November 2020

Posted on December 31, 2020 by Sarah | Leave a comment

Well, I didn’t quite make my goal of being caught up with reviews by the end of the year, but I’m only a month behind so that’s something, right? :-D

December has been a lovely month for the most part – lots of just chilling, reading complete fluff, and riding the range on Red Dead Redemption 2 with my husband. January is also hopefully going to be a quiet one before the greenhouse work starts in February.

Favorite November Read

For first-time reads, definitely Bellewether, which actually ended up being one of my favorite reads of the year. Rilla of Ingleside is close behind, but since it’s a reread I’m letting Kearsley’s book take the slot.

Most Disappointing November Read

Even though it isn’t my lowest star-rating for the month, I think The Illyrian Adventure takes this spot, mostly because I love the Prydain Chronicles so much, so it was pretty disappointing that this one was a bust.

Other November Reads

2*
- The Cats of the Louvre by Taiyo Matsumoto
2.5*
- Swamp Thing: Twin Branches by Maggie Stiefvater
3*
3.5*
- Entwined by Heather Dixon
- Love, Life, and the List by Kasie West
- Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
- Room-Maid by Sariah Wilson
- Two of a Kind by Nora Roberts
- The Wild Path by Sarah Baughman
- A Wolf Called Wander by Rosanne Perry
4*
- Complete Home Landscaping by Catriona Tudor Erler
- Peril at End House by Agatha Christie
- The Sittaford Mystery by Agatha Christie
- The Tea Dragon Tapestry by Katie O’Neill
4.5*
5*
- Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
- Rilla of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery

November Stats

Total Number of Books Read: 18 (all physical)
Total Pages Read: 5799
Average Star Rating for September: 3.7
Longest Book: Moby-Dick (663 pages)
Shortest Book: The Illyrian Adventure (132 pages)
Oldest Book: Northanger Abbey (published 1817)
Newest Book: Point of Danger, The Tea Dragon Tapestry, The Wild Path, Swamp Thing: Twin Branches, and Room-Maid (all published 2020)
Number of New-to-Me Authors: 5

November DNFs

The Kingdom of Back by Marie Lu was my original choice for my traveling book club book, but I just literally couldn’t get through it. I think my notes say it all: First off, dead boring. Secondly, just all problems are because of the “THE PATRIARCHY!!!!” Thirdly, Nannerl is a self-absorbed b****. Fourthly, their dad is a JERK. Finally, B O R I N G!
Forced Alliance by Lenora Worth was a Love Inspired Suspense book that I just couldn’t get into.
Lord Fairchild’s Daughter by Maggie MacKeever was from that box of Regency romances I got on eBay back in the day. Most of them have been mildly entertaining, but I couldn’t deal with this one. The names were just ludicrous, the plot unbelievable, and by the time I got to a character named Mrs. Snugglebutt (yes, seriously) I just couldn’t go on any more.

TBR Update

This I keep updated as I go, so it’s current as of today, rather than as of the end of November. Still a million years behind on reading blog posts, though!

For those of you who don’t know, I’m weirdly obsessive with organizing the TBR, and have it on a spreadsheet divided into five different tabs:

Standalones: 513 (up 20!!!)
Nonfiction: 124 (holding steady)
Personal (which includes all books I own (fiction and nonfiction), but lists any series I own as only one entry…): 646 (down six)
Series (each series counted separately, not each book within a series): 256 (holding steady)
Mystery Series (each series counted separately, not each book within a series): 118 (holding steady)

Reading Challenges Updates

#ReadingEurope2020 – visited Greece – this challenge is NOT going to get completed this year but I’m still tracking it for fun (total 9/46 complete)
#ReadtheUSA2020 – visited nowhere new (total 33/50 complete – this one isn’t getting done this year, but I’m going to try again in 2021!!)
#SeparatedbyaPondTour – visited Somerset, England. (Total 58/159 complete – this is still on the 3-year track. If anyone has books they love set in Canada, Ireland, Scotland, or Wales, let me know!!)
#LitsyAtoZ – 0 books (22/26 complete – only weird letters left. Specifically Q, X, Y, and Z, so let me know if you have suggestions for titles or author last names that start with those letters!)
#BackwardsAtoZ – 17 books (No N through No U on my fifth list – I’m trying to do this one in order and to see how many times I can get through the alphabet!)

Current Reads

My last day of December fluff-binging and I’m almost finished with White Christmas Wedding by Celeste Winters.

Up Next

The probable next five(ish) reads –

More challenges set up for 2021, which I’ll get into in a separate post, but I’m focusing on monthly challenge books at the beginning of the month and then everything else once those are done.

Devil’s Cub by Georgette Heyer – okay, actually I lied because this one isn’t for a challenge, but Heyer rarely did sequels, so when I read These Old Shades recently I was surprised to see this one listed as a sequel to it! Apparently this one is about the son of the couple who got married in Shades, so I think it will be fun.
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin – on Litsy there is an #AuthoraMonth challenge where participants voted on authors they wanted to read this year and the top 12 each got assigned a month. I’m focusing on trying to read books that are already on my TBR by each author and was surprised to find that I have the Broken Earth Trilogy by Jemisin (January’s author) on my list. The Fifth Season is the first book in that trilogy, but if I like I’ll read all three.
Active Defense by Lynette Eason – I don’t read a lot of ARCs, but since I’ve already read and reviewed the other two books in this series this past year, it only seemed natural to request the third installment as well.
The Flip Side by James Bailey – I signed up for the #NewYearWhoDis match on Litsy as well – one of the members matches the people who sign up with each other and each pair trades their lists of favorite books from the past year. The host does a great job of pairing you with someone whose tastes match your own. Last year I tried to read a bunch of the books all in January, but this year I’m just going to try reading one a month. This one looks pretty cute.
Brazil by Eyewitness – Yet another Litsy challenge this year is #FoodandLit. We’ve chosen a different country for each month and are trying to read books and try recipes from that country. There’s a great world-wide community on Litsy so we also have members who live in each of the countries who are posting various aspects of their culture to share throughout the month. My goal is to read one nonfiction and one fiction book from each country each month and see how that goes.

So that’s a wrap for November – up next, loads of Christmas fluff reviews!!!

November Minireviews – Part 3

Posted on December 30, 2020 by Sarah | 1 Comment

Sometimes I don’t feel like writing a full review for whatever reason, either because life is busy and I don’t have time, or because a book didn’t stir me enough. Sometimes, it’s because a book was so good that I just don’t have anything to say beyond that I loved it! Frequently, I’m just wayyy behind on reviews and am trying to catch up. For whatever reason, these are books that only have a few paragraphs of thoughts from me.

Well, here’s the last batch of November reviews – at least I’m getting them done before January!!

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen – 5*

This was only my second time reading this gem, and I was struck afresh by Austen’s snarky humor throughout. Catherine isn’t my favorite Austen heroine, but Henry may be my favorite Austen hero. Also, for some reason I didn’t really notice last time how Henry’s sister gets this entire complicated story in a few paragraphs at the very end of the book – she’s been secretly engaged this entire time?? Where’s my Eleanor Tilney story?! I need one!

Love, Life, and the List by Kasie West – 3.5*

West is pretty much always good for some clean YA entertainment, so while this one wasn’t particularly memorable, it was still perfectly enjoyable. I did think that Abby’s reaction to the whole art show thing was completely over-the-top… but on the other hand, she’s 17 so maybe West is just being realistic. I really appreciate that West likes to include adults in her stories who aren’t total losers, and Abby’s relationship with her parents and grandpa really made this story for me.

The Illyrian Adventure by Lloyd Alexander – 2.5*

I really, really love Alexander’s Prydain Chronicles, but haven’t really tried any of his other books. This one is the first in a series about a character name Vesper Holly. First off, the cover is completely misleading, as it appears to be a modern girl, so I was thinking that this was going to be a time-travel book or something – but no, it’s set in 1872 and Vesper is supposed to be a “normal” young woman from that era – except she isn’t, she’s super obnoxious. Recently orphaned when we meet her, she doesn’t act remotely sorrowful or sad, but instead bosses everyone around and decides that they should go on an adventure to the other side of the world to continue her father’s research. The entire book is told from the point of view of Holly’s new guardian, which was the other thing that made this book clunky and awkward – Holly is the main character, but we are completely cut off from her thoughts/motives – everything is viewed through the lens of middle-aged Brinnie, who spends much of his time being completely thick-headed and naïve and completely startled whenever Vesper does something unladylike, despite the fact that pretty much is always doing something unladylike.

This book is aimed for the middle grade audience, so perhaps for them the plot would not be so painfully obvious, but there was absolutely no surprise, twist, or anything unexpected in this entire story. The villain is obviously the villain, the hero obviously the hero, and the only person who can’t figure it out is poor old Brinnie who insists on trusting the wrong people and saying the wrong thing to them at the wrong time so everyone ends up in hot water from which Vesper must once again rescue everyone.

In short, formulaic, boring, and a narrator so dumb I can’t believe he made it to adulthood. On the brightside, a book off my shelf and a series I don’t need to read.

Moby-Dick by Herman Melville – 3.5*

This is one of those books that I’ve always felt like I “should” read but never really had any desire to do so. But a fellow Litten had a buddy read for this book scheduled in November, reading the book across the entire month, so I thought it was a good time to give it a go. In the end, I can appreciate what makes it a classic, but it definitely isn’t for me. I was mostly surprised at the complete and total lack of action for 95% of this book. I was expecting a roaring Captain Ahab pursuing his nemesis across the open seas, but instead it’s just a regular whaler drifting about and every once in a while they come across another boat and Ahab demands to know if they’ve seen the white whale and sometimes the answer is yes and sometimes it’s no and it doesn’t really matter because they don’t know where he is right now anyway so they just keep cruising along and then they hunt a regular whale because they do need to make some money so we spend a chapter chopping it up and then another five chapters listening the narrator natter on about whales and philosophy and random pointless stories that go nowhere and have nothing to do with anything else.

I don’t exactly regret reading this one but I would never read it again. Someone else told me that they love this book because the rhythm of it reminds them of being at sea – long stretches of quietude followed by a short frenzy of activity. In that way I can appreciate the book, but on the whole it just wasn’t for me.

Room-Maid by Sariah Wilson – 3.5*

This is one of those “rich girl has to work for a living but doesn’t know how to do anything” stories, which can sometimes be annoying but overall here was good fun, mostly because the main character is a genuinely nice person, although she is a little too air-headed for my personal taste. (Like, I get that you may not look up everything you don’t know how to do because some things seem obvious, but when you’re faced with a major crisis, like spilling something on a couch that you have no idea how to get out, why would you not Google it first??? Multiple catastrophes could have been avoided with the power of the internet.) The pros here were that this book was completely clean and there wasn’t even any “grey area” cheating – not sure why these things are so difficult to find in modern romcoms, but here we are.

While this wasn’t my new favorite, it was still a fun and fluffy story that made for a relaxing read.

November Minireviews // Part 2

Posted on December 28, 2020 by Sarah | 1 Comment

The Cats of the Louvre by Taiyo Matsumoto – 2*

//published 2017// Also originally published in Japan so it reads “backwards” for me… which the library apparently didn’t realize as they stuck the barcode directly over the title!! //

Lately, if I see a review of a graphic novel that I think looks interesting, I just check it out of the library right then. This was one of those cases, but here it was a complete fail as Cats ended up being way more bizarre than I had bargained for, although maybe I should have been forewarned since it was a book originally written in Japanese about a French museum and translated into English…

The story is supposedly about these cats that secretly live in the Louvre, which is what drew me in – doesn’t that sound fun?? But it turns out that these are like cat/human hybrid things?? Or maybe not and the artist just drew them that way to give them more personability?? Either way they completely weirded me out and made the whole story feel strange and creepy. Part of the story is also about a little girl who got sucked into a painting decades ago, and then one of the kitten children also gets sucked in… I can’t even describe it, the whole thing was just so weird. I did finish it because it’s a graphic novel so it goes really fast, but was left feeling like I’d had a incredibly bizarre dream. This one just wasn’t for me.

A Wolf Called Wander by Rosanne Perry – 3.5*

This was another case of cover love for me. Based on the true story of a wolf who (we know through tracking devices) left his home range in northeast Oregon to end up in southwest Oregon in an area that had not previously had wolves (at least not in recent history). This was a decent middle grade read, although not one that I fell in love with, mainly because Perry somewhat romanticizes wolves. For example, at one point Wander is very judgy about another pair of wolves who have killed a cow – or maybe it was a sheep, can’t remember – because obviously their pack leader hadn’t taught them any sense of “honor”… I’m just not convinced that “honor” really comes into it, although wolves do tend to prefer to hunt whatever their parents taught them to hunt.

My only other bit of confusion is that the title of the story is A Wolf Called Wander, but she actually names the wolf Swift, which is his name for most of the story until he chooses to change it, and in real life the wolf’s nickname was actually Journey. It just felt like a lot of names for one wolf. And yes, it makes sense that a wolf wouldn’t have chosen the same name for himself as the humans did, but why wouldn’t you just name the wolf Journey anyway???

But overall minor complaints. On the whole I did enjoy this book and if you have a younger reader who is intrigued by wolves/wildlife, they would probably like this one as well.

Swamp Thing: Twin Branches by Maggie Stiefvater – 2.5*

Another graphic novel to add to the “didn’t work for me” pile – while I haven’t read all of Stiefvater’s books, I’ve read enough to know that she’s an author I generally enjoy, so I checked out her graphic novel (illustrated by Morgan Beem) and it just ended up being another story that didn’t jive with me.

Twin brothers – one introverted and obsessed with plants/biology, the other extroverted and easygoing – head out to the swamplands to stay with their honestly bizarre cousins in a “we’re in redneck country” way that made me a little uncomfortable and felt out of character for Stiefvater’s writing. Sciencey brother’s experiments start getting weird when they turn things into plants that are still able to think and move like the people/animals they were before they were changed, and it’s a little vague as to whether they’re just going to be plants forever or… The story was just odd and choppy and hard to follow. I’ll also admit that the artwork style wasn’t for me, either, and if you don’t like the artwork of a graphic novel, it makes the whole experience somewhat negative as well.

Definitely my least-favorite Stiefvater book I’ve read to date. I’m not sure if there is supposed to be a sequel at some point, but this one ended quite abruptly. I think it was also supposed to be somewhat based on the comic book creature Swamp Thing, but I know literally nothing about comic book stories/heroes/villains/etc so I can’t say whether or not it even vaguely resembled the original or not. This one wasn’t for me, but people who enjoy the horror vibe and also think everyone who lives in the south is a stupid redneck may enjoy this one more.

Peril at End House by Agatha Christie – 4*

It had been quite a long time since I read this one, so I couldn’t remember exactly how it came out. The plotting was brilliant as always, and I have a soft spot for Hastings so I was glad to see him here in this one. Christie is pretty much always a win for me, and I’ve been enjoying revisiting some of her earlier books.

Two of a Kind by Nora Roberts – 3.5*

This book contained two stories, Impulse (published 1989) and The Best Mistake (published 1994) and were pretty typical Roberts fare for that era.

In Impulse, the heroine spontaneously sells everything she owns, quits her job, and goes to Europe to travel until her money runs out. It will come to no surprise that she finds an insanely rich Greek to marry. Predictable and a bit ridiculous, but all in good fun.

I really enjoy stories about women who “should” have gotten an abortion, but instead decided to keep their child, a reminder that women are strong enough to be successful and accomplish whatever they want to without having to sacrifice their offspring to get there. The heroine in The Best Mistake was a model on the fast-track to big money when she got pregnant. Now, several years later, she’s living a quieter but still successful life raising her child with no regrets for the career she left behind. She decides to take in a renter in her over-the-garage apartment, and readers will be shocked to discover that he’s both good-looking AND single!!! No one knows what will happen next!!

These weren’t stories I want to read again and again but they were fun as one-off reads.

Rilla of Ingleside // by L.M. Montgomery

Posted on December 28, 2020 by Sarah | 2 Comments

It’s possible that Rilla is my favorite from the series, despite the fact that it isn’t centered on Anne at all (as the title implies). In many ways, you could probably read it as a stand-alone, although it’s much more meaningful when you know all the characters and their backstories. The story begins just as Rilla is turning 15. On the cusp of womanhood, she looks forward to the next few years being full of fun and frivolity. She freely admits that she doesn’t really have any “dreams” like her older siblings (she’s the youngest of Gilbert and Anne’s children), no particular talents or inclinations. She doesn’t even like babies! But Rilla is a wee bit spoiled and is confident that life will continue to fall into place as it always has. But then – World War I begins and everything changes.

This book works on so many levels. It’s just a plain good story, and a wonderful glimpse at life “at home” during the war. In many ways, it’s a book about women and how, so often, their job through the ages has been to wait and keep the home fires burning. I think what I love about this story is that Rilla doesn’t disguise herself and sneak into war as a boy. She doesn’t even join up with the Red Cross and become a heroic nurse on the front lines. Instead, she just does her best to work hard and be a better person at home. For me, there’s a paragraph towards the end of the book that summarizes the spirit of the story. Victory has just been announced, and Susan, the older woman who works for the Blythes, runs up the flag –

As [the flag] caught the breeze and swelled gallantly above her, Susan lifted her hand and saluted it … “We’ve all given something to keep you flying,” she said. “Four hundred thousand of our boys gone overseas – fifty thousand of them killed. But – you are worth it!” The wind whipped her gray hair about her face and gingham apron that shrouded her from head to food was cut in lines of economy, not of grace; yet, somehow, just then Susan made an imposing figure. She was one of the women – courageous, unquailing, patient, heroic – who had made victory possible.

Montgomery lived through this war – Rilla was published in 1921 – and I think that in many ways this was her ode to the women who stayed behind.

I highly recommend this series on the whole, and Rilla in particular. Montgomery has a wonderful knack for writing about people who feel real, and for writing about everyday circumstances in a way that emphasizes the beauty, heartache, joy, and sorrow that encompasses everyone’s lives, even those of us who are “regular.” Some books that are classics just don’t seem to deserve that classification to me, but the Anne series does – wonderful books that capture a time, place, and people in a way that is still relatable to read about a century later.

Bellewether // by Susanna Kearsley

Posted on December 22, 2020 by Sarah | 1 Comment

Most of the time it doesn’t really matter to me that there’s a big gap between reading the book and writing my review, but with this book I really wish I’d taken the time to sit down and dash off my thoughts when they were still fresh because I really, really enjoyed this book. As a side note, I read it for the traveling book club, so it’s already been mailed off to the next reader – this means I may get a big vague on names because my notes aren’t very good!!!

Generally speaking, two things that I don’t really enjoy in books are: (1) dual timelines and (2) a touch of the paranormal. But this is my second Kearsley book (the first was Mariana), and both times Kearsley has taken plot devices that normally grate on my nerves and somehow produced a story with likable characters that kept me completely engaged.

Charley (a woman) has recently taken on the job of a curator for a historic home that the town is turning into a museum. The Wilde House belonged to a Revolutionary War hero, and the idea is that they will restore the house to it’s 1770s state. Charley has lived several years in the city, but was originally from this town. Part of the reason that she moved back was because of the recent death of her brother, who left behind his teenage-but-adult daughter. Charley has moved in with her niece to help her out during this time (since the niece’s mom has been out of the picture forever). There was a big falling out between Charley’s dad and his parents, and Charley has never known her grandparents, even though they live in the town where Charley is now living. It will come to no surprise to learn that the contractor for the historic house is a good looking, single, and practically perfect in every way. As Charley is gathering research for the museum, she is intrigued by a local ghost story/legend that says that during the French & Indian War (when the Revolutionary War hero was just a young man), two French officers were held as prisoners of war at the Wilde House and that while they were imprisoned there, one of them fell in love with Wilde’s sister – they tried to elope but one of her brothers killed her lover and she later killed herself from grief. Charley begins to dig deeper into the Wilde family’s history, trying to find more information to confirm or contradict the story.

Meanwhile, Kearsley gives us the historic story of what really happened in the Wilde’s home during the French & Indian War – a tangled tale of a family conflicted by opposing loyalties and frustration with the British government that is supposed to be protecting and helping them but isn’t. The seeds of the Revolution are shown well here, a harbinger of the complications that would divide families a few years later.

I ended up loving basically everyone in this book. Kearsley writes sympathetic characters, doing an excellent job of showing different perspectives and motivations, meaning that even unlikable characters are still understandable at some level. I love the parallel between Charley’s research and what we, as the reader, are learning about the true story of the past. Kearsley does a fantastic job of reminding us that all of history is based on interpretation because we weren’t there – the best we can do is piece together puzzles from the past and make our best guess at the motivations behind what was happening. The clearest example is when Charley finds records that prove that the Wildes were renting a slave from another relative, making an annual payment to him for her services. But as the reader, we’re privy to what was actually happening – the relative refused to sell this slave because he knew the Wildes would free her, so the best they could do for her was to pay her rent each year and keep her with their family, still paying her a wage for her services as though she were free. The present-day people pass a judgment on the Wilde family for “supporting slavery”, but the reality of what was happening was much more nuanced and complicated. It was just such a good reminder that our present-day view has decided what was right and what wrong in the past – but when you are actually trying to live through these things, it’s much more difficult to find the right path.

There is some argument to be made that the storyline for the present-day was wrapped up much to easily, but I’m honestly all about happy endings, so I was here for it, even if it was a bit too tidy. There was also a minor complication for me concerning written records from the past versus what actually happened, and why the discrepancy was there, but overall I enjoyed this story so much that I was willing to overlook it. There is a bit of a ghost story aspect in the present-day line that can only be explained by the actual presence of a ghost, something that isn’t usually my cup of tea, but that honestly worked here.

All in all, this story was much more layered and engaging than I was anticipating. I was completely drawn in to both stories, and loved the way that Kearsley wove them together in multiple ways. (My favorite – having something in the present link to a moment in the past – i.e. a thunderstorm in the present… and then the past chapter opens with a thunderstorm as well.) This was a 4.5* read for me, and one of my favorite books of the year.

November Minireviews // Part 1

Posted on December 16, 2020 by Sarah | 1 Comment

Still trying to catch up. Conveniently, November was a terrible reading month for me so it shouldn’t take as long to get through those books!! Part of my issue in November, besides being insanely busy and somewhat depressed, was that I was doing two buddy reads on Litsy – one of Northanger Abbey, which was a delight, and one of Moby-Dick, which was not. Moby-Dick especially interfered with my other reading time, as I was determined to read each day’s chapters from that book before picking up anything else to ensure that I actually got through it. My plan worked, but it definitely colored a lot of my other reading throughout the month!

Complete Home Landscaping by Catriona Tudor Erler – 4*

This is one of those book that I got a book sale or Half-Priced Books or someplace like that eons ago but never actually picked up. While there wasn’t anything groundbreaking here, it was a well-organized and interesting book that broke down the concept of landscaping your entire property into bite-sized chunks. Sometimes I like to read books about gardening and landscaping because even when it goes over the same stuff as a different book, it just helps make it stick in my brain. This book was also full of really useful photographs and drawings that I really liked.

The Tea Dragon Tapestry by Katie O’Neill – 4*

The latest in the Tea Dragon stories, these continue to be almost painfully adorable. I do wish that there was more emphasis on friendship instead of romantic relationships, which are almost entirely comprised of homosexual pairings, especially between the two main girls in the story – I feel like their relationship would have been so much more meaningful as friends instead of girlfriends. It’s not like this is all super explicit or anything, but the overall vibe of the book is that if you find someone who is a friend, you’re meant to be romantically involved, and it just feels somewhat awkward, especially in a story geared for younger readers.

However, the story itself is very enjoyable and the artwork is just amazing.

The Sittaford Mystery by Agatha Christie – 4*

It’s been a few years since I’ve read this one (my 2016 review is here) so even though I kind of remembered who did it, I couldn’t remember how it was done or how some of the red herrings played out. The one is also known as The Murder at Hazelmoor which makes so much more sense since the murder actually takes place at Hazelmoor, not Sittaford, but whatever. Anyway, this is one of Christie’s standalone mysteries. The pacing is great and there are a few twists that I never seem to remember are coming. Great fun as always.

Entwined by Heather Dixon – 3.5*

I read this one a long time ago (before WordPress days) and vaguely remembered liking it but not much more, so I chose it for my traveling book club book this time around. Unfortunately, November was just not a good reading month for me so I think that colored my enjoyment of this story as my reading opportunities were really choppy and difficult. Parts of this book just felt like they went on forever. The sisters in the story are mad at their father pretty much the entire time, and I’ll agree that he’s a jerk at first, but later he starts trying to make amends and they are mean to him for way too long. I did appreciate that the author did not give the sisters a bunch of names that sounded alike and even went so far as the alphabetize them, with the oldest starting with A and going down from there which really helped keep all the sisters straight. I had a few minor continuity issues with this one, especially with the supposed ages of a few of the sisters versus their actions/attitudes. Overall, I didn’t dislike this story but I also didn’t love it.

The Wild Path by Sarah Baughman – 3.5*

I 100% picked up this book because of that gorgeous cover. This one is a middle grade story about a girl named Claire who lives with her parents in a rural area of Vermont. Claire’s older brother has recently been admitted to a full-time rehab clinic after having issues with a drug addiction formed when he started taking painkillers after an accident. Claire’s parents have announced that they are going to have to sell the family’s two horses in order to save money, but Claire is determined to find a way to save them. The story deals with Claire learning more about her brother’s situation and coming to grips with the way that some parts of our lives are out of our control, and that we can’t make other people “better.” It was actually a lovely story with likable characters, but it did feel a little preachy at times. Somehow, it just never kicked me in the emotions like it seemed like it should. However, this may be a good book for a younger person in a situation similar to Claire’s re: a family member with an addiction (especially if read together with a caring adult) as that was handled sensitively and in a way that felt approachable. In part, that was kind of why I didn’t connect with this story – in some ways it seemed like it was written to specifically be used as a discussion tool more than it was written to tell a story, if that makes sense.

Rearview Mirror // October 2020

Posted on December 11, 2020 by Sarah | 1 Comment

Haha maybe someday my posts will match the time of year!! At any rate, it’s time to wrap up October… halfway through December!!

First off, I’d like to take a moment to say how absolutely horrendous the new block editor is on WordPress! Just absolutely genuinely horrible. I hate it with a strength that’s hard to give words to. It’s clunky, not remotely intuitive, and honestly pointless. I have no idea what’s supposed to somehow be better about this version than the old editor. I HATE the new editor with an amazingly strong loathing. One more tragedy of 2020, I guess. RIP easy-to-use WordPress.

Anyway, such is life and I guess I’ll just have to get used to being filled with rage every time I try to create a post. I had a super busy fall (SUPER BUSY) but am now on “winter break” between my two seasonal jobs and trying my best to get caught up on all kinds of things, including book reviews!! So let’s see how October went reading-wise.

Favorite October Read

Two months in a row that my favorite book of the month is about cooking?? What’s happening to me?! But I really did enjoy Make the Bread, Buy the Butter AND I’ve used several recipes from it that have turned out really well. My favorite fiction read was a reread – Anne of Ingleside – so it seemed kind of like cheating to choose that one!!

Most Disappointing October Read

While East was a close second, I think I have to go with Lightning, the 87th Precinct book from this batch that was not only my least favorite from these five, but one of my least favorites from the series so far.

Other October Reads

3*
- East by Edith Pattou
- Nobody But You by Jill Shalvis
- Poison by Ed McBain
- The Wrong Side of Magic by Janette Rallison
3.5*
- Island Affair by Priscilla Oliveras
- My Kind of Wonderful by Jill Shalvis
- Passion On Park Avenue by Lauren Layen
- Well Played by Jen DeLuca
- The Widow of Rose House by Diana Biller
4*
- A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik
- Ice by Ed McBain
- Love on Lexington Avenue by Lauren Layne
- Marriage on Madison Avenue by Lauren Layne
- The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie
- Rainbow Valley by L.M. Montgomery
- Tricks by Ed McBain
4.5*
- Eight Black Horses by Ed McBain
5*
- Anne of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery
- Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen

October Stats

Total Number of Books Read: 21 (all physical)
Total Pages Read: 6531
Average Star Rating for September: 3.9
Longest Book: East (494 pages)
Shortest Book: The Murder at the Vicarage (231 pages)
Oldest Book: Pride & Prejudice (published 1813)
Newest Book: Marriage on Madison Avenue, Island Affair, A Deadly Education, and Well Played (all published 2020)
Number of New-to-Me Authors: 5

October DNFs

None!!!

TBR Update

This I keep updated as I go, so it’s current as of today, rather than as of the end of October. Still a million years behind on reading blog posts, though!

For those of you who don’t know, I’m weirdly obsessive with organizing the TBR, and have it on a spreadsheet divided into five different tabs:

Standalones: 493 (down four!)
Nonfiction: 124 (holding steady)
Personal (which includes all books I own (fiction and nonfiction), but lists any series I own as only one entry…): 652 (up five)
Series (each series counted separately, not each book within a series): 256 (up two)
Mystery Series (each series counted separately, not each book within a series): 118 (holding steady)

Reading Challenges Updates

#ReadingEurope2020 – visited Norway – this challenge is NOT going to get completed this year but I’m still tracking it for fun (total 8/46 complete)
#ReadtheUSA2020 – visited nowhere new (total 33/50 complete – unless I get myself really organized, I probably won’t get this one done this year)
#SeparatedbyaPondTour – visited no where for this challenge, either! (Total 57/159 complete – this is still on the 3-year track. If anyone has books they love set in Canada, Ireland, Scotland, or Wales, let me know!!)
#LitsyAtoZ – 0 books (22/26 complete – only weird letters left. Specifically Q, X, Y, and Z, so let me know if you have suggestions for titles or author last names that start with those letters!)
#BackwardsAtoZ – 17 books (No W through no Z on my fourth list and No A through no M on my fifth list – I’m trying to do this one in order and to see how many times I can get through the alphabet!)

Current Reads

For December, I’m indulging in 100% fluff and it’s been fantastic!! Basically, think Christmas Hallmark movies except in book form. Right now I’m reading a Nora Roberts book called First Impressions.

Up Next

The probable next five(ish) reads – (guess what, more fluff)

Christmas With You – two Nora Roberts Christmas books in one volume
The Hundred and One Dalmatians and Starlight Barking by Dodie Smith – for some reason, these are Christmasy books for me!!
Santa’s On His Way by Lisa Jackson – not gonna lie, I got a pile of holiday paperbacks on eBay for less than $2 a book, so some of these are just super random.
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens – everyone needs to read a classic, right??
These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer – I’ll admit that this isn’t a Christmasy one, but it’s for my traveling book club so I’m making an exception. Besides, how can I go wrong with Heyer??

Well, that’s all for October (!!!) – we’ll see how fast I can get through my November reviews. Will I be caught up by the end of the year?? *cue dramatic music*

Happy December everyone!!

October Minireviews – Part 2

Posted on December 8, 2020 by Sarah | 2 Comments

Yes, I realize it’s December. Someday I’ll catch up!!! I usually try to not review more than five books in one of these minireview posts just because I don’t want to bore the bejeebers out of all of you, but I’m determined to finish October’s reviews today so you get seven reviews for the price of one!!

East by Edith Pattou – 3*

I feel like I read this one a really long time ago, but I couldn’t remember whether or not I liked it. I saw that a sequel had come out for it, so I thought I would give this one another read and go from there. In the end, though, I didn’t bother reading the sequel because this one was just super boring to me. The narrative voices (and there are SEVERAL) all sounded absolutely identical. For me, if you need more than three narrators to tell a story, you need to tell your story in third person because all the jumping around is just plain annoying, especially when some of the chapters are only a couple of paragraphs long. (And this as someone who is generally fond of short chapters…) There were long swaths of pages where basically nothing was happening except for people wandering around looking for other people. It wasn’t a bad book, but it wasn’t one that I really wanted to pick up again. And at almost 500 pages, it was just way too long.

I thought about reading the sequel anyway, but then I read the synopsis – and it’s basically the same story as East all over again! So thank you, but no thank you.

Island Affair by Priscilla Oliveras – 3.5*

This was borderline 4* for me. There was a lot I enjoyed about – the main characters were likable and the setting in Key West was super fun and fluffy. I really liked Luis’s warmhearted family, and appreciated the part of the story where Sara’s family was trying to come together as well. But somehow, even though this book had a lot of ingredients that I really liked (love me a fake relationship trope), the story just sort of dragged in places. Luis is mad at one of his brothers, but when I found out why I honestly mostly felt eye-roll-y about it. Like yes, that was a jerk move but… it’s been literal years so maybe it’s time to get over yourself and move on?? Sara was kind of the same way. She has an eating disorder that is currently under control, but it seemed liked it was all that she thought about. I understand that it’s a big part of her life, etc., but she was so sensitive about it. If anyone in her family said anything about her not eating enough, she would get incredibly wound up about and like – yes, I understand that it bothers you and why, and they definitely need to back off – but at the same time, they’re coming from a genuine place of love and concern?? And it felt like Sara literally never acknowledged that. The whole point of her family getting together in Key West is because her mom is recovering from cancer and wants to change the way that they’ve treated their (now adult) children and to bring their family together, and Sara is basically a little spoiled whiny-pants about it instead of even trying to meet her parents halfway.

It all comes together in the end, of course, and it wasn’t like I hated this book. But at some level it felt like both Luis and Sara were kind of immature in the way that they were handling their family issues, so it low-key annoyed me during the whole book. However, this is supposedly the first in a new series, and I would totally read the next book, presumably about one of Luis’s siblings. This wasn’t an instant classic for me, and I know I just whined about it a lot, but it was still overall good romcom fun that I did mostly enjoy reading.

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik – 4*

So I really loved Uprooted by wasn’t a huge fan of Spinning Silver. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this first book in a new series, but I really loved it. I’ve seen reviews that are all over the places for this one, and I think it just comes down to whether or not you enjoy a narrative style that does some info-dumping. I actually do, as long as I find the information interesting. I love complicated world-building, and don’t mind having it explained to me by a character. But a lot of people find that super annoying, so that’s definitely one of the big complaints I’ve seen about this one – and honestly, they’re justified. The narrator of this book does a lot of rambling. It just happened that I found the rambling intriguing.

This book is a bit slow on action and long on talking, but for some reason it really worked for me. The writing style reminded me a lot of Robin McKinley’s Dragonhaven for some reason, another book that I see a lot of mixed reviews for. All in all, if you like rambly narrators whose internal monologue is super sarcastic, you may end up liking this one. However, I’ll freely admit that I can see why this isn’t a book for everyone.

The Widow of Rose House by Diana Biller – 3.5*

This was a traveling book club book, so I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. Set in 1875, the story focuses on a young widow named Alva Webster, whose recent marriage and separation, followed by the unexpected death of her husband, has left her trailing scandal everywhere she goes. She’s moved back to New York and purchased an old house in the country that she remembers from her childhood. Meanwhile, Sam Moore, an eccentric scientist from a family of eccentric scientists, is interested in ghosts and paranormal phenomenon. When he hears that Alva’s house may be haunted, he convinces her to let him run a series of experiments there, even though Alva doesn’t believe in ghosts. What unfolds in a not-entirely-surprising love story with a bit of ghost story mystery thrown in.

It was exactly “my style” of book, but I still did overall enjoy this one, mostly because Sam is perfection. Some of the situations felt a little overwrought, and there were a few times where it definitely felt like modern sensibilities were being imposed on the past, but it was still good fun. I don’t know if the author is planning to create a series from these characters, but I would totally read a book about another of Sam’s siblings, even if his whole family felt a little over-the-top. If you like historical romance and don’t mind some paranormal in your story, you’ll probably like this one as well.

Well Played by Jen DeLuca – 4*

Earlier this year I read DeLuca’s debut novel, Well Met, which I really enjoyed but did find a little rough in places. I definitely felt like the sequel was better as far as pacing and dialogue goes, and there wasn’t nearly as much time spent listening to the main character lust after the hero as there was in the first book.

Stacey, a friend of the first book’s character, has had a bit of a crush on one of the members of The Dueling Kilts, a band that plays at the Renaissance Faire every year where Stacey volunteers. (Readers of the first book may remember that this Faire was the setting of that story.) But she’s always assumed that it’s just hormones, so when she gets an email from him after the Faire has left, she’s surprised at the connection she feels with him. Soon they’re emailing and texting every day, and Stacey can hardly wait until the Faire comes back to town.

The real problem with this book is that the actual synopsis tells you the twist, because it isn’t exactly meant to be a twist for anyone other than Stacey. But because the reader already knows what she’s going to find out, it means I spent a lot of the book rolling my eyes at how dense Stacey was for not realizing what was going on. But if I hadn’t already been privy to that information, I may have been just as surprised as she was – I definitely think this book would have read better if the synopsis hadn’t told the reader how it all plays out.

Still, this was overall an entertaining bit of chick lit. I really liked Stacey a lot. I did think the ending dragged out a little too long, and I’m also way over romance books ending with people saying things like, “I know he’s the one for me, but we’re just gonna shack up for a few years instead of actually making a real commitment to each other.” Sorry, moving in together is NOT a romantic way to end a book!

The Wrong Side of Magic by Janette Rallison – 3*

This was another traveling book club book, and while it was a perfectly enjoyable middle grade read, it just never felt magical to me. There were fun moments and some clever ideas, but I never really connected with the characters.

Rainbow Valley by L.M. Montgomery – 4*

It’s actually been even longer since I read this book than it has the rest of the series, as this is the only one that I’ll sometimes skip when I’m reading the Anne books. While this story is full of Montgomery’s humor and relatable characters, the focus shifts from the Blythe family to the Merediths, the children of the Presbyterian minister. A widower, Mr. Meredith is incredibly absent-minded, and although he (theoretically) loves his children, he does almost nothing to actually care for their physical well-being. Meanwhile, the four Meredith children run more or less wild. They aren’t mean-spirited, but they don’t have a lot of direction, so most of this book is comprised of stories of their “scrapes” and the ways they try to make up for them.

My issues with this book – (1) I want more about Anne and her family, not these random kids, (2) Mr. Meredith is repeatedly said to be a “kind and love father” yadda yadda yadda, but even though on more than one occasion he “wakes up” to realize that he needs to do more for them – he always just goes right back to being obsessed with his studies instead of snapping out of it and taking care of his family. This drives me absolutely crazy. Mr. Meredith, despite the fact that he’s actually quite kind, is high on my list of least-favorite fictional fathers. (3) Mary Vance is probably one of my least-favorite characters Montgomery ever invented, and a large part of this book is also about her. I find Mary to be SO OBNOXIOUS.

So yes, the combination of Mr. Meredith and Mary Vance in one book means that I tend to skip this one even though there are parts of it that I actually really do love. And you do need to read this one at least once before reading the final book in the series, Rilla of Ingleside, as this one does set up a lot of the characters and backstories for that one, and Rilla is possibly my favorite out of the whole series.

While I definitely don’t love Rainbow Valley as much as I love the rest of the series, it’s still better than half the books I read these days, so I’m sticking with my 4* rating.

Central Park Pact trilogy // by Lauren Layne

Posted on December 1, 2020 by Sarah | 3 Comments

Wow, it’s December and I’m still reviewing books from October!!! HA! Okay, new goal… to be caught up before 2021! :-D

Passion on Park Avenue
Love on Lexington Avenue
Marriage on Madison Avenue

These books have been on my radar for a while, so when I saw the first one on Book Outlet for only a few dollars, I snatched it up and checked the other two out of the library. They were perfect for reading in between my batch of 87th Precinct books.

This series begins with a premise that sounds like something I wouldn’t read, but somehow makes it work. Naomi is on her way to a funeral when the book opens – a funeral for her boyfriend. Except when he died she found out that he had actually been married the entire time. Full of rage, at the last minute she realizes she can’t actually go to the service, so she just keeps walking, right into Central Park. There, a woman is sitting on a park bench… a woman Naomi recognizes as her dead boyfriend’s wife. Naomi talks to her, and weirdly the two of them feel a strange bond – both of them had trusted this guy, and he had been lying to them both. When a third woman arrives – another girlfriend – the three of them spontaneously decide to form a pact to help keep each other from being so stupid about men again.

Fast forward a few months later, and somehow the three of them have become friends. The story focuses on Naomi, who grew up poor but has become a successful businesswoman who owns her own company. Through a series of circumstances, she ends up being neighbors with her childhood nemesis, Oliver, and the story rolls from there.

Overall, the first book was a fun one. When Stephanie reviewed this one, though, she said she thought Naomi was a strange choice as the heroine for the first book because she’s basically the annoying friend that you don’t really like until later in the series, and that is an absolutely perfect description. Naomi feels really self-centered and annoying for a lot of the book. Her entire “plan” for getting “revenge” on Oliver not only doesn’t make sense, it isn’t even really a plan. However, I really liked Oliver, so he basically sold the book for me.

Book number two focuses on the wife, Claire. She’s obviously having a difficult times coming to grips with the fact that not only is she a widow, she’s kind of glad her husband’s dead because he was a lying jerk. She’s beginning to realize that she’s spent her entire life doing what she was “supposed” to and isn’t even sure who she is as a person. While I did enjoy her journey to self-discovery, or whatever you want to call it, I also was (VERY) mildly offended by the concept that “vanilla” people are just people who haven’t really discovered who they “really” are. I’m here to tell you that I’m pretty vanilla and pretty happy. At any rate, I overall liked Claire and 100% shipped her with Scott. My other annoyance was how at the end she and Scott elope, and everyone’s like, “ha ha you did that so backwards, you got married first and then moved in together!!” Because only weirdos do that, apparently. ::GIANT EYE ROLL::

Book three is about the other girlfriend, Audrey. I’m always here for a fake relationship trope, and Layne does it really well here as Audrey and her best friend, Clarke, pretend to be engaged for a variety of reasons. This was probably my favorite out of the three because I really liked Audrey and Clarke a lot, and loved watching them come to realize they wanted to be more than just best friends. The whole story was just so daggone adorable.

One thing I liked about this series as a whole – sometimes Layne writes books with explicit sex scenes, but that wasn’t the case here. While I wouldn’t exactly say these were “clean” because there is a lot of innuendo/chats about sex, there weren’t any bedroom scenes, and I appreciated that.

Overall, this trio of books was great fun and just the fluff I was looking for at the time. 3.5* for Passion on Park Avenue, and 4* for the others. Recommended if you enjoy relaxing romance.

The Aroma of Books

//Rants//Raves//Reviews//

Monthly Archives: December 2020