Books Completed in January 2025

 One Christmas in Washington, David Bercuson and Holger Herwig

  The Joys of Christmas 2013 -Guideposts

  Ideals Christmas 2024

 Ideals Christmas 2025

 The Eight Heartbreaks of Hanukkah, Jean Meltzer

 Old Christmas, Washington Irving

 The Little Book of the Nativity, Dominique Foufelle

  Re-read: A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens

 Goodness and Light and Watch for the Light

 Quincy's Curse, Keith Robinson
In this quirky fantasy, Quincy Flack, a boy who believes he's cursed, moves to a new village with his abusive aunt and uncle (think the Dursleys) and is befriended by Megan Mugwood, a plucky girl who lives with her widowed mother, experiencing hard times since her father was killed by a dragon. Next thing you know, they've met a wizard—he says he's not—who can "grow mountains."

This is rather oddly told, from the point of view of each new character that Quincy, Megan, and Pagfire encounter, rather than the other way around, so you really don't get a whole lot of character development. But it's a fun story to see how the coincidences work out.

  Unearthing The Secret Garden, Marta McDowell
I say I didn't inherit the Italian gene for gardening; however, I can't seem to resist these garden-related books by McDowell (Beatrix Potter's Gardening Life, The World of Laura Ingalls Wilder). Maybe because I would like to have a beautiful walled garden like in the Burnett book, but don't want to do the work!

If you like The Secret Garden, you'll probably enjoy this book, as it tells an abridged version of Burnett's life, and her special affection for gardens: wherever she lived, she always had one, even if it was a leased property. If you love gardens/gardening, then this is just the book for you, with beautiful black-and-white/color photographs of Burnett in her gardens or just of the flowers in her gardens. As a bonus, the volume includes three of Burnett's short writings: an essay about her gardens, an article about the "ha-ha," an English estate feature that separated gardens from parkland, and the story of the robin that inspired the robin character in The Secret Garden.

  The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association, Caitlin Rozakis
Vivian and Daniel Tanaka and their five-year-old daughter Aria were just normal people until Aria is bitten by an emotionally-disturbed werewolf. Since she can't go to a human-only school because of her unfortunate tendency to shift, sometimes in mid-play, they are forced to send her to the magical Grimoire Grammar school, where Vivian feels left out because she's only mortal, and tries to juggle Aria's magical curriculum and be part of a community. But someone seems to be targeting Aria as part of a prophecy that states the community will be destroyed.

Think PTA politics taking place at Hogwarts. The enjoyment in this book is the magical, yet mundane, universe that Rozakis builds around the Tanaka family, with gossiping, pushy parents.

  Feuds, edited by Mercedes Lackey
These are 21 new stories from Lackey's world of Valdemar, about Heralds, Bards, Healers, and recurring characters like Nwah the kyree.

I'm still really not sure that I like the "themed" volumes that they've done the last few times. Shenanigans rather bored me, although Anything With Nothing was better. I have to say about this one, though, that I enjoyed how each writer addressed "feuds" differently, with different concepts (especially the first story, which had the creepy "full circle" vibe to it), and that there's really not a bad story in the bunch. We even get a Vanyel story where he pairs up with his aunt in a story that parallels Romeo and Juliet. I got a big kick out of Vanyel posing as "Jackomo, Prince of Minstrels and Minstrel to the Prince," revealing that Misty Lackey is a fan of the wonderful Danny Kaye film The Court Jester (Kaye poses as Giacomo, King of Jesters and Jester to the King).

  The Martians, David Baron
Who hasn't heard of the Lowell Observatory? Certainly I'd heard about it, and thought Percival Lowell was a famous scientist.

He wasn't, just a rich Massachusetts dilettante from the famous Lowell family of cotton mill fame (Amy Lowell, the 19th century poet famous for "Patterns," was his sister). He went looking for novelty, including during trips abroad, where he encountered the charismatic Camille Flammarion, an astronomer who opened the minds of hundreds to the wonders of space. But the real obsession with Mars began when astronomers at the Lick Observatory spotted three lights in a triangular pattern and an Italian named Schiaparelli mapped the planet and identified lines he called "channels," translated as "canals" in English, clear evidence of life on Mars—and Martian obsession was on, with everyone from H.G. Wells to Nikola Tesla involved.

If you thought alien-mania started after Roswell, this will disabuse the notion. Illustrated with black-and-white pictures from the newspapers of the time.

 The Mating Game, Lana Ferguson
This is a companion book to Ferguson's The Fake Mate (Nate, the doctor in that novel, is related to Hunter Barrett). I wasn't enchanted by that one, but this one was half price...another omegaverse novel, this about Tess Covington, who discovers she's a late-bloomer wolf-shifter who's also an omega about to go through her first heat. Her doctors tell her it would be dangerous to take heat suppressants before her first heat, so she's advised to keep away from alphas.

Unfortunately, her next client for redesign—she and her brothers are hoping for a home redesign show on HGTV—is Hunter Barrett, a small-town lodge owner, an alpha who's avoiding romance. The prospects for the redesign are good, since the lodge is charming but how will these two stay away from each other, especially after Tess starts going into full-blown heat?

I liked this one a little better. The lodge sounds like a really nifty place and Hunter's protectiveness of Tess was very sweet.

Books Completed in April 2025

  Re-read: The Call of the Wild, Jack London
I read this first as a Whitman classic, back at a single-digit age. It's not a children's book, but I loved it: it was about a dog, a dog who survives the worst humans and nature can throw at him, and emerges triumphant.

I hadn't read it in a while, but found a lovely, illustrated copy at Barnes & Noble the other day. It's terrible and savage, but beautiful and wonderful, and I had forgotten so many brilliant passages. The story of Buck is timeless.

 The Science of Sherlock Holmes, E.J. Wagner
Sherlock Holmes was one of the first popular detectives to use what we now know as forensics, the science behind the evidence in crimes, from the Great Detective's study of bruising on bodies to his knowledge of tobacco ash. This book discusses real-life Victorian crimes that parallel crimes in the Holmes canon, from poisons to blood evidence, disguises on both sides of the law (the Crippen case is featured, of course) and the examination of crime scenes, ballistics and footprints, and more. For fans of the canon or of the history of forensics.

  Re-read: The Rock That is Higher: Story as Truth, Madeleine L'Engle
This was my Good Friday reading for this year; I usually just read until three o'clock comes, but this year, with the loss of my husband, I had to finish. L'Engle has been my soul-ease in bad times for years.

  Damn Glad to Meet You, Tim Matheson
Matheson, who started his acting career under his real name, Tim Matthieson, is probably best known for being (1) the voice of Jonny Quest and (2) "Otter" in Animal House. This is a jaunty (but occasionally serious) recollection of his career, including his sojourn in the Marines while in the middle of finishing the film Yours, Mine, and Ours.

Matheson, a familiar television face from when he first appeared as one of Beaver's friends on Leave It to Beaver, gives us a bird's-eye-view of the television and movie industry, including behind-the-scenes peeks at how acting, directing, and producing works. It's a lively narrative with lots of name-dropping, and never a bore.

  Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus
I was waiting for this book to come out in paperback.

I needn't have wasted my money. Elizabeth Zott is a brilliant scientist, but it's the early 1950s, and the misogynist scientists at the institute where she works want her to go back to the kitchen, get married, and have babies. Luckily, there's one scientist who appreciates her mind, brilliant but absent-minded Calvin Evans. They begin living together without benefit of clergy and Elizabeth is pregnant. A co-worker steals her work plus she's an unwed mother, so for many years she and her child struggle. However, a later, chance encounter at her daughter's school leads a harassed television producer to create a local cooking show for her, Supper at Six, where she not only teaches cooking, but the science behind cooking (kind of a female Alton Brown in the 1960s). It becomes a hit.

So basically it's Elizabeth Zott against the patriarchy of the 1950s at its worst. The absurd plot includes a dog named Six-Thirty who thinks and comments on events in the story, like Cleo the basset hound in The People's Choice, an old 50s television series. This is supposed to be an indictment against the prejudice against women in the workplace in the 1950s. Instead, it's just silly. The only interesting part is about Calvin and his past.

  Last Chance Books, Kelsey Rodkey
I enjoyed this new adult romance about Madeline Moore, who's off to university in the fall, but who looks forward to coming home after her education to run the family bookstore, Books & Moore, owned by her aunt Astrid, who brought up both Maddy and her half-brother Benny. Throwing a wrench in her summer plans: her peripatetic mother, Dahlia, who never stays around very long, is planning to return to town.

And then Prologue, a chain bookstore owned by the Hamada family, opens across the street, and Jasper, the youngest son, starts trying to steal Books & Moore's business. Next thing you know, it's a spite war between Maddy and Jasper, while secretly the two are attracted to each other.

The story not only touches on the romantic rivalry, but touches on the more serious themes of how parental neglect affects children and unlikely expectations.

Books Completed Since October 1

  Inventing English, Seth Lerer
I never could resist a good linguistics book, and this was an enjoyable one.

In nineteen chapters, Lerer sketches watershed moments in the English language, from the poetry of Old English to modern vernacular. Indeed, much of the changes discussed relate to poetry, which is different from most of the English language books I have. Once French enters the scene, it becomes the language of politics and of the wealthy. Words not only change, but word order changes as well, and dialects change depending on what region of England you're from. Then along comes the Great Vowel Shift (you didn't think we could talk about the English language without this phenomenon, did you?). Chapters on Samuel Johnson's dictionary and American English and regionalisms are especially interesting.

 The Comfort of Ghosts, Jacqueline Winspear
After seventeen mysteries and several adventures along the way, this is the final novel in the Maisie Dobbs series.

World War II is over. Maisie, consulting detective for several decades, is now married to American Mark Scott, a Federal employee. They have an adopted daughter, Anna. Maisie discovers that four teenagers are living in her old Belgravia house, and that they are nursing a shell-shocked and gravely ill former soldier. As she helps them, she discovers a secret about her late husband James Compton.

In Maisie's final story, her future takes a new turn, and we see somewhat into the future of her family, her friends, and even some new family. In a surprising turn, I learned that, because of fears of invasion by the Nazis, the British recruited and trained orphan teenagers to be assassins.

I will certainly miss Maisie and her extended family. Perhaps Winspear might update their story sometime so that we find out what happened to Anna, Priscilla's sons, and others.

  Lady of the Silver Skates, Catharine Morris Wright
This is a biography of Mary Mapes Dodge, who wore many hats in her life, especially as the editor of the magazine "St. Nicholas," one of my favorite things, but she is most famous as the author of the children's book Hans Brinker; or The Silver Skates. Known as "Lizzie" in her family, she grew up in a literary family who published magazines. Lizzie later married William Dodge, but when family fortunes started reversing, and one of their children became sick, Dodge abandoned the family and was later found to have committed suicide. Lizzie was forced to support her family and thus became the editor of one of the most famous children's magazines of all time, sharing correspondence with some of the most famous writers of the time.

I was happy to find this book because of my love for "St. Nicholas," and indeed, there is almost as much about the magazine as there is about her most famous book. It's very oddly written; I can't explain totally, but it has sort of a folksy narrative that is very odd in a biography. Sometimes it annoyed me a bit; I would have preferred it more conventionally written. But it was the most I'd ever heard about Mary Mapes Dodge, who was once a household name.

 The Black Bird Oracle, Deborah Harkness
This is the first book in Harkness' sequel to the All Souls trilogy that began with A Discovery of Witches. Matthew de Clermont and Diana Bishop have lived a quiet life since Diana confronted the Congregation, raising their twin children Philip and Rebecca. They are planning to take their usual summer in London when they are summoned: because they are "Bright Born," the children must be tested by the Congregation as they turn seven. Based on her own childhood experiences, Diana is afraid that Pip and Becca will be found wanting or dangerous, and will be spellbound as was.

Diana flees with the children to Ravenswood, her mother's family's home, where a community of witches also stand in judgment toward her. Later some of the community embrace her, and others see her as an enemy. It's here she will learn secrets about her mother's family.

It's not as compelling as Discovery, but I love the universe and the characters. I was a little disappointed that all of a sudden that Diana's father, who has appeared as a nice character in the previous books, seems to become a different person in this one, and not a pleasant one. I fear she might be retconning things to make the female characters more powerful. Still, I'm looking forward to the future of this series.

  London's Secret History, Peter Bushell
I picked this up at a book sale thinking it was about unusual places in London. Instead, it contains anecdotes about the eccentric people who lived in London over the years, including Samuel Johnson, Samuel Pepys, and Sydney Smith. Some of the names are well-known, like the Mountbattens, the Duke of Devonshire, Sir Walter Raleigh, the infamous Nell Gwynn, and more.

I found this to be very funny reading before bed and am glad I spent the $1.50 on tit.

  Spy, Spy Again, Mercedes Lackey
After her awful Eye Spy, which was ruined by her totally obvious hatchet job on an unpopular (yet truly odious) politician (it could have been done so much more subtly, but no, she had to be so obvious about it that it was stupid), this final book in the trilogy about Mags and Amily's brood is a corker. Tory, the youngest, has been the best friend of Prince Kyril "Kee" since babyhood. Neither of them have been Chosen by companions, and their combined Gift (Kee can amplify Tory's farseeing) makes them prime agents to go undercover in Karse to rescue the kidnapped daughter of Bey, Mags' cousin, a professional assassin.

Siratai, however, is holding her own. Being held hostage in a keep with magic baffles, the talented assassin is keeping her Karse captors at bay, but it will take more than the assistance from Earth elementals to get her from her prison.

Tory and Kee take second place in this story to Sira, who is a kick-ass, clever protagonist. You can read this just for her.

  Over My Dead Body: Unearthing the Hidden History of America's Cemeteries, Greg Melville
This is a fascinating history of the United States from the point of view of the earliest graveyards in Jamestown which show the conditions that first winter were so bad that the remaining explorers resorted to cannibalism through the years of graveyards to cemeteries to memorial parks, and finally the future of cemeteries, given the lack of land and the damage modern burial does to the environment. One chapter talks about how Plymouth settlers' survival depended on robbing Native American graves; another addresses how enslaved persons' graves were relegated to neglected areas of plantations. Fascinating insights into how embalming became popular after the Civil War (and how embalmed bodies are polluting our planet), how cemeteries became parks, military cemeteries, the infamous "Forest Lawn," and more.

Terrific reading.

  From Bad to Cursed, Lana Harper
Part of the "Witches of Thistle Grove" series. Four families live in Thistle Grove, the earth witch Thorns, the Avramovs (who deal with dark magic), the Blackmoores descended from Camelot, and the Harlows. During Beltane celebrations, dark magic attacks Holly Thorn, nearly killing her and halting her magic. Her cousin Rowan Thorn, and Isidora Avramov, who summons demons for fun, are partnered to solve the mystery. Issy has a history with Rowan that isn't pleasant, but she tries to act professional. Naturally, they fall in love with each other.

I found some of the magic intriguing. Isadora and Rowan, not so much.

Books Completed Since November 1

  Battle of Ink and Ice, Darrell Hartman
On September 1, 1909, Dr. Frederick Cook announced he had reached the North Pole on April 21, 1908. He immediately cabled the New York Herald, which had already underwritten other explorations--it was James Gordon Bennett who had sent Henry Stanley on his search for Dr. David Livingstone. In April of 1909 Robert Peary claimed he had reached the North Pole first; The New York Times took up his cause.

This is the story of "the race for the pole"--and also the rise of New York newspapers from reporting the news to actively making news: sponsoring or even initiating events like Stanley's search for Livingstone, the Spanish-American War, and polar exploration. It's a study of James Gordon Bennett, the editor of the Herald. bon-vivant and not usually in the United States, and Adolph Ochs, the southern native who bought the Times on credit and developed the reputation it has today.

If you think "fake news" is a new thing, this book will disabuse you of that opinion immediately. More truth: neither Cook nor Peary ever reached the North Pole (although it appears Peary got closer than his opponent), and neither of them come off as sterling people in this recounting of the history; heck, even the National Geographic Society comes off as rather shabby. A sobering look at how publicity and money can corrupt.

  Band of Sisters, Lauren Willig
During World War I, a group of Smith College graduates, organized by a tireless alumnus, volunteered to go into the war zone that was Europe, to help in some way: go to villages and bring books, education, helping hands, food, and any other succor they can manage. Surely as college graduates they can manage these simple things!

But when they hit the battlefields, meet the people displaced by combat, and their supplies are delayed or don't come at all, they are forced to rely on teamwork, grit, and invention to help the children and women they have bonded with and have made promises to. It's also the story of the conflict between scholarship student Kate and wealthy, open-hearted Emmie, who had been best friends at Smith until some of Emmie's patronizing friends made Kate feel like a charity case.

This is based on a true story, told in a book written by one of the Smith graduates after the end of the Great War. I really enjoyed it more than I thought it would.

  Hooked, Emily McIntire
This was my first foray into "dark romance" and I'm not sure I'll be back. The sex scenes certainly are...spicy and graphic, though.

This is a riff off Barrie's Peter Pan in McIntire's "Never After" series (all based on fairy tales), in which James "Hook" Barrie runs a criminal drug empire along with his mentor, Ru, and has already killed the uncle who raised him, who he hated. Soon he meets a desirable young woman in his club, Wendy Michaels, who he discovers is the daughter of wealthy businessman Peter Michaels, someone Hook hates as much as he loathed his uncle, so he plans to seduce and discard her as a thumb of the nose to his enemy. But instead he finds himself falling for Wendy and starts to believe she loves him, until she appears to have betrayed him.

No soft-soaping here: there are murders, torture, drug use, child abuse, rough sex, the works. If you feel like dipping a toe in, feel free, but know what you're getting into.

  Lyra's Oxford, Philip Pullman
Pullman has written about a half dozen short stories as companions to his "His Dark Materials" trilogy. This is a 2021 special edition of the first story with illustrations by Chris Wormell, in which Lyra tries to help a raven that is to lead her to a certain alchemist. The illustrations carry this story; it's worth having just for the art.

  Fabric, Victoria Finlay
I hate sewing. I don't even like hemming pants. Occasionally I do hem things, or darn holes. So why did I buy this book? Well, because it's Victoria Finlay and I loved her books about Color and Jewels so much that I knew I'd love her writing if nothing else.

I loved this book, which tells of Finley's travels around the world to trace the history of the fabrics human beings have been using to cover themselves for hundreds of thousands of years, starting with the simplest, barkcloth, where Finley meets some of the last women in the world who still make the traditional item and utilize the original designs. Cotton, wool (and tweed), linen, silk, and others also get their due as we follow Finley around the world: Micronesia, New Guinea, the birthplaces of the cotton empire, England's wool empire, India, the fairy-tale realm (where you find out Sleeping Beauty's spindle isn't what you think it is), and so much more, centuries of different cultures, customs, and designs.

As she travels the world Finley also copes with the aging, illness, and death of both her parents. The combination of stories is unforgettable.

  Killers of the Flower Moon, David Grann
The Osage tribe of Indians were driven onto land that white men did not want late in the 1800s, where they kept to themselves and raised families. Then the discovery of oil and the need for petroleum products on their tribal lands made the Osage the wealthiest persons in the world (although the government felt they still had to be "looked after" like children). Until they began dying one by one. Until the deaths became so blatant that the newly-organized FBI and their dynamic new director J. Edgar Hoover took notice and sent a former Texas ranger, Tom White, to investigate.

Told is a chilling tale of greed and white privilege in an era that treated Native Americans as incapable of conducting their own affairs.

Grann has won book awards and the story he tells is compelling, but his narrative seemed a bit flat to me.

  Dead Dead Girls, Nekesa Afia
Louise Lloyd at sixteen was kidnapped, but was able to escape and bring other kidnapped girls home. Alas, she could never make her exacting father, a minister, happy by being the perfectly behaved daughter, so she lives in a rooming house with, among other people, her love Rosa Maria, and finds solace in dancing at Harlem's hottest dance venue in the 1920s, the Zodiac.

Until she gets herself arrested and ordered by a white police officer that she will help them solve the murder of a Black girl that she knew—or else.

Louise is a great, spunky heroine who's in over her head as an amateur investigator (and the police detective knows it). You sometimes want to tell her to wise up. You also feel for her and her love for her sisters, and her awkwardness with her rigid father. And although the author tries hard to give it a 1920s vibe, I never quite believed it took place during the Harlem Renaissance, and I guessed the murderer way too early.

  A Cornish Christmas, Tony Deane and Tony Shaw

  Christmas Past, Brian Earl

Books Completed Since October 1

  Creatures of the Kingdom, James Michener
This is a compilation of all the nature and animal chapters from Michener's sprawling novels like Centennial, Alaska, Chesapeke, and more. I've been wanting it for ages and finally found it in a used book store. These sequences are always preludes to the human dramas of his books and I look forward to them. Some of his most memorable characters are Rufous the bison and the two competing water dogs in Chesapeake.

 The Bride Test, Helen Hoang
Damn, this book made me cry.

Khai Diep is autistic, but all he sees is that he has no feelings. When his favorite cousin Andy dies, he doesn't cry, so he feels he is unfit for a "regular" life that includes falling in love and getting married. His troubled mother travels to Vietnam to find a woman she feels might change his mind. She returns with Mỹ—now known as Esme Tran—a young woman who cleans bathrooms to support herself, her mother, and her secret child. Esme will try to woo Khai, and his mother will pay for her summer in the United States. If it doesn't work, she will go home, at least, with some savings. Khai can't believe what his mother's done, and Esme will do just about anything to get this handsome young man to love her. Except surrender her principles.

Everything about this book feels right: the young man who feels like an outcast because he can't seem to feel, the young woman who wants a better life, even the older brother who's desperate to help. A fulfilling romance read.

 The Murder Room, Michael Capuzzo
This is the story of the Vidocq Society, founded by an FBI agent turned private eye (William Fleisher), a self-taught forensic artist (Frank Bender), and an eccentric profiler (Richard Walter): a group of professional crime fighters who get together once a month to take on cold cases of murder (others include people like Robert Ressler, the basis for the Jack Crawford character in Silence of the Lambs and a forensic pathologist, Hal Fillinger). It's an interesting book, first chronicling the three founders' initial interest in crimefighting and then going on to cover some of the more interesting cases the Vidocq Society had investigated.

However, Capuzzo goes on and on about such things as Bender's "open marriage" (his wife allows him girlfriends, but he has to bring them home and she has to approve them). Bender weaves through this book like a forensic sculptor Hugh Hefner, constantly on the make. Richard Walter is described as precise and eccentric, a living embodiment of Sherlock Holmes, chain smoker, living in a Victorian home. He and Bender partner like oil and water, and if I'd heard him described one more time as "the thin man" I thought I was going to scream. The crimes are fascinating, but there should have been less focus on some private lives.

  A Curious History of Sex, Kate Lister
I bought this for Valentine's Day, but only read it now. With tongue firmly in cheek, Lister takes us through the wonderful world of human sexuality, from a discussion of that four-letter word (not the "f word," but the "c word") to a history of the "boy in the boat" (the clitoris), whores, sexual racism, the "evils" of masturbation, sexual gland transplants, sex and food, vibrators and other sex toys, condoms...well, name it, it's here, and illustrated with many examples of Asian sex manuals, "French postcards," and erotic Victorian photography.

Lots of fun to read.

  Star Trek Strange New Worlds: The High Country, John Jackson Miller
This was recommended to me by a friend who usually doesn't like tie-in novels. Thanks, Bill!

Captain Christopher Pike, First Officer Una Chin-Riley, Science Officer Spock, and Cadet Nyota Uhura are testing out a new shuttlecraft to be used on Prime Directive landings. This will keep advanced technology away from planets that are being explored. But as "Eratosthenes" approaches planet FCG-7781 b, on which the Starfleet vessel "Braidwood" disappeared some years go, all her sensors go out and the ship loses power. The crew is evacuated safely, but each person lands in a different place: Pike near what looks like an old West town, Chin-Riley in a forest, Spock underwater, and Uhura near a volcano. What Pike discovers on the planet is incredible: humans from Earth transported from the 1800s and not allowed to progress technologically. But one of them isn't from that era; it's someone Pike knew back on Earth.

This book is a sequel of sorts to a Star Trek: Enterprise episode called "North Star" in which Drayko and his people were introduced, but you need not have watched it. It's a corker of a good SNW story, with inventive plotlines for each of the missing characters (although Spock gets slightly short shrift), great worldbuilding, interesting original supporting characters, chase scenes along with thoughtful processes. Should not disappoint any Star Trek fan.

  Witcha Gonna Do?, Avery Flynn
Matilda "Tilda" Sherwood is a powerless witch—an outré—in a family of witchy overachievers. All of the other witches turn up their noses at her. (Think of her as Rudolph.) Even her presence on a dating service doesn't help, because the darn thing keeps matching her up with Gil Connolly, who she considers a jerk. Actually, it keeps happening because the Witch's council thinks Tilda is faking and keeps sending Gil to check her out. If he makes good on his investigation, they just might let his parents back from banishment. And then, somehow, even without power, Tilda manages to mess up one of her sisters' spells and quick freezes the whole family. The only hope: stealing a heavily guarded spell book. Who's gonna help? Gil, of course, because he's discovered Tilda's real secret (the one so secret she doesn't know about it).

As opposed to the Asher book below, this is a much more whimsical book. I liked Tilda and Gil, but the whimsy got tiresome quickly.

  Not Your Ex's Hexes, April Asher
Another rom-com from Books-a-Million's clearance section, this is the second in a series about the magical Maxwell sisters, Violet, Rose, and Olive, who live in a world where vampires, werewolves, angels, demons, and witches live side-by-side with humans. The first book was about Violet; this volume is about Rose. When the story opens, Rose, her sisters, and her bestie Harper are trying to rescue two emaciated horses, not knowing they've already been rescued by veterinarian Damian Adams, half-demon. Rose, as the organizer of the rather illegal rescue, is given community service rather than arrest, service at Damian's animal rescue. Predictably, sparks fly, but Damian's keeping a secret: he can't fall in love because his ex-girlfriend hexed him. If he does, he'll lose his soul.

I liked this much better than Witcha; the sister dynamic is fun, the animal work is cool, and the troubles Rose and her sisters have seem more realistic, but, as I notice other people complained about this book, these folks are supposed to be in their thirties, with responsible jobs. Most of them act more like lovesick teens or college students.

  Better Hate Than Never, Chloe Liese
This is book two in Liese's Wilmot sisters trilogy. I didn't like it as well as the first because Kate is just so angry. She says her parents loved her and Christopher back in their childhood was like a brother, but she never felt loved, but always like a third wheel because her parents had each other and Beatrice and Juliet were twins. The parents sound very supportive, so I don't understand the self-hate.

The story: Kate, the youngest sister, grew up knowing Christopher Petruchio as a good friend, but they have always argued. Christopher, knowing her hostility, tried to keep away from her, but has always been attracted to her. When Kate comes home for Thanksgiving, not wanting to admit she's down and out, as well as out of a job, she immediately gets hostile to Christopher again and he responds in kind until Kate makes a drunken admission that she always thought he hated her.

The absolutely best thing about this book is that near the end there is one of those romance story situations that almost always happens: "the misunderstanding." Almost, but it doesn't, because the characters act like adults and trust that they've heard the wrong thing. Thank you so much.

Books Completed Since June 1

To anyone still reading this blog, I've realized in the last year or so I just don't have time to do the things I want to do and do big book reviews anymore. I still want to keep a monthly list of what I read and whether or not I liked it and if there was anything special about it, but I don't have time to do three/four/five paragraphs or more. So it's shorter stuff from now on.

 The Education of a Coroner, John Bateson
The story of Ken Holmes, who started out in the Marin County (CA) coroner's office as an investigator and later was elected head coroner. Marin County was very popular back in the 70s after a series of films; it's an expensive place to live and gorgeous, but is also home to San Quentin State Prison and has above-average drug overdoses and lots of suicides, mainly jumpers off the Golden Gate Bridge. Yeah, more of my reading spurred on by Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Lots of interesting facts here, like that government coroner's offices like to hire former mortuary workers (Holmes was one; they are used to death and know how to talk to families) and that the state coroner doesn't even have to be a medical doctor; a lot of time sheriffs are appointed coroner. Also liked this because there were lots of times the crimes didn't get solves and Holmes is straightforward about it.

  CSI: Crime Scene Investigation: Killing Game, Max Allan Collins
The seventh in a series of novels based on the series, and we're back to the intertwining plots. This takes place after asshole Conrad Ecklie broke the nightshift CSI team into two teams, one working nights, one working mids—and makes me wonder if Catherine ever sees her daughter Lindsay because she's always on overtime; I can't blame "Lindz" for becoming a handful as she got older. Grissom, Sara, and newbie Sofia get a case in an exclusive neighborhood, while Catherine, Warrick, and Nick investigate one in a shabby apartment, and once again Collins works his magic and the two crimes are connected. I think you'll twig to one of the baddies right away when an antagonist for Grissom is introduced, so I'll give you that spoiler straight up. Why? Well, that's what you get when you read the book.

  How to Speak Science, Bruce Benamran
Fun history of science, except after a while the author's constant jokes started to get on my nerves. We start with basic "matter" and work all the way through relativity. Your mileage may vary based on your tolerance for bantering narration.

  Love, Theoretically, Ali Hazelwood
Seriously, I am so glad after reading Hazelwood's books that I am not in academia. It sounds even more hateful than Congress. Elsie Hannaway is a physicist who's stuck in a teaching job, but hopes to go into research. To earn extra money, she acts as a fake girlfriend, but she discovers her favorite client's brother is the man who discredited her beloved mentor. It's only as she gets to know him that she finds out why he did so, and by then she's starting to like him. Likeable story, and a good sex scene, but, again, the politics of academia give me a rash. If this is what university instructor life is like, I'll work in a factory any day.

  Lost Providence, David Brussat
History Press' publication about the lost architecture of Providence, RI, my beloved "downtown." The buildings covered are even older than my memory; the building on the cover, the Butler Exchange, was razed to build the Industrial National Bank building, a.k.a. the Superman Building (it's not; that's Los Angeles City Hall) in the late 1920s. Covers some gorgeous buildings that were bulldozed for those ugly concrete and glass monstrosities (although luckily Providence didn't get anything as ugly as Government Center in Boston!). A delight if you like old buildings and architectural edifices and enjoy authors who aren't afraid to label ugly as ugly.

 Together We Will Go, J. Michael Straczynski
A surprisingly upbeat story about a group of people who plan to board a bus driving to California—and then drive off a cliff when they get there. The passengers are varied, but all are done with life, including Lisa, the bipolar woman on whom drugs have never worked and she's weary of having no friends due to going from calm to manic in seconds; Vaughn, the elderly man who was happily married but still holds a dark secret; and Karen, who has been in chronic, unforgiving pain all her life and can't bear it any longer. Like it or not, they bond to each other in a series of picaresque events as they cross country—and then the police chase begins. I wasn't sure I'd enjoy this, but I really did and was in tears by the end.