Are You A Mood Reader? Is It Time for Fall Books?

 I, of course, have started reading fall books. The latest book I've gotten my paws on is Haunted to Death by Frank Polito. When it comes to fall books what are your must haves?  Here are some things I love to see in a fall book:

A fall festival!

Fall food or beverage talk, especially if it involves pumpkins and apples!

References to leaves falling or chilly nights!

Kids or pets or really anyone in costume!

Hints of magic! 

Would you agree with this list or is there something different that gives you all the cozy fall reading vibes?

Covers that have hints of fall are also always appreciated by me if it is a physical book! My love of the fall season is why my first book takes place in October. 

And lucky for me, this week I'm starting to write my next book which will take place a year after the first book. This time around my main character is Donnie. He owns a bakery that is also a bookstore. Can you imagine?  How amazing would that be? He doesn't realize it but he's about to find love! 

If you are in the USA, I hope you have a wonderful Labor Day weekend! I'll be writing and reading, and I'm planning to take some time to go to a craft market at a local brewery! 

Soups On! In Which I Try a New Soup Recipe!

 

Got a copy of the Women's Day, yes I have a couple magazine subscriptions.  I like to flip through an occasional magazine and to circle things, tear out pages, put post-it notes on pages to remember.  

This recipe is a potato corn chowder and the reason I decided to try it was because you make it in the slow cooker.

I added more corn, garlic, chorizo, and thyme than the recipe calls for and I skipped the half and half, but I did add some sour cream right before serving. It's a lot of chopping and then waiting while it cooks in the crockpot you can make it on low for like 6 hours or 3-4 on high.  I think if you made it on the stove it would take 40-60 minutes? I think that you could add 1/4 a cup of white wine if you wanted to do that. If you are Gluten Free just don't use the 2 tbsp of flour.  If you are vegan, skip the chorizo and veggie crumbles and use vegetable broth instead of chicken. 

It's officially Oktoberfest  Me and the hubs split this crowler --basically a quart of beer. So we each had a pint. Neither of us used the quart-sized stein that came with the beer.  It's just a heavy as you would think!  The hubs said this beer reminded him of Old Style. I said it reminded me of Heineken. In general, when we have a beer we don't' usually go with a lager. 

Prost! 

Holiday Weekend is Here! Don't Forget...

Don't forget the reason we have this holiday!  A toast to the labor movement! I hope you have some nice work free plans for the weekend. I might go with the hubs to a local brewery to try their Oktoberfest beer.  It will depend on if we can go in the early afternoon and most importantly if the beer garden is very empty. If not maybe we can get a growler and enjoy a pint of Oktoberfest beer in our backyard.  I have my 2018 Oaktoberfest Boot ready for a refill. Prost!

I finished another really fun paranormal romance - below is my review! 

Sapphire Flames by Ilona Andrews
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Such a well-done paranormal romance! You can't read this and not love House Baylor, plus Linus Duncan is basically Ironman, how fun is that! I love the sizzling romance between Catalina and Alessandro and all the obstacles in their way, I have to keep reading just to see how they will overcome everything that is thrown at them.

Ilona Andrews is so skilled at writing action-paced dramas. They balance action scenes with romance in a way that never makes you want to skim the fight to get to the romantic banter.

Emerald Blaze just came out and I'm on the waiting list at my library to read the next installment of Catalina's story. I'm really looking forward to learning more about Alessandro's quest and I hope maybe Catalina's mom will go on a date with Sgt. Heart???


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Sure It's Monday, But a Three-Day Weekend is at the End of This Week!

The weather in my neck of the woods was wonderful this weekend, the temps dropped from intolerable to tolerable.  A local brewery released their Oktoberfest beer and I was very tempted to see if it was possible to go there and stay away from everyone and have my first beer of the fall season. I am planning to taste some new fall beers this year and write about them as I did in the fall of 2017. I also plan to read some beer-centered cozy mysteries!

It's the last day of August, and as you can see I'm working on planning my fall.  On my to-do list for today, I have allotted time to reflect on August and plan September.  If that sounds good to you, join me in doing this practice each month.  I write about the highlights and low lights of the month and then review my planner and see what I want to do in the upcoming month.


I read a novella from a book series I really enjoy over the weekend. I loved that it was set up in classic mystery style, think Agatha Christie or Clue. Everyone had means and motive, and the Main Character had to solve it.  Lots of fun! My review is below-

Diamond Fire by Ilona Andrews
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is done as a classic mystery, everyone involved is at the Rogan family estate and
Catalina is our detective. There is also the comedy that comes from planning a wedding and I enjoyed seeing the wedding planning from Catalina's perspective as well as the scenes with Mrs. Rogan. It was also fun to read how Ilona Andrews had a Sherlock Holmes climax were the mystery was revealed to all the suspects present. I'm already halfway through the next book in the series, the Hidden Legacy series is so hard to put down!


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Oktoberfest at Imperial Oak (a local brewery) -Pumpkin Ale Review

Last week in Chicagoland the weather was amazing.  We started the day at Pet-A-Palooza where I had a Tastefully Simple booth.  BMO who is crazy about dogs came with to check out all the pups on parade. Literally, there was a Pet Parade and prizes!  Later in the day, I dragged the hubs along to check out a local brewery's  Imperial Oak Brewing Oktoberfest. 

For the event they had food trucks, a German Band and about 40 different beers on tap. Tom was a real peach, he doesn't like beer but he still posed for a picture.

Tom is holding a Sour Beer called Straw.  It was my first time trying a Sour Beer and turns out, I don't really think it's my thing. I wanted to give this a try because it is a Wild (Brett) Saison) and I like Saisons from time to time. They have a flowery essence that I find appealing during Spring.  A couple of years ago I fell in love with IPAs and all their citrus punch, but a few months ago, one day out of the blue, I was done.  I'm over IPA and Sours fall a bit into that category. Now if I'm going to enjoy a beer I'm looking at Lagers, Stouts and Porters. 

For my Pumpkin Ale, I tried the Bourbon Barrel aged Dark Gourd- Pumpkin Ale.  It was a pretty dry beer, and I didn't taste pumpkin or seasonal spices coming through.  A bit of a bummer.  Lucky for me third time is the charm.  The Kolsch was great!  Kaiser-Kolsch- 5.4 ABV, 19 IBU. What is a Kolsch? Its a nice sunny beer that is made with mostly Pilsner Malt.  ( paraphrasing from Wikipedia).  It would be spectacular paired with a big bowl of German Potato Salad. When I make my German Potato Salad I wing it, but here is a recipe that looks like the real deal should you want to try your hand at a great side dish.

A winner of a beer!  The picture doesn't do the color justice, in real life it was a brighter yellow. And there you have it, good beer super local.