Literature What are you currently reading?

[Chryssie]

This afternoon I read another Mary Kay Andrews book called "The Santa Suit." It was a very quick and very enjoyable read. This book absolutely NEEDS to be a Hallmark Channel Christmas movie! It was a sweet romance with no terrible crime to solve. There was a mystery though but involved a family that had grown apart. The author is such a good writer bringing her characters to life and making you care about them. It is a very short book about half as long as her others and I loved it.

 

[Emma JC]

This afternoon I read another Mary Kay Andrews book called "The Santa Suit." It was a very quick and very enjoyable read. This book absolutely NEEDS to be a Hallmark Channel Christmas movie! It was a sweet romance with no terrible crime to solve. There was a mystery though but involved a family that had grown apart. The author is such a good writer bringing her characters to life and making you care about them. It is a very short book about half as long as her others and I loved it.

I have borrowed it and will read it later today.

Discovered this week that I have access to 3 more city libraries online so a total of 6 large library systems are linked through Libby for me. Score!!

Emma JC
Find your vegan soulmate or just a friend. www.spiritualmatchmaking.com

 

[Chryssie]

Today one of my co-workers gave me a stack of books that her friend had written and self-published. I knew they were not going to be "my thing" by just looking at the covers. LOL However, I sat down with the shortest one, a Christmas story, to see what they were like. OMG! The writing is absolutely awful! Ok, she can write complete sentences and it is not gibberish but the phrasing is so totally bad it was almost laughable. I hope she has a good day job because she can't write! Even the steamy sex scene was boring! I had to put it down as I will not waste my time with garbage. Maybe it is supposed to be satire? Now my dilemma is: should I be honest in telling my co-worker my opinion?

 

[Emma JC]

This afternoon I read another Mary Kay Andrews book called "The Santa Suit." It was a very quick and very enjoyable read. This book absolutely NEEDS to be a Hallmark Channel Christmas movie! It was a sweet romance with no terrible crime to solve. There was a mystery though but involved a family that had grown apart. The author is such a good writer bringing her characters to life and making you care about them. It is a very short book about half as long as her others and I loved it.

I read it and it is sweet - thank you for the recommendation - anything I can read in and hour and fifteen minutes that is uplifting works for me

Emma JC
Find your vegan soulmate or just a friend. www.spiritualmatchmaking.com

 

[Chryssie]

I found another light series of romance/thrillers called the Enchanted Garden Mysteries. Book one is "Daisies for Innocence" and the author is Bailey Cattrell. It is about a young woman who owns a shop selling her own perfumes and essential oils. She has a garden where she grows the flowers and herbs. There is a lot of information about aromatherapy and it is not something I am really into so I don't know if I will read any more of the books. It was a pretty good murder mystery with our shopkeeper being a suspect.

 

[Second Summer]

Just finished Last Bus to Woodstock by Colin Dexter, which is the first novel in the Inspector Morse series.

Its portrayal of women, and some of the characters' attitudes to women, seemed questionable, to say the least. Although, this was originally published in 1975, and things were of course different back then.

The most disappointing part was the ending which was completely stupid.

I did enjoy reading a book in which the plot takes place in my local area, though.

 

[PTree15]

Just finished Last Bus to Woodstock by Colin Dexter, which is the first novel in the Inspector Morse series.

Its portrayal of women, and some of the characters' attitudes to women, seemed questionable, to say the least. Although, this was originally published in 1975, and things were of course different back then.

The most disappointing part was the ending which was completely stupid.

I did enjoy reading a book in which the plot takes place in my local area, though.

I've watched Morse and Endeavour on PBS, but I have never read any of the books on which the TV shows are based. Endeavor starts in the 1950s, so I'm not surprised about the portrayal and attitudes toward women given the times back then.

 

[Raven]

I haven't started my newest library book yet and I got a message that another one is ready. It is Rosemary's Baby - Ira Levin.

 

[Chryssie]

Read another Harlan Coben, "Caught", published in 2010. It was another very exciting story of murder and dealt with the way people can be defamed on the internet. It had so many twists and turns and a surprise ending. I love this guy!

 

[Second Summer]

I've watched Morse and Endeavour on PBS, but I have never read any of the books on which the TV shows are based. Endeavor starts in the 1950s, so I'm not surprised about the portrayal and attitudes toward women given the times back then.

Yes, I have also watched Morse - such an iconic series! This seems like one of the cases where the TV adaptation was better than the book ...!

 

[Raven]

I'm finishing off the second book on Charles Manson. It is frustrating as it doesn't have any answers, but it just proves that the original Helter Skelter book was very inaccurate.

 

[SuicideBlonde]

I gave up on one of the books. It did not grab me. Starting Mirrorland. I have 2 at the library.

Mirrorland was crazy. Lots of twists.

The Last House on Needless Street is my current book. It started super weird, so I spoiled it for myself online. I will finish it. It is very odd.

 

[Lou]

I finally finished Rule of Wolves part 2 of the King of Scars Duology. It's a Grishaverse novel ( AKA Shadow and Bone). It's nice to return to the Grishaverse universe, (especially since they have canceled season 2 of Shadow and Bone) and visit with many of the familiar characters we met in the earlier books. but the plot is wearing a little thin now. Spies and thieves. deception, heists, mystery, battles, magic and romance. (wait! what am I complaining about? ). Oh maybe because this is the sixth novel I have read in the Grishaverse and the heists and plotting, the tricks and deceptions are getting repetitive .

I did like the last half of the book a lot more than the first book. Could be because we got into some new material. Also it was rewarding when Our Heros plotting and scheming started to pay off.

I also really liked how it ended. Don't want to spoil it but is shouldn't be too big a surprise that it had a happy ending. Another surprise is that the author left it so that if she ever wants to she can add another book to this series.

the book also left me mad at Netflix for not adding another season (or two) to Shadow and Bone.

 

[Chryssie]

I read the first book in a new series by Tamron Hall called "As the Wicked Watched." I have book two on reserve. This is a really good book about a TV news crime beat journalist who investigates the death of a teenaged girl. Ms. Hall is a well known journalist and this book feels like it may be somewhat autobiographical. There is a lot of information about how TV news works. It also features some controversial subjects concerning the police and African Americans. It takes place in Chicago back in 2007 and I think must be based on real incidents though I can't remember anything specific from that time. I am looking forward to reading more featuring the main character who is a very independent Black woman.

 

[Chryssie]

Well this is embarrassing! When I went to add the book in Goodreads, I discovered I had read it back in 2022! I thought it seemed a bit familiar but I read SO many books, I thought it was just a coincidence. Evidently I was not that impressed when I read it the first time! Oh well, I guess I liked it better this time! LOL

 

[Raven]

OMG Chryssie I realised I had read my current library book Not a Happy Family by Shari Lapena back in Oct 2020 as I checked on Amazon. I did not remember it at all. I had read half of it this time so I skipped to the last couple of chapters. I vaguely remember the very ending now.

 

[Emma JC]

A Court of Wings and Ruin - by Sarah J Maas - the third book in the series finally arrived - just started it

Emma JC
Find your vegan soulmate or just a friend. www.spiritualmatchmaking.com

 

[Emma JC]

A Court of Wings and Ruin - by Sarah J Maas - the third book in the series finally arrived - just started it

Emma JC
Find your vegan soulmate or just a friend. www.spiritualmatchmaking.com

sadly I stopped reading about 1/4 way in.... too much politics and war and suchlike and it has been so long since I read the last one that trying to keep all the plots straight.... nah, back to reading more fluff

Emma JC
Find your vegan soulmate or just a friend. www.spiritualmatchmaking.com

 

[Lou]

sadly I stopped reading about 1/4 way in.... too much politics and war and suchlike and it has been so long since I read the last one that trying to keep all the plots straight.... nah, back to reading more fluff

Emma JC
Find your vegan soulmate or just a friend. www.spiritualmatchmaking.com

I read 1 to 1.5 books in that series. I stopped because of all the romance and sex. I believe it was this series that informed me of the Romantasy genre.

BTW, when you google Romantacy, (because you can't remember how to spell it), you get a picture of the cover of A Court of Wings and Ruin.

Do you think The little girls who grew up on Harry Potter and are now single women riding the train are big consumers of Romantacy.

 

[Chryssie]

I just finished "Die, Die, Birdie" which is the first in a series. It is by J.R. Ripley who is really Glenn Meganck. It is one of those rather light murder mysteries that are a quick entertaining read. This one features a young woman who has opened a business in an old historic house in a small town in North Carolina where she grew up. She finds a body in her store room and is of course the first suspect. There is humor and interesting characters, a decent mystery, and a little romance. I am going to look for more in the series.