Tantrum by Rachel Eve Moulton

Started: 8/23/2026

Finished: DNF

Year: 2025

Pages: 176

Genre: "horror"

Grade: F

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Thea’s third pregnancy was her easiest. She wasn’t consumed with anxiety about the baby. She wasn’t convinced it was going to be born green, or have a third eye, or have tentacles sprouting from its torso. Thea was fine. Her baby would be fine.

"But when the nurses handed Lucia to her, Thea just knew. Her baby girl was a monster. Not only was Lucia born with a full set of teeth and a devilish glint in her eye, but she’s always hungry. Indiscriminately so. One day Lucia pointed at her baby brother, looked Thea dead in the eye and said, “I eat.”

"Thea doesn’t know whether to be terrified or proud of her rapacious baby girl. And as Lucia starts growing faster and talking more, dark memories bubble to the surface--flashes from Thea’s childhood that won’t release their hooks from her heart. Lucia wants to eat the world. Thea might just let her."

Opinion: A lot of eye rolling. A lot of ridiculousness. Not scary, Not horror....just annoying.

Point of Origin by Patricia Cornwell

Started: 8/16/2026

Finished: 8/23/2026

Year: 1998

Pages: 272

Genre: mystery/thriller

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book, continuing with series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "The devastating fire tore through the horse farm, destroying everything it touched. Picking through the wreckage, Dr. Kay Scarpetta uncovers human remains—the work of an audacious and wily killer who uses fire to mask his brutal murders. And when Scarpetta learns that her old nemesis, Carrie Grethen, has escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane and is somehow involved, the investigation becomes personal. Tragedy strikes close to home. And Scarpetta must match Grethen’s every move with one of her own to douse the inferno of evil that threatens everyone around her. . . ."

Opinion: Tragedy. Makes the TV series a little wrong. Good mystery

Gingerbread Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke, Laura Levine, Leslie Meier

Started: August 13, 2026

Finished: August 16, 2026

Year: 2010

Pages: 359

Genre: cozy mystery

Grade: C

Reason for reading: library book, continuing with Fluke series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): ""Gingerbread Cookie Murder" By Joanne Fluke

"When Hannah Swensen finds her neighbor Ernie Kusak with his head bashed in and sprawled on the floor of his condo next to an upended box of Hannah's Gingerbread Cookies, she discovers a flurry of murder suspects that's as long as her holiday shopping list.

"The Dangers Of Gingerbread Cookies" By Laura Levine

"Jaine Austen has been enlisted to help with her parents' retirement community's play The Gingerbread Cookie That Saved Christmas. Playboy Dr. Preston McCay is playing the role of the gingerbread cookie when he "accidentally" falls to his death during the final act. Now Jaine must figure out if one of the doctor's jealous lovers was capable of murder.

"Gingerbread Cookies And Gunshots" By Leslie Meier

"When Lucy Stone discovers the body of Rick Juergens, whose five-year-old son Nemo disappeared, she senses foul play. Crumbs from a gingerbread cookie Lucy gave to Nemo are found in the back seat of Rick's car. With the hours quickly ticking till Christmas, Lucy races against the clock to find a killer before he strikes again."

Opinion: Some of these were more enjoyable than others. All were fairly predictable but stil a decent read.

Night Shift by Stephen King

Started: 8/10/2026

Finished: 8/10/2026

Year: 1978

Pages: 344

Genre: short stories

Grade: C

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Night Shift is Stephen King's first collection of short stories--a perfect showcase of just how far King's dark imagination can go. Here we see mutated rats gone bad ("Graveyard Shift"); a cataclysmic virus that threatens humanity ("Night Surf," the basis for The Stand); a possessed, evil lawnmower ("The Lawnmower Man"); unsettling children from the heartland ("Children of the Corn"); a smoker who will try anything to stop ("Quitters, Inc."); a reclusive alcoholic who begins a gruesome transformation ("Gray Matter"); and many more. This is Stephen King at his horrifying best."

Opinion: As with any collection, some stores grabbed me, others did not-some I didn't finish because they didn't grab me.

Dungeons and Danger by Elizabeth Penney

Started: 8/9/2026

Finished: 8/10/2026

Year: 2026

Pages: 282

Genre: cozy mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book, continuing series

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "As Halloween approaches, Ravensea Castle is bustling with excitement as Nora Asquith welcomes the fall season guests to her family's newly converted bed and breakfast. A historian studying the movements of the Vikings has traced their exploits to Ravensea. A certain Viking woman, known as the Red Maiden, landed here and the historian believes she buried a treasure hoard before the castle was built. He is hopeful he can find the hoard now. Nora can't help but wonder if the enigmatic castle ghost she's always referred to as the woman in red could be this very Viking?

"Meanwhile, a team of four ghost hunters is coming to stay at Ravensea for the filming of Britain's Got Ghosts. Former students of the historian, the group arrives with their own rivalries and baggage. They try to see who can make the most paranormal contacts and end up getting more than they bargained for.

"When the historian is murdered during a Viking festival on castle grounds and his notes go missing, Nora can't help but wonder if the treasure was why he was killed . . . and could it be connected to the visiting ghost hunters? Additional "accidents" befalling the hunters raise the stakes as Nora races to find the killer―and the treasure―before another death occurs."

Opinion: A fun mystery wrapped with Viking lore and ghost hunting.

Leave No Trace by A. J. Landau

Started: 8/1/2026

Finished: 8/8/2026

Year: 2024

Pages: 341

Genre: mystery, thriller

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "In a daring, brutal act of terrorism, an explosion rocks and topples the Statue of Liberty. Special Agent Michael Walker of the National Park Service is awakened by his boss with that news and sent to New York as the agent-in-charge. Not long after he lands, he learns two things - one that Gina Delgado of the FBI has been placed in charge of the investigation as the lead of the Joint Terrorism Task Force and two, that threats of a second terrorism attack are already being called into the media. While barred from the meetings of the Joint Task Force for his lack of security clearance, Walker finds a young boy among the survivors with a critical piece of information - a video linking the attackers to the assault.

"As a radical domestic terrorist group, led by a shadowy figure known only as Jeremiah, threatens further attacks against America's cultural symbols, powerful forces within the government are misleading the investigation to further their own radical agenda."

Opinion: Each chapter begins with a fact about where that particular chapter takes place-I liked learning the little facts. Decent suspenseful mystery.