Some October in August! #MrsClausandtheHalloweenHomicide #NetGalley

Having enjoyed Mrs. Claus and the Santaland Slayings, I was excited to request an ARC of the second book in the series from NetGalley.  I know it's only mid-August, but I'm ready to start getting excited for spooky season.  

Liz Ireland does a nice job of expanding the Mrs. Claus Universe I enjoyed learning about snow monsters as part of the newfound Halloween traditions of the town.  I love how April had embraced her sleuthing tendencies and is building lasting relationships in her adopted home. 

Unlike most cozy mysteries, there is no body in the first chapter.  In this story there is a different inciting incident and then you read on with bated breath wondering is someone about to get it?  Who is going to be the victim?  The only thing I would like to see in the book would be to have Nick be a more in-depth character. I feel he is not as fleshed out as his mother, sister, or sister-in-law, or even as much as elfman Jingles.

This seasonal cozy has a great mystery and is chock-full of the Halloween spirit. 4 stars!  Or should I  say 4 🎃🎃🎃🎃!!!

 Definitely add this to your fall reading list! 

 

#TheSundayPost #I'mBack!

 

The Sunday Post is a weekly 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 our blog for the week ahead.  See rules here: Sunday Post Meme

Talk about making plans-ha!  We went on our vacation and I think I read about 5 pages. The husband was not feeling well, vertigo, nausea, headaches--daughter was not feeling well. My medication usually means I'm not up to par...I did most of the driving.  Husband and Daughter felt better when we got past the mountains on the way home. I think it was a case of altitude and maybe mold or other allergies.  It wasn't Covid, so I guess that is something since where we vacationed has a low vaccine rate, and only about 1 in 10 people we saw were wearing masks indoors. While we are all vaccinated, we wore masks when indoors in public places due to the spread of the Delta Variant. 

The house we rented was as nice as the pictures, to be honest, I felt like I did as much cooking and cleaning as if we were home.  My new goal is to vacation at an all-inclusive! The main purpose of this trip was to see my parents so that we were able to do and that's what counts. It had been years! 

We also got to see my brother from Canada and it had been four years since we had gotten to see him. One of our kids stayed home because he couldn't get off work, which was a bummer, he was missed!  My other brother and his family came down with Covid right after we arrived, so we did not see them at all. They are not vaccinated.  

It is a real disappointment to have done everything we can to not catch or spread Covid only to see far too many people choose not to do what they can do to stop the virus from infecting other people. If I had to describe our trip in a phrase, I would call it emotionally taxing. 

Since we got home, I've been noticeably fatigued--stupid medicine.  I hope I will figure out how to manage the fatigue--ie. how to feed myself more energy and how to manage my life so I'm not overpromising and underdelivering.  An example of that is I was going to have a garage sale this week, but by the time we were headed home last Sunday I knew I was not going to pull it off! 

What I can manage to do this week is share my thoughts on these three books--

Thanks for reading my blog.  Typing things out helped me feel better!  How was your week? 

Second Book in a Witchy Cozy! #TwoWickedDesserts #NetGalley

 Two Wicked Desserts is the second book in Lynn Cahoon's Kitchen Witch Mystery series. I would say that this is a paranormal lite cozy.  I think if you are not interested in a cozy that really leans into the magic, you will probably enjoy this series as while there is some magic, the amateur sleuth still solves the murder using traditional questioning and observations.

I like Mia our main character, she is steadfast and remains calm even when bad people are after her.  There is a nice slow romance with Trent, who is a grocery store owner and not in law enforcement, which is nice.  Instead we have a competent sherrif in Mark Baldwin and Mark and Mia have an entertaining bit of bickering throughout the book. 

The food and catering talk in the book is mouth-watering and the pets and Mia's grandma give the story just right amount of magic.  This second book is a nice continuation of the first and I look forward to what happens next!

4.5 Stars for Two Wicked Desserts

***

Now that it is August is it time to start reading books about Autumn? What do you think?  I think anytime after my birthday (which is in August) is a fine time to start dreaming of the fall. 

#TheSundayPost! Bye July! Hello Air Fryer August!

 

The Sunday Post is a weekly 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 our blog for the week ahead.  See rules here: Sunday Post Meme

Hi, Hi! I'm starting to feel much more like myself, I think it is the ton of water I am drinking and the adherence to small meals.  I am happy to report that even with the new medication, I managed to run 11 miles today! Thank goodness the weather was less humid, that helped so much.  I am hoping this month I will be up to speed with my reading.  We are going on vacation and I am thinking I should take like 5 books, just in case the WiFi is dicey, plus it's a long drive. 

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I decided to start selling Tastefully Simple again; and since my favorite part of that is talking about making meals, so starting in August I'm going to do Zoom meal preps.  I'm looking forward to figuring out how to my own little cooking shows. This month I'm starting with meal prep with our Air Fryer 5-meal kit! We have a recipe for Air Fryer Buffalo Cauliflower I'm going to try!

How was your week?  We enjoyed watching Outer Banks Season 2 on Netflix. It's a great little escape. 

Books I'll be posting about this week:

And hopefully at least one more book TBD! 

Happy August!

Fanciful, Magical Cozy Hits The Spot! The Ghost Camper's Tall Tales by Elizabeth Pantley

 This is the third book in Elizabeth Pantley's Destiny Falls Mystery & Magic series. I enjoy the whimsy of this series and the real coziness of the magic.  Houses and gardens changing daily to suit the needs of their occupants--how cozy! 

I was having a rough week and this book was a perfect escape for me.  On one hand, you have the ongoing mystery of Hayden's missing mother, and a new murder in Destiny Falls and on the other hand you have the magical mansion and grounds of the Caldwell Family ---plus a witch, ghosts and telepathic cats. This is a book to read and forget all your worries. 

The book is out on Monday 8/2 via Amazon. Treat yourself to a fun tale, that could be even more fun read around a campfire! 

The twist with the solo ticket to Gladstone at the end was so sweet.  

4 Stars!  Whimsy at it's best! 

Week 2: Thursday #BCSM Post: Notes on taking Lynparza aka Olaparib

 

Yeah I'm still trying to navigate side effects. I'm starting to wonder if I have anticipatory nausea and if that is even a thing. 

Thursday (361 to go) I struggled with fatigue and then when I tried to take a nap, then I wasn't able to sleep. For dinner we got carryout and I ate too much and didn't feel very good afterward.  

Friday (360 to go) I went for a run and felt good for the run. I made sure to eat small meals/snacks and that helped me feel less queasy.  Overall I felt the best since starting the drug, but then after the second dose at night then I felt more nausea and had real trouble falling asleep. 

Saturday (359 to go) Long run today, 7 miles it was really tough, but it was also really hot so I don't know if it was the medication or the weather. I made sure to practice better-eating habits and drank lots of water. This helps.  I also found a little bottle of peppermint essential oil. I am going to try putting a little on my pillow to help at night. 

Sunday (358 to go)  Day of rest, so no running for me. Hot and humid as can be outside so I spent time in my little pool and took the dog for a walk.  Also went to Aldi to get groceries. I had to push myself to do the grocery shopping since I felt queasy, food didn't appeal to me in the store, which reduced impulse purchases, but that was offset by having the hubs with--he did some impulse shopping! The best time of day was late afternoon/evening. Had trouble falling asleep, which is the opposite of how this drug is supposed to work!

Monday (357 to go) My main focus today is on eating.  I began the day with greek yogurt.  Small meals often are going to be key in me being able to tame the constant queasiness. If I can manage that, then I'll be (knock on wood) golden. 

Tuesday (356 to go) Changing my eating to small meals and snacks is paying off in a big reduction in queasiness. I am finding random foods I usually like have lost appeal, a bummer, but I can handle that. In the late afternoon, I have fatigue. I do not have fatigue at the right time--which would be at bedtime! 

Wednesday (355 to go) The number #1 most common side effect of this drug is diarrhea. For me, this means the number one side effect I will have is the opposite of that, at least I have experience in how to manage that side effect.  

Overall, I feel much better than last week. Thank goodness.  Now to manage the latest side effect, I need to go buy some Benefiber. The Hubs asked if they will be able to do a test to show if the drug is working and I explained to him that there isn't. Monday I have bloodwork to make sure my red and white blood cells are doing well. I don't have much fatigue so I *think* they are in good shape. 

Death Bee Comes Her - The July Book of the Month for The Cozy Mystery Book Club!

 

 

 Join us tomorrow for the youtube live stream! There are some great DIY honey recipes in this book. I am definitely going to make the salve for the dog's paws for our dog. If you like a cozy mystery where the amateur sleuth is very connected to her cozy companion, you will like this book. If you are looking for spooky season reads, this one is pretty Halloweeny! 

 Overall I thought this was a decent first book in a cozy mystery series, I found the sheriff to be very cookie cutter and I thought the other love interest would have more to do with the central mystery. This book could have been turned into a real psychological thriller if Porsche was the murderer instead of the best friend...but don't worry this is cozy! 

I really enjoyed the honey recipes, tips, and general information about bees shared in the book. I thought Wren was likable enough, I didn't really connect with her that much. I appreciated that for a change, our main character called a lawyer instead of running around talking to everyone and waiting to get themselves arrested.  However, I felt that we don't really learn very much about Wren in this first book, lots of backstories to come I assume. 

 My star rating is 3.5. The best part of the book for me was bee talk.

#TheSundayPost It was a Rough Week.

 

The Sunday Post is a weekly 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 our blog for the week ahead.  See rules here: Sunday Post Meme

Side effect stink. I'm a week into taking a medication I talked about last week and that I blog about on Thursdays and medication really kicked my butt last week. The best way to describe it is, if you've ever been a little hungover, it's like that.  Or if you've ever had a touch of the flu while recovering from a mild case of food poisoning. I'm hoping the side effects lessen over the next week--or that I figure out good mitigation techniques.

And so with feeling crummy, I didn't get enough reading done. I am still reading these two books :

And I'm almost done reading the Cozy Mystery Book Club book of the month.  The live stream will be on Tuesday if you want to join us to talk about this book:

How was your week?  Did you do anything fun? 

Thursday #BCSM Post: Notes on taking Lynparza

 On Thursdays for the next year (ideally), I will be posting about how things are going for me as I take a drug called Lynparza to reduce my risk of a cancer recurrence. This drug is called a PARP inhibitor here is  very short blog post that give you the gist of what they do.  

Recently a study was done on people like me who have a BRCA 1 or 2 mutation and who had early stage breast cancer that was aggressive and more likely to come back than other breast cancers.  This study found that if people took Lynparza for one year after completing other cancer treatments (surgery, chemo and radiation) they had a lower risk of cancer coming back or a new cancer.  

I read the research and I read articles about the research and in June the American Society of Clinical Oncologists determined that this drug was impactful enough to warrant recommending it for people like me. You see this drug has been around for a while in use for people who have BRCA 1/2 mutation in the Stage IV setting--so it is not new, new. I talked about it with the Hubs and we decided that if I could get it covered by insurance, I would go ahead and take it for the year.  

Then I had my regular appointment with my oncologist and we talked about it. She put in the order for the drug and much to my surprise my insurance is covering it. (surprise because it is new for early stage patients).

Sunday I started taking the drug.  Like I said, I will only be taking it for one year and it is the newest possible way to reduce my risk of recurrence. I thought long and hard about whether or not I wanted to do this. This drug is considered chemo, but it isn't nearly as brutal as IV Chemo.  

Frankly if this drug made my hair fall out, I don't know that I'd be taking it. I take 2 pills in the morning and 2 pills at night. Day one I felt queasy.  Like you would if you were experiencing low grade morning sickness or a little hangover.

Monday Day 2- (364 days to go)  I had trouble sleeping, not a typical side effect.  I felt like I was on the brink of stomach upset all day, but didn't have any stomach problems so that was good. I did my Monday run w/hills. Suprisingly my heart rate was really good during my run.

Tuesday Day 3 (363 days to go) Better sleep. I feel like I am at the start or the end of a cold.  A little queasy, a little tired, about 20% off my game.  Drank coffee and didn't eat too close to taking morning pill and almost wound up w/serious nausea.

Wednesday Day 4 (362 days to go) Slept more than usual. I can tell I have fatigue from the drug, I have to make the effort to stay active or I can feel it will creep up. I am glad this is only for one year and I hope it ensures I don't have to ever take a cancer drug again. 

*****

After next week I will have bloodwork.  I need to make sure to get lots of protein.   

Audio Challenge Update! Halfway to December- #AudiobookChallenge

This is a little belated, so I'm glad I've remembered to get this post up!  It's time for my midyear Audiobook Challenge check in!  The 2021 Audiobook Challenge is being run by Caffeinated Reviewer, you can check it out here and join us! 

My goal for this challenge is Marthoner level (no surprise there) and that means 50 audiobooks over 2021. Where am I at?  Great question... I went back through my posts from this year and so far I've listened to 22 audiobooks. So I'm only about 4 books behind where I should be at this point of the year. 

Lucky for me it's easier to catch up on a listening challenge than it is actual marathon training.  Lately I have not found myself absorbed by an audiobook. I have three books currently in progress.  Nothing has been catching my ear lately!  On the plus side, in a couple days I'll have 2 credits added to my Audible account and I'll be able to pick up a new release or two with those credits. 

The garden is starting to really produce zuchinni and I'm trying to get creative in ways I can shred zuchinni and add it to meals. Tonight I put a cup of shredded zucchini with a pound of ground turkey and 1/4 cup of Bacon Pepper Jam mixed that together to make burgers.  They turned out very well and now I have a new way to use up my produce.  Next up, zuchinni shredded and added to pasta sauce.