Hello everyone! I am having such a great time reading my fall picks. All the witches and ghosts and fall ambiance a girl could ask for!
I am loving Auralee Wallace’s books this fall. This is the second book that I have read of hers, and I know I want to read more of hers in the future.
” ‘There. You’re perfect. So pretty.’ She smiled. ‘But you might want to wash your hair later.’ “
I loved this book! It reminded me of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but with a suburban mom of three as the chosen one. It cracked me up, and it was not too scary or gory either, in my opinion. Sort of Buffy-like/Charmed even there, I guess! The main character Cassie is a witch from a family of witches for generations – although she didn’t know it until the big baddie vampire woke up from his quarter century of slumber. This book is about family and duty and also being true to yourself and believing in yourself. It was such a great spooky-not-spooky read, with fun characters and lots of shenanigans.
Taking a step away from the paranormal for a minute, to just enjoy a small-town fall, that could be a Hallmark movie (YA).
“Come for the apple picking and pumpkin carving, stay for the coziness.”
This book is the epitome of fall cozy, with its small town feel and endless autumn activities during it’s Falling Leaves Festival, that includes things like pumpkin proms and bonfire nights, cafes filled with cats, and delicious baked goods and coffee. If I could transport myself to Bramble Falla for their autumn fest I absolutely would.
I also appreciated this book for the just plain high school experiences that made up a large part of the plot. Ellis is not good at being a normal teenager and when her mom moves her to Bramble Falls against her will, she sees her future disappear in front of her. Or so she thinks. This is a clean YA romance that just made me smile throughout the book.
And now, a little Mary Poppins-like witch. Wait, was Mary Poppins a witch?
“Everybody knows that any kind of productivity is at least seventy-five percent reliant on the appropriate notebook and pen selection.”
I LOVED this book, although I have to say I was uncomfortable about how closely I could relate to some of Annie’s quirks! I mean, I 100% believe in having the appropriate notebook and pen, and then of course that hesitation over even using it because “what if make a mess on the first page, ruin the whole thing with ugly handwriting, or bad spelling?” I just might be a little Type A about some things.
Annie is a witch who believes in always going the extra mile, never having a hair out of place, the perfect outfit, the perfect thing to say, perfect perfect perfect. However, her perfect life gets upended when she meets Maeve, an orphaned teenager with big big magic, and agrees to be her guardian and mentor until she gets her magic under control. This might be a task that Annie can’t keep perfectly controlled.
This whole book is a wonderful cozy journey, full of realizations and delicious sounding coffee, baked goods that inspired me to bake apple cinnamon scones, love, and finding that perfection is maybe not all that great after all.
Have you read any of these? Do you think Mary Poppins is a witch? And are you Team Pumpkin Spice or Team Apple Cider? I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!
Ok I am diving in to fall content because I can’t wait. It is still hot and gross and sticky here, so this is a bit of daydreaming on my part. Can’t I just set the AC super low and cover up with a blanket and have some tea and read some scary stories?
Let’s start with these short little classics of horror and mystery, to just give us a little taste of the season to come. A little autumn amuse-bouche if you will, while we wait for the real thing.
The Willows by Algernon Blackwood: Written in 1907, The Willows is described as early modern horror, and precursor to the weird fiction movement, which is something I am reading a bit of these days. This cover is absolutely chilling to me!
The Ghost Stories of M.R. James: My cousin, who I have shared books with since we were children, has told me over and over for years to read M.R. James. Maybe this is the year! And hmm, I wonder if he has this copy for his study; if not I am thinking this would be a perfect gift for Christmas.
The Haunted Hotel by Wilkie Collins: This short story (novella?) is on my list to read this year. And this edition and cover looks gorgeous and spooky!
Autumn Chills by Agatha Christie: We need to have the Queen of Mystery on this list! I think short stories are a great way to get to know an author before diving into a whole novel, and this collection of autumnal stories is a good place to begin!
Carmilla by J. Sheridan La Fanu: This book was so groundbreaking for its time. It pre-dates Dracula by twenty-six years, and the vampire is a woman. It is sometimes referred to as sapphic, but I hesitate to call it that based on a few things. However, it was a scandalous book in its day, and I feel like the focus on women and sexuality and power is one of the reasons why Dracula is more well known.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley: Hands down, one of my favorites on this list. I read this in college and fell in love with this whole story. And speaking of feminism, Mary Shelley’s mom, Mary Wollstonecraft, was a pioneering feminist in literature and writing. Just throwing that out there.
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde: So I haven’t actually read this one. I know the story, roughly, but I should probably read it one day. I knew I had to include it on this list though!
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James: A spooky one alright. Is it a ghost story? Or something else? It is open to the reader’s interpretation. It’s been a very long time since I read this so I don’t remember too much about it. Maybe it is time for a reread.
And there we go. A little bit of fall near the end of summer, on this rainy (here at least) day.
I had opted for the easiest challenge – 10 books. Let’s see how I have done so far!
June:
July:
August – so far:
And… survey says.. ten books! I actually didn’t know that until just now, so go me! I was pretty right on in my guess of how many I would actually be able to read this summer. It’s hard to pin down which exactly has been my favorite read of the summer so far – it is definitely between The God of the Woods and Chlorine, although I have enjoyed all of the books I read. I don’t finish books I am not enjoying though, so there is that.
With only a few weeks left of summer, I am not sure how many more I will read. I won’t make it to 15 I don’t think. Maybe 12. But, we will see! Wyatt is still recovering and taking two naps a day, so maybe I can make it to 13.
So, now the questionnaire!
Which book surprised you the most this month?
Chlorine! I had no idea it would affect me so much. I still want to make a video talking about it. It was intense and visceral and had themes of coming of age, obsession, bodily autonomy. It was so much packed into a small little book.
If your July reading experience was a weather forecast, what would it be and why?
It started off with easy gentle breezes, then ended in a hurricane.
Name a setting from your July books where you’d love (or hate) to take a summer vacation.
Seacrow Island, hands down! I even said that in my review.
If you could turn one book into a summer festival, what would the main event be?
I will have to go with the Campers and Criminals series. It would be a pretty cool festival honestly, all outdoorsy and camping themed. Plus, the campground itself, Happy Trails, has a themed dinner and party every month! I love their idea of a progressive dinner that the campground has, where everyone cooks something and campers and visitors visit each others fire and site and share food. So maybe a riff on that, like a food truck rally combined with outdoor activities, like axe throwing, etc.
Choose your own adventure—recap July in the style of your choice:
We had my son’s surgery at the beginning of July – the rest of the month was spent at home, while he recovered, which was very challenging for all of us for a few weeks, but especially for him.
And that’s it for me today! I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!
I have two book reviews up for today, one middle grade translated fiction, the other horror/weird fiction.
Let’s start with Seacrow Island.
Seacrow Island was written by Astrid Lindgren, who is best known for her character Pippi Longstocking. Confession time: I never liked Pippi. She was too unpredictable for me and I didn’t care for that. So I never read any of Lindgren’s other books, assuming I wouldn’t like them either. And honestly, the next one I tried was last year for language arts with Wyatt, and – we didn’t like it. We tried reading Ronia, and we were so bored, so I put that one down and we read something different. However, I saw this book online and I was like, ok one more shot Astrid. And I am glad that I took the chance and read it because I loved it. It was cozy and delightful, filled with quirky characters and animals.
This is the perfect little summer read! I was transported to this small island, filled with family and friends and wonderful animals. I absolutely adore the loyal Bosun, Pelle and his love for all creatures great and small, from wasps to seals and dogs and everything else under the sun. I did have a little cry but overall this book is just perfect for reading and daydreaming. It reminded me of The Penderwicks and the dad reminded me of the father from The Winter Cottage by Carol Ryrie Brink, a little helpless and haphazard. It’s just a wonderful story of children being children and idyllic childhoods, and like I said in my post the other day, now I want to find a small island in the Baltic to summer on with my family.
Chlorine by Jade Song is a a debut book, but it’s a powerhouse. It is a short read, but not a fast one. It is intense, complex, visceral. That was the word that kept coming to me while reading it and describing it to people around me, visceral. Raw. Sort of gross and fluid filled. You forget actually, that you are reading a horror novel, and not some modern classic coming of age, although it is that too. The horror is a slow unraveling; the is a book about ascending and transcending and descending. I didn’t want to put it down while reading, and the times that I did have to come up for air, I was thinking about the book, because there is a lot to think about. I could never do it justice in a review.
Ren’s mother gifts her a mermaid book as a small toddler, still in daycare. She is a very gifted child and even though the book is far too advanced for her age, she can read it. Her pre-school teacher refuses to believe it though, and tests her on reading the book at different times during the day, trying to trip her up. Which is totally despicable to do to a child, but it sets the tone for Ren’s life. Always under pressure, always being tested, always needing to live up to different expectations. Not from her parents; her parents were not like that. They had expectations for Ren, but they were not “tiger parents”. They just wanted the best for her, but mostly stayed out of her way, especially her dad who lived in China. Her mom wanted to make Ren happy, that was obvious. She loved her daughter.
On the surface, this book is about a young girl and her obsession with swimming, with mermaids, with perfection. Once you dive deeper though, there are other themes that stand out. Pain. Isolation. The betrayal of her body, of men. And then the shocking climax to it all, and then the murky ending – Ren exerting bodily autonomy, searching for freedom.
Ren’s love of mermaids leads to a desire to join the swim team, which then turns into a journey to perfection, staying a star swimmer, pleasing her coach, who is not only mercurial in temper but also inappropriate and lecherous. He has exacting expectations for their diets, for their performance, but particularly for his top swimmers, for Ren. The pair make for a good team in terms of swimming and winning, but it is also very destructive for Ren, so much so that when she gets a concussion she goes to practice too soon, before she is healed.
I have a lot to say about this book, and just like when I read The God of the Woods, I am not comfortable typing it out because of spoilers. If you want to listen to me ramble about this, I am posting a video, but beware that I will be giving away spoilers in talking about it fully. I will probably post tomorrow, and make a new blog post with the link.
This book is amazing. It is also gross, repellent in some places, and requires many trigger warnings. In fact they are listed in the author’s note at the start of the book. They are listed as racism, misogyny, self-harm, eating disorders, homophobia, depression, and sexual violence. It was not an easy read at all, but it was a read that I absolutely ended up being glad that I read. It is not feel good. It is not cozy. It probes your brain and makes you think and is horrifying and sad. It is well written though, and I can see this becoming a book that is studied and dissected in university classrooms. It is powerful and alarming and weighty, for a book about needing to stay afloat.
This week’s prompt: Authors (or books by authors) Who Live In My State/Country
I chose to go with authors from my home state of Michigan, or who lived in Michigan for a part of their lives. I apologize in advance for the length of this post!
Angeline Boulley: “Angeline Boulley, an enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, is a storyteller who writes about her Ojibwe community in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. She is a former Director of the Office of Indian Education at the U.S. Department of Education. Her debut novel Firekeeper’s Daughter was an instant #1New York Times bestseller and recipient of many internatioanl accolades including the ALA Printz and Morris Awards; the YA Goodreads Choice Award; the Walter Award for Outstanding Children’s Literature; and is Carnegie Mellon nominated. Angeline lives in southwest Michigan, but her home will always be on Sugar Island.” (from Macmillan Publishers)
I have loved both Fire Keepers Daughter and Warrior Girl Unearthed. I can’t wait to read her new one, Sisters in the Wind, that comes out in September. So far both books have been set in Michigan, in the area that Boulley is originally from.
Beth Nguyen: “Beth Nguyen is the author of four books, most recently the memoir Owner of a Lonely Heart, published by Scribner. Owner of a Lonely Heart was a New York Times Editors’ Choice pick and was named a best book of 2023 by NPR, Time, Oprah Daily, and BookPage. Nguyen’s three previous books, the memoir Stealing Buddha’s Dinner and the novels Short Girls and Pioneer Girl, were published by Viking Penguin. Her awards and honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship, an American Book Award, a PEN/Jerard Award, a Bread Loaf fellowship, and best book of the year honors from the Chicago Tribune and Library Journal. Her books have been included in community and university read programs around the country. Nguyen’s work has also appeared in numerous anthologies and publications including The New Yorker,The Paris Review, The New York Times, Literary Hub, Time Magazine, and The Best American Essays.
Nguyen was born in Saigon. When she was a baby, she and her family came to the United States as refugees and were resettled in Michigan, where Nguyen grew up.
She received an MFA in creative writing from the University of Michigan and is currently a professor in the creative writing program at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.” (From https://www.bethminhnguyen.com/bio)
I read Stealing Buddha’s Dinner for book club years and years ago it feels like, and I found it a very interesting read! It is a memoir and takes place in Grand Rapids, MI.
Jeffrey Eugenides: “Jeffrey Eugenides was born in Detroit and attended Brown and Stanford Universities. His first novel, The Virgin Suicides, was published by FSG to great acclaim in 1993, and he has received numerous awards for his work. In 2003, he received the Pulitzer Prize for his novel Middlesex (FSG, 2002), which was also a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and France’s Prix Médicis. The Marriage Plot (FSG, 2011) was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and won both the Prix Fitzgerald and the Madame Figaro Literary Prize. His collection of short stories, Fresh Complaint, is from FSG (2017). Eugenides is a professor of creative writing in the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton.” (From Macmillan Publishers)
I have read this book and watched this movie so many times, and it never fails to make me cry. What an absolutely heartbreaking story. I have not read any of his other work, although I feel like I should.
Christopher Paul Curtis: “Christopher Paul Curtis won the Newbery Medal and the Coretta Scott King Award for his bestselling second novel, Bud, Not Buddy. His first novel, The Watsons Go to Birmingham–1963, was also singled out for many awards, and has been a bestseller in hardcover and paperback. His most recent novels for Random House include The Mighty Miss Malone, Mr. Chickee’s Messy Mission, Mr. Chickee’s Funny Money, and Bucking the Sarge. Christopher Paul Curtis grew up in Flint, Michigan. After high school he began working on the assembly line at the Fisher Body Plant No. 1 while attending the Flint branch of the University of Michigan. He is now a full-time writer, and lives with his family in Windsor, Ontario.” (From Random House)
I have this book on Wyatt’s list for next year!
Anissa Gray: “Anissa Gray was born and raised in western Michigan. She is the author of the critically acclaimed 2019 novel The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls. Gray is also a journalist whose work has been featured in The Washington Post, CNN, The Cut and Shondaland. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her wife.” (From https://anissagray.com/about)
I have had this book on my TBR for a while now. I didn’t know she was a Michigan native!
Joyce Carol Oates: Oates moved to Detroit in 1962 with her husband, Raymond Smith. The two were English Professors at two universities in Detroit. Oates worked for U-D Mercy, while Smith worked for Wayne State. At this point in her life, she had not yet published a novel. Her time in Detroit is said to be very influential on her work, as she took in the city as it was then. She was here during the riots in 1967, a time that has not been forgotten for anyone who was around then. My mom remembers the curfews, Billy’s dad was living in the city as well and remembers the violence of that time. She eventually moved across the river to Windsor, where she wrote the book, Them. The Detroit Free Press says about this book, ‘In her first months in Canada, Oates finished her novel “them,” in which Detroit is a character, just like human characters, scuffling, hurting, prone to violence. “All of Detroit is melodrama, and most lives in Detroit fated to be melodramatic,” the narrator says.” (Detroit Free Press)
I have not yet read this book. I went through a time where I binged Joyce Carol Oates and I am pretty sure it plunged me into almost a depression of sorts. It was all just so heavy and violent and tragic and sad, and I have not gone back to that well. She is an amazing writer – I just don’t recommend binging her work all at once!
Chris Van Allsburg: From his bio on Penguin: “As long as I can remember, I’ve always loved to draw. But my interest in drawing wasn’t encouraged very much. Growing up in the 1950s, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, boys were supposed to be athletic. Certain peer pressures encouraged little fingers to learn how to hold footballs rather than crayons.
My early love for drawing developed into a love for telling stories through pictures. Stories begin as fragments of pictures in my mind. I create a story by posing questions to myself. I call it the “what if” and “what then” approach. For example, for my book Jumanji, I started out by thinking “What if two bored children discovered a board game? What if the board game came to life? What then?” The Polar Express began with the idea of a train standing alone in the woods. I asked myself, “What if a boy gets on that train? Where does he go?” After the boy got on, I tried different destinations out in my mind. “What about north? Who lives in the north?” Then ideas of Christmas, Santa Claus, and faith began to take shape.”
He has many books, but Jumanji is my favorite.
Elmore Leonard: “Author Elmore Leonard was born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1925. His family moved frequently until 1934 when they settled in Detroit, Michigan, when his father got a job with General Motors. Leonard joined the navy after graduating high school in 1943, and served during World War II. After three years, he left the navy and enrolled at the University of Detroit, majoring in English and Philosophy. Leonard worked at the Campbell-Ewald advertising agency while still in college.
Around 1950, Leonard began writing and publishing short stories and western novels for magazines, with the first being The Bounty Hunters in 1953. Some of the other most notable works were Three-Ten to Yuma also published in 1953, as well as Hombre, in 1961. Leonard then moved into educational films and crime novels. His first big crime novel was The Big Bounce in 1969; He followed that novel with titles such as Fifty-Two Pickup in 1974, and Swag in 1976. His breakout novel however, was his crime thriller Glitz, in 1985, which followed a Miami detective being stalked by a criminal he had sent to prison. Leonard based most of his novels in Detroit and Florida, and was known for his working-class protagonists, damsels in distress, and particularly colorful and sleazy villains.
Leonard and his novels have been nominated for numerous awards, such the PEN Lifetime Achievement Award. One of his short stories, Fire in the Hole, became the basis for the television series Justified. Some of his other short stories and novels such as Rum Punch and Three-Ten to Yuma have been made into films. Rum Punch was adapted into the Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown.
Other well-known works by Elmore Leonard include: City Primeval, Stick, Freaky Deaky, and Get Shorty. Elmore Leonard passed away on August 20, 2013, following a stroke.” (From the Detroit Historical Society website)
Leonard is an author I have never read, but my dad enjoys reading him so I wanted to include him for sure!
Jim Harrison: “Jim Harrison was born in Grayling, Michigan, to Winfield Sprague Harrison, a county agricultural agent, and Norma Olivia (Wahlgren) Harrison, both avid readers. He married Linda King in 1959 with whom he has two daughters.
His awards include National Academy of Arts grants (1967, 68, 69), a Guggenheim Fellowship (1969-70), the Spirit of the West Award from the Mountain & Plains Booksellers Association, and election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2007).
Much of Harrison’s writing depicts sparsely populated regions of North America with many stories set in places such as Nebraska’s Sand Hills, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Montana’s mountains, and along the Arizona-Mexico border.” (Goodreads Summary)
He has been on my TBR for ages. Maybe this is the year to read him.
Ok this last one… I debated on and then decided to just do it.
Ernest Hemingway: “Ernest Hemingway’s connections to Michigan began when his parents first brought their six-week-old son there for three days in September 1899. His father, a young physician, practiced medicine in his hometown of Oak Park, Illinois, and his mother was an artistically inclined woman who enjoyed the cultural aspects of their Chicago suburb. The previous summer the Hemingways visited Walloon Lake (then named Bear Lake) and were so taken with the area that they purchased two hundred feet of waterfront property. The 1899 trip was to finalize plans for the building of their cottage, Windemere. They took pictures, selected the exact site on the property where it was to be located, and arranged for construction during their brief stay. The next summer would be the first full one there for the family, and Ernest would return to Michigan each year until he was married in 1921. Even today members of the Hemingway family either summer or live year-round in the area.”
Hemingway is not a favorite of mine, but I do think it is cool that he visited Northern Michigan for so many summers, just like I have. He has a few books set there, including The Big Two-Hearted River (and just an FYI, there is also a Michigan craft beer named Two-Hearted as well). I think it is neat that I have walked in and vacationed in some of the same places Hemingway did, and found peace in.
And my friends, that is my very long post of Michigan authors! I can’t wait to hop around visiting this week – because it will take me all week probably to visit everyone!
A Death in Door County by Annelise Ryan: A Death in Door County is about a whole different lake and set of waters than I usually see here on my side of Michigan, this one on the Wisconsin side of Lake Michigan, and Morgan, a cryptozoologist has been hired to find out if there is something lurking beneath the waters after a few tourists end up dead. It was an interesting read, full of fun trivia about folklore, a bookstore with some other interesting items for sale, and some eccentric characters – and of course, good dog Newt. For the first in a series it was pretty interesting, and I enjoyed it.
This book has:
🌲 Small towns 🌲 Independent heroines 🌲 Loch Ness vibes 🌲 Good dogs
Under Loch and Key by Lana Ferguson: So, I figured I might as well just jump right in to another Loch Ness book. I do enjoy cryptid lore and tales and the Loch Ness is one of my favorites – thank you Scooby Doo for forming a lifelong interest. (does anyone else remember that episode?) Anyone, back to this book. This story is very cute in itself. Key travels to Scotland to connect with her grandparents, whom she has never met, after her father passes away. She meets the annoying, handsome Lachlan, who works for her grandparents. He is a grump, and not only that, but a grump with some pretty big secrets. So, like I said, that whole storyline is interesting and their interactions are funny. Key is a plain speaker, and I like that. She is open and just says what she is thinking and feeling rather than being sulky or playing games. I like her burgeoning relationship with her grandparents, especially her grandfather. I also liked the whole back story, mystery, magic, and family stuff.
Now, let us discuss the spice. I don’t read many romances, and this is definitely an open door book. I would put this at level way high spice, with graphic language as well. I ended up skipping those scenes as I read through the book. However, a YouTuber I watch, the Plant Based Bride, revealed that there is a scene (that she also skipped) that also has a bit of monster transformation spice situation too, so be aware that is in there as well. No judgement here, I guess just know it in case you like it or you don’t like it. I just wanted to put that in here.
This book has:
🌲 Open door 🌲 Family Mysteries and Secrets 🌲 Loch Ness vibes 🌲 Paranormal romance
The Healing Season of Pottery by Yeon Somin: “The reason our coffee tastes good, even when we make it with mediocre beans, is because of the cups.” I believe this, that using a piece that has been handmade with love and care lends a different feeling to what you are eating or drinking or enjoying. That feeling carries through each sip of coffee, each bite of cake eaten from a beautiful plate, echoes in a bowl filled with homemade soup. I may love pottery, btw. And I absolutely loved this book.
Jungmin has been in a cave of her own desire and making since quitting her broadcast writing job, barely setting foot outside for months. One day, dressed completely wrong for the weather, showing just how off balance Jungmin is, how out of season of her life, she stumbles into a pottery studio, thinking it is a cafe. This mistake changes her life. She finds herself enchanted by the pottery, the women who are there, and begins to take lessons. Slowly, slowly, carefully, Jungmin builds a new community for herself, friendships, literally rebuilds herself as she builds objects from clay. Clay has to be tested by fire in order to survive and become something beautiful or practical or useful, and Jungmin learns everyone has a story and fires that they have faced. This was a wonderful book full of found family and the rebuilding of a life.
Today is launch day for Lisa’s newest book in the Gladwynn Grant series, Gladwynn Grant Shakes the Family Tree!
I will be honest – Lisa is my good friend. However, I would not promote her books the way I do if I did not honestly enjoy them and think they were good. But they are. They really are. (and she had better listen to my not so subtle comments about who Gladwynn should be romantically involved with…not really, but yeah)
Description:
Working as a small-town newspaper reporter and trying to keep up with her grandmother, Lucinda, has kept Gladwynn Grant busy, but, otherwise, life has been quiet.
Everything changes, though, when her older, aloof sister, Sheena, shows up unannounced at the front door.
As if that isn’t enough to deal with, she finds one of her interview subjects dead.
Once again, she’ll have to deal with State Police Detective Tanner Kinney and his stiff-upper-lip-attitude while doing her best to avoid Pastor Luke Callahan who she accused of murder the year before.
When it looks like Sheena is somehow mixed up with a suspect in the murder, Gladwynn’s stress levels rise to an all time high.
Will Gladwynn be able to help solve the murder and find out why her sister has shown up after not visiting for the last six years? And who wrote a stack of love letters stashed in a storage area under her grandmother’s stairs?
Join Gladwynn, Lucinda, Tanner, and Luke Callahan for another modern mystery with a vintage feel.
I absolutely can’t wait to read this one! I think that it is really cool that Lisa is involving a bit of family history in this one, because I think we are all a little curious about what is hidden in the branches of our family trees. I know that my family has little quirks and secrets. I have my family bible, and in it, my great-grandfather wrote, “No more drink for me. June 8 1937” I never met him, but I have heard stories about him, a tiny little Scotsman from Galway, who did have a bit of a penchant for drink. I bet there is a big story behind this, but everyone who could fill in those blanks is gone. And now, I also want to know who wrote that stack of love letters that were stashed under Gladwynn’s grandma’s stairs, gosh darn it!
I have been a faithful reader of this series since it first came out. I love Gladwynn and I love her vintage style. If I had the courage, I would totally dress 1940s all the time. But like, 1940s English land girl. Or like Helen Alderson from All Creatures Great and Small. And sometimes, I do my best honestly, to recreate that. So I love that Gladwynn has so much fun with her fashion, in addition to being a good granddaughter, a curious journalist who needs to get to the bottom of every mystery and every story, and is just the tiniest little pain in the butt to law enforcement. I also really like Gladwynn’s coffee barista homeschool mom friend, and her eccentric grandmother!
This is a fun series, and is a perfect read to cozy up with.
And if you don’t want to believe me, then check out this early reader review from Bettie G.
Captivating cozy mystery!
I thoroughly enjoyed this third book in Lisa’s cozy mystery series about Gladwynn Grant. This time around Gladwynn is up to her usual shenanigans even tho she expressed midway through the story that she wondered “When was she going to learn to be a little less Nancy Drew and a little more Elizabeth Bennet?”
Personally, I preferred this insight into her character offered by one of Gladynnn’s friends: “maybe it is because God knows how deeply you care for people. By you being there when their bodies are found, God knows you will seek out the justice they deserve.”
Even in the midst of a fun cozy mystery series, I appreciate the way that Lisa drops nuggets of wisdom that make us pause and examine ourselves. Her stories keep our attention, and her characters touch our hearts. I highly recommend this new book in the Gladwynn Grant series. -Bettie G
You can find this book on Amazon in ebook and paperback!
We are reading The Sign of the Beaver for history as we are doing Early America right now. I feel like Wyatt really gets a much better picture of life during this time through books.
For our language arts, we are reading The End of the Beginning by Avi. I love Avi, so unfortunately for Wyatt, that means he gets a lot of Avi books when I go off curriculum. I knew he would like this one about a snail who loves to read though!
These three are books we just finished in school. We both absolutely loved The Littlest Voyageur. It was just so well done and gave such a clear picture of the fur trade – from a furry little squirrel’s point of view, which was a much more gentle way to approach this topic. We then moved on to The Courage of Sarah Noble, which was a super fast read, and brought us forward a bit in history. Then in language arts we read My Side of the Mountain. This one was… interesting. I found it wonderfully written, with some adorable little woodland creature supporting characters like Frightful and the The Baron Weasel, but I also found it a little strange. From the perspective of a mother of a young child in 2025, it was hard to imagine just allowing my child to live in the woods alone. Wyatt on the other hand thought some things were cool – living in a tree, a falcon for a pet – but was not enthused about eating acorn pancakes or living without electricity and wifi. It was however a great book to read together, one that promoted quite a few discussions!
Wyatt has his own little TBR shelf of books! I of course love it. And lately he has wanted me to take photos of his books or of him and his books – much like I do my books…. lol. You will notice some of them follow a particular theme…
What can I say, my kid loves wolves! I really need to do a post just on the wolf book collection our house has. For now, I will just focus on these. These three are all on his TBR shelf. I think they all look pretty good! When we get to Lone Wolf though, that one is going to hit me hard I think, since Lone Wolf has a twisted paw, and is left by his mother to die in the woods – there can be no weakness in the pack. However, he survives. And that is where the story begins I guess. I am going to be teary, I am sure.
The Royal Rabbits of London is the current read. We read together, because he still needs some help but he is getting there! The motivation is for sure huge right now, and we are making up for a lost two years but he is chugging along, making good progress! Anyway, The Royal Rabbits is adorable so far in my opinion, although for Wyatt it is more about the intrigue. And the occasional potty humor.
The other two are on his TBR. After the Royal Rabbits, the next up is The Wolves of Greycoat Hall.
However, before bed we usually snuggle up with a quicker read. Right now we are both addicted to Cynthia Rylant’s higher level beginner readers, specifically Mr. Putter and Tabby.
We are both in love with this duo. These books are just so cozy and sweet and they are perfect for that right before bedtime read. We are making our way through all twenty-five. I will be sad when we are done!
We have been switching them off with another series by Rylant, Henry and Mudge, although neither of us like them as much. That surprised me a bit, I thought Wyatt would like Henry and Mudge better, but he likes his little elderly man and cat books. My sweet little soul of a child.
Have your children read any of these, or have you?
It seems like there are so many good books coming out! Honestly, I found a lot of these through other bloggers on these Tuesday posts!
A Language of Dragons by S.F. Williamson looks so good!! Bletchley Park, dark academia, dragons… I can’t wait! And do I have to? No, because this came out Jan. 2nd! I just need to get it!
The Baby Dragon Cafe by A.T. Qureshim. I know I have mentioned this one, and I think I actually saw it the first on another Top Ten Tuesday. It just looks so adorable!!
The Green Kingdom: I love the plot of this story, where the main character needs to figure out botanical riddles!
Whale Eyes: This memoir comes out in March, and I am very much excited to read it. It is “told through an experimental mix of intimate anecdotes and interactive visuals, this book immerses readers in James’s point of view, allowing them to see the world through his disabling eye conditions.” I have been trying to read more and more books that give voice to the disabled community, as my son is a part of it. I want him to read and see books that reflect this representation, because books are mirrors as well as windows.
The Secrets of Underhill: This one is a fantasy middle grade, and the main character is the daughter of a traveling arborist who treats magical trees.
Greenteeth by Molly O’Neill: Growing up, I love all books about faeries, and I remember just poring over the Brian Froud books over and over again, and reading the different tales of the magical creatures – like Jenny Greenteeth. I am excited to read this version about Jenny.
And that is it from me today my friends! I can’t wait to read everyone else’s posts and no doubt add a “ton of books” (as my son would say) to my list!
Hello all! I am so far behind on book reviews, and now that the weather is turning cool and we are not running around as much, it feels like a good time to get caught up. Not all in one post though, that would be crazy.
Let’s see… let’s start with the most recent book that I read.
Clueless at the Coffee Station is a book that I won in a giveaway on Instagram and I am so happy that I did! I have been in a bit of a reading slump for a few weeks, and I was finally able to settle into a book with this one. It was the perfect book to read right now, as the weather in Michigan begins to change to cooler days and chilly nights. The book is set in Michigan as well, which was a fun little bonus for me as I read.
The book is about barista Betti, a woman who enjoys her simple life serving coffee, even though her sister thinks she should be doing something different with her career. When a theft occurs during Open Mic night while Betti is behind the counter, she finds her job and lifestyle at risk and puts on the best sleuth outfit she can find at the thrift shop and begins to investigate…
I found Betti to be earnest, entertaining, and just as awkward as I am. I did enjoy the little bits and pieces of zen she found in her day, the little glimmer moments, such as the coffee shop before it opens and she has Main Street to herself, and a pot percolating behind her. Or a text from a potential love interest that reads “If you are up for cinnamon tea and midnight donuts, I know a place.” That would be a huge green flag for me. Overall I really enjoyed this book, and can’t wait for the next one!
Small Spaces by Katherine Arden: Ooo this was such a good one! It is a middle grade by the author of The Bear and the Nightingale and I was so excited to see how she writes for kids – and let me tell you, it is just as good as her adult writing! (although of course, at a children’s reading level and interest) I absolutely loved the main character’s father, who is very quirky , artistic, creative, and loves to bake. However, her mother has passed away and Ollie is still dealing with this emotionally, as one would expect. Her mother also sounds like she was a very interesting person, with an adventurous spirit, and Ollie is reeling from her loss.
However, the book takes a very spooky turn soon after Ollie encounters a strange woman at the pond. It actually had parts that made me want to look over my shoulder for creepy smiling faces…
I enjoyed this book quite a bit, and I plan on reading the second in the series sometime over the winter.
A Dark and Secret Magic is one of my favorite reads this year. It was the perfect fall read, and had so many cozy elements to it. A small cottage in the woods with a fire, a cat, delicious meals that sounded so good yet so simple, magic, romance, ghosts, pumpkin patches and fall festivals.. I could go on and on but I won’t because there is a lot to this book that I don’t want to give away. I will just say that if you like autumn and witchy reads, then you need to read this book. And when you do, make sure you have set some serious reading time aside because you will not want to put it down!
And that is where I will wrap it up today! I hope you are all reading something good today!
Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs.. 