Just In Time To Go Back To School

 

Just in time to go back to school, I have to have dental surgery. Because of a medication I take due to post-cancer treatment effects, I can only have the dental procedure timed a certain way. So it's now or wait six months and hope that the teeth at issue don't cause more problems. 

All this to say I'm going to need to use all my energy to make it through the work day and the other people in this house are going to have to pick up the slack.This means I need to stop myself from making sure the dishes are in the dishwasher properly. 

A tall order!

I hope I have an easy recovery. I do have plenty of books to read and lots of book work to do, so I should try to concentrate on that and not think about someone putting the wrong stuff on the top rack or mixing towels with pants in the washer.

How about you?  Are you laid back around household chores?

*****
I forgot that I had pre-ordered Sanctuary by Ilona Andrews until the other day. I then proceeded to read this novella. If you haven't read Ilona Andrews before, please drop everything and read them! This book features Roman who is like an intermediary between a Slavic god and humans. There is a lot of folklore in this story and I found it really interesting. It doesn't end with a cliffhanger, but it ends with the immediate danger being dealt with and more action and adventure to come. You can read this as a stand-alone, but it's more pleasing if you've read the Kate Daniels series. 

If you are a mood reader, this book takes place Dec 23-25.

Five stars of pure awesome!

What's A Reader Magnet?

 This month I'm working on writing and editing my reader magnet. What's a reader magnet? I'm glad you asked. It's a short story I can give away virtually to people as a thank you for signing up for my newsletter! So Victoria, how's this reader magnet thing going?  Well, I wrote about three-quarters of the story back in January and then I put it away for six months. Now I'm reviewing what I've written and making sure I don't have any continuity errors.

My reader magnet is a little prequel to my first book and the main characters in it are Zaina's mom and stepdad. This story allowed me to write an age gap where she's the older of the pair! When it is done, I'll make a post linking to the story so you can visit Marley Creek for a fun weekend. 

I got a secondhand copy of this book as a gift. If you are looking to get me a gift, you can't go wrong with a secondhand book, especially if it's a cozy!  Murder of the Cat's Meow is the fifteenth book in Denise Swason's Scumble River Series. I haven't read any other books in this series and I didn't have any trouble following the storyline.  I love when a cozy mystery series is written well enough that I don't have to read in order!  This was an enjoyable cozy, there were several possible suspects and I wasn't sure who did it. 

In this book, you get to know the murder victim before the murder which I know many people prefer. I enjoyed that our amateur sleuth doesn't put herself in unnecessarily dangerous situations and that she is a consultant to the police department. There is also a fun ghost situation as a small side plot. Lastly, this book is practically spicy for a cozy! I wonder, since this was written twelve years ago, if cozy mysteries have gotten more puritanical in the last five or so years.  Something for someone to blog about.

Have you read anything good lately?  How is your week going? 

I'm embracing the upcoming change of season. Looking forward to those lovely September days!

The Sunday Post Celebrating Birthdays!

 

The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted here @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on your blog for the week ahead. Join in weekly, bi-weekly, or for a monthly wrap-up. you can write about what is coming up on your blog for the week ahead. Join in weekly, bi-weekly, or for a monthly wrap-up. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme

My birthday has just passed and what happens as soon as my birthday is over? You guessed it, I'm ready for autumn! When you think about it, isn't August autumn eve? I couldn't help but purchase a few items for fall.  I've picked up a couple of fun Halloween themed T-shirts and I also got a big package of stickers.

Email me if you'd like me to send you some spooky season stickers! victoriahamel14@gmail.com

Recent books I've read and will be talking about include: 

Quick Trip Before Summer is Over! And A Classic Cozy Mystery!

 

Today we are heading to the mountains of North Georgia to celebrate my dad's birthday! We are driving and staying at a VRBO by a creek. I'll be sure to take and share some pictures because Appalachia is beautiful.  It's also an extremely old area, so I assume there are ghosts around every turn. 

While we are there I'm hoping to go to the bookstore on the square and also pick up some preserves and local honey. Speaking of food, when we drove down in the spring we stopped at a Bojangles and I had the most delicious fried ham and pimento cheese biscuit. I still haven't recovered. 

One of our kiddos has to work and is missing the party. I hope that they don't put my iron skillet in the dishwasher like they did the last time I wasn't home...

Now on to a cozy mystery. Recently I listened to the audio version of Death in Castle Dark by Veronica Bond. It was the book of the month for the Cozy Mystery Book Club. If you want to hear Angela and her guest discuss this book you can watch the live stream on YouTube. I thought the book was pretty good. If someone asked me to recommend a cozy mystery book to someone who doesn't read the genre, this would be a good pick. It has all the classic cozy mystery elements. You've got a murder, of course, a potential love interest, a quirky new friend and cats. Plus there's a castle! 

3.5 stars for Death in Castle Dark!

The August book club book is Death and Gondola. I'm waiting til I have an audible credit to listen to it this month!  How about you?Any August vacations or books you are looking forward to reading before the month is over? 

Rich People Stuff-- What Do You Think? The Paradise Problem

 A couple of weeks ago, I went with my husband to the ER (he is fine.) I brought The Paradise Problem with to read. I should have brought another book along, but silly me didn't think we'd be in the ER for eight hours, I thought we'd be out in two hours. Lesson learned always take two physical books to medical facilities. 

I enjoyed Christina Lauren's writing. The dialogue is snappy and they really turn a nice phrase. This book is about obscenely wealthy people on a private island, so if you like an escapist setting this should be a hit for you. The cast of side characters is large and I didn't feel a strong connection to them, which is fine as this book is very focused on our main characters. This is a fake relationship story and it's interesting to see how the situation is resolved.  

If you like rom-com dialogue and lush settings, give this romance a read!

Four Stars for The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren!

Next week our school district goes back to school! Boy did this summer fly by! My garden continues to do very well. And I have a ton of tomatoes slowly ripening. I have these tiny little cherry tomatoes that are as big as a blueberry and I cannot wait to pick a bunch of those. I am hoping that they ripen before Anna heads back to college, she loves tomatoes on her avocado toast! 

Need Some Witchy Goodness in Your Life? Tik Tok Should Be Talking About This Book!

 

This new release is the first book in the Bewitched Billionaires series. I don't care too much for the billionaire subgenre, but in this series, the women and the ones with the billions and this series takes place in a magic small town, so it's more aligned with the small-town genre than billionaires, which is great!

The romance at the center of the story is nice and pretty cozy. It one where you the reader are enjoying watching the couple be a little hard-headed and foolish on their way to their HEA. If you are looking for cozy witch vibes the town of Owl Cove delivers!  The magical world is very practical and magic is a help it's not a cure-all.  

Owl Cove has cute shops and delicious restaurants. Brigid Hunt provides some mouthwatering descriptions of dinners.  She also makes sure to have a town festival during the story.  The town side characters are developed well for our first introduction to them and I can't wait for the next book in this series--which I think will be set near Halloween (Samhain) 

This book is on Kindle and paperback and it was a five-star read for me! 

To kick off my birthday month I went to Lollapalooza with my youngest kiddo. It was very hot and I should have worn shorts and a different pair of shoes, but at least it didn't rain except a little at the very end. The music was excellent.  We saw Chappell Roan and she put on a great show.It was packed to see her! My favorite was the headliner Hoizer. I saw him at his first Lollapalooza back in 2014 and now I've seen him on the big stage! 

This is the crowd for Chappell Roan. I'm in there somewhere towards the back!

I love Chicago! Storm clouds rolled in as Hoizer took the stage but the rain held off except for a few minutes at the end. 

The Sunday Post: Birthday Month, The Bridge to Fall, and Back to School All Rolled Into One!

 

The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted here @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on your blog for the week ahead. Join in weekly, bi-weekly, or for a monthly wrap-up. you can write about what is coming up on your blog for the week ahead. Join in weekly, bi-weekly, or for a monthly wrap-up. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme

How do you feel about August?  It's my birthday month, so I'm a fan.  August has also always been bittersweet for me. As a kid, I loved summer and once my birthday rolled around, I couldn't ignore the fact that school was right around the corner. When I had kids, same feelings!  And now that I work at a school, I'm happy to go back and also I like sleeping in! 

Fall was a very busy month, the hubs and I went to Colorado. He had altitude sickness and that put quite the damper on the trip. On the way home, I googled the elevation of my dream vacations, Coastal Maine, Scotland, and South Korea. Thank goodness all of those locations are close to sea level!

Below is a picture from our trip. If you find yourself in Colorado make sure you drink loads of water that helps with the elevation and the fact that Colorado is more desert than you think! 

This is from the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. A free city park!

I also went to a concert at The Salt Shed with my middle kiddo and another concert with a friend. I'm having a real music-filled summer!

I love how our Chicago concert venues have views of the City!  This one is right on the Chicago River so people sit in their boats and see the show as well! I went to this concert with middle kiddo, we saw AWOLNATION and 311.

How was your July?  I also read some books worth talking about and released my own book! 

I'm currently reading this book. It's my first time reading a Regency male/male romance. I'm very curious how they will have a HEA!

A Mystery in the Agatha Christie Tradition - Patchwork Quilt Murder

 I pre-ordered this book at some point earlier this year and forgot all about the pre-ordering. I recently got around to reading it and it is a five-star book for me. The Lucy Stone series is marketed as a cozy mystery series and to be sure there are craft and cooking themes in many of the books, but the series is more in the vein of a classic Agatha Christie-style mystery. 

In this book we say goodbye to an old friend, not Ms Tilley, I'm almost certain she is immortal. There are some heavy themes in this book including frank discussions of mental illness. Leslie Meier excels in writing books that address the current moments in society and how that affects the imaginary town of Tinker's Cove. Lucy Stone and the other residents feel like real people and it's very easy to immerse myself in her books. It's like visiting family. 

I read the books out of order, there isn't any romantic subplot, Lucy has her same group of friends, and the children grow up. If you prefer romance-free cozies, this could be a good series for you. 

This cover is quite cute! 

I sent my third book off to my editor and am using my writing time to try and make social media posts. This is my latest attempt using Canva. How many hours will it take to gain some mastery of Canva? I've got a long way to go! 

Is There Anything Better Than a Cozy Mystery and Charcuterie?

 

Something about summertime always has me reading cozy mysteries, it might be because my library has an adult summer reading challenge with prizes? The Diva Goes Overboard is the seventeenth book in The Domestic Diva Series. I've read many of the books in this series, but not all of them. Once again, Krista Davis puts together a mystery where I almost have it figured out, but the total solution alludes me. The title of this is funny because there is a scene where someone goes overboard, and in the book there are all these scenes involving charcuterie boards. Well done, Ms.Davis!  

I borrowed this book from my library and since we are having a summer reading challenge, maybe I'll win a fun prize for this read! I would say it is a 4-star book. Enjoyable and not super easy to solve the mystery!

Even though some tiny bugs are still eating the heck of the leaves on my flowers. Look at this beautiful zinnia! 

The Sunday Post- Have you finished watching Bridgerton yet?

 

The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted here @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news a

The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted here @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on your blog for the week ahead. Join in weekly, bi-weekly, or for a monthly wrap-up. you can write about what is coming up on your blog for the week ahead. Join in weekly, bi-weekly, or for a monthly wrap-up. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme

Having finished my rough draft of Is This Love Fur Real, I watched the second half of Bridgerton yesterday.  It was very well done, I thoroughly enjoyed Penelope and Portia coming to a better understanding and healing their relationship.  Portia Featherington is one of my favorite characters. I read many a social media post about the season while scrolling and geez Louise people really go overboard on critiques. 

Readingwise, I finished The Diva Goes Overboard and am a third of the way through the latest Lucy Stone cozy mystery.  I'm also listening to a Kim Harrison audible exclusive. I'll be making a concerted effort to make my posts about these books and more this week. 

I've completed the first week of summer school and we only have two weeks left!  Summer school is only three and a half hours per day four days a week and we only go through June twenty-seventh, so it's nice. I'm working in a classroom of junior high kids. I was worried they would be a lot to handle, but I have found they are just wonderful and delightful!

In garden news, my zinnias have bloomed and we have cucumbers!  How was your week? 

Oh I almost forgot yesterday I ran a 5K for Imerman Angels!  Bonus was my middle kiddo ran it too! It was his first race!

The race is held at Montrose Beach (Lake Michigan) 

And here are my garden pics!