Welcome to my weekly update for August 13, 2023! My husband had a long weekend last weekend so we drove the scenic International Selkirk Loop. A lot of it was along Kootenay Lake in British Columbia. We’ve been lucky to avoid most of the wildfire smoke here in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho but we noticed it as soon as we crossed into […]
Renegades by Marissa Meyer: Series Review
4 Stars. I loved Marissa Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles so I eventually decided to read her take on a superhero story. I like superhero movies but that’s about as far as I go (no comics or other books), so this was a bit of a step outside my comfort zone. I really liked it. Sometimes superhero stories feel entirely too “good vs […]
My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell: Book Review
2 Stars. I’m sorry to say that this didn’t quite work for me. I’m disappointed since so many other readers love it. The tales of the family misadventures were hilarious. Larry, the budding author, is a know-it-all who can steer his mom in any direction he chooses. Leslie, the avid huntsman, shoots his guns and scares the wits […]
Weekly Update for August 6, 2023
Welcome to my weekly update for August 6, 2023! I don’t have any trips to write about this week so I’m going to post a plug for one of my friends instead. I’ve known Jessica Zellers since high school, when we were in band together. She recently launched her own editing company, Blue Legend Manuscript Services. She worked as a […]
Enter the Detective by Mark Waid: Book Review
4 Stars. This graphic novel reminded me of a mashup between Sherlock Holmes stories and the TV series Penny Dreadful. It seems like an odd mix at first but it absolutely worked for me. I liked that the narrator of the story is a woman who is not all that she seems to be. I’m very curious to know more about her. The Sherlock […]
The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian: Book Review
4 Stars. There’s not really much I can say about this without giving anything way. The tension relentlessly builds all the way through to an amazing ending that left me flipping back through the pages […]
Weekly Update for July 30, 2023
Welcome to my weekly update for July 30 2023! Oh my goodness. I knew it had been a while since my last update but I didn’t realize that it had been over four months! It’s been a busy season. My sister visited us in Escondido, CA the first week in May. We had a great time sightseeing all over southern California. My husband […]
10 Sets of Book Characters Who Should Meet
Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl invited us to share ten books we recommend to others the most. I decided that would be the same list as my ten favorite books of all time so I went rogue. I’m listing ten sets of book characters who should meet in some sort of time- and reality-bending fan fiction […]
The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine: Book Review
3 Stars. So, I have a problem with these “Girl” or “Woman” books that have been everywhere the past several years. Do we have a genre name for them yet? You know the ones. Gone Girl, The Girl on the Train and on and on and on. I just can’t get into them. I loathe the characters. That’s exactly the point, but when I don’t like […]
10 of My Favorite Audiobook Narrators
Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl invited us to share our favorite audiobook narrators this week. I’m almost always listening to an audiobook while I’m cleaning, driving, or even exercising and I’m trying (with some success) to win my husband over. It was hard to limit my list to only ten. I tried to write a bit about why I like […]
Weekly Update for April 23, 2023
Welcome to my weekly update for April 23, 2023! We went to The Flower Fields in Carlsbad, CA this week. I visited while my husband attended a work conference in 2018. It was so spectacular, I made him go back to experience it with me this year. It was even better than I remembered! These […]