One of the reading adventures I took this year was trying out Aardvark, the book subscription service that offered rather more offbeat titles than the average book boxes out there.
As much as I enjoyed gathering up some new to me books and authors to engage with, my time with Aardvark had to come to an end due to the limits of my entertainment budget (we all know how the economy is these days..).
So, I was fine with that for the most part as I still had plenty of other affordable book buying options to work with. Yet, I did look in on their latest offerings every now and then, sighing longingly at times. It was nice while it lasted or so I thought!
Thanks to a very tiny windfall that covered the price of a one month gift subscription to Aardvark , my new box of September/October books are on the way!
My must-have title was Chuck Tingle’s Lucky Day, which happens to be a special edition, which looks at the seemingly randomness of the universe and just how random is it? When former statistics professor Vera is recruited by a special government agent to investigate the against the odds success of a certain casino, the stakes for her are quite personal.
The source of the casino’s luck can be traced to a bizarre event four years prior that caused multiple deaths in rather improbable ways(being attacked by a monkey using a typewriter for example and Vera’s mother was one of those casualties.
Her faith in her field of interest shattered, Vera was feeling useless until Special Agent Layne arrived. Given the chance to find out what really happened , along with possibly preventing another such occurrence from destroying more lives, she’s ready to resharpen her skills but can she truly play the game to win?
Tingle’s take on story telling is engagingly strange and emotionally touching, quite the fictional combination to be sure. However, like a top chef, Tingle blends those offbeat flavors into a satisfying plate of page turning delight:
I paired that with Mate, Ali Hazelwood’s follow-up to Bride, that has another paranormal romance in store for some supporting players from the previous novel.
Serena Paris is the first of her kind, a hybrid of human and were. With one foot in each realm and yet not being accepted by either side, her safety is at risk from more than one quarter.
Her best chance for survival is Koen Alexander, a powerful Alpha leader amongst the Weres whose authority is never questioned. Being his mate is an instant guarantee of protection yet the real risks here may be if the heart for them both.
I did like Bride, which I read earlier this year, and while my story telling tastes tend to favor vampires in this category, some heartfelt howling at the moon just feels so right to me these days:
To round things up, my choice was a magical romcom, Witch You Would by Lia Amador.
Penelope is hoping to make her dreams come true by taking part in a spell casting competition show with a huge cash prize at stake and a celebrity partner to boot,
Said partner is Leandro, a viral video magician whose gimmicky tricks may not be enough to get the win. As it happens, Leandro is actually Gil, Penelope’s secret pen pal who took on this goofy online persona in order to raise money to save the charity his grandfather created. Can the two of them cast the ultimate spell for love and victory in more ways than one?
This sounds like fabulous fun and I might even add this magical treat to my Cozy November challenge, we shall see:
With any luck, the Aardvark box should be here by Halloween, giving me the best grown up treat in time for the holiday. Believe you me, I could a little pick me up right about now.
Look, I do know that there are more pressing concerns when it comes to money at the moment and I seriously want to see those we put in charge of such things get their act together and work together to make life better for all concerned.
I do consider myself to be very fortunate in my situation with my loved ones that getting some new books is still a viable option yet it’s also important to realize that this is not even a practical concern for most people here. I want so much for folks to feel safe and secure in their lives when it comes to basic needs and rights and shame on those who are eager to rob them of that.
Taking this opportunity for some extra literary bliss is emotionally healthy for me as the state of the world is scarier than any horror movie marathon playing this Halloween week. Mental health refreshers are important to keep our spirits up and give us the fortitude to fight the good fight as best we can.
So, if you have a moment to yourself (or just make one a priority), eat that treat, watch that silly show or grab a hold of a good book to put your worries away for just a little while. Do what you are able to do for others but don’t neglect yourself in the process.
Also, as a fan of autumn vibes, this book box couldn’t arrive at a more perfect time. With the weather finally getting colder and the leaves on the verge of bursting into seasonal colors, curling up under warm blanket with one or two these Aardvark reads while rewatching Gilmore Girls is a simple joy to be sipped and savored as a cup of hot cocoa indeed:
I know that Halloween is only a couple of weeks away and my current holiday themed readathon is going pretty good at the moment-finished one book, in the middle of another and might swap out the third-yet, it doesn’t feel too soon to make bookish plans for next month.
So, I decided to challenge myself to Cozy November , in which I pick a trio of books off my TBR that are definitely on the lighter side of their respective genres to indulge in. A perfect excuse to settle down under a warm blanket and sip an equally warm drink as the pages turn.
To start this off right, A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna is my first pick. Our leading lady is Sera Swan, who has lost most of her powers due to a spell that brought her great Aunt Jasmine back from the beyond.
Having been shut out of her guild, Sera now runs an inn with her aunt and a talking fox with dubious motives. When moody magical historian Luke Larsen arrives in town in need of a room, Sera’s inn is not only available but in need of his vast knowledge that could restore her powers completely.
Will Luke help her or is Sera simply stuck between the realms of mortals and magicians for all time? Plus, can a little love make things right for them both?
I did enjoy Mandanna’s earlier novel(The Secret Society of Irregular Witches) very much and this new book promises to be as enchanting as that one, perhaps even more. At the very least, this should be a spell binding slow burn of a story fit for the fall season:
Speaking of stories, my next choice for this challenge is Poppy Alexander’s The Battle of the Bookshops, set in a quaint seaside village in England, where Jules Capelthorne returns home to in order save her family’s nearly century old bookshop.
Competition has arrived in the form of Roman Montbeaus, who has opened a rival bookstore right across from Capelthorne’s Books and is determined to keep the long tradition of their mutual families’ rivalry going strong. With sales down and the lease about to be called up, can Jules save the beloved business and maybe find some true love in the bargain?
The Romeo and Juliet vibes mixed in with small town sweetness are very appealing here, plus a bookseller themed showdown is true catnip to a fan of You’ve Got Mail like me:
Last yet far from least, Every Time I go on Vacation, Someone Dies, the first in a new series by Catherine Mack, seems like a fitting finale read to me.
When Eleanor Dash reaches Italy on her latest book tour for her successful murder mystery novels, she finds herself in the midst of a perilous plot against her former collaborator Connor, whose claims of someone out to kill him may be all too true.
Granted, she was planning to do away with his fictional counterpart in her books but killing him off outside of that seems a bit too much! With numerous suspects on hand and among her friends and fans as well, will Eleanor be able to keep the real life version of her popular hero safe and sound for the next chapter of their lives?
The concept sounds fun and I have heard good word of mouth about this quirky mystery machine. Plus, I could use a fresh take on this particular genre , which feels so fall friendly indeed:
With my reading stack at the ready, my Cozy November will begin on the first of the month and hopefully get me through Thanksgiving as well as Black Friday to boot. If anyone out there likes this idea and wants to take it up on their own or with other reading buddies, please feel free to do so.
Part of my reason for doing this is to celebrate what I consider the apex of autumn; the Thanksgiving season that, despite its problematic origins, still holds a special charm for me.
Call it nostalgia if you will but the general notion of people gathering together for a nice meal with friends and family of all sorts to celebrate what good things in life they do have to share to me is just a sweet and simple tradition that is worth upholding. Especially during these chaotic times that we’re collectively dealing with, perhaps a time out such as this might be helpful towards figuring out how best to face what lies ahead and figure out what to do next.
Also, I’m on a bit of a Gilmore Girls kick at the moment and we can all agree that that show has a serious pop culture lockdown on those fabulous fall feelings there. Not to mention that Luke and Lorelai are the OG of the Grumpy/Sunshine sub genre of romance for sure! All good reasons to read some cozy goodness, if you ask me:
One pop culture crop that always is ready for harvest this time of year are literary adaptations at the movies. Particularly since award season is not too far off there…
Yet my film focus for today is on those current and upcoming movies that take some creative chances with the source material.
To start, let’s look at Frankenstein , Guillermo Del Toro’s latest movie that will be available for streaming this No and is arriving in theaters this very week. Oscar Issac plays the well known creator of the creature (Jacob Elordi), shunned by society and rejected by the one that made him even before the death toll begins.
Critical praise for the film has been strong and given not only the magnificent visuals that Del Toro is renowned for but the screenplay that he also wrote showcases the creature in a more sympathetic light(another hallmark of his work), this new production of Mary Shelley’s iconic novel should be a fresh vision that honors the original story beautifully:
Also in November is The Running Man , based on one of Stephen King’s Richard Bachman books, which is technically a remake yet not at all.
Instead of following the formula of the earlier Arnold Schwarzenegger action film version, director/co-screenwriter Edgar Wright takes the story straight from the book itself.
Here, Ben Richards(Glen Powell) signs up for the futuristic reality show that hunts him down within the larger population in order to pay for his child’s medical bills.
The popular show, gleefully run by producer Dan Killian(Josh Brolin) and hosted by Bobby Thompson (Coleman Domingo), encourages regular people to assist the Hunters and claim some rewards of their own but as Ben continues to defy the odds, more and more folks are betting against the house and rooting for a potentially ground shifting winner this time around.
As entertaining as the 1987 movie adaptation was, this one should blow the roof off of that film in more ways than one. Seeing this as well as The Long Walk(which had it’s first adaptation released over the summer) be made available to wider audiences promises to widen the circle of Richard Bachman readers as well:
However, if you want to see a movie right now that takes it’s cues from the literary realm, then I highly recommend One Battle After Another.
This latest work by Paul Thomas Anderson is said to be inspired by iconoclastic writer Thomas Pynchon’s book Vineland and granted, this is an author whose works I find much too daunting to dive into yet PTA does capture the flavor of that style of writing quite nicely.
Leonardo DiCaprio plays Bob aka Pat Calhoun, a former revolutionary turned stoner slacker dad to daughter Willa(Chase Infiniti), who have been on their own since the disappearance of his romantic partner and Willa’s mother Perfidia Beverley Hills(Teyana Taylor).
When a past enemy, Col. Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn), decides to use what powers are available to him to track Bob and Willa down for his own personal purposes, that awkward existence quickly changes for parent and child, taking them and anyone who joins them along the way on a long, strange journey that’s hard to predict how it ends.
I saw this movie over the past weekend and it is quite the wild ride indeed. Yes, it’s long(about two and an half hours) but never boring. Instead, this story is a heady mix of humor, tension and emotional drama blended with some sharp edged social satire that strongly resonates with today’s headlines. I don’t want to get into too much detail here but this is a movie that very much ,like a good book, sucks you into the world it’s created and doesn’t let go for a second.
While OBAA is more of an “inspired by” than a direct adaptation of Vineland, PTA is a major fan of Thomas Pynchon and has made a movie based on that writer’s work before(Inherent Vice in 2014) yet it received a mixed reception at best. Perhaps it was by being a bit more free and easy with this particular story that helped him showcase why Pynchon is one of his all time favorites.
The performances are amazingly great, the look of the film(made in old school Vista Vision) is captivating and even if you haven’t read or heard of Pynchon, director/co-writer PTA gives you a very good idea of what that author’s writing is like and why it’s one of his artistic inspirations to this day:
Interesting how all three of these adaptations have their directors take part in writing the screenplays as well. Guess it really can be a bonus to have a visual creator be able to see and feel the depths of the tale he or she is translating from one medium to another there.
That trend seems to be continuing into next year as actress Maggie Gyllenhaal gives us The Bride! in March of 2026. This new twist on The Bride of Frankenstein is set in Chicago during the 1930s with Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale as an undead Bonnie and Clyde.
This is Gyllenhaal’s second film as a writer/director and certainly one to watch out for. Whether it makes its mark as a new cult classic or simply inspires an eyebrow raise or two, such chances taken are what the best movies and books are all about. At the very least, all roads here will lead back to the book, the truly desired result of them all:
I know that October is supposed to be all about scary books(enjoying my current readathon read as we speak) for Halloween but my grown-up version of trick or treat this month includes getting my Book Boss prize from Book of the Month Club(it’s a book sleeve, my very first one!) and a couple of books with blue tinged covers to match.
For my main selection, The Second Chance Cinema by Thea Weiss , her debut novel,seemed like the perfect ticket.
Engaged couple Ellie and Drake feel as if their new life together is getting off to a great start yet that notion is challenged by an unusual film festival. Upon discovering the movie theater of the title, they are given 10 passes to a ten part film series called The Story of You, which is literally about their past memories.
Drake is rather freaked out by this but Ellie is not as much ,despite having a tragic time in her past that she hasn’t yet shared with him. Can they face their mutual fears in this unique movie viewing experience and be willing to step into the sequel of the rest of their lives together? Or is this cinematic adventure a one and done deal?
I do love a story with a movie themed plot and this story does sound charmingly refreshing. Plus, debut novels do have that inviting flavor of buttery newness like a fresh bucket of popcorn at a weekend matinee so this was a hard to resist choice for me:
For my add on , I went with Hayley Gelfuso’s The Book of Lost Hours that has more that one point in time for it’s characters to explore.
We start with Lisavet, who has been living in a special time space library since 1938 , making it her duty to protect the books that store precious memories of those departed within them from those seeking to rewrite history.
When an American agent named Ernest enters the library in 1949, at first Lisavet is curious about the world she had to leave behind. Yet, once she learns the true nature of his mission, hard choices that could change more than just the time line must be made.
Ernest’s quest is then followed up by his niece Amelia in 1965, with the assistance of a CIA operative with mysterious motives. While Amelia has an innate ability to travel between worlds, her special skills can’t fully prepare for what’s to come.
This novel is also a debut and a Good Morning America book pick to boot. Word of mouth has been good for this heartfelt tale of time , love and what our connections to the world are through each of those doors:
As it turns out, one of my recent library loans also has a blue hued cover and a story line with magical elements as well. Blue is not usually my go-to on the color wheel (that would be purple) but something about that shade is drawing me to certain books right now.
One of the big differences here is that my library book is not a debut; The Glass Maker is Tracy Chevalier’s eleventh novel and while it begins in the fifteenth century, it’s leading lady thrives all the way into our present day world.
Orsola grew up in a family of glass makers from the island village of Milano near Venice, Italy, wanting nothing than to be one of the best in that practical art. Such a dream was not encouraged for a woman in those days yet she still persisted in achieving it.
Through leaps in time, we see Orsola guide her family through the struggles of historical events such as world wars, technological innovations and plagues , all the while pursuing the wonders of glassworks even when such creativity is not as valued as it once was.
Chevalier is quite the literary maestra when it comes to historical fiction and thus touch of magical realism into this well crafted book seems to give it that extra special sparkle that many a glass blown creation encases in abundance:
So, in a weird way I’m feeling a bit blue about my new reads but in this case, that is not a bad thing. With all of the chaos swirling around us these days, finding a safe harbor in some good books is a great place to start clearing our hearts and minds of the distracting clutter out there.
Plus, sometimes, it’s fun to be “blue”, particularly when books are the reason for keeping a good thought or song in your head:
October is about to begin and along with the traditional spooky season festivities, something even scarier approaches; Banned Books Week,which runs from Oct.5-11 this year.
The annual celebration of our freedom to read has grown to frighteningly factional levels these days with the urgent need to protect books and ideas now more than ever in danger. Fortunately, many folks are fighting the good fight on this front such as George Takei, famed Star Trek actor as well as an author, playwright and activist who is this year’s honorary chair of Banned Books Week this time around.
To salute this iconic superstar, I decided to focus on banned titles that deal with the consequences of future times, books that are still under fire today and beginning to seem too close to an actual tomorrow:
Since the tagline for BBW in 2025 happens to be “Censorship is so 1984”, it only makes sense to start with the George Orwell classic.
The novel has been challenged in many countries for it’s depiction of authoritarian rule and most recently in the US was on a banned book list in Iowa(citing it for sexual content) which was thankfully struck down by the courts.
Orwell’s living nightmare of a world where even your imagination was under the control of a tyrannical government still holds a strong influence today as terms such as “Big Brother” and “Thought Police” are part of our quick reference guide to political overreach. It’s the kind of story that you would seriously prefer to stay on the page rather than leak out into our shared reality indeed:
The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins might seem like too recent an entry here but trust me, these books are being targeted by those who fear their influence.
In February of 2025, a school board in South Carolina held a vote to decide whether or not to ban the first book from a class discussing dystopian fiction (the end result was for keeping the book and offering an alternative choice for any student whose family had objections to that title).
While most of the complaints about all of the books in this saga of children being forced to entertain the masses via a televised death match revolve around the violence and sexual content (of which there isn’t that much of), the one that stands out the most is anti-authoritarianism.
How interesting that the concept of young people questioning the rules of their society and banding together to rebel against oppression is very objectionable to many folks out there, even when no one side is exempt from criticism. It’s as if they’re afraid of being on the reckoning half of such an equation….:
Given the numerous legal challenges surrounding women’s reproductive rights of late, it’s not surprising that Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale has become both pop culturally relevant and a recent subject of censorship at school board meetings.
While it has had international challenges as well, states in our own country such as Florida, Texas and Oregon have been putting this harrowing narrative of a woman trapped by a viciously patriarchal society to become a baby breeder for the oppressive elites on lists of books to be kept away from students.
Never mind the fact that this book not only has been adapted for a movie readily available for viewing but was turned into an award winning TV series that even the least tech savvy person can find and watch to learn what all the fuss it is about. Why fear something that is “only a novel” unless it has plenty to say regarding our current state of alarming affairs..:
The ultimate novel on this topic is ,of course, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.
This portrayal of a world where a firefighter’s main duty is to burn books by order of the state has been challenged as recently as this year in Colorado where it was among other titles removed from school library shelves.
Thankfully it, along with the other disputed books, was restored by court order. The most particular objections to this science fiction classic focus on the language (the mildest of profanities are included) and violence yet what I truly suspect bothers certain parties quite a lot are the anti-intellectual goals of the authorities depicted here.
Suppression of deeper thought and shouting down rational discussions based upon true knowledge seems to be the
dominant tactic of those who hate books for providing the basis for just such pushback against such self serving small mindedness. Bradbury adored libraries and if he was still with us, would first in line to protect them from being destroyed both from without and within our communities:
Banned Books Week starts this upcoming weekend and if you’d like to learn more about it, I have placed links in the second paragraph of this post to the official website for BBW there.
I know that there is so much to deal with right now when it comes to the state of the world right now yet all of that makes the fight to preserve our freedom to read freely more important these days. Do what you are able to do to encourage folks to protect our reading rights or at the very least, think about the future of reading and how it should be cherished for the readers both here and now as well as those awaiting their turn in the years to come.
Also, much thanks to George Takei for speaking out and standing up for the rights of others on his various social media platforms. His support for free expression is a beacon of hope to many of us worrying about the dark days ahead of us and taking some solace in the fact that we are not alone in wanting a better world for all:
Well, fall has officially arrived and I’m very enraptured by this season, especially since it heralds the beginning of FrightFall, the perfect excuse to indulge in scary books , courtesy of Seasons of Reading and Michelle Miller!
While you are only required to read just one sinister story ( in the genre of your choice, horror, mystery,etc), some of us do tend to dive into the deep end of the page turning pool and go for as many as we can cram into our trick or treat TBR piles. I keep my reading list at a minimum of three-with the option to switch out a book, if need be-and my theme was Horror Movie Adjacent, as my first pick will show:
Marked by Moonlight is the first entry in a paranormal romance series by Sophie Morgan that has a reluctant leading lady in Claire, a mild mannered schoolteacher who suddenly feels renewed upon a strange encounter with a stray dog one night.
Turns out that dog was actually a werewolf and, according to her new associate Gideon, if she can’t break the curse before the next new moon, Claire will become a lycan and it’s Gideon’s duty to take her down.
However, the two of them start to fall in love and the closer it gets to the new moon, the more intense the odds become for them both. Even if the curse isn’t undone in time, can their relationship survive beyond the night?
This does sound enchantingly fun and it would be great to get a werewolf romance made into a movie someday; as much as I adore vampires, it’s only fair to let the werewolves have their turn here:
Next up is one of my recent BOTM selections from Rachel Harrison, Play Nice.
When social media influencer Clio inherits the haunted family house from her recently deceased mother (who wrote a book about those harrowing days), she sees this as a prime opportunity for the ultimate in home makeovers.
However, perhaps her mom wasn’t exaggerating about the demon lurking in the walls there. After several strange occurrences, Clio finally reads the infamous book her mother wrote and begins to believe that this was more than just a suburban scary story. The evil within this dwelling may be truly terrifying in a very personal way.
I am planning to read this one first(in spite of the order of this listing) as Harrison is a new-to-me author that I have heard excellent word of mouth praise about and this premise brings back fun pop culture memories of The Amityville Horror (yes, I am old enough to remember when that franchise started!), quite the homeowner nightmare indeed:
For my finale, Jessica Knoll’s Bright Young Woman seems to fit the bookish bill.
This twist on true crime has two women, Pamela(who survived an attack on her college dormitory) and Ruth(whose best friend was an early victim of the same man suspected in that later incident) teaming up to get justice for their mutual losses at the hands of a celebrated spree killer.
This novel was quite the sensation a couple of years ago, praised for keeping the fictional focus on the women rather than the man who gained notoriety for his brutal deeds. Personally, I do appreciate a solid story where women can get the upper hand on the slasher stalking them on and off screen and this book promises to deliver on that fearsome front nicely:
The FrightFall readathon starts on October 1st and lasts through out the month-more details can be found via the link in the top section of this post-and there’s plenty of time to sign up and join in the spooky seasonal fun!
While our daily headlines are certainly just as frightening as any horror movie, just remember that a good way to channel that anxiety is through a good book. At least with a book, you can always stop and mark your spot when you need a break from the terror within. Not to mention that it’s good to know that some nightmares can end with a turn of the last page.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t have a little bit of entertainment in all sorts of flavors, from ghoulishly sweet to darkly delicious and yes, Halloween is the best holiday for sugary indulgences of all sorts so do enjoy!:
While the official start of autumn is next week, I have already begun to gather up a few books to settle into the season just right.
Even though Aardvark is no longer an option for me at this time, Better World Books(which donates a portion of every book sale made to literary programs) was ready with a back to school special that I happily took part in!
My first selection was The Davenports by Krystal Marquis, a YA historical fiction set in Chicago in 1910. The family of the title have a pair of daughters who are about to make their marks on society in very different ways.
Olivia, the older sister, is set to marry an approved choice yet her heart and mind seems to changed once she meets Washington, a charming lawyer and civil rights leader. Meanwhile, her sister Helen is more interested in becoming a mechanic yet has caught the eye of Jacob, the man Olivia is expected to wed.
Their brother John is not exempt from such romantic struggles as two contemporaries vie for his attention; Amy-Rose,who is following in her mother’s footsteps as a maid while planning to own her own hair salon, and Ruby, a longtime friend of his older sister . Can these siblings find the best love for themselves without tearing their family apart?
The word of mouth from critics and readers on this book has been excellent and there is a sequel already out, plus plans to adapt this novel for streaming platforms. The praise I heard from BookTube already had me eager to check it out there.
Marquis has based this story upon a real life family from this time period (the Pattersons who started an automobile empire) and with shows like The Gilded Age bringing fresh interest to the history of the Black Elite, this promises to be a dazzling delight to read:
I paired that with the fourth book in Evie Dunmore’s League of Extraordinary Women series, The Gentleman’s Gambit.
Our leading lady is Catriona, who prefers to focus on her writing and working for the cause of suffrage in England rather than indulge in romantic pursuits that often lead nowhere for her.
However, when her father receives a visit from ElÃas, a prominent new colleague in his academic circle, she finds herself having to play hostess, a distraction that Catriona doesn’t need or want, no matter how charming he seems to be.
ElÃas, on the other hand, is being strategic in his attentions to her as his true goal is not to study a particular set of artifacts that her father has access to but to reclaim them for his home country, where they rightfully belong.
However, the mutual attraction between them slowly but surely conflicts with their mutual mistrust and perhaps more than one set of goals might be achieved together in an alliance of sorts. Can this be accomplished without too much risk to their futures, romantic and otherwise?
I do enjoy this series (reading the third book, Portrait of a Scotsman, as we speak) and find it a shame that is the final entry as these stories blend period romance and historical fiction as nicely as a warming cup of tea. Yet I am sure that Dunmore will have new fictional paths to lead us on and that this tale of an unexpected love match should be good until the last drop:
On the same day those books arrived, I happened to take an impromptu trip to the movies(saw Fantastic Four: First Steps and it was amazingly good!) and while at the mall-yes, those still exist-I picked up a paperback mystery that has great potential for a fun read.
Everytime I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies is quite the eye catching title and this is the first in a new series by Catherine Mack, featuring a writer of mystery novels who finds herself in hot water while on her latest book tour.
Eleanor Dash has become a very successful author of the Vacation Mysteries but not without the help of detective Connor Smith, who insists upon his share of the royalties from the books despite his lack of input beyond being named as the main character.
This tour in Italy is to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the first entry in the series and Eleanor is planning to rid herself of the fictional Connor by killing him off in the next book. Only thing is, someone is trying to do away with the real world Connor and possibly even Eleanor as well , with a variety pack of suspects all around them to choose from!
Could it be Eleanor’s sister Harper, who put her own literary dreams aside to be her more popular sibling’s personal assistant? Or is it Alison, Connor’s ex-wife and author of a very personal account of their less than idyllic relationship? Perhaps a diehard fan who finds the whole notion of ending the series worth killing for?
Regardless of who, the ultimate question is how to find the killer before their actions close this chapter of Eleanor and Connor’s lives for good.
This book does sound like fun in a Knives Out sort of way and I am ready to do some serious page turning with it this season for sure:
So, between these new additions to my TBR, along with a few library loans and BOTM selections, my reading for fall is pretty well set. Still making plans for the FrightFall readathon next month, plus a personal challenge of cozy reading in November (we shall see) but all in all, a rather respectable lineup.
Yes, it may seem trivial in light of ongoing events but you know what? I refuse to put my creative life on hold while all of this seemingly endless awfulness is dominating the headlines and affecting our lives for the worst. While I am able to do what I can for the greater good within my own small set of circumstances, enriching my imagination is a right that I will not surrender.
With the world upping its chaos levels to eleven right now, taking a break from all of that is essential to keep our collective spirits up as well. Reading can be escapist but it’s also a good way to renew our weary hearts and minds. A good book, movie, TV show or song, can do wonders in this department and while they’re not the complete solution, these pastimes are helpful to maintain our purpose as we go forward towards better days.
Speaking of TV, I have two cable channels showcasing Gilmore Girls on slightly different seasonal tracks now and that alone is beneficial to my emotional health.
I would much rather debate who was the better boyfriend for Rory (Team Jess all the way here and yes, he does have plenty of flaws but Logan is much worse, in my opinion!)than get into other online arguments these days. Plus, more excuse for book talk with this show and a perfect way to anticipate autumn as it drops those gorgeous leaves and gives us sweater weather:
Finally,after taking a book buying break this August, I was able to fulfill a promise to myself by shopping in September, beginning with Book of the Month Club.
Given that most people are eager for October (aka spooky season)to begin already,much like the stores putting out candy corn by the first day of school, BOTM had a few fearsome offerings this month that I snapped up quick.
For my Main Selection, it was Play Nice by Rachel Harrison. Our leading lady is Clio, an influencer who has just inherited the house that her mother Alex has claimed for years to be haunted by a demonic presence. Alex even took that belief far enough to publish a book about what she experienced.
Upon her mother’s sudden death, Clio sees this as an opportunity to do the ultimate house flip , a notion that neither of her sisters is at all interested in. She’s willing to go this route alone yet along the way, starts to learn a few family secrets that not only could validate her mother’s claims but change her own life for the worse in more ways than one.
I’ve heard a lot of great things about Rachel Harrison’s work and very thrilled to check her newest book(an early release from BOTM) for a specially themed readathon this fall. This novel does feel rather timely as the saying goes, home is where the horror is….:
When it came to picking add ons, my first choice was the latest by T. Kingfisher,Hemlock & Silver, a sinister sorcery take on the classic Snow White story.
Anja has made the study of poisons her specialty as a healer and her knowledge of them, along with their antidotes, brings royal trouble right to her door.
Requested by the king himself to discover what is ailing his daughter Snow, Anja reluctantly journeys to the isolated estate where the regal family lives and while Snow is quite ill( and a bit ill tempered as well), the cause is not easily known.
Nevertheless, Anja is determined to find out what is causing the princess to be as physically sick as she is, with the assistance of Javier, a royal bodyguard. The two of them find Snow eating a rather odd looking apple one day, a clue that leads to a darkly dangerous discovery of a mirror world that reveals less than it reflects…
I do love a twisted take on fairy tales and my favorite Disney villain happens to be the Evil Queen from Snow White(yes, she was wicked but she had style!), so this book sounds like my cup of poisonous tea indeed:
To round this terrifying trio out, I went with The Possession of Alba Diaz by Isabel Cañas.
Set in Mexico during the 1800s, our title heroine has fled with her family to a small mining town to escape the plague ravaging their city.
While Alba feels the same, she’s more concerned about her strange new habits of sleepwalking and bizarre visions that have developed since she got to town. All too soon, it appears that an unholy force has taken hold of her and the only real help that she can get is from ElÃas. Can Alba save her soul and her heart from what is determined to claim both?
Canas has a relatable nuance to her terror tales, focusing strongly on the emotional elements that dominate her characters just as equally as the otherworldly threats that are facing them.
Possession stories are more than just scary faces and shocking moments; they’re metaphors for internal conflict that forces one person to be the catalyst for others to reveal their true nature. Having read and enjoyed her prior novels (Hacienda, The Vampires of El Norte), I have no doubt that Isabel Canas will deliver the gruesome yet glorious goods here:
As happy as I am to be getting some Book of the Month Club reads, sadly, my time with Aardvark has come to an end. It’s just not in my budget right now but I did get some wonderful books from them(a few that I still need to catch up with) and would gladly recommend Aardvark to anyone preferring a more offbeat selection of new reads.
In the meanwhile, I do have plans for one or perhaps two of these books to be on my FrightFall TBR later this season-stay tuned for that announcement!
The way things are going these days, looking forward to some serious trick or treat time that involves a good scary read and perhaps a snappy spooky song to hum along as I turn the pages with fearsome delight:
Happy September, folks and I hope you all enjoyed a good Labor Day weekend. Mine was spent finishing up one last book for Seasons of Reading‘a High Summer Readathon (hosted by Michelle Miller) it was time well worth it, indeed.
Before I talk about that book, let’s start at the beginning with Last Night Was Fun by Holly Michelle (who has written YA novels under the name Holly James). The title refers to a strange text message received by Emmy , whose sole purpose in life is to get a major league promotion at work, which happens to be a statistical analyst for a baseball team. She has no social life beyond helping her younger sister plan her big destination wedding so this text is a real puzzler.
As it turns out, the guy sending this message thought he was talking to the woman that he had just been on a date with and despite what he assumed, that feeling about their evening wasn’t shared. The fake phone number he got happens to Emmy’s and once that mystery is cleared up, the two of them form a text-only relationship that slowly yet surely becomes more than just idle chatter.
All too soon, Emmy is in need of a plus-one for her sister’s wedding and takes a chance by asking her new texting partner to go with her. However, that partner is revealed as Gabe, her coworker and rival for the big promotion! Can the two of them put their professional issues aside to pursue a more personal connection together?
While this does sound very romcom, Holly Michelle brings a solid dose of character development and sly wit to this story, making her supporting players just as engaging as the leads are there. The genre tropes are well woven into the plot but they don’t run roughshod over the initial story at all.
Plus, it was nice to see Emmy and Gabe have one big thing in common and that is their mutual love of baseball which makes their statistical work more than just numbers on a spreadsheet. It’s the fine touches like that which makes this book a home run read:
Next up was Danica Nava’s debut novel, The Truth According to Ember, which also had a workplace theme. Ember has been trying to get the accounting job of her dreams but thirty seven rejections have a way of making her feel permanently stuck at the bottom of the career ladder.
After tweaking her resume, she does an interview at a tech company, which starts off as a great opportunity for steady and stable work. Before she knows it, Ember winds up as a temporary executive assistant to the big boss, a position that she’s determined to do well in despite being overwhelmed by the sudden shift in gears.
It does help to have a new work friend, Danuwoa, the kind hearted IT guy who is happy to lend a hand when needed. However, Ember is worried about the no dating coworkers rule at work causing both of them to lose their jobs. Regardless of that, they do develop feelings for each other but many of Ember’s falsehoods begin to stand in the way of their potential romantic future together. Can she tell the truth without too many painful consequences?
Nava blends romcom energy with realistic elements to make her first romance novel stand out in the best sense of the term. Her characters are well rounded and fully nuanced, not to mention that the class and race struggles that her leading lady deals with enhance the complexities that she finds herself in.
It’s a riveting page turner that reminds me greatly of the classic workplace romcom Working Girl, with it’s moments of wit, social satire and vested interest in seeing Ember achieve her dreams, professional as well as personal:
And now for the book I spent my Labor Day with; instead of pursuing Passion Project, I wanted to keep on going with workplace centered romance and went with The Build-a-Boyfriend Project by Mason Deaver.
Eli is stuck in a rut at his job with the online magazine Vent, tired of being just an assistant and not getting to write the meaningful stories that Vent used to be known for. Plus, he has to work with Keith, a former boyfriend who seems to be advancing much more in his job than Eli is.
At the suggestion of his roommate, Eli goes on a blind date with Peter, who doesn’t have a lot of friends in town. The date is quite the train wreck as Peter shows up over a hour late, constantly answers his phone for work calls and spills more than one food or drink on Eli.
However, Eli may be disappointed but finds it hard to get mad at Peter, who truly has no dating experience as an adult coming from a remote part of the South with no real interaction with his peers in the community.
This leads Eli into getting an assignment from his boss to write about his bad first date as the snarky title social experiment. Eli prefers to write a more positive article about Peter’s emotional experiences and while hoping to convince his boss to publish the latter, Eli also works on the former and gets Peter to take dating lessons from him.
As time goes by, Eli and Peter learn a lot from each other, finding out that they have much more in common than they realized. While neither of them intend to get too connected emotionally by mutual agreement, that bond eventually happens and when push comes to shove, Eli has to take real risks with his life and work. Will Peter have to suffer for Eli’s mistakes or is that a lesson they need to learn apart from each other?
Much like the first book I read for this readathon, Deaver is well known for their YA novels and that experience with character growth is brilliantly displayed here with heartfelt emotions, good humor and well earned moments of personal truth. Despite his mistakes, Eli is a lead that you continue to root for and Peter with his gentle soul is such a sweetheart to behold.
I do love a slow burn setup and this one delivers, with a wonderful cast of supporting characters and enough charm for a dozen romcom movies there. One of the novel’s themes is dealing with being unable to connect with your adult peers romantically when you didn’t have any opportunities in your younger years(especially as part of an oppressed social group in a remote section of the country) and it’s such a touchstone element among others in this book that makes it one of the best things that I’ve read this year:
Well, that was certainly a great way to end the summer and much thanks to Michelle Miller for giving us a good reason to enjoy this sweaty season with a stack of books under the nearest AC unit!
Hope everyone else who joined had a great reading time as well and will be ready for like Freddy(Krueger, that is) for the FrightFall readathon this October. As for me, my pile of spooky season reads are growing in a scary fashion indeed , almost with demonic flair, you could say….:
We finally arrive at the last two episodes of Sanditon ,season one, for this Autumn in August journey and quite a lot has happened indeed! Sadly,Georgiana Lambe gets very little attention here but fear not, there are plenty of dramatic moments to savor:
A Small Victory for Stringer:
The Sanditon regatta event does go off, rather well, even getting Lady Susan(whom Charlotte met in London) to attend with some well connected friends to boot.
While Charlotte is happy to see her new friend again, she’s less than thrilled about Mrs.Campion(Ruth Kearney), a former love of Sidney’s that has become a wealthy widow looking to rekindle a certain flame, showing up for the day!
The big boat race, which highlights the whole event, turns out to be an unexpected win for Young Stringer, which is great since the poor guy heads into a boatload of misery by the finale:
Before all is said and done, Young Stringer loses his father (due to a fire that affects the future of the town) and his shot at Charlotte, causing him to put aside his dreams of being an architect.
It’s a sad storyline for this character to end up on but rest assured , by the time season two begins, he does take up an apprenticeship which sends him to London. Too bad we don’t hear from him anymore in this series yet he did get a decent outcome at last.
Losing Out on Love:
Meanwhile, Sidney and Charlotte wind up falling head over heels for each other (the why remains a mystery to me) and plans are made for their potential bliss ever after.
However, upon the fire that destroyed a good chunk of Sanditon and threatens serious ruin for Tom Parker(who was too cheap to buy fire insurance;seriously, dude?), Sidney heads off to London to try and raise the funds necessary to keep his relatives out of the literal poorhouse.
Unfortunately for Charlotte, his solution turns out to be marrying his widowed ex-girlfriend. That definitely broke up their romance and if you ask me, Charlotte is better off there. Sidney was too rude and moody to say the least.
I know that many fans were upset about this development when the first season ended and were fit to be tied upon no announcement of a second season back then.
A few years later(due to the popularity of historical romance series such as Bridgerton), a revival of the show gave those fervent folks some major “I told you so!” joy but alas, their dreams of “Sidlotte” were not meant to be.
Since many of the actors were no longer available for the series (understandably due to prior commitments), many of the characters had to be written out and Sidney was one of them. Oh, well, those Sidlotte souls can take comfort in the few passionate kisses their favorite characters shared:
One Happy Ending at Least:
Interestingly enough, the one character that did get a dream wedding was Lady Esther, whose fortunes went from low to high, thanks to her cantankerous aunt not dying and realizing just how much of a scheming weasel her nephew Edward and his cousin Clara were.
Not only did Esther become the sole heir, she found love with Lord Babbington (Mark Stanley), a guy who actually seemed rather sweet and respectful of his beloved’s wishes. Even when revelations about the nature of her relationship with her stepbrother came out(in public, no less!), he was not deterred from his devotion to Esther.
Well, if someone who was not Georgiana Lambe was going to have the wedding she deserved, Esther certainly was a proper choice. Esther does show up in the second season but not with Babbington (the actor wasn’t available) but they remained married and well, if you want to know more, PBS Passport has all three seasons available for streaming, just saying!:
Well, this wraps my Autumn in August trip and I hope you all had fun in the proverbial sun with these offbeat takes on Jane Austen. Also, thank you PBS for making shows like this available to American audiences even before streaming services existed!
If we are fortunate enough, by this time next year, PBS may still be around to brings us the best in arts and entertainment, along with educational programming that has benefited many generations and hopefully more to come. Supporting your local PBS station, if possible, is a small yet positive step towards achieving that goal.
Have a happy Labor Day weekend, folks and I hope to see you all in the fall(an easy rhyme but hard to resist!):
Welcome back to more Autumn in August highlights as we continue to visit Sanditon , season one.
The main focus of the day are episodes five and six, which sadly sideline my favorite character and shove the spotlight onto Charlotte and Sidney, whose romance is rather basic, if you ask me:
A Sporting Distraction
As you may recall, Georgiana Lambe(the best character) was having a secret romantic relationship with Otis,that was strongly objected to by Sidney(Miss Lambe’s reluctant guardian). Charlotte , therefore, has become a go-between in keeping the correspondence flowing by sending out and picking their mutual love letters.
With the annual cricket match coming up, Charlotte and Georgiana see this event as a good opportunity for a quick visit with Otis.
That distraction is further aided by Charlotte stepping into the game as a late replacement for the beleaguered Tom Parker, embarrassed at being called out for not paying his workers on the town renovation crew(which he rightly deserved to be publicly challenged on as those men have families to feed and bills to pay there, sir!).
Charlotte is no stranger to the game, coming from a large family in the country where such games are played by whoever is on hand. This twist of fate does take everyone’s eye off of Georgiana , which turns out to be both good and bad there:
Unfortunately, this leads to a plot line where Georgiana gets kidnapped and almost forced into marriage in order to cover Otis’ gambling debts(he had nothing to do with that plan as his mail had been swiped by his creditors).
This brings Sidney and Charlotte together as they head to London separately to find Georgiana and wind up teaming to track her down. It ultimately ends with a traveling coach race that saves Georgiana but ends her relationship with Otis, for now at least.
This is such a melodramatic story line that could’ve come right out of a Gothic novel by Ann Radcliffe, a popular writer of such tales who was lovingly spoofed by Jane Austen in Northanger Abbey , so I suppose it fits here. After all, Sanditon is an unfinished novel and Northanger Abbey was published posthumously, so the inspiration is in tune with Austen’s tastes.
Ballroom Blitz, Take Two
With Sidney and Charlotte being thrown together like this, a sort of affectionate feeling arises between them yet I’m still not fully convinced of their mutual attraction at all.
They attend a masked ball in London, part of a ploy by Tom to get folks interested in attending the upcoming regatta (boating exhibition) in Sanditon, which might not be even happening if the cantankerous Lady Denham dies(there’s a whole subplot with her potential demise and her relatives making devious plans regarding her will but I would prefer more Georgiana drama, if you ask me).
Back at the ball, Charlotte starts to have serious feelings for Sidney and confesses them to a complete stranger, a noble lady named Susan(who seems much nicer than a similarly named leading lady from an early Austen work):
With such newly found encouragement, Charlotte joins Sidney in the dance floor and the two of them seem to be on their way to true love. Of course, that won’t last for long as Sidney runs into a former lady friend who happens to recently widowed. Yep, another bad break on the rocky road to love indeed!:
I intend to wrap this revisit ti Sanditon up soon but might just for fun, have a rewatch of the 2007 adaptation of Northanger Abbey, which is available on PBS Passport along with all three seasons of Sanditon.
Since Andrew Davies, the writer who has adapted many classic works such as the iconic Pride and Prejudice miniseries, also did this version of NA and Sanditon as well, having all of this readily available via public television is a great convenience that is surprisingly affordable. Plus, supporting public television in these troubling times is a small yet vital way to do what you can towards bringing about better days to some.
Next time, we will be covering the final two episodes of season one of Sanditon and yes, there are some shocking surprises in store, especially for Charlotte!:
