It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? a place to meet and share what you have been and are about to be reading over the week. It’s a great post to organize yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit, comment, and add to your groaning TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme started on J Kaye’s blog and then was hosted by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at The Book Date.
Jen Vincent, Teach Mentor Texts, and Kellee of Unleashing Readers decided to give It’s Monday! a kid-lit focus. If you read and review books in children’s literature – picture books, chapter books, middle-grade novels, young adult novels, or anything in those genres – join them.
Personal:
- Miss R’s birthday was on Friday. In honor of her turning 10, she had a small sleepover (with two kids). They all had a blast (rented Barbie movie, ate McDonalds and a ton of candy, and didn’t sleep).
- We went to our city’s small Pride festival on Saturday. It was absolutely fabulous. I got to meet BK’s coworker and his husband. We watched a wonderful drag show featuring amazing Queens and Kings. I also signed up for PFLAG and Catawba County Freedom Readers (Moms for Liberty are free range in our county, hold seats on the Education Board, and are banning books left and right). Miss R approached a Queen after her performance and complimented her dress (which was beautiful). The Queen then turned to BK and thanked him for being open-minded and raising an open-minded child. That made me so sad and so angry. There is no harm in a man wearing a dress, makeup, and dancing/lip-syncing. Small-minded, bigoted people are the issue (and I am stepping off my soapbox).
- I have finally started my Christmas shopping. I got Mr. Z a One Peace t-shirt (it has Luffy in his final form…if you follow the anime, you know what I am talking about). I am looking for a Zoro or Sanji shirt for me…lol. I got Miss B a Warrior Nun sweatshirt that has the quote “In this life or the next” embroidered on it. I got everything on Etsy, too (I am a fan of that site).
- I also got myself a t-shirt from Etsy. It’s a berry-colored shirt with a stack of books on the front. The words “I stand with the banned ” are wrapped around the stack.
- I had to take Jesper, my deaf tuxedo, into the vet on Friday to get his yearly shots. While we were there, he got attacked, in his crate, by a yellow lab mix. The first time, I got up and moved (the dog was trying to get at him through the top and front of the crate). The dog pulled his owner across the lobby and went after the crate again (and almost bit me). At that point, I smacked the dog on the nose. The woman went ballistic because I did that. Thankfully, at this point, both receptionists, the vets (3 of them), and another customer stood up for me (and Jesper). Her excuse: I should have known that her dog has never been around cats and not come in. I just looked at her like she was crazy as did everyone else. She was told by the main vet that if she can’t keep her dog under control, then she might need to find another vet (it wasn’t the first time her dog did that). Thankfully, Jesper is fine (a big boy at 14.1 lbs). He for certain doesn’t like dogs now, though.
Reading
- I have added more books to my NetGalley TBR. It’s an addiction that I can’t kick. But I want to knock off five books between now and next Wednesday. That will bring me back under 55.
- I am right where I want to be with my reading and reviews.
- I got to read three of my reading challenge books over the weekend. I am getting close to finishing a couple of them!!
- October is going to be a busy reading month for me.
- I have changed how I am writing my reviews. I am actually liking this new format and will be streamlining it in future reviews.
What I am Reading Now:
A young Harvard law student falls under the spell of a charismatic judge in this timely and thrilling novel about class, ambition, family and murder.
Madison Rivera lands the internship of a lifetime working for Judge Kathryn Conroy. But Madison has a secret that could destroy her career. Her troubled younger brother Danny has been arrested, and Conroy is the judge on his case.
When Danny goes missing after accusing the judge of corruption, Madison’s quest for answers brings her deep into the judge’s glamorous world. Is Kathryn Conroy a mentor, a victim, or a criminal? Is she trying to help Madison or use her as a pawn? And why is somebody trying to kill her?
As the two women circle each other in a dangerous cat-and-mouse game, will they save each other, or will betrayal leave one of them dead?
Books I plan on reading later this week:
From Julia Kelly, internationally bestselling author of The Last Dance of the Debutante, comes the first in the mysterious and immersive Parisian Orphan series, A Traitor in Whitehall.
1940, England: Evelyne Redfern, known as “The Parisian Orphan” as a child, is working on the line at a munitions factory in wartime London. When Mr. Fletcher, one of her father’s old friends, spots Evelyne on a night out, Evelyne finds herself plunged into the world of Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s cabinet war rooms.
However, shortly after she settles into her new role as a secretary, one of the girls at work is murdered, and Evelyne must use all of her amateur sleuthing expertise to find the killer. But doing so puts her right in the path of David Poole, a cagey minister’s aide who seems determined to thwart her investigations. That is, until Evelyne finds out David’s real mission is to root out a mole selling government secrets to Britain’s enemies, and the pair begrudgingly team up.
With her quick wit, sharp eyes, and determination, will Evelyne be able to find out who’s been selling England’s secrets and catch a killer, all while battling her growing attraction to David?
The Christie sisters and their bookshop cat, Agatha, flirt with cold-hearted crime when bookish matchmaking turns into a date with death.
Sisters Ellie and Meg Christie share a love of books, reading, and their new roles as co-caretakers of the Book Chalet, their family’s historic bookshop tucked midway up a scenic Colorado mountain. But romance? That’s another story. Ellie and Meg joke they’re in sisterly competition for worst relationships. So, when their cousin signs them up for her newest business endeavor, matchmaking based on bookish tastes, the sisters approach their blind double dates with foot-dragging dread.
While Ellie’s date meets her low expectations, Meg’s match, a book-loving romantic straight out of classic literature, charms her over a lovely dinner. The next morning, Meg is giddy with anticipation of a second date—until she’s stood up without a word. She fumes that she should have known better. However, her date had a good reason for ghosting her. He’s dead. Murdered, the police later confirm.
As the last known person to see the victim alive, Meg becomes a prime suspect in his death. She grimly quips that at least her dating record can’t get any worse. But it does. A thorn from Meg’s romantic past returns to little Last Word, espousing motives too sweet to believe.
To sleuth out the truth, the sisters must sift through secrets deeper than the February snowfall. Clues accumulate, but so do suspects, crimes, and betrayals. Ellie and Meg can’t afford to leave any page unturned. Romance may not be their forte, but hearts and lives are on the line, and the Christies know how to solve a mystery—especially when murder is involved.
