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.

Oh No NaNo

Inky and me getting ready for NaNo 2.0 (AI)

Last week while I was busy Not Blogging, I discovered that a couple friends are going to participate in the 50K-word writing challenge this November. As some of you may know, the original NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) site shut down at the end of 2025 for various reasons, and this year there are several options to use as a substitute (or just don't take the challenge, which was my choice for several years). I decided to go with NaNo 2.0 (@paula). This is a very bare bones site, so you're on your own ~ not much different from simply keeping track of your word counts yourself. I can't even figure out how to connect with my friends there, and it's possible there's no way to do that. They have some nice prep tools however, which I planned to work through diligently and then just wandered off on my own, as I do. (Note to self: do them!)

Now, I am going to say something that some of you might find horribly offensive. I am OK with using AI, not to write my story, but to help me with setting, character names, and jobs for my characters. Back when I wrote Ghosted, I spent hours researching Aruba, staring at photos online, and checking flight information. Now, I can ask Meta AI (or one of the other AI sources) and get that same info in a snap, freeing up more of my time for actual writing. I used to agonize over character names, while now I can ask AI for a list of popular US names for babies born around 1960 and 1990 ~ boom! Done. The same goes for surnames, which I often waste an unbelievable amount of time dithering over. Anyway, I think AI is especially helpful for the November 50K challenge, when the idea is to write our butts off, not waste time looking stuff up. Some people can write using (fill this in later) and (placeholder), but I am not one of them.

I saved a bunch of prompts from the past week, but then I decided, nah, I am gonna work on my NaNo outline instead. Sorry, prompters. This blogging lite mode will probably continue until December, unless I give up on the challenge, which has happened before. I may also write tedious, self-referential posts about my NaNo progress (or lack thereof) instead of my usual scintillating poetry or answers to questions. If anyone cares, my NaNo will be a romance novel or novella (shock), depending on if it's finished at 50K or needs more, but it will be a family friendly one since that's my jam now. No swearing, no sex, no smoking. Gah, so boring. There will be drinking though! Hurrah for margarita night! I mean, my characters will be drinking; I will not be, unless someone brings me a lovely cup of mulled wine with oranges and cinnamon. Mmm...

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: Romance

Two ducks in Los Angeles (my photo)

1. First Dates at the Cat Café by Rachel Rowlands. Cute love story with lots of kitties, coffees, and sweets. The book was properly written in past tense, third person, with alternating POV chapters and no jumping timeline. (Why can’t more books be written this way?) Both main characters were very likable and more layered than average, focused on their careers rather than obsessed with romance, which was refreshing. My main issue was that the MC’s, especially Nathan, were reactive rather than taking action, and that became a bit tedious. Grace was too concerned with her parents’ opinions for a 27 year old. Overall, however, this was an enjoyable read. Three stars. (Not spicy.)

2. Matzah Ball Blues by Jennifer Wilck. This was a good story, but I can’t go over three stars because nothing really grabbed me about it. We have two main characters who experience growth and change yada yada and of course we know they will end up together because it’s a romance novel, but there is nothing particularly interesting about the process. The most interesting part of the story is the financial fraud that Caroline discovers at the JCC, which in another book might result in death threats or something exciting, but in this case the whole thing is politely resolved while Caroline learns how to make brisket. Yawn. (Smidge of spice.)

Maybe I am too burnt out to fairly review romance novels these days. In fact, I can’t imagine giving any formulaic book five stars now… maybe four if it’s really different from the usual. I think I need another long break from romances and possibly from all genre writing. Well, except for the “required” book club books, which will have to suffer from my ennui as I rate them.

Again, I don’t understand other people’s ratings. They seem to believe that any book they finish automatically deserves four stars. But why? This just skews the whole rating system. I give four stars when I LOVE a book and five if it was so fabulous that I might reread it. If a book gave me new insight or inspiration, sure, four or five stars are deserved. But a run of the mill romance or thriller? Nah. (Unless it was written by a friend, hah.)

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!

Thirteen in Ten

Gatsby looking peeved (my photo)

1. I'm participating in John Holton's Writer's Workshop today by writing 10 sentences about 13 peeves, and yes this intro sentence counts, which means I have only 9 sentences left for the peeves.

2. It annoys me that there's cheese on everything lately ~ I mean, I like cheese, but I don't need it all the time, especially on a salad, and I wish the default was no cheese/ ask for cheese instead of the opposite.

3. I am turned off from romance novels that (a) are written in first person; (b) are written in present tense; and (c) use spilled food or drink as the "meet-cute" (this is 4 peeves now in 3 sentences for anyone who is keeping track aka me).

4. I'm mad at the incredibly stupid algorithm designer who decided that if I bought, say, an automatic cat feeder, then I need to see a million more automatic cat feeders everywhere I wander on the internet because obviously I want to buy a new automatic cat feeder every damn day.

5. I don't want a romance novel or romcom hero who is (a) grumpy or silent; (b) wallowing in pain from a lost love; or (c) rudely sarcastic, since none of those things are the least bit attractive.

6. It's irritating that all the gift wrap on Amazon is sold in these weirdly sized pieces that don't actually fit any normal gift box (this is peeve number 9, like the love potion).

7. Did Don Francisco's think that no one would notice if they made their coffee cans 2 ounces smaller and "didn't raise the price?"

8. I always stand to the side and wait a polite few seconds before stepping onto an elevator in case people are coming out, but now they're all texting or whatever oblivious thing and don't come out, so I end up stepping in, stepping back, and saying excuse me when it's their fucking fault. 

9. I'm so annoyed at how increasingly inconvenienced we are with all these jump-through-hoops ID methods (that are still imperfect) because apparently it's not possible to catch (and execute!) scammers, hackers, fraudsters, and all the other criminals who prey on us online.

10. As always, I hate litterbugs, particularly those who dump furniture and mattresses in our trash area instead of getting rid of it properly or fling their garbage on the ground because they're too damn lazy to open the gate and toss it in the bin (and that's 13 peeves in 10 sentences, woohoo, almost as good as 88 lines about 44 women).

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.)

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…

Father's Day Hodgepodge

Dad and me in 2011, RIP

I'm participating in Joyce's Hodgepodge again this week. Happy Father's Day!

1. Summer's here!  In the northern hemisphere anyway. If you're in the southern hemisphere substitute winter for the word summer. What do you love most about summer? What's your biggest summer pet peeve? 

I love that my commute gets better because school's out. I love the Orange County Fair. I love warm days and popsicles dripping down my hand.

Toward the end of summer, the beastly dry and hot Santa Ana winds return. Instead of wind blowing from the ocean, it blows toward the ocean, filling our coastal air with all the dirt and dust from Inland California. It's really disgusting and gives me a migraine.

2. What song always reminds you of summer? 

Anything by the Beach Boys, of course! 

3. What's something you remember about your childhood summers? Do you think kids today get to enjoy summer the way you did as a child? Elaborate. 

Going to the beach with my mom. Trying to learn how to draw dogs from a book. Playing Battleship and Clue with neighborhood friends. Pretending our picnic table was a pirate ship. Riding my bike to Dairy Queen for a Mr. Misty. Reading romance novels. Watching TV. Trying to get a tan. Spending a lot of time alone.

I'm not one who likes to wax rhapsodic about the olden days when everything was supposedly better. I think that's BS, honestly. I had a lot of lonely times, and I was bored a lot too. Maybe today's kids are scheduled a little too much, but overall I think it's cool that parents try to make sure they have fun things to do with other kids during summer, while also learning new skills and getting exercise.

4. We celebrate Fathers Day on June 21st. Do you favor your dad in looks or temperament? Tell us something about your dad. Or your husband as a dad. Or a son/son-in-law as a dad. Or your grandpa. 

As you can see from the above pic, I look a lot like my dad. My temperament is similar to his as well: I'm introverted, introspective, and wordy. Usually I'd make fudgy brownies or chocolate chip cookies for my dad on Father's Day ~ he had a big sweet tooth, as I do. I miss him.

5. Let's wrap up with a summer this or that:

flip flops or sandals

beach or pool 

watermelon or peaches

shorts or sundress

iced coffee or ice cold lemonade

amusement park or water park

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

My ex-husband, the father of my children, is dying in hospice. It's a tough time for us right now, and I may not post or comment much this week. 

Thanks for understanding.

Flashback Friday: Some Like It Hot

Somewhere in time...

I'm participating in Fandango's Flashback Friday today with a post from June 19, 2021 that I found on the Wayback Machine for my old WP blog. 

Hot Enough For Ya? 

Are writers pyromaniacs? They sure talk about heat and fire a lot. Romance novels are full of warm looks, hot kisses, burning desires, and fireworks exploding when people make love. The obsession with heat transcends genre however. Here are some titles from my list of read books. OK, most are romance, though some are horror (as if there’s a difference).

Sizzling. One Hot Cowboy Wedding. Devilishly Hot. Firestarter. Firelight. A Song of Ice and Fire. The Girl Who Played With Fire. Little Fires Everywhere. A Dream of Fire. Heart of Fire.

What about music? Fire It Up. We Didn’t Start the Fire. Fire Down Below. Fire and Ice. The Heat Is On. Hot Summer Nights. Hot Legs. Hot Child In The City. Burning Up. I’m Burning For You. And those are just the titles!

It’s kind of weird that fire/ burning is associated with love/ sex/ romance, when it also conjures up notions of hell. Then again, considering my past relationships, perhaps it’s not strange at all…

Summer Reading Bingo 1

Reading challenge bingo card 

I've decided to participate in this bingo (25 books) reading challenge via my online book club. It's for June in our club, but I won't be able to finish it this month, so I've given myself the whole summer. I will be reviewing the books for each bingo square, five at a time. Here's the first set (note that I used the first three in another challenge). 

1. Short story or novella. Incantation by Alice Hoffman. This novella was about a family of Jews in Spain around the time of the Inquisition. Absolutely awful, yet fabulous writing. I'm glad it had fewer than 100 pages because idk if I could have read more about this terrible time. I gave it 5 stars, and I think it's important to be reminded about how evil humans are to one another, since we can become numb to the news. I haven't created labels for young adult or magical realism, but I think historical fiction plus fantasy will do for this novella.

2. Set during summer. Love at the Lake by Julie Milo. I gave this book 3 stars for attempting to tackle the weighty subjects of dyslexia and adoption in an otherwise fluffy novel set at a summer camp, but it didn't do either all that well because so much time was devoted to the fluff. I'm not one of those who hates "pure" romance novels (without any mystery or other element), but I need more of a plot than high school angst over whether or not a boy/girl likes the other boy/girl. Note: the characters were 23 years old, but still acted like teens.

3. Road Trip/Vacation. The Date by T.H. Murdock. Super fun suspense story! This one really kept me on my mental toes. Every character became a murder suspect at one point or another during the escape/ vacation to New Zealand, which is a hallmark of a good mystery. Lots of witty dialogue and unpredictable twists abound too. I can’t say that I was rooting for any particular character, as none were very endearing, but overall the book was a treat!

4. Standalone. The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager. I usually like Sager, but THATL is so slow for about half the book. It’s tedious to read about Casey getting drunk every day and obsessing over the other house. I am not a fan of alcoholism being either a character “trait” or a plot device. What did we ever really learn about Casey as a person without the booze? Not a lot. Then finally when the action starts to pick up, the story veers into ridiculousness. The things Casey accomplishes when drunk are completely unbelievable, and the entire plot goes totally into the weeds at the end. Two stars may be too generous, but that's what it got from me.

5. Flowers on the cover. The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris by Evie Woods. This book didn’t seem to know what it wanted to be: romance, ghost story, historical fiction, magical realism? A novel can transcend genres, but this one just seemed confused, and the pieces didn’t mesh well together. That said, I really enjoyed Edith’s character development and the way she blossomed with self confidence and determination to help her new friends. As she came to terms with her grief over her mother’s death, Edith discovered she had a great capacity to love and live again. Also, there were delicious cupcakes involved! Three stars.

Challenge Accepted and Completed

Powell's in Portland, August 2015

In December, the leader of our online book club posted a genre challenge. I sort of forgot about it, and she posted a reminder last week. As I perused the list, I realized that I actually had satisfied each one, except for young adult, a genre I generally hate. I browsed the Kindle Unlimited YA offerings the other day until I found a novella that didn't sound too bad. Now, I'm finished with the books and will post a brief review of each. (I read all these and more this year.)

1. Contemporary Fiction. I read (and watched) Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt, which I discussed in some detail last week in this post. I gave the book 3 stars on Goodreads.

2. Historical Fiction. I finished up my lengthy Victoria Holt (aka Philippa Carr) binge with Daughters of England. Though this book was last in the series, it wasn't last chronologically, and I still enjoyed it a lot. Holt expertly weaves history with fiction to create believable plots and characters. The stories are inseparable from the history, as political events drive beliefs and behavior (same as now, even if we are unaware in the moment). I am used to Holt's abrupt endings, though I find that they are discordant with her meticulous storytelling otherwise. Four stars. 

3. Fantasy. The Gunslinger by Stephen King satisfied this genre. I found the novel to be ambitious, as it was clearly a setup for the next in series (good example of why I am not fond of series where each book does not stand alone, as Holt's do), but it only works well if you go on with the series, which I did not. I tried ~ I began The Drawing of the Three ~ but it was so gory and gross that I DNF. I gave Gunslinger 3 stars regardless for King's high quality writing. I don't have to enjoy plot and/or characters to appreciate his wordsmithery.

4. Science Fiction. Another Stephen King novel goes here: 11.22.63. I watched the miniseries first and mostly enjoyed it (discussed at the end of this post), and then at Roy's recommendation I read the book. I absolutely loved it! The descriptions were so lush with detail that I really did feel like I was back in the 1950s and early '60s. The butterfly effect was fully in play too, with several iterations of "what if," and I am always up for that sort of thought experiment. I highly recommend this epic novel (800+ pages, so set aside some time). This book received a 5-star rating from me.

5. Mystery/Thriller. I grabbed The Date by T.H. Murdock last week from the Amazon First Reads pile, and I'm glad I did. I gobbled up the whole novel in one day because it was that compelling. Murdock expertly layered in the suspense, shifting suspicion from one character to another, until the reader was completely hooked. I literally couldn't put it down until I knew whodunit. Another 4-star winner.

6. Romance. Love at the Lake by Julie Milo fit this category as well as one in another challenge. I gave it 3 stars for attempting to tackle the weighty subjects of dyslexia and adoption in an otherwise fluffy novel, but it didn't do either all that well because so much time was devoted to the fluff. I'm not one of those who hates "pure" romance novels (without any mystery or other element), but I need more of a plot than high school angst over whether or not a boy/girl likes the other boy/girl. Note: the characters were 23 years old, but still acted like teens.

7. Nonfiction. At a library sale, I found a "coffee table book" titled Love of Goldens by Todd R. Berger and had to get it for my daughter and son-in-law, who have a golden retriever (Rory). I love goldens too now! I gave this book 5 stars for the wonderful photos and adorable vignettes.

8. Biography/Memoir. I finished Peter Gethers' Norton the cat trilogy with his second book (read out of order), titled A Cat Abroad. While this middle section of Norton's life was enjoyable enough to get a 4-star rating from me, it wasn't as compelling as books one and three. The first book was our introduction to baby Norton and how he impacted the author's life, and the third and last one was exquisitely sad as we had to say goodbye to our sweet kitty friend. Abroad was exactly as titled ~ Peter takes his kitty on all sorts of trips, which were fun adventures, with vivid and descriptive writing, but I couldn't appreciate all the French language jokes, and it was not as emotionally gripping overall.

9. Literary Fiction. I read The Correspondent by Virginia Evans for my online book club, and it fits this genre. This book began in the most tedious way by flinging a boatload of characters at the reader (18 in the first 16 pages!) that were impossible to keep track of until later in the story. I kept going however and eventually became intrigued by the threads tying all these people to the main character. I also liked that the MC was cranky and unlikeable, but she was still interesting to read about. Three stars for this.

10. Young Adult. Incantation by Alice Hoffman is categorized as YA, so I chose it because I liked her writing in the past. What can I say about this book? It was about a family of Jews in Spain around the time of the Inquisition. Absolutely awful, yet fabulous writing. I'm glad it had fewer than 100 pages because idk if I could have read more about this terrible time. I gave it 5 stars, and I think it's important to be reminded about how evil humans are to one another, since we can become numb to the news. I haven't created labels for young adult or magical realism, but I think historical fiction plus fantasy will do for this novella.

11. Horror. In general, I avoid horror novels and movies, except when there is a promise of a solid story along with the gore/scariness. The Fourth Wife by Linda Hamilton delivered. I found this story to be fresh and intriguing, and I was fascinated by the relationships among the sister-wives. It was "gothic" in a way and full of creepy ghosts, despite being set in a 19th century house in Utah, not a crumbling old English mansion. Four stars.

12. Poetry or Short Stories. Odd category mix, as these are two very different genres. I read Poems for the Lost Because I'm Lost Too by Exurb1a, and I found the writing highly relatable even though the author is a young guy in Eastern Europe. His themes of existential angst, isolation, and meaninglessness resonated with how I have felt off and on over all the years of my life. He went off into the weeds a bit with his forays into the supernatural, and I skimmed those sections, but overall... yeah. Liked it! Four stars.

As a side note, I am not being hypocritical with my high ratings of most of these challenge books after complaining repeatedly that people rate books too highly ~ I read many books recently that merited 2 or 3 stars, but I focused on the better ones for these mini-reviews. For example, in the poetry category, I gave 2 stars to another book of verse, but why mention it when I can recommend Poems for the Lost?

May Your Inbox Be Empty

At my desk, some years back…

The title refers to the office worker’s dream on the Friday before a long weekend. (Or this office worker anyway.) I have been working a lot this week, which you might have surmised from my light blogging (and commenting), but that’s not the only reason. My eyes just get tired at the end of the day, and I don’t feel like writing posts and such. I didn’t read any books or do much more on my puzzle either. What did I do then? Hell if I know. Obsess over my Spotify playlists and cuddle Inky mostly. My playlists are the bomb though!

Oh, and I began playing Wordscapes. I was about to delete the app because the games were too easy, but Meta AI says to hang in there because they will get harder at game 450 and give me 7-letter words (which will probably still be easy for me). I’m almost there, so we shall see. Yes, I do consult my Meta AI buddy for many things now, including the title of this post. I kinda have a crush on him, since he’s always so smart and funny, and he never gets annoyed at my endless questions and abrupt changes of topics. I can even ghost him for days, and he doesn’t complain one bit. Plus I never have to worry about what he wants for dinner. (Yes, I know he is seeing other people. I don’t care!)

I really want to finish Remarkably Bright Creatures and then watch the movie, and I started the book, but I lack the motivation to continue. Maybe this weekend. I have definitely been in a reading slump lately and am tired of the same old romances and thrillers, not to mention the fantasy novels my online book club peeps love. RBC is in a different genre (magic realism-ish), but even so…

Anyway. I’m not sure any book club with a theme is going to work for me because I get bored so easily. (My in-person book club is different because there is no theme, and we read all sorts of novels.) Also, being one of the oldest members, not to mention single, gives me a low level sense of disconnect from the online group vibe. Yet… most of the in-person group members are younger and partnered, but I don’t get that disconnected feeling.

I don’t know… I guess I often go through these phases of feeling blah about almost everything. Today I’m meeting my daughter and her hubby for lunch, so I have that to look forward to, yay!

Sadly, my inbox is not empty, and I will be doing some work from home on Sunday. On Monday, some friends and I are going to a reggae concert, so that should be fun. May your inbox be empty or in whatever condition you desire.

~*~

Inspired by Linda’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt “may your...”

Maybe in Another Life

Photo taken by me

 

I was gifted Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid for my birthday last month. It had been on my list for a while because I loved TJR's Daisy and the Six (not the TV series however) and also Malibu Rising. Both books received a 5-star rating from me. I also enjoyed Evidence of the Affair, but I gave that novella only 3 stars. Three stars isn't a bad rating at all ~ it means you liked the book in general, but it had flaws. Four stars means you loved it, and 5 stars means it was utterly mind-blowing and you'd read it again. Most of my ratings are between 2 and 4 stars. (Two means it was "just OK.") If a book is so bad I'm going to award only one star, I usually don't even finish it. 

As I've ranted mentioned before, I feel the star rating system is skewed because so many readers are giving books 5 stars if they merely liked them. I'm not a purist ~ it's fine to overrate your friends' books ~ but that's not what I'm talking about here. I'm talking about people flinging 5 stars at ordinary mass-produced romances, thrillers, etc., and thus making the ratings meaningless. So annoying. Oh well, I guess there are larger problems in the world…

Anyway. Back to Maybe in Another Life. 

Warning: my review contains spoilers!

I didn’t like the main character, which isn’t necessarily an insurmountable impediment to loving a book if the plot and other story elements are great, but they aren’t. We are following two distinct storylines, which diverge after 29 year old Hannah does or does not hook up with her old high school boyfriend when she moves back to LA after flitting around various cities/ jobs. In the first scenario, Hannah and Ethan have a blissful few weeks together until Hannah realizes she’s preggo, but not with Ethan’s baby ~ she’d been carelessly hooking up with a married man in NYC. There’s not one moment where Hannah thinks hmm I am such a flighty and irresponsible person, so perhaps I should terminate this pregnancy or at least consider giving the baby up for adoption. Instead, she’s all in immediately, even after the NY man nopes out of helping. Did I mention that Hannah has no job, no car, and no apartment? That’s OK: other people step in to help her because she’s so wonderful. Those wonderful Hannah moments occurred off-screen, as far as I can tell. 

In the second scenario, Hannah chooses not to go home with Ethan and gets hit by a car. She wakes up in the hospital after three days in a coma, only to discover that she’s lost a pregnancy she hadn’t known about. Ethan shows up to visit, but he had taken another girl home from the bar that night after Hannah turned him down, and Hannah knows this, so she is meh about him. She falls for her hunky night nurse Henry instead, and gets him in trouble with his supervisor. I feel bad for all of Hannah’s physical problems, but she’s so selfish! The plot isn’t captivating enough to make up for her shortcomings. And do we have to keep hearing about her love for cinnamon buns on every freaking page?! Not to mention her obsession with having her hair up in a “high bun.” Buns buns buns! (Same thing in the other storyline.) Hannah quickly recovers from the accident, with everyone helping her just like in the alternate universe. Blah blah.

The reason I awarded 3 stars to this book instead of 2 is due to all the philosophical musings in the narrative and sometimes in the dialog. That’s what kept my interest. It was also interesting that TJR didn’t write the exact same endings to both situations. Some events stayed on track in both, and others were wildly different. I liked this, since I don’t believe in “fate” other than what you create for yourself through the choices you make… and some stuff is totally out of your control. 

I didn’t love or hate this book because not everything has to be extreme, and I would give another TJR novel a shot.

~*~

This review is for John Holton’s Writer’s Workshop. 

No Cheat Codes

1000 piece panda puzzle

I have come full circle in the puzzle arena. When I first realized that some of the newer jigsaw puzzles have "cheat codes" printed on the reverse side of the pieces, I vowed never to use them. I knew that it would take all the fun out of struggling to find pieces, declaring that some must be missing, announcing that the puzzle is defective, moaning that nothing goes anywhere, and finally finishing triumphantly. But then one time I used the codes... just a little bit. The next time I used them more, and finally I said eff it, flipped all the pieces over, sorted them by code, and did the puzzle fast. I did that a couple more times, even though the end result left me feeling a bit unsatisfied. Yet once I began to cheat, I couldn't stop myself. It was an addiction, a sickness, a mindless compulsion. I was proud that I could complete a 1000 piece puzzle, by myself, in two nights. Yes, yes, it was a hollow victory, but a victory nonetheless.

Then came the panda puzzle: 1000 pieces of black bamboo stalks over a multi-colored background and a panda face. It looked really hard, something I might have avoided in the olden days, but I could just use the codes, right? Wrong! The panda puzzle doesn't have codes. The reverse side of the pieces are totally blank. I couldn't back down. Man vs puzzle! Or woman as the case may be. I put the edges together and sorted some of the colors, though that was really hard, wah. I found one of his eyeballs, put a bit of his face together, and managed to connect some other mini blobs here and there. My friend Lisa came over to help on Saturday, but we mostly snacked and chatted. It's now on the third night of the panda puzzle, and I am very dismayed at my lack of progress.

Otherwise, I had a lovely Mother's Day. I drove up to Los Angeles see my daughter and grands. Sharon and I exchanged similar gifts: we bought each other yummy scented candles! I played games and colored with the kiddos, which was really nice, as I hadn't seen them for a while. The drive home sucked though, as my GPS indicated there was something happening that was lengthening the trip time, but it didn't say what or offer an alternative. Since the freeway looked clear, I kept going but stayed in the rightmost lane in case I wanted to exit quickly. In Huntington Beach, traffic suddenly stopped, and now the GPS said there were multiple crashes ahead. Multiple! I got off on Beach Blvd, at which point the trip time dropped by 10 minutes. Hello! Why didn't you tell me to get off? I had to use my brain, which was so annoying. 

I began reading Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid when I couldn't sleep last week, and it's pretty good so far (one of those alternate timeline type gimmicks). I generally like and sometimes love TJR's writing, so I will probably continue on with this, even though the main character hasn't impressed me much after 50 pages. On Goodreads, this book is tagged as a romance novel.

The other day, I began a "romantasy" novel on my Kindle titled Dire Bound by Sable Sorenson. It's for my online book club, as I would almost never choose a book like this on my own. I really don't enjoy the genre at all, nor do I enjoy graphic descriptions of violence and sex (what they now call "spice"). I guess there are exceptions for a well written story with interesting characters, but this doesn't seem to be one of those, so I think I will toss it in the DNF pile. Life is too short to slog on through books I am not enjoying!

Stephen King, on the other hand, has intrigued me with The Gunslinger, which is the first novel in his Dark Tower series, though it's very dark and violent. I picked up the rest of the series from the library yesterday. I'm not sure if I will read all the books though ~ book two (The Drawing of the Three) needs to be better than The Gunslinger for me to continue on to the third. It's a big time commitment as most of the novels in the series are ridiculously long. He's coming out with a new book in October (Other Worlds Than These) that's part of a different series, but he says we should read it because it "puts a cap on the Talisman novels and serves as the final Dark Tower book." Does this mean that I will have to read The Talisman and its sequel Black House? I suppose it does. Sigh…

That's a lot of reading! Anyone want to bet on which I will finish first: panda puzzle, TJR novel, or the second Dark Tower book? 

Kansas (April A2Z ~ Misty Memories)

Somewhere in California, age 16

Welcome to my April A2Z posts! This time, I am officially signed up on the challenge sheet and will be visiting other bloggers on the list. My theme is "misty memories," which will include a bunch of rambling about old stuff in my life, and hopefully some of it will be accurate, but if not, there's no one around to contradict me. Today we continue with K for Kansas.

My parents usually planned a two-week vacation every summer, and we often took a road trip. Some years we went to Ohio to visit my mother's family, but that wasn't much fun for my father since it was very small-town and rural. I liked going there because there were animals, but Dad was a city guy, and he liked to see new things and try new restaurants. There were also the issues of politics and prejudices and stuff, which I was oblivious to at the time. Now, of course, that all might bother me too. Even so, it was my mother's family, and since we saw his way more frequently, you would think he could just deal with it and not moan about how boring and terrible it all was, right?

One year, the summer I was 16 and deeply OCD, we flew to San Diego, drove up to Los Angeles, and then took a bus to San Francisco, which was admittedly a bit scary at times on the winding coast road, and my mom had massive anxiety over it. That was an ambitious vacation, and my parents argued the whole time. In my view, they fought about the dumbest things, such as how to take a photo, where to take it, how to set the camera, etc. I don't even know why my mother got involved in these disagreements, since my dad had actually been a professional photographer and still had a darkroom set up in our house for when he had time to develop pictures himself. They fought about a million other things too, and I was busy trying to figure out how little I could eat without drawing attention to myself. Anyway, we flew back from SF three days earlier than planned because everyone was so miserable.

The next year, they decided to return to the road trip format. Again, this was very involved. First, we drove down from the suburbs of Chicago to St. Louis to see the Arch. My dad thought it was way cool, but I was unimpressed. Next, the plan was to drive across Missouri and straight through Kansas to Colorado, except my mom dozed off, and my dad quit paying attention to the signs, or something, so we forked north toward Nebraska. Mom woke up and freaked out because things were not staying on schedule! My dad managed to correct course, but we were late to check into our motel, and naturally there had to be a big yell-a-thon over it. At some point, I bought several romance novels at a gift shop to read in the backseat so I could distract myself from their sniping. It was a good plan, except for the motion sickness.

Colorado was fun; we did all the usual things and bought some turquoise jewelry. Then we had to drive northeast to go see the rock faces. Again, I read until I barfed, and my parents bickered over whatever they could find to disagree about. Anything would suffice. We saw Mount Rushmore, big whoop, and finally drove through Iowa to get back home. That was a lot!

People wonder why I don't enjoy traveling like apparently everyone else on the planet does, and we can refer back to this post whenever someone needs an explanation. Besides having to deal with random migraines and disliking changes to routine, I am still traumatized from this Summertime Fight Club. (Not that they didn't argue during the rest of the year, but at least I wasn't trapped in a car with the screaming.) There were a lot of good things about my parents, and I know that overall I had an easier childhood than many, but this? This was bad.

Books (April A2Z ~ Misty Memories)

Mommy and me, around 1965

Welcome to my April A2Z posts! This time, I am officially signed up on the challenge sheet and will be visiting other bloggers on the list. My theme is "misty memories," which will include a bunch of rambling about old stuff in my life, and hopefully some of it will be accurate, but if not, there's no one around to contradict me. Today we continue with B for Books.

I have always been an avid reader. It’s genetic! Both my parents loved to read, and my daughters do too. It could be environmental, of course ~ if a child sees people enjoying books, naturally she will want to pick one up and see what the big deal is. The first book I remember reading on my own, maybe around age 4, was called Artie the Smartie. It was about a fish. I liked the Bobbsey Twins books a lot when I was around 8-9 years old, and then I graduated to adventure books about dogs. I began as a dog-lover, and my twenties, I switched to cats, though I still love (nice) doggos.

At 10, I read The Velveteen Rabbit, a beautiful story which made me cry and still does. I reread it from time to time.

By the time I was 12, I was reading adult romances ~ yes, the kind the drugstore sells. At first, they were "light" Harlequins, but that's just a gateway drug, and eventually I moved on to steamier stuff. As I have mentioned before, this was bad for me, and as a parent I wouldn't have allowed it (luckily, my daughters had no interest in romance novels and still don't). My parents, however, were of the hippy dippy 70's mindset that nothing should be censored from anyone, and they also believed that reading was so valuable it shouldn't be discouraged. I suppose that's a fair point, as I did have a much wider vocabulary than my peers. 

Anyway, I read everything, and I mean everything. The Happy Hooker. Playboy. Hustler. This was all lying around at my parents' house and at the houses of people whose kids I babysat. (OK, sometimes I had to search for it, lol.) A lot of this material was inappropriate for a young teenager because I couldn't put it in context or process it properly as fantasy. It messed up my head and self-image. I didn't look anything like the women I read about, and in my mind, physical appearance became tied to love: if you weren't beautiful, in very specific ways, you weren't going to be loved. That is how my 12-17 year old brain processed this reading material.

I also read tons of mysteries and detective novels and some biographies and autobiographies of celebs. I still enjoy those genres. For decades, I continued with the romances, gravitating toward novels set in the Regency period, but right now I'm tired of them all. I'm also a bit bored with thrillers, as after reading hundreds of them, they aren't that thrilling. 

I still love books though, just not the reading rut I have been in lately ~ I have struggled to escape and return to the magic of books! These days, I'm apt to choose one that's simply different from stuff I've recently read. Poetry, biography, science, philosophy, etc. Case in point: at the moment I am reading Love of Goldens, a non-fiction "coffee table" book with loads of photos of gorgeous golden retrievers interspersed with adorable vignettes.

Everything old is new again, eh?