Thankful for a plentiful TBR

It’s been quite the week, with a lot of uncertainty both online and in the real world there. While things may not be as bad as they first seemed, the chaos is still too close for comfort.

Fortunately, the one constant that remains for me(other than family) is my ever expanding TBR pile.

For example, my latest Book of the Month Club selection was a pair of backlisted titles, the most recent being Helen Hoang’s The Heart Principle.

Anna Sun is a violinist who is feeling burnt out after a tour fueled by extra attention from a viral video. Upon hearing a mental health diagnosis that her relatives object to and her current boyfriend wanting an open relationship (on his terms), Anna decides to make a major change in her personal life.

She meets Quan, the owner of a clothing line who is recovering from cancer, on a dating app and even tho neither of them are looking for something serious, their connection promises to be more than casual. Especially when Anna’s father experiences a severe physical crisis that challenges them all.

I know that some readers found the switch in gears in this book to be off putting since her earlier works were very romance focused. Yet, I’m fine with a writer wanting to add some additional nuance to their work and Hoang’s prior novels with their engaging down to earth energy certainly make her future  books worth checking out.

My other BOMC pick was a new edition of Little Women, a childhood favorite of mine that keeps popping up in some of my current reads lately.

With that in mind, I went to Better World  Books for a copy of Beth and Amy by Virginia Kantra, the follow up to her modem take on the Alcott classic Meg and Jo.

Here, Beth is an aspiring country music singer struggling with an eating disorder and Amy is a designer of fashion accessories who once had a brief fling with Jo’s best friend Trey(who was still carrying a torch for her sister).

With Jo about to get married, all four sisters are reunited for the first time in a long while. This allows them not only a chance to reconnect but to face a few hard truths, particularly when it comes to Beth’s health and Amy’s love life with Trey being back in the picture due to Jo’s impending nuptials.

I did enjoy Meg and Jo(will probably reread that one) and this companion piece should make a nice set of satisfying reading with my brand new edition of LW. I do hope that Beth does better here than in the original as the idea of her sharing her talents with a wider audience is the best update for this character that I can imagine:

I paired that book with Jennifer Ryan’s The Kitchen Front, a WWII in England set novel about a cooking competition.

The big prize here is to be the co-host of a BBC radio show devoted to teaching British housewives frugal recipes for the war effort.

Anxious to do their part as well as take a much needed chance to change their lives, a group of four women from very different backgrounds find themselves in direct culinary competition with one another.

Will it be Audrey, a widow trying to get her bakeshop going or her sister Gwendoline, who thinks she’s above it all as the wife of a major manufacturer? Could the gently spoken Nell rise from her housemaid station with such a win or perhaps Zelda, the upperclass chef can claim victory  despite the secret that threatens to destroy her personal and professional life?

Author Ryan does have a flair for making such women on the home front stories engagingly compelling without being overwhelmed by the standards of the genre, so I do look forward hungrily to this one. Plus,a cooking contest amongst the British is culinary catnip to me:

And yes, I did pick up a new release for my cozy mystery collection. 

Donut Disturb is the latest in Ellie Alexander’s Bakeshop Mysteries series that has leading lady Juliet Capshaw preparing a specially requested wedding cake for her good friend Thomas and his bride/coworker Kerry.

Things get tense when an unexpected guest in the form of Kerry’s estranged father shows up but even more troubling is the sudden demise of the bassist from the band hired for the reception. Can Juliet lend more than her pastry prowess to the occasion to protect her friends from the “til death do us part” portion of the marriage vows?

Alexander is amazing at whipping up these tasty detective desserts and I hope to finish this book before her next one comes out later this year( Muffin But The Truth, another win in the punny title game there!). Plus, a donut wedding cake sounds awesome!:

No matter how wild the world around us can get, some ports in such storms are worth holding on to like family/friends, a good meal and a great read.

That’s probably why I like Thanksgiving so much. Yes, the origin story of this holiday is troubling to say the least(the Wednesday Addams speech in Addams Family Values is more historically accurate than some textbooks, sad to say) but the pilgrim pageantry is not what interest me.

It’s the concept of gathering together with loved ones to celebrate the good in our lives that is of real and lasting importance, if you ask me. A good dinner can’t solve all of our differences yet it’s a good place to start as any. After all, kitchen tables do make for welcome conversation for a reason: