Meet Your Baker by Ellie Alexander

Started: 3/11/2026

Finished: 3/13/2026

Year: 2015

Pages: 299

Genre: cozy mystery

Grade: B+

Reason for reading: library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Welcome to Torte-a friendly, small-town family bake shop where the treats are so good that, sometimes, it's criminal...

"After graduating from culinary school, Juliet Capshaw returns to her quaint hometown of Ashland, Oregon, to heal a broken heart and help her mom at the family bakery. The Oregon Shakespeare Festival is bringing in lots of tourists looking for some crumpets to go with their heroic couplets. But when one of Torte's customers turns up dead, there's much ado about murder...

"The victim is Nancy Hudson, the festival's newest board member. A modern-day Lady Macbeth, Nancy has given more than a few actors and artists enough reasons to kill her...but still. The silver lining? Jules's high school sweetheart, Thomas, is the investigator on the case. His flirtations are as delicious as ever, and Jules can't help but want to have her cake and eat it too. But will she have her just desserts? Murder might be bad for business, but love is the sweetest treat of all..."

Opinion: A decent start to a new cozy mystery series. Definitely enough suspects and it was clearly predictable on whodunit. Decent sounding recipes.

A Lovely Girl by Deborah Holt Larkin

Started: 3/10/2026

Finished: DNF

Year: 2022

Pages: 513

Genre: memoir/true crime

Grade: F

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Deborah Larkin was only ten years old when the quiet calm of her California suburb was shattered. Thirty miles north, on a quiet November night in Santa Barbara, a pregnant nurse named Olga Duncan disappeared from her apartment. The mystery deepens when it is discovered that Olga’s mother in-law—a deeply manipulative and deceptive woman—had been doing everything in her power to separate Olga and her son, Frank, prior to Olga’s disappearance.

"From a forged annulment to multiple attempts to hire people to “get rid” of Olga, to a faked extortion case, Elizabeth seemed psychopathically attached to her son. Yet she denied having anything to do with Olga’s disappearance with a smile.

"But when Olga’s brutally beaten body is found in a shallow grave, apparently buried alive, a young DA makes it his mission to see that Elizabeth Duncan is brought to justice. Adding a wrinkle to his efforts is the fact that Frank—himself a defense attorney—maintained his mother’s innocence to the end.

"How does a young girl process such a crime along with the fear and disbelief that rocked an entire community? Decades later, Larkin is determined to revisit the case and bring the story of Olga herself to light. Long overshadowed by the sensationalism and scandal of Elizabeth and Frank, A Lovely Girl seeks to reveal Olga as a woman in full. Someone who was more than the twisted family that would ultimately ensnare her.

"As we follow the heart-pounding drama of the case through Larkin's young eyes—her father was the court reporter—A Lovely Girl is by turns page-turning yet poignant, and makes the reader reexamine how we handle fear, how we regard mental illness, and how we understand family as we carve our own path in a dangerous world."

Opinion: So much extra stuff that did NOT need to be put into this book. If you're going to label it as true crime, then take out all the childhood memory crap and actually focus on the crime, the investigation, and the court case. So much drivel....if I wanted to read about a 10 year old, I'd get the proper book to do that.

From Potter's Field by Patricia Cornwell

Started: 3/6/2026

Finished: 3/9/2026

Year: 1995

Pages: 412

Genre: mystery/thriller

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book, continuing with series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "An unidentified nude female sits propped against a fountain in Central Park. There are no signs of struggle. When Dr. Kay Scarpetta and her colleagues Benton Wesley and Pete Marino arrive on the scene, they instantly recognize the signature of serial killer Temple Brooks Gault. Scarpetta, on assignment with the FBI, visits the New York City morgue on Christmas morning, where she must use her forensic expertise to give a name to the nameless—a difficult task. But as she sorts through conflicting forensic clues, Gault claims his next victim. He has infiltrated the FBI’s top secret artificial-intelligence system developed by Scarpetta’s niece, and sends taunting messages as his butchery continues, moving terrifyingly closer to Scarpetta herself."

Opinion: Lots of thrill in this one-almost non stop. Ending seemed to not go with the pace of the rest of the book.

The Time Hop Coffee Shop by Phaedra Patrick

Started: 3/5/2026

Finished: DNF

Year: 2025

Pages: 305

Genre: fantasy, literature

Grade: D

Reason for reading: library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Greta Perks was once the shining star of the iconic Maple Gold coffee commercials, the quintessential TV wife and mom. Now fame has faded, her marriage is on the rocks, her teenage daughter has become distant and Greta’s once-glittering career feels like a distant memory.

"When Greta stumbles upon a mysterious coffee shop serving a magical brew, she wishes for the perfect life in those past Maple Gold commercials. Next thing she knows, Greta wakes in the idyllic make-believe town of Mapleville, where the sun always shines and the aroma of freshly brewed coffee and second chances fill the air. Given the opportunity to live the life she dreamed, Greta is determined to rewrite her own script. But can life ever be like a coffee commercial? And what will happen when Greta has to choose between perfection and real life, with no turning back?"

Opinion: Who doesn't want a better life? The concept is not something new but done in a slightly different way. Greta is not a character that I cared about and seemed too wrapped up in herself to notice what her family needed or wanted.

Dead Line by Marc Cameron

Started: 3/2/2026

Finished: 3/5/2026

Year: 2025

Pages: 320

Genre: mystery/thriller

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library, continuing with series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from author website): "In the White Mountain Wilderness of Interior Alaska, twenty-four-year-old protected witness Sam Lujan is lonely for his old life. So much so, the young Apache not only breaks the cardinal rule of the Witness Protection Program—by revealing his whereabouts to his mother, he invites her to join him to see the Northern Lights. It’s her lifelong dream. No worries. It’ll be safe.

"When Deputy U.S. Marshals Arliss Cutter and Lola Teariki discover Sam has gone missing, they’re asked to make a quick trip into the remote wild to make sure the witness is indeed protected. But there’s no such thing as a quick trip. Not when they’re plunging headlong into the frozen unknown at fifty-eight degrees below zero. And not when they aren’t the only ones searching. Valeria Kot, the vengeful daughter of the criminal Sam testified against, has been waiting and watching for years for just the opportunity to strike back. She’s found it—and has dispatched a sadistic hit squad to make sure Sam pays in the most savage way possible.

"Once Arliss and Lola reach the trailhead it doesn’t take long for them to realize they’re dealing with more than a witness who’s broken protocol. Tracks in the snow and tell-tale signs signal an armed team—one that’s already a step ahead of them. For Arliss and Lola, and a desperate mother and son on the run, the death-defying, frigid temperatures are the least of their worries."

Opinion: Ending seemed too neat and rushed together. Thriller/mystery was good like always.

Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry

Started: 2/27/2026

Finished: DNF

Year: 2025

Pages: 416

Genre: romance/literature

Grade: D

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Alice Scott is an eternal optimist still dreaming of her big writing break. Hayden Anderson is a Pulitzer-prize winning human thundercloud. And they’re both on balmy Little Crescent Island for the same reason: to write the biography of a woman no one has seen in years—or at least to meet with the octogenarian who claims to be the Margaret Ives. Tragic heiress, former tabloid princess, and daughter of one of the most storied (and scandalous) families of the twentieth century.

"When Margaret invites them both for a one-month trial period, after which she’ll choose the person who’ll tell her story, there are three things keeping Alice’s head in the game.

"One: Alice genuinely likes people, which means people usually like Alice—and she has a whole month to win the legendary woman over.

"Two: She’s ready for this job and the chance to impress her perennially unimpressed family with a Serious Publication.

"Three: Hayden Anderson, who should have no reason to be concerned about losing this book, is glowering at her in a shaken-to-the core way that suggests he sees her as competition.

"But the problem is, Margaret is only giving each of them pieces of her story. Pieces they can’t swap to put together because of an ironclad NDA and an inconvenient yearning pulsing between them every time they’re in the same room.

"And it’s becoming abundantly clear that their story—just like the tale Margaret’s spinning—could be a mystery, tragedy, or love ballad . . . depending on who’s telling it."

Opinion: It just dragged on. Didn't really care about any of the characters or their stories.

Grief Diaries Through the Eyes of an Eating Disorder by Lynda Cheldelin Fell etal

Started: 2/13/2026

Finished: 2/28/2026

Year: 2016

Pages: 245

Genre: self-help, eating disorders, psychology

Grade: C

Reason for reading: personal TBR, received as judging packet several years ago

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Boldly written with graphic honesty, Grief Diaries: Through the Eyes of an Eating Disorder features the stories of 13 women who struggled from childhood into adulthood with anorexia nervosa, bulimia, and binge eating disorder. Revealing the desperate secrets of their devastating illness for the first time, the women expose the painful truths they kept hidden for years, and how they found the courage and determination to overcome the destructive force of a powerful disorder before it claimed their very lives."

Opinion: Reading this will help you realize that you're not the only one that has suffered or is going through an eating disorder. Biggest critique...if I wanted to buy your other books, I would. Stop mentioning it during your journal entry and just leave it as a reference at the end of the book.

Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret by Benjamin Stevenson

Started: 2/26/2026

Finished: 2/24/2026

Year: 2024

Pages: 169

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book, continuing wiht series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "My name’s Ernest Cunningham. I used to be a fan of reading Golden Age murder mysteries, until I found myself with a haphazard career getting stuck in the middle of real-life ones in this funny mystery. I’d hoped, this Christmas, that any self-respecting murderer would kick their feet up and take it easy over the holidays. I was wrong.

"So here I am, backstage at the show of world-famous magician Rylan Blaze, whose benefactor has just been murdered. My suspects are all professional tricksters: masters of the art of misdirection.

"THE MAGICIAN

"THE ASSISTANT

"THE EXECUTIVE

"THE HYPNOTIST

"THE IDENTICAL TWIN

"THE COUNSELLOR

 "THE TECH

"My clues are even more abstract: A suspect covered in blood, without a memory of how it got there. A baffling locked room mystery committed without setting foot inside the room where it happens. And an advent calendar. Because, you know, it’s Christmas.

"If I can see through the illusions, I know I can solve it.

"After all, a good murder is just like a magic trick, isn’t it?"

Opinion: The style of Stevenson's murder books are refreshingly different. A fun quick murder mystery with plenty of suspects.

Crafting for Sinners by Jenny Kiefer

Started: 2/24/2026

Finished: 2/26/2026

Year: 2025

Pages: 312

Genre: horror

Grade: C

Reason for reading: library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Ruth is trapped. She’s stuck in her small, religious hometown of Kill Devil, Kentucky, stuck in the closet, and stuck living paycheck to paycheck. After her manager finds out that she lives with her girlfriend, Ruth is fired from her job at New Creations—a craft store owned by the church that dominates life in Kill Devil.

"In an act of revenge, Ruth attempts to shoplift some yarn but is caught red-handed. Instead of calling the police, the employees lock her in the store—and attack her. As Ruth fights for her life using only the crafting supplies at hand, she plunges deeper into the tangled web of the New Creationists, who are hiding a terrible secret that threatens not only her but the entire town."

Opinion: I laughed at the gore and horror stuff-I usually laugh through horror movies too. As a former Michaels employee, the setting of a craft store was interesting...but more like Hobby Lobby instead of a Michaels. And btw, loving someone isn't a sin.

The Body Farm by Patricia Cornwell

Started:  2/22/2026

Finished: 2/24/2026

Year: 1994

Pages: 387

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book, continuing with series in order

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Dr. Kay Scarpetta travels to North Carolina to investigate the murder of an eleven-year-old girl, but the evidence does not add up, and she must conduct a gruesome experiment at a remote research facility to find the answers."

Opinion: I read this one SEVERAL years ago but remembered a lot of what happened. Good mysteries and introduction to new characters

Midnight Timetable: A Novel in Ghost Stories by Bora Chung

Started: 2/20/2026

Finished: 2/22/2026

Year: 2025

Pages: 1881

Genre: horror

Grade: C

Reason for reading: library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "The acclaimed Korean horror and sci-fi writer’s goosebump-inducing new book follows an employee on the night shift at the Institute. They soon learn why some employees don't last long at the center. The handkerchief in Room 302 once belonged to the late mother of two sons, whose rivalry imbues the handkerchief with undue power and unravels the lives of those who seek to possess it. Meanwhile a live-streaming, ghost-chasing employee steals a cursed sneaker down the hall, but later finds he can’t escape its tread. The cat in Room 206 begins to reveal the crimes of its former family, wanting to understand its own path to the Institute’s dimly lit halls."

Opinion: Unlike some collections of short stories, these actually tie in with each other which makes them more enjoyable. I can always appreciate a good ghost story. None of them scared me or made me anxious.

Cream Puff Murder by Joanne Fluke

Started: 2/17/2026

Finished: 2/20/2026

Year: 2009

Pages: 310

Genre: mystery

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: library book, continuing with series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Hannah Swensen, Lake Eden, Minnesota's finest bakery owner and amateur sleuth, discovers a body floating in a health club jacuzzi. When her part-time flame, Detective Mike Kingston, becomes the prime suspect, he recruits Hannah to find out whodunit."

Opinion: Too many policemen who have told Hannah not to get involved investigations now want her to investigate this particular murder-very unrealistic. Decent mystery but pretty easy to figure out whodunit

Brothers of the Gun by Mark Lee Gardner

Started: 2/15/2026

Finished: 2/16/2026

Year: 2025

Pages: 246

Genre: Biography

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday: Legendary gunfighters and friends who gained immortality because of a thirty-second shootout near a livery stable called the O.K. Corral. Their friendship actually began three years before that iconic 1881 gunfight, in the rollicking cattle town of Dodge City. Wyatt, an assistant city marshal, was surrounded by armed, belligerent cowboys. Doc saw Wyatt’s predicament from a monte table in the Long Branch saloon and burst out the door with two leveled revolvers shouting, “Throw up your hands!” The startled cowboys did, and Wyatt and Doc led them off to jail. Wyatt credited Doc with saving his life, and thus began their lasting—and curious—friendship.

"In this illuminating dual biography, the first about Earp and Holliday, the lives of these two men, one a sometime lawman and the other a sometime dentist, are chronicled in a swirling tableau of saloons, brothels, gambling dens, stage holdups, arrests, manhunts, and revenge killings. And while there’s plenty of gunsmoke in this saga, hero-worshipping won’t be found. Wyatt and Doc, just like anyone else then and now, had their flaws and failings, and the unsavory parts of their lives are here, too.

"In Brothers of the Gun, Old West authority Mark Lee Gardner reveals fresh information about Wyatt’s and Doc’s early lives, their famous friendship, the O.K. Corral gunfight, and Wyatt’s controversial “vendetta ride” following the assassination of his brother Morgan. Drawing upon new research into diaries, letters, court records, and contemporary newspaper reports, as well as firsthand observation at several historic sites, this is the definitive book on Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and their enduring bond. Brothers of the Gun is edge-of-your-saddle nonfiction storytelling at its best."

Opinion: This was more about Wyatt than about Doc so the title is a little bit misleading. Interesting history.

All My Bones by P.J. Nelson

Started: 2/11/2026

Finished: 2/14/2026

Year: 2025

Pages: 336

Genre: mystery

Grade: C

Reason for reading: library book, continuing series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Madeline Brimley recently inherited a bookstore in Enigma, Georgia, is embarking on her second career, after her first one (acting) founders upon the metaphorical rocks. Settling in, Madeline recruits her friend Gloria Coleman, the local Episcopal priest, to help her plant azaleas in the front yard of the old Victorian that houses the bookstore. Turning the soil, however, uncovers the body of one Beatrice Glassie, a troublesome woman who has been missing for the past six months.

"When her friend Gloria is arrested for the murder, Madeline is determined to prove her innocence and, as she quickly finds out, there aren't many people in town who hadn't wanted to kill Bea Glassie at one point or another. And the very expensive and rare first edition of a particular volume of Grimm's Fairy Tales―ordered by the victim and her sister is somehow tied to the grim death. With the help of her not-quite-boyfriend, a local lawman, and her deceased aunt's best friend, Madeline plans to set a trap to catch the real murderer―before she becomes the next victim."

Opinion: An okay mystery-not enough suspects. Interesting background of Gloria.

Secret Prey by John Sandford

Started: 1/18/2026

Finished: 2/12/2026

Year: 1998

Pages: 495

Genre: mystery

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: TBR, continuing with series

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "A wealthy banker is dead, shot once in the chest during a hunting trip. There are many reasons for him to be killed, and many people who would do the deed. But who did?  Lucas Davenport has an idea. But this routine murder investigation is about to turn into something different. A cat-and-mouse game with a killer who does not hesitate to take the fight to Lucas himself. And those he loves…"

Opinion: Delusions and money are a thing

Monster in the Moonlight by Annelise Ryan

Started: 2/9/2026

Finished: 2/10/2026

Year: 2026

Pages: 323

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book, continuing with series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): 'When a dead body turns up along a lonely country byway in rural Wisconsin, rumors of The Beast of Bray Road, a werewolf-like creature that is said to inhabit the area are reinvigorated. For years locals have reported sightings of the terrifying creature, but this would be its first verified attack.

"Marks on the dead woman’s body indicate a mauling by some kind of large animal. The wounds plus deep scratches on the victim’s car convince the community that the legendary beast is not only real but responsible for this brutal killing.

"If the police have any hope of solving this crime, they’re going to need an expert—enter cryptozoologist Morgan Carter. She’s investigated sightings of eerie creatures throughout the upper Midwest. If anyone is going to track down the killer, it’s Morgan, but she may find that the Beast is not the worst thing lurking on Bray Road."

Opinion: Not a lot of suspects so it wasn't too hard to figure out whodunit. Interesting history of The Beast of Bray Road.

The Gallagher Place by Julie Doar

Started: 2/6/2026

Finished: 2/9/2026

Year: 2025

Pages: 341

Genre: mystery

Grade: C

Reason for reading: library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "When Marlowe Fisher, an illustrator living in New York City, returns to her family’s bewitching Hudson Valley home for the holidays, she discovers a body in the woods―a murder that draws her back into the haunting case of her teenage best friend’s disappearance two decades earlier. What happened to Nora?

"As police descend on the sprawling Fisher property, Marlowe is pulled into an investigation that threatens to unravel the town’s fragile loyalties and expose the shadowed legacy of a weekend home steeped in secrets. Marlowe must confront the fallibility of her own memory and the feeling that everyone―including her brothers―is hiding something if she’s to uncover the shocking truth about her lost friend. In this gripping debut, Julie Doar delivers a chilling mystery that explores the corrosive power of silence and the tension of family secrets."

Opinion: The additional murder didn't really seem to have a place in the longer mystery. Not surprised by what happened.

By Cook or By Crook by Maya Corrigan

Started: 1/4/2026

Finished: 1/5/2026

Year: 2014

Pages: 299

Genre: cozy mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book, author recently passed away

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Haunted by the car accident that ended her career as a cookbook publicist, Val Deniston has traded in the chaos of New York City for a quieter life near the Chesapeake Bay. Living with her curmudgeonly grandfather in the tourist town of Bayport is hardly glamorous, but she enjoys working at the Cool Down Café at the local fitness club, and she finally has time to work on her long-planned cookbook. But when one of the club's patrons is found dead, she'll have to cook up a scheme to find the killer. As the number of suspects rises like crabs in a bucket, it's out of the pan and into the fire for Val. If she can't find the culprit soon, she might as well be chum in the water. . ."

Opinion: A decent debut of a cozy mystery series-good info on the main characters. Decent mystery and choices of whodunit.

Ask for Andrea by Noelle W. Ihli

Started: 2/1/2026

Finished: 2/3/2026

Year: 2025

Pages: 254

Genre: thriller/paranormal

Grade: A

Reason for reading: library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "He hunted them online, masquerading as an eligible bachelor. Then he played the perfect gentleman, a thick layer of charm and a thousand-watt smile hiding the fact that his first dates end in shallow graves.

"He’s gotten away with murder three times now.

"The only thing that might keep him from killing again? The women he murdered.

"Meghan, Brecia, and Skye might be dead, but they’re not gone. They’ve found each other. And they won’t rest until they find a way to stop him."

Opinion: A different take on a serial killer mystery. Really good AND the ending fit the story-was dreading that the ending would be a letdown like in so many other books but it wasn't.

Bad River by Marc Cameron

Started: 1/28/2026

Finished: 2/1/2026

Year: 2024

Pages: 346

Genre: mystery/thriller

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book, continuing with series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "In the Inupiaq village of Wainwright on the Arctic Ocean, two teenagers discover a frozen body in the permafrost wall of their family’s cellar. They recognize the face through the ice—a young woman who went missing two years ago . . .

"In South Dakota, Arliss Cutter searches for answers surrounding his brother’s mysterious death. But his visit only raises more questions without any leads. Until he returns to Alaska—and learns that his brother had something in common with the frozen body in the ice cellar . . .

"Inside the young woman’s pocket is a fossilized animal tooth—similar to the one Arliss’s brother picked up on a trip to South Dakota. A bizarre coincidence? Or are the two connected somehow? Before Arliss can figure it out, his brother’s widow and children become the targets of a brutal home invasion. Arliss arrives on the scene in time—but his actions trigger a larger investigation that puts his own neck on the line. From South Dakota to Anchorage to the Inupiaq villages of the Arctic, Arliss follows this bloodstained trail of clues to a remote lodge on the banks of the Kobuk River. Here, in this unforgiving wilderness, he will find the answers he seeks. Here, in this untamed, often violent land, he will come face to face with the terrible truth—and the man behind his brother’s murder . . ."

Opinion: A good end to one mystery that has been lingering through a few books. And the ending starts another one.

The First Time I Saw Him by Laura Dave

Started: 1/27/2026

Finished: 1/28/2026

Year: 2026

Pages: 268

Genre: mystery

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: library book, continuing the series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Five years after her husband, Owen, disappeared, Hannah Hall and her stepdaughter, Bailey, have settled into a new life in Southern California. Together, they’ve forged a relationship with Bailey’s grandfather Nicholas and are putting the past behind them.

"But when Owen shows up at Hannah’s new exhibition, she knows that she and Bailey are in danger again.

"Hannah and Bailey are forced to go on the run in a relentless race to keep their past from catching up with them. As a thrilling drama unfolds, Hannah risks everything to get Bailey to safety—and finds there just might be a way back to Owen and their long-awaited second chance."

Opinion: Should read this soon after the first one-felt that I lost a lot of what had happened from the first book.

Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson

Started: 1/25/2026

Finished: 1/26/2026

Year: 2023

Pages: 312

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book, continuing with series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "When the Australian Mystery Writers’ Society invited me to their crime-writing festival aboard the Ghan, the famous train between Darwin and Adelaide, I was hoping for some inspiration for my second whodunnit. Fiction, this time: I needed a break from real people killing each other. Obviously, that didn’t pan out.

"The program is a who’s who of crime writing royalty:

"the debut writer (me!)

"the forensic science writer

"the blockbuster writer

"the legal thriller writer

"the literary writer

"the psychological suspense writer

"But when one of us is murdered, the remaining authors quickly turn into five detectives. Together, we should know how to solve a crime.

"Of course, we should also know how to commit one."

Opinion: Lots of characters to be considered for murder and whodunit

A Ferry Merry Christmas by Debbie Macomber

Started: 1/24/2026

Finished: 1/24/2026

Year: 2025

Pages: 254

Genre: romance

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Avery and Reed Bond grew up sharing a close-knit relationship, weathering life’s storms side by side. Even so, Avery often finds herself exasperated by her brother’s relentless matchmaking, while Reed can’t resist teasing his sister—after all, isn’t that what siblings do?

"Facing their first Christmas without their beloved Grams, the woman who lovingly raised them, Reed and Avery decide to spend the holiday together at Reed’s home. However, their plans take an unexpected turn when the ferry Avery’s traveling on stalls in the middle of Puget Sound, stranding its passengers and leaving Reed waiting a now undetermined length of time for her arrival. What is at first an inconvenience threatens to ruin the plans of a number of commuters, but Avery and Reed soon discover that this unforeseen delay might end up being be a perfectly timed blessing in disguise.

"While stuck on the ferry, Avery meets a handsome sailor and witnesses a Christmas miracle that reignites her belief in the holiday spirit. Meanwhile, Reed runs into a coworker who’s also waiting for a family member to arrive, and sparks a surprising and delightful connection.

"In this tale of holiday magic, the Bond siblings find themselves taking a chance on love, proving that sometimes the best moments in life come when we least expect them."

Opinion: What we need in today's time-people coming together. Sweet romance. No smut.

Cruel and Unusual by Patricia Cornwell

Started: 1/20/2026

Finished: 1/23/2026

Year: 1993

Pages: 273

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book, continuing with series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "'Killing me won't kill the beast' are the last words of rapist-murderer Ronnie Joe Waddell, written four days before his execution. But they can't explain how Dr. Kay Scarpetta finds Waddell's fingerprints on another crime scene -- after she'd performed his autopsy. If this is some sort of game, Scarpetta seems to be the target. And if the next victim is someone she knows, the punishment will be cruel and unusual..."

Opinion: Interesting twists and turns and internal sabatage.

Don't Let Him In by Lisa Jewell

Started: 1/20/2026

Finished: DNF

Year: 2025

Pages: 357

Genre: mystery

Grade: F

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Nina Swann is intrigued when she received a condolence card from Nick Radcliffe, an old friend of her late husband, who is looking to connect after her husband’s unexpected death. Nick is a man of substance and good taste. He has a smile that could melt the coldest heart and a knack for putting others at ease. But to Nina’s adult daughter, Ash, Nick seems too slick, too polished, too good to be true. Without telling her mother, Ash begins digging into Nick’s past. What she finds is more than unsettling…

"Martha is a florist living in a neighboring town with her infant daughter and her devoted husband, Alistair. But lately, Alistair has been traveling more and more frequently for work, disappearing for days at a time. When Martha questions him about his frequent absences, he always has a legitimate explanation, but Martha can’t share the feeling that something isn’t right.

"Nina, Martha, and Ash are on a collision course with a shocking truth that is far darker than anyone could have imagined. And all three are about to wish they had heeded the same warning: Don’t let him in."

Opinion: The writing style did not appeal to me-so much so that I stopped reading. 

Epilogue to a Christmas Murder by Lauren Elliott

Started: 1/18/2026

Finished: 1/20/2026

Year: 2025

Pages: 360

Genre: cozy mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book, continuing with series

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "There’s no place like the seaside Massachusetts town of Greyborne Harbor for the holidays, and there’s no better feeling for Addie than donating to the lighthouse museum’s Twelve Days of Christmas charity fundraiser. Of the dozen books she’ll be offering as prizes from her Beyond the Page Books and Curios shop, the most special volume is a first edition of The Gift of the Magi imported from England—signed by O. Henry! Addie receives an unexpected Christmas bonus when the book is hand delivered by visiting Detective Inspector Noah Parker, whom she met in England, and has been daydreaming about ever since.

"But on the night Addie delivers the book to the museum, someone posing as one of Santa’s Little Helpers swipes it—and the rest of the charity gifts. As if the theft wasn’t bad enough, a body is found on the rocks outside the lighthouse, believed to be murdered. Now, it’s up to Addie to connect the clues, find stolen goods, and catch a killer—in order to usher in a Happy New Year . . ."

Opinion: Much better now that Addie is back home. Murderer was predictable-motive was not. Decent.

Three Days in June by Anne Tyler

Started: 1/16/2026

Finished: 1/17/2026

Year: 2025

Pages: 165

Genre: literature

Grade: C

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Gail Baines is having a bad day. To start, she loses her job—or quits, depending on whom you ask. Tomorrow her daughter, Debbie, is getting married, and she hasn’t even been invited to the spa day organized by the mother of the groom. Then, Gail’s ex-husband, Max, arrives unannounced on her doorstep, carrying a cat, without a place to stay, and without even a suit.

"But the true crisis lands when Debbie shares with her parents a secret she has just learned about her husband to be. It will not only throw the wedding into question but also stir up Gail and Max’s past."

Opinion: Um...ok....an everyday wedding weekend....about people I didn't really care about.

Burning Boy by Paul Auster

Started: 1/15/2026

Finished: DNF

Year: 2021

Pages: 738

Genre: biography

Grade: D

Reason for reading: goodreads.com giveaway

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "With Burning Boy, celebrated novelist Paul Auster tells the extraordinary story of Stephen Crane, best known as the author of The Red Badge of Courage, who transformed American literature through an avalanche of original short stories, novellas, poems, journalism, and war reportage before his life was cut short by tuberculosis at age twenty-eight.

"Auster’s probing account of this singular life tracks Crane as he rebounds from one perilous situation to the next: A controversial article written at twenty disrupts the course of the 1892 presidential campaign, a public battle with the New York police department over the false arrest of a prostitute effectively exiles him from the city, a star-crossed love affair with an unhappily married uptown girl tortures him, a common-law marriage to the proprietress of Jacksonville’s most elegant bawdyhouse endures, a shipwreck results in his near drowning, he withstands enemy fire to send dispatches from the Spanish-American War, and then he relocates to England, where Joseph Conrad becomes his closest friend and Henry James weeps over his tragic, early death."

Opinion: Auster seems a little bit obsessed with Crane's life and writings. I, like most people my age and older, read "The Red Badge of Courage" in highschool or middle school. I don't remember much of it but I know that I didn't hate it like so many others have over the years. Just too long of a biography.

The Woman in Suite 11 by Ruth Ware

Started: 1/12/2026

Finished: 1/16/2026

Year: 2025

Pages: 384

Genre: mystery

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: library book, sequel

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "When the invitation to attend the press opening of a luxury Swiss hotel—owned by reclusive billionaire Marcus Leidmann—arrives, it’s like the answer to a prayer. Three years after the birth of her youngest child, Lo Blacklock is ready to reestablish her journalism career, but post-pandemic travel journalism is a very different landscape from the one she left ten years ago.

"The chateau on the shores of Lake Geneva is everything Lo’s ever dreamed of, and she hopes she can snag an interview with Marcus. Unfortunately, he proves to be even more difficult to pin down than his reputation suggests. When Lo gets a late-night call asking her to come to Marcus’s hotel room, she agrees despite her own misgivings. She’s greeted, however, by a woman claiming to be Marcus’s mistress, and in life-or-death jeopardy."

Opinion: Definitely need to read the previous book to understand the character dynamics. Was a tad too long.

Hounded by David Rosenfelt

Started: 12/16/2025

Finished: 1/14/2026

Year: 2014

Pages: 313

Reason for reading: TBR pile, continuing with series

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Andy Carpenter isn't sure what to think when he gets a mysterious phone call from a good friend, policeman Pete Stanton, asking him to drop everything, drive to an unfamiliar address, and bring his girlfriend, Laurie Collins. He certainly isn't expecting to show up at a crime scene. But that's exactly where he arrives―at the house where Pete has just discovered the body of ex-convict Danny Diza. Upstairs are Danny's now orphaned eight-year-old son and basset hound. And that, Andy discovers, is why he and Laurie were called to the scene―Pete wants them to take care of the boy and the dog so they won't get thrown into the "system." This is already asking a lot, but soon Pete needs another big favor from Andy. Pete himself has come under suspicion for Danny's murder, and he needs defense attorney Andy to represent him…and to find out what really happened in Danny's house that day."

Opinion: Interesting case. Good personal story for Andy.

The Guest Cottage by Lori Foster

Started: 1/11/2026

Finished: 1/12/2026

Year: 2025

Pages: 298

Genre: romance/fiction

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Marlow Heddings is starting over. She’s carried the outrage of her husband Dylan’s affair with a younger woman—and the expectations of his family’s powerful Chicago holdings company—long enough. Now, after another devastating twist of fate, she’s unapologetically moving on.

"Arriving in tiny Bramble, Kentucky, Marlow revels in her freedom, swapping her executive suits for sundresses . . . and scouting places to open her dream boutique. Best of all is her new residence, an adorable cottage with gorgeous lake views—and a breathtaking landlord, former Marine Cort Easton. Soon they’re sharing dockside morning coffee and nighttime firefly gazing. Marlow’s new life feels like a dream.

"Then Pixie Nolan arrives on her doorstep. With a shocking secret.

"To Marlow’s astonishment, Dylan’s “other woman” is a desperate girl of nineteen, destitute, exhausted, and disowned by her family. Defying her manipulative in-laws’ demands, and surprising even herself, Marlow vows to lay down roots in Bramble and help Pixie get on her feet. Then they’ll part ways. But empathy has a way of forging bonds. As Marlow grows close to the hard-working, devoted young woman, she becomes something of a big sister to Pixie.

"Now, with each sunrise, Marlow awakens to the life she was truly meant to live, one filled with deepening connections, supportive friendship . . . and even a second chance at love."

Opinion: A sweet story about a second chance at love and forgiving the past-not sure if I could be as forgiving as Marlow but it's an important lesson.

Death at the Door by Olivia Blacke

Started: 1/8/2026

Finished: 1/11/2026

Year: 2025

Pages: 336

Genre: mystery

Grade; B-

Reason for reading; library book, continuing with series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Ruby Young is slowly adjusting to her new life in Boston. A big part of that is her unexpected roommate―the ghost of the woman who lived there before. For Cordelia Graves, she may no longer be breathing, but it’s still her apartment and Ruby is the somewhat unwanted houseguest. They’re both happy they’ve managed to become friends, which is a miracle considering they struggle to communicate with each other. Cordelia even set Ruby up with her old job.

"When Ruby discovers the body of a delivery guy at work, the new life she’s been building hangs in the balance. The last time Cordelia dragged Ruby into a murder investigation, it was almost two ghosts living in the apartment, not one. Determined to protect Ruby, Cordelia tries to shield her from the investigation, but Ruby has other ideas. It will take both of them working together to navigate the fine line between the dead and the living to bring a killer to light."

Opinio: Decent second book. Ending leads up to a third. Reasoning for the murder seemed quickly put together.

Murderland by Caroline Fraser

Started: 1/7/2026

Finished: DNF

Year: 2025

Pages: 398

Genre: true crime

Grade: D

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Caroline Fraser grew up in the shadow of Ted Bundy, the most notorious serial murderer of women in American history, surrounded by his hunting grounds and mountain body dumps, in the brooding landscape of the Pacific Northwest. But in the 1970s and ’80s, Bundy was just one perpetrator amid an uncanny explosion of serial rape and murder across the region. Why so many? Why so weirdly and nightmarishly gruesome? Why the senseless rise and then sudden fall of an epidemic of serial killing?

"As Murderland indelibly maps the lives and careers of Bundy and his infamous peers in mayhem—the Green River Killer, the I-5 Killer, the Night Stalker, the Hillside Strangler, even Charles Manson—Fraser’s Northwestern death trip begins to uncover a deeper mystery and an overlapping pattern of environmental destruction. At ground zero in Ted Bundy’s Tacoma stood one of the most poisonous lead, copper, and arsenic smelters in the world, but it was hardly unique in the West. As Fraser’s investigation inexorably proceeds, evidence mounts that the plumes of these smelters not only sickened and blighted millions of lives but also warped young minds, including some who grew up to become serial killers."

Opinion: A lot of research for repetitive chapters-just different years. Nature vs nurture...how much nature played a role in the PNW.

Evil Bones by Kathy Reichs

Started: 1/6/2026

Finished: 1/7/2026

Year: 2025

Pages: 271

Genre: mystery/thriller

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book, continuing with series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Small creatures—a rat, a rabbit, a squirrel—have been turning up throughout Charlotte, North Carolina, mutilated and displayed in a bizarre manner. But one day, as Tempe is relaxing at home alongside her aimless, moody great-niece Ruthie, she’s diverted by a disturbing call. The perp is upping the ante. This find could be human.

"Tempe visits the scene and discovers that the victim is a dog. Someone’s pet. As one who has always found animal cruelty abhorrent, Tempe agrees to help apprehend the person responsible, and she acquires an equally outraged ally in semi-retired homicide detective Erskine “Skinny” Slidell. Needing a better understanding of possible motives, Tempe seeks input from a forensic psychologist. The doctor has no definitive answer but offers several possibilities, warning that the escalating pattern of aggression suggests even more macabre discoveries—and a shift in the perp’s focus to humans.

"And then it happens. A woman is found disfigured and posed in a manner that mimics the animal killings. Subsequently, people Tempe cares about begin to go missing until it becomes clear she is being taunted, the target in a sick game that has her and Slidell racing against a ticking clock and facing a terrifying question: “What is pure evil?”"

Opinion: Interesting twist at the end. Interesting concepts of what exactly is evil.

Dinner at the Night Library by Hika Harada

Started: 1/4/2026

Finished: 1/5/2026

Year: 2023

Pages: 311

Genre: Literature

Grade: C

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "All Otaha Higuchi wants to do is work with books. However, the exhausting nature of her work at a chain bookstore, combined with her paltry salary and irritating manager quickly bring reality crashing down around her. She is on the verge of quitting when she receives a message from somebody anonymous, inviting her to apply for a job at ‘"The Night Library." The hours are from seven o’clock to midnight. The library exclusively stores books by deceased authors, and none of them can be checked out – instead, they’re put on public display to be revered and celebrated by the library’s visitors, making it akin to a book museum.

"There, Otoha meets the other staff, a group of likeminded literary misfits, including a legendary chef who prepares incredible meals for the library’s employees at the end of each day. Night after night, she bonds with her colleagues over meals in the café, each of which are inspired by the literature on the shelves.

"But as strange occurrences start happening around the library that may bring the threat of its closure, Otaha and her friends fear that the peace they have found there will forever be lost to them. Will their faith in the value of books strong enough to save it? And what will remain if it isn’t?"

Opinion: A book museum-interesting concept. Not sure how much was lost in translation but felt that it was decent.

Carrot Cake Murder by Joanne Fluke

Started: 1/3/2026

Finished: 1/4/2026

Year: 2008

Pages: 321

Genre: cozy mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book, continuing the series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Hannah Swensen has a lot on her plate, baking up a storm for The Cookie Jar. But she'll always make time for her business partner, Lisa, who's preparing for a big family reunion. Everyone is delighted when Lisa's long-lost uncle makes a surprise appearance. No one has heard from Gus in twenty-five years.

"Uncle Gus is immediately the hit of the reunion. He's almost as popular as Hannah's scrumptious carrot cake. But the next morning, as the whole family gathers for the group photo, one person is missing. Hannah offers to track down Uncle Gus, but her search leads to a shocking find. Over by the bar at the pavilion, she spots two slices of her infamous carrot cake, frosting-side down on the floor--and Gus's corpse with an ice pick jutting out of his chest!

"A little snooping reveals that not everyone was celebrating Gus's return. And when Hannah unearths secrets from Gus's past, she discovers many more people with an axe to grind. Now Hannah's got to sift through a long list of suspects to find a killer--even if it could mean a recipe for her own demise..."

Opinion: Decent mystery. Recipes were more non cookies