Happy Halloween (almost) The Sunday Post 10/30

   

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. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme 

A few photos of Halloween's past. I'm still pretty proud of that Olivia pumpkin Anna and I crafted long ago. Did you do anything Halloween-y this weekend? Do you get trick-or-treaters?  We don't get any trick-or-treaters, which I find to be a major bummer. This year youngest child is at college so I can't pester her to carve a pumpkin. Middle kiddo spent the past few weeks making a Halloween costume and he won a contest--so that was exciting.  He was a character from the video game Metal Gear Solid #5 -- Venom Snake. Oldest Child is working at our local Haunted Hayride and this year he is playing an evil doctor!  

Fun to see the kids enjoying Halloween as young adults! Today me, the middle kiddo, and maybe the hubs will be carving pumpkins--mostly because Tom wants me to make roasted pumpkin seeds. They are so good when they are fresh out of the oven! 

Happy Halloween! 

Before Spooky Season Ends Give This a Listen

 On the one hand, I do love the holiday season and for me, it starts November 1st--hey I like to plan stuff so i need to be organizing and planning before Thanksgiving--, and on the other hand, it seems like August was last week.   Checking my calendar reminds me that while I feel like October just started, we are in fact just a few days away from Halloween! 

If you are looking for something to listen to put you in a spooky state of mind, I recommend this audiobook, The Grand Hotel: A Novel by Scott Kenemore. It is included in your Audible Plus subscription and it's a nice spooky anthology that has a comment thread but is made up of many short stories. If you like Aaron Mahnke's 13 Days of Halloween podcast, this audiobook is perfect for you. 

I don't recall if it contains "R" rated material, I think it might be OK to listen to with kids, but definitely check into that yourself before putting it on for the whole car or house to hear! 

4 Stars for a nice anthology filled with ghosts and ghouls and a nice twist at the end!

Finally Not Feeling Sick AND a *Delighful* new Holiday Romance by A Debut Author!

So I started off September with Covid finally catching me. I was so close to getting that next booster when BAM! I was infected. Fortunately, it wasn't that bad. I have had way worse colds and cases of flu.

Unfortunately, shortly after getting over the covid fatigue, I caught a cold--did I mention I'm working at a school with kindergarteners and first graders?  Yep, so you can see how I wound up with a cold. Any who so that turned into a sinus infection.   Yesterday I finished antibiotics and am now feeling much better. The dumb cold was worse than Covid for me. That's why I get vaccinated for all the stuff I can get vaccinated for, I really don't want any flu or more Covid or anything else. 

My reading has been at a snail's pace and watching TV shows and movies has been more my speed.  This week I have managed to start feeling good enough to read!  

Today I am sharing a new book from a debut author, Kelly D. Reynolds.  Kelly is the creator of the romance book reviews podcast Boobies & Noobies. This is her debut book and it is a delightful, hot, full of sexy times holiday novella.  The book is set in LA and takes place from Thanksgiving to Christmas.  One of the things I liked about this book is that it takes place over weeks instead of days. It's light on the angst and heavy on Nora and Bowie falling in love. Kelly does a great job of putting just the right amount of holiday season--we have a Santa pub crawl, a tea room,  a cute dog, and talk of scones as well as a loving description of an actually delicious fruitcake. 

Best of all we have two likable leads who are grown folks who talk about what they need and want in a relationship and a wide open-door romance with toys and more! 

5 Stars!

Add this book to your kindle today --you'll thank me later! 

Harvest Cookies and Two Parts Sugar, One Part Murder Thanks NetGalley!

Two Parts Sugar, One Part Murder is the first book in a new series by Valerie Burns. I was able to read an ARC from NetGalley. The story takes place in a small town in Southwestern Michigan right on the shores of Lake Michigan. This is a charming area of the United States and a good place to set a cozy as there are many cute towns that cater to tourists with picturesque little downtowns and many people visit throughout the year. Tourists are always helpful in cozy mysteries when you don't want to kill off all the townspeople.

The star of this series is Baby the Bull Mastiff. Baby is left to Maddy in Aunt Octavia's will along with Aunt Octavia's "BabyCakes Bakery" and Aunt Octavia's gorgeous lakefront house. Maddy is pretty annoying at the beginning of the book, very self-centered, and materialistic.  She is very smart though and quickly realizes she is at a crossroads, she can continue to live off her father or she can be her own person. I liked her growth in this book. 

I look forward to seeing where things go in book two. There is a setup for more murders and betrayals ahead --and that's putting it mildly!

4 stars

#NetGalley #TwoPartsSugarOnePartMurder

****

Harvest Cookies

I used the Tastefully Simple Ah Sugar! Sugar Cookie mix--just add butter and milk and topped the cookies with candy corn.  Candy Corn is, of course, very controversial--but I will go out on a limb and just let you know I do like Candy Corn in the fall. How about you? 

The cookies came out flat because I used almost melted butter instead of just softened butter.  Live and Learn!

 

This Holiday Weekend is Not Going So Great #TheSundayPost

  

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. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme 

Yesterday I got my flu shot and today my right arm hurts and I'm feeling fatigue. Adding to that is that Ragweed counts are high and the Claritin I take is just taking the edge off. My throat is so itchy the inside of my ears itch! Now this morning to top off what was looking to be not a great day, a yellow jacket stung me on my foot. Two days in a row I've been punctured. Now my foot itches and hurts. BOOOOO

I hope you are having a nice Labor Day Weekend. I don't feel great so I don't know what all I'll be posting about this week. I can share two books I was able to add to my NetGalley shelf--see below!

How is your weekend going? Do you have fun weekend plans?

#TheAccidental Alchemist Paranormal Cozy 1st in A Series

A while back I saw that The Accidental Alchemist by Gigi Pandian was free on audible, so I gave it a listen.  I've been meaning to start this series for quite some time, but for whatever reason, other books kept jumping the line. Lucky for me I got around to this book. I found it to be delightful. As you know if you read this blog I enjoy cozy mysteries with supernatural elements. In this book, Gigi Pandian does an excellent mixing of mythology as well as actual history around alchemy. She also has some mouthwatering culinary talk around vegan cooking.  Side note, sometimes vegan people can be a little judgy about us carnivores, but in this book, the vegan talk is very organic and made me want to try Zoe and Dorian's cooking. Especially Dorian's!  

The setting lends itself to the paranormal vibes, the characters are unique but not kooky, and the mystery was compelling. In the end, there is enough resolution to make me happy and enough plot threads that are still unresolved to have me reaching for book two. 

Five Stars from me! 

It's almost September so I'm getting ready for fall. I wanted to try my hand at some Halloween-y cookies and I think these turned out pretty cute. I used a Tastefully Simple Cookie Mix (Peanut Butter Bliss) as my base and then I turned Peanut Butter Blossom cookies into Spider Blossom Cookies! I think Spiders have quite a few eyes, but I thought I keep it cute and not an accurate representation!

 

Fun Cozy Mystery Audio Series, Nearly Departed in Deadwood by Ann Charles

 

As autumn arrives, I am drawn to reading more paranormal stories, and I was happy to find this series of which at least a few books are included in my audible subscription.  The series has paranormal elements that we learn just a little about in this first book in the series. A couple of features of this series that made it stand out to me are that it takes place in South Dakota--not many cozies are set in the Dakotas. Secondly, our amateur slueth is a single mom with nine-year-old twins.  Single moms with young kids are also rare in cozies.  

I was concerned when I was just 30 minutes from the end of the book that one of the main storylines was not going to be resolved in anyway, but fortunately it was--this book ends without any cliffhangers and leaves you interested in what is going to happen next in Violet's life. Some reviewers found her kids annoying but I didn't mind. I would say if you don't like grade school kids in your mysteries this is probably not the series for you. 

3.5 stars from me.

End of Summer #TheSundayPost

 

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. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme 

One thing not many people know is that Chicago has the best Septembers. The weather is excellent.  Warm days, cool nights, and less humidity. It's a great time to live here--and September is almost here.  I am starting my second week working as a Lunch Supervisor for the local elementary school. It's a fast-paced 2.5 hours each school day with loads of sweet kiddos (it's all kindergarten and first-grade kids so they have lots and lots of energy and are learning the ropes of what it is to attend school.  Do you have any fond memories of kindergarten? 

On the reading front, I am behind as per usual this year on my reviews. This week I plan to post about these books:

An Audible Original IE No Credits Needed!

 I was looking for something to listen to while I was running and I saw this on audible and, well free is my favorite, so I quickly downloaded it! I  found this to be a quick, fun listen.  I didn't care too much for 3 out of the four widows at first, but by the halfway point of the story, the writing had me rooting for those ladies.  This is part thriller, part mystery, and part mafia wives' story. 

Each of the widows is voiced by a different writer, so this is an ensemble story as opposed to your classic audiobook. The story takes place in the 1980s and has a nice level of camp. If you are looking for something fun to listen to while you are working out, commuting, or doing chores around the house, give this a listen. 

3 stars for this fun audiobook! 

The Once and Future Witches

 I listened to the audio version of this book and it did take me a little while to get into the book, it has three POV characters so just a little time to get straight which sister was which, but once it got rolling. I loved it. I thought there were so many lines in it at were lyrical or a unique metaphor that I'm planning to buy the book so that I can see the words.

The idea that women are actually witches and that the powers that be want to keep women stripped of the witchcraft so that they were subservient to the male patriarchy, well as the kids say, it just hit different post-Roe than it might have hit before.  The book felt like thinly veiled nonfiction. 

In this book, Alix E.Harrow writes about the generations of women passing down the spells of their ancestors via nursery rhymes. I just thought that was so clever.  

One of the criticisms of this book that I saw was readers felt it was too long.  It is a longer book, but the storytelling really worked for me and I would say don't discount it based on the length.  My favorite chapter of the book was chapter 36. A lovely payoff to a couple of the storylines.  Additionally, this book does a nice job of incorporating real history in the fictional story.  

If you are looking for a witchy book, consider giving this book a try.  This one was a 5 star read for me!