Setting up a new series of reading for 2024

 As this year is soon drawing to a close(not fast enough for some folks, I’m sure!), plans for the new year are about to be implemented and for this blog, one big change will be both a beginning and and a temporary ending to a regular feature here.

For now, however, let’s wrap the tail end of my Series-ous Reading , which had me read five of Rhys Bowen’s Her Royal Spyness historical cozy mystery novels.

 Starting with Crowned and Dangerous, then going to On Her Majesty’s Frightfully Secret Service followed by Four Funerals and Maybe a Wedding (yes, there is definitely a wedding!) with Love and Death Among the Cheetahs and finishing up with The Late Mrs. Summers, my adventures with Georgiana “Georgie “ Rannoch /O’Mara have been quite the giddy trip indeed.

For those unfamiliar with this series, it’s set in 1930s England for the most part with Georgie being the thirty fifth member of the royal bloodline in line for the throne yet having to make her own way in the world due to not wanting to marry someone “suitable “ out of obligation.

While occasionally dealing with murders that fall her way(plus various secret tasks for the queen), Georgie has to deal with obnoxious relatives, her globe trotting mother and a delightfully ditzy maid named Queenie. Also, she falls in love with Darcy O’Mara, a nobleman with as little money as herself who goes on mysterious errands for king and country.

What I’ve always liked about these books is the screwball comedy vibes within the various plots, with the humor being aimed at both upper and lower levels of society.

However , these last few entries have given plenty of character development to supporting players such as Belinda,Georgie’s best gal pal who went through an experience involving a secret relationship that appears to have matured her outlook on love(for the most part) and even Queenie has gained solid skills as a cook that moves her up in the world (although not without a slip up or two there).

In addition, Georgie herself has gone from a shy young miss to being strong enough to stand up to bullies of all sorts and pursue justice for the recently deceased, regardless of risk or rank. While I may take a break from this series (I did just finish one more HRS title, God Rest Ye, Merry Noblemen, kind of extra credit , I guess) do recommend it for those looking for an engaging romp into the past that can reflect on the present at times:

Now for the big announcement: my Series-ous Reading is taking a hiatus next year . Instead, my regular reading challenge will be to read three sets of trilogies within a year and it’s going to be called Trilogy Time.

I’m also giving myself prompts for this challenge, the first being to read an author that I haven’t read before and for that, my choice is Nora Roberts and her Irish Born trilogy, starting with Born in Fire.

The books chronicle a trio of sisters, Margaret Mary, Brianna and Shannon, who find their true purpose as well as true love in their lives. Granted, I was once a serious snob about this genre(and Roberts in particular) but hopefully, I have gotten over such nonsense and willing to discover what so many others have enjoyed with Nora Roberts on page:

My next prompt is to reread a trilogy, which was tricky to decide upon but ultimately, I chose Adriana Trigiani’s Valentine novels.

The first one, Very Valentine,introduced me to Trigiani’s lively writing along with her zesty leading lady who wants to continue the tradition of making handcrafted shoes that gave her family a foothold in America when they first arrived to this country.

Learning from her beloved Gram the dedication it takes to create unique footwear while battling with her brother over selling their family’s iconic storefront, Valentine happens to fall in love with Roman, a rather appetizing chef yet on a buying trip to Italy, her eye is caught by Gianluca-and that’s just part one!

I’ve read other works by Trigiani(one of my favorites is Lucia,Lucia) and plan to read one of her newer books next year but revisiting this set of sweet and savvy stories will be a real pleasure for me:

For my last prompt, the challenge is to finish a trilogy and I’m sure some of you are wondering what would stop you from doing just that?

Well, during a sad time in my life, Cornelia Funke released Inkheart and this tale of a young girl and her father having a magical connection with books was like the porridge that Goldilocks chose, just right.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that she had two more books in mind and while I did read the second , Inkspell, the third one , Inkdeath, has been languishing on my TBR for a good long while now.

I plan to change that but of course, need to reread the other two first(which is why this set is going last). Since I do want to read more fantasy in the new year, this will help a lot. Should be a good way to wrap up this challenge and perhaps inspire more to come:

While all of my reading resolutions for this year didn’t go off quite as well as I planned, at least I did finish Alison Weir’s Six Queens series of books(looking forward to her novel about “Bloody Mary “ Tudor due out in the spring!) and still working on my Jane Austen journey of nonfiction there.

Making resolutions can be daunting but I think that if you’re willing to be flexible when necessary and take your time with certain goals, you can achieve plenty there. 

This trilogy challenge, for example ,is going to be done seasonally (starting with Nora Robert’s this winter into early spring) with check in posts every so often. Trying to keep things fun as well as functional.

One thing that we all can pledge to do next year is to stay positive about what lies ahead of us and focus our energies on making things better for all in need. That’s not going to be easy, no doubt about it, but I do think that we are capable of more than we truly know and can fight the good fight honorably.

Wishing you all a Happy New Year of reading and life in 2024 and happy to see more good things on and off page for us all together:

Enjoying some Happy Holidays of Reading

We’re a couple of weeks away from Christmas (as well as in the midst of Hanukkah) and honestly, I wasn’t planning on doing any seasonal reading this year.

However, the holiday fates thought otherwise so here I am with a trio of books that are sure to keep my spirits bright indeed.

It started off with one of my Book of the Month Club selections having their plot line tied into New Year’s Eve, 
 The Second Chance Year by Melissa Wiesner. New York pastry chef Sophie is dreading New Year’s as this past twelve months have been the worst of her life.

She lost her job, her boyfriend Alex and her apartment in one fell swoop, leaving her nearly broke and staying in a spare room at Jacob’s(her brother’s best friend) place. When one of Sadie’s gal pals drags her to a New Year’s party, she expects very little to happen but so much does.

Using a spell that the party fortune teller gives her, Sadie wakes up the next morning on January 1…but not in the new year! Instead, her wish to have a do-over and fix those mistakes from last year comes true, an opportunity that she doesn’t want to waste.

As time goes over, though, Sadie starts to wonder if those mistakes really were mistakes to begin. Perhaps she should try to make newer and better changes for herself, including taking a romantic chance with Jacob who she surprisingly kissed before the spell kicked in.

So far, this book has been a lively page turner yet it’s also thoughtful about Sadie’s situation and her indecision about where her path in life should be headed towards. While the rest of my BOMC picks are going to be saved for under my Christmas tree, it just made sense to read this one sooner and it’s definitely making the upcoming New Year’s Eve worth looking forward:

Then, I wound up making a last minute holiday purchase and couldn’t resist adding a nice Christmas themed mystery into that mix.

God Rest Ye, Royal Gentlemen is the second holiday related book in Rhys Bowen’s Her Royal Spyness series (as well as being the fifteenth entry) and here we have the newly married Georgiana “Georgie “Rannoch getting to celebrate her first Christmas with her beloved husband Darcy O’Mara.

As the two of them are having trouble settling up a house party on their own, an invitation from Darcy’s Aunt Ermintrude sounds ideal. The guest list, however, includes many of Georgie’s royal relatives, including her cousin Prince David and his unsuitable date, Mrs. Wallace Simpson.

Even more hectic than annoying relations is murder which takes down one of David’s friends but was the heir to the throne the real target? Georgie, as per usual, is asked to help solve the crime before a truly deadly blow strikes the future of the British crown.

I’ve been reading five of these books in a row to complete my Series-ous Reading challenge for the year(actually on the fifth one in that batch as you’ll see on the sidelines here) and was going to take a break from them but picking this one up now felt as picture perfect as a holiday postcard. 

Plus, a holiday house party murder mystery is as British as you can get this time of year without leaving the comfort of your home indeed:

At this point, I figured why not make this a proper reading list and add a third title onto this TBR.

With rewatching holiday being part of the season, choosing a book to reread sounded ideal and Sophie Kinsella’s Christmas Shopaholic  was my instant go-to.

Rejoining Becky Bloomwood as she attempts to host her own Christmas party with her parents off living in a very trendy for younger people neighborhood is grand fun to be sure. Whether she’s scheming to get the hottest holiday ornament, inventing a new buying trend to help her friend’s gift shop or getting hooked on Christmas romance movies, Becky tends to give it her all, even if she goes past the point of return.

I’ve read this book a couple of times already and for me, it’s become a charming treat to go back again and again. Becky Bloomwood is as iconic as Mr. Bean to me when it comes to holiday specials, well worth visiting at least once a year:

I am going to take a bit of blog break for the rest of the season although my Series-ous Reading wrap-up will be posted before the end of the year (with the special announcement of a new reading challenge that I am just about ready for in 2024!). 

I just want to say thank you to everyone who takes the time to read this blog and I do hope that my small book space here does some good in encouraging folks to read and think for themselves (something that’s in short supply these days). I do appreciate it more than you can know.

With that, I wish you all happy holidays and season’s greetings for the remainder of this year, along with great promise of better things to come next year. After all, a page turn is sure to bring something new into our continuing story that we share together:

Love is in the air for my last library haul of 2023

Another year is heading to a close yet the promise of better things to come is still strong enough to keep me looking for one last batch of books at my local library before the holiday season hits hard.

I don’t know why exactly but for some reason, the romance section just called out to me loud and clear this time around. Sure, I enjoy this genre quite a bit but everywhere I looked at the library last week, certain titles seemed to sparkle a bit brighter.

One of those was Emily Henry’s  Happy Place, which just won the Goodreads Choice Awards for Best Romance (a subjective selection, I know). The residence of the title is a summer home where Harriet and her former college friends gather once a year, with a few add-on companions, to relax and reconnect.

This year, however, Harriet has some bad news to share as she has broken up with her fiancé Wyn, also part of their group, over six months ago. She was hoping to tell her best gal pals Sabrina and Cleo on what was to be a ladies only get together but Wyn has arrived before her and it appears that their mutual friends have something to share as well.

As it happens, the house is being sold (due to a divorce settlement in Sabrina’s family) so this is the last time any of them can get together here. In addition, Sabrina is now marrying her longtime boyfriend Parth in a week and wants all of them to attend, sort of a final goodbye celebration.

Not wanting to dampen the spirits of their good friends during this time, Harriet and Wyn agree to pretend that their relationship is still on for now. However, the longer they playact their romance, the more it might not just be for show.

So far, this story is pretty entertaining, kind of a more sophisticated take on a romantic sitcom plot line (yes, I mean that in a good way!). While this book received mixed reviews from readers earlier this year, I’m willing to stay tuned into it for awhile:

I paired that up with Something Wild & Wonderful by Anita Kelly. The story is set on the Pacific Coast Trail where Alexei is doing a solo hike in order to clear his head about what’s next for him in life.

While there, he keeps running into Ben, who is getting over a string of bad decisions in his love life and not looking to make any more.

Yet as the two of them constantly find themselves meeting up again and again, it just makes sense to team up and hike together. Will this be the start of a great friendship or perhaps something much more?

I read Kelly’s first novel, Love and Other Disasters(a Book of the Month Club pick, actually) and it was a lovely read so I am very glad to have found this one readily available. This is one of those “grumpy meets sunshine “ kind of romances that I have no doubt will bring more of the latter than the former in the love department:

To set up a perfect trio of page turning, I decided to try an author that’s new to me with Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez.

Alexis is an ER doctor whose family would prefer that she follow tradition by becoming a highly paid top surgeon instead.

Daniel is the mayor of a small town as well as a carpenter who is expected to live up to his family’s legacy as well. When Alexis winds up needing help getting her car out of a ditch, it’s Daniel who happens to be on hand and the two of them seem to fit like puzzle pieces, despite their very different settings in life.

Can Alexis and  Daniel find a way to make their own mark on the world with each other or was this chance encounter merely a chance and nothing more?

I’ve heard good things about this writer and was pleasantly surprised to learn that she’s also a baker who won an episode of Cupcake Wars! That is so cool, some truly real icing on the creative cake there:

Well, this set of lovelorn tales ought to tide me over until my next library visit in the upcoming new year. I suppose it’s really not surprising that love was in the air for this bookish trip as a library can be one of the most loving places in any community, for books and people alike. May we all embrace our library kid selves, both now and in the years to come:

 

My choice of the Goodreads Choice Awards nominees to read

Happy December, folks and let’s start off with how my Thrill Ride TBR went.

I made good time with Razorblade Tears(that book slaps hard enough to leave a mark!) but Just Another Missing Person turns out to more of a slow and steady ride than a fast and furious one. 

So, my overall results are one finished, one in progress and Maisie Dobbs will be a go-between for my Serious Reading challenge there. Not too bad but maybe next year, I’ll do better.

In the meanwhile, I’m not doing any major readathon reading from now until the beginning of next year yet The Goodreads Choice Awards are inspiring me to clear up some of my TBR piles before New Year’s Eve. Turns out many of the nominations come from Book of the Month Club, of which I have quite a bit on hand and no better time like the present to start those pages a-turning!

So far, I have finished The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer, which is up for Best Fiction and Best Debut. It’s quite the gem that makes the line in You’ve Got Mail about childhood reading forming the person you’re going to be ring true.

When Lucy Hart was thirteen, she ran away to the island home of her favorite writer, Jack Masterson, creator of the Clock Island books where brave children had their wishes granted. Despite being sent back to her lonely home, she always dreamed of returning someday.

That wish has now come true as the reclusive author announces the long awaited release of the final Clock Island book and a contest where one former runaway visitor (Lucy wasn’t the only one!) will be given the one and only copy in the world to do with as they will.

Lucy is a grade school teaching assistant, trying to adopt a student of hers named Christopher, a young boy stuck in the foster care system. When her invitation to return to the island and win the book arrives, she’s thrilled at the chance to make her and Christopher’s dreams of being a family come true.

The contest does have its challenges, including a bribe from a greedy book collector and dealing with Hugo Reese, the illustrator of the Clock Island series who keeps an eye on the aged author. The greatest challenge, however, is facing a personal fear which must be done in order to win. Can Lucy summon up enough courage to do so or will she and Christopher share more mutual disappointment in life?

This is a charming story, told without resorting to overdone sentiment or cloying whimsy. Rather, Shaffer pulls off the trick of being sincerely heartfelt with her characters and even with more than one tip of the hat to Roald Dahl, gives us an original tale that weaves an emotional spell on the reader that holds long after the book is closed:

At the moment, I’m in the midst of Crystal Smith Paul’s Did You Hear About Kitty Karr?, also a double nominee for the Goodreads Awards for Best Historical Fiction and Best Debut.

When legendary actress Kitty Karr dies and leaves her vast fortune to her next door neighbors, the daughters of the St. John family who are an entertainment empire themselves, many questions arise both publicly and privately about this gesture.

As Elise St. John, who was closest to Kitty, goes through the various papers of the estate, she uncovers some hidden truths about the late Miss Karr, whose career began in the Hollywood of the 1950’s, that could still send out shockwaves that could resonate with past and present consequences to more than one generation.

The vibe of this book is family saga with touches of heartbreak and hope. So far, so good and I just know that it will make for a great miniseries someday soon:

Also hoping to get into the latest Ali Hazelwood((up for Best Romance) and Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano, a Best Fiction contender.

The latter is said to be a modern take on Little Women, told from the viewpoint of William Waters who marries into the Padavano family of four sisters, his wife Julia being the eldest.

William, despite his own situation in life, can’t help but be drawn into various familial dramas, even though his connection with Julia ends in divorce.

 As bookish sister Sylvie finds love in all the wrong places while artistic Cecilia seeks fulfillment and sensitive Emmeline does her best to nurture them all, their former brother-in-law knows he should pull back from their troubles yet there are emotional ties that still bind in more ways than one.

The word of mouth on this book has been wonderful to say the least and as a fan of Little Women, it’s great to see that American classic be reimagined for new audiences, especially on the page:

I am hoping to finish at least a couple of these before the end of the year but no hard or fixed deadline am I putting on this small set of reading. Just taking it easy as we wrap another year of books together.

The Goodreads Choice winners will be announced on December 7 and that should give us all more literary food for thought indeed. 

While it is a shame that the children's categories (along with poetry and graphic novels) were removed from contention (why not just have a separate awards for the kid’s books?), the conversation about what was the good, the bad and the poorly written for this year is worth having there.

I would like a Best Author to ReRead category myself and my vote of course would be for Jane Austen. That is one writer who stands the test of time over and over again despite never being officially recognized in her day. Something to think about as another good year of reading comes to an end and a new one begins: