: relentless, invisible, and careful never to want anything at all. His life is an endless series of ceaseless commands from his reprehensible cousin, Lord Liskaal. Since his father's failed rebellion, Kerboros has been permitted to survive only as an example to others, an object lesson as to how far one may fall. But traveling with Thea―wild, warm, impossible Thea―is a glorious torment for an enforcer who has never known freedom. 

She is sunshine. He is shadow.

Their love is forbidden, but when irresistible force sweeps up an immovable object, the resulting reaction might be magical.

  

I enjoyed how much Mudge loved Thea, and sent her out into the world with a handbook full of spells and good advice, and reassurance that, though she was a changeling, she was loved her entire life. Kereboros is an interesting character, but he's a bit of a trope of the big, muscular military guy who believes himself beyond redemption until he falls for the female protagonist who is all manic pixie dream girl to his brooding shadowy guilt. BORING. He seems to fall for her at fist sight, which I find hard to believe, and she seems unaware of it for quite awhile, which, in the context of the novel, also seems a bit hard to swallow. Still, there's a lot of fun magic happening and a decent HEA for readers at the end. I'd give it a B+ and recommend it to fans of revamped fairy tales.

 

The Last Restaurant in Paris by Lily Graham is a historical (WWII) fiction novel that is told from the rare perspective of a seeming French collaborator who opens a restaurant with the help of some high ranking Nazi officers, and runs a resistance cell right beneath their noses. Here's the blurb: Paris 1944. To save her people, she served the enemy.

In enemy-occupied Paris, as the locals go to bed starving and defeated by the war, music and laughter spill through the door of a little restaurant crowded with German soldiers. The owner Marianne moves on weary feet between its packed tables, carrying plates of food for the enemy officers. Her smile is bright and sparkling, her welcome cordial. Nobody would guess the hatred she hides in her heart.

One night the restaurant closes its doors for the final time. In the morning, the windows are scratched with the words traitor and murderer. And Marianne has disappeared without a trace…

Years later, Marianne’s granddaughter Sabine stands under the faded green awning of the restaurant left to her by the grandmother she never met. She knows she isn't welcome.  Marianne was hated by the locals, and when Sabine discovers they blamed her for the terrible tragedy that haunts the restaurant, she is ready to abandon her dark legacy.  Then she finds a hidden passport  with a picture of a woman who looks like her grandmother but has a different name, and she knows there must be more to Marianne’s story.

As Sabine digs into the past, she starts to wonder if her grandmother was a heroine, not a traitor. What happened to her after the tragic night when she fled from her restaurant? And will the answer change Sabine's own life forever? 

 

I was fascinated by Marianne's story because it is one we don't often read about in historical fiction. Usually we just read of the heroes of the resistance and the evil Nazi's who killed everyone they came in contact with. In this tale, we read about a woman who lost her beloved and her family to the Nazi regime, and instead of lashing out immediately, she decides to take the long view and work to get the officers who destroyed her life, all at once, by poisoning their food. She's the only one who knows about this plan, therefore the townspeople believe he was just another evil collaborator who accidently brought harm to her co conspirators. Her granddaughter, years later, begins researching the time and the incident, and soon discovers what her grandmother did to save the townspeople and to get justice for her family. Though its a hard book to read, the prose is sterling and the plot moves at a brisk pace. I'd give it a B, and recommend it to anyone interested in WWII fiction that takes place in occupied Paris.

 

Level Up For Love by Leonora Woods is a contemporary romantic comedy, and I will be blunt and say that if you are over the age of 40, you might have trouble understanding the games and terms used in this novel. I'm over 60, so I got hopelessly lost several times. But then, I've never been a Dungeons and Dragons player, or a player of video games, like my son. Here's the blurb: Sparks fly as two former college rivals are forced together for a new D&D campaign—clashing both in and out of the game—in this fusion of contemporary second-chance romance and fantasy from the author of Roll for Romance.

In college, Reagan Riley and Wesley Locke were constantly at each other’s throats, competing to be the best in their video game design program—until Wesley ghosts her after their unexpected hookup, severing their ties for good.

Six years later, Reagan has set aside her game design dreams, opting instead to stay close to her family in Connecticut and channel her creative energy into D&D. When her longstanding group falls apart, she and her sister join their local game store's new advanced campaign—only to find the demanding Dungeon Master at the helm is none other than Wesley. In the game, he is Vadrien, a merciless, power-hungry vampire lord, and Reagan is Sindra, the sword-wielding lady knight who will stop at nothing to cut him down.

When a game design opportunity opens up in the real world, Reagan and Wesley find themselves doubly pitted against each other. But as their buried spark reignites and Reagan starts to question why Wesley left all those years ago, can they find a way to play nice—and are they playing for more than just to win? 

 

To be honest, I really hated the male protagonist, Wesley, because he was a total jerk and a snob throughout the book, and yet Reagan somehow fell for him just the same, though I couldn't tell you why. It must be another case of "too good looking to ignore" and "wealthy guy of my dreams pays attention to me." Of course, in the end, its the female protagonist who gives up on winning her dreams in favor of saving a guy's ego, which was already massive, because she feels he needs it more than she does...boo hoo. Smug bastard doesn't deserve to win, nor does he deserve all the time and attention and expertise that she lends him in getting his game together for the competition. Ugh. Even the HEA was kind of lame here. I'd give this sour and sad romance a C+, and only recommend it to those who like smug jerks who win out over talented young women in the end.

 

Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz is a cozy, funny science fiction novella about a group of robots who are trying to keep a noodle kitchen open during post apocalyptic times. Here's the blurb: A cozy near-future novella about a crew of leftover robots opening their very own noodle shop, from acclaimed sci-fi author Annalee Newitz.

You don’t have to eat food to know the way to a city’s heart is through its stomach. So when a group of deactivated robots come back online in an abandoned ghost kitchen, they decide to make their own way doing what they know: making food―the tastiest hand-pulled noodles around―for the humans of San Francisco, who are recovering from a devastating war.

But when their robot-run business starts causing a stir, a targeted wave of one-star reviews threatens to boil over into a crisis. To keep their doors open, they’ll have to call on their customers, their community, and each other―and find a way to survive and thrive in a world that wasn’t built for them. 

 

Fair warning, this novella will make you hungry, and let you learn more about how to hand-pull noodles than you ever thought possible. I fell in love with Hands and Staybehind and the whole gang, all so earnest in their desire to feed the city the best noodles ever made. This is one of those books that stays with you, not just because of the evocative prose, but also because the plot is not a straight line, and when you reach the end, you're hungry for more. I'd give this sublime novel an A, and recommend it to those who enjoy the books of TJ Klune and Becky Chambers and Martha Wells. You won't regret spending an afternoon with these fantastic robots. 

The Bell Jar (Plath) Movie, Thus With a Kiss, I Die by Christina Dodd, A Seer and Present Danger by Devon Monk, The Ending Writes Itself by Evelyn Clarke, What the Wind Knows by Amy Harmon, In the Likely Event by Rebecca Yarros, and Where Angels Fear by Mackenzie Kasey

Greetings fellow book dragons! It's the start of my favorite time of year, the "ber" season, with September, October, November and December. This December 4 will be the first anniversary of my husband's death, and my son has planned a "celebratory" party in honor of his demise, as my husband, by the time he died, was demented and abusive and generally an awful human being. 

Anyway, Nick and I also have birthdays coming up, Nick in November and me in December.Then there is the holidays, and this year Nick's beloved fiance Sylvie is going to share the Christmas holidays with us, which will be quite a treat. 

Meanwhile, though, my health has been rough and I'm struggling to get help through the maze of hospital and doctor bureaucracy. Hopefully things will smooth out in the next month or so. 

I've got a lot of reviews, but only one tidbit, so lets get going, and enjoy the upcoming cozy sweater weather! 

I read the Bell Jar as a teenager and found it very profound. I'm curious to see what this new adaptation does with it.

 

Movies: The Bell Jar

Focus Features has wrapped production on its adaptation of Sylvia

Plath's novel The Bell Jar directed by Oscar winner Sarah Polley, and starring Billie Eilish and Carey Mulligan, Deadline reported. 

The project marks 10-time Grammy winner Eilish's movie acting debut,

playing the lead role of Esther Greenwood, with Mulligan as Mrs.

Greenwood, Danielle Deadwyler as Dr. Nolan, Dylan Hawco as Buddy

Willard, Lili Taylor as Jay Cee, Ella Beatty as Joan, Maggie Kuntz as

Doreen, Ike Barinholtz as Lenny, and Connor Storrie as Marco.

Polley directed from her own adapted screenplay in her first film since

winning the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for Women Talking in 2023.

The film is produced by Plan B, Studiocanal and Joy Coalition.

Thus With a Kiss, I Die by Christina Dodd is a Shakespearean take on modern "enemies to friends" romance, with some mystery thrown in for good measure. Dodd has taken the play Romeo and Juliet into the future, where neither dies, but instead create a large family of children (9!) while trying to keep the daughters chaste and the sons from harming themselves or others. Here's the blurb: The delightfully irreverent eldest daughter of the not-so-ill-fated Romeo and Juliet returns to sleuth another day in fair Verona, in this hugely entertaining historical mystery series with a refreshingly bold premise.

“Woe, for I am the bug that meets the windshield's might,
No longer the speeding glass, smooth, clean and bright . . .”

You’re right. I, Rosie Montague of Verona, am lousy at iambic pentameter and Shakespeare speak, but you get the point: Sometimes you’re the windshield and sometimes you’re the bug. I, who for my whole life, have cruised along, unruffled by life’s trials, am suddenly smashed flat and speeding recklessly up the WhattheHellHappened Highway.

I’m 20-years-old and by my own design, never been wed, free as no married woman ever is. I’m beautiful, but without conceit, for Juliet, my legendary Mamma is the most gorgeous creature to ever walk the earth. Just ask Romeo, my legendary Papà. (Rumors of their deaths were premature.) I was heartwhole until I fell (literally) in love with Lysander of the House of Beautiful. But our love was not to be, for I was thwarted by Escalus, the Prince of Verona . . . who had designs on me. I’m trapped.

Then! I’m presented with a solution. Escalus’s father, Prince Escalus the Elder, appears to me. He tasks that I find his killer. Did I mention Elder is a ghost?

Given that I only recently dispatched Verona’s first serial killer, I’m less than pleased. Yet Elder promises to unite me with my One True Love, so I gather clues. Meanwhile, revolution threatens, for beneath Verona society’s glittering surface lurk dark shadows—and an enemy eager to make me a tragic heroine in my own right. 

 

 This is one of those books that will keep you engrossed from page one all the way through to the end. I loved the witty banter and the solid plot that never wavers, though it does take a few quick detours. I'd give it a B+ and recommend it to anyone who likes their Shakespeare with a large dose of humor and romance.

 

A Seer and Present Danger by Devon Monk is another small town cozy mystery by Oregon's own magical Agatha Christie. Monks prose is as clean and precise as a scalpel, and her plots are swift and intelligent and engrossing. Here's the blurb:  

A delightfully twisty, magic-packed cozy whodunit by Devon Monk

Come for the dining…stay for the criming (LOL)

Piper Themati is a waitress and seer who see flashes of futures that might come true. She’s gotten good at interpreting her quirky visions, but lately they’ve been static-filled and confusing.

When she stumbles upon a dead body outside the diner and her friend is there with blood on her hands, Piper has a choice: mind her own business and let the police solve the crime, or jump in with her unreliable power to try and clear her friend’s name.

Piper and her besties Medusa (yes, that Medusa) and Jules (the town’s most powerful witch) are on the case. But to catch a killer, Piper’s going to have to out think a magical thief, stay one step ahead of the police, and take on a power dangerous enough to stop time 

 

I always think Monk's books are too short, because I enjoy them so much, but this book really was a slender 241 pages, which is nothing in today's book market of hefty 400-600 page tomes. Still, everything wraps up nicely and by the time you've finished, you're ready for the next installment of the Ordinary Oregon series of books. I'd give it an A, and recommend this delightful tome to anyone who has read any of the other books in the series.

 

The Ending Writes Itself by Evelyn Clarke is a thriller/suspense/mystery that I was expecting to find irreverent and interesting, but instead found that the plot slowed to a crawl about halfway through, before picking up speed close to the ending. Here's the blurb: 

Six authors.

One private island.

Seventy-two hours to write the ending that will change their lives.

Arthur Fletch, one of the world’s bestselling novelists, is a reclusive genius known for his iconic protagonists and fiendish twists. When six struggling authors are invited to spend a weekend on his private Scottish island, they arrive to discover a shocking secret: Arthur Fletch is dead . . . and his last book is unfinished.

Desperate to publish the novel, Fletch’s agent and editor have summoned these writers in the hope that one of them will imagine a worthy ending for this final book. To sweeten the deal, they are offering an irresistible prize: in addition to ghost-writing the last chapter––for a mind-boggling sum––they will also help the lucky writer successfully re-launch their own career, guaranteeing future bestsellers. The catch: the writers have just seventy-two hours to finish Fletch’s magnum opus.

It’s the perfect plot. All it needs is a killer ending.

Due to the redundancy of going over each character's faults and foibles again and again, I was fairly bored by the time I reached the anticlimactic ending. The idea of the book is a good one...kind of like the game of Clue, but with less panache. The two authors who collaborated on this tepid novel seemed to have wanted to go in two different directions, and in so doing, made a muddle of the plot and the action, to the point where most readers would get exasperated and just toss the book out altogether. Still, I'd give it a B-, and recommend it to die hard mystery fans yearning for something "new" in the mystery genre...though with all the tropes used, it's hardly treading new ground.

 

What the Wind Knows by Amy Harmon (I am assuming no relations to Mark Harmon or Angie Harmon) is an historical romance fiction book with a bit of science fiction that involves time travel. Here's the blurb: 

In an unforgettable love story, a woman’s impossible journey through the ages could change everything…

Anne Gallagher grew up enchanted by her grandfather’s stories of Ireland. Heartbroken at his death, she travels to his childhood home to spread his ashes. There, overcome with memories of the man she adored and consumed by a history she never knew, she is pulled into another time.

The Ireland of 1921, teetering on the edge of war, is a dangerous place in which to awaken. But there Anne finds herself, hurt, disoriented, and under the care of Dr. Thomas Smith, guardian to a young boy who is oddly familiar. Mistaken for the boy’s long-missing mother, Anne adopts her identity, convinced the woman’s disappearance is connected to her own.

As tensions rise, Thomas joins the struggle for Ireland’s independence and Anne is drawn into the conflict beside him. Caught between history and her heart, she must decide whether she’s willing to let go of the life she knew for a love she never thought she’d find. But in the end, is the choice actually hers to make?

 

There's a lot of apologizing for the crimes of the IRA herein, whom Harmon seems to feel were forced to become bloody thugs who bombed and shot innocent people for merely being the wrong religion (which is the opposite of what religions supposedly for), and who tore families and lives apart. This was obviously not the case, and though Irish independence was a great idea and ideal, there were too many hot headed men involved with differing agendas for it to ever work, at least right away. Ireland has been, and is currently, broken in half, with the Southern part of the country fiercely independent and loath to talk about the horrors of the British occupation, and Northern Ireland, which is occupied by Irish protestants who are still loyal to the British Crown. Even after all these decades, there's still a great deal of animosity between the northern protestants and the southern catholics, sadly. When my best friend and I visited Ireland 26 years ago, there were local Irish people who were astounded that we were friends at all, considering she was catholic and I was protestant. There are more than a few infodumps in this novel, and a romance that is too light and airy for a novel of this kind. Still, I'd give it a B, and recommend it to anyone wanting to know more about Irish history and "the troubles."

 

In The Likely Event by Rebecca Yarros is a contemporary romance with a lot of military action from the current Middle East wars woven throughout. Here's the blurb: 

From the author of Fourth Wing, (though it was a hit I didn't like it, and found it derivative), Rebecca Yarros, comes a sweeping romance about the sustained power of chance encounters.

When Izzy Astor gets on a plane to go home, she isn’t expecting much. It’s the usual holiday travel experience: busy, crowded, stressful.

Then she spots her seatmate, who is anything but ordinary. Nate Phelan sports dark hair, blue eyes, and a deliciously rugged charm that Izzy can’t resist. Their connection is undeniable. Izzy never believed in destiny before, but she does now.

Just ninety seconds after takeoff, their plane goes down in the Missouri River.

Their lives change. They change. Nate goes on to a career in the military while Izzy finds her way into politics. Despite a few chance encounters over the years, the timing never feels right.

Then comes a high-stakes reunion in Afghanistan, where Nate is tasked with protecting Izzy’s life.

He’ll do anything to keep her safe. And everything to win her heart.

Sadly the two main characters fall into the dreaded ancient tropes of "Big he-man keeps his cool in a crisis and saves the female from harm" and "female protagonist loses whatever spine she had once she sets foot on an airplane and requires rescue like a damsel in distress every single time she runs into big he-man." UGH. The romance is, however, just spicy enough to seem realistic, and the book becomes a page-turner about halfway through, which surprised me. I was certainly a better book than 4th Wing, her rip-off of Anne McCaffrey (RIP)'s dragonriders of Pern series. I'd give this odd duck of a novel a B, and recommend it to anyone who longs to be in the right place at the right time for romance, but just can't seem to get there.

 

Where Angels Fear by Mackenzie Kasey is a paranormal angel romance that starts out to be a decent story of a psychic trying to save the world from evil, but it slowly devolves into a sappy and unbelievable romance with a dumb ending. Here's the blurb: One volatile psychic-in-training and one sexy fallen angel seeking redemption stand between the mortal world and the forces of evil. Better start praying.

Storm O’Malley’s psychic gifts are a time bomb waiting to go off. She has one last chance to avoid being completely wiped from existence after nearly killing her latest angelic mentor: trusting yet another Pathlighter to train her where his predecessors have failed. There’s just one small catch. Damien’s no ordinary angel—he’s the Fallen.

Fallen as in used to rub elbows with Lucifer and work for the shady syndicate known as the Diablerie. Seems he’s now seeking redemption and needs her just as much as she needs him. Storm must join forces with this sinfully sexy angel if she’s to have any hope of training her volatile powers without killing herself or others. Not to mention stop a kidnapper abducting children on the cusp of psychic manifestation before any more can be taken. No pressure or anything. 

I always wonder, when reading romances that involve angels (who are nearly always super-handsome guys), why the authors never seem to have done any research into the heirarchy of angels or their characteristics, from seraphim and cherubim to angels and dominions. Texts describing angels don't have them sounding like supermodels ready for the runway. Most are described in terrifying terms, like having many mouths, multiple genitals, claws, echoing voices or halos of light refracting around them. They're never terrifying or alien in any of the YA or adult paranormal romance books, instead they're beautiful and sexy and all too willing to bed a regular human being, something that was verboten by the Almighty about a thousand or so years ago. Angels were not humans transformed, no, they were God's messengers, invisible, usually, to humans and more voyeuristic than sexually attracted to immature human females. Still, this book was a fast read that I'd give a C+ to, and recommend only to those obsessed with the lives of angels and psychics.

 

Robert Gray on Dolly Parton's Passing, Beans and Bind Debuts in Spokane Valley, Wash., Gloria Steinem Obituary, Meet me in Paris by Kristin Harmel, When Lemons Give you Life by Anna Johnston, The Castle in the Glen by Rhys Bowen and The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman.

Heyho, fellow book travelers! It's been a horrific week or two, leading the end of the summer feeling like it took a whole year to run out. Between dental appointments, and esophageal banding with a gastro doc I've never heard of (because my own gastro doc is so busy and booked out through the first month of next year) and an anesthesia nightmare that had me hallucinating that everyone in the procedure room was some kind of animal (one nurse was a giraffe, Nick was a big brown bear eating a salmon with berries lunch) and they all were dancing and singing in a 70s nightclub with loud furniture colors and patterns, to trying to get more pain meds and trying to get a standing order for paracentisis and the illusive MRI for my painfully decaying knee, I feel like I don't know whether I'm coming or going. I'm fortunate to have a son who is ready and willing to help me with food prep and house cleaning and bills and everything else. If it weren't for him, I don't think I would have made it this far. Now in the past week, we've lost some great people, including the wonderful Dolly Parton and Gloria Steinem, both of whom have written books that I've read. Both are amazing women whose like this world will never see again. Anyway, here are some book reviews and tidbits/obits for you all to reflect on.

RIP to the great Dolly P, who wrote books and songs and gifted books to millions of children. God bless her. May she rest at God's right hand.

Robert Gray: Dolly Parton 'Believed Deeply in the Power of Reading'

Everywhere I go, the kids call me 'the book lady.' The older I get, the more appreciative I seem to be of the 'book lady' title. It makes me feel more like a legitimate person, not just a singer or an entertainer. But it makes me feel like I've done something good with my life and with my success.--Dolly Parton (via the Bookstore at Fitger's, Duluth, Minn.)

Dolly Parton died on Tuesday. She was 80. The Associated Press described her as a "country music icon whose soaring vibrato vocals, poignant songwriting and sparkling costumes defined her rise from a log cabin in the Tennessee mountains to the height of stardom and acclaim." 

That's true, but she was so much more. The AP also noted that Dolly was a "charismatic humanitarian, whose good humor and straightforward generosity lifted the well-being of communities in her home state and beyond. Fans across generations and geographies say it will remain part of Parton's legacy."

I wasn't surprised by the book world's emotional response to her passing. Dolly was one of us. In addition to being an accomplished author, her legacy is permanently enshrined in the Imagination Library, which to date has donated more than 330 million books to children across the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Ireland, and Australia. The project was inspired by her father, whom Parton described as a "very smart man," adding that she "often wondered what he could have done had he been able to read and write."

Many independent bookstores honored Dolly with, fittingly, books, including Secret World Books, Highland Park, Ill. ("a free used book to any kid 10 and under who comes in through Saturday"); and the Secret Bookshelf, Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland ("giving away 50 books to families from tomorrow to Saturday"). Plenty of options for donating were posted by booksellers like the Book Box, Draper, Utah ("all sales from our kids section will be donated to Imagination Library through the end of August").

Powell's Books, Portland, Ore. ("Dolly understood something simple and powerful: give a child a book, and you give them somewhere to go."); and many more.

Indie booksellers also flooded social media with heartfelt tributes to Dolly. Here's a sampling:

The Book & Cover, Chattanooga, Tenn.: "As a bookstore, Dolly Parton has been with us from the day we opened, part of the very first display we agonized over. As Southerners, she's been with us our whole lives, making sure we had books in our childhood libraries, making sure we knew being proud of who you are goes hand in hand with being kind, and making sure we knew one of the most important parts of living is knowing who you are and doing it on purpose."

Carmichael's Bookstore, Louisville, Ky.: "Dolly saw needs and took concrete actions to help. We would all be better served if we asked ourselves 'What Would Dolly Do?' and do what is in our power to help others. Thank you, Dolly, for everything. We will always love you."

Green Apple Books, San Francisco, Calif.: "Dolly Parton meant a lot to a lot of people. She did work beyond that of an entertainer.... We encourage you to do what you can in her honor now and always--be brave, be kind, shine on, and don't suffer fools!--but we are also putting a link in our bio to the Imagination Library if you feel like donating to their work."

Main & Mountain Bookstore, Kernersville, N.C.: "Dolly believed deeply in the power of reading.... As a bookstore, we can't think of a more beautiful legacy. Because somewhere, there is a child who fell in love with reading because a book arrived in the mail with their name on it. A child who asked for one more story before bed. A child whose imagination became a little bigger because Dolly believed books belonged in their hands."--Robert Gray

Spokane has been the victim of recent summer wildfires, causing death and destruction untold in the past month. This is a bit of good news to come out of the Spokane area, a new bookstore that I believe will fill residents with hope for the future of the Spokane Valley.

Beans & Bind Debuts in Spokane Valley, Wash.

Beans & Bind, a bookstore and coffee shop, opened August 1in Spokane Valley, Wash., the Spokesman-Review reported. Located at 17325 E. Sprague Ave., Beans & Bind carries general-interest titles for all ages, along with non-book items like tote bags, apparel, stickers, candles, kitchenware, and coffee mugs, much of it sourced from local suppliers. The cafe side of the business serves coffee, tea, espresso drinks, Italian sodas, and other hot and cold beverages. The food menu includes panini sandwiches, pre-made burritos, pastries, cookies, and other treats.

The store's children's section also serves as an event space, and owner Marcella Ferraro and her team have already held book drives, art activities for kids, and author events. Future event plans include things like candle-making classes and Gilmore Girls watch parties, and community members can rent out the space for their own functions.

Prior to opening Beans & Bind, Ferraro had eight years of experience working as a barista and always wanted to open a coffee shop of her own. After finding the space on Sprague Ave., she decided to expand her plans and combine two of her passions.

"I told my husband, 'we should just go check it out,' " Ferraro told the Spokesman-Review. "And then we got in here and saw the space, and I was like, I've got to combine the two things I love the most: reading and coffee, because there's room for it."

"From day one, our grand opening, pretty much every customer we get in here that's local has thanked us for having something like this in the Valley," she said. "Hearing how it's touched people to have a place like this to go…that we've never really had until now is amazing."

I started reading Gloria S's works when I was a pre-teen and a teenager in the 70s, and I would discuss her ideas on the patriarchy and misogyny and society with my mother on the long nights we worked the graveyard shift together at Iowa Lutheran Hospital. I continued to read her books later in my life, and I was always inspired by her clear reasoning and her brilliant wit and wisdom. Nobody, not even popular talk show hosts like Johnny Carson or Letterman or Merv Griffin could get the better of her in an interview...she outshone and outsmarted every one of them. Rest easy, beloved feminist icon.

Obituary Note: Gloria Steinem

Gloria Steinem, journalist, author, editor, and feminist activist, died yesterday at age 92.

"Calling herself 'an entrepreneur of social change,' Ms. Steinem helped usher in sweeping cultural transformations across virtually every facet of American life, from the boardroom to the courtroom to the bedroom," the New York Times wrote. "For more than half a century, she personified the women's movement and became its most enduring symbol; her tinted aviator glasses and curtain of streaked-blond hair parted in the center made her one of the most recognizable women in the world.

"Her own feminist awakening didn't come until her mid-30s, when, as a journalist in 1969, she attended a 'speak out' of women discussing their illegal abortions. Charismatic, articulate, media savvy, deeply empathetic and a workaholic, she evolved into a political and cultural force."

In the 1960s, she was a prolific freelance journalist, contributing to a variety of publications. In 1968, she helped found New York magazine, where she wrote a regular political column. In 1971, Steinem co-founded Ms. magazine, the ground-breaking feminist magazine, and was an editor there for 15 years. Among many other achievements, she also co-founded the Ms. Foundation for Women, the Women's Media Center, and Equality Now, and produced documentaries.

An autobiography, An Unexpected Life: A Memoir, is being published by Random House on September 22. In it, Steinem writes about growing up "a curious child: going on road trips with her itinerant father, caring for her mother, and devouring every book she could find" and her slow awakening to the problems of poverty and women's roles in society, becoming a leading feminist--and the rest of her long, rich life. Her earlier books included:

Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions (1983), which includes a variety of essays and material, including her exposé, "I Was a Playboy Bunny"; a tribute to her mother, "Ruth's Song (Because She Could Not Sing It)"; essays on female genital mutilation and the difference between erotica and pornography; and the satire, "If Men Could Menstruate."  Revolution from Within: A Book of Self-Esteem (1992), which draws on her own experiences with a lack of self-esteem as well as those of others, including Mahatma Gandhi. The Truth Will Set You Free, but First It Will Piss You Off!: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Rebellion (2019), an illustrated collection of inspirational and outrageous quotes by Steinem along with her introduction and essays. Marilyn: Norma Jean (1986), in which she "revealed the woman behind the myth."

Among her many honors, Steinem received the Penney-Missouri Journalism Award, the Front Page and Clarion awards, the National Magazine Award, the Women's Sports Journalism Award, the Lifetime Achievement in Journalism Award from the Society of Professional Journalists, the Society of Writers Award from the United Nations, the James Weldon Johnson Award for Journalism, and others. In 2013, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama.

Meet Me in Paris by Kristin Harmel is a romantic historical women's fiction novel that follows some of her earlier works (which I've read) like The Book of Lost Names and the Forest of Vanishing Stars with lyrical prose and a sturdy, well researched plot that illuminates a part of WWII from various women's perspective and leaves readers pondering the lives of their grandparents and great grandparents during a time when the world was aflame with danger and changing daily. Here's the blurb: Nine Americans in Paris. Seven intertwined love stories. One City of Light.

Love Actually meets The Notebook in a tale of love, loss, and finding your way home, all set over the course of one life-changing week in Paris.

Julia Glover has brought her twenty-three-year-old daughter, Piper, to Paris for the first time—but they know it will also be their last trip here together. Julia is dying, and as the mother and daughter desperately try to make memories together as the clock ticks down, the world opens up around them. Piper meets a cute French waiter, who might just understand her better than anyone she’s ever met, and Julia meets a man at a dive bar and struggles with how to tell him the truth about her future.

Rock star Jackson Quick’s glory days are behind him. He had a handful of hit songs thirty years ago, but he hasn’t toured in a decade. This week, he’ll launch his reunion tour in Paris, the city where it all began. But he wants more out of life than being defined by fame. When he meets a woman who finally sees him for who he is at his core, the ground shifts beneath his feet.

Henry McGee has been writing hit songs for decades—including Jackson Quick’s biggest hit, City of Light. But his secret is that every love song he’s ever written is for a woman named Celeste, whom he loved a lifetime ago, when they were both teenagers in Paris during World War II. He has spent eighty years believing she died—but when a letter arrives telling him the opposite, he’s on the first flight to France. Can he break through the haze of her dementia, using the songs he’s written all these years, to remind her of who they once were to each other—and to tell her he came back for her?

Henry’s granddaughter, Melody, has just discovered that her husband of twenty years, Gilles, a French cosmetics executive, is having an affair. When she confronts him, he tearfully apologizes and begs her to forgive him. But can she? And, perhaps even more importantly, does she want to? Or is there a different kind of life out there for her if she chooses to be alone?

These intertwining stories—plus several others—unfold over a few breathtaking spring days, as an unforgettable group of Americans in Paris must find their way to their own versions of happily ever after in the City of Light. 

Despite it seeming more fragile, Love actually becomes stronger during times of national/international crisis, as Harmel illustrates in each woman's love story, some of which end in tragedy and some in triumph. This poignant book leaves readers emotionally wrung out, having laughed and cried abundantly as we hear of the fate of those caught in the Polish ghettos and others who never even made it to the concentration camps, but were shot by Nazi soldiers or died of cold and disease on trains going to the camps. The horror of mans inhumanity to man will leave you as breathless as the love that sprouts and grows like a tough weed between people in unlikely places. While I learned a lot about the ghettos and the Paris resistence, I also felt that at times Harmel was a little heavy handed with her research, which left me feeling hopeless and finding it hard to continue reading. I'd give this book a B for that reason, and recommend it to fans of Wartime romance.

When Lemons Give You Life by Anna Johnston is an LGBTQ family life and adventure fiction novel that shines a light on a gay senior citizen who has given up on life and his talents as a chef, until one day he finds it all coming back to him when he makes a lemon tart for a fellow inmate of the nursing facility he's living in. Here's the blurb: 

From the author of The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife comes a heart-stirring novel about family, second chances, and the lengths we go for those we love, following a woman fighting to hold onto life and her older brother who's rediscovering reasons to embrace it

Retired Michelin-star chef Griff Barlow has lost his appetite. He's done with grief, guilt, and the beige slop they call food at Sunny Glen Aged Care Facility, where he resides. Six decades of life have handed him all the lemons he can handle, so he breaks into the nursing home kitchen to bake one last tart as his final meal. But the act of cooking stirs a dormant joy, and soon he's sneaking in after dark to serve up flavor and comfort to fellow residents, who come alive with each bite—all while hiding a lie big enough to destroy the one thing he has left to protect.

Lisa, Griff's younger sister and sole visitor, is navigating a midlife ADHD diagnosis, a new romance, and unexpected news that could change everything. Despite their fractured relationship, she keeps showing up, even with hope for reconciliation long buried in the silence between them. But the truth has a way of boiling over, and when secrets, soufflés, and second chances collide, Griff and Lisa may discover a recipe for forgiveness.

Heartfelt and inspiring, When Lemons Give You Life is a deeply human novel about love, forgiveness, redemption, and rediscovering joy when life has lost its flavor.

Grumpy Griff is, I would guess, loosely based on Hell's Kitchen's Gordon Ramsey, the foul-tempered and foul mouthed chef who creates blissful cuisine out of seemingly thin air. Griff has been living a lie, since he pretended to have dementia years ago, so the powers that be would allow him to live with his long-time love, suffering from Alzheimers, in the same nursing home room. No one, including his estranged sister, has copped to the fact that he's been lying, so he uses his anonymous mutism to sneak into the kitchen on weekends, pretend to be their chef, and make delicious food for the patrons of the nursing home, whom he knows don't all need or want bland tasteless mush day in and day out. Everythings going well until he's caught, and his ungrateful sister is really pissed off at him. Fortunately, he's been going through the food budget books and manages to get the adminstrator who has been stealing money from the food budget arrested. Eventually his sister forgives him (she seems a bit too needy and mean to me) and the HEA wraps everything up. I'd give this heartfelt and fun novel a B+, and recommend it to anyone who is interested in nutrition and the elderly, food and what its like to be alone and forgotten after age 65.

The Castle in the Glen by Rhys Bowen is a historical mystery set in Scotland. Here's the blurb: 

A ghostwriter plunges into danger as she unravels the dark secrets of a powerful Scottish family in a thrilling novel of romance and mystery by the bestselling author of Mrs. Endicott’s Splendid Adventure.

Australian writer Emma Callander has been recruited to complete the final historical mystery in a series by celebrated author Iris Blackburn. It’s 1965, and Iris’s memory is fading. She’s certain that only Emma can do justice to her novel about a murder on the Isle of Skye. When Emma ventures to Scotland for research, she discovers the story is not fiction at all but rather a true crime, unsolved for more than fifty years.

It was 1904 when a couple’s suspicious drowning led to the disappearance of a mysterious young woman the locals called the Wild Girl. To this day the mystery is unforgettable, especially among the descendants of an aristocratic family who’ll do anything to keep their secrets buried. From the misty Highlands to a medieval castle, Emma and Tony Gordon, Iris’s handsome lawyer, work ever more closely to uncover them.

But while Iris may be known for her fiendishly clever twists, there’s one not even Emma could have seen coming.

The clever protagonist and her search for belonging on the Isle of Sky was engaging and romantic at first, but became slightly tedious midway through. I knew that Emma was being manipulated by Iris right from the start, and I felt that she should have realized that the story she was charged with completing was true, and that Iris was trying to tell her something (but felt it was better to play games with her rather than come right out and tell her what was going on). I've read more than a few of Bowen's books, and her prose becomes more polished in each one. Since this book was so long (over 400 pages) it helped that Bowen never over-stretches her plots, and allows readers a recap or two along the way, so they don't get lost in all the mysterious background stuff. I'd give this book a B-, and recommend it to those who like slow-reading historical fiction that you can savor.

 

The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman is the 5th book in the Thursday Murder Club Mystery series, which was made into a TV streaming series a couple of years back with Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan. Here's the blurb: Who's got time to think about murder when there's a wedding to plan?

It’s been a quiet year for the Thursday Murder Club. Joyce is busy with table plans and first dances. Elizabeth is grieving. Ron is dealing with family troubles, and Ibrahim is still providing therapy to his favorite criminal.

But when Elizabeth meets Nick, a wedding guest asking for her help, she finds the thrill of the chase is ignited once again. And when Nick disappears without a trace, his cagey business partner becomes the gang’s next stop. It seems the duo have something valuable—something worth killing for.

Joyce’s daughter, Joanna, jumps into the fray to help the gang as they seek answers: Has someone kidnapped Nick? And what’s this uncrackable code they keep hearing about? Plunged back into action once more, can the four friends solve the puzzle and a murder in time?

 

Though I really enjoyed the first season of the streaming series, I now can't picture the characters in the novel as anyone but the actors who have portrayed them on TV.   So when I read about Ron, I see Pierce Brosnan, and Elizabeth will always be Helen Mirren for me. Daffy Joyce will always be Celia Imrie, and Ben Kingsley the stately Ibrahim. The prose from actor Richard Osman is stunning, and his plots full of twists and turns that you will never see coming. I laughed out loud at several points, and as usual, Osman left me wanting more, so I will be waiting impatiently for the 6th book in the series. I'd give this installment a B+, and recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading about more seasoned (older) sleuths going the distance to solve the various mysteries that plague one's life.

 

The Ministry of Time Comes to TV, Highland Books Chalkboard Wisdom, The Secret Society of Librarians by Kate Thompson, Murder at the Bookstore by Sue Minix, Weyward by Emilia Hart, The Romance Revival by Christina Lauren, and Better Than Revenge by Kasie West

It's the last month of August, FINALLY! Welcome to the end of summer and the beginning of Fall, my favorite time of year. It's "ber" season, as in September, October, November and December. All months full of cozy revelry, warm fires and good memories. BTW, today the wonderful Dolly Parton died of cancer...she was 80 years old, but still making music and reaching out to do good things in the world. She gave millions of books away to children all over the world to stave off literacy, she gave money to scientists to help them find a COVID vaccine, and she constantly did duets and talk shows with other musicians, uplifting everyone in her wake. Amazing woman, gone too soon. I hope she's in heaven having a great time singing and dancing with those who have gone before her, including her husband of many years. God speed, Dolly. You will be missed.

 

I read this series, and while I really enjoyed the first few books, the latter ones became too focused on things other than time travel. Still, it had a lot of fun plot elements and some great dialogue between characters. I will look forward to see the TV series. 

 

TV: The Ministry of Time

Aoife Hinds (Dune: Prophecy, Normal People) and Billy Howle (The Perfect Couple, Under the Banner of Heaven) will star in the BBC and A24 TV series The Ministry of Time, based on Kaliane Bradley's bestselling debut novel. Deadline reported that Hinds will play Sophy and Howle will be Commander Graham Gore, with filming beginning in and around London.

The BBC's director of drama Lindsay Salt commissioned the six-part show,

which has been adapted and written by Alice Birch, who is an exec

producer alongside Aneil Karia and Jo McClellan for the BBC. Frances du

Pille is the producer, and A24 has international distribution rights. 

"The Ministry of Time is a truly distinctive, genre-defying series with

a beautiful central relationship and we are thrilled to have Aoife and

Billy leading the cast," said Salt.

"If I could travel back in time six years to tell past me what was going

to happen with that polar explorer she'd just started writing about, I

think she would have done some very Victorian swooning," Bradley added.

 

YES! This is the best way to survive in these troubled times, especially in America. 

Chalkboard: Highland Books

"I solve the majority of my problems by ignoring them & then reading about the conflicts of fictional characters instead." That was the message on the sidewalk chalkboard in front of Highland Books in Brevard, N.C.

(Editors note: Me, too!)

 

The Secret Society of Librarians by Kate Thompson is a WWII historical fiction novel that is so well researched and written that you might find yourself, as I was, so engrossed in the narrative that you look up from its pages and realize that hours, or even an entire day has passed. Here's the blurb: The Secret Society of Librarians is a heartbreaking yet heartwarming wartime library-set novel, inspired by real people, real stories, and extensive research.

Meeting through real-life Secret Society of Librarians in London, two women form a close bond. When WW2 hits, they take their libraries underground, creating create a roaming underground library.

But when one of them is taken to Poland and a concentration camp, they think there is no chance of ever being reunited again.

This is an inspirational, true and compelling story about friendship, everyday bravery and the power of books, with a dual narrative set between London and Poland in the 1940s. 

 

This page turner is very descriptive of specific incidents of WWII, like the London Blitz and the bombing of homes and refugee centers, as well as the conditions in the Polish ghettos and the forced removal of Jewish families via train to concentration camps like Auschwitz. So if you have a weak constitution, or stomach, be aware that this might not be the book for you right now. Even though, having worked as a nurse, I'm not bothered by gore and such, these scenes from the wars front lines really got to me. I cried several times, even knowing that all of the drama happened 80 years ago. Of course there were also lighthearted moments of romance and beauty, and when one character or another stepped up to save the life of a Jewish child (there were so many orphans! Horrific!) I felt such tremendous hope for the child, that they would grow up happy and healthy, with a roof over their head and good food in their bellies...things so many of todays children take for granted (I certainly did). Thompson's prose is clear and direct, and her plot takes more than a few detours, but she manages to thread them all together expertly. There are photos, at the end of the novel, that the author took on a visit to Auschwitz, of the open graves and the railroad tracks. Chilling, literally. I'd give this intense and beautiful historical novel an A, and recommend it to anyone who wonders about the veracity of the Jewish holocaust and the London Blitz.

 

Murder at the Bookstore by Sue Minix is a sassy mystery that combines the best of old school whodunnits with today's cozy style small town mysteries. Here's the blurb: 

Meet Jen Dawson, mystery writer, coffee lover, and amateur detective?

Crime writer Jen returns to her small hometown with a bestselling book behind her and a bad case of writer’s block. Finding sanctuary in the local bookstore, with an endless supply of coffee, Jen waits impatiently for inspiration to strike.

But when the owner of the bookstore dies suddenly in mysterious circumstances, Jen has a real-life murder to solve.

The stakes are suddenly higher when evidence places Jen at the scene of the crime and the reading of the will names her as the new owner of the bookstore …

Can she crack the case and clear her name, before the killer strikes again?

 

This book is a combination of an Agatha Christie and Miranda James or Laurie Cass, with their fun and fascinating "cats in the stacks" mysteries that always have a smart kitty helping out with the sleuthing. The prose was slightly overdone, but the plot was sturdy and direct and managed to keep everything running smoothly to an ending that I did not see coming, which is rare for me. I'd give it a B+ and recommend this novel to anyone who is interested in small town bookstores and writers finding themselves after returning home.

 

Weyward by Emilia Hart is a historical fantasy along the lines of Alice Hoffman's Practical Magic. The prose is bold and the plot gripping, but you really have to pay close attention to both, lest you get lost in the unusually weird and wild plot. Here's the blurb: I am a Weyward, and wild inside.

2019: Under cover of darkness, Kate flees London for ramshackle Weyward Cottage, inherited from a great-aunt she barely remeTmbers. With its tumbling ivy and overgrown garden, the cottage is worlds away from the abusive partner who tormented Kate. But she suspects that her great-aunt had a secret. One that lurks in the bones of the cottage, hidden ever since the witch-hunts of the 17th century.

1619: Altha is awaiting trial for the murder of a local farmer who was stampeded to death by his herd. When Altha was a girl, her mother taught her their magic, a kind not rooted in spell casting but in a deep knowledge of the natural world. But unusual women have always been deemed dangerous, and as the evidence of witchcraft is laid out against Altha, she knows it will take all her powers to maintain her freedom.

1942: As World War II rages, Violet is trapped in her family's grand, crumbling estate. Straitjacketed by societal convention, she longs for the robust education her brother receives––and for her mother, long deceased, who was rumored to have gone mad before her death. The only traces Violet has of her are a locket bearing the initial W and the word weyward scratched into the baseboard of her bedroom.

Weaving together the stories of three extraordinary women across five centuries, Emilia Hart's Weyward is an astonishing debut, and an enthralling novel of female resilience. 

 

Just when you think you know where all the disparate stories of these three traumatized women is going, Hart pulls a fast one and the plot breaks off in a completely different direction, which can be confusing. Yet there's a lot of good feminist views intertwined within the novel, so you really root for each of the characters to get out of their troubles and begin a new life on their own. Freedom, as every woman knows, is not easy to find or maintain for a woman in any era of society, so the fact that all three of these women strive for it, despite long odds, is heartening and hopeful. I'd give this odd but worthy duck of a book a B+ and recommend it to anyone who enjoyed Alice Hoffmans Practical Magic, or other witchy tales.

 

The Romance Revival by Christina Lauren is a romantic fantasy married to a Frankenstein-like tale of the powers of science to revive the dead and the moral dilemnas thereof. Here's the blurb: Christina Lauren returns with an unforgettable romance in which a fateful accident erases a troubled marriage from memory—and a scientific breakthrough gives love one extraordinary do-over.

Three years ago, scientist Emery Finch did something completely out of character: She got married. To Luca—the impossibly charming landscaper she met on one blistering night in Vegas who made her laugh, made her dance, made her feel.

But now, Emery is consumed by her top research, missing dinners, forgetting anniversaries, and promising herself Luca will understand once her cutting-edge discoveries come to light. Until the unthinkable happens: A tragic accident takes Luca from her.

Desperate not to lose him, Emery breaks every rule, using the classified technology she’s developed to bring him back to life. And Luca would probably thank her for it, if only he could remember her. Their first kiss, their Sunny Sundays at the beach, the life they built together…all of it is gone.

It may be a miracle of science, but for Emery it’s her one shot at a second chance. And this time, she won’t waste it—because true love is always worth reviving.

 

I disagree with the last statement there...I don't think the novel proves that love is always worth reviving, especially with all the trouble that Emery gets into when other powerful people discover that she's used this technology for her own ends, and they will do anything to acquire it.There's some spice in the later chapters, but it reads like it was written after discovering a "how to write sex scenes in a romance" pamphlet, so it flops around without much of a point. The ending was also kind of lukewarm, and predictable, so I was underwhelmed by it. All in all, I'd give this novel with the lovely cover art a B, and only recommend it to those who are big fans of romantasy that has scientific complications.

 

Better Than Revenge by Kasie West is a YA rom-com that started out with a strong female protagonist, only to have her fall prey to the "Oh, I can't keep doing this because I'm in loooovvve with him!" trope, which was really disappointing. Here's the blurb: A swoony new romance from the author of Sunkissed! When her football-player boyfriend and now ex lands the podcast job she’s been dreaming of, a girl takes matters into her own hands by enlisting the help of his nemesis to get revenge.

Seventeen-year-old Finley has only ever had one goal: to become a famous podcaster. This includes coming up with the perfect pitch to land her on her school's podcast team. But when her football-obsessed boyfriend, Jensen, decides to also try out—and uses her idea—she's left confused and betrayed.

Determined to get back at him, Finley and her friends try to find the perfect revenge scheme, but quickly discover that Jensen is almost-impossible to best. Keyword, almost.

By chance, Finley discovers a knack for kicking and decides to take Jensen's spot on the football team. To help her train, she recruits Jensen's cute but conceited nemeses, Theo. Soon the two discover that their connection runs deeper than football. But Finley can't let herself get distracted, and Theo has secrets of his own. Is true love really better than the perfect revenge?
  

Finley, whose goal of becoming a famous podcaster is just within her grasp, is betrayed by her butt-head of a boyfriend Jensen, who takes her spot on the school podcast team without batting an eye...and she wants revenge, which is perfectly understandable. Her way of getting revenge is to take Jensen's spot as a kicker on the football team, but her feelings for his frenemy Theo get in the way, unfortunately. Here's the blurb: A swoony new romance from the author of Sunkissed! When her football-player boyfriend and now ex lands the podcast job she’s been dreaming of, a girl takes matters into her own hands by enlisting the help of his nemesis to get revenge.

Seventeen-year-old Finley has only ever had one goal: to become a famous podcaster. This includes coming up with the perfect pitch to land her on her school's podcast team. But when her football-obsessed boyfriend, Jensen, decides to also try out—and uses her idea—she's left confused and betrayed.

Determined to get back at him, Finley and her friends try to find the perfect revenge scheme, but quickly discover that Jensen is almost-impossible to best. Keyword, almost.

By chance, Finley discovers a knack for kicking and decides to take Jensen's spot on the football team. To help her train, she recruits Jensen's cute but conceited nemeses, Theo. Soon the two discover that their connection runs deeper than football. But Finley can't let herself get distracted, and Theo has secrets of his own. Is true love really better than the perfect revenge?

Theo doesn't seem to be that much of an improvement on Jensen, but Finley can't possibly, being just a girl, resist his big strong arms and pretty eyes and hair. so in the end, she leaves it to karma to take care of Jensen, while she does her own thing and gets on with her life and her new boyfriend, the conceited Theo (UGH). The author states in her afterword that "Karma is greater than Revenge" and while I think that would be a noble sentiment if things worked out that way every time, I don't think that its tissue-thin morality plays well here. Crappy people don't get what is coming to them a majority of the time, and good people very often get railroaded by jerks who are only concerned with their own lives and ambitions. If it were me, in other words, I'd find a way to make Jensen "swim with the fishes" or at least get into some horrible legal trouble that destroyed his future. Still, the prose was easy and the plot lazy and clear. I'd give this little YA rom-com a C+ and only recommend it to those who wouldn't be offended by the female protagonists lack of follow-through.