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Menampilkan postingan dari Desember, 2020

Ah! 2021--A Clean Slate! What I'm Reading in January

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  It never fails-each late December I put away my decorations and decide I want to clean up, declutter, get in shape, eat healthy, and get organized. That lasts about a week, and then falls apart. I've been doing this all my adult life, and I feel the urge rising again. Calendar? Planner? Weekly meal prep? An excel sheet with all my books, alphabetized and color coded, with reading goals for each month? A plan to clean out closets, a basement, a garage? Plan a garden? Organize paperwork? Geez, I'd have to be a wonder woman to get any of it done.  Oh, I can feel it, rising like sap in a tree. But this time I'm beating it all down. Nope. Not going to do it. I'm going to enjoy the heck out of 2021, and that means setting realistic goals in everything I do so I'm not setting myself up for failure. That means, (although it pains me!) that I'm not going to set a reading goal this year. And I'm going to read whatever I like and whatever interests me. No pressure to

My Top 20 of 2020: The Books that Powered Me Through a Pandemic and a Derecho (Along with Carbs and Cocktails)

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  I'm trying very hard not to fall into the trap of thinking once it's 2021 things miraculously get better for all of us. As it is, I'm tiptoeing through the last five days of 2020 holding on tight to my partner's hand and seeing what each day brings.  This was, officially, the first Christmas I've had where I've enjoyed cocktails at noon while opening gifts in my jammies. Just an FYI: a grasshopper tastes delicious on Christmas Day.  As I was lounging around this morning, I started thinking about my top ten books for 2020. I looked at my list, and knew it would be hard to narrow it down, but I thought I'd give it a try.  It didn't work. So, in keeping with 2020 and all the topsy-turvy things it brought us, I've decided to present my Top 20 for 2020. I read some pretty good stuff, I must say. I didn't get into much non-fiction, or even historical fiction. I need to be better about reading more diverse voices. However, I see a lot of books that he

Two Novels by Pamela Kelley: The Restaurant and Christmas at the Restaurant

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  In my quest to read holiday novels, I picked up Christmas at the Restaurant at my library a week ago. As I started to read it, I realized I had The Restaurant sitting on my bookcase. I had picked it up a few months ago and never got around to reading it. So...I had to read it first before I read the follow up Christmas novel. You're getting two reviews in one post today, Christmas Eve.  This was a quick read, and I'd recommend Pamela Kelley's novels to anyone who likes a gentle read with likable characters and a uncomplicated plot. That is not to say this was a dull book at all! As a matter of fact, it felt like a good visit with friends I hadn't seen in awhile. Three sisters: Emma, Mandy, and Jill, all have busy lives. Mandy lives in Nantucket with her husband and kids; Jill leads a busy life in corporate Manhattan, and Emma lives in Arizona with her professor husband. Their beloved  grandmother passes away, and leaves them a surprise: they, along with Chef Paul, are

12 Men for Christmas by Phillipa Ashley

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  If you're looking for some steam for Christmas, this is the novel to read. A contemporary romance that takes place in the Lake District of England, this was a quick read I picked up at B&N last month.  Emma Tremayne left her job in London for a quiet place to heal her broken heart. Definitely a fish out of water; a city girl in the country. Her new job with the tourist board in the town of Bannerdale has brought her into contact with the rescue team in town. They are raising money to build a new center; their current digs are pretty small and dumpy. Her idea: a calendar featuring the men-naked. One for each month. These men are super fit, handsome, and perfect for a calendar; now to just convince them. Especially one man in particular: Will Tennant. He's completely against it.  Sparks fly between Emma and Will, and for most of the novel, both are hit and miss in their interactions. But it's clear there's something building between them, and when it does explode...

Mrs. Morris and the Ghost of Christmas Past by Traci Wilton

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  Christmas cozy mysteries are a fairly new addition to my December reading, but they have quickly become favorites. This mystery, the third in the Salem B&B   M ystery series, can be read on its own. I haven't read the first two, but I will probably go back and read them; mostly because I enjoyed this mystery and the characters. If you're interested in the first two in the series, they are Mrs. Morris and the Ghost , and Mrs. Morris and the Witch. What drew me to this mystery: it takes place in Salem, MA, and there's a ghost involved. Mrs. Morris is Charlene, a recent transplant from Chicago. She's bought an old mansion and turned it into a B&B. That mansion has a ghost named Jack: a handsome ghost who only Charlene can see and talk to. There's a bit of flirty behavior going on between Charlene and Jack, but, well...kind of hard to see a future with a ghostly guy. Charlene moved to Salem to start fresh after her husband's untimely death. Now it's tw

Two Holiday Novels: Happily This Christmas by Susan Mallery & One Charmed Christmas by Sheila Roberts

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  'Tis the season! All the holiday books! Yay! I decided to deliver two holiday book reviews in this post since I read these back to back over the weekend. A big shout out to my friend Lee B. for passing on these two books to me to get my Christmas reading moving along.  I'll start with Happily This Christmas by Susan Mallery.  This is part of the Happily Inc series (book #6) so I am sure I missed a few things because I haven't read any of the other books. However, there is plenty here that makes it feel like a standalone, so don't hesitate to read it and then if you like, go back to the other books in the series.  Officer Garrick McCabe lives next door to Wynn Beauchene, but they've never really met each other. Wynn has certainly noticed Garrick-how could she avoid checking him out when he mows his yard shirtless? While both have noticed the other, neither is in any hurry to make the first move. Until Garrick's young daughter Joylyn is heading to his place to

Fox Crossing by Melinda Metz

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  So far in December I've read a few books that have nothing to do with this holiday season. I found this book when I was looking at new paperbacks at B&N and it certainly gave me the winter feels. The blurb on the cover says "A novel of a small town, love, luck, and one extra-special fox...". Sealed the deal for me. I absolutely love reading about small towns. This small town is in Maine; Fox Crossing has a population of 713. It's also the last stop before people start back on the Appalachian Trail, so it definitely sees a lot of hikers from all over the country.  Annie Hatherley works and manages her family's outfitting shop-Hatherley's Outfitters. She's an experienced trail guide and works as an extractor-someone who goes out to find people in trouble on the trail and returns them to safety. She's a prickly one, is Annie. She routinely gets angry at customers who come into her store, naively thinking they are ready to hike the 100 Mile Wildernes

Frontier Follies by Ree Drummomd

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  I've watched Ree's cooking show (The Pioneer Woman) off and on for years, and have purchased a few of her cookbooks. She's got some pretty divine recipes--if you haven't tried her cheesy olive bread, please do. It is flat out amazing (just ignore the calories, please). I've eaten it just for a meal and didn't feel one lick of guilt. I read her first book, Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels years ago, and enjoyed her stories of meeting and marrying Ladd, her ranch-owning cowboy, and their first years together. This book, however, is more of a short essay collection, which I loved! Stories about raising her children, her in-laws, learning to live on a ranch after being a city girl; all the oops moments over the years. Her love for Ladd is never wavering, and I find it so refreshing that after twenty-five years of marriage, they are still madly in love with each other. Ree doesn't hesitate to own up to her own mistakes and how she's learned from