Twice the Dads, Twice the Dad Jokes: 04/30/24

Twice the Dads, Twice the Dad Jokes by Amy Culliford and Anita Barghigiani (Illustrator) (2022) is a short book about a kid being raised by two dads who love to tell dad jokes.

Plotwise, the book is pretty thin. Jokewise, there are some good groaners. Some of the jokes I've heard before. Some of them were new to me.

The book also includes some work pages in an appendix for homeschoolers.

Four stars

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Finally Heard: 04/29/23

Finally Heard by Kelly Yang (2024) is the sequel to Finally Seen (2023). Lina Gao and her besties begin a career as social media influencers and get the thrill of helping local businesses go viral.

At the same time, Lina gets her mother's old smart phone and ends up spiraling into the lure of social media: the good and the bad. She sees just how nasty her classmates can be when they think they aren't being seen. And she almost gets punished for responding to all the bad stuff her would be friends have been saying about her.

This book didn't seem as goal oriented as Yang's other books. Usually the main character has something she needs to accomplish. She takes what she's learned in school and applies it to her real world challenge. And to some degree of success (depending on the book) she and her family/friends succeed.

This volume though is more focused on being a cautionary tale of the dangers of social media and doom scrolling and cyber bulling. Yes, these messages are important for people to learn — and anyone of any age can get caught up in the worst of social media. But a message heavy book doesn't make for as captivating a story.

Four stars

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Shawneen and the Gander: 04/27/24

Shawneen and the Gander by Richard Bennett (1937) is a story of an Irish boy who wants to buy a trumpet and lengths he goes to do so. Shawneen lives with his mother on their farm in a time when a penny can buy a box of matches. It's on one such errand that he first spies the trumpet and learns how much it costs. It's more than he and his mother will ever easily make on the farm.

The boy though has a spot of luck in the form of a maneen. Rather than demanding the money straight away, he wisely asks for advice. Shawneen is told to raise the gander that will hatch from a giant egg that has now appeared.

After going to all that work of raising an oversized gander with the help of a patient but put upon hen it's time to take the bird to market. And that's when the other shoe drops. The local thief has stolen the gander. If Shawneen wants his trumpet, he's going to have to find the thief and retrieve his bird.

Ultimately the book is about the unusual paths one might take to complete the advice given. If the advice comes from a magical being, the route may be very strange in deed.

Five stars

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Plagued By Quilt: 04/26/24

Plagued By Quilt by Molly MacRae and Emily Durante (Narrator) (2014) is the fourth book in the Haunted Yarn Shop mystery series. Kath Rutledge is volunteering time at the historic farm for the Hands on History program. On the first day, one of the high school students finds an elbow in the old trash heap. The next morning, Kath finds the newly hired director murdered. Are the two related?

In the previous books, Genevieve, the ghost who haunts Kath, has had insights to the murders. This book picks up on things the ghost said during Dyeing Wishes (2023). This novel resolves the opened threads about the murder the ghost witnessed as well as her own identity.

In the present day there's the question of the murdered director. Although he was friendly to Kath, he did have an air of creepiness to him. He struck me as one of those overly privileged white dudes who took what he wanted regardless of the harm that would come to others around him. Keeping that in mind helped to sort out who the murderer had to be, though the specific why doesn't come until very late in the book.

Now that Genevieve's mystery is solved, I'm curious to see what becomes of her as a character in later books. She seems quite content to continue hanging out at the yarn shop. Also I wonder if Kath will run into any other ghosts.

The fifth book is Knot the Usual Suspects (2015).

Five stars

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Forever Friends: 04/24/24

Forever Friends by Lynne Hinton (2003) is the third book in the Hope Springs series. The theme of this one is second chances and saying goodbye.

Charlotte has her largest challenge in the form of the incarcerated grandson of one of her parishioners. He's guilty of theft and he has a drug addiction. Despite their differences, Charlotte takes a liking to this young man and decides to help beyond what she's been asked to do.

Meanwhile the woman who had cancer in the previous book is in remission. She's now faced with a future she wasn't sure she would have.

Another couple leaves on a trip to Africa. One of them is apprehensive. It can't help that she's receiving all sorts of horror stories that are fueled by classism and racism.

The book is less melodramatic than the second book. It's not quite the page turner as the first one. Yet, I'm curious enough to read the next one.

The fourth book is Christmas Cake.

Four stars

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The Other Valley: 04/23/24

The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard (2024) is a debut speculative fiction thought exercise on the ethics of time travel. Odile is at the age when she has to think about her future career. She decides to try for the Conseil, the governing body of the valley that keeps people from traveling to other valleys unsupervised.

Imagine a set up similar to the Long Earth series by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter, except that instead of the multiple Earths being different versions of the same place at the same time, this is the same place at different times. Each valley is separated by 20 years of time, in some infinite string of valleys.

In a human scale of things, the Conseil mostly deals with its nearest neighbors: the Oest and Est valleys. Conseils coordinate visits from one valley to another. Both valleys have to agree to a visit before someone is allowed to visit (under highly controlled circumstances).

To complicate things further for Odile, before her vetting begins, she sees a pair of visitors near her school. She also happens to recognize them and therefore knows a friend of hers is likely to die soon.

There are no surprises in this novel to anyone familiar with time travel stories. Odile's initial failure, her time living with her failure, her second attempt to fix things, and her ultimate sacrifice, are all tropes of the genre. That doesn't mean the book's predicability is a bad thing. Quite the opposite; it is a satisfying journey through a philosophical discussion.

What differs here is the book's pacing and it's scale. This thought piece exists across a city sized valley, a lake, and a mountain range that connects and divides the landscape from it's infinite copies. As it's just a single city, there are only a handful of characters and a very controlled time line.

The difference in time, gaps of twenty years on either side, mean that characters have to wait and plot and often run the risk of not being physically able to make the journey when the past has caught up to the even that they have been stewing over now for a significant portion of their lifetime.

Because there's no instant travel between years or the option to go back days, hours, or anything more or less than spans of twenty years, the book only has one central time loop for us to be concerned about. Sure, Odile takes people on other trips before her loop, but these are exemplars of the difficulty and danger of making the journey.

For all the waiting and suffering one does along side Odile, the book has a satisfying ending. It's one of those paradoxical ones that one expects from this type of book. It ends too with the final reveal, the final secret the Conseil keeps from its citizens. It's bittersweet but necessary.

As this is a time travel book, it sits on the Road Narrative Spectrum. Odile is an orphan traveler (FF). Her destination is uhoria (CC), a time different from how things originally played out. Her route there is the Blue Highway in the form of the path one takes between valleys.

Five stars

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Deadendia: The Broken Halo: 04/21/24

Deadendia: The Broken Halo by Hamish Steele (2019) comes weeks after the aftermath of The Watcher's Test (2018). As the characters are older too, there are higher stakes and greater consequences. Also, Barney and Norma aren't working together, so this book is really two parallel but interconnected stories.

Dead End, the old, destroyed haunted house, has become a hotel for demons. Think Hazbin Hotel but on Earth. Norma is undead and tethered to her soul, is somewhere between a zombie and Hiyori from Noragami. She, Courtney, Fingers, and Badyah are running it.

Meanwhile Barney is living with Logan. He's had top surgery and is looking for work. He ends up finding work as a wrestler of demons. In the animated series, this job was tied into his work at the amusement park. Here, though, it's completely separate and he ends up lying to Logan about where his money is coming from.

Finally there is Courtney and her back story. She has ties to the angelic horde. She ends up in trouble and there's an attempt to rescue her.

Like the first volume, things don't end exactly well. If I had read this volume when it first came out, I would be at the end of a frustrating wait to find out what happens next. A third volume, The Divine Order releases on April 23, 2024.

Four stars

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The Road to Oz: 04/20/24

The Road to Oz by L. Frank Baum and John R. Neill (Illustrator) (1909) is the fifth book in the Oz series. It's Dorothy's fourth return to fairyland and her first time arriving without having a near death experience.

Dorothy is back in Kansas helping her aunt and uncle with their farm. She's out doing chores when the Shaggy Man asks for directions to a nearby town. When finding the correct road involves cutting through some fields first, Dorothy decides it would be easiest to take him to the road. Unfortunately, when she gets to the crossroads, there are suddenly seventeen directions forking off the intersection where usually there are only five. To make matters worse, neither Dorothy nor Toto see the way back to the farm.

Since the third book, Dorothy has left a traveling companion behind in Oz. First it was Bill the chicken, then it was the Wizard. This time it will be the Shaggy Man. Him staying behind will also be the first time Dorothy is sorely tempted to stay in Oz herself. Her main caveat, though, is she refuses to abandon her elderly aunt and uncle who can't run the farm without her.

As with all of Dorothy's secondary trips to Oz, this one takes her via a circuitous route to lands outside of Oz. That means three times she has had to cross the Deadly Desert. Twice she's crossed with Ozma's help. This time, she and her companions find their own help.

Besides the Shaggy Man, there are two other companions, Button Bright, a young boy of unknown origins, and Pollychrome, the Rainbow King's daughter.

Each of these early Oz books is some sort of experimental piece of publishing. The first one was a self pub with some of the most eye searing color choices I've seen in a book. The second one introduced John R. Neill as the illustrator. The fourth one had reproductions of Neill's watercolors. This one only has black and white line drawings as well as a rainbow selection of papers.

Ultimately this book is an Ozma centered story. She has tricked Dorothy into visiting because her birthday is coming up (August 21st). It's such a tonal shift from the previous reasons: cyclone, storm at sea, earthquake.

This book is a tonal shift for the entire series. Oz and the surrounding areas are becoming a welcoming place to explore rather than a place to be stranded in. With the next book, The Emerald City of Oz, the series will switch almost entirely to stories in fairyland / Oz.

Four stars

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Five Furry Familiars: 04/18/24

Five Furry Familiars by Lynn Cahoon and Angie Hickman (Narrator) (2024) is the fifth book in the Kitchen Witch mystery series. Out of the blue, Christina's ex shows up and proposes marriage. Before Mia's BFF can even return the ring, he's murdered at the cabin he was renting. Of course, Christina is now the prime suspect.

On the home front, Mia finds herself fostering three kittens. She already has two familiars and doesn't want to complicate things with three more! Meanwhile, her boyfriend has been gifted a hellhound puppy from the goddess herself.

The book has two mysteries: who killed the would be fiancé and who dropped off the kittens? Of the two, the kitten mystery was the trickier and more compelling. I figured out who the murderer was at about the halfway point and I couldn't believe how dense Mia was at noticing the obvious.

The sixth book is Six Stunning Sirens. It releases on September 24, 2024.

Five stars

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A Capitol Crime: 04/16/24

A Capitol Crime by Carolyn Keene (2021) is the twenty-third book in the Nancy Drew Diaries. Nancy, George and Bess are having a girls' night while Carson is in Washington D.C. and Hannah is caring for an ailing relative. After ignoring her cellphone for a night of game play, she discovers a bunch of missed calls and texts from her dad and comes to realize that he's been kidnapped!

Outside of the recent Nancy Drew TV show, I don't recall Carson needing rescue before. Carson being in danger definitely upped the stakes for this book and the near panic Nancy is in at times is palpable.

Carson's kidnapping, though, isn't the big mystery. His disappearance is the inciting incident to get the three young women to Washington D.C. and nearby Baltimore. The actual mystery is a case that Carson's kidnapper demands help with: her son's conviction for a diamond heist she's convinced he didn't do.

Again, Nancy, Bess, and George being asked to investigate a conviction puts them in an entirely different level of case. It's a more adult case, despite their ages. It also has more potential for repercussions if they do things illegally or dangerously. Although the tone is kept somewhat upbeat, it still reminds me of the recent TV show, a series that was still on when this book was first released.

I like this hybrid Nancy. She's not as dark, moody or depressed as her TV counterpart but she's now open to higher stake cases. I like too how the banter between Nancy and her two BFFs has been influenced by the show, again, though without going as far off model as the show did.

The next book is The Blue Lady of Coffin Hall (2022).

Five stars

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The Hoboken Chicken Emergency: 04/15/24

The Hoboken Chicken Emergency by Daniel Pinkwater (1977) begins in the run up to Thanksgiving. It's the time of the year that all other meat disappears for turkey. But if you live in a small town, you have to order ahead or there won't be a turkey for you.

Arthur Bobowicz is sent to the local butcher to pick up his family's turkey only to find that their order has been lost. No turkey has been ordered for the Bobowicz family and there are no other choices. Arthur goes everywhere looking for an alternative to turkey. Truth be told, he and his family aren't that keen on eating turkey but they would like to cook something for the holiday!

Eventually Arthur ends up at the loft laboratory of a man who is breeding oversized chickens. Arthur ends up with Henrietta, a 266 pound chicken who comes with her own leash. Arthur takes her home and the two bond. No one is eating Henrietta for Thanksgiving!

The remainder of the book isn't about the ongoing search for a Thanksgiving meal. Whatever the Bobowicz family does for the holiday is moot. Instead we get the ongoing fallout from Henrietta's appearance in Hoboken.

The book has the dry, matter of fact humor that Daniel Pinkwater is known for. You just have to take what he says as is. It either works for you or it doesn't. For me, it tickles my funny bone. Extra bonus points for a mostly tame, oversized hen on the loose in Hoboken and the boy who is trying to find her.

The second book in the series is Looking for Bobowicz (2006)

Five stars

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Death by Peppermint Cappuccino: 04/13/24

Death by Peppermint Cappuccino by Alex Erickson and Melissa Moran (Narrator) (2023) is the twelfth book in the Bookstore Cafe mystery series. It's Christmastime again in Pine Hills. Krissy is in a present buying mood but she's put off by the strongly voiced opinions of a local church lady who has amassed a small crew of like minded ladies to fight back against what they see is a war on Christmas.

And then one of their targets, Andrew, of Andrew's Gifts ends up murdered in his own shop. While comforting his widow, Krissy sees a connection between his murder and some other strange events in the town. So once again she's in the middle of a murder investigation.

But Krissy isn't just investigating. She's trying to spend the holidays with her father and his girlfriend who are visiting. She wants to spend time with her boyfriend, Paul, assuming he's not also pulled into the investigation in an official capacity.

Like a handful of other reviewers, I figured out who the murderer was. I'm happy I was right because there are two other suspects who could have been but either solution wouldn't have been as satisfying or as tragic.

Five stars

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Therapy Chickens: Let the Wisdom of the Flock Bring You Joy: 04/11/24

Therapy Chickens: Let the Wisdom of the Flock Bring You Joy by Tedra Hamel (2024) is a short book about the ebb and flow of life and the passing of the seasons from the perspective of a flock of backyard chickens. Tedra Hamel is a critical care nurse and outdoor guide in Washington state. She also happens to keep a small flock of chickens which she started drawing portraits of around the same time my art shifted to almost exclusively chickens.

Well before her book was published, I found her posts on Instagram while searching for things tagged "chickenart." Her pieces are tagged "therapychickenart" and came back in the searches. I was instantly hooked by the personalities captured in her pieces.

This book follows through a year, one season at a time. Under each season are a series of words defined in terms of how a chicken sees the world. At the end of the paragraph there's a short sentence suggesting how as a human being we can take inspiration from the chicken. To accompany the paragraph and advice is one of the author's chicken portraits.

Hamel's artwork is efficient in its use of line, form and color. She brings more to the piece in how patterns are woven into the piece. With concise palettes and clean lines, these portraits often resemble a square from a quilt.

Unfortunately most of the hens in this book died last year after a dog got into the author's backyard. She is currently raising a new flock of hens. She's still sharing photos and artwork of her chickens on a regular basis.

Five stars

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Delicious in Dungeon, Volume 9: 04/10/24

The recent anime adaptation of Delicious in Dungeon (2024) reminded me that I hadn't read the manga in a while. By while, I mean three years, although it doesn't seem that long.

Delicious in Dungeon, Volume 9 by Ryoko Kui and Taylor Engel (Translator) (2020) mostly deals with the party trying to survive an attack by succubi. The cat character ends up being the one to save the party because she's not as simple a being as the others. She's complex because she has more than one type of desire and they are in opposition to each other.

There's also a secondary plot involving another traveling party. I'm honestly not that invested in them and then to blank out when I reading their parts. They do things. They talk about things. So and so forth.

The really interesting bit, though, is an after story for the succubi chapter. We see from Laios's point of view what his true desire had been. The entire time he spends ends outlining more of the dungeon's history and makes it abundantly clear that Laios could end up being the worst threat to mankind anyone has seen in centuries.

Like the previous volumes, this one also sits on the Road Narrative Spectrum. Because the story takes its biggest turn on Laios's vision, he is a priveledged (00) traveler. His destination is one again uhoria, both the past of the castle town, as well as the future for everyone associated with the dungeon. His route there is the maze (CC) for it's changeability and its underlying danger.

Five stars

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In the Lives of Puppets: 04/08/24

In the Lives of Puppets by T.J. Klune (2023) is a post apocalyptic retelling of Le avventure di Pinocchio: Storia di un burattino by Carlo Collodi (1880) with Pinocchio being replaced by the last human on earth.

Giovanni Lawson is put in charge of Vincent when he's still an infant. Gio, a robot once built to exterminate humans has gone to a forest to live in isolation with the things humanity has left behind. Now he is the father to the last human and the robots the boy ends up restoring / building.

Pinocchio was a serialized collection of stories to encourage children's independent thinking. Taken now as a single volume, the original story is surreal and nonsensical. Over the years (and thanks in big part to Disney's 1940 film adaptation), Pinocchio now is mostly remembered for the puppet who wanted to be "a real boy."

If the Pinocchio character is now a human in a world of "puppets" does that mean he wants to be a "real robot"? Or is the story instead about a robot wanting to instill in his brethren the independent, code breaking thought that he has accomplished? Klune's novel never really answers the question.

Klune's novel, however, does require a firm understanding of the original Pinocchio stories. Vincent's adventures line up fairly closely with the chapters, though in a world left behind by the total destruction of humanity, the fanciful notion of dog-fish, blue fairies, talking cats and foxes, et al, feel extra weird when played seriously against this landscape.

There are other odd concessions the book has to make because the puppet character is human. He ends up doing a lot of Geppetto's work on another robot he names Hap, including making new feet for him. So to give Vincent some of Pinocchio's naiveté, he's written as asexual and perhaps autistic. He's basically a robot-like human.

Since Vincent is from the very first chapter, a taciturn character, the dialog is filled up with the idiotic banter of his two robotic companions: Rambo and Nurse Ratchet. Rambo is a self aware, heavily modified Roomba. Nurse Ratchet is a tentacled Baymax type robot. Both talk too much: Rambo about sex and Nurse Ratchet about violence. Neither's dialog does anything to move the story forward. Their asinine banter is only filler.

In the original set of stories, Pinocchio ends up wandering the world after Geppetto either drowns or is eaten by the "dreaded dog-fish." Here the dog-fish is more like a blimp-drone, though still called a dog-fish, that captures Giovanni on instructions from Hap.

With Giovanni gone, Vincent and his two companions set out on the great highway towards "Heaven" to meet the Blue Fairy. The want to ask for her help. The remainder of the Pinocchio inspired adventures happen during that journey and ultimate confrontation.

But there continues to be a dissonance between the Carlotti inspired symbolism and the post apocalyptic world Klune has envisioned. To further complicate things it's clear that Klune was inspired by other things: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum (1900), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey (1962), Futurama and specifically "Fear of a Bot Planet" (Season 1, Episode 5), and Wall-E (2008). Klune doesn't manage to mess these disparate inspirations into a coherent, compelling gestalt.

As I read, I couldn't help but think of a middle grade series of novels that tell a very similar story in a very similar setting (though pre-apocalypse), is The Wild Robot series by Peter Brown. Brown's series works better because its simplicity allows it to stay focused while exploring the human condition via the eyes of a robot.

That said, Klune's novel like the others of his I've reviewed sits on the Road Narrative Spectrum. Victor as the last surviving human is an orphan traveler (FF). His destination is the city of Heaven (00). His route there is the freeway (00), a large self moving electrified road.

Two stars

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Better Late Than Never: 04/07/24

Better Late Than Never by Jenn McKinlay and Allyson Ryan (Narrator) (2016) is the seventh book in the Library Lovers's mystery series. During an over due book amnesty day, a book that is associated with a twenty year old cold case is turned in. The book is in pristine condition implying it was taken as a trophy by the murderer.

Lindsey has enough on her plate to not want to investigate another murder but "The Lemon" is adamant that she should. I think this volume is the most civil and human her older employee has ever acted.

Unusual for one of these cold case books, there's no modern day murder inspired by the unsolved one. Instead there are a series of break-ins. Although it takes everyone, police included, to see the connection between the break-ins and the murder, it was pretty obvious from a mystery solver's point of view.

I appreciate the lack of any new bodies. I also like that even a small town that seems to never change, does still have an ebb and flow to it. A lot can change in twenty years and a lot can be forgotten.

One side note, I think my favorite new character is the high school librarian. She runs a makerspace out of the library, maintains the high school archive, and has a name inspired by Nancy Drew.

Robbie still needs to be punched in the face. He's the most useless annoying addition to the series. Even though he finally admits defeat in his attempts to woo Lindsay, it's too little too late.

The eighth book is Death in the Stacks (2017)

Four stars

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The Lantern's Dance: 04/06/24

The Lantern's Dance by Laurie R. King (2024) is the eighteenth book in the Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes series. Sherlock and Mary are in France to visit Damian Adler, his girl friend, and his daughter from a previous marriage. When they arrive, the family isn't there, scared off by an intruder of Indian descent. Sherlock and Mary decide they must do everything they can to make sure the Adler family is safe.

Like so many of the book in this series, the novel splits into two points of view: Mary's and Sherlock's. Mary, who is laid up with a sprained ankle, does her research from the Adler home. Sherlock, meanwhile, flies off half cocked to rescue his son and grand-daughter before even assessing the level of threat.

And, unfortunately, like The Murder of Mary Russell (2016) we have Mary's scenes replaced with extended flashbacks told from a third point of view. This time the story comes in the form of a coded memoir Mary has translated. Ultimately it explains a great deal as to why a man from India broke in.

There are two problems with this journal. The first is that it's filler. It takes away from the present day threat. It's unnecessary because Mary ends up summarizing everything she reads anyway. The second is that it explains a "noodle incident" and these things rarely need to be explained. They are best left vague and to the creativity of the reader.

So why only one star off? The book has a strong beginning and a satisfying ending. The middle could have been so much better with tighter editing and less reliance on the coded journal.

Four stars

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A Man and His Cat, Volume 2: 04/05/24

A Man and His Cat, Volume 2 by Umi Sakurai (2018) is the first full volume of Mr. Kanda as a cat dad to Fukumaru. Both are learning how to live with each other and coming to understand that they can be their genuine happy selves with each other.

As this is the first full volume in the life of a man and his cat, much of the book is spent on four panel gags of Fukumaru being a cat and Mr. Kanda figuring out how cats cat.

The remainder of the book is filled with glimpses of back story for both. Fukumaru things back on his kittenhood and Mr. Kanda begins to deal more directly with his grief for his dead wife.

The inciting incident for Mr. Kanda facing his grief head on is when Fukumaru breaks the chain holding their old wedding rings. Mr. Kanda had been wearing both on a gold chain around his next. When the chain breaks during rough housing he's forced to consider the moment. Does he get angry at his new beloved cat for doing what comes naturally and was clearly an accident or does he take it as a sign that it's time to put the rings away and being living in the moment?

I originally read this volume in 2020 but somehow didn't get around to reviewing it. I misplaced or forgot about a lot of finished books and missed reviews during the COVID lock down year and a half. It was nice to re-read this book under different, less stressful circumstances. I feel the first time around I was more in a Mr. Kanda mindset whereas this time I was more Fukumaru.

Five stars

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Murder Checks Out: 04/03/24

Murder Checks Out by Victoria Gilbert and Coleen Marlo (2023) is the eighth book in the Blue Ridge Library mystery series. Although I do try to read series books in order, sometimes I goof up as I did here. The last book I read and reviewed was A Deadly Edition (2020), the fifth book.

Quite a few things have happened since that book, mostly in the form of fraternal twins who are five years old. Amy and Richard as a married couple and parents have matured emotionally and are frankly a lot more lovable now.

It's Christmastime and the twins are taking after their father. He's choreographing the upcoming Nutcracker which has a modernist bent to it to modernize the piece and give the dancers access to more comfortable attire. The twins have minor roles in the party scene but are super excited and into the ballet now.

Richard's aloof mother is also coming to stay with them and everyone is on edge. Will she make amends or just go back to trying to drive a wedge between the two? Thankfully she gets a nice redemption arc.

There is also a mystery. A developer from a less than ethical company is murdered at the winter festival. Amy's brother in law is the main suspect because he's suddenly missing. Of course there's more going on and it takes Amy's mad librarian skills to sort things out.

In this case the mystery wasn't all that mysterious. What kept me reading was the B plot — the Nutcracker show, the mother-in-law, the twins, etc. This volume had the same quiet family drama vibes of Iced Under by Barbara Ross (2016).

I now have plans to go back and read volume six, Renewed for Murder (2021)

Four stars

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A Pie to Die For: 04/02/24

A Pie to Die For by Gretchen Rue and Callie Beaulieu (Narrator) (2024) is the start of the Lucky Pie mystery series. It's like a mix between the Pies Before Guys series by Misha Popp and the Candy Coated mystery series by Nancy CoCo.

Este March runs the Lucky Pie Diner on Split Pine Island in Northern Michigan. The tourist season has ended and she's ready to start planning for the slower, quieter, and colder months when she's running abbreviated hours for only the year rounders.

She's expecting a large and expensive shipment of strawberries to keep some of the summer flavors as November rolls towards Thanksgiving. Unfortunately her usual guy isn't the one making the deliveries and the man who is doesn't have any of the berries for her. Not only that but he's charging more than her usual supplier ever did.

And that's just the start of her trouble. The second day of the off season, the local sheriff asks Este to identify a body. Of course it's the new distributer and now she's a person of interest!

Although Split Pine is a fictional island, it has a similar feel to Mackinaw Island, the setting for Nancy CoCo's books. The difference is that the island is more cut off from the mainland during the off season and I gather it's smaller, though still large enough to have some distinct areas.

Like Daisy Ellery, Este can bake intent into her pies. Este, though, doesn't kill with her pies. She sometimes is in the right emotional mindset to create lucky pies. How and when this happens isn't something she can control but once she has a lucky pie, she knows which one it is. She, though, will never admit this to anyone because she doesn't want to be bullied into giving luck to those who don't deserve or need it.

Este's pie making prowess doesn't help her solve the mystery but it does give her the means to think about what she knows. She does her best thinking while baking. Her understanding of how the off season imports work, too, help her piece together clues.

As of writing this review there isn't a second title announced. That said, I plan to continue with the series.

Five stars

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March 2024 Sources: 04/02/24

Back to back spring breaks upset my recent schedule. I'm still busy at the Sun Gallery and with my art. I read either at night or listening to audiobooks while I work.

In March I read 18 TBR books, up from the previous month's 15 TBR. No books were published in March. Four books were for research. None were from the library. My ROOB score for March was -4.64, down from February's -4.5. It was my second best March.

I predicted a -4.0 and was too high. For April, I'm going with -4.4.

My average for March improved from -2.56 to -2.70.

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Lore Olympus, Volume Four: 04/01/24

Lore Olympus: Volume Four by Rachel Smythe (2023) covers episodes 76-102 of the Webtoon. In this section we get more backstory into the gods, mostly Hades, Zeus, and Hera, and Persephone finally begins to grow a backbone.

So much of the back and forth that Persephone does could be solved by her just learning how to say what she wants and more importantly learning how to say no. The remainder of Persephone's problems would be solved if the gods in her life would stop lying by omission. They know things about her and her potential and absolutely refuse to acknowledge it, tell her, or even prepare her for what it all means.

What we're left with is a young goddess who has been so sheltered and misguided that she can't even trust her own feelings or readings on situations. She is slowly learning to at least look through her past for examples of appropriate reactions to situations to try for herself.

Volume five was released on October 3, 2023.

Four stars

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March 2024 Summary: 04/01/24

My art and my archival project at the Sun Gallery continue to keep me busy but I am finding time to do some reading.

I read more books in March, 22, up from 20. Of my read books, 16 were diverse and six were queer. I reviewed 21 books, up one from the previous month. On the reviews front, 13 were diverse and four were queer.

I have 1 book left to review of the books I read in 2023 and 17 books of the 61 read in 2024.

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