Two for Tuesday: Twisty

Two ducks in Los Angeles (my photo)

1. Gothikana by RuNyx. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book! I wasn’t expecting to, especially after the top review at Goodreads went on and on about how terrible the writing was. Welp, I read the Kindle version, and it didn’t have many typos or glaring grammatical errors. Maybe RuNyx cleaned them up? There was a weird font issue though, where a paragraph would break incorrectly and the font would change size. It was annoying but not fatal.

Anyway, the characters were well-crafted, layered, and interesting. I particularly liked the heroine Corvina and her strange background. The story was full of spice between Corvina and Vad, which I had expected from the description. The supernatural elements were nicely done and didn’t overwhelm the plot, though they played a significant part. There were a couple of fun twists that I didn’t see coming, and I like when that happens. Not sure if I want to read another book in the Verenmore series, but this one hit the spot! Sometimes you just need a gothic romance. Four stars.

2. Lady Tremaine by Rachel Hochhauser. This book is gold! I was intrigued by the premise that Cinderella could be reimagined from the “evil” stepmother’s POV, and I have to say that the author did a super job. First, this isn’t truly Cinderella retold. It’s a totally different story, which is why it’s so good! There are only a few elements from the original, the main one being that Cinderella’s father dies soon after remarriage, and thus Elin (the girl’s name in this book) is left in the care of the stepmother (Ethel) she hardly knows and her two stepsisters. 

Second, Elin isn’t angelic the way original Cinderella was portrayed ~ she is spoiled and irritating. Instead of engaging with her new family, she prefers to obsess over an etiquette book. But like all the characters, Elin is a mixed bag of traits, both good and not so good, and she isn’t a caricature. Third, there’s a lot of falconry in this book, which quickly moved it up a star for me. I find the whole subject fascinating, plus it ended up being essential to the climax.

Fourth, there is so much detail in the story about the reality of being poor while pretending you aren’t. From selling nearly everything in the crumbling house to washing chicken poop off eggs, Ethel never has the luxury of forgetting for a second how precarious their situation is. 

BIG SPOILER ALERT! 

The twist was really a triple twist. Just when you were horrified enough by the first bizarre turn of events, a second one whips you around, and then a third knocks you off your feet. I absolutely loved these unexpected but earned reveals and reactions.

Finally, the ending is amazing! I literally could not put this book down for a second once I was about 75% in. It was wonderful all along, but the ending is simply next level. I love love love that Ethel and her three daughters plus the two female house workers can make it on their own without some pervy prince coming to the rescue. Hurrah!!! Five stars.

Gratitude Garden Hodgepodge

Working on my nanoscript with Inky (Meta AI)

I’m still writing like a madwoman for NaNo2, but I thought I’d take a quick lunch break and link up with Joyce’s Hodgepodge for this first week of November. Here we go!

1. Our November Hodgepodges always include a question related to gratitude. What is one small thing you're grateful for today? 

I’m grateful that I got through another month-end last Friday and that I was able to spend time with my family on Sunday. These are not really small things though. How about being happy that I found my Thanksgiving shirt from last year so I don’t have to buy a new one?

2. Chrysanthemums-pansies-burning bush-ornamental cabbage-camellias...your favorite in an autumn garden? Would we find any of these in your yard/garden this year? 

I don’t have a garden in my apartment-style condo and barely keep my few hardy plants alive as it is. I love all flowers though, especially vibrant ones like sunflowers and tulips. Yellow-orange-magenta-purple bouquets are gorgeous, but then again so are powder pink blossoms surrounded by white baby’s breath. Ooh, and orchids! Bird-of-paradise flowers! I can’t choose. 

3. If you could clear out or organize one physical space or mental habit before the year ends, what would it be?

I would love to read all the physical books in my TBR pile so I could give them away or donate them to the library. They are piling up in my room again and overflowing the shelves! Alas, that is not possible due to my NaNo commitment. (Yes, it’s only a promise to myself, but that counts too.)

4. Brussel sprouts...love ‘em or no thank you? If you said love ‘em how do you like them prepared? 

No thank you!

5. It’s reassuring to know that____________________. 

I can still churn out thousands of words per day of a new novel when I put my mind to it.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Tomorrow (Nov. 3) our stupid US midterms will be over and then we can proceed to endlessly discussing 2028 and posting a kajillion worthless polls and a kazillion annoying what-ifs. 

Two for Tuesday: Weird!

Two ducks in Los Angeles (my photo)

I read a couple of strange books recently, and I will share my reviews today. Hopefully, they will be of some interest to my fellow fiction fans.

1. Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke. This book was not what I expected, which is a good thing! I love to be thrown off balance by a novel. Is Natalie insane, did she get shoved back in time, or is she the victim of an elaborate hoax? The main characters have shifting layers and motivations, which all add to the surreal atmosphere. I enjoyed reading the extreme political/ social POVs personified rather than straight up mocked by the author. It made the wacko ideas somewhat more relatable. Somewhat! Ultimately, the ideas were all skewered, which I loved (both sides, hey). This wasn’t a five-star book for me (I wouldn’t read it again), but it was definitely enjoyable. Four stars.

PS: I waited forever for Yesteryear to become available at my local library ~ the reason I was so determined to read it is because there’s a movie coming out starring Anne Hathaway, and I love her. (I didn’t want to buy the book because it was expensive.) It was worth the wait. The following review is via a library book also.

2. Too Old for This by Samantha Downing. This is a thriller, but it has a catch: the first-person murderer slash protagonist is 75-year-old woman. That's pretty much it, with the "old lady" gimmick featuring on every page with issues such as arthritis making it more difficult to scrub up the blood after a killing. The older you get, the harder it is to stuff a dead body into a freezer. Sometimes you forget and take your phone with you when you shouldn't, and then all that danged info is in the cloud somewhere. Who even knows what happens there? It's a fun and fast read, but totally preposterous from beginning to end. I gave it 3 stars plus an additional .25 for the original concept. (If it's been done before, I haven't read it.)

OK then. Have a great Tuesday, everyone!

Hodgepodge with Extra Noodles

Udon noodles with overlaid text (my photo)

I'm participating in Joyce's Hodgepodge this week by responding to the following questions. Since my personal posting has been a bit "light" lately, I can tell before I start that I will be going off-topic into a whole bunch of pointless meandering, which is why I used the Noodling image. Also, I haven't used it in a while. It's always a bit of a struggle with me to decide what to put "out there" in public on social media as I enjoy talking about myself and don't mind criticism over my ideas, but on the other hand I don't want to involve anyone else. It's sometimes hard to talk about my life without mentioning family or friends, but I have learned it's best to keep the mention of other people to an absolute minimum. 

1. Do you think you're driven more by curiosity or comfort? Explain. 

Comfort absolutely 100% no question. While I am intellectually curious, in my physical life I do not crave new experiences. I'm very strange that way compared to other people I know. I like being home. I enjoy eating familiar foods. I'm happy hanging out with the folks I already know as opposed to seeking new contacts. I will always choose the safe and boring over the exciting and different. At least, that's how I am now at age 65; when I was younger, I did try new things. Mostly that didn't work out so well. 

2. What non-food item is in your refrigerator or freezer? 

In the fridge I have soothing cucumber-aloe eye fresheners, although I haven't used them yet ~ I like to know that they're there. In the freezer there are a bunch of ice packs for my head and neck in case of a migraine. Lately though I haven't found the ice packs to be that helpful. It's better to take a hot shower and ingest some caffeine to repel an approaching migraine; if it's already a full-blown attack, then I have to take sumatriptan.

3. Are you comfortable with silence? If you're home alone, do you like silence or do you need regular background noise? Do you seek out times and places to be silent? What's your favorite place to find silence/be silent? 

I love silence! Actually, though, it's never truly silent for me as I have 24/7 tinnitus, plus there's always some kind of lowkey background noise going on, such as the humming of the fridge or the A/C or little kitty paws padding about. At night, I like to have a fan on at the lowest setting for both the white noise and the air circulation, which is a relatively new thing for me. I used to put on an animal documentary to fall asleep by, but I haven't done that for a while. The fan seems to do the trick. 

A lot of noise makes me anxious. I'm not talking about loud movies or music (although those can become unpleasant quickly), but people and machinery. When a bunch of people are all talking at once, I find it impossible to concentrate on anything and soon feel miserable. The same thing happens if a leaf blower is going or a truck is beeping or whatever loud, repetitive thing is conspiring to upset me. My headaches can be triggered from this, but even when they aren't, I just dislike it intensely.

Part of the reason I love staying home is the relative quiet here compared to other places. It seems that the nearby beaches would be perfect for a peaceful experience, and they are somewhat, but they're often windy, which isn't good for my head.

4. Carpentry, electrical, plumbing, landscaping...which skill would you most like to possess and how would you put that skill to use today?

I would say plumbing because we recently needed to have a bit of minor work done, but it is done, so that's that. I wish I were more tech-adept and understood how all my electronic devices work and how to deal with them in more than the most basic ways.

5. Do you lean more towards being too needy or too independent? Which do you find harder to deal with in others? 

I don't know what is "too" other than comparing myself to others and/ or taking into account how I have been criticized in the past. In an absolute sense though, how can I know? If I had ever met the right man for me, then I wouldn't be "too" anything, but that never happened so yes I've been on both sides of that equation. I have been criticized for being too needy in the sense of wanting more compliments, more (philosophical) conversation, more affection, more commitment, blah blah. Yet I've also been rejected for not wanting the constant togetherness of a traditional relationship. I don't want to see someone every day! That's foundational to most long-term romances, but I despise it. The idea of having to eat dinner with someone else every single night for the rest of my life makes me want to crawl out of my skin and run screaming off into the wilderness.

In others, I have found both extremes impossible to deal with as well. I have met men who freak out if you don't answer their text within an hour, and I have met men who don't answer my text for three days. Both of these are unacceptable to me. I don't know. I feel that with the right person these things wouldn't be an issue. Maybe I'm delusional, but to me a romance shouldn't be a constant series of exhausting negotiations. Everything would just work out like magic as in a romance novel or romcom. Nope, not delusional at all! LOL. Anyway, for the past 10 years I haven't had to deal with this, which to me is the correct compromise. I know some folks my age are still looking and hoping, but I am over it.

Regarding friends and family, all is good there. More or less. I mean, I occasionally have a burst of rage over something, which I express to someone other than the enraging party or to no one at all, but I get over it quickly.

6.  Insert your own random thought here. 

So, I have mentioned that with this blog I am not into promotion. I hate marketing in any form, which is why a lot of folks don't even know I have 10 books for sale on Amazon KDP. I don't have my current blog indexed on the search sites. If you google "Paula Light blog," you will get the result that I gave up my blog, which is true (along with other incorrect AI info, such as that I'm a hypnotherapist). I did give up my "popular" WordPress blog ~ I've given up many blogs. But here I am blogging! I have been going at it pretty steadily here on Blogger since August of 2024.

Ever since the April 2026 A-Z though, I've been more active in responding to comments and visiting other blogs, which naturally has had the effect of massively increasing my views and comments here. For example, a year ago I received on average maybe one comment per post. Some received two or three, but others had zero. Now my average is about eight comments per post (not counting my own). That's rewarding, but it also takes time to respond to each one, so I haven't been. Sometimes I don't say anything; other times I will post a "thank you" to the group of commenters. I do appreciate the visits! I just don't want to start spending oodles of time blogging the way I used to because for me that's a path to burnout. This is also why I don't always comment on posts I read.

Prior to April of this year, the bots and scrapers didn't know I existed here on Blogger. My page views matched the comments: some days I had zero views, while other days I might have had three. Now of course my page views are insane like everyone else's with hundreds, sometimes thousands, per day no matter the number of comments received. I also get a whole bunch of spam to my listed email with all kinds of "offers" to pay people to promote my books! While actual possible purchasers may not know I have books for sale, these marketers do. By some mysterious magic, they have access to purchasers (yeah right). You know they haven't a clue about what I write when the title of the email is "your book" and they have no specifics. 

A weird thing happened today though. I received an email regarding my last post ~ the AI Makeover ~ and this email was intensely specific, mentioning all the things I said in my post. It's just another AI site, most likely one that will eventually charge a fee, telling me they could do better with the images I would like in the future. I don't know why I find this interesting, but I am not going to reply, don't worry!

Congratulations if you have read to the end of this pointless meandering. You do not get a prize, sorry.

AI Makeover

Image generated by Nano Banana (free on Google)
using the below text and then tweaked by me

My name is Paula Light, and I live in Orange County, California, with Inky, my adorable black cat. I’m 65, and I work full time in a law office. I’m a mom, a grandma, a poet, a fiction writer, and a voracious reader. My books, such as Ghosted, Sidewalk Noodles, Going Dark, and more, are available on Amazon for Kindle.

My favorite types of books are Regency romances and thrillers, plus anything with or about animals. I’m also a movie fan and love good dramas and comedies, along with musicals, such as Mamma Mia. Game nights with friends are always fun, especially if we play Ticket to Ride! 

Some of my other pastimes include aerobics, puzzles, and blogging. The best way for me to spend an evening is curled up with a good book, a hot cup of tea, and my kitty. 

~*~

This post is in response to Reena’s Xploration Challenge 451, in which she asks us to write 6-10 sentences about ourselves and then use an AI program to generate an image from the text. I used the free Meta AI image generator and Google’s free Nano Banana to compare results. Meta included a puzzle and a game, which was nice, but Google got Inky exactly right, so I had to go with theirs. Besides, Meta made me look super old, while Google apparently thinks 65=45. Not gonna argue with that. I tweaked the image to use the actual names of my books on the table, delete the wedding band (had to ask twice), remove excess teacups, and add some cookies. Gotta have cookies!

Flying Food and Other Fantastical Fictional Phenomena

Pegasus flying toward the moon (Pixabay)

The following quotes are presented for amusement value from books I have recently read or DNF’d. I don’t necessarily dislike an entire book because the author chose some awkward phrasing, but these all were definite cringe moments.

Suddenly, the piece of toast Mallory was eating flew out of her hand. “Look! Isn’t that Donovan pulling around the driveway?” ~ The Guest List by Fern Michaels 

His voice completely startled me, causing me to jerk my wrist and fling damp lettuce to rain down all over the table and his crisp button-down. ~ Life Derailed by Beth Merlin 

The rest of the day unspooled like wax running down a candle. A tedious series of events that moved like sap down a pine tree in the winter. ~ All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby (This was actually a very good book.)

Within an instant, the nerves in my stomach swarmed like rabid bats trying to burst from my abdomen in a bid for freedom. ~ A Killer Motive by Hannah Mary McKinnon

Throwing my arm out in disgust, I forget all about the glass of beer in my hand and all of the amber liquid sloshes out behind me. […] “Great. Just great. Now it looks like I pissed myself,” the man behind me complains loudly. ~ The Stocking Was Hung by Tara Sivec (Bonus cringe: the hero’s name is Sam Stocking.)

But that’s not the worst part. The worst part slides into my brain like a knife between ribs, cutting through denial and landing in the soft meat of truth. ~ Keyhole by Gigi Styx (I hated this entire book and only finished it because I had signed up for a discussion on it.)

An early photo, my grandmother’s flowery cursive on the back—Danny age nine, Vince age eight, Poppy age six—lined up on a brown striped couch, posing with mugs of hot chocolate in their pajamas. ~ The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark

Corvina nodded and stepped into her room to find Jade sitting on the windowsill, her white hair hanging limply on her head as she looked out, lost in her thoughts. “Hey,” Corvina greeted her, and she jumped, her green eyes flying to her. ~ Gothikana by RuNyx 

~*~

I’m stopping here, but it’s a safe bet that there will be a part two, eventually…

Two for Tuesday: Bite Me

Two ducks in Los Angeles (my photo)

Some peeps think I'm highly fussy and critical re writing, but I begin every book with the expectation of awarding it five full stars, and then I deduct points when I encounter things that bug me. For example, unless there is a clear reason for using present tense, and it's done well, I take off a half-star for it. I subtract for using first person POV and then describing one's own death, unless the story is about a ghost (one of my reviews today is about a book full of ghosts!). I subtract for using spilled food/ drinks as a "meet-cute” because it’s not cute, just clichéd and irritating. I deduct points for unnecessary filler/ backstory and going on about weather. I subtract for physical description via mirrors, clunky dialog, authorial intrusion especially if it's political (hello, Dean Koontz), etc. I subtract for main characters that do stupid things, such as exploring the basement of a dark, creepy house in the middle of the night. Thrillers and mysteries should have clues built-in with no deus ex machina moments. Endings must be justified. Fine, I'm fussy! But most of these are known no-no's and clichés, not obscure things I arbitrarily conjured up. 

I also don't do "grade inflation" when reviewing, unless the book is written by a friend. There are people who think that simply writing a book and publishing it entitles the author to at least three stars, and I totally disagree with that. I know people who believe that three stars is bad, when the definition itself tells us that three stars means "an okay or satisfactory experience that met basic expectations without standing out." Four stars is for a stand-out book, and five stars is a top-tier book. Clearly, most books are not five-star worthy! It drives me bananas that most of my online book club peeps award four and five stars to completely average books by popular authors. 

Here are two reviews of books I recently finished.

1. Just One Bite by Miranda Rijks. I enjoyed most of this thriller, despite the fact that it’s written in first person present tense (see? I can adapt!). Brittany represents the typical stressed mom, trying to balance career, her daughter’s needs, her marriage, self-care, etc. As many of us know, this can be overwhelming and even impossible at times. On top of all that, suddenly Brittany is targeted by a blackmailer who’s threatening to post fake videos of Brittany abusing her daughter. It’s compelling to ride along as Brittany navigates this insanity while hoping that she figures out who the bad guy is before more things go wrong. I just wish the ending hadn’t so totally gone off the rails. Three stars.

2. Aftertaste by Daria Lavelle. What can I even say about this incredible book? This is why I rarely give five stars ~ I want to save a five-star rating for the absolute best books, and this is definitely one. The story has everything a reader could want: layered, interesting characters who experience actual growth and change, fresh metaphors and ideas, an intriguing premise about the connection between taste and memory, the unreserved exploration of love, loss, and grief, and unbelievably lush descriptions of food, food, and more food. The supernatural elements were a bit crazy, but they fit smoothly into the world that the author created. This book made me hungry ~ both for food (especially peanut butter cups) and for more great writing!

Hummingbird

Hummingbird via Meta AI

Like a hummingbird,

My fickle fictional taste

Flits from flower to flower,

Sipping the sweet word nectar

And moving on

To the next genre.

There's always a new

Unread author to explore,

Fresh velvety pages,

Unique honeyed flavors to savor.

Why stop at one?

~*~

Free verse poetry for the dVerse Quadrille Challenge hosted by WhimsyGizmo (44 words with hum).

Two for Tuesday: Floral Reads

Two ducks in Los Angeles (my photo)

I haven’t been reading much lately. Just not in the mood, I guess, plus I began several books that went quickly to the DNF pile. As I’ve mentioned, I’m really tired of the same-old thrillers and romances. I did finish two so far this month though, which I will review here (actually I will C&P from my Goodreads’ reviews). 

1. Wildflower by Drew Barrymore. Very enjoyable read. I read it in small batches to get the maximum effect. Drew has a very entertaining narrative voice and seems natural and unedited (though I assume the book was, at least a little). Her mood alternates between focused and scattered, but she’s always exuberant, which makes even the more ordinary chapters fun. She’s definitely an interesting person with an amazing work ethic. Four stars for this memoir.

2. Where the Sea Lavender Grows by Kitty Johnson. Interesting mystery with romantic and supernatural elements. The characters are well-developed and relatable, especially Elise and Lilias. Though the setting swings back and forth chronologically, the chapters are separate so there’s no confusion. While the story is full of tragedy, it is ultimately an affirmation of life and love. And doggies. Four stars.

I am still a few books ahead of my goal, pace-wise, but I need to get going if I want to hit 125 by December 31. Today I am at 93 for the year.

Random Meanderings...

Pic of Crystal Cove for no reason

Blogger comments don't seem to be working. I can't comment on my own blog or on anyone else's ~ and I’m sorry if my repeated tries show up as multiple comments when Blogger starts up again. I asked AI and followed the directions for all the things, but nothing worked. I haven't received a new comment in over 18 hours, nor do I see new comments on other Blogspot blogs, so I don't think it's just me. Or is it just me? I usually blame myself first whenever anything goes wrong. 

It may not be related to the commenting glitch, but I noticed that Blogger's dashboard was a bit off this week with the "B" disappearing randomly, which required a refresh to see the menu. Now all the WordPress peeps can chime in to tell me WP is better, but I know it isn't ~ I WAS THERE! For years, I dealt with all of WP's stupid glitches as a paying customer until I gave up and left. Technically, I pay for Blogger too, via Google's extra storage, but it's a small amount compared to WP and gives me storage all across Google. 

But it's a good day! I took off from work, so I now have a four (4!) day weekend, which is awesome. It's not that I hate working, but I rarely take vacations. Welp, it's been ages since I went anywhere on a "real vacation," though I have been in the habit of taking random long weekends just to use up the days. I've always been a person who needed a lot of down time just to stare at the wall. Not to mention, I have social events all four days. How did this happen? LOL

This is the time of year when I have an almost constant migraine, and yep it is happening now too. Even though my head has been somewhat better, I knew this was coming. We've had other super hot days (and it isn't even super hot right now), but there's something about the start of September that triggers me. Maybe it's psychological. I don't know. I've been trying to be gentle with myself and do all the self-care things, which help a little bit. I haven't stopped working out, but I do it less vigorously while I'm in migraine mode. Basically I just have to get through it.

I'm in a reading slump. I did read 11 books in August, which may seem like a lot for people who never read a book (sadly, this includes some of my best friends), but it's not for me. I started and abandoned a whole bunch of books because they bored me to tears. Some of them I noted on Goodreads as "DNF," but others I didn't bother recording. As I've said, I'm over romance novels (this is usually temporary, but who knows?), but I am also over thrillers. They're just so samey-same. I have Wildflower by Drew Barrymore, a memoir told in a series of vignettes, which is an NYT bestseller, so I am hoping that will be interesting.

This is embarrassing to admit, but I don't enjoy Jane Austen's writing. I made it through P&P, and I liked the movie version a lot, but Austen's writing style is so unappealing to me. I loved Persuasion with Dakota Johnson, and I have the book in my Kindle library, but I haven't read it. Same goes for Emma with Gwyneth Paltrow. (It's marked read on my Kindle, but I don't think I actually finished it. You have to mark books as read or delete them completely to get them out of your unread pile.) I saw the preview for Sense and Sensibility last Friday, which looked good, so I downloaded the book, and UGH! I simply cannot read it. I guess back then "show not tell" wasn't a thing because the whole book is tell tell tell. And while I know people spoke differently in the 1800s, I can't believe they truly engaged in such stilted dialogue. Here's a girl trying to convince her sister that the object of her affections really isn't a complete dud:

"Of his sense and his goodness," continued Elinor, "no one can, I think, be in doubt, who has seen him often enough to engage him in unreserved conversation. The excellence of his understanding and his principles can be concealed only by that shyness which too often keeps him silent. You know enough of him to do justice to his solid worth. But of his minuter propensities, as you call them you have from peculiar circumstances been kept more ignorant than myself. [...]"

It goes on and on AND ON like this, page after page. Gah. I also have Northanger Abbey, but I can't bear to open it.

I began rewatching The Sopranos on HBO, and at first I loved it. I was picking up subtle nuances that I had either forgotten on my past watches or never noticed at all, plus I was following some Facebook discussions on the same. Last night, I was about halfway through S3, when I thought eff this it's way too boring. I began scrolling on my phone, then fell asleep, and now I have zero interest in continuing this rewatch. Boo! I was having so much fun with it. What happened? I think the constant arguing (yelling) and tension among the various characters was making me feel drained. It reminded me of my parents, although they never whacked anyone, far as I know.

I guess I'm just in an "everything sucks" phase. I did enjoy the two movies I saw recently, as I posted here.

Thirteen on Bats

13 colorful donuts from AI

I recently read The Genius Bat (The Secret Life of the Only Flying Mammal) by Yossi Yovel and gave it four stars. While the bat facts were fascinating, the book got bogged down in boring background information on the researchers and the tedious process of how they set up experiments. Now, I am sure that stuff would be of great interest to fellow scientists, but I am not one, so I just wanted to hear about the bats! Anyway, four stars is a great rating in my system (most books get two or three), which means that overall I enjoyed the book and learned from it. I'm going to share some random tidbits from TGB for my Thursday 13, and I hope you will find them intriguing.

1. Bats are considered the most diverse of mammals with over 1,500 species (20 percent of the world's mammals), and they are found everywhere on earth, except for the North and South Pole. Most bats are tiny, many are social and live in colonies, and most are insectivores. If you don't like bugs and/ or want to avoid insecticides, then you should definitely appreciate bats!

2. Contrary to the saying, bats aren't blind, but most use echolocation (creating various sounds and then processing their echoes) to find food and avoid crashing into things. The sounds bats emit can vary greatly in frequency, depending on the particular bat species, their hunting patterns, and the environment. For example, low-frequency calls are better for finding large insects in open spaces, while sounds of a higher frequency work well in dense forests. Bats also communicate with each other by using sound, not necessarily exchanging political memes, but more like saying "move!" when another one is hogging a spot. 

3. When bats use echolocation to find moving food, aka bugs, they are calculating time rather than distance. It isn't going to do a hungry bat any good to know that a flying insect is in a certain spot. Since the insect is moving, the bat needs to know exactly when their paths are going to cross, which is the moment the bat will pounce and chomp. Echolocation thus allows the bat to "see" the world as a series of events in time rather than space. 

4. Bat wings are actually a pair of hands with a flexible skin membrane stretched between five very long fingers.

5. Nectar bats are important pollinators. As they drink nectar from flowers, they get covered in pollen, which they transmit to other flowers. Some flowers have evolved to be pollinated by specific bat types ~ the flower will open only when a bat of a certain weight lands on it. This is called coevolution.

6. In ancient mammals, the ear bones (ossicles) were connected to the jawbone, but later the two sets of bones separated. This is helpful for bats, so they can snack in flight while still performing echolocation and not smash into trees. We can too. Well, some of us.

7. Scientists are still debating whether bat flight evolved before echolocation or afterwards. Some assert that the two features must have evolved together because both require such a high energy output. Think about screaming while running ~ you'd soon run out of energy. Also, echolocation itself is synchronized with bat wing movement. When foraging, a bat emits one call per wing flutter, thus reducing the energy cost.

8. Fruit bats do not use echolocation. They're also generally much larger than insectivore bats. There's a huge fruit bat native to the Philippines called the giant golden-crowned flying fox, which can weigh up to 3.3 pounds. Remember, fruit flies like a banana, probably for the same reason bats do: bananas have not evolved to fly. Scientists argue over whether some bats lost the ability to echolocate or the echo-locators and non-ELs evolved in tandem.

9. Fossil records indicate that bats first appeared in the Eocene epoch (56 to 34 million years ago), and these were insectivores. Fruit bat fossils appeared much later, in the Oligocene epoch (about 35 million years ago). Or perhaps a supernatural entity created insect-eating bats on Tuesday and then thought oh no who is going to eat all this silly fruit I made, so it created fruit-eating bats on Wednesday. Take your pick.

10. Bats often travel huge distances, sometimes commuting over 50 miles in one day. Migration in fruit/ nectar bats follows the blooming patterns of various flowers. For example, one of the blossoms chased by Mexican bats is the agave plant, which they thoughtfully pollinate so humans can turn it into tequila. 

11. Northern bats do not seek warm caves to hibernate in, as keeping body temp higher requires more calories; instead, they search for a cool cave where they can chill out at a lower temperature and thus stay alive with a slower metabolism. (This assumes that predators don't come in and nom them up.)

12. Short-nosed fruit bats have been observed performing oral sex on each other (female to male). Feel free to make jokes in the comments.

13. Yovel hinted a few times that the reason bat research has received so much funding is due to its role in military technology. 

Two for Tuesday: Movies

Two ducks in Los Angeles 

Last Friday my friend and I saw Coyote vs Acme at the Bella Terra theater in Huntington Beach. (Dinner first at the Cheesecake Factory, which is always delicious, even if you don’t have dessert.) We really liked it! Just good nostalgic fun with no profound messages, except maybe a reinforcement of the thrill of the chase being superior to the catch. (Sometimes.) If you aren’t that familiar with the old cartoons however, you might not find the movie super enjoyable. Apparently, the film was inspired by a 1990 article in the NYT, which you aren’t even allowed to read as a gift article if you don’t have a subscription. Whatever. They suck.

Saturday I went up to Los Angeles in a carpool to see Project Hail Mary with other friends. These peeps have a super big TV screen, so we had the pleasure of that along with the comfort of being in a private home. I’m glad I read Andy Weir’s book first because otherwise I might have been confused at some points, especially during the backstory scenes. I really enjoyed seeing how the alien was depicted onscreen after imagining him via Andy’s words on the page. It was an excellent movie, and we all loved it. I highly recommend the book and the film. 

Unfortunately, my alien-themed cupcakes, while cute, tasted awful. Pillsbury is usually great, but the pistachio cake mix, along with the frosting, was just plain yuck. I don’t understand how they messed up so dramatically, but I had a bad feeling as soon as I opened the box and took a sniff. Since sometimes my sense of smell is off, I made them anyway (baked late Friday night and frosted Saturday morning). I definitely do not recommend this product.

I also saw The Phantom of the Opera musical at the Segerstrom Center in Costa Mesa on Sunday (told you I’ve been busy, not to mention working some OT for month-end). The tickets were a birthday gift from my daughter and son-in-law. We were all unfamiliar with the story, but the singing and costumes were gorgeous, so it was a lot of fun even if we didn’t follow 100% of what was going on. One of my close friends was at the same showing, but her seat was nowhere near us, so we couldn’t chat.

A musical version of The Great Gatsby is scheduled for next May at Segerstrom, and I hope to see that too. I am familiar with this story! I only read the book like five times and watched two versions of the movie. 

Fictional Meanderings

AI dragon with jellybeans

[I wrote this earlier in my Some Thoughts on Fiction post, but then I realized it should be its own thing.]

Novels are created from a writer's imagination, as least partly, but the key for me is that they could be true, either in this world or in a fantasy world. There are all types of fiction, but for me to immerse my mind in a story, I have to find the characters and the situations believable. But what about House of the Dragon? I have mentioned my love for that show. Sure, there can be dragons (or gods, ghosts, genies, vampires, shifters, etc.), but they have to follow the rules and conform to the boundaries the writer built for the fantasy universe. Anything that is “magical” needs to follow a set of rules, preferably presented in advance, so that plot twists and resolutions avoid the dreaded deux ex machina. Non-magical events should conform to boundaries we already understand from this world, and no rules should be fudged to resolve a conflict. 

Skip this paragraph if you are familiar with the deux ex machina plot device. This is when in the stage plays of old a literal “god” (the deux) would come down from the ceiling to solve the problem. A crane-like machine would lower the actor to the stage. When we use the term now, we generally mean that the writer failed to create a resolution using the rules s/he already established in the story's universe and instead had something new swoop in to save the day. Let's consider James Bond in Live and Let Die escaping certain death via crocodiles by nimbly leaping across their backs to safety (in a suit and dress shoes!). That’s perfectly in line with the 007 character. But if the writers had decided instead to have the crocs all suddenly expire from multiple lightning strikes, that would count as a deux ex machina device and be horribly unsatisfying for the audience. Good writing always avoids this! 

Back to dragons. In the imaginary world that George R.R. Martin created for Game of Thrones, there are established rules, such as dragons don’t burn and neither will the special humans with dragon DNA, so it’s fitting that Daenerys survives infernos, but her cruel brother Viserys, who is always faking his dragon status, gets burned to death by molten gold. What isn’t believable in the story, however, is when people without antibiotics survived messy, painful, and terribly unhygienic amputations. The dragons are fine in my mind; Jaime surviving his hand getting lopped off is not.

The problem I have with most shifter romances is matter of logistics. What happens to the human clothing when a man shifts into his tiger or bear or wolf or whatever? And doesn’t he get all smelly and gross and full of parasites during his animal phase? What happens with all that when he shifts back to human form? Yes, I know that even in the spiciest novels no one talks about using the bathroom (unless that's part of the spice), but I can’t stop thinking about these “practical” issues while I’m reading, so it kind of wrecks the whole shifter story for me. 

Non-magical stories do not escape my fussy criticism either. In romance novels and romcoms, I have a huge problem with too many coincidences; often, more than one is too many. The fact that the hero and heroine meet at all is an amazing coincidence, so why pile more on top of that to make the story wobble from unbelievability? I'm a fan of Collen Hoover’s popular novel Verity (soon to be released in movie form with Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson, and some man), but there’s no reason for the protagonists to “pre-meet” before they actually meet at the job interview. In the novel I’m currently reading, Heartbeat at My Feet by Kristin Judd, the protags will meet when Josie travels to Sorrento, Italy with Cicero (the adorable doggie), so why did Judd create an awkward encounter between Josie and Giorgio at a gelato shop before that? It makes no sense!

In thrillers, my biggest problem is usually the protagonist acting contrary to her given character or any person really simply to further the plot. If you introduce a smart, sensible businesswoman who inherited her kooky old great-aunt's mansion, you can’t have her fall apart the minute she steps into the house and begin to make the stupidest decisions. Honestly, the only intelligent thing to do when you get bad vibes from a creepy old house is to GTFO and check into a motel (not the Bates one though), not spend the night there in your filmy nightgown and explore the basement at 3AM because you heard a weird noise. FOR PETE’S SAKE!

No, I do love fiction. Good fiction. And there’s plenty of it. You just have to sift through the dreck, which I’m generally willing to do. I finish most books that semi-annoy me because I forgive imperfect writing, but they have to contain at least one redeeming quality, like a cute dog. And gelato, whatever that is ~ apparently not ice cream, as I had previously assumed, according to AI. I don't think I've ever had gelato, but now I want some.

Watch everyone comment about the gelato and not my profound observations about fiction.

Some Thoughts on Fiction

Powell's in Portland, August 2015

Reena's Xplorations Challenge this week gives us some questions to ponder regarding fiction. First, she asks what constitutes fiction in the post-truth era, and I'm probably going to disagree with most of the other responders when I say I don't think our era is less truthful than any other era. Regular people have always lied, or at least insisted upon their version of the truth, as have politicians and their entourages, and whatever media existed at the time. What we see now however is more of a mass production and dissemination of lies because of the way "news" can reach so many of us almost instantly. There is also so much media available in so many forms. Back in the day, we had to wait for some wanderer to wend his way to our village to give his version of a thing that happened months ago at court. Now, within five minutes the whole world knows what a President said at a conference. Or, we think we know, depending on our source and whatever meme we saw on social media.

How thin or distinct are the lines between fact and fiction? 

In writing, as opposed to political "news," the lines are somewhat clearer between fact and fiction. Somewhat. Recently, I read a non-fiction book about bats, and I think it's safe to assume that all the bat information I learned was factual. The author was specific about what was known and what wasn't. (I will have a Thursday Thirteen post on bats coming soon.) Historical books can definitely be biased towards a particular viewpoint. Biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs are in the non-fiction section, but those are all someone's version of what happened. Self-help books are considered non-fiction as are books about food, travel, economics, and religion. Hah! Poetry is its own category. 

My favorite types of books fall into the fiction category, but even here things can get muddled. Some fiction is based on true stories. Some characters are closely based on people the author actually knows. Some writers use real-world locations and events in their fiction, while others create imaginary cities and scenarios. Science fiction and fantasy writers sometimes create whole new worlds and types of creatures in their stories.

Do the disclaimers that all characters are fictional really mean anything?

No. All characters, even the nonhuman ones, come from bits of the author's experience, whether direct or from something s/he read. No one writes in a vacuum. Since most real people aren't that interesting on the page, the best fictional characters are a mix of traits that the author has observed or read about. Even monsters, dragons, aliens, gods, etc., are a mishmash of human qualities. We create them all in our own image because what else is there? Funnily enough, the most fictional of fictional characters are probably the dreaded stock characters that a lazy writer grabs from the cardboard stash: the corrupt cop, the schoolyard bully, the cozy grandmother, etc. Real people are usually more nuanced.

Do you follow a formula when writing fiction, or just let it all flow freely?

For a while, I was writing spicy romantic fiction (novels and short stories), and that was all formulaic. I quit writing it and unpublished what I had when I became the stock cozy grandmother. No one wants to stumble across their nana’s erotica. Yuck. My later fiction is more free flowing. Hell, I didn't even know how Ghosted was going to end when I started it. Generally, I begin with a title or an idea that I think is funny and go from there. Sometimes I get bogged down in banter and have to delete a bunch of it to make room for action. Good short stories and flash fiction are actually harder to write than novels because there's no room to indulge yourself with prolonged banter, physical descriptions, and pointless meandering. The pointless meandering is my favorite.

Speaking of that, I had this enormous post written with my thoughts on various genres blah blah, but I have now scooped all that into a new post because I had actually missed addressing Reena's questions. 

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!

Plane Podge

AI guy in a tux hanging onto a chopper

I'm participating in From Across the Pond's Hodgepodge 667. Thanks go out to Joyce for coming up with a bunch of interesting themed questions every week!

1. August 19th is National Aviation Day...do you like to fly? Last time you were on an airplane? The date is chosen in honor of the history and development of aviation, and celebrated on the birthday of Orville Wright. Have you ever been to the Kitty Hawk area of North Carolina? The city of Dayton in Ohio (their birthplace)?

I hate flying. I know it's safer than driving, but even so I am thrilled that both my daughters now live within reasonable driving distance. For a while, I was regularly flying up to the Bay Area to visit them because the drive took 7 hours. It wasn't the actual flight I disliked as much as the whole rigmarole of getting to the airport two hours before boarding time (drive and pay for parking or get an Uber?), navigating the massive annoying crowd at the airport, dealing with flinging my carryon in an overhead bin without hurting my back, being squashed into a tiny seat next to PEOPLE, and getting a headache on the descent. Yuck!

The last time I was on an airplane was in 2021 coming back from Oakland after visiting my daughter. She and her hubs moved to SoCal shortly afterward. I have never been to North Carolina, but I have been to Ohio (the Newark area, not Dayton) ~ my mother was born in Granville, and we occasionally visited her peeps when we lived back East. 

2. In what area of your life do you tend to 'wing it'? Is this an area you should be winging? 

I'm a planner, not a winger, but I am trying to be casual about blogging now, which I suppose is a form of winging it. When I was on WordPress, I stressed myself out by replying to multiple prompts per day, hosting prompts, replying to every comment, feeling the need to comment on everyone else's blog, etc., until it sucked up all my free time. These days, I only reply to a prompt when I have something I want to say, which means that I skip most prompts, including my own that I made special images for, such as Two for Tuesday and Thursday 13. While I do have a post scheduled for this Tuesday, it will probably be a while before I come up with another thirteen related statements. Yes, when I do it, the statements must be related to a theme!

Should I be winging my blogging? Yes, absolutely. I have a lot more free time now, which means that I read many more books and watch many more movies. Ironically, that gives me more blogging material.

3. A favorite book, song, or movie that relates to flight in some way?   

I just read Final Descent by Audrey J. Cole, which I liked a lot ~ it was about a pilot who was being gaslit by her ex-husband, culminating in a cockpit fight with a creep he had hired to ruin her life. (Nice illustration of how both dating and flying are terrifying and should be avoided.) A year or so ago, I read her full-length novel Missing in Flight about a baby who was kidnapped aboard a plane while his mom went to the bathroom. It was really good, and I recommend it!

Should I confess that I kinda enjoyed the ridiculous movie Snakes on a Plane? LOL

For music, how about the beautiful and sad song "Early Morning Rain" by Gordon Lightfoot? 

Hear the mighty engines roar

See the silver wing on high

She's away and westward bound

Far above the clouds she'll fly

Where the morning rain don't fall

And the sun always shines

She'll be flying o'er my home

In about three hours time

4. Soft serve, gelato, sherbet, frozen yogurt, or good old fashioned ice cream...what's your pleasure? Your favorite flavor? How often do you indulge? 

Wait, what? How does this relate to flight? Maybe like they do with booze, we can set up a froyo flight of vanilla, strawberry, coconut, and mango samplers. Don't forget the toppings! My favorite is one of those bases with strawberries, mango, and coconut on top. I used to like vanilla with peanut butter cup pieces smashed in, but lately I find that just too sweet and blech. I'm not sure if I've ever had gelato. I don’t have frozen treats that often. Way back when, I used to be "addicted" to Ben & Jerry's vanilla with cookie dough, but I don't buy their products now because REASONS.

5. I never get tired of______________________. 

Mamma Mia movies. Relating them to the theme, you do have to take a flight to Athens and then a ferry to get to the island of Kalokairi, where the fictional Hotel Bella Donna (formerly the Villa Donna) is located. Or if you are wealthy, like Sophie's grandmother, you can charter a helicopter to take you from Athens to the island. Oh, I see from Google that the island is also fictional. Huh. Learn something new every day!

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I sometimes think that I'm obsessive, but then I run into true obsessives and realize that I'm not even anywhere close to their level. Being competitive by nature, I will sometimes experience a sudden urge to out-obsess the obsessives, but that impulse is generally squelched quickly because I'm also lazy.

Summer Reading Bingo 5

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 fifth and last set of reviews; you can find the first set here, the second one here, the third one here, and the fourth one here.

1. Best friends. Best Friends by Josie Morgaine. This book had an interesting premise: what if the one-night-stand (with a fake name) father of the main character’s baby ending up being the unacknowledged half-brother of your best friend?

Unfortunately, the writing had a lot of problems, and one of the most glaring ones was incorrect paragraph breaks for dialog. It was often unclear who was speaking as dialog floated on the page without tags, sometimes from the previously tagged speaker, but other times you couldn’t tell. The characters were mostly one-dimensional with singular motives. No one seemed to care about a career or have friends, hobbies, tastes, or interests outside of whatever monomaniacal goal they were pursuing (for good or bad). The worst thing is that we never found out what was wrong with Connor! I assumed we were headed toward a Munchausen by proxy syndrome dx by either Brian or Sadie, but nope. Just a horribly sick kid who needed intensive medical intervention and then poof he was fine, no explanation.

Since the story had promise, I am giving it two stars instead of one.

2. Island setting. The Island by Sarah Goodwin. This story kept me riveted! It was full of fast-paced action at a music festival where some shady shenanigans were going on. Our heroine Jody was suffering from low self-esteem due to her abusive ex-boyfriend and her hyper-controlling mother. Her character was very sympathetic and relatable. The rest of the characters were a mixed bag of Jody’s friends with nicely layered personalities and stereotypical bad guys. I don’t mind a couple characters from central casting if the main character and at least some others are well developed. The ending and the epilogue were very satisfying. Four stars!

3. Sun on cover. Midnight Sun, Second Act by Samuel Elle Swanson and AI. I enjoyed the descriptions of the majestic scenery and the geological info, which I hope were from the author’s personal travel experience and not AI generated like the characters and dialogue obviously were (he disclosed that the book was written with AI assistance). The “flirting” between Mara and Einer was so bad that after a bit it simply became funny. There was never a moment where their dialogue approached being romantic ~ it was like two machines trying to have a conversation. Beyond that, there was some formula going on where every so often a bizarre metaphor jumped in. “The windows made the horizon look like a bad decision.” LOL. What a weird book. Two stars.

4. Summer in title. The Summer House by Keri Beevis. This started out as an interesting read with layered characters. Lana returned to her hometown to sell her beloved Nana Kitty’s house and became entangled in a mystery from the past surrounding her older sister’s violent death on the property. Lana has to deal with her semi-estranged twin brother, his irritating fiancé, and the presence of her former high school sweetheart, among other characters. We don’t know who the bad guy is until the end, but there are several interesting suspects. I was getting very intrigued by the story until everything went bonkers. The events from the past were over explained and unbelievable. The climax was a crazy sauce of gore. I was disappointed, as I often am, with the twists being unearned and seemingly stuck in merely for shock value. This could have been a lot better. Three stars.

5. Under 200 pages. Final Descent by Audrey J. Cole. This was a super fun, super fast thriller read! I wasn't sure if we were dealing with a crazy, unreliable narrator or a vengeful ex or even something else. Definitely kept my attention throughout. I'm glad it was a novella (90 pages) because if it had been longer, it would have been too unbelievable. I like that things weren't over-explained too. The plane flight was terrifying! It certainly reinforced my hatred of both dating and flying. Four stars.

Thanks for following along with my Summer Bingo book reviews! We are done, woohoo!

Two for Tuesday: Huntington Beach

Brown sugar cinnamon latte at Grim in HB (my photo)

1. On Sunday, I had a very early coffee meetup with two friends at Grim Garden in Huntington Beach (Warner and Newland). What an adorable little place! The whole café is "grim" (dark) themed, complete with an open vertical coffin in which you can pose for pictures (see my Instagram @lightm0tifs). There are green plants everywhere, giving it a tea party vibe. My friends loved their iced drinks, but I have to have something hot first thing in the morning (even if it's already 80 degrees out), so I ordered their special brown sugar cinnamon latte. It was so yummy! They had pastries too, which looked delicious, but I didn't try one. (I have a bunch of wonderful cookies at home due to my decorating class on Saturday morning ~ also on my IG.) Grim gets a 10/10 from me, and I would definitely return.

2. In the afternoon, I decided to go to a romance novel pop-up event in HB (Warner and Bolsa Chica), despite taking a break from the genre at the moment, especially from contemporary romance. I recently received a set of Regency romances that I will read soon. Anyway, back to the pop-up... there were several books I might have been interested in, but the prices, eeeek! I didn't realize that it's normal to charge $30 for a new book! Yes, they are pristine, and some even have the highly desired sprayed edges, but I'm happy to read a library book that's been paged through a hundred times and return it. I don't have space in my place to hoard books, and I keep only special or meaningful ones, which excludes most romances.

I went inside the pizza place where some local romance authors had their own books for sale. Same thing: I might have bought a few if they weren't so expensive. I felt kinda bad just looking and leaving, but oh well. Back outside, I browsed the "merch," some of which was cute, but I don't need a hat or a book bag. There were cheaper "mystery date" books that I could have gambled on at $12 each (covered in wrapping paper with an enticing blurb taped on), but I didn't end up getting anything at all. To be fair, some of the (uncovered) books were “only” $22.50, but still. I am not saying that authors don't deserve these prices for their books... I just can’t afford it at the pace I read. 

When I read a romance or a thriller novel, I gobble it up like a package of candy. I can read a 300 page book in a day! Contrast that with a deeper, crunchier read, which I savor and take my time with, maybe even make some notes… those type of books I do pay more for and keep on my shelves. I don’t expect them to appear in the KU program either. No offense to any romance or thriller writers ~ these books can be very fun reads ~ but I am not paying $30 for one.

See you at the next T4T!

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 3

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 third set of reviews; you can find the first set here and the second one here.

1. Grumpy/ Sunshine. Two Truths and a Marriage by Nicole Snow. First, I confess that I'm generally not a fan of this romance trope. Perhaps it hits too close to home ~ why would you fall for a grumpy jerk just because he looks good? Ugh, guilty. Anyway. I knew I had to pick one for this challenge, so I chose the one with a bakery involved. The level of suspension of disbelief required to enjoy this novel however was too high for me, even if there were cupcakes happening. Our hero Dex was supposed to be this wildly successful businessman, but he was a big lump who couldn’t communicate properly with anyone, not his family, not the creep he was trying to impress, and certainly not Juniper. I liked Junie, but it made no sense that she was running the bakery by herself at age 24 with no business experience, when her grandmother, the original owner, was still healthy and vibrant. Why wouldn’t Nana have sent Junie off for a degree in business before retiring and handing over the shop? Dex, the cranky real estate mogul, stomps into Junie’s bakery one day and orders a million desserts (that he hates because he’s a fitness freak) for a business meeting. Of course, a fake engagement will ensue, as that makes total sense. Creepy mafia guy that Dex wants to make a deal with loves the desserts, so naturally our suave hero blurts out that he's engaged to the bakery owner. And then… and then… the mafia creep decides that he’s going to use Junie’s sweets to hide codes to cash drop locations. Like wtaf? COME ON! So absurd. Lots of hot sex and sugary puns couldn’t save this disaster from my 2-star rating.

2.  One word title. Sweet by Emmy Laybourne.  Fun, fast-paced story about a bunch of wealthy people on a cruise who go violently insane after a bad man and an evil scientist get them addicted to a sugar substitute weight loss supplement. The worst of human behavior is highlighted when these folks will do anything ~ and I mean anything ~ to get another taste of the sugary drug. We see greed, selfishness, and egotism displayed alongside the maniacal quest for superficial perfection, or what society has decided is physical beauty anyway. Body image and self esteem issues are explored as well. There’s also a love story between the two teenaged main characters, but there are no explicit sex scenes. Lots of blood and gore though! This is a horror novel. I gave it four stars.

3. Age gap trope. The Professor’s Obsession by N. Viktoria. This was a sweet story, with an interracial element as well as the age difference (older male, by 18 years), but there was no real conflict between the main characters. Everything proceeded relatively smoothly ~ whenever Marcus made a slight faux pas, Sage corrected him, and all was well. Emma, Marcus’ daughter, only needed around a minute to process their relationship. The real drama was with their colleagues, but even that resolved itself neatly. There were a bunch of editing errors, such as when Marcus went to Sage’s apartment for the first time ostensibly to make love, but the scene faded to black, and the author must have forgotten she wrote it because later there was a first sex scene AND a first visit to Sage’s apartment. Confusing! Three stars.

4. A book about a father. Between a Heart and a Rock Place by Pat Benatar. Fabulous, uplifting story of a woman who fought fiercely for her love, her family, and to control her own music and image. With Pat's every success, chauvinistic label executives and other jerks tried to get in her way and quash her dreams, but she ultimately prevailed. For most of her journey, Pat was supported by her wonderful and super talented husband Neil (“Spyder”) Giraldo, proving that great men do exist. Except for one blip, they were an unshakable team. The reason I’m putting Pat’s memoir in this category is because it is about a father ~ the moment Pat met Neil she decided he was her soulmate and would become the father of her children. He is heavily featured throughout the book, since they are a team, both professionally and romantically. And they have two beautiful daughters, though their privacy is respected, and Pat does not go into great detail about them. I awarded this book one of my rare 5-star ratings.

As an aside, I finished this book at the beginning of July 2026 and cried at the end when Pat described how the USA came together after 9/11. We don’t have much of that spirit now at our 250th birthday, just division and hate for the “other side,” which is heartbreaking. I don’t have any ideas on how to fix this; it’s just sad.

5. Title begins with J. John Gribble Is Gone by Peter James. This was a quick (73-page), twisty little mystery, "free" with Prime membership and included in the July selections. I read it while my car was getting serviced on a Saturday morning. Even though some of the story is far-fetched, the idea that we can be subject to massive, life-altering inconvenience due to a technology breach is all too believable. The setting is in England, and for whatever reason, it was more fun to imagine all these shenanigans happening in a British accent, sort of like a Monty Python skit. Four stars.

I'll return soon with the penultimate bingo card! I'm happy to have only 10 books left to close it out, as I am getting tired of some of these genres and want to read more nonfiction soon. The Benatar memoir was truly enjoyable. (I already read a book about planet formation, which I will review in an upcoming Two for Tuesday post.)