Monday Malarkey

Recent arrivals:

• Ultimate Veg by Jamie Oliver
• 4-Week Insomnia Workbook by Sara Dittoe Barrett
• Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker, PhD

All are purchases. I've been anxiously awaiting the release of Jamie Oliver's Ultimate Veg because we've found his recipes pretty consistently have been hits in this house. And, clearly, I'm sick of insomnia, hence the two books purchased in the middle of the night when I was losing my mind (a third is on its way). I hope I get something helpful out of at least one of them.


Books finished since last Malarkey:

• What Red Was by Rosie Price
• Sanditon by Jane Austen and Kate Riordan

My review of Sanditon is scheduled for mid-February but I rushed to read it ahead of the series that started on PBS, yesterday. I'm enjoying the chance to view the book acted out so soon after finishing. 

Currently reading:

• 4-Week Insomnia Workbook by Sara Dittoe Barrett
• The World of Sanditon by Sara Sheridan
• Virus on Orbis 1: The Softwire by P. J. Haarsma

I'm reading an e-book (Virus on Orbis 1)!!! That's mostly because I was scrambling to find something to read in the middle of the night without blinding the husband, but I'm glad to finally actually find myself reading one of the 500+ books I stored on a Kindle app before realizing I hate reading electronically. I should try to at least read one a month. Maybe that'll be one of my unspoken possibly-goals. Or, maybe I should stick with the plan and just read whatever grabs me.


Posts since last Malarkey:

• Creatures by Crissy Van Meter (book review)
• You Were There Too by Colleen Oakley (book review)
• Here and Now and Then by Mike Chen, Island of Sweet Pies and Soldiers by Sara Ackerman, and Angel in a Devil's Arms by Julie Anne Long (mini book reviews)
• Fiona Friday - Hidey floofen (cat photo - explanation of subject line included)

The first week of trying to write reviews and post them over the weekend was a bust and a reminder of why I don't usually do anything over the weekend but sometimes pre-post my Monday Malarkey (which is a pretty easy thing to whip out). Husband just doesn't like looking at my back. Understandable. I hate looking at the top of his head when he's playing with his cellphone. So, if I have an unusual stretch of time and can pre-post reviews for weekend days, I will. That won't happen, this week but maybe soon. Fingers crossed. 

In other news:

This was not a TV or movie week. It was not a reading week. It was just one of those weeks. But, I did enjoy my reading, when I read. And, I managed to finish watching the 4th season of The Heart Guy. It had a similarly final feel to that of the 3rd season. So, there's really no telling if that series will ever return. Probably not. The whole time I was watching it, this past couple of weeks, I found myself wondering if the homestead (the place they filmed in New South Wales) is still even there because I'd watch an episode of The Heart Guy and then later in the day watch the news about the fires. It's such a beautiful place. I do hope it survives this horrible fire season.


©2020 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Fiona Friday - Hidey floofen

This may not make sense to people outside of cat-obsession groups (I'm in a Facebook group with nearly half a million cat lovers) but the way Isabel's holding her foot is called a "floofen". And, she's hiding her face, so I'm calling this a "hidey floofen". I've never seen her do this particular position, before, although she frequently sits with a floofened paw. It made me laugh.

©2020 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Mini Reviews - Here and Now and Then by Mike Chen, Island of Sweet Pies and Soldiers by Sara Ackerman, and Angel in a Devil's Arms by Julie Anne Long

More minis! I've put my favorite of the three at the top, just in case anyone decides my reviews are boring and can only get through the first. It is soooo good.

Here and Now and Then is about Kin Stewart, a man who was a time-traveling agent till he got stuck in the past for 18 years. Although it was against the rules to get involved in the time period he visited, after getting stuck in the 90s Kin got a job in IT, married, and had a daughter, Miranda. But, now he's back in 2142 and traveling through time again could kill him. When Kin figures out a way to email Miranda and then finds out her life is in danger in the timeline he's left behind, can he come up with a way to save her? Or, will he have to sacrifice himself trying?

Highly recommended - I loved the world building in Here and Now and Then but the main thrust of the story is about the importance of family, which I also loved. In fact, I loved the book so much that I immediately pre-ordered Mike Chen's next book, which is due to be released on the 14th of January (one week!!!) so I'm probably going to drop everything and read till my eyes pop when that arrives. The new book is called A Beginning at the End. I love Chen's titles.

There are some references to Dr. Who (although nothing overly exciting), hence the painting of the TARDIS in the background. And, that little car in the front is called a "car of the future" — it was a gift from my eldest and since they have flying cars in 2142, I thought it was appropriate.

Island of Sweet Pies and Soldiers by Sara Ackerman is about a woman whose husband has disappeared and whose daughter is traumatized. It's the 1940s and America is at war. Violet and her daughter Ella are just trying to survive after the disappearance of Violet's husband, a year ago. Ella knows what happened to him but she's terrified and unable or unwilling to speak about what she saw. Violet doesn't know what's wrong with Ella, although it's not for want of trying to get her to open up.

When finances become tight, Violet and her friends come up with the idea to open a pie stand and sell pie at the local encampment of soldiers nearby on Hawaii's Big Island.

There's a lot going on in Island of Sweet Pies and Soldiers. Some soldiers Violet and her buddies befriend start hanging out at the house she shares and Violet becomes attracted to one of them but doesn't know quite how to behave. Is her husband alive or dead? She's devoted to her husband but it's nice to have the comfort of a kind man. Other things happening: a neighbor of Violet's with Japanese ancestry is arrested and then Violet is accused of spying. And, the soldiers have a pet lion cub whom little Ella becomes attached to.

What happened to Violet's husband and why does Ella refuse to talk about it?

Recommended but not a favorite - I had mixed feelings about Island of Sweet Pies and Soldiers. I liked it but I didn't love it. And, yet, I would definitely read more by Sara Ackerman so maybe the timing was wrong. I did love how it ended.

I read and loved the first book in The Palace of Rogues series by Julie Anne Long, Lady Derring Takes a Lover, but I don't know if anyone offered me the second book (I may have deleted an email offer when I was shutting down intake of review books). When I heard it had been released, I ordered Angel in a Devil's Arms because I so enjoyed Lady Derring's story.

Lucien Durand, The Duke of Brexford, was thought drowned in the Thames a decade ago but now he has returned to London in search of revenge. And, he's staying at The Grand Palace on the Thames.

Angelique has a painful history. It's only since her unusual partnership with Lady Derring, now happily married and still running The Grand Palace on the Thames with Angelique, that her life has become secure and comfortable. The last thing she needs in her life is another man to use and discard her. But, after a single kiss with Lord Bolt, she is conflicted and Lord Bolt's heart is lost to her. Can Julien convince Angelique that she's safe with him?

Recommended - Angel in a Devil's Arms didn't stick with me in the way that Lady Derring Takes a Lover did but I enjoyed it. My very brief Goodreads review says I thought it had great characters and a fantastic ensemble cast, most of whom are likable, but I thought the author occasionally lost the plot in this particular installment. I also said I loved it. So, I'll keep reading this series.


©2020 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

You Were There Too by Colleen Oakley

I planned to finish my 2019 reviews before barreling into 2020 but You Were There Too says it was released on the 7th (that's today as I write but will be yesterday when you read this) so I'm going to go ahead and review it and I'll continue to interject reviews of more recent reads if there's a genuine reason like "Fresh release!" or "I have to say something right now!"

You Were There Too is the story of Mia. Since high school she's occasionally had dreams that feature the same man. Sometimes they're good; often they're nightmares. In her everyday life, Mia is happily married to a surgeon named Harrison. Mia and Harrison have recently moved to a small town called Hope Springs from Philadelphia after Harrison lost a child in surgery and he felt like he needed a change. Mia is struggling with the move and her desire to have a baby, which keeps ending in miscarriage.

Then, one day something bizarre happens. Mia sees the man she's been dreaming about for so long. And then she's introduced to him. Oliver is the brother of a patient whose life Harrison saved, and she feels like she's known him forever. Eventually, Oliver admits that he's been dreaming of Mia, as well. But, what can it possibly mean? In their search for answers, Mia and Oliver become friends. Mia's very open about their friendship with Harrison, but at the same time she's developing a surprisingly deep and meaningful friendship with another man, fault lines have emerged in her loving marriage. Mia works hard at making it clear that she can't be with Oliver, and yet she can't deny to herself that she feels attracted to him.

What will become of the friendship? Will Oliver and Mia step over the friendship line and into romance? What about Harrison? Something is a little off about him but Mia can't put a finger on it and with the rift in their marriage growing, will she be able to help him? Will Mia and Oliver figure out what their dreams and nightmares mean? Or is something about to happen that can't be prevented?

Highly recommended - Ohmygosh, I loved this book. The author kept me guessing all the way through and I loved the way she handled the relationships, the confusion, the questions about marriage and what love can or cannot overcome. There's a shocking prologue at the beginning of the book so you know that Oliver's and Mia's dreams clearly are psychic in some way, but not who Mia is with when tragedy strikes.

This is actually the only book I've ever read that has attempted to address the concept of psychic dreaming and I loved it in part because I am an occasional psychic dreamer, myself. I could relate to Mia's obsession about what it all meant, although I've never heard of two people dreaming about each other and that's far from my experience. I have dreamed about things that happen before the news breaks. Not long ago, I started sharing stories of my psychic dreams (and a couple of what I call "waking visions" because I wasn't asleep when they occurred) with a friend and I realized there were so many of them that it would take a while to share them all with her.

As to meaning . . . I don't know that there is any meaning to those dreams that have come true for me, although a couple of them have felt like warnings. That's one of the questions in You Were There Too. Are Oliver and Mia being warned about something to come? If so, is there anything they can do to prevent something bad from happening? What about the dreams that are not nightmares but the opposite? Do they mean Mia should give up on her marriage and that she really belongs with Oliver? Why do Oliver and Mia both have this strange mix of dreams? It's a really intriguing set of questions and I loved this book so much that I will absolutely seek out more by Colleen Oakley.

I received a copy of You Were There Too from Berkley Books in exchange for an unbiased review. Many thanks! I'm excited to have found a new author who kept me riveted until the wee hours of the morning (although I didn't appreciate the way I felt the next day).

©2020 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Creatures by Crissy Van Meter

Creatures was the first book I finished after going on my blogging break. I presume it called to me loudly because of that gorgeous cover. Who wouldn't be drawn to it?

The story is about Evie, a woman who is on the verge of getting married as Creatures opens on fictional Winter Island, off the coast of California. Evie's mother left when she was young but has popped in on occasion. Her father was Winter Island's marijuana dealer. They moved from one apartment or house to another on the island, some better than others, dependent either upon whoever her father had befriended or his current financial situation, at the time. During one of their stays near a fancy vacation home, Evie met a wealthy, rebellious, and erratic girl who became her lifelong best friend.

Now, Evie's mother has just arrived in time for her wedding (which is to take place the next day). There's a dead whale caught on the reef and it's letting off a powerful stench. Evie is trying to think of a way to get rid of the carcass without breaking any laws, wondering why her mother has shown up when she's missed out on most of Evie's life, and pondering the possibility that her fiancé may be dead because he hasn't returned from the sea, yet.

From this opening scene, the book jumps back and forth in time, slowly revealing Evie's early life and influences. From the cover:

With wit, love, and bracing flashes of anger, Creatures probes the complexities of love and abandonment, guilt and forgiveness, betrayal and grief—and the ways in which our ability to love can be threatened if we are not brave enough to conquer the past. 

Lyrical, darkly funny, and ultimately cathartic, Creatures exerts a pull as strong as the tides. 

Recommended - I agree with that cover blurb. Immediately before opening a book to read, I avoid cover descriptions because I've read a few that completely ruined the reading by revealing important plot points that are better off left unknown till you get there, but after I closed it I read the description and thought it was close to perfect.

Although it's been 6 weeks or so since I read the book, I remember thinking Creatures was quirky but I liked Van Meter's craftsmanship, with one exception: her use of time. There is no strict timeline. In what appears to be the present day — the arrival of Evie's mother during the time a whale has become trapped and died close to shore — you are unsure whether or not the man Evie is supposed to marry will return or is even alive. From there, the author jumps back and forth in time so frequently (and with a tragic misuse of tense) that it can be very confusing.

And, yet, the narrative has great flow and if you're patient with the author's bouncing around in time, you'll find that she gradually fills you in on the events that shaped Evie: her father's drug dealing and her part in it, the people who offered her a sense of stability (if only for a short time), and the strange way her mother popped in and out of her life. Eventually the story moves beyond the day before Evie's wedding. If you can tolerate the confusing time leaps, Creatures is a strangely beautiful and satisfying read. I finished it on the morning of my surgery and I often have difficulty reading on stressful days, but I was completely absorbed. I gave it a 3.5/5 at Goodreads and will be watching for more by Crissy Van Meter.

I received an ARC of Creatures from Algonquin Books via Shelf Awareness in return for my unbiased review. Many thanks!

©2020 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Monday Malarkey

Ack! I've been away for so long that I almost forgot about my regular Monday post! My habit, last year, was to write up my Malarkey post on Sunday and then schedule it for early morning -- same as what I began to do with my review posts. I'll try to get back to that but it may take me a few days to get back into the swing of things.

Recent arrivals (click to enlarge):

This is most of what I received in the mail (I managed to keep almost all the arrivals together!) while I was on break.

• A Girl Like You by Michelle Cox - from the author, a contest win
• The Secret She Keeps by Helenkay Dimon - from Avon Books, unsolicited, for review (2nd in series)
• If Cats Disappeared from the World by Genki Kawamura - purchased
• LIFLIK3 by Jay Kristoff - purchased (1st in a series) 
• Almost Just Friends by Jill Shalvis and
• Heartstone, Dragonshadow, and Flamebringer (a trilogy) by Elle Katharine White - all from HarperCollins for review (William Morrow and Harper Voyager imprints, respectively)
• Sanditon by Jane Austen and Kate Riordan and
• The World of Sanditon by Sara Sheridan - from Grand Central Publishing via Austenprose for tour
• Obsidio by Jay Kristoff and Amy Kaufman (3rd in a series) - purchased because I realized I never finished the series (and then I found out there's a 4th book . . . which you know I'll buy, eventually). 
• Not pictured: The Spirit of Fire by Susanne Dunlap (2nd in a trilogy — the 3rd book is a prequel) and Angel in a Devil's Arms by Julie Anne Long (2nd in a series) - both purchased.

Books finished since last Malarkey: 

• Vox by Christina Dalcher
• Small Spaces by Katherine Arden
• Creatures by Crissy Van Meter
• The Lost Man by Jane Harper
• The Same Sky by Amanda Eyre Ward
• The Last Light Breaking by Nick Jans
• Island of Sweet Pies and Soldiers by Sara Ackerman
• Here and Now and Then by Mike Chen
• Angel in a Devil's Arms by Julie Anne Long
• In Another Time by Jillian Cantor
• Listen to the Wind by Susanne Dunlap
• The Round House by Louise Erdrich
• Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
• Her Other Secret by Helenkay Dimon
• Christmas Camp by Karen Schaler
• The Spirit of Fire by Susanne Dunlap
• They Were Sisters by Dorothy Whipple
• Heartstone by Elle Katharine White
• Under the Jaguar Sun by Italo Calvino
• You Were There Too by Colleen Oakley

It was a surprisingly good reading break. Because I figured it was going to be a stressful couple of months, I decided in advance that I would let books call to me rather than focus on trying to catch up on ARCs. Now that I'm back, I'm in ARC-reading mode but I hope to take on fewer ARCs and will absolutely not continue accepting them if I start to fall behind, this year. 

As to the books I read, so many of them were terrific reads. Some favorites were Here and Now and Then by Mike Chen, In Another Time by Jillian Cantor, Listen to the Wind and The Spirit of Fire by Susanne Dunlap, The Round House by Louise Erdrich, The Lost Man by Jane Harper, The Last Light Breaking by Nick Jans, and You Were There Too by Colleen Oakley (which I just finished a couple days ago). 

Currently reading:

• What Red Was by Rosie Price 

I'm about halfway through, thanks to a night of insomnia. Next up will be Sanditon because the series airs on PBS starting this coming Sunday! Woot!


Posts since last Malarkey:

• 25 Days 'Til Christmas by Poppy Alexander (book review)
• Where the Angels Lived by Margaret McMullan (book review)
• The Cats of Tanglewood Forest by Charles de Lint and Charles Vess (book review)
• Vox by Christina Dalcher (book review)
• Small Spaces and Dead Voices by Katherine Arden (paired book reviews for companion books)
• Fiona Friday - One of each and a farewell note (cat photos)
• New Year, New Goals? (just chatter)
• The Lost Man by Jane Harper, The Same Sky by Amanda Eyre Ward, and The Last Light Breaking by Nick Jans (mini reviews)
• Fiona Friday - Our Christmas gift (cat photo)

That's absolutely every post I put up after my last Monday Malarkey, from both this year and last.


In other news:

We watched a lot of Hallmark movies, as expected, along with Elf and It's a Wonderful Life (colorized — a first for me). But, we also discovered that The Heart Guy (known as Doctor Doctor in Australia) has a 4th season available for viewing on Acorn, so I've been watching that. Husband has become weary of the medical programs and will no longer sit still for them but he's still a fan of Hallmark's less cliché movies; we do turn off anything that just doesn't work for us because it's too formulaic, although we both still enjoy yelling out elements if they're good enough to watch ("Dead parents! Old boyfriend! Planning the festival! Red dress — 'You look amazing/beautiful.' "). I can't recall what other movies we watched, apart from The Aeronauts on Amazon Prime, which we both enjoyed, although it was at times terrifying for those of us who are not fond of heights.

Christmas was very low-key. My new daughter-in-law was under the weather on the actual day, so it was just the two of us, but the newlyweds came to exchange gifts on the following day. While we didn't decorate as extensively as we did in 2018, we kept slowly bringing things out and we've been gradually working on undoing Christmas decorating for days. Somehow, we managed to misplace a storage box. I hope we'll find that, soon. I bought some cute little gnomes to put on the mantle and declared our Christmas theme "Gnome for Christmas" before realizing gnomes were a trend. When I found that out, I bought a set of gnome ornaments to add to the tree and a larger gnome to put on the entry table. It was a nice, silly theme that made us all smile. I even got a glass gnome ornament as a Christmas gift! How fun is that?

We were in bed by 9:00 on New Year's Eve and got a hilarious photo of our eldest granddaughter looking ruffled on the next day. Eldest son had awakened her to let her see the ball drop in Times Square at midnight. Judging from how she looked, that may have been an unappreciated gesture, even though he tells me it's what she wanted.

And, last but not least . . . my Goodreads goal is the same as last year's at 100. I've discovered that I like my goal to be a little lower than I know I can manage so that it's a fun way to keep track of books read rather than a stressor. I read 140 books in 2019.


©2020 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Fiona Friday - Our Christmas gift

There may have eventually been a little scrap in which someone swatted her sister and her sister responded by nipping on her ear but sharing a catnip gift box has been mostly harmonious.  The "winter hat" Isabel is sniffing in the top photo is her favorite. Fiona doesn't seem to have any preference.

©2020 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Mini reviews - The Lost Man by Jane Harper, The Same Sky by Amanda Eyre Ward, and The Last Light Breaking by Nick Jans

It just occurred to me that I should use as much of the week as possible while I'm trying to quickly crank out reviews to finish up 2019, so I may go ahead and post on the weekends and/or skip Fiona Friday until I've caught up and posted my final list with links to all reviews from 2019. I'm going to wing it, for now. Husband may not let me get away with that, so we'll just have to see if that works out. I've just gotten my phone back from the store where I left it behind, so I will go ahead and post a Fiona Friday image, tomorrow.

The Lost Man by Jane Harper is about three brothers. One has become an outcast and lives on a remote piece of his family's property. One feels like he's being treated like he's stupid and left completely out of the decision-making. The third was considered the responsible, likable one. He was married with two children but his body has just turned up in a very strange place, next to a lone grave and far enough from his car that it appears he may have committed suicide. But, something doesn't feel quite right about his death and the outcast brother decides to find out what really happened.

I don't have the book next to me but I remember the story well, if not the names of the characters. As in her previous two books, Jane Harper's Australian setting is practically a character in and of itself, it's so vivid. When she talks about the dust, the dryness, the heat, the way the fine red soil gets into the creases of one's clothing, it's so well described that the real world feels a little unreal for a moment, when you set the book down. The characterization is every bit as sharp. I am so impressed by Jane Harper.

Highly recommended - I was a little disappointed when I found out Jane Harper's third book wasn't going to star the police officer with a wounded soul but an honorable heart of the first two books but I shouldn't have been. I'm not a mystery fan but Jane Harper's writing absolutely sweeps me away. The Lost Man has a slightly slow beginning as you get to know the characters but once you've been introduced to the cast and the questions about the death have been posed, the story becomes absolutely mesmerizing. I continued guessing all the way to the end of the book and I closed the book thinking it was Harper's best.

My copy of The Same Sky by Amanda Eyre Ward was ordered from Book Depository so just a warning, up front: that's probably the British cover. The publisher is Blackfriars, which sounds very British, but I'm just guessing. If you're American and this story appeals to you, be aware that you probably won't see this cover if you go looking for it.

The Same Sky tells two interconnected stories. One is the tale of a young Honduran girl who lives with her grandmother and twin brothers. Her mother lives in Austin, Texas and sends home money but after things deteriorate, Carla and her brother, Junior, are constantly starving. When he starts sniffing glue to help him forget his hunger, Carla knows it's past time to attempt the harrowing journey North. Will they survive?

In the second storyline, Alice is infertile due to breast cancer treatment in her college years and a baby she and her husband were going to adopt has been reclaimed by his mother. Is it time to give up on ever having a child?

It's pretty obvious how Carla and Alice's stories will intersect (Trigger Warning for rape) and, as is often the case in books with two storylines, I favored one over the other — the favorite being Carla's story. I didn't feel like Alice's story was entirely necessary but that's a personal preference. After I wrote that I was unsure why the author bothered to tell Alice's story, on Instagram, another reader and bookstagrammer told me she liked the story just as it is. I wondered if Ward showed Alice's side for the contrast. Alice and her husband have a successful business but feel their lives are incomplete without a family. Carla's family is scattered and struggling in ways mostly unimaginable to an American, so there definitely is a stark difference between their lives.

Recommended but I had mixed feelings - While I think immigrant stories are especially important at this moment, I felt like The Same Sky was a little too disjointed and that some of the elements should have been glossed over or eliminated entirely. I gave it 3 1/2 ⭐. For those who may be wondering, yes I've heard of American Dirt. In fact, I've pre-ordered a copy. I tried to win one (I don't know how many drawings I signed up for) but failed. Before I did so, I'd already pre-ordered it, anyway. It just means I have to wait till its release. 

There's an interesting story behind how I found The Last Light Breaking by Nick Jans. About 10 years ago, the first time we went to Alaska on vacation, Huzzybuns neglected to book one night's lodging in the middle of our stay. Seriously, he just skipped that night. When he realized he'd messed up, the only place he could find for us to stay was on the opposite side of the Kenai Peninsula from where we were staying the rest of the time, in a former cannery. He booked it because he had no other options and it turned out to be a cool side trip because it was on the drive across the peninsula that we saw the one and only moose we encountered on that trip. 

Our room in the former cannery was frigid (the thermostat set in the 50s) when we arrived but there was a little lobby area with corner seating where we could hang out while the room warmed up and a shelf of books on each wall for the guests to borrow. I flipped through a few before settling down to read The Last Light Breaking. I only read a single chapter (it's a series of essays about the author's life in Alaska with Inupiat Eskimos) but I was so impressed that I wrote down the title and author and put the book on my wish list. It took several years before I got a copy via Paperback Swap and I suppose it's taken me so long to actually read The Last Light Breaking because of all the ARCs I've given priority, over the years, but it finally called out to me during my winter break from blogging and I listened. 

The essays in The Last Light Breaking tell Nick Jans' story (not in exact timeline order, but so well that it didn't feel like that mattered): how and why he ended up traveling to Alaska, his experience as a new guy (and not a native in a predominantly native region) in town, the jobs he's held, many of the trips he's made around the area to camp, hunt, fish, hike, etc., and what he's learned from his neighbors and friends. Nick Jans is an adventurer and a people person, so the book is particularly fun to read if you like reading about adventure, interaction, and what it's like to live with the Inupiat, who are among the few natives who actually are OK with the word "Eskimo".

Speaking of the word "Eskimo" and why it's not always OK . . . my son had a swim coach from Alaska. He was indigenous but Tlingit, from Juneau, not a people for whom the term "Eskimo" is used, so he considers it offensive if you call him an Eskimo.

Highly recommended - Stunning writing that will make you feel like you've been on an adventure with the author and convince you that the land is sacred. I will be looking for more by Jans and I wish I'd read him sooner.

When we were in Alaska, or maybe before, I read up on the native way of life and why they still consider subsistence living (hunting and fishing in the traditional ways for food, fuel, etc.) important so I had no problem with some of the things Jans did with his friends but I would caution the squeamish and anyone who objects to the killing of animals for any reason that there are a few graphic scenes that you might need to skim.

©2020 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

New Year, New Goals?

Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash

Happy New Year! 

I'm back! I had both an awful and wonderful break – awful because surgery sucks, wonderful because I allowed myself to read whatever called to me and I enjoyed almost everything I read (there was just one book that didn't thrill me). I'll probably do a lot of mini reviews of what I've read in the coming days, partly because I mostly read books I've purchased -- so no need to do do full reviews unless I feel like it -- and partly so I can move on into 2020 without getting too bogged down by what remains of 2019.

There's a question mark after "New Goals" in the subject line because I've decided this year is going to be one in which I don't write down reading goals, apart from the usual Goodreads goal. I have some things in mind, though, like I want to read more writing by indigenous authors and at least one classic per month. Since I pretty much failed at last year's elaborate list of goals, I'm going to just mentally fold some of 2019's reading goals over into 2020. If I don't manage to read what I hope to, I'm not going to worry about it. 

The same goes for the ARCs I didn't get to after I fell behind and then fell apart (the cancer diagnosis halfway through the year did not help my backlog of ARCs). I'll fold them over into the new year, as well, but I'm not going to stress myself about them. I already do have a few ARCs coming, this year, but if I can't keep up with the new ones I'll shut down acceptance of them completely. I think it's important to keep the burden light, at this point in my life. I'm not done dealing with my illness and won't be for a while, but I do love authors, publishers, and being part of anything that draws attention to wonderful storytelling. So, I'll do what I can cope with and no more. 

In other news, I am currently without a phone because I left my phone in a shop. Fortunately, it's a small shop and they know it's mine. It'll be a few days before I can get back over there because we're expecting heavy rain for the next two days and the store is 30 miles away (I avoid driving in the rain if it's not critical) but that's not entirely a bad thing, having to do without a phone. It does, however, mean that I have no access to photos to upload, here, and I'll have to wait to take photos of any books I finish. So, no Instagramming for me, either. 

First good belly laugh of the year was a couple hours ago when husband opened a can of coffee that was apparently under some pressure, a Christmas gift. It had a key-tab opening for the sealed lid and when he pulled the key tab back, a fountain of finely-ground coffee shot up in the air, coating his shirt, hands, face, the counter, and a little of the floor. It was a mess but it was also hilarious. And, wow, does that coffee smell good. 

I hope Christmas was a good one for you, my friends. Wishes for a safe, happy, healthy, and fulfilling year to all my readers!

©2020 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Fiona Friday - One of each and a farewell note

This is my final post until ???  I have been diagnosed with breast cancer and will be undergoing surgery soon, so I've decided to go ahead and shut down the blog till my return. I'm not getting a good feel for how long it will take before I'm healed enough to return. Every last medical professional has said, "This is going to suck," and "You will max out your insurance, this year, and probably next." Okay, then. I guess we'll just take it as it comes. But, first . . . a Christmas story.

Christmas is my favorite holiday but Huzzybuns loves Thanksgiving because he loves to cook a big meal, even if it's only for the two of us. So, it was not a big surprise when I told him I wanted to decorate for Christmas early and he responded in horror, "NO! Christmas decorating starts the day after Thanksgiving!" Yes, yes, I know that, I said. But, I won't get to decorate because they're saying I'm not going to be able to lift my arms, so this is my only chance. He still couldn't be budged. But, then I went to Target and discovered a few little things that I thought would make a nice display. I cleaned the top of my lingerie chest (a chest of drawers shaped like a pyramid, bought long ago at Bombay & Co., for those who remember the store) and set them up. This is the result:

I was back at Target, yesterday, and I tried to buy some fake snow to cover the speaker but apparently the clerk didn't hand me that bag or we accidentally left it in the cart, so it'll just have to do. I love it. It's pretty, I got to do some Christmas decorating, and I'll be able to see it from the bed. Huz can handle any other decorating. I've done my part.

Early wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year to any and all who drop by! See you in 2020.

Love, 
Bookfool


©2019 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Small Spaces and Dead Voices by Katherine Arden

I'm going to keep this as short as I can, but I decided to delay my Fiona Friday post by a few hours to squeeze in a final (double) review because I loved the books so much. Last week, I posted a photo of Dead Voices by Katherine Arden. The publicist said no review was necessary but I laughed inside because the entire reason I'm here is to read and talk about books. Of course I was going to read and review the book! However, as I was reading Dead Voices, it became apparent that there was a previous book and Dead Voices was giving away spoilers from the first. I loved Dead Voices and I didn't care about the spoilers, so I went ahead and ordered a copy of the first book, Small Spaces.

Small Spaces is Ollie's story. Ollie (short for Olivia) lost her mother, last year and has nightmares. She's tired of people looking at her with sympathy on their faces and just wants to get back to normal. Her mother was an adventurer and Ollie still loves the outdoors. She can throw a rock with tremendous accuracy, she's great at chess and she's an avid reader. So, when Ollie sees a woman dangling a book over a body of water, about to drop it, Ollie snatches the book away and hurries home with it.

The book tells a story of horror and when Ollie's class goes to a farm for a school outing, Ollie slowly begins to recognize bits of the story — familiar names, a similar mist in the area. When the bus breaks down and night begins to fall, the bus driver tells her to run and so does her mother's broken watch. Ollie listens. Coco, a new girl who is clumsy, bullied, and quick to tears follows along and so does Brian, a hockey player and popular guy who is surprisingly cheerful. Then, the watch says "HIDE". When the scarecrows come to life around them, are they in danger? And, when they see their classmates being marched off into a field, what should they do?

Highly recommended - Ohmygosh, what a terrifying book. I loved everything about Small Spaces. Because I had already read Dead Voices and was familiar with the children, the beginning was a little awkward for me, waiting for them to get to know each other, but the fact that I'd read the second book first didn't really cause as much trouble as I expected. Still, they really need to be read in order because the Bad Guy of the first book shows up in the second and they refer back to the adventure and horror of Small Spaces. Absolutely edge-of-your-seat, spine-tingling, holding-your-breath reading.

~~~~~

Dead Voices is, of course, the follow-up book to Small Spaces but now Ollie, Coco, and Brian are bonded because of their experience at the farm in Small Spaces. This time, they're headed to a ski resort that has just recently opened on the site of a former school. Ollie's dad and Coco's mom are in the front seat, the kids in the back, and they're driving in a snow storm. Coco is particularly nervous about the snow but Ollie's dad is a cheerful guy and he isn't worried.

On the way to the ski resort, Coco sees a man in a ski suit holding up his hand, as if to tell them to stop. Later on, she'll find out his story. At the ski resort, everything goes wrong. The power goes off, the gas stops, the generator doesn't work, and the ghost of a girl who died in a closet is haunting the children. Even worse, the ghost of the woman who locked her into the closet is still lurking. When the Smiling Man (the bad guy from Small Spaces) shows up and traps Ollie behind a mirror, then the other children are separated, will they be able to find each other and work together to escape the Smiling Man's trap?

Highly recommended - Again, this is a seriously scary book. Apart from the fact that the children are middle schoolers, it's hard to believe that this is a middle grade book because it's so intense. There's an added complication that gives the book some of the emotion of the first book: Ollie's dad and Coco's mom are getting a little giggly and sweet together.

In both books, Ollie's dad is a terrific character who provides some light moments and the children save themselves, although I tended to think of Dead Voices as Coco's story. Each book seems to focus on one child just a little more than the other two. I hope this means Brian is getting a book because I would definitely love to read a third book with Ollie, Coco, and Brian figuring their way out of a terrifying puzzle.

Side note: I took Small Spaces to my physical therapy appointment, yesterday, and my therapist (the one to whom I introduced Joe Hill) exclaimed with glee when he saw my copy of Small Spaces. He just bought a copy of Small Spaces and is planning to read it next. He didn't know there was a follow-up book, so he's excited about that. Of course, I was planning to recommend the series to him. I know that guy's reading taste pretty well after a couple years of talking books while he works on my neck.

I would not limit the reading of these books to middle schoolers. Young adults and older adults who like a creepy book will appreciate them just as much. They were terrific for fall reading and I may pull them out again for next year's RIP challenge.

©2019 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Vox by Christina Dalcher

In the world of Vox by Christina Dalcher, extremist Christians have taken over education, politics, healthcare, the banking system, and government in general in the United States. A televangelist is in a position of power in the government and the "separation of church and state" no longer exists. Dr. Jean McClellan didn't see it coming but her grad-school roommate did. While the earliest movement toward the far right was slow, things moved quickly after the latest president moved into office and women have been forced to stay quietly married at home, choose a mate, or face the consequences.

Change came quickly: the job losses, the wrist trackers, and the silence. Women in the America of Vox are no longer allowed to work, control money, or speak more than 100 words per day. The punishments for disobedience and aberrations (like homosexuality) are severe.

But, then something happens. The president's brother has been injured in a ski accident and the part of the brain that was Dr. McClellan's area in her research is the part that he's damaged. Suddenly, people are begging her to return to her work to find a cure. She's only interested under certain conditions. But, she knows that as soon as her work is done, she'll be back to subservience and quiet. And, there's something fishy going on. Did someone know the president's brother was going to suffer an injury? Is there more to the job than meets the eye?

Jean knows that she needs to find the answers but she also needs to try to drag out her research long enough to find a way to keep from returning to the circumstances of the past year. Will she be forced to rush a cure and return to being locked in silence, unable even to use hand gestures to speak? Or, will Jean and her friends and fellow researchers find a way to end the silence?

Highly recommended - I was so gripped by this book that I didn't want to set it down, the night I opened it. The result was a book in the face. Oops. I finally had no choice but to turn the light out because I kept falling asleep. But, I picked it up as soon as possible and finished it, the next day. Funny, since I'd seen mixed reviews and was concerned. I would never have guessed it would end up on the favorites pile. Good surprise! I did think there was a little bit of convenience to one particular plot point, and after I closed the book another plot point started to make very little sense, on reflection, but . . . who cares. I loved it.

My thanks to Berkley Books for the review copy! And, yes, I agree with the cover quote saying Vox is "sure to beg comparisons" to The Handmaid's Tale. I did occasionally think of Margaret Atwood's own dystopian version of a women-suppressing, mysogynistic society. Christina Dalcher's world, though, is unique. I never had the sensation that she was borrowing from Atwood in any way.


©2019 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Cats of Tanglewood Forest by Charles de Lint and Charles Vess

I'm going to keep this one short but I want to mention it because I loved it so much and it was the perfect story to keep me from falling into a reading rut. The Cats of Tanglewood Forest by Charles de Lint is the story of a girl, Lillian Kindred, who loves to spend time running barefoot through the Tanglewood Forest. Then, one day, Lillian is turned into a kitten by a magical circle of cats to keep her from dying. She's been bitten by a venomous snake and is lying on the forest floor when the cats surround her and cast a magic spell. They're not supposed to use their magic in such a way and the big cat who rules the kitties of the forest will not be happy, but they can't bear to watch a little girl die.

Can Lillian find a way to become human again? And, if she does, will she be able to bear the consequences of her choice?

Highly, highly recommended - I absolutely adored this magical gem of a book. Lillian is a sweet little girl who loves to explore, loves nature, but above all loves the elderly aunt who cares for her. It's alternately whimsical and terrifying, always magical and imaginative. The Cats of Tanglewood Forest is going on my favorites pile for 2019.

I'm not sure of the age range for The Cats of Tanglewood Forest, but I'm going to say it's probably classified as "middle grade". Of course, that always comes with a grain of sale. I had a child who was reading at middle grade level by 6 or 7 and one who didn't really get going till he was about that same age but then read his all-time favorite book, White Fang by Jack London, at 10 (and immediately dived into other 19th-century writing, which he still loves). At any rate, it's also great for an adult who is in the mood for a touch of magic and whimsy with some scary moments.

Notably, Charles Vess, the illustrator, and Charles de Lint are apparently best buddies and they came up with the idea together, although de Lint wrote and Vess illustrated. I'm so glad I bought this book because I will definitely return to it and it's one that my grandchildren can read when they get older and visit. Yes, I'm already thinking ahead to what they'll read when they hit middle grade age!


©2019 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Where the Angels Lived by Margaret McMullan

Where the Angels Lived by Margaret McMullan is a memoir about the author's search for a relative's life story. The "angels" in the title refers to a family name, Engel, which translates to angel. When Margaret McMullan went to Israel and did some research at Yad Vashem, she discovered that Richard Engel de Janosi, a relative she never knew existed, had been killed in the Holocaust. She was charged with filling out a document about him for Yad Vashem and told that it was her duty to remember him.

With this task given to her, McMullan got a job teaching English literature in Hungary specifically so she could find out more about Richard and any other lost relatives. In the process, she learned all about the importance of her family, visited the places they'd lived, and slowly uncovered their stories. She was aided by some unknown relatives who came into her life during the search, made some new Hungarian friends, learned about the culture and traditions of Hungary, and became acquainted with the still-simmering anti-Semitism in the country.

Recommended - A little like a family detective story, part travel guide, and part Hungarian history. I really enjoyed this book. It took me forever to read, partly because we were working on preparing for Kiddo's wedding (which we were more involved in than the average groom's parents) and partly because I spent a lot of time looking up images of places and people mentioned. Where the Angels Lived has a lengthy bibliography and it was the mention of Marguerite Duras' memoir, The War, that prompted me to purchase a copy.

Obviously, I had a little fun with the photo. I just happened to have a pair of angel's wings from last Halloween. When I bought them, I thought it was unlikely I'd genuinely ever find a use for them but they were so cool! I feel like I've found their purpose as a prop.

I bought my copy of Where the Angels Lived for group discussion and unfortunately didn't finish the book till a week after my F2F group met. I'm glad I read it, though, and it just so happens that the author lives in my state, so the copy I bought was autographed. Bonus! I particularly recommend Where the Angels Lived to people who are interested in stories about family and culture or who are interested in stories of WWII, although it goes well beyond Richard's WWII story.


©2019 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

25 Days 'Til Christmas by Poppy Alexander

In 25 Days 'Til Christmas Kate (widowed 4 years ago) and her son Jack are having a challenging Christmas season but she's doing everything she can to make Christmas as magical as possible. She's come up with daily activities to keep Jack busy and try to keep him from realizing just how poor they have become. Kate works at a department store on a rolling contract. Every year, it's possible she could lose her job and this year the boss is being particularly threatening. At school, Jack is having difficulties and the faculty wants to send him to what we Americans would call a reform school, although the book is set in Bristol, England so it has a different name. At the same time, her mother-in-law is running out of pension money for use in the care home, where she is deteriorating rapidly from Alzheimer's, and the government is threatening to pull her supplementary funds.

Daniel lost his sister Zoe, last year, and it still stings. The one thing that he's looking forward to, this year, is seeing the woman he privately refers to as "Christmas Tree Girl". He hasn't ever formally met Kate, but he knows that she will be there selling Christmas trees in her little elf costume. He wonders if she'll remember him and wonder what became of Zoe. When Daniel's not working as a chartered surveyor, he answers a help line and listens to people's problems, talks them out of suicide, or sometimes is just there for the lonely.

Daniel and Kate have a little trouble getting together, at first, but eventually they meet and start seeing each other. The problem is that Kate is utterly overwhelmed with all her problems and unsure she can or should replace Jack's father, Tom. Is there a way to solve her financial issues beyond her home jewelry-making? How will she deal with the bullying and sexual innuendo by her boss? Can she get Jack into a school that will meet his needs and keep him happy, rather than one that's set up for those with bad behavior? What will she do about her mother-in-law's draining finances when she has so little of her own?

Recommended but I advise skimming some parts if you find them dull - There is a LOT going on in this book. There were times it was a bit too much for me and, at some point, I decided I'd be best off skimming certain bits. For example, Kate is put in charge of a fundraising effort for the department store and has to come up with costumes for her child and his best friend on top of everything else. I found the fundraising meetings as dull as they are in real life (been there), so eventually I decided to skim those and some other bits of meetings in which Daniel was trying to help the shopkeepers of a cluster of shops called Christmas Steps — which actually exists; you can look up photos online.

I think the author created a few too many threads in this story. And yet, like a Hallmark movie, it came together beautifully in the end, almost too perfectly (as a romance should). I closed the book happy and satisfied. When I went to rate the book, I noticed that someone had given it 1 star because she found it too sad, thanks to Kate's overwhelming financial issues. I actually enjoyed reading about the realistic struggle she was going through. I found at least one of the resolutions a little too easy and pat, so I knocked off a point for that and the occasional stretch (meetings, ugh) that I found dull, but overall I loved 25 Days 'Til Christmas. I liked Kate's creativity and determination to make things as cheery as possible for her son, and I adored Daniel for his kindness and generosity. They're a couple that you can root for and they deserve a lovely ending. A sweet Christmas story about hardship, grief, and finding happily-ever-after when it seems like nothing is ever going to be right, again.


©2019 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Monday Malarkey

Recent arrivals:

• Creatures: A Novel by Crissy Van Meter - from Algonquin Books for review via Shelf Awareness
• Small Spaces by Katherine Arden (not pictured) - purchased after reading Dead Voices, the second in the Small Spaces series. 

Only two books, this week, unless you count the piles I got from the library sale (it's my bestie's fault — she draaaagggged me there!). You can see those at @bookfoolery on Instagram.


Books finished since last Malarkey:

• 25 Days 'Til Christmas by Poppy Alexander
• The Christmas Spirits on Tradd Street by Karen White
• Dead Voices (Small Spaces #2) by Katherine Arden

I know it's a bit early for Christmas books. But, I'm glad I read them. I'm in the mood for Christmas books, already. I limited myself but bought 3 Christmas titles at the library sale (there were quite a few) and I'm looking forward to them. They're all older titles and since I'll be starting my break, soon, I will either say nothing or write a little about them at Instagram and Goodreads, but there likely will not be any more Christmas titles reviewed, here. I'm pretty sure I won't be back till at least January.

Dead Voices is the middle grade book I posted about on Thursday (just a photo) and I thought it was fantastic. I should have a review up by Thursday.


Currently reading:

• Vox by Christina Dalcher

I decided I wasn't getting anywhere on the other books with bookmarks in them and I needed a fresh start, so I put them back in my TBR pile, marked them "Want to Read" at Goodreads, and I'll get back to them later. I'm halfway through Vox and had a little trouble putting it down, last night, till it fell on my face and I decided, "Oh, hey, maybe I ought to take a break and sleep a little." 



Posts since last Malarkey:

• Earth to Charlie by Justin Olson (book review)
• The Many Colors of Harpreet Singh by Kelkar and Marley (book review)
• The End of Something Wonderful by Lucianovic and Ermos (book review)
• Moldilocks and the Three Scares by Marie and Rodriguez Lorenzo (book review)
• Coming up next (book photo)
• The Christmas Spirits on Tradd Street (Tradd Street #6) by Karen White (book review)
• Fiona Friday on the Wrong Day - Want dis (cat photo)

Wow, that's a lot of reviews, thanks to a Children's Day. Earth to Charlie and Moldilocks are my favorites of this week's reviewed reads. I liked all the children's books a lot, though. 

In other news:

I finished Glitch. It's a three-season story that ends in a surprisingly satisfying way, unlike most television. I was impressed. A full story arc! How often do you get that? I will miss watching it, but I really enjoyed this strange story about a group of people who are resurrected but, in the process, cause a major disturbance on Earth.

The best thing about Glitch (besides the fact that it tells a complete story from beginning to end) is that it's continually surprising. Don't read any spoilers if you want to view it and can avoid them. It's so much fun watching things unfold, not knowing what's going to happen next.



About that break . . . This is my last week at the blog but I'll let you know when I've finished posting as I do have a couple reviews pre-posted and at least a couple more books I'd like to review before I go. More on that, later in the week!

Update: I've been sitting here, writing a very short review because I want to cram in everything I've read, before I leave, and I realized that there aren't actually enough days left in the week. So, there may be some double-posting, this week. Also, I just received a couple of books that I ordered, so I'm going to add on to this post as this is my final Monday Malarkey till my return. I've decided Friday will officially be my last posting day. Here are the two books that arrived, today:

The Round House by Louise Erdrich was purchased at the request of a friend. She's in an online book group in which they discuss books about 4 times a year (I think via email) and she sometimes has trouble expressing her thoughts but has told me that she feels like when I describe a book it helps her wrap her mind around her own feelings. The Round House is their next discussion book and she asked me to read it and share my thoughts with her for precisely that reason. Honestly, I wanted an excuse to buy it, anyway.

Sal by Mick Kitson is a book that was recommended to me by an Instagram friend, Steve of @cape_of_good_books. Steve has become one of my favorite Instagrammers and this is the second time he's recommended a book to me. I still haven't opened the first, but I'm looking at my blog break as a time to mix things up a little bit, so maybe I'll manage to squeeze one or both in. Fingers crossed.

OK, back to work on those reviews. Happy Monday!

©2019 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Fiona Friday on the Wrong Day - Want dis.

When you set your empty bowl on the cat house roof. Note the little moving paw.

©2019 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Christmas Spirits on Tradd Street by Karen White

Melanie Trenholm has always seen ghosts and she lives in a house with spirits, at least one of whom comes only when needed. Now, in The Christmas Spirits on Tradd Street, the most recent release in a series full of mystery and paranormal elements, Melanie has recently discovered a dark presence in her stepdaughter Nola's room, seen a man in old-fashioned clothing where an archeological dig is going on around her cistern, and smells the scent of roses always left by the ghost of a woman she helped to release in the first Tradd Street book.

Marc Longo is back to annoying her, as well, and now he's searching for a new treasure (this time, a French treasure brought to the continent by the Marquis de Lafayette), trying to foist his way into the Tradd Street house with a film crew, and determined to one day own the place. His brother Anthony now owns the other estate associated with the Tradd Street home, both of which had the same owner in the past. Anthony was conned into taking on the estate when his brother discovered the original treasure he sought was not there. Now, Marc is convinced that there's a connection between the mausoleum at the estate Anthony now owns and the bricks in the cistern at Tradd Street. But a presence in the mausoleum is keeping them from investigating.

When Melanie and others in her circle check out the mausoleum and some documents Marc stole, they find pieces of a puzzle. Meanwhile, Melanie and her sister, Jayne see several new spirits from the Revolutionary War era at Anthony Longo's home and Anthony is having frequent accidents. What do bricks, peacocks, and the warnings of ghosts mean? Can Melanie unravel the mystery in time to have a relaxing Christmas with her family?

First, a little background on my own reading of the series. I've only read the first book, The House on Tradd Street, prior to this one. When The Christmas Spirits on Tradd Street was offered to me, I thought it was the perfect excuse to read The House on Tradd Street, which had been sitting on a pile in my library for years. Had I not recently read that first book, I would have been completely lost. Christmas Spirits stands alone well enough if you're familiar with at least the main characters but I would not go into the series in the middle. At the very least, you need an introduction. Fortunately, while a lot has happened and many new characters have been introduced, I had no trouble at all catching up on the general events of the books I've missed.

Recommended but not a favorite - If you have read and enjoyed past Tradd Street books, you'll probably love this one, as well. It is much like the other book I read, although obviously I can't speak for the rest. I remember there was a lot going on The House on Tradd Street and the same is true of The Christmas Spirits on Tradd Street. There are a ton of different elements to the story. Christmas, by the way, is more of a backdrop than a feature. While Melanie and Jack are facing some immense challenges caused by Marc's intervention in their lives, as well as working to unravel the mystery and stay a step ahead of Marc as he chases down the same paths, Melanie is also involved in preparations for a "progressive dinner" for the Christmas season (I had to look that up -- it's a meal where each course is served at a different house). There are other preparations, like buying presents and gathering for a family photo, but they're really secondary and you could be forgiven for occasionally forgetting Melanie and Jack even have small children.

There are almost too many characters in the story -- many of whom were introduced in various novels as the series has progressed. I had a little difficulty getting them all straight in my head and I'm not sure all of them were necessary to the plot. In the end, though, it was ultimately satisfying how the mystery was wrapped up and the problems I had with the book were the same ones I had with The House on Tradd Street: there's a bit too much going on, the writing is wordy (tight writing with few wasted words is my personal preference), and I find Melanie annoying. Those are really a matter of individual taste, not commentary on the storyline, though. I liked the story's complexity so I still recommend it to those who have an affinity for paranormal stories.

My thanks to Berkley Books for the review copy!

Fiona Friday will be on the wrong day, once again, this week. Tune in tomorrow for your weekly cat fix!


©2019 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.