Happy Fall, Y’All

Thought I’d do a little catching up on the ole blog.

Here we are at the No Kings Rally last Saturday, October 18. Yup, we were part of the 7,000,000 patriots marching for the rights and dignity of this country.

On the writing front, I got a batch of beta reader feedback and now I’m pausing work on the book to complete the reader magnet, which details my main character’s spiritual origin in regards to seeing ghosts. I need to clarify in my own mind what her reasons are for finally engaging with a spirit before I can deepen her story at the beginning of the full-length book. So now, I’m looking at a 2026 publishing date… But it’s all good. I really want to bring you the best book possible!

The Husband and I recently finished another full series viewing of Warehouse 13, a sci-fi show about a secret arm of the Secret Service who retrieve magically dangerous artifacts, starring Saul Rubinek, Eddie McClintock, and Joanne Kelly. Alternately funny, endearing, and heart-felt, we love it more every time we watch it. Now, we’ve moved on to Eureka, another Sci-Fi Channel gem that actually had some overlap with Warehouse 13.

Here are a few of the books I’ve read lately:

Pomona Afton Can So Solve a Murder   Bellamy Rose

A book with a Paris Hiltonesque protagonist would not usually be my first choice but, from the beginning, Pomona Afton, of the Afton Hotel Aftons, was different. When she temporarily loses her money and privilege after the murder of her disagreeable grandmother, she gradually begins to see the world, and herself, differently. With help from her initially reluctant roommate, Gabe, she navigates working at a “real job,” searches for clues, deals with her entitled family and society friends, and even, maybe, carves out a new life for herself. This is a really fun book ~ I hope you like Pomona. I’ve already ordered the next book in the series.

Stillhouse Lake   Rachel Caine

Gwen Procter and her two children are on the run four years after discovering that, unbeknownst to her, the husband she trusted was a serial killer. Between heinous internet trolls and her husband’s rabid “fans,” she and her family need to change names and locations frequently. She hopes to stop running when they settle in Stillhouse Lake, TN. With a fortified house, including a panic room, weapons training, and a couple of tenuous friendships, life is becoming comfortable. But even so, Gwen knows not to trust anyone or anything. Thriller is not my normal genre but the first-person storytelling, the tension, and the characters of this first book in the series were really engaging and I enjoyed it. It stands on its own. But I confess I couldn’t get into the second book, mainly because, instead of Gwen being the sole narrator, all the main characters had first person chapters and it didn’t work for me. But I may pick it up again later…

The Bookish Life of Nina Hill   Abbi Waxman

Nina is very content, living alone, working at a bookstore, being part of a trivia team, and scheduling every minute of her life. Her photojournalist mother stopped long enough to have Nina, then turned her over to a nanny. When the father she never knew dies, she discovers that, 1) her mother stipulated he must stay out of Nina’s life and 2) Nina’s in his will, along with an entire family tree she never knew existed. While the anxiety-prone introvert navigates the fallout from that bombshell, she also finds herself falling in love with a rival trivia lover and the possible demise of her beloved bookstore. So many layers and complicated characters and FEELS in this book! I loved every word!

The Last Word   Gerri Lewis

When Winter Snow, a freelance obituary writer in small town Connecticut, is hired by Leocadia Arlington to pre-write her obit, then finds her sprawled at the bottom of her grand staircase days later, it all goes downhill from there. Winter becomes a suspect, along with Ms. Arlington’s estranged family and various neighbors, getting herself into some extremely dangerous situations. Not knowing who to trust, she falls back on her Uncle Richard, octogenarian neighbor Horace, and bestie, Scoop. There’s a good cop/bad cop dynamic that’s very interesting. A possible love interest. And a Great Pyrenees puppy named Diva. Lots of twisty backstory and animosity kept me guessing till the end. Now I’m ready to read the second in the series.

Spredges: a portmanteau of “sprayed” and “edges.”

It’s a new take on an old tradition, decorating the edges of books with combinations of color and elements or words from the story. I’m here for it! Maybe, someday, I’ll even design some of my own!

See what I mean, below.

Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice   Katie Cicatelli-Kuc

In this young adult novel, sixteen-year-old aspiring baker Lucy helps her mom run Cup O’ Jo, their charming coffee shop, while juggling school and friends. Not only does a chain coffee place move in across the street from them, but Jack, the son of the owners, is in her class and she really wants to hate him… but he’s a pretty nice guy. An incident at Cup O’ Jo tests her trust in him, but when an influencer announces a Pumpkin Spice Latte contest between the two shops, Jack offers to help her create a drink she’s despised so much, she wouldn’t allow it on their menu, if she’ll teach him to bake. She knows her mother is hiding the truth about the financial hit they’ve taken from the chain shop, so she agrees to work with him. It’s a good story about growing into your own person and healthy give and take between two people. Lucy is mercurial, as only a teenager can be, and so many of her declarative sentences are formed as questions, which drove me mad, but she’s such a likable character, I gave it a pass. It’s a perfect autumn read.

The Pairing   Casey McQuiston

Kit and Theo(dora), lifelong besties turned lovers, experienced a catastrophic breakup mid-flight to a European food and wine tour four years before the story begins. Kit has been living in Paris, working as a baker, and Theo created a traveling cocktail bar in Palm Springs. By coincidence, they both use the tour credit from their ill-fated vacation at the same time and are forced to travel together for three weeks. The bi-sexual exes decide a hook-up contest is in order and spicy sexual shenanigans ensue from Spain, through France, to Italy. But as Kit and Theo’s close proximity works its magic, they discover they’ve both changed in ways they didn’t even realize. This book is dense with beautiful language and the descriptions of food and locales are breathtaking. The first half of the book is written from Theo’s point of view and the last half from Kit’s. One of the most satisfying Happily Ever Afters I’ve read in a very long time.

Let me know how your autumn is progressing and, naturally, I’m always looking for book recs, even though my TBR pileS may bury me next time we get hit with an earthquake!

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