Down in the Sand

Colorful music notes from Pixabay

Sorry I've been a bit absent this week ~ it's month end at work, plus I have been a busy social butterfly. I will get to your comments on previous posts in a bit. Today for Jim's Song Lyric Sunday he asks for songs about the beach to celebrate National Beach Day. I have always lived close to a coast: New York, New Jersey, Southern California, and even in Chicago I was right on the shore of Lake Michigan, which counts too. That said, I don't spend much time at the beach, though it's nice to know it's there. 

Grease (1978) is one of my favorite musical movies, and one of the songs I love is "Summer Nights," which is told in a he said/ she said style about how Danny and Sandy met at the beach. Their friends join in to ask questions about the relationship. It begins in a sweet way and then heats up, just like a summer's day.

Summer loving had me a blast

Summer loving happened so fast

I met a girl crazy for me

Met a boy cute as can be

[...]

She swam by me, she got a cramp

He ran by me, got my suit damp

I saved her life, she nearly drowned

He showed off, splashing around

Summer sun, something's begun

But ah! Oh, the summer nights

Well-a, well-a, well-a, huh

[...]

He got friendly, holding my hand

Well, she got friendly down in the sand

He was sweet, just turned eighteen

Well, she was good, you know what I mean

[...]

Sandy was supposedly moving away at the end of the summer, so they said goodbye and exchanged their "true love vows," though apparently not phone numbers. Sandy didn't end up moving and instead showed up at Danny's high school. When their classmates asked about their summer, they told the story song "Summer Nights," giving details of their romance. Of course, they both had different viewpoints. Whose do you believe? I tend to go with Sandy's version. After the song ends, they realize they're at the same school and shenanigans ensue. Nothing like this would happen today because Danny and Sandy would be madly texting each other all along.

Enjoy the full song here.

Lyrics from Musixmatch. Songwriting credits to Jim Jacobs / Warren Casey.

Two for Tuesday: Mysteries

Two ducks in Los Angeles (my photo)

I read these books in August to discuss with my online book club.

1. Every Last Lie by Mary Kubica. This book was disappointing. Kubica used present tense for the “now” and for the past, and then she mixed in further past in the past sections, for which she used past tense. It wasn’t confusing as much as it was simply annoying and distracting. I have a big issue with jumping timelines in general, unless the story is compelling, which this wasn’t. It could have simply been told straight up chronologically without all the jumping. 

I understand that book club questions focus on the big themes, but I am not inclined to delve into those when the writing itself irritates me. I mean, there are a zillion mystery novels where we find out disturbing facts about a dead character, so that’s not interesting in itself. There’s nothing about this particular dead guy that I found intriguing, nor did I find his widow’s reaction or behavior relatable.

The main characters made the stupidest decisions to the point where they simply weren’t believable after a few chapters. A dentist decides to start betting on basketball games when his business isn’t going well. A mom keeps leaving her kids in the hot car to chase after specks of “evidence.” She takes a 4 year old’s bad dream as “proof” of a crime. She keeps lying to the 4 year old and saying daddy will be home soon when he’s dead. A dental patient deliberately lets an infection fester and almost dies just so she can sue the dentist. What?! On and on. I didn’t like any of the characters except for Clara’s dad and the dog. 

I don’t know why I am even giving this book two stars instead of one. The ending was good.

2. Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth. Three stars. Started out sorta slow, but it became more interesting after a few chapters. There were some twists I saw, and some I didn’t, so that was cool. I like to be surprised, but only if the twist is earned. Characters were interesting and layered, except for a couple bad guys. The ending was a bummer.

I try to use a logical scheme for book ratings, but it’s difficult when I mix in my feelings, such as giving an indie/ friend four or five stars for encouragement (and generally they have very few ratings to begin with). Sally H is a popular author, especially in the book club communities, so I don’t feel the same obligation to help her. For example, she has over 200K ratings for Mad Mabel on Goodreads! I’m also inclined to bump up a star if the author tries something different because so many books are the SOS. I liked that the narrator of MM was a cranky old lady, but when we got into the details of the abuse and bullying she suffered as a child, it became ridiculous. The “saving grace” was the first person narrator, which made me say OK we often exaggerate both the bad and good parts of our past in our own minds, particularly when we obsess over them. We know that memories can change the more they are examined, even if retold only to ourselves.

This is an important point regarding POV. I know most readers don’t think about the mechanics of storytelling overmuch, but there’s a huge difference between a first person narrator telling us what she remembers and an omniscient or even a limited omniscient narrator telling us the facts. When I try to discuss these POV points or other writing mechanics, such as the chosen tense, with my book club peeps, I get crickets or blank stares. I’m not sure how someone can read a sh!t ton of books and not be aware of these things, but I guess that’s a failure on my part to understand other humans. It wouldn’t be the first time!

Insensitive

Watercolor of a woman in the rain (Pixabay)

Version 1, parataxis:

It was late. She confessed. We got dressed. I drove her home. She was crying. I said goodbye. She opened the door. It was raining. She walked away. 

Version 2, hypotaxis:

It was late, and there wasn’t anything left to say after she confessed that she had fallen in love with me. As we got dressed, I explained again how I had signed a contract and would be based in different cities over the next several years. While I drove her home, I told her how much I had enjoyed our time together, as brief as it was, but I couldn’t make any kind of commitment. She was crying and seemed inconsolable, so I said goodbye. She opened the door, and it was raining as she walked away.

Explanation:

I wrote these two versions of a scene based on Reena’s prompt of parataxis (no conjunctions) vs hypotaxis (use of connectors to give a flow. I used Jann Arden’s song “Insensitive” as my inspiration for this scene—both versions are from the opposite perspective of the song’s female narrator. I’m including this post in my new “song fiction” collection, which I began with Lucille's Version, a continuation of the Kenny Rogers' song, and next I wrote “Stones” via Neil Diamond, a response to Fandango’s “loosely based” idea.

Summer Reading Bingo 4

Reading challenge bingo card

Welcome to my summer bingo book series, where I post five short reviews at a time. I'm giving myself the whole summer to finish the bingo card, not just the month of June. This is my fourth set of reviews; you can find the first set here, the second one here, and the third one here.

1. Author born in June. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. This will be a short review because I don’t want to spoil any plot points for potential readers and/ or movie-goers. (I plan to see the movie soon via DVD with a group of friends.) This is an amazingly complex and detailed novel about a last-ditch space mission to save life on Earth. Sadly, most of the math, physics, and engineering were over my head, so I skimmed a lot of that. The story did get a little bogged down with this techy stuff in some places, but overall the quality of imagination and research that went into producing this novel has my profound respect. Four stars.

2. Beach on the cover. Beach Wedding by Michael Ledwidge. Fun, fast read with a few twists, but the story was mostly predictable. I didn’t care for the short chapters with weird breaks. The MC didn’t seem too smart for a cop, but I guess they aren’t all geniuses. Three stars.

3. RomCom. No Match Found by Martha Keyes. First, the cover is all wrong: Vivian is the CEO, not a secretary standing in front of her boss’s desk. Second, the trope of a main character running a dating site seems a bit… dated. I mean, we all hate dating sites by now and know they’re full of liars and scammers, right? But this book was published this year. Third, the premise for the couple being thrown together is as flimsy as the heiress in the rain who simply must take shelter with the impoverished duke in the abandoned cabin. Anyway. There were lots of things I loved about No Match Found, which explains my four-star rating. 

I loved both Viv and Grant. They were quirky but not annoyingly so. Despite both of them being attractive physically, it was clear that they had a hard time in romantic relationships because of their emotional baggage. Grant had some issues, which he apparently overcame when he fell for Viv (we can’t know what’s going on in his mind because we never get his POV), but Viv had a lot more. It was harder for her to get past her mental blocks regarding love, and she struggled with self-doubt and self-esteem issues. It wasn’t weird that her life’s work was matchmaking, since she loved data, algorithms, spreadsheets, etc. That all helped to keep her barriers up as well.

I stand by my mantra that romance novels should be written in third person. This one might have been a 5-star for me if we could have had a bit more distance from Viv and some scenes from Grant’s POV. Even so, I liked it a lot, particularly the second half. The ending was great! Regarding the lack of sex scenes, that made it better for me. There was plenty of spice, chemistry, sexy banter, etc., and I didn’t need to see them do the deed. I’m tired of reading the explicit scenes anyway, as they’re so similar book to book.

4. Sports themed. Reckless by Elsie Silver. Meh. This romance was a whole lot of longing looks and lip-licking lust plus a big scoop of contrived silliness to keep the main characters apart, such as the BS with Theo giving his phone to his manager. (He’s a rodeo rider, which is the sports tie-in.) There was no real plot or drama other than Theo having to constantly soothe Winter’s ruffled feelings. I did like the fact that she was a doctor and a few years older than he was, though he often acted more mature. I am not a fan of grumpy x sunshine whether it’s the man or the woman being negative throughout most of the story. Bickering isn’t sexy. Two stars. 

5. Favorite color on cover. Six Days by Dani Atkins. (The cover is turquoise.) At first, I loved this book and truly could not put it down. Since I read so much, I am always looking for something different and interesting, and this story hinted that something big was coming. I was excited by all the clues left scattered around. My imagination went wild with possibilities! And then came the most banal resolution ever. I'm not going to spoil it, but ugh. Seriously. What a total disappointment, both in the twist that wasn't and also in the switch from compelling first person narration by Gemma to someone else. My rating immediately plummeted from a 4-5 down to a 2-3. Three is generous, which is what I gave.

The fifth and final bingo post will be coming soon! I don't have any romance novels planned for my remaining squares, so TG for that. I am heartily sick of them (especially ones written in first person). Regency era romances are an exception, but even those need to have an actual plot, not just a sarcastic duke and a klutzy governess or vice versa. PLOT PLOT PLOT!

Summer Reading Bingo 2

Reading challenge bingo card

Welcome to my summer bingo book series, where I post five short reviews at a time. I'm giving myself the whole summer to finish the bingo card, not just the month of June. This is my second set of reviews; you can find the first set here.

1. Free space. Guarded by the Grizzly Bear by Reece Barden. This book was recommended by Mary, and it sounded fun, so I grabbed it off Kindle Unlimited. It had been some time since I tried to read a shifter romance, and this one got 3 stars, which is a good rating from me for this type of novel, where I find it impossible to suspend my disbelief. While the male main character was a stereotypical possessive jerk, though of course totally hot as required (it's never acceptable when a non-handsome man stalks you), the female MC (a cop) was strong and interesting, until the end anyway, and that was a treat. The setting seemed to be in the USA, maybe Montana, but around the halfway point there were a few UK spellings (favour, pyjamas), so maybe it was set in Canada. Unclear. This kind of thing throws me out of the story because I need to understand the logistics. Even a fantasy novel should be consistent with details. Bad proofreading, assuming there was any.

(I wouldn't normally use the "free space" so soon, except I had already started this book when I decided to join in on the summer reading bingo suggested by my book club leader.)

2. Ice cream on cover. Ice Cream and Incidents by Agatha Frost. I really wanted to like this book because it’s been a while since I’ve enjoyed a cozy mystery. It began in a promising way with some unexpected characters, but it soon turned into a boring drag (not punning). The writing was simply flat with loads of telling not showing. There was zero chemistry between the main character Julia and Barker, her fiancé; in fact, I thought they might be headed for a breakup given their lack of affection (I know cozies don't do explicit love scenes, but there was nothing here). They were happy with their dull cardboard existence, apparently. The only reason this novel gets 2 stars instead of 1 is because some of the drag queen scenes were fun. The description on Goodreads is incorrect, btw: there was no murder, just a stage “accident.” Finally, the title had nothing to do with the story. Yes, they had ice cream a couple times on vacation, but Julia was a cake baker. Why not Icing and Incidents?

3. Has June in the title. June by K. Nicole. Despite all the typos (what is it with books lately not being properly proofread and edited?!), I really enjoyed this book! Gave it 4 stars. It was a very atypical romance novel with fresh writing and interesting characters. And chemistry, whew! There was lots of graphic sex in this book, which was important to the plot. Another strong female lead carried half the story, with the hot criminal dude taking the other half. As in Grizzly, the female MC was a cop, but in this case the male MC truly was a bad guy. Some of the Black lingo was a little hard for me to follow, but I got the gist of most of it from the context, especially as the story progressed. The writing was full of vivid detail, which I always appreciate. I have a huge TBR pile, but eventually I want to read more books by this author.

4. NY Times Best Seller. Never Leave the Dogs Behind by Brianna Madia. This memoir was hard to read from an emotional standpoint, but it was very well-written and ultimately satisfying. Since her marriage fell apart, Bri is suicidal, manic-depressive, and dissociative. The only thing keeping her going is her love for her dogs. She isn’t a very likable person, but the reader can understand why she became so bitter and ran off to the desert to get away from everyone. Internet popularity is always a double-edged sword, and it was great to see Bri finally quit caring about hateful Instagram comments and root her sense of self in the physical world. Four stars.

5. Published in June. The Beach Holiday by Nina Manning. I had mixed feelings about this book. First, it annoyed me with the now/ then narrative. I understand that a lot of thrillers do this, but I find that it lessens the suspense factor. We know Sadie is safe because there’s a “now,” so we may not be as invested in the “then.” Just tell the dang story as it happened! Why is this so difficult lately? Second, the narration was in first person, but we were only privy to some of Sadie’s headspace. She kept secrets from us and lied to us. If you want to create distance from the reader, use third person. All that said, I ended up enjoying a big chunk of the story only because it was so different and weird, though preposterous. There were a lot of unanswered questions too, the main one being… why the heck couldn’t Sadie have told her family about Bruno?! I guess that would have wrecked the flimsy premise of Sadie “needing” to go to Fiji. Three stars.

Alrighty then, I have completed 10 bingo squares, yay me! Onto the next set of reviews…

Lucille's Version

 

Black and white AI image of a woman at a bar

So I finally got the courage to leave Hank, after all those years of acting like a submissive jellyfish, taking care of his four kids (that never had weekends with his ex-wife as Hank had promised), doing a billion chores around the farm (that Hank had promised he would hire help for), not being allowed to work part-time to have my own money, never seeing my friends because Hank didn't like them, and finally never even making love as we were too tired. What kind of marriage is that? Hank refused to go to counseling with me, so I finally went alone, and the counselor told me that she saw no hope for us if Hank refused to even admit there was a problem.

I didn't take anything of his with me, just some of my clothes and the money I made selling eggs at the market. Technically, the chickens belonged to Hank, but I was the one who took care of them. I doubted I would miss Hank or his snotty kids who never listened to me (and Hank never backed me up either), but I would miss those chickens, especially the silkies. My plan was to take a bus to Pittsburgh and go to work at my aunt's coffee shop, and I got as far as Toledo when I had a four-hour wait until the next bus out. I decided to go have a drink at the bar, and, well, the rest is history.

In a bar in Toledo, across from the depot

On a bar stool she took off her ring
I thought I'd get closer, so I walked on over
I sat down and asked her her name
When the drinks finally hit her, she said "I'm no quitter
But I finally quit living on dreams
I'm hungry for laughter and here ever after
I'm after whatever the other life brings

Yeah, I probably had a few too many, but what the heck ~ I wasn't driving. It was fun having a new man pay attention to me and engage in some mutual flirtation, even if it was only for a couple hours. But then Hank showed up! He put on quite a show for the clueless new guy, whining that I was leaving "hungry" kids when I made those little monsters a vat of mac and cheese before I left. And crops in the field, really? He meant the strawberries that he wanted me to sell at his booth at the county fair. What a big phony! But the new guy fell for it. He was some kind of traveling salesman, not too successful by the look of things, and certainly not the brightest bulb.

After he left us I ordered more whiskey

I thought how she'd made him look small

From the lights of the bar room to a rented hotel room

We walked without talking at all

She was a beauty, but when she came to me

She must have thought I'd lost my mind

I couldn't hold her, 'cause the words that he told her

Kept coming back time after time

Fine, whatever. It's not like I was really attracted to him or anything; I just thought it would be nice to have some affection after the drought with Hank. But it was not meant to be. I left the guy sitting by himself in his room, walked back to the bus station, grabbed my stuff out of the locker, and waited for the 10:00 to Pittsburgh. Maybe the drinks would allow me to sleep on the bus and not think about this whole disaster I created by impulsively marrying Hank. Gah! No more men. I needed to find a cheap divorce lawyer as soon as I scraped up some funds, and then I would--

"Excuse me, doll, is this the line for Pittsburgh?" A scruffy 20-something guy holding a guitar case was gazing at me expectantly. He had gorgeous blue eyes.

OK. No more farmers or traveling salesman. I shouldn't rule out all men though. 

~*~

"Lucille" was written by Roger Bowling and Hal Bynum. Kenny Rogers recorded/ released it in 1977. I wanted to expand on the song, which was solely from the man's point of view, and create a version from Lucille's POV.

AI Ate My Lunch

 

Meta AI image of a PBJ sandwich and chips 

I’m participating in John Holton's Writer’s Workshop this week by responding to two of his prompts. The first question is about my favorite topic: lunch!

1. Did you bring your lunch to school? What did you usually have?

My mommy always packed my lunch when I was little. I had an inexplicable hatred of peanut butter for several years, so she would make me sandwiches of tuna salad, egg salad, or lunchmeat. She included chips or cookies, and I think I bought milk at school. Around age 12, I decided that I loved peanut butter and jelly (but not grape jelly), so we switched, and I began making my own lunch. Because I can get a bit obsessive, I pretty much had a PB&J sandwich every school day, along with Pringles potato chips. I brought a lot of chips so I could share them, which gave me a smidge more popularity than I would have had otherwise. In high school, my food OCD went out of control, and my lunches changed accordingly (half a PB sandwich, no jelly, no chips, etc.).

2. Do you use Artificial Intelligence for anything? Have you ever used it to write a blog post? What is your opinion of it?

I use Meta AI daily; I find it much more efficient and helpful than Googling because Google now not only gives you AI results anyway, but also it provides a pile of questionable links. I don’t like to click on unknown things, due to all the scams and malware out there. Here are examples of recent “conversations” that I have had with Meta AI: updates on the local Garden Grove toxic event, updates on the California primary election, when is Yesteryear coming out, what is aspiration pneumonia, how did Amazon trick me with this photo of a shirt that appeared to have sequins but didn’t? 

While I have not used AI to write a blog post, I have used it to create images to go with blog posts, such as the one here. Meta AI gives me images in a good size, unlike say Pixabay or even my own photos, which are generally enormous, so I don’t have to reduce them to save on Google storage. It baffles me though how AI is going to “take over the world” when it often flubs the simplest directions, like “make the table blue.” I did not ask for a blue plate! But I stopped there because I have discovered that the more tweaks I ask for the worse it gets. 

If/when I do use Meta AI’s actual words in a post, I will say so, as I would do with any other words that aren’t mine. This will be coming up because we just had a very interesting discussion about first-person POV in novels, and I plan to make (yet another) post about that subject. I find that Meta AI is really good at articulating exactly why a book worked for me or didn’t by doing a deep dive into plot and character.

I think that much like any technology AI has benefits and drawbacks. I go case by case to judge. Asking AI how many levels of Wordscapes I have to play before I get to a challenging level is fine, but using AI to write a book and saying it’s your own work is wrong. Using AI to create fake news or photos of people is wrong. Using AI to stalk an ex is apparently wrong because it actually refused to do this for me. Oops! My bad.

That’s my opinion. Also, I am opposed to data centers gobbling up community resources ~ if that’s the only way we can continue with things such as Meta AI, then it isn’t worth it. 

A Subtle Difference

It’s hard for me not to obsess over POV when I’m reading because we were taught to obsess over it when we were crafting a scene. One of the very first things I learned was not to have our character die during the story if we were narrating in first person. There are a few exceptions, such as writing as a ghost or zombie or whatever, but generally “and then I died” is bad form. The reader immediately wonders who is telling the story. 

Lately there’s been an epidemic of first person present tense thrillers, often with alternating first person POVs. I can’t even describe how much I hate this, but I try to put my violent rage aside when evaluating the book for a book club discussion, Goodreads review, star rating, etc. I admit that there is a subtle difference in writing “and then I died” vs “everything fades to black.” In the first case, my instant reaction is well then who is telling me this now? In the second case, I could believe I am with the character as it is happening. It’s still not as smooth as third person, so I don’t know why writers persist in doing this. Why not just write in third when you know you’re going to kill your MC?

Another issue I have with first person narration is how much we know when we’re inside the character’s head. If we are supposed to be privy to their thoughts, then they can’t have secrets. You shouldn’t write: “I have been thinking about that Bad Thing I did, but I won’t tell you what it is because I need to focus on the best way to kill Michael right now.” That’s crap writing and throws the reader out of the story. Guess what POV is best for keeping secrets from the reader? Third! “Paula thought about the Bad Thing again, but she forced herself not to dwell on it because she needed to focus on the best way to kill Michael.” Maybe this is too nit-picky, but it really bothers me.

Finally (must have three things in a post about writing), note that my example is in past tense. It’s the best way to tell a story, in my opinion. Past tense lets the reader relax and follow along, as opposed to creating an aura of anxious immediacy where the reader watches the action like a bystander at a car crash. With past tense, the reader relies on the narrator (even an unreliable one) to guide her through the experience rather than standing there trying to figure it out herself. Take this famous opening line from Daphne du Maurier’s 1938 mystery novel Rebecca: 

“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.”

That sets the tone for the story. Something happened at Manderley, and we are going to find out what it was. It establishes first person narration, which is fine because the narrator doesn’t die! The prose continues in slow, deliberate, vivid description of the property with the MC imagining how the estate decayed but still lives on as a character in its own right. The dream segues into the past, when the MC lived at the house and before that, when she met and married the owner, and we get a disturbing glimpse to pique our interest in discovering exactly what went on. Imagine if Rebecca had been written today:

“I dream I go to Manderley again.”

Meh. It’s a totally different vibe, anxious and hurried, not the slow, haunting buildup to a tragedy.

PS: the 2020 Rebecca starring Lily James is excellent. I have not watched Hitchcock’s adaptation. Naturally, the critics have to crap on the 2020 version, but as usual I disregard them. 

Weekend Recap

Happy last day of November. I had a fun friendsgiving, which included several board games, but my opinion of Thanksgiving food, even if perfectly prepared, remains unchanged: I don’t like it. I especially dislike turkey and do not eat any of it (chicken is fine, I like chicken, but everybody else wants turkey). Stuffing can be tasty, but only the way my mommy made it. Green beans and mashed potatoes are okay, but why bother? Now, I do enjoy a baked sweet potato with butter, but I don’t want them all syruped up in a casserole. Yuck. Then we come to the pie ~ I love pie! Why can’t I just have pie? I brought an apple crumb pie from The Flaky Apple Pie Company, baked it at the host’s house, and it was utterly delicious! Everyone loved it. Next year I’m getting cherry. Every pie they make is wonderful. If it were up to me, I would have an all-pie and only-pie Thanksgiving.

I have been trying to watch season two of A Man on the Inside, but I keep falling asleep. Maybe I shouldn’t put it on at 10pm when I am already in bed. I did watch the entirety of Red Joan, a Netflix WW2 drama about “the bomb,” starring Judi Dench and Sophie Cookson, both playing a British woman Joan Stanley at different ages. The story is loosely based on the life of a KGB spy and depicts Joan as a naive Cambridge physics student who becomes sympathetic toward communism due to her boyfriend’s influence. After graduation, she works in a nuclear research facility and passes information to the Soviets via her boyfriend’s sister. Normally I do not watch anything set in this time period, but I love Judi, and the premise sounded interesting, so I did. It was fabulous! I highly recommend it. 

I watched couple of Christmas romcoms too, which weren’t bad, but they were completely forgettable, so I can’t tell you what they were without going to my watch history… and I CBA. I am planning to see Song Sung Blue at the theater with game friends on Christmas Day and The Housemaid with book club peeps later that weekend. Looking forward to those as well as seeing my family for Chanukah. I did a puzzle on Friday; it was only 500 pieces, so I completed it in a few hours. I think I prefer those as opposed to the 1000 pieces ones, which take several days or a week. I am trying not to spend so much time reading the news and social media, except for my FB book club group, so solo games are a good distraction.

I have a lot of social plans coming up, the idea of which stresses me out a bit, even when I deliberately set it all in motion. To ease my anxiety, I spent too much money on Black Friday sales as well as other stuff I “needed.” Now I’m stressed about that instead. I console myself with the thought that I could have spent even more but didn’t. The nice thing is that most of my stuff will be arriving in separate packages, so I will have several fun mail-opening events, woohoo. 

As far as books, I guess I took a little break ~ the last book I read was on November 26. That was What She Saw by Mary Burton, a solid mystery novel, to which I awarded four stars. Yesterday I began a John Grisham novel, The Brethren, which is mildly intriguing, and I will probably finish it. I have several of his in my TBR pile. I’m trying to understand why I don’t fling this book into my DNF donation bag as opposed to all the romances and thrillers that have been so flung, and I guess it’s simply because he’s a better writer. His characters in this book are not likable, but they hold my attention regardless, and the plot threads make me wanna find out what happens and how they tie together. Is it worth noting that Grisham narrates in third person past tense, which is how books should be written, instead of the first person head hopping present tense atrocities we keep seeing in new fiction? Yes, there are exceptions, and I have enjoyed some FPHHPT novels, but that’s despite the FPHHPT not because of it. 

Tomorrow is weigh-in day for Inky and me!

While Waiting for the Rapture...

Happy Rosh Hashanah! Happy Autumn!

The word rapture is a romance novel word, so I have fond feelings toward it. Here's the noun definition from Merriam-Webster:

1. an expression or manifestation of ecstasy or passion

2a. a state or experience of being carried away by overwhelming emotion

b. a mystical experience in which the spirit is exalted to a knowledge of divine things

3. often capitalized : the final assumption of Christians into heaven during the end-time according to Christian theology

You can be enraptured by something powerful, intense, beautiful, etc. It implies an element of bliss, of being transported outside yourself, outside of the ordinary. (You can see why romance writers use it.) According to the dictionary, rapture probably originated as a biblical translation of a Greek word meaning to seize, hold, or snatch up. Raptor, as in a bird of prey, is also part of this etymology. There's also rapt, as in paying close attention, which is hard to do with all our electronics distracting us. There is a Rapture scheduled for tonight, and I guess we won't bring our phones when we're transported up into heaven, but I will miss playing solitaire. Oh, what am I saying... they aren't going to take me; I'll be left behind with the rest of the non-Christians. Party!

Yesterday (Monday) I took the notary exam to renew my commission for the seventh time (and hopefully last, since in four years I will be close to retirement). The Scantron boxes seem smaller now, and I felt like Monk in there trying to mark them all perfectly and getting annoyed when my eraser left a smudge. I don’t notarize that often (and basically only for work), so I have to re-memorize the tedious facts each time. I'm tired! I’m crossing my fingers that I passed, since it would be very embarrassing to tell the peeps at work if I didn't.

I finished a book today. It was a rare one-star rating for me on Goodreads, and I feel bad about that, but fair is fair. (Usually, I will DNF a book if it's heading into one star territory, but I managed to slog through this one until the end ~ 450 pages!) The book is This Side of Dark by Caren Hahn, and it's categorized as a thriller/ suspense novel, but it isn't much of either. Not only are there multiple POVs, but there are also multiple personalities within one of the main characters! There is little motivation for why Grace feels such an intense friendship for River (the DID character) to the point that Grace will cover up a murder to protect River. The real horror however is that River is having a baby even though she loses track of time while dissociating, and one of the personalities is violent and promiscuous, while another is a young child (a fourth identity is teased at during the ending). None of this is addressed as far as being a danger to a baby. There's a budding romance involving Grace and another MC that gets derailed and dropped. There are other loose ends that the author fails to resolve, such as River's family issues, what really happened to River's husband or her mother, how the murder of the little girl Diana occurred (was there sexual abuse as implied?), etc. What a mess of a novel. Oh, and it's non-chronological too, utilizing that popular gimmick of before/after X event and flipping throughout instead of telling the story straight. 

Other people loved the book though, so what do I know? (Many of the gushing reviews are from ARC readers, but I'm sure that has nothing to do with their five stars.)

Malibu Chicken

Back in Illinois, my college boyfriend S used to nag me about my eating habits in various ways, despite the fact that he was pretty odd about food himself. He would only eat a half dozen or so things and never vegetables or fruit: meat, potatoes, bread, mac & cheese, corn flakes, etc. I didn't care what he ate or didn't eat, but one thing that bothered him a lot is if I ordered a drink and didn't finish it. Why? Who knows! Psycho, of some indeterminate kind (there are other reasons besides food that I say this). Anyway, we went to the Sizzler for dinner once, and I ordered the Malibu Chicken (a small chicken patty with a slice of ham and melted cheese on top). I wasn't sure I liked it, which made him get super critical. Why did you order a weird thing like that? Why are you still eating it if you aren't sure it's good? Etc. It was so annoying! Obviously, this conversation had a big emotional impact on me as I remember it so clearly 40+ years later.

Sunday I was invited to have lunch and play games at the local Sizzler. I hadn't been to a Sizzler since my 20s, and naturally I immediately thought of my bad date with college boyfriend. Malibu Chicken was still on the menu, so of course I had to order it. I liked it! Very tasty, and a nice small portion so not horribly unhealthy (I had veggies for my side). As far as games, we played my Monopoly Deal card game, Flip 7, and Rummikub. I would have played Ticket to Ride too, but I didn't want to sit there for another hour or more since my back was achy. Even though restaurants can be noisy and the chairs sometimes uncomfy, it's nice to find a new venue for games ~ it's not practical for me to invite a large group of people to my place, especially now that Inky lives here. She's definitely not as social as Gatsby was! I'm not complaining; I love her exactly how she is.

I read Again the Magic by Lisa Kleypas and gave it four stars. It read like a Regency romance, but it is not one because it takes place mainly in the 1840s, and, strictly speaking, a Regency romance must be set in the period of 1811-1820 during the time of the Prince Regent, George IV. There can be a bit of leeway, but the '40s is too far. Anyway, I enjoyed the strong MC's and engaging plot. It’s so great to dive into a properly written book with past tense third person narration and no head hopping. ATM had loads of vivid description and witty dialog, and most of the side characters were pretty well rounded too. The themes of self-confidence and loyalty/ betrayal were threaded throughout, and I thought it was very well done. I didn't give it more than four stars though because, ultimately, it was just a romance without anything deeper; soon it will settle into the marshy recesses of my mind where I will forget most of it. Four stars from me is a great rating though! To get five, a book has to be something really special and memorable. 

Last weekend I began watching The Morning Show on Prime and am about five episodes in (there are four seasons, so if I keep going, it will take a while to finish). I liked it a lot at first, but now I'm getting a little bored. This coming Sunday I have tickets to see Downton Abbey, The Grand Finale, and I am stoked! That was one of my most favorite series ever.

Our heat wave is over, hurrah.

Love Saves the Day

Our book club leader challenged us to read and review two novellas in addition to our three August books of the month, so naturally I decided to read the novellas first because they're shorter. The first one I chose was Shamrock Kisses by Serena Pier (103 pages). This book is the third in a series of six mini-romances featuring a group of friends located in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. A bar called "High Five" serves as a motif throughout the series along with holiday themes, this one obviously being St. Patrick's Day. I found this book first (you don't have to read them in order), maybe because I love Inky's green eyes, though at times they appear golden (and in some old pics Gatsby's look greenish, go figure!), and if I liked it I would read the rest and if not, not. Welp, it's a not, sadly. This story basically has no plot whatsoever. Patrick meets Rachel, and they're both very attracted to each other. They meet up the next day at the High Five to begin flirting and dancing and smooching, et cetera. Except for the fact that Patrick lives in Chicago (but he can go remote), there is no obstacle at all put in the way of the couple's togetherness. They discover all kinds of cool things about each other, become even more attracted, and everything proceeds smoothly. Isn't that great? Yawn. Two stars.

The second book is 186 pages but is still considered a novella: Wrong Number by Daphne Leigh. This one contains very witty, very sexy banter (much of it via text), which is a welcome relief after the cringe convos throughout Shamrock. Honestly, I was a bit envious of Sarah, since James was the type of man I had hoped to meet back in my dating daze. He is confident, happy, witty, expressive, emotionally available, doesn't pretend to be too cool or busy to focus on one person, employed, etc. But then Sarah and James meet for a real date and everything goes to hell. To portray the heroine’s nervousness, the author has her tripping nonstop over her own feet and spilling drinks, not just once but over and over. So annoying and ridiculous. The relationship moves way too fast for no reason, though at least there are some emotional obstacles on her part to overcome, unlike in the Shamrock story. It would have been nice if James also had some kind of character arc or if there was some outside impediment to their togetherness. This could have been so much better. Oh well. Three stars. 

Note: both of these books are pretty high in “spice” aka explicit sex, not that any of you will likely read them to begin with!

For my in-person book club meeting next Sunday afternoon we have chosen the book Love Saves the Day by Gwen Cooper. This novel made me so angry! The reason is because this could have been a great book, a five-star book for sure, but the idiotic, mixed-up chronology is beyond irritating. Why can't contemporary writers just tell their stories straight? LSTD is all over the damn place timewise, and on top that, half the narration is from "the cat" (Prudence) in present tense. I don't mind this if it's done well and/ or if there's a small amount of it, but it isn't done well, and there is a lot of it. Granted, there are some funny/ cute moments, such as when Prudence speculates that Josh may be off-balance because he shaves his whiskers every day, but much of her narration is repetitive. The bones of an excellent novel are hidden beneath the fluff and silliness, and I became angrier at Gwen for hiding those bones than I would be at a lesser writer. She's a good writer! She could have begun this tale with Sarah's interesting life and proceeded chronologically to her daughter Laura's story, including all the gritty parts about how hard it is to live in NYC if you're not wealthy and the stuff about real estate and evil developers, etc., and perhaps incorporated some kitty input once in a while. Argh! Three stars. I'll probably read it again at some point and possibly fling on an extra star, but right now I am really tired of time jumping.

Speaking of cats, Inky is so mad at me right now because I brushed her and put a cute, blingy collar on her sweet little neck. She pretended she was over her snit when I offered her a bite of cheese (she adores cheese), but then she went right back to pouting in her cubby. 

It's Been a Minute!

Days are flying by, faster all the time (I know it’s my aged perception, and time has not changed in reality). It's hard to believe that I used to post multiple times per day, when now I barely manage twice per week, but I flung out posts like a maniac for years on WordPress. I didn’t have much to say, but I responded to prompts in a compulsive way. I felt that slacking off would let down my readers, who were all doing the same thing, and then we engaged in a frenzy of liking each other's stuff before posting again and again. What's your favorite color? Describe your ideal breakfast. Where did you go on vacation when you were a child? WHO CARES?! I did get a few decent poems out of that mess though.

For a while, I participated in music related prompts on Bluesky, and now I'm utterly bored with everything on that app due to the proliferation of politics on every feed. I have decided that memes are the emptiest form of communication, a way to be at the party but not in the party (that’s a line from Mamma Mia 2). You don't have to take responsibility for the content of a meme, since you didn't write it, but it keeps you in the loop of views. Does it accurately reflect your view? Then why not take a minute or 10 to write out your own opinion in your own words? No, that's too onerous, plus it would take time away from reposting 20 more memes.

There's a reason I gravitate to Facebook when I crave interaction. Sure, there are a lot of memes there too, but friends sometimes post photos from their real lives and give mini updates once in a while. I would rather hear from someone I know about a book or movie or recipe than read reviews from randos on Goodreads or scroll through repetitive memes on Bluesky. It is an entirely different thing when someone in my FB book club posts a meme about books because we engage in the comments; it’s not a contest to accumulate likes. Social media seems to be much less social as people try to build a brand in the hope of monetizing their “content.”

Of course, if I had become "successful" on the internet and could now monetize my own words, I would be championing all this instead of dissing it. These grapes are very sour.

This week I’ve been hosting a prompt on Bluesky, which consists of giving one key word per day for peeps to create a 7-syllable sentence. It's kind of fun to see the variety of responses. But I am utterly sick of politics, and most of my main feeds are political. The poetry and zoo feeds aren't super active, so I get bored quickly there.

As far as Substack, I am giving it a chance ~ trying to ignore the main feed in favor of the accounts I follow and poetry generally. (The main feed is 99% political just like Bluesky.) I think there are good writers there, and I need to have patience to fill my feed with those who enjoy sharing their writing for free (or some of it) as opposed to writers who only post links to purchase. Nothing wrong with trying to sell your books! There are literally hundreds of clever pitches every week that pass through my various feeds though, and my TBR pile is enormous already.

Speaking of... I read The King of the Castle by Victoria Holt and gave it only 3 stars. It was a standalone (not part of the Daughters of England series), and I couldn't relate to the MC Dallas or her love interest Lothair. His actions often felt stuck in for dramatic effect and made no sense. For example, it turned out he really loved his daughter, so why then was he so verbally cruel to her? It seems that Holt wrote him this way in order to make Dallas feel all conflicted about him, but to me that would be enough of a red flag to kill any romantic interest. Since Dallas' attraction flourished despite Lothair’s nastiness, I began to dislike her as well. That all said, the story was solid with an intriguing mystery, told straight up first person without gimmicks except for a few passages from Lothair’s dead wife's diary. It's nice to relax into a well written past tense narrative without being bombarded with constant nah nah I have a secret but won't tell you, plus podcasts and other annoyances that contemporary writers use to pad their wordcounts. Also, the ubiquitous use of present tense irritates me so much!

Here's the thing I love about Victoria Holt's writing: she begins by introducing a woman or girl MC in first person (always past tense), and this MC tells us that there is a problem. She describes what let up to this issue, and we know what she knows within the first chapter. She doesn't tease us by alluding to the "big thing" that won't be revealed until much later, which in my opinion is poor writing but seems to be the way of every new book on the shelf. Holt creates suspense by carrying us along with the MC as she discovers and solves the mystery without keeping secrets from us. If we are in the MC's head, then we should know what she knows. Writing 101! 

Otoh, I awarded five stars to Things We Do in the Dark by Jennifer Hillier, even though she does tease us with secrets (and uses present tense) because when it's done well, I am more than fine with it. Good stories can overcome broken rules, iff they are excellent! I highly recommend this book: it’s a deliciously addictive psychological suspense novel with several compelling characters.

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Inky continues to be the cutest sweetest cuddliest most loving cat ever (or at least since Gatsby, RIP), and I am beyond happy that we chose each other.

A Bajillion Kitties

I visited a cat rescue "lounge" yesterday, where for $20 you can hang out with a whole bunch of kitties as long as you please. I stayed 2.5 hours, and though it was great to meet and greet a bajillion sweet furballs, I didn't feel that special connection with any cat in particular. It was sort of like how I used to imagine speed dating: I can't precisely explain what I want, but I'll know it when it happens. One of the owners asked me what I was looking for, and I explained about Gatsby... then I said I didn't want to create a shopping list for a new kitty. Each one should be appreciated for its own individual self. However, since there were so many available, I had to start somewhere, so I kinda sorta made a list. Female. Around 2-3 years old. Doesn't look like Gatsby (no tuxies). Even with that, there were probably a half dozen to choose from.

When I'm faced with too many options, I generally shut down and choose nothing, which is what I did... but I think I will fill out their adoption application online and return at some point to make a decision. It's nice to live in a fur-free home as far as less vacuuming, and it's nice not to be awakened by night yowls at 2AM; on the other hand, it's horribly lonely not to have a kitty to talk to and cuddle with. My housemate and my daughters think I should adopt a new one. 

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I'm caught up on the second season of Nine Perfect Strangers. It's not as interesting as S1 because we already know that part of the "treatment" program is to micro-dose the patients with LSD, so there's nothing to discover there, and the family dramas aren't as compelling this time around. I may continue watching because I like Nicole Kidman plus the S2 cast, or I may not. We'll see. There's so much to watch and read. 

I read The Tenant, a psychological thriller by Freida McFadden. It was a fast read, full of twists, and I gave it three stars, but it was very shallow as far as character development and motivations. There was no one likable in the entire novel, which ends up being the case in many books of this type. Everyone is unethical and/or covering up a crime and/or motivated by a single selfish desire, whatever. It just comes down to how well the story is told as far as the drama and secrets. This one was relatively enjoyable, but it's already slipping into the mush of the genre. I crossed off the 2025 Reading Challenge box for a book released in 2025.

The above isn't to be confused with The Quiet Tenant by Clemence Michallon, another thriller I gobbled up this week (this one for my online book club), which I counted as “by an up and coming author” for the 2025 Reading Challenge. I didn't care for this book and gave it only two stars. The first issue I had with it is that the author chose second person narration for most of the chapters. This is super hard to pull off, and she did not do a great job of it. I understand that it was the victim's technique to distance herself from the terrible things that were happening to her, but regardless if you can't do it well, don't do it. To confuse matters further, CM wrote some chapters in first person from the POV of other characters. We never got the POV of the most interesting character however, which was the serial killer's. Victims are boring! I have read a zillion fictional victims' stories now, and they are of a samey sameness. Let's hear what the killer has to say, what motivates this sicko, how he so precisely plans his brutal acts. It's interesting that these guys are at the mercy of their violent, churning impulses, yet (the successful ones) are so careful and logical, which helps them evade capture for many years.

Next (or actually previously) is The Push by Ashley Audrain, which also received two stars from me. This is a mystery type novel, mostly in an epistolary narration format, via a "letter" a woman writes to her ex-husband. She attempts to explain herself, her mother, grandmother (the latter two from snippets of overheard conversations when she was a child), feelings, motivations, etc., all to make her point that the daughter they share is an evil demon who killed other children, including their son. The reader isn't sure how much of this to believe because the narrator seems unreliable (yay, another category checked off on the challenge) ~ at many points, she questions her own beliefs and perceptions. This could have been interesting, but alas it wasn't. One example is when the protagonist was in agony over how much it hurt to breastfeed. Well, you know what? She could have switched to formula and bottles as opposed to developing a vicious hatred toward her own baby. The baby cried a lot when she was alone with her mother, which made sense when she wasn't feeling any love or comfort from her. Also, some babies cry a lot. Treating them like they're a monster might very well turn them into one, who knows. When I dislike the MC, it's very difficult for me to care what happens.

Finally (or first), I plowed through A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson. This is a suspense novel of the old "whodunit" type with lots of suspicious characters and a teenage girl who is smarter than all the people who previously investigated the crime. She has a gay bestie, which has now become a cliche. I enjoyed this fast-paced novel and gave it three stars, though the final explanation of the details of the murder and coverup is preposterous. The fact that all these people reveal so much to this annoying girl is also ridiculous, but the story gallops along nicely and held my interest. AGGGTM fit the young adult challenge category in the 2025 Reading Challenge.

That's all.

The Ghosts of Kitties Past

It was nice to get away to San Diego with friends over the holiday weekend, even though I don't really enjoy any changes to routine. This time, it was good to escape from my place, which is stuffed with memories of my sweet Gatsby. We haven't dumped the kitty condo or scratching posts because we know, eventually, there will probably be another kitty living here. Not yet though. It's too soon. I'm OK with seeing his little grey and white ghost out of the corner of my eye sometimes. I don't want to forget him or lose my memories. I still say "bye, I love you" to him when I leave the house.

I have to forgive myself for all the times I got annoyed with him for his yowling. Happened with my other kitties too. That's just how I am ~ very unsaintly when I get woken up in the middle of the night by a cat yarking up a hairball. Quick to yell when they knock a pen off the counter or stick their paw in my tea. I accept that I don't have a ton of patience, never did have. I did my best and made a good home for them, just like I did for my children, who were also frequently annoying. Love doesn't mean pretending everything is perfect and cleaning the litterbox is a joy; love is wanting a kitty in your life despite those things.

In my opinion, anyway.

Part of how I've been consoling myself is by looking online at cats up for adoption nearby. I'm not going to get one that way though... I just like to look. I don't want to "shop" for my next sweetie; I want her to appear in my life as if by magic (aka the "cat distribution system"). Since I'm on the third floor, one isn't going to wander up to my door like Cocoa did in 2004, but it feels a bit magical that my coworker is currently caring for three kittens who were born in his yard four weeks ago. He says he can't keep them all, but he is bonded to them now, so we'll see how that goes. Wandering into an adoption event in a pet store and finding "the one" also counts as magic. Until something magical happens, and I am ready for it, I am OK being sad. Gatsby was a huge part of my life for over 13 years, so it's not surprising I cry from time to time. I still cry over the loss of my mother in 2008. It's so hard to believe she's been gone over 17 years.

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Last week, I read The Secretary, a psychological suspense novel by Renee Knight, for the 2025 Reading Challenge category of a book with a main character who shares your profession. I wasn't in the mood for the typical sexy secretary who seduces her billionaire boss, so I chose Knight's book, which is about an executive assistant (Christine) to a narcissistic, bullying female boss (Mina). Christine becomes so consumed by her job (similar to Andrea in The Devil Wears Prada) that she loses all perspective and refuses to set boundaries. Her husband and daughter end up leaving her because she prioritizes Mina's unreasonable demands over her family week after week. Eventually, Christine both covers up and commits crimes to try to stay invaluable to this horrible woman. The story is told as a retrospective ~ it seems as if the MC is in some sort of sanitarium as she's narrating, but we are not sure of her location until the end. The book was enjoyable for a while, but it became tedious, and I didn't care for the ending at all. Three stars.

I gave three stars to Black Widows by Cate Quinn as well. It's a mystery type novel about a man who was murdered and one of his three wives is apparently the killer. The narrative style is like a reality TV show where we get very short snippets rapid-fire. There are over 100 chapters because each one is 2-3 pages. Ridiculous and annoying! The story itself however is interesting because it's different and describes a completely alien way of life (to me), so that kept me going, but the choppy chapters drove me nuts. We get some interesting perspectives on life in a polygamous cult from the three wives as they take turns narrating, each in first person, natch. Although I enjoyed the ending, there were many unanswered questions, which was frustrating, so I will bring that up at the book club discussion (this was a "bonus" read, not one of our monthly selections). 

For next year's challenge, I am going to make a list of the physical and Kindle books I already own via purchases or gifts and read those before buying any new ones. (This is separate from books I have to read for book clubs obviously.) It's just silly to start any new challenges that require new purchases when I still haven't read the holiday romances people bought for me last December!

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Remember when I said I didn't injure myself "too badly" while putting my bookcase together at the beginning of May? Well, I lied. Besides dropping the wrench on my foot (which didn't cause an issue), I somehow (I have no idea how) hurt my leg that day, and it's gotten worse over these last weeks because I've been ignoring the pain rather than babying it. I guess it needs to be babied! Yesterday I started using a heating pad and only doing the most gentle stretches, so that helps. But damn. Saturday night it hurt so badly at the hotel I couldn't get to sleep until after 2AM. Today was better from, I assume, the heat and rest and gentle stretching. I've also been taking two Advil twice a day for over a week, which is not ideal, but it helps the leg pain a lot and apparently has been keeping my headaches away too. Unless my headaches are better from not having a kitty on my bed.

Crazy talk.

We Can Blog If We Want To

Lately I’ve been having a “Safety Dance” earworm, and it seemed appropriate for this post, after over a week of silence. It’s not that I forgot to blog; I simply didn’t feel like it. In the olden days, that would not have stopped me, and I would have churned out writing regardless. But I don’t have to do that now!

 

I can blog when I want to

I can leave my friends behind 

Cuz my friends don’t blog

And if they don’t blog

Well they’re no friends of mine 

I had a very nice Mother’s Day up in Los Angeles with my daughter, SIL, and grands. Saw my daughter’s in-laws too. Also had a fun social event Saturday with my in-person book club at Classic Cafe in Fullerton ~ though I was not impressed with the coffee shop. Super ridiculous long line to order combined with an insanely long wait for the food. I only had iced tea and a cookie since I didn’t want to wait another hour for a sandwich. What the heck? LOL. It was good to chat with book friends though. The pecan pie cookie was tasty, but I wouldn’t return due to the annoying drive and crazy wait time.

Speaking of books, I read another Victoria Holt novel: Lord of the Far Island. Gave this one four stars for excellent plotting, great characters, and a clever twist. More than one actually. I’m calling this one a mystery for the 2025 Reading Challenge category ~ LOTFI contained several mysteries, so that’s fair. Overall, however, it is probably more accurate to put this book in the romance genre.

I reread Verity by Colleen Hoover for my in-person book club meeting on June 8, but now I'm not sure I can go that day because there might be a grandkid birthday party. We shall see. Anyway, I read Verity a couple years ago and didn't like it, though I don't remember why. I do know I didn't like the beginning, and that opinion remains unchanged. There was simply no need for Lowen to meet Jeremy prior to their meeting at the publisher's office. Why introduce an unnecessary coincidence? After that though, I thought the writing was solid and the story exciting. I truly had a hard time putting down the book! One of the things I loved this go-round is that we really don't know what was true even at the end (and the additional chapter added to the mystery). We have to draw our own conclusions about Jeremy and his wife's behavior before Lowen met them. I am not a fan of multiple "weird" names in a story however ~ Verity is an odd name, so hers should be the only one of that kind. We don't need her kids to also have unusual names, and uhhhh "Lowen?" Too distracting. Nevertheless, I gave it four stars for being such a compelling read. Wish I could remember why I didn't like it the first time.

For my online book club, I read two books so far for May. The first was Those Girls by Chevy Stevens, a psychological thriller. I gave it only two stars. The story was relentlessly violent, and I couldn't relate to the main character, who was a teenager, and later the POV changed to another MC, the first one's daughter, who was also a teen. I dislike reading a teen protagonist unless they're interesting, mature teens, such as those portrayed in Victoria Holt's novels. The contemporary psycho thriller teens act even stupider with respect to men than grown women do in psycho thrillers. I don't want to cringe through an entire book saying "don't do that!" Blech. At least it fit a Reading Challenge category (takes place in summer), so it wasn't a total waste.

Unfortunately, the second book wasn't much better and also received a two-star rating. It was Credence by Penelope Douglas and had a genre-identity crisis throughout. Seems like the author could not decide whether she was writing erotica or a psychological study of a daughter emotionally neglected by her narcissistic parents. Due to this, the book was overlong and repetitive. Again, the MC was a teenager, a sad, spoiled, extremely rich Hollywood girl who immediately takes to life on a ranch and figures out how to fix refrigerators and create clever contraptions for animal feed. Sure, that's all believable. Then there's the fact that this virginal introvert has to seduce the dad and his two sons in extremely vivid and explicit ways because she is so hungry for love. All this seducing takes many pages of narration for each thought and sigh and touch and regret, from multiple POVs. The worst thing is that this book did not fall into any of my Reading Challenge categories, so after slogging through the whole thing, I didn't even get to cross off a box. Tragic!

I have two more books to read for May, plus two "extras" for June ~ that's not counting the actual June reads, which haven't been announced yet. Also, I am happily devouring all the rest of the Victoria Holt books that I can find as I have time in between the book club reads. Needless to say, I haven't been watching much TV or doing any crafts these past couple weeks. Oh, I did paint a sunflower when I was trapped at home last Thursday due to the water guys digging a massive hole behind my car to fix a leak, but it was terrible, so I tossed it immediately.

Gatsby isn't doing well, and I am very sad about that. I'm just trying to keep him as happy and comfy as I can. I know I will miss him so much when the time comes to say our final goodbye, which I think will be soon.

Peach Nectar Iced Tea

Decades ago I discovered Dean Koontz and gobbled up a bunch of his thriller novels... but I grew tired of his writing style. He was fond of certain clunky words, like obsidian and chitinous, that he reused in every book. It grated on my nerves. He's also politically conservative and can get a bit preachy through his characters/ narration. That being said, I needed a "recommended for you" book for one of the boxes on my 2025 Reading Challenge, and Amazon recommended Koontz's The Mercy of Snakes. I decided to read it because (a) it was short, and (b) it was free with my Kindle Unlimited program.

Reader, I loved it! Four stars. I enjoyed it so much that I decided the heck with my reading challenge... imma just read the rest of the books in the Nameless series (two series, six books each). I proceeded to devour all 12 stories and starred them between two and four depending on the story. I appreciated that each one was a standalone novella, but if you read them in order until the end (which I did, after I dived into the middle with Snakes), there is actually a progression and a satisfying conclusion at the end of book six and a dramatic conclusion in book twelve. The basic premise of each story is that we have a hero called Nameless (among other monikers) who receives assignments via anonymous texts to eliminate various terrible people who have escaped conventional justice. The ways in which the bad people get their just deserts is clever and satisfying. I gave only two stars to Preying Mantis because it didn't have a bad guy anywhere near as bad as the others. All 12 books were "free" with KU, and I guess they should go into the horror category.

One thing though: in several of the Nameless stories, Koontz has different characters drinking iced tea sweetened with peach nectar. It made me laugh. I didn't see any obsidian or chitinous however, so that was good. He again gets on his political soapbox, but what's interesting (and terrifying) is that the current party in power is now doing all the awful things they warned that the other party was going to do, so if you didn't already know Koontz was conservative, you might come away thinking he is very anti-Republican. Tee hee.

I also read Ten Things I Love About You, a Regency romance by Julia Quinn. It was spicier and funnier than the usual fare in that genre, but some of the characters were so cartoonishly ridiculous that I could not in good conscience award the book four stars. We learn at the beginning that the hero Sebastian is writing romance novels himself, under a female nom de plume. This makes for amusing situations, and I enjoyed that motif even though generally I am tired of writers turning their characters into writers. The heroine Annabella basically does absolutely nothing, which isn't unusual for the wealthy set in Regency novels, but it didn't endear her to me either. The love-fall was very well done with alternating POVs between the two main characters. Three stars.

This afternoon I wrapped up Something in the Water by Catherine Steadman, a psychological thriller that fulfilled my reading challenge requirement of having been reviewed by my favorite author. This is actually a lie because I couldn't find books that were reviewed by my favorite authors, but when I received SITW from a book club game, I saw on the back jacket that Riley Sager (Middle of the Night) said it was "thrilling and thought-provoking." Since I gave Riley's book MOTN four stars, I decided that SITW fit the challenge box. Ugh. I didn't find SITW either thrilling or thought-provoking. It was a slog, and pretty much on every page I wanted to scream at the MC: why are you doing this stupid thing?!? For a thriller, the plot and narration were very slow, repetitive, and tedious. Did I mention repetitive? It was yet another one of those British novels, narrated in present tense by an annoying woman in first person (at least it didn't keep breaking to other characters in first person like some stories do), and I am heartily tired of them.

Not only that, but there were massive plot/motivation holes throughout, and I had loads of unanswered questions at the end. I felt that was so unfair after I read the entire annoying novel. Geez, author, just tie things up already!

Hoppy Easter, my peeps!

Happy Birthday to My Dad

We never made a huge deal about birthdays when I was growing up, but a special dessert was always on the menu for that night's dinner. My dad was a fan of fudge brownies, so I would usually bake those. He never fussed about a box mix, and he also loved chocolate chip cookies, the standard Tollhouse ones. I am pretty sure I inherited Dad's sweet tooth along with his love of novels and poetry, but then again it's pretty common for humans to to enjoy sugary treats. Some prefer salty/savory, and occasionally that is my snack preference too. Anyway, Dad would have been 95 today (he died 12 years ago, the month before his birthday). He was a good man, and I miss him.

I watched Life or Something Like It last week, a 2002 romcom drama, and I thought it was well done. Angeline Jolie and Edward Norton starred as a type-A reporter and a more relaxed photographer, respectively. Tony Shalhoub played a seemingly crazy street prophet whose strangely coded predictions kept coming true. I watched it on Hulu or Prime (I forget), and I think it's coming to Netflix as well. Catch it if you can!

The Collective by Alison Gaylin allowed me to check off the box for New York (takes place in the state where you were born) on my 2025 Reading Challenge. I gave four stars to this psychological suspense novel for complex characters and a plot that held my attention throughout. This was also the challenge read for my online book club. It wasn't that gory; the challenge was in dealing with the protagonist's visceral emotional reaction to losing a child. It was difficult at times for me, but definitely worthwhile. If you're a person who gets enraged at some of the trite things people say when you're devastated, you may enjoy this book as well. It was a fun fantasy to immerse in a world where anger and revenge were celebrated and not trivialized with some "look on the bright side" crap.

One Day with You by Shari Low fit the Reading Challenge category of taking place in the winter. I gave this contemporary fiction novel three stars, and that was generous. There were no twists, as we knew the whole time who was cheating on whom and simply had to wait tediously for everyone else to discover it and react. What I liked about the story was the fact that it emphasized the complexity of people and that no one is all good or all bad. You can know a person for decades, and their behavior may still surprise you because people's motivations are often both tangled and layered.

The Time of the Hunter’s Moon by Victoria Holt (aka Philippa Carr) satisfied the requirement for "takes place in autumn" on my Reading Challenge (I am over halfway to 100!), and I awarded five stars to this super enjoyable romantic suspense novel. Like most of Holt's books, this story is narrated in first person, past tense by a woman in her late teens who is practical, smart, and courageous. I particularly appreciated that the ending wasn't rushed this time, and even though I personally would not have wanted to be with the man that the MC chose, the conclusion made sense for her.

I also gave five stars to Cordelia Rook's The Crepes of Wrath. I am always down for a fun cozy, and this one delivered all the goods: a murder mystery, witty narration, a cute doggy, suspicious friends, lots of delicious food, and a little romance too. You may remember or know Ms. Rook under another name, but whatever her nom de plume, she always tells a good story.

It's a quiet Saturday for me. I've already done my outside chores of picking up a library book, a few new plants, and groceries for the week, so now my day is free to do whatever. Earlier, I thought of painting, but I don't think I am in the mood now (have a bit of a headache). I've started a new book, so I will continue reading that over the weekend (it's both intense and long), but I need a little break right now. Perhaps I can find a movie on TV...

The Life List

Hurrah! I finally found a movie I liked on Netflix. It's a 2025 romance called The Life List and stars Sofia Carson. I enjoyed the story, the acting, the romance, the humor, etc., and I highly recommend the movie to my readers. The premise is that Elizabeth is concerned about her daughter Alex, who seems to be just drifting through life without any goals. Unfortunately, Elizabeth is dying, so she won't have a chance to help Alex the way she would like to; instead, she found a "life list" Alex created when she was 13, and in her will Elizabeth conditions Alex's inheritance upon fulfilling her teenage dreams. Elizabeth enlisted the help of her lawyer to keep Alex focused, and each time Alex completes one of her goals, she receives another CD from him with Elizabeth giving Alex words of love and encouragement toward the next goal. It made me tear up a few times.

Do you remember any of your dreams/goals from when you were 13? I don't know if I even had any "big" goals at that age. Mine were undoubtedly immediate and superficial... welp, nothing really has changed much in that regard. LOL. I did enjoy writing fiction and poetry, but I don't think I imagined myself as a famous writer (good thing, eh?). I probably wanted to get straight A's in school, and most likely I was obsessed with solving puzzles and finishing needlework pictures. 

I was about to cancel my Hulu subscription (again) before the price jump to $9.99. It's rare that I find something on Hulu I want to watch, and the new bachelor season won't be coming up until the fall. But when I went to the Hulu website to cancel, they said what about if we only charge you the same $2.99 for another six months? I said OK. Of course, in November I will be hooked on the new Golden Bachelor season, so I'll probably be willing to pay $9.99 for a few months until it ends. After that, nah. Probably nah. The reason the next one is special is because they announced that the new Golden Oldie is the hilarious French guy from the last Golden Bachelorette, so I do have to watch. 

Recently I finished reading Five Broken Blades, a fantasy novel by Mai Corland, and gave it two stars. The first third was incredibly slow and tedious, though it did pick up toward the end. Why authors insist on writing chapters in first person present tense from different characters, I do not know. This would have been the perfect opportunity for third person narration so the reader would have had an easier time gliding from one POV to another. Corland made one character sound ignorant, so his bad grammar at least made it clear when it was his chapter, but the others blended together. Yes, she put their names at the beginning of the chapters, but the rest of the voices weren't distinct enough to keep straight. To be fair, fantasy isn't my favorite genre, but in fact the fantasy elements were pretty well done here. It was simply the lack of depth of the characters and their motivations that made the book kind of a drag to get through. Happily, it fit my 2025 Reading Challenge category of being part of a series ~ hopefully, our book club leader won't want to continue this series! 

I put Verity by Colleen Hoover on hold at my library. My in-person book club has chosen it for our June novel, and though I read it years ago (and gave it two stars), I am worried I won't remember enough of it to join in the discussion. I'm curious if my rating stays the same this round ~ also there's a brand new chapter included, so we shall see if that makes a difference. I'm definitely interested in seeing the movie next year with the great cast of Anne Hathaway, Josh Hartnett, and Dakota Johnson.

A Slew of Reviews (No Fooling)

Happy April 1! I've been busy consuming other people's creativity, so without further ado, here are my latest reviews. 

Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier – four stars. (Spoilers be here!)

I found this suspense novel compelling even though I didn’t like or relate to any of the characters. The writing was excellent though, and Hillier kept the suspense ratcheted up throughout the story. I hesitate to use the ridiculous nonword “unputdownable,” but it truly was. I simply could not stop reading until the very end. Speaking of the ending, I was a bit perturbed because I didn’t think that Georgina had earned a happy one ~ she was an even worse person than I initially assumed. It appeared for a while as though Geo was simply a naïve teenager who fell for a very bad boy. Well, it turned out that the boy was indeed bad, as bad as they get, but Geo was equally horrible for the part she played in their friend’s murder. She was bullied into helping Calvin dispose of the body, but as soon as they were done with the gruesome task, Grace could have gone to the police. She made a conscious choice year after year to not come forward. Keeping the secret contributed greatly to the parents' suffering ~ and Grace only served five years for her crime! (Yes, she never confessed to the full extent of her participation, and Calvin kept it a secret too, but even so.) 

There was an incredible twist at the end that I didn’t see coming, and that was fun to read. It was a bit farfetched, but I still enjoyed it. Otherwise, not only do I think that Geo deserved a harsher penalty, but also I wish Kaiser hadn’t still been in love with her at the end. It would have been more satisfying for him to have said, yep, I had a mad crush on you as dorky high school boy, but now as a grown-ass man (and a cop!) I see what a terrible person you are, and my love has died. That’s the ending I would have written, but I am no longer writing books, and Jar of Hearts kept me interested until the last word. Maybe you can call it a hate-read, but that's OK: it still counts as good writing. Besides being a book club selection, this book also fit into my 2025 Reading Challenge category of taking place on the West Coast (Washington State).

Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris – three stars (SPOILERS!).

I was turned off from this psychological thriller immediately because it was another one of the "perfect marriages whose shiny exterior hides beastly abuse" stories that we have seen a zillion times already (yawn), but I persevered because (1) it was a book club selection, and (2) it fit my 2025 Reading Challenge category of having a four-star review (on Goodreads). Despite my boredom with this trope, I tried to be fair ~ the solid writing and satisfying ending boosted the rating to three stars from its initial two. It's hard to feel sympathy for the female MC, Grace, as she ignores all the red flags flying from Jack because no other man was willing to tolerate Grace's lifelong commitment to her semi-disabled sister. She never stopped to question why Jack was so eager to embrace both women into his life. I mean, duh. Wouldn't that be your first question after all these other guys rejected you for it? But we don't have to like the MC to get invested in the story. We can think she's stupid and still want to find out what happens.

The first twist is that Jack the monster really wants Millie, Grace's sister with Down Syndrome, though we never understand why. Why is the idea of torturing a disabled person more exciting than torturing a fully functional woman? You would think the author might give us a clue as to what is going on in Jack's evil brain. Jack briefly mentioned his backstory after his marriage to Grace, but it didn't explain much, plus we aren't sure if we can trust what he says in the first place. His father abused his mother; Jack ended up getting turned on by that; he killed his mother; his father took the fall for it. But Jack's father was also a monster, so why would he go to prison for his son? Is he still alive? How did Jack become a lawyer with all the necessary background checks when this scandalous info was in his past? Yes, he changed his name, but given his high profile cases, you would think an opposing attorney would have investigated and outed him. OK, let's move on.

It was hard for me to deal with the section where Jack killed the puppy that he had given Grace and forced her to bury the dead body in the backyard. I almost DNF'd the book at this point. Human murder OK, but doggie murder? No way. Just no. One of last month’s books, Allegedly, described the aftermath of a cat's murder, which was incredibly gory and disgusting, but we hadn’t really gotten to know the cat at all, plus it was possible the death was quick and the maiming came afterward. The doggie in Behind Closed Doors suffered however, which was super upsetting to read, but even so the suffering was "only" imagined after his death, not described during. Anyway, I kept reading. At least Jack got exactly what he deserved at the end.

Saraband for Two Sisters by Victoria Holt (Philippa Carr) – four stars.

I vaguely remembered loving this romance novel from my teen years, and yay I was not disappointed. Usually, books/movies are not as good as I thought they were, but this one still intrigued me last week. I’m a huge fan of the way Holt creates momentous events layer upon layer, so the reader is aware that something big is coming that will change the MC's life, but we have no idea what it could be. It’s not easy to write in this way without sounding clunky or shoveling a ton of boring backstory at us, but the first-person narrative technique Holt uses, usually from a teenaged girl protagonist, works well to build the suspense. In this case, there are twin sisters, Angelet and Bersaba, who share some similarities, but ultimately are very different, especially in regard to romance. Spoiler: they both go after the same man. Like many a good gothic novel, there’s a mysterious house with a secret door to a hidden passage that no one is supposed to explore because it is “very dangerous.” The servants in the house are suspicious as well. Fun! This book fit my 2025 Reading Challenge category of involving a vacation, for Angelet is sent away on an extended holiday when Bersaba contracts smallpox. Due to this trip, Angelet meets the man who will change both sisters' lives. 

Anora – Academy Award for Best Picture, Director, Actress, etc.

Seriously WTF? A female stripper (Ani/Anora) is introduced to a wealthy young Russian dude (Vanya) at the sex club where she works because she speaks a little Russian. Vanya and Ani negotiate $15,000 for her to spend a week with him and ditch her job. Vanya and Ani have tons of graphic sex all over his lavish NY mansion ~ he is obviously loaded with money ~ and impulsively jet off to Vegas with friends where they get married on a whim. Vanya seems to have the idea that he will be allowed to stay in the USA indefinitely if he marries an American (I guess the screenplay was written before Trump II). Soon after they return to NY, his mother back in Russia orders her thugs to come after the couple because she’s enraged that her son has married a prostitute. As these goons break in and assault Ani, Vanya runs out of the home and leaves her to them. A tedious scene ensues where Ani screams “mother*cker” about 5000 times. Such wonderful writing/acting, eh? Sooo creative.

It occurred to me that I didn’t care about any of these obnoxious characters, so I DNF’d this movie and read the ending on Wikipedia. It still boggles my mind that Anora won awards, since it is literally p0rn with a very thin plot. 

More reviews soon.