Themes: Octogenarians solving murders, No. 5 in the “Thursday Murder Club” series, Friendship

Giving this one a “soft pick”, it‘s not my fave book from this series, but I still enjoyed it and I‘m going to keep pre-ordering every future book 💸 I had trouble keeping characters straight and then having to remember their connection to the main plot 😵‍💫 But all in all, a good plot, excellent characters and Book 6 has already been confirmed 🤩

#FridayHappyReadingHour Enjoying my fave Chardonnay (please ignore the hard water spots on my glass, I didn‘t have the energy to wipe it with a paper towel before pouring 😂🤷🏼‍♀️) along with my favorite Goldfish flavor: pizza!! I‘m going to start my new book, I‘m so excited! The review from @Soubhiville sold me

Cheers to these buds, but tag yourself if you want to share!
@kspenmoll
@tamara
@mcctrish
@thebookhippie
@BarbaraBB
@Cathythoughts

#5JoysFriday @DebinHawaii
1️⃣I made THE best turkey breast for dinner last Sunday! It was like a mini-Thanksgiving… with 89°F temps outside ? 2️⃣ The books I read this past week were excellent! 3️⃣My hubby and I came in 2nd place at bar trivia (it was just the two of us on the team!!) 4️⃣ Coffee and Wine ☕️? 5️⃣ I‘m joyful the sun is shining ☀️?

#TopReads2025 for September goes to “10 Marchfield Square” by Nicola Whyte. This was a fun debut that was just right for reading in the fall 🍂🍁🎃 September 28th was mentioned in the book and I was actually reading it ON THAT DAY!! It feels like the universe is giving you a sign that you‘re reading the right book at the right time when that happens 🥰♥️

#Bookmail today 🤩🥳 My last read was a debut and now I‘m back with the gang at Cooper‘s Chase for book no. 5 🔎🕵️👵🏼🧓🏻

Themes: Murder Mystery, “Only Murders in the Building” vibe, Fans of Anthony Horowitz‘s writing

Wow. Wow. WOW! I cannot believe this is a debut work - it is so well done!! I loved all of the characters, and loved seeing them grow and develop. This is the perfect fall read for mystery fans! I already pre-ordered Whyte‘s next book (coming out in May 2026).

My Instagram algorithm really knows me 😍

📸 credit: https://www.instagram.com/p/DPHcpf3j4cz/?igsh=MTQxOXFrbGMycWhvZg==

Y‘know when you read the first paragraph of a new book and you just *know* you‘re going to like it? I just experienced that 🤩🪄✨

#FridayHappyReadingHour I‘m here!! Glass of wine (much deserved after this week, yikes) ✅ Current Read ✅

We‘re having ‘Breakfast for Dinner‘ tonight 🥳 Huzzah! Lazy Friday nights ARE THE BEST!! Tagging some buds, but feel free to tag yourself with what you‘re drinking, reading and snacking on 🤩 #CheersToTheWeekend

@kspenmoll
@tamara
@mcctrish
@thebookhippie
@BarbaraBB

I felt every, single emotion while reading this, from one extreme to the other, and everything in between. I was back in the headspace of the fall of 2024 with the feelings of hope and optimism. She didn‘t have to write this, but she did and I‘m so glad to read her thoughts on her historic presidential campaign. My only wish is that there was a better ending 💔

#5JoysFriday @DebinHawaii
1️⃣ 2 Silent Book Clubs this week, 1 was almost an hour away from my house and the other was 10 mins away at my favorite indie coffee shop 2️⃣ Had an excellent and much needed pep talk from my aunt on everything and how much I‘m feeling it 😣❤️‍🩹 3️⃣ My current reads are so good 4️⃣ Coffee & Wine 5️⃣ My Saturday morning plans got canceled, but I‘m so thankful I can now relax and don‘t have to go out unless I want to 😌

How was this only a year ago?! I feel like I‘ve aged 50 years since 9/24/2024 👵🏼

Thank you Bookshop.org for delivering my copy of Kamala Harris‘ book TODAY!! 🥳🤩🙌 You just made my Monday! 💙🩵💙

PICK! PICK! PICK!! This was sooooo needed after my “meh” feelings of Agatha‘s previous title (The Big Four) - I loved this one! Poirot was so sassy 😆 At first I was annoyed he didn‘t appear on page 1, but I think it actually made me stick with this book to get hooked waiting for him. I see what you (possibly?) did there, Agatha 😏

“He shifted a little and looked around him uneasily - to find Poirot almost at his elbow with a beaming innocent face”. This quote instantly made me think of The Office episode with this scene and I literally burst out laughing 🤣🤣🤣🤣 I love Poirot so much!!

#FridayHappyReadingHour Okay, we‘re getting back on track… sorta 🤣 Just a day late! No snacks, but I‘m enjoying some vintage Price is Right in the background while I sip on my Cabernet Sauvignon with one of my current reads 😊 Leftover chili for dinner later so no rush to move from this spot 🙌

@kspenmoll
@tamara
@mcctrish
@thebookhippie
@BarbaraBB

#5JoysFriday @DebinHawaii
1️⃣ Last baseball game of the season at our local independent league field (they made it to the final Championship round and are playing in Sioux Falls, SD!!) 2️⃣ Didn‘t rage quit my job, though I really wanted to 3️⃣ Reached my Goodreads Reading Goal 4️⃣ Coffee & Wine ☕️🍷 5️⃣ I reorganized my bookshelves, 2 boxes of books I‘m no longer interested in are being donated!
Play along if you had joys (big or small) this week!

Themes: Wizard of Oz retelling, Found Family, Sweet and Humorous read

This was a fun read! I loved the existing connections to The Wizard of Oz but also loved the new additions A. J. brought to the story. Would definitely recommend to any Wizard of Oz fan! 🪄🫧💚

Welp, just as predicted the person I emailed yesterday did in fact freak out and replied with a very rude email. On the plus side, it‘s now been escalated to the appropriate dept to deal with 🥳 Picture of the #bookmail that arrived while I was on lunch 🤩

#WeDoNotCareWednesday #WDNCW

Omg. This is me 🫠🫠🫠🫠 Did I purposely wait until 5pm to send an email that I know the recipient is probably going to lose their sh*t over when they open it? Yes. Yes, I did and y‘now what, I don‘t care 🤷🏼‍♀️ #TomorrowProblem #IDeserveAGlassOfWine

📸 credit: https://www.instagram.com/warmandtoastyinside?igsh=cm01NGVtbmdvZ2h6

Awww, found this on Threads 😍 Happy Birthday to the great Agatha Christie 🎂🎉🔎🕵️‍♂️

I‘m either 2 days late OR 5 days early for #FridayHappyReadingHour 🤣 But either way, here I am with my wine, my cheese & crackers and my Toto ebook (also pictured is my hubby‘s iced tea lol). The laundry from vacation is all done and put away, groceries for the week have been purchased and I even got a car wash and vacuumed out the sand from our beach day 🙌 How many hours until Friday….?

Vacation #BookHaul Recap:
Schuler Books: “Glitz, Glam and a Damn Good Time” by Jennifer Wright and “10 Marchfield Square” by Nicola Whyte

Cellar Bird Books: “Starter Villain” by John Scalzi

Black Dog Books & Records: “The Dolls‘ Room” by Llorenç Villalonga and “Up In the Old Hotel” by Joseph Mitchell

Ugh. Now onto the laundry ????

Themes: Translated Murder Mystery, Seniors Sleuthing Around, Darkly Funny

This was a perfect read to read while on vacation, I love Agnes and her crew of senior sleuths 😁 I‘m glad my holiday is less stressful than Agnes‘ however 😬 I can‘t wait for the next book!!

#5JoysFriday @DebinHawaii

Vacation Edition 😎☀️⛱️
1️⃣ Catching a ballgame on Sunday 🌊💙 2️⃣ Indie Bookstores! 3️⃣ Visting a gardens & sculpture park on a whim 🦋 4️⃣ Beach Day!! 5️⃣ Going to a fancy restaurant to celebrate our 10-year wedding anniversary and getting my favorite dish: Beef Wellington 😍😋🤤

Play along if you had joys (big or small) this week!

Beach day in Holland, MI today. Couldn‘t ask for better weather; sunny, low 80°F with just a light breeze ???

Tried to visit this coffee shop yesterday, but they‘re closed on Monday‘s 😂 The trouble with vacations, you lose track of the days 🤣 Well worth coming back today!

Success! The cup holder is just riiiiiiiiiiiight for a glass of wine with my current read (“The Eights” by Joanna Miller) 😍🤩😎

Vacation Mode: Activated 😎🥰 Can‘t wait to test out this cup holder with a glass of wine later!!

#FridayHappyReadingHour is here 🥳 I‘m reading the tagged book (I was expecting a history of NYC and Cheesecake and instead I‘m getting fiction. No complaints but not what I was expecting at all 🤣) along with an Orange Cream Poppi drink. We‘re going to a minor league baseball game later so I‘m saving my “adult beverage” for a beer at the game. Cheers!! 🍻

@kspenmoll
@tamara
@mcctrish
@thebookhippie
@BarbaraBB

#5JoysFriday @DebinHawaii
1️⃣ Lunch out with my BBF 🍷🍔 2️⃣ Used book sale at the library 3️⃣ Baseball game on a gorgeous Labor Day 4️⃣ Family came in for a visit over the weekend 😍🥰 5️⃣ Tomorrow Mr. Aims42 and I leave for vacation to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary 🥂🎉🥳

Play along if you had joys (big or small) this week!

#WeDoNotCareWednesday #WDNCW

Day late but I don‘t care (see what I did there? 😆) Ahem. I do not care about your trivial, unimportant, insignificant emails regarding work for the remainder of this week. I‘m off on vacation next week and wish for you to respect the fact that entitles me to being mentally on vacation this week. Thank you for your attention regarding this matter.

Themes: Book about Books & Bookstores, Translated Work, Very Literary

This would be a great bookclub read, I‘ve already talked my husband‘s ear off about it 😆 Some parts are great and I loved them, whereas other parts annoyed the bejesus out of me 🙄 All in all, I‘m glad I read it and I would definitely recommend it, especially if someone was looking for something different and “Novel” to read 👍

#TopReads2025 for August goes to “Alfa Romeo 1300 and Other Miracles” by Fabio Bartolomei. This was just such a fun, quirky read that I loved so much! I don‘t usually like translated books but this made me a believer that they can be good!

My library used book sale haul from this morning 🤪 So much for trying to stick to a very restricted buying criteria 🤦‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️ Several of these I‘ve had on my Goodreads ‘To Read‘ list for years. So, now that I have a physical copy on my Mt. TBR pile there‘s no excuse to not get to them now 😏😜LOL yeah, right - watch me 🤣

#FridayHappyReadingHour is here after a very busy day 🤪 I‘m still sipping my Coke from 3pm that I got on my home from a lunch & thrifting date with my BFF and needed a caffeine jolt. It did the trick! Pictured are my IRL bookclub pick (Monte Cristo) and my fun reading book (A Novel Bookstore). Happy Weekend & Happy Bonus Monday off for Labor Day if you‘re in the US 🤩🥳🙌 Cheers!!

@kspenmoll
@tamara
@mcctrish
@thebookhippie
@BarbaraBB

My view from earlier tonight at my husband‘s softball game 😆😎 My book, my snack, my water ✅✅✅

I DID IT! I finally found a BOTM pick that I‘m kinda, sorta intrigued by (the bar has drastically been lowered since the last book I ordered was forever ago). My reminder is set to cancel my membership before my card gets charged for next month. It‘s been fun BOTM, but the time has come to say good-bye 👋👋👋👋👋👋

I read the summary on this and knew I had to read it ASAP! I‘m totally one of the people who watch what groceries people are buying, and wonder if my cashier can guess my dinners for the week 😆 I loved allllll the characters in this book, I was expecting “Schitt‘s Creek” level of humor, but it was much more dry and subtle, not a bad thing, just letting others know 😊 Definitely a “pick”!

#FridayHappyReadingHour is here in my house 🥳🥂🙌 Drinking Chateau Ste. Michelle ‘Light‘ Chardonnay & eating some Wheat Thins. I gotta say, Book 5 in the Brighton Series from Elly Griffiths might just be my favorite (tagged). I feel like she found her groove with the characters. Tag yourself with what you‘re drinking, snacking on, and reading to welcome the weekend. Cheers, friends!!🥂🍻🍾
@kspenmoll
@tamara
@mcctrish
@thebookhippie
@BarbaraBB

#5JoysFriday @DebinHawaii
1️⃣ Spent a lovely weekend visiting my family for my Mom‘s 70th birthday! 🥳🎂🍾🥂 2️⃣ Enjoyed a fun Sunday afternoon at the pool, got there early enough for the shaded loungers😎 3️⃣ My parents‘ sweet kitty, Millie 🍤♥️ 4️⃣ Silent Book Club meeting 🍷📖 (that‘s me smiling next to my SIL in the blue sweatshirt 😁) 5️⃣ 16 days until my vacation!!

Play along if you had joys (big or small) this week!

I‘m making progress in my IRL bookclub‘s September pick, and it‘s actually pretty good! Definitely not one I would‘ve picked up otherwise 😊 I did have to print off a character list since names are just thrown out all Willy-Nilly 🤣 (Green tabs on top are for quotes, the tabs down the side are my reading chunks so I don‘t get overwhelmed 😆)

No #SundayScaries here 🤩😌 One more day with my parents and then back home to reality tomorrow. I‘m enjoying this book (tagged here) but more so as a snacky “Cheeze-It” read. Nothing fancy, not mind blowing, but a good read 😊

I‘m visiting my parents in Iowa this weekend. We‘re home from dinner and a trip to Menards (yes, the home improvement store 🤪) and now they‘re watching the Indiana Fever WNBA game and I‘m sipping from my wine that my very heavy handed Mom poured 😂 Glad there‘s no early morning plans tomorrow #FridayHappyReadingHour
@kspenmoll
@tamara
@mcctrish

#FridayHappyReadingHour is here! Cheers to the weekend everyone! Use the hashtag to share what you‘re reading and what you‘re sipping to welcome the weekend 🍺🍷🍸🍹🥃☕️🧉🥛🧃🧋

I‘m visiting my folks in Iowa so I hope to enjoy a little something something a bit later 😊
@kspenmoll
@tamara
@mcctrish

#5JoysFriday @DebinHawaii
1️⃣ Sunday I went with my hubby and his family to a Milwaukee Brewers Game AND IT WAS SO MUCH FUN! 2️⃣ I had an amazing Old Fashioned along with my hot dog & French fry lunch at the game 3️⃣ Our seats were amazing! 4️⃣ Coffee (always lol) 5️⃣ This amazing community, thanks for being the light in these dark times 🕯️♥️

Play along if you had joys (big or small) this week!

#TLT

1. Scholastic book fairs and the book flyers - I‘m still searching for the high these two things gave me 😂
2. The smell and feel of new school supplies. Each folder and notebook was color coordinated and the “ugly” colors were always my math ones 🤣
3. New clothes for the school year! Omg! Is there a better feeling than feeling 100% confident in your first day of school outfit?!

This was a fun trip down memory lane @dabbe Thank you 😁

This book was a total #BlameItOnPangoBooks purchase; I loved the cover and the summary sounded right up my alley. It was a hoot! I love Mrs Pollifax, she‘s like a feistier version of Jessica Fletcher from ‘Murder, She Wrote‘. I also appreciated this being a quick read, only 233 pages - no lull in the action. I don‘t necessarily need to binge the entire series right now, but I‘ll definitely keep it mind when I need a fun palate cleanser.

Themes: Italy setting, Neighbors, Humorous but not everyone‘s humor

For me, the humor in this book bounced between “general audience” funny and crude South Park/Family Guy sense of humor. I don‘t personally enjoy the latter style so more of a “soft pick” from me, but I still found it an entertaining read. The premise is funny and I loved the dual POVs. I don‘t know who I would recommend this book to; it‘s bonkers, very quirky and unique.

The recipes in my current read (tagged here) are disgusting 🤢 I haven‘t begun skimming them yet, but I‘m not exactly giving them my full attention. The rest of the book is good, but the recipes, YIKES! Keeping my snack simple and my drink is a non-alcoholic seltzer since hubby‘s not home yet and I‘m hoping we‘re going out for dinner 😏
#FridayNightReadingHour @mcctrish